The Cinema Foundation, a non-profit organization formed in 2022 with the support of NATO, published its inaugural “State of the Cinema Industry” report. Among its many findings, the report announces that approximately 2,000 U.S. movie theatre screens have closed since the peak of 2019 when 41,172 screens were operating. As of the end of 2022, the new count had dropped to 39,007 screens.
The two biggest factors in the decline were the extreme financial pressure caused by closures and health restrictions during the pandemic and a reduction in studio releases to theatres.
On the bright side, it’s an impressive accomplishment for exhibitors to emerge from the last three years with a drop of only 5% in the number of movie theatre screens. At the height of the pandemic, many were predicting that the theatrical install base would drop by 25% or more, saying that audiences had forsaken moviegoing irrevocably in favor of streaming.
The Cinema Foundation report points to multiple ways in which a theatrical movie release creates value for its stakeholders. Movies released in theatres maintain a higher level of awareness than those that debut online. And of course, the theatrical box office represents a revenue stream that does not exist with a straight-to-streaming release.
The report also highlights that moviegoing remains an affordable form of entertainment, with the current average U.S. ticket price of $10.53 lower than it was in 1971, after making adjustments for inflation.
Going forward, the biggest contributor to a full recovery will be an increase in the number and quality of movies going to theatres. 2023 is already on this trajectory, with the number of wide-release movies (played at 2,000 locations or more) rising to 107 from 71 titles in 2022.
