Theaters are still struggling post-pandemic, with younger audiences driving attendance and older moviegoers tuning out.
New City Film
Dear Mick: What is the present level of movie attendance? Who is going? In San Jose, almost all the theaters have closed.
Frank Nicoletti, San Jose
Dear Frank: Movie attendance dropped off slowly between 2002 to 2019 but then plummeted during the pandemic. Since then, according to the Pew Research Center, the recovery has been slow.
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As of 2025, movie attendance is at around 64% of what it was in 2019. No one knows the reason for this. Did people just get out of the habit? Or has home video improved to the point that the theater experience seems less necessary? Maybe it’s a combination of these and other factors.
The sad thing here is that theaters provide the best movie experience, and yet it might not matter. Apparently, gas lights created light that was more beautiful than incandescent bulbs, and the light from incandescent bulbs is nicer than what you get from ghastly halogen and LED bulbs. Contrary to what we’d all prefer to believe, sometimes the good guys lose.
Families and fans show up for the Netflix sing-along screening of “KPop Demon Hunters” at Stonestown Galleria in San Francisco in August 2025. Younger people are going to movie theaters more often than older demographics.
Camille Cohen/For the S.F. Chronicle
As for who goes to the movies, younger people go more often than middle-aged and older people; Latinos go more often than white, Black and Asian people; higher-income people go more often than lower-income people; and Democrats go more often than Republicans. So if I were looking to invest in a movie, I’d look for something that might appeal to young Latino Democrats with money.
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By the way, these young, left-leaning, well-off moviegoers can be male or female. Contrary to the common perception that the typical movie viewer is male, women attend movies just as often as men.
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Dear Mick LaSalle: My wife and I are in our early 80s, and we are finding fewer movies that appeal to us. We like well-acted dramas that are well-written and have limited violence. Many today seem like extended video games, fast-paced with a lot of action. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I believe more in our demographic would be going to the movies if there were more like the ones we used to enjoy.
Dear John O’Hare: It is the mission of every generation to make life uncongenial to the generation that went before and completely insupportable to the generation before that. Thus, you cannot expect to find movies tailored to your demographic.
When you were in your early 20s and going to see “The Graduate” (1967), how many movies were out there tailored to the aesthetic preferences of people born in 1885?
So since the world isn’t going to change back, you have two choices: Figure out a way to like these jacked-up, action-packed movies, or skip them altogether.
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Maika Monroe, left, and Tyriq Withers in “Reminders of Him,” directed by Vanessa Caswill.
Michelle Faye/Universal Pictures
The good news is that the video game-type movies are easy to anticipate and avoid.
Basically, you’re not liking particular genres — sci-fi, superhero movies and action films — but there are plenty of movies outside those genres. Just in the last few months I’ve seen and reviewed “Blue Moon,” “Jay Kelly,” “Christy,” “Nuremberg” and “Reminders of Him,” all of which were good and could be appreciated by people of any age.
Good morning, Mick: Given your knowledge of French cinema, what is your opinion of the comedian Jacques Tati?
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Good morning, Paul: I can tell he’s good, but I don’t enjoy him. He has a nice humanity and universality, but I just don’t find him funny.
Ally Sheedy, left, and Molly Ringwald in “The Breakfast Club” (1985).
Universal Pictures/Getty Images
Dear Mick LaSalle: In “The Breakfast Club,” the rebellious Bender ends up getting numerous additional Saturday detentions from Principal Vernon. Are we to assume he went back weekend after weekend, having life-changing afternoons with whole new crews of misfits? Don’t you think this could have spawned a franchise of films, as we follow Bender’s weekly poignant misadventures?
Ryan Shankel, San Francisco
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Dear Ryan Shankel: Sure, but I’d caution you to remember that not everything that could happen should happen.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at askmicklasalle@gmail.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.