It’s the season of movie awards and stars will hit the red carpet hoping to bring home accolades from big performances of 2024.
While there’s no shortage of new movies, getting people to the movie theater continues to be a struggle for America’s largest movie theater chains.
On a weekday in Billings, 27-year-old retail worker Molly Blake is taking her three-year-old son to a movie at an AMC theater. She said if anything she’s been going more frequently since COVID.
“Usually I can predict that me and him will be the only ones in the theater,” Blake said.
Also going to see a movie is a group of friends, among them 20-year-old Riri Swander.
“We’ve been really hyped for this and this was the only time all of our work schedules aligned so we could go watch Sonic 3 together,” said Swander.
Cracking that “movie experience” formula is key to competing with streaming services, according to some movie industry members, but stock prices for AMC, the largest movie theater chain in the country, have dropped. Stock prices sank by around 90 percent this month compared to the same time in 2019.
Meanwhile, the centrally-located and independently-owned Art House Cinema and Pub in downtown Billings is expanding.
“We’re small, so we can pivot and turn and try things really quickly and easily,” said the Art House’s Matt Blakeslee.
Blakeslee said he sees ticket holders enjoy the experience, sometimes even despite the movie, “because of the seats or because of the opportunity to have a beer or a glass of wine and the popcorn is awesome.”
Back at the AMC theater in Billings, 19-year-old Joyce Allen said it’s the experience they're here for: “The feeling of going to the theaters and seeing it is so much different from streaming it at home. I feel like I’m more attentive, I’m with my friends, it feels more fun, more exciting. Like you’re in the atmosphere, you’re so in the movie, it’s everything.”
