What's the point of going to the movies nowadays? That's a question more Americans are asking themselves as Hollywood continues its downward spiral, and the numbers tell a brutal story. Seriously. It used to be an event. You’d plan your weekend around a big movie release and actually look forward to the experience. Today? It’s hard to justify the cost—especially when the entertainment value has collapsed, and many movies today are more about lecturing than entertaining. From where I sit, the theater isn’t what it used to be, and Hollywood only has itself to blame.
An article at OutKick takes a closer look at the entertainment industry’s ongoing struggles, with Disney standing out as a prime example of a once-dominant studio stuck in a prolonged slump. Films from the company’s biggest franchises have increasingly failed to draw domestic audiences or deliver dependable box office wins. Disney has stumbled bad after decades of steady success, while Marvel Studios has seen most of its recent releases flop despite its reputation for churning out blockbusters.
As we all know, Hollywood has increasingly become a factory of progressive ideology, injecting divisive politics into films and shows, alienating tens of millions of potential customers. That's certainly a factor, but so is the reliance on squeezing every last drop out of franchises that have long been exhausted.
For example, I was a huge fan of the Toy Story franchise and felt obliged to see the fourth installment in the theater, and it was a major disappointment. Yet a new addition to the franchise is scheduled for release in June 2026. I have no desire to see it.
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Avatar: Fire and Ash is another box office disappointment for Disney, which had hoped the film would provide a short-term boost. The previous sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, opened to more than $134 million domestically in 2022 and went on to earn nearly $685 million in the U.S., while Fire and Ash debuted with just $89 million. Adjusted for inflation, the decline is even more pronounced, signaling a sharp drop in audience interest and raising doubts about the franchise’s once-reliable box office pull. I stopped caring about the franchise after the original film.
To be fair, audiences don't help. We get tired of endless sequels and remakes and see them as a sign of Hollywood laziness, yet we aren’t exactly rushing to theaters for new IPs anymore. The problem is that, between ticket and snack costs, a night out at the theater is far more expensive than it used to be. Given the high cost of a night at the theater, people are more than willing to wait for movies to become available on streaming services or DVD. This is where Hollywood is cannibalizing its own box office profits.
These days, movies hit streaming so quickly that audiences don't think the wait is too much to bear for a film they want to see. When I was a kid, it felt like movies wouldn't be available on home video for at least six months after they left theaters, giving us far more incentive to go to the theater to see the movies we wanted. Hollywood hasn't figured out how to make moviegoing relevant again, and if it doesn’t, theaters will be a thing of the past.
