Movie lovers come to terms with Steven Spielberg’s decade-old prophecy of cinema’s demise

A decade ago, Steven Spielberg confidently discussed an impending failure of cinema and the implosion of the film market, should multiple big-budget blockbusters underperform back-to-back, like we’re seeing this year. Today, fans are relating the audience’s inability to enjoy the theatre experiences with the aforementioned prediction.

While the globally renowned franchises like the MCU generally land a respectable theatrical release and high-ticket sales, many high-budget ‘quality’ films which appeal to the ‘niche ‘audiences barely get the opportunity to make their way into the theatres. At least that’s what Spielberg and George Lucas seemed to infer when they talked about the challenges faced by films such as Lincoln and Red Tails in securing a theatrical release. While an enormous amount of money gets invested in the making of these films, oftentimes they land on television.

This comment by Spielberg led Reddit users to come forward with their respective opinions and experiences. One of the users, Lionfyst narrated their experiences of how watching a film in groups is not a joyous experience anymore.

The reason they stated is the viewers’ divided attention. While many are invested in enjoying the film, others are engaged in diverse activities which make the viewing experience less memorable. Other users replying to the comment agreed to the point and went on detailing similar experiences in theatres.

Other users like Alchemae and WrongSubFools gave opposing opinions on what Spielberg said about ticket prices. As per the former, high ticket prices bar people from going to movies. The latter, on the other hand, interpreted the subject differently saying that what the director meant was that the potential success of the movies would determine ticket prices, with blockbusters charging more than competing films.

Overall, if this trend of prioritizing certain specific films over others continues, the blissful cinema experience is sure to crumble, and almost everyone, including Spielberg agrees on that fact.