Movie theater revenue and attendance remain stuck below pre-pandemic levels. In the streaming era, audiences increasingly prefer the couch to the cinema.
The 2026 Academy Awards are Sunday night. But behind Hollywood’s biggest celebration lies an uncomfortable reality: The movie theater business is in steep decline.
Nearly six years after the pandemic, theaters remain a shadow of their former selves. In 2025, the domestic box office totaled just $8.6 billion, down -3% from 2023 and -24% from 2019.
The drop in ticket sales is even more dramatic. In 2025, just 769 million movie tickets were sold across the US and Canada, down -6% from 2023 and -37% from 2019. The longer-term fall is even starker. Ticket sales are now -51% below their 2002 peak, when blockbuster franchises like Harry Potter, Spider-Man, The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars dominated the big screen.
In AMC’s 4Q earnings call, the movie theater chain reported that global attendance fell -10% from the same period the year prior. The company also said it plans to continue closing more theaters. AMC, down -62% YoY, is now trading at barely $1.00 per share. If it doesn’t rediscover its meme stock mojo, the shadow of bankruptcy looms.
Hollywood is also spending far less on film production. According to FilmLA, filming permits in Los Angeles County totaled just 19.7K in 2025, down -49% from 2018 and roughly on par with 2020, when the world shut down due COVID-19. Part of the decline reflects productions moving out of California to cheaper locations. But it also reflects a broader shift in media spending, as studios redirect more of their budgets toward live programming, especially sports.
So why aren’t people going to the movies? The primary reason is streaming. The average American household now subscribes to four streaming services, spending about $69 per month. For many consumers, it makes more sense to wait for a new release to appear on Netflix or HBO, platforms they already pay for. With movie tickets now costing $13–$18 each, a single trip to the theater can easily cost more than an entire month of streaming. Indeed, the traditional ritual of the 200-minute, in-and-out theater experience may not survive the impact of the 10-hour, multi-episode streaming binge.
For Hollywood, the problem is simple: Consumers still love movies, but increasingly prefer watching them at home.