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The Inhospitable Movie Theatre

Carl St. James
3 min readDec 29, 2023

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Despite some big releases the last few years haven’t been kind to box offices receipts. Whilst the number of movies grossing over $1bn has risen, this is offset against higher ticket costs and a much wider international release. Less people overall are watching movies on the big screen at a domestic level.

So what is to blame? Some might point towards inevitable streaming releases for big ticket movies; why pay extra for something that is included in the sub you already have? This might be a point but every blockbuster has had an inevitable home video release for decades.

Some might point towards franchise fatigue. Up against the MCU other studios looked to build their own universes and they all fell flat. But then sequels both to and involving the trench run did the business and after nearly a century you can still count on a British secret agent.

Whilst the big studios fall over themselves to figure it all out there is one thing they have all forgotten about.

As a kid you couldn’t wait. Catching a trailer was no substitute for that one kid at school who had seen it before everyone else. Now you had to go to the cinema!

Growing up the excitement for going to the movie theatre was palpable. My parents didn’t have much spare cash so it was nearly always a treat. Watching the trailers. Scoffing the snuck-in bag of sweets. Even the ads were iconic. When I had my own job I went as much as I could. When I met my wife we went every week.

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Carl St. James
Carl St. James

Written by Carl St. James

Making sense of modern technology, design and culture.

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