The Theater of Tomorrow

With Avengers: Endgame breaking box office records left and right, and dominating the theater scene, it's hard to imagine that making over a billion dollars opening weekend will not change the theater going experience. After Disney's finalization with the Fox merger, now owning a scary percentage of the overall film market, and it's latest monster hit to be followed by their next monster hit The Lion King, the movie scene is drastically changing at an incredible pace and the movie theaters we know now will cease to be. So, with that in mind, let's speculate on what the future of movie theaters will be like.

Before diving into the specifics of the theater of tomorrow let's get the basics out of the way. Theater staff have to be paid more. They do a lot to provide for your experience and a lot of the time customers will bark at them for their own mistakes. Not only that but under staffing situations do happen and can be merciless during blockbuster season, which is now all year long. Next, ticket prices will be going up, and with Disney looking at another billion dollar product in the next few months it's not impossible to say that they'll ask for a premium service to their movies sometime in the future. Unfortunately this also means that there will be less theaters as smaller independent establishments are eaten by the corporate juggernaut, most likely AMC, so that'll affect the ticket prices too, and thus concession prices will have to go up as well. What once was a cheap way to get out of the house now and is turning into a premium experience like a sporting event, or hit musical play, where you could pay an exorbitant amount of money to entertain yourself.

In 2009 James Cameron changed the world of blockbusters, yet again, with his movie Avatar. Love it or hate it this movie has influenced the last decade of film-going as well as introducing IMAX as a necessary experience, and reintroducing 3D, while furthering motion capture. In 19 days since its opening Avatar had crossed the $1 billion mark. The film lasted for months as it came out in a period where it had barely any competition, and studios have been chasing this accomplishment ever since. Franchises like The Fast & The Furious built up their fanbase over time, and paired with a shocking tragedy, its 7th installment earned $1 billion after 17 days in 2015, the same year Jurassic World, the first Jurassic movie to come out since III in 2001, achieved the same landmark in 13 days. Similarly, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, from the same year, is the first Star Wars movie since 2005 and was released at the end of the year, like Avatar, and had made this astounding achievement in only 12 days. The most recent Marvel movie, Avengers: Endgame, continues this trend today as it too crossed $1 billion opening weekend...in 5 days.

While smaller movies still do well today it's no secret that blockbusters, and franchises, are where the money is at. With studios frantically chasing their fanbases, they maliciously roll out anticipation six months, maybe even a year, before their movie is released. Like a cartoon snowball rolling down a mountain they hope to get as many people opening weekend as possible, and because of this the smaller movies are in danger of staying one, maybe two, months if they're lucky. Water cooler talk is about franchises, which sadly is where Hollywood and Disney seem to be running towards, and because of this mindset a lot of smaller films that can't be adapted into franchises will find their homes on streaming services. So how will that affect theaters?

Well, that means the $25-50 million budget movies will be heading to the growing empire of Netflix, or Amazon, or whatever other streaming service raises their flag, leaving the more "important" movies for the cinema experience. And with less films to compete against they'll stay longer in the theater. Maybe each studio will only be allowed to put out 6 blockbusters a year, that means Avengers: Endgame could have had two months with little competition. But naturally you don't want just blockbusters in your theater, and that's where the theater of tomorrow comes into play.

The theater of tomorrow will be more like a mall. With theaters disappearing, the corporate conglomerates will each have their theaters, a-la AMC, build out. Instead of fifteen or twenty screens in a small area they'll offer more and divide their space into two separate areas. The first is the lobby. It'll be similar to what they have now; concession, box office, restrooms, etc. Essentially they'll have the simplest food and the atmosphere of relaxation with posters and trailers surrounding you, making you excited to go in. Now here's where it gets interesting: the second area of this theater will be like an amusement park.

You'll have the family friendly theaters, the PG13/R theaters, but then you'll also have a fancier concession space with more food options and higher quality than the concessions in the lobby. More like a food court, it'll be a wide open space with chairs and tables where people can hang out between movies. Not only that but theaters being owned by these corporations will have a gift shop! With physical media slowly whittling away what better place to be promoted than in a theater? It'll have a collection of movies, but also  recent releases that are not out to the public, making them highly exclusive and even more incentive to visit your local "theater."

Now back to the lobby. The box office will definitely have to change. With ticket prices ballooning up, multiple format choices, and people not understanding E-tickets there has to be an easier way...and there is. Instead of coming to the box office to buy a ticket to a specific movie/time you'll instead be obtaining a special card. The box office will be the central hub in and out of the first and second areas, so no sneaking in, and will take back your card at the end of your visit. This special "theater card" will act as your all purpose pass. At the box office they'll connect the card to your preferred payment method (whether that be a credit card or cash) and the theater card will have the specified limit set to it via you, the customer. Now that you're inside the second area you can use your theater card for the gift shop, concession court, or theaters. It'll all be added up and placed upon your payment preferences at the end of your visit.

The theaters themselves will also be locked. The box office will obviously have to scan visitors and put them through metal detectors like an airport, school, or amusement park. And the doors will automatically unlock should an emergency arise, like a fire. The theaters themselves will have multiple exits too. Now, each theater door will be "locked" and on the front of the door there will be a screen that tells you the movie, rating, and seat availability as well as a slot for your theater card. Inserting your theater card will show ticket prices for child, adult, and senior. Tap which ones you want and remove your card to unlock the door. Instead of having assigned seats you will pick whichever one you want, but the seats are still recliners. Once you've picked a seat insert your theater card into the seat's armrest so that the front door knows what seat you've picked. Each theater will also have a special field that blocks electronic use. Once inside the theater, your phone will not work, but outside it's fine. This reduces the annoying phone users as well as keeping the theater-going atmosphere.

As mentioned before the mid budget movies seem to be finding homes at Netflix and Amazon, but what about the indie scene? Naturally that'll stay. It'll be different, and paired up against blockbusters, but nonetheless the independent cinema will survive. Theaters will be taking them on to balance their screenings and because there's still less movies around they'll have a longer period of showings than a measly week or two. This will give time for people to check them out and most importantly give them a chance. Along with independent cinema the theater could also showcase special events like Fatham and TCM showings furthering the balance.

With diverse screenings it only makes sense that they'll have different ticket prices. Blockbusters will be the main showing, thus the most expensive. Fatham and TCM will be middling, as those are special events, but not as popular as a blockbuster. And finally, independent will be the cheapest. This will allow people who can't get into blockbusters a chance to watch something, and also people the chance to experience something they have no idea about.

You can watch as many movies as you want. Going from theater to theater as many times as you want without continuously going to the box office. You can relax with some food at the concession court and shop some classics and new releases in the gift shop. Maybe down the line they'll actually build an amusement park into the theater with a roller coaster surrounding the building, who knows?! The point is that cinema is changing, and in the last decade it has drastically shifted into an experience that we have not grown up with. Our civilization is on the cusp of creating an entirely new theater-going culture, and with technology trying to adapt to the times why couldn't they build something close to this?

That is my vision of the future. I'd certainly like to hear your "Theaters of Tomorrow" down in the comments. Don't forget to share and like.