What’s playing at the movies? Everything, all at once

It’s a lonely life, being a superfan of Judd Apatow’s 2015 romantic comedy, “Trainwreck.” When the film, starring and written by Amy Schumer, opened in July of that year, it was lauded by critics and audiences as a refreshing take on a well-tread genre. “Trainwreck” even overperformed at the box office, raking in cash well beyond initial estimates. And while the film’s buzzy veneration quelled over the years as Schumer’s likability yo-yoed in the public eye, surely its reputation would be strong enough to warrant a one-week theatrical re-release to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Or, at least, that’s what the execs at Universal Pictures and the smattering of remaining “Trainwreck” devotees thought. Imagine: Your favorite rom-com is coming back to the big screen for a limited window, oh, goody! Your ticket is secure, and you’ve budgeted the necessary $127 to cover a regular-size popcorn and soda. But as you wait in line to fork over your hard-earned cash at the concession stand, you notice that no one is heading into the theater. Strange, considering there’s a line out the auditorium door for the 15th anniversary screening of “Black Swan,” right next door. “All the ‘Trainwreck’ fans must already be inside,” you think to yourself. “My comrades got here so early because they couldn’t bear the thought of missing even a single moment!”

As it turns out, anyone with that line of thinking ended up sorely disappointed over the weekend of August 22, when the “Trainwreck” re-release grossed a paltry $13,000 across 800 American screens. Doing the math, that’s a $16-per-theater average — or about one, solitary ticketholder at every theater, left to let their laughter echo through an otherwise empty auditorium.

While one could attribute the film’s meager performance to several things — Schumer’s reputation, the aged comedy, the fact that 10 years is barely enough time to build nostalgia for a film — perhaps “Trainwreck” was simply undone by its competition. And competition isn’t just the big, blockbuster titles like “Weapons” or “Freakier Friday,” which sat at the top of that weekend’s box office, either. “Trainwreck” went up against nine other theatrical re-releases, including “Black Swan,” “Shin Godzilla” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” the last of which made only a few more dollars per screen than “Trainwreck.” (Must’ve been those 10 extra years; you’ll get ‘em in 2035, Apatow!) If you’re going to the movies regularly, it’s impossible not to note the influx of theatrical re-releases coming down the pike, a stark difference from when repertory screenings were reserved for arthouse cinemas and big anniversaries. But these special showings are just one major part of the way the theatrical experience is shifting. And though new moviegoing trends pop up faster than we can sometimes keep up with, it’s best not to turn up your nose at the changing tides. Getting your money may be the bottom line in keeping the theater industry afloat, but that old dog is intent on learning some new tricks to earn it fair and square.

In March, five years after the initial COVID-19 shutdowns that rocked the theater industry and kept moviegoers inside their homes and on their couches, America had 5,961 fewer movie screens than it had at the start of the pandemic. The early pandemic era crippled businesses, forcing several theater chains, such as Alamo Drafthouse and Regal Cinemas, to file for bankruptcy. (Both chains have since been able to recover, to an extent.) Movies that were originally planned solely for movie theaters were pushed onto streaming or VOD — sometimes in tandem with their eventual theatrical release, sometimes instead of — to accommodate government restrictions and low theater turnout. And even when COVID restrictions were lifted and vaccines were rolled out en masse, box office numbers struggled to rebound. For some, moviegoing was a habit that was easy to break. Getting out of the house to catch a new film that will likely be on demand in a few weeks isn’t worth the fuss.

While I don’t mean to proselytize to those who would rather stay home than go to the movie theater — alright, I do just a little bit — there is nothing like the theatrical experience. No matter what your home setup is like, it can’t compare to the feeling of seeing a film on the silver screen. I know that, movie theater owners know that, and I hope that, somewhere deep down, you know it too. And if you’re still not convinced, the theater industry is trying its absolute best to sway you out of your pajamas and into an auditorium seat, including retrofitting those seats to make them into ultra-comfy recliners, the standard for almost every major theater chain. Along with a wider array of food options, alcoholic beverages available for purchase, and special discounted tickets, these changes are all meant to make moviegoing enticing again. Just don’t forget, even though a theater might feel as comfortable as your living room, it doesn’t mean you should act like you’re all alone in the theater. (Unless, of course, you’re at a 10th anniversary screening of “Trainwreck.”)

