Do Movie Theaters Have a Future?
3.30.2026
When was the last time you saw a film at a movie theater?
Most likely it has been some time. The film industry has seen movie attendance decline due to competition from other forms of entertainment. A recent seminar by the New York State Bar Association delved into the state of movies and what the future may hold for theatrical releases.
The speakers – all experts with decades of experience in the film industry – were:
Ira Deutchman, president at Deutchman Company and professor of Professional Practice in Film at Columbia University.
Wendy Lidell, former senior vice president at Kino Lorber.
Carylanna Taylor, director of sales and acquisitions of The Film Sales Company.
Lawrence Sapadin, a business affairs attorney and co-chair of the Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section’s Motion Pictures Committee, served as moderator.
According to the speakers, film attendance has declined since 2002 – a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of streaming services.
“The time horizon between the release and the streaming was so short, everybody understood it’s coming anyway,” said Liddell. “We knew that before, but it was a six-week wait, and if you wanted to be part of the conversation, you needed to go to the theater. Now, [it is on streaming] with just a couple of weeks.”
But there are bright spots for the film industry. Independent theaters have built local audiences by making the theater a destination for special events. Lidell said that a theater she works with, the Crandall Theatre in Chatham, New York, has found success with such an approach.
“In the last two months, we had an Elvis impersonator, we did kid flicks where the kids come and they make puppets and march through the aisles, [and] a Rocky Horror Picture Show – people came and dressed up,” she said. “We have a book-to-film club where we show films based on books. People read the book, they come see the film, they discuss it. So, it becomes a cultural hub and a community center.”
Another positive trend for movie theaters is that more young people are going.
“If you talk to anybody who’s running a movie theater right now, you’re going find out that audiences are generally, post-pandemic, much, much younger than they were pre-pandemic,” said Deutchman. “The people who are buying the majority of tickets at movie theaters both on the Hollywood level, but also on the indie level, are younger audiences. And with that evolution comes a change in taste as well.”
Deutchman said that younger audiences are seeking content they cannot find via other forms of media – which also happened when the film industry had to adapt during the rise of television.
“What’s interesting about those younger audiences that are coming back to movie theaters now is they’re also interested in transgressive entertainment,” said Deutchman. “It takes a slightly different form – back when I was a kid, and in that world that I was describing earlier – one of the big things that was appealing was sex, because you couldn’t get that on the home screen. We used to joke about the fact that the most successful independent movies were films that had a lot of sex and good reviews. That combination was box office success. Well, now the transgressive entertainment that the younger audiences are looking for falls mostly into the category of horror films.”
Movies with recent box office success are often diverse, unique, and not part of an ongoing franchise, like the recently released Project Hail Mary, last year’s “Sinners,” and “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” in 2023 – a cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer.
Taylor said that in her career as film sales representative, she has found success distributing films through festivals and community screenings, like special events at universities, libraries, and places of worship.
“Oftentimes, we could get a higher screening fee if we had a speaker afterwards, or if there was a panel afterwards,” said Taylor. “So, it was this act of bringing it into a theater, having a discussion space after, a place to talk about the politics of the moment and the emotions of the moment. It became very robust.”
The seminar was sponsored by the association’s Entertainment, Arts & Sports Law Section and its Motion Pictures Committee.