Study shows older people in no rush to return to movie theaters
BOSTON - The James Cameron film "Avatar: The Way of Water" has now made more than half a billion dollars in North America. But chances are, you won't see many older adults at the theater checking it out.
When pandemic restrictions eased, many couldn't wait to get back to the movie theater. But a new study found older adults are in no rush to return. And that trend is about more than just fear of COVID.
Before the pandemic, people over 40 bought 41% of all movie tickets in the US and Canada. Not anymore.
While high-tech blockbusters like the Avatar sequel are mopping up, Stephen Spielberg's semi-autobiographical movie "The Fabelmans" faltered at the box office, despite overwhelming critical acclaim.
"The pandemic exacerbated something that was already happening," says veteran local movie critic Ty Burr, whose writing can be found at tyburrswatchlist.substack.com. "The mainstream movie studios were not invested or investing in older audiences and were in fact chasing them away."
Part of the problem - no big box-office names on the marquee.
"Hollywood has largely foregone stars," notes Burr. "Who's the star of the superhero movies? Thor is the star, not Chris Hemsworth. And what we used to call movies - romances, dramas, comedies, musicals, thrillers - those things tend to not play well in theatres anymore, they play better on TV."
One movie defying that trend - the new Tom Hanks film "A Man Called Otto," which is drawing older fans to the theaters. But that's an exception. Seven of ten GenXers and 85% of Baby Boomers told pollsters they didn't go to a single movie last month.
Instead they're at home, streaming the stories they like and finding the experience cheaper, safer and just as or even more rewarding.
Burr thinks the horse has left the barn, that for the most part older film buffs will be content to skip the cost and inconvenience of the multiplex theaters to stream what they want at home. One exception, he says, are independent theaters like the Somerville Theater, the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, the Dedham Community Theater and the Capitol in Arlington.
If you love a movie on the big screen but are unmoved by most of the high-volume stuff Hollywood churns out, that might be the ticket for you.