Being stuck in quarantine has made dealing with stress extremely difficult. So many of my pastimes– that might bring me pleasure, entertainment or an escape– have been taken from all of us. And these are some of the better consequences of a pandemic–most of us are the lucky ones.
To make matters worse for everyone, no one really knows how long these changes will stick around. It’s frustrating to have to adapt quickly to a scary situation and even more annoying to not know exactly it will all end. As with all sources of recreation around the world, the long-term implications of lockdowns and social distancing have brought movie theaters into question.
Suggested by an article from Forbes, if social distancing continues, movie theaters are at risk of going bankrupt. Even in the best-case scenario, that movie theaters reopen in June, they would still suffer from a large amount of lost sales from these months of being shut down and will lose even more money if especially conscientious consumers continue avoiding the movies for the rest of the year.
Shocked? Don’t be. Given the reports that movie theaters were suffering even before the coronavirus became so serious, due to rise of streaming services and coupled with the increasing operational expenses and the decreasing amount of income necessary to offset these costs, it’s becoming much more of a reality that we could be saying goodbye to some of our favorite movie theater chains.
On a more optimistic note, some reports indicate that we could be looking forward to going to the movies again but it’s likely that there will be a few changes to the ways that we watched movies in the past. These changes could include smaller theater room capacity and staggered seating but is that enough to keep these movie theaters in business?
Aside from concerns about whether or not movie theaters will reopen, some people may also be asking themselves, “When and where can I watch that new movie I was waiting to see?” If you’re anything like me, find out more about all the movies suspended or delayed due to coronavirus here.