Are movies dying? Maybe, but we can still save it.
It’s only June 2025, and already 3 major cinemas have closed down in South Africa. In the USA 4 cinemas closed down permanently with a few others closed down temporarily or indefinitely. Does this mean that people don’t care about cinemas anymore? No, at least I don’t think so.
After Ster-Kinekor closed a few of its branches, there has been an outcry for cinemas to be reopened. And in some cases, there’s good news, Nu Metro will be taking over some of the cinemas. So, I guess all is not lost yet, but the film industry is struggling.
Now all of this stems from a question someone asked me on Instagram and because I’m so passionate about movies and pop culture, I just had to write an opinion piece. Let’s start with the first thing, no movies aren’t dying… But the industry has hit a low point.
I don’t know who will read this, but I hope it finds its way to some studios. Movie executives and some studios don’t seem to understand modern audiences. They don’t listen to moviegoers, and I get that you can’t please everyone. You can at least focus on what the average movie lover wants.
The marketing of movies isn’t working. The best marketing tool is and always will be word-of-mouth. Sure, we love all the merch and popcorn buckets, but none of that matters if I don’t feel like telling my friends about this awesome movie I’ve seen. Once again, know your audience. Don’t try to market movies to everyone, only target the movie specific audience!
Imagine walking into a movie expecting it to be a character piece about the origin of Gotham’s most infamous villain and finding out it’s just a musical about some guy who could have been the Joker. That’s obviously going to get a bad rep, and less people will be interested.
Another important thing is, less is more. Too many blockbusters are released on a week-to-week basis. Movies hardly get the time shine anymore. And remember when a major movie felt like this big spectacle? You know, like all the Avengers movies. I don’t get that feeling with movies anymore.
Oversaturation of movies is a problem. Too many movie releases can’t be good for the box office and it slows down the industry. Another failure is sending movies to digital or streaming a few weeks after they gets released. Why would I pay to go watch a movie in theatre if I can just watch it at home in a few weeks?
I understand that the changes were made due to the pandemic, but it’s time to change course again. The last thing I want to touch on is the death of the blockbuster. As I said before, no film feels like an event anymore. In July there are three “blockbusters” coming out, but it doesn’t feel that way. They are getting released too close to each other.
And to top it all off they are all sequels or remakes. Hollywood should definitely try some new ideas. They think that people won’t buy into something new, but one of the best films of the year, Sinners, was a major success. We need more filmmakers who will break the mould.
So, movies aren’t dying, but they are slowly failing and that’s something that’ll need to be addressed. As a movie lover, I love going to cinema. Being in a movie theatre still excites me, but many people don’t feel the same way. This is something that should be addressed, because I don’t want to see the death of cinema.
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