Cinema Foundation Study Indicates Interest in Non-Traditional Programming

The Cinema Foundation, in partnership with the film research firm The Quorum, has released a study demonstrating high interest among moviegoers, from frequent to non-active, in non-traditional programming in movie theaters. The study surveyed 5,940 people nationwide between July 20th and August 5th of this year.

The survey identified ten experiences ranging from live or pre-premiere television shows and streamed live concerts to in-theater cooking events and E-sports. The study revealed a significant interest for all ten surveyed events among both active and non-active theatergoers. In addition, many of the respondents expressed a willingness to pay a premium beyond the price of a movie ticket for these experiences. Special television episodes, live concerts, and cooking experiences scored the highest interest.

Repertory film titles also elicited strong interest among moviegoers and non-moviegoers alike, with interest in the Golden Age of Hollywood and films from the 70s, 80s and 90s all scoring more than 50% interest from non-moviegoers. Respondents also expressed strong interest in documentaries, anime, short films and Indian cinema.

“As the movies we do have performed and overperformed this year, it is clear that audiences are hungry for the movie theater experience,” said Cinema Foundation president Jackie Brenneman. “This study underscores the fact that if we want more audiences, we need to offer more reasons for them to come out. The results here point a way forward to expanding our reach and our attendance. At the same time, they offer an opportunity for distributors, when supply chains are challenged, to leverage high quality entertainment across multiple platforms, including movie theaters.”

David Herrin, founder of The Quorum, added, “While a lot of attention has been focused on a lack of films being a drag on attendance, there has been less attention on what to do about it other than ‘more films’. The survey results show that there is a wide range of opportunities for exhibitors and distributors to capitalize on consumers’ love of the theater-going experience with ‘more of everything’.”

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