- Study finds that only just over a third prefer to watch movies in a theater
- The same proportion of people who watch two or more movies on streaming per week also say they go to movie theaters a few times per year
- Jake Gyllenhaal’s Road House went straight to Prime Video, rather than a theater release.
While once upon a time if a movie went ‘straight to video’ it was a sure sign it was a stinker. Now, if it goes ‘straight to streaming’ it might be because the companies behind it want to maximise their revenue.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s remake of classic action flick Road House caused some raised eyebrows earlier this month when it was released on Prime Video, rather than having a theatrical release, as is traditional. But it could just be capitalising on an increasing trend for US adults to watch movies on streaming, rather than on the big screen.
A recent poll of 1,000 US adults by HarrisX for IndieWire found that 34% prefer to watch movies at the theater – meaning that two-thirds are happier to wait until they come on streaming services.
In addition, the poll found that 30% of those polled stream a movie at least twice a week. Meanwhile the same percentage said they go to movie theaters ‘a few times a year’
This could be worrying for theater operators who, ever since the COVID pandemic and resulting lockdowns in 2020 have been striving to get people back to theaters to see movies on the big screen.
While the numbers of people going to movie theaters has been creeping up in the past couple of years – helped by event movies such as Oppenheimer and Barbie last summer – they are facing increasing competition from streaming services that have the budget to make big films. It is also indicative of the competition between the likes of Prime Video and Netflix for subscribers – getting high profile films first can boost numbers.
