Temporarily closed: This era of movie theaters is ending

The long struggling Cineworld, the company that owns Regal Theaters, is expected to exit bankruptcy in July. According to deadline.com, shareholders will be wiped out. This is the latest death rattle of the current version of one of the great American pastimes: watching movies together in public.

 In the early 20th century, picture houses punctuated urban cores and main streets, giving young couples gorgeous buildings to watch films, news and make out in. 

As times changed, so did our theaters, they morphed into drive-ins on the fringes of town, perfect for mid twentieth century make out sessions. 

By the time I was a teenager, in the 1990s, most of those theaters were long gone. The remaining buildings became novelties, homes of Oscar bait movies or nostalgic double features. 

The movie theaters of my era were less romantic. They were giant concrete boxes in the corners of suburban malls or plazas surrounded by endless reams of parking full of kids and adults alike, looking for a place to go make out. 

Many of these buildings lay fallow, as COVID-19 and the great American pause of the last few years washed over us all, the flaws in their business model were revealed. They fell apart at freefall speed. A lot of these buildings are rotting now, some with signs that still say temporarily closed.

But I don’t expect theaters to disappear completely.  I think my generation and the ones that follow will do what previous generations did, we’ll evolve these businesses.  After all, the next round of kids will need a place to go make out.

Reach me at James@rochesteraccent.com or jamesbrowntv@gmail.com. Or leave me a message at 1-585-484-0339

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