At this point attendance is fallow, it dropped a bit 10 years ago but it’s basically staying the same. Complexes have closed due to rising competition with ticket sales the same new franchises popping up are slicing the pie hard. Also the digital switch, not everybody was ready for that; digital projectors are insanely expensive, hundreds of thousands, and if you have a 16 screen theater that’s a wallop. That’s actually what drove Harkins in to kick a lot of butts, all digital and well financed, also well advertised pushing digital as better (it’s not, at least until bad projectionists screw up film) they ate a lot of market during the transition.
And of course the market always changes. Local dinner theaters started showing up with recliners and beer and good food, now AMC is introducing new theaters with recliners and beer and good food and rebranding the old style “classic”. It’s a smart move, for theaters the money has always been in the concessions anyway, and by serving good food they still make that cash, and get goodwill instead of the constant complaints about overpriced stale candy.
They need to bring back the Drive-In.
I still have one here in Sacramento, but they are rare.
Many folks don’t care what’s on at the Drive-In, they go anyway. Something will be tolerable.
Those theatres are designed to cater to an older crowd not wanting teenage shenanigans in the theatre. The alcohol blocks that demographic out as well as the tickets being double the price. A couple drops around $50 for tix and then if food and drink is ordered it’s even more. For me the movie would have to be truly extraordinary for me to even consider that level of payout. Nothing in recent years comes to mind that would.