Twenty-five percent unemployment, no safety net, widespread hunger and hopelessness - a soul-crushing trauma that scarred the psyche of the greatest generation more than World War II. Of course, the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression was the main cause of the rush to the exists, a prolonged convalescence for which not even FDR could fast-track a vaccine. ![]() The Long Shadow of Antitrust Targets From Hollywood's Golden Ageīy way of perspective and maybe solace, it is worth remembering that the present emergency is not the first time that exhibitors have been beset by a sickening plague and a hot new media rival. In the nadir of the Great Depression, a flatlined economy and the siren call of radio had audiences deserting theaters in droves. It was the movie house version of a bank run, only the customers were running away from the venues. ![]() Among motion picture exhibitors, there is a gnawing sense that the defection may be permanent, that the full houses and packed concession stands of the world before March 2020 may never be seen again at the same levels. At times last year, domestic revenue was down 40 percent from pre-pandemic 2019. The first virus has lifted but the second seems to have converted a huge slice of a once-loyal demo to the homebody comforts of digital streaming. ![]() Whether at the repertory house or the multiplex, box office has not yet rebounded from the one-two punch of COVID-19 and Roku. The exhibition end of the motion picture business - where moviegoers go when they leave their domiciles and travel thorough geographical space for a communal, in-person experience before a big screen - is in trouble.
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