Post-Pandemic Cinema: How Technology Is Boosting Competition

Movie theaters have traditionally relied heavily on technology to stave off threats from other forms of entertainment.

FREMONT, CA: For more than seventy years, cinemas have faced competition for the public's free time, beginning with the rise of television and continuing with the expansion of home-entertainment options. Since the epidemic has destroyed exclusivity windows, the movie theater industry is today facing one of its most formidable problems ever, and a return to "business as usual" looks exceedingly doubtful.

Throughout the decades, technology has been the cinema industry's most essential survival strategy, from wide-screen formats born in the 1950s to breakthroughs in sound to the digital revolution and the construction of luxury auditoriums with amenities unavailable at home. As theaters seek to regain some sort of normalcy, we asked leaders in cinema technology for their perspectives on how advanced technology can entice audiences to return to theaters when so many high-budget films are available on home screens.

Technology has always played a significant part in assisting movie theaters to fend off competition from alternative methods of viewing material. Moreover, technology has maintained going to the movies a cheap option for out-of-home entertainment. People desire to share in the richness of a captivating story's presentation, and technology has traditionally served as a tool for exhibitors to facilitate this. There are numerous ways in which theater operators can employ technology to differentiate the experience they can provide at the theater from what individuals can produce at home. Assess the presentation quality within the theater first and foremost. Are the sound and projection systems operating to their fullest capacity? If not, use this post-pandemic phase to tune or enhance the equipment so that when patrons return to the theater, the difference between streaming a movie at home and watching it in the theater is more pronounced and convincing.

Additionally, technology can be used to broaden the theater's use beyond the screening of feature films. With a minimal investment in conferencing and collaboration technologies, the theater may be transformed into a presentation room with remote viewing capabilities for business meetings and celebrations. Utilize streaming technology to your advantage within the multiplex by merging rooms to create a 'virtual' environment as large or small as the rental customers require, by streaming from room to room. Additionally, now is the ideal time to investigate 'event cinema.' This can lessen the dependence on first-run feature films. In addition, network technologies offer ways to optimize building-wide operations, enabling centralized or remote monitoring and management of all theaters, public spaces, and building systems, so providing several opportunities to boost efficiency and save money.