You know the history of entertainment has changed tremendously throughout the years. I guess we first started with someone gathering around the fire ring to tell stories. They would enthrall the listeners with daring-do and excitement to escape the mundane of everyday life.
In time things changed and we had bards going from town-to-town singing and telling stories to earn food and money. After a while, people traveling with pianos, banjos, and guitars along with traveling minstrels and acting groups became the main sources of entertainment.
How about the nickelodeon? It was the first indoor space showing projected motion pictures. They were usually set up in old closed down stores with chairs and a projector as a very tiny simple movie theater. They charged five cents per person from about 1905 to 1915. And later the nickelodeon became known as the machine you dropped a nickel in to watch a movie for just one person. They yielded bigger profits with less investment of time and energy.
Then came traveling movies which were like traveling bards with a projector. How about the theater? It usually was for the wealthy clientele so they would not have to mix with the commoners. Vaudeville came along and vanished.
Then to my era with movie theaters and drive-in movies (popular from the 1940s-1970s) Very few remain.
In the mid-60s Stanley Durwood of Kansas City, Missouri decided that TVs were coming along and cutting back on movie theaters profits. He and his family owned about 40 theaters. He decided if they had more than one movie theater per building he could double the smaller profits that were coming in. He was correct when he started the first Multiplex Theater. He divided the balcony off from the main theater which created two movie houses in one building. He ran “The Great Escape” in both theaters and made more money. They began in earnest. By-the-way, as they got larger he changed the name of the company to AMC, which is now the largest movie theater company in the U.S.
Then came Blockbuster, (now deceased) Netflix, Hulu, Disney, CBS All Access, and about a bazillion more.
On Thursday, October 8, 2020, the Covid Pandemic caused Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, the second-largest theater in the U.S. to file bankruptcy and shut down 700 buildings, over 9000 theaters, and lay off 45,000 employees worldwide. AMC, yes the one mentioned above, said recently the only way they will last through the end of 2020 is if the new James Bond movie comes out and they can broadcast it for the last month or two of the year. The Bond franchise announced it will be released “hopefully” in the first or second quarter of 2021.
What is in the future of entertainment? I believe a few theaters will come back, a few will have dinner and a movie but the huge multiplexes may be gone the way of the drive-ins. Our large 60 inch plus TVs make a big difference in our viewing with all the streaming services.
What do you think the future holds?
