Movie theaters in the age of streaming services

RIO RANCHO — First, it was Blockbuster, then it was Hastings Entertainment. Now, all Redbox kiosks will eventually shut down. What is left for streaming services to conquer? Hopefully, not movie theaters.

“Now, there’s a lot of people out there who come for the experience … there are a lot of reasons why people still come out, but the bottom line is we have to get more to come out to keep us alive,” Premiere Cinemas Director Sandy Dodson said. “If one person reads this article and has an ‘aha!’ moment, then that’s a good thing.”

Dodson has been with Premiere Cinemas for 13 years, since the day the Rio Rancho movie theater opened. She has, obviously, felt the effect of streaming services.

“We were slowly losing people because Netflix was there, Hulu, and all those other streaming devices. But then COVID hit, and it all took a big nosedive,” Dodson said.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, Rio Rancho Premiere Cinemas closed for more than a year until its grand re-opening in May 2021.

“I still have guests right now that say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the first time that we have come back since COVID,’ and that just floors me. It’s been what, three years now?” Dodson said.

According to Dodson, another explanation for less people at movie theaters could be rising inflation.

“Inflation. People have to choose: Are we going to go to the movies last week or are we going to get groceries?” Dodson said. “There’s a family of five, and it’ll cost them $100 to go to the movies. Instead, they’ll just buy the latest and greatest movie for $20 on their streaming device; possibly order food to be delivered.”

Streaming services forever changed the movie industry and have also taken away some of the movie magic of the past.

“You just do not feel that excitement like you used to when you had a big movie. People would stand outside at midnight, freezing their butts off ... it has been lost a lot,” Dodson said. “Last summer was great with ‘Barbenheimer;’ that was a fun time. You almost felt ‘it’ again.”

“Barbenheimer” was a cultural phenomenon in 2023 which centered on the theatrical releases of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” two contrasting movies made by two brilliant directors, and people were encouraged to see them as a “double feature,” which contributed to both projects’ box office successes ($2.42 billion total).

This year, people flocked to see Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” which dominated the box office and has become 2024’s top-grossing film ($1.69 billion).

“We do feel it. We feel it when a new movie comes out that has the hype: Marvel movies, Disney movies, animated family movies. Those movies draw the people in,” Dodson said.

However, another well-reviewed, family-animated film did not perform so successfully in theaters, and that was “Transformers One.”

“Then, ‘Transformers One’ came out, we were prepared. We thought we had a great movie, we were going to bring the people in. Summer’s over, school has started, now we got something good ... and nothing. We just didn’t feel it,” Dodson said.

According to Dodson, she likes when there is something that could explain why a movie did not do so well. Dodson said, “Maybe families just preferred to go to the New Mexico State Fair instead of going to the movies?”

Nevertheless, the real question for Dodson is why movie studios simultaneously release projects on streaming services while it’s playing in movie theaters.

“I do not, for the life of me, understand why studios would release a movie to a streaming device at the same time they release it in the theaters,” Dodson said.

A recent example of this was Warner Bros. handling of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” which was simultaneously released in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max (now known as Max). According to ”Screen Rant,” Nolan parted ways with Warner Bros. after disagreeing with its new strategy of simultaneously releasing projects.

“There’s got to be, and it’s always money, a financial or reason behind studios releasing to a streaming device. In the back of my mind, I don’t think they want us to go away. We are how it all began, the movie theaters,” Dodson said.

Another issue could be local familiarity as film bookers are the ones who decide what movies come to theaters.

“‘Boneyard’ came out this year; now, it wasn’t filmed here, but it is based on stuff that happened in New Mexico, and we did not screen it,” Dodson said.

“Boneyard” is 2024 crime thriller film based on the 2009 West Mesa Murders in Albuquerque starring Mel Gibson and Curtis Jackson (also known as 50 Cent).

“I think a ton of people would have come out to see something that,” Dodson said.

Another New Mexico film not screened at the Rio Rancho Premiere Cinemas was the Lebron James-produced film “Rez Ball,” which was shot entirely in New Mexico, including scenes in Lincoln Middle School.