particularly impressive effect by James Cameron
in the first Avatar film. However, the veteran
filmmaker himself still believes that “there will
be movie theaters in 1,000 years”, due to “the
group experience, the sense of going out and
participating in a film together.”
In further words to Smithsonian, Cameron
remarked: “People have been predicting the
demise of movie theaters since I started in the
business.” In fact, movie theaters were evidently
under threat even earlier than that, judging
from a detailed history of cinema as outlined
by Flickering Myth. Home movies took off in
the 1950s – and as TVs have picked up support
for technologies like VHS, LaserDisc, DVD and
Blu-ray, the gap between the theatrical and TV
experiences has narrowed.
Before the arrival of home cinema, it wasn’t
unusual for a film to essentially disappear
forever once it had finished its theatrical run.
Therefore, once TV viewing allowed films to be
immortalized, the theaters had lost one of their
major selling points. This left them eager to
emphasize the unique experience of seeing a
film on the big screen rather than the small one.
In other words, movie theaters adapted to the
change, instead of allowing themselves to be
consumed by it.
THE MUCH-DEBATED “NETFLIX EFFECT”
Hence, while Netflix’s effect on the cinema
experience is pretty undeniable, the exact
nature and extent of this effect remains
muddled and unclear. The New York Times
recently convened a panel of Hollywood
influencers to solicit their opinions on how