I don’t think many people understand the impact a total shutdown of cinemas for the next few months will have on theater owners. It’s going to be devastating. The morose message to congress from John Fithian, president, and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, is even gloomier; moviegoing will die if Congress doesn’t pass the trillion-dollar coronavirus rescue bill.
“The situation is that dire,” Fithian told Variety. “Overnight, we went from an industry that makes $15 billion a year — $11 billion in ticket sales and $4 billion in concessions — to one that is not going to make a penny for three or four months,” he added.
“Most of these theaters, not all of them, but most of them, will go bankrupt if this does not pass,” said Fithian. “If this goes through, it will provide a whole lot of help to industries that need it like restaurants and bars and bowling alleys and retailers.”
Most theaters still have to pay rent, despite the forced closures by their individual states, this will no doubt cause a major breakdown of the whole theatrical system as many will likely close due to the inactivity. Meanwhile, streaming sites such as Netflix and Amazon will flourish during this time, making money and greenlighting more projects. We’re headed towards a game-changing moment for cinema as we know it.
Coincidentally, this past Friday, Christopher Nolan penned a Washington Post op-ed pleading for congress and the powers-that-be to save theaters amid this furious global pandemic.