But it’s what’s on the screens themselves that’s really making a splash. After the pandemic, the studio model that once allowed new tentpole films to be released in theaters virtually every week of the year was hobbled. The risk of losing money became too great, causing production times to slow and studios to favor spending millions of dollars on movies that had a better chance of turning a profit: sequels, franchise films, anything safe enough to diminish potential risk.

The deluge of re-released films is part of this new model, too, though one that has a better chance of communicating what moviegoers do and don’t want to see from new films in the future. While a chain like Alamo Drafthouse is widely known for its repertory screenings and special series, seeing older films run at AMC as frequently as they do now is relatively new. For studios, mounting an older film for a special anniversary is a much more cost-efficient way to make a few extra bucks, especially if that film already has a built-in audience — say, for example, the collective of sickos I call my friends who attended “Black Swan” last month. And the great thing about anniversaries is that they can be applied to any film, from any year, as long as the anniversary length is a multiple of five. Hell, for the “Twilight” franchise, which will return to theaters this fall, even a sturdy anniversary number didn’t matter. The first “Twilight” film will celebrate its 17th anniversary in November.

At other times, the response to re-releases can dictate to studio heads and theater executives what movies are going to be profitable and why. The massive success of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which screened in standard digital, 70mm film and IMAX formats, was no doubt an indication that a 10th anniversary re-release of Nolan’s 2014 film “Interstellar” in IMAX could do well at the box office. In practice, the anniversary screenings cleaned up, earning over $38 million worldwide for a film that could easily be watched at home but is best experienced on the big screen. When IMAX tickets for Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic “The Odyssey” went on sale in early July, one whole year before the film is released next summer, screenings sold out in minutes.

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That doesn’t mean that modern moviegoing should be intimidating, only that it’s malleable, and that you can be just as flexible with the films you see. The theater industry is adapting as quickly and as well as it can, trying to strike a balance between repertory screenings and new films. But a major market remains on streaming, and services like Netflix and Apple TV+ have become undeniable contenders in the fight for your attention. The latter, for instance, is yanking Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” out of theaters this Friday after a two-week limited run, moving it onto the Apple TV+ streaming platform. Netflix will do the same for Guillermo Del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and their next “Knives Out” sequel, “Wake Up, Dead Man,” later this fall. Netflix’s theatrical-to-streaming pipeline remains baffling, given that more money can be made during theatrical runs than by relying solely on the subscriber model. And, given Apple following in its footsteps, one could glean that Netflix has gained a significant foothold in how modern movies are released and enjoyed.

That is, until the viewers step in. The enormous success of Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” was unprecedented by the streamer’s standards, but not by the audience’s. Viewers have been craving original, high-concept, fun animation for years, flocking to make Sony’s “Spider-Verse” films into triumphant awards contenders. Despite the success of the “Spider-Verse” movies, Sony hedged their bets and sold “KPop Demon Hunters” to Netflix instead of giving the film a theatrical release. Multiple top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, numerous merchandise drops, and millions of viewers later, “KPop Demon Hunters” has become Netflix’s most-watched original movie ever. Capitalizing on this boon, Netflix pushed the film into theaters for special sing-along screenings, which proved to be a hit for “Wicked” last year, and raked in $18 million over just one weekend.

Neither a re-release nor a movie that is necessarily brand new, the success of “KPop Demon Hunters” proved that, in the theater industry, there are no sure bets. Everything remains in flux after the pandemic, and things will undoubtedly continue to do so for some time. And although AMC CEO Adam Aron told Variety that 2026 looks like a strong year for the chain, the only truly certain thing is that the consumer dictates how successful both movies and movie theaters are. In our modern, hyper-digital era, that power transcends the multiplex and hits streaming right in the gut. If a film is popular enough on streaming services, it could easily receive a theatrical release. Maybe, just maybe, that hype could even convince studios to keep these movies coming to theaters first, and save the slop for the streamers, even if it’s only for a couple of weeks.

Of course, that depends on one very simple factor: you. Movie houses need your date nights, your friend outings and your solo screenings, yes, but they need your curiosity just as much. The only thing that will keep theaters alive in the long run is a moviegoing population that isn’t afraid of a little risk. Maybe a film won’t be the best thing you’ve ever seen, or perhaps it will — Really, knowing the quality shouldn’t necessarily matter. Part of the excitement of going to the movies is not knowing exactly what kind of experience you might have with a film. Movie theater trends might be shifting fast, but that means that going to the movies will always be a more interesting way to spend your time than sprawled out, drooling on the couch. Who knows, you could stumble into a 2015 romantic comedy and find that your new best friend is the only other person in the theater, laughing at all of the same jokes.