In the streaming age where movies are cheaper, easier, and always within our reach, the burden of getting audiences into cinemas no longer falls on the viewers, but on the films themselves. It has never been easier to watch a movie and never harder to justify going out to see one. As Ryan Gosling said, films must now earn their audience and place on the big screen by offering something convenience cannot: scale, immersion, and the shared magic of watching alongside a room full of strangers. When films are exciting and promoted well, people are more likely to get off the couch and see it.
As someone who loves movies, there is something about the cinema that just works. There is something unmatched about sitting in the dark among strangers watching a story unfold on a huge screen. Experiencing the final match in Challengers, with the camera perspective shifting between the crowd, the ball, and the court, felt electric, and it is hard to imagine it having the same effect on a smaller screen at home.
It is also a lot harder to get distracted in the cinema and easier to stay engaged in what is happening compared to watching on a laptop. Watching at home might be more convenient, but it often turns films into background noise or something half-watched between doomscrolling. Some movies can survive this kind of divided attention, but others really cannot. You cannot tell me that watching Superman in a sold out IMAX cinema will have the same impact when viewed in 25 parts on TikTok.
That is where the difference lies. When studios make films that actually demand our attention, whether it is through spectacle or strong storytelling, people will show up. And when those films are marketed well, they stop being just another release and start feeling like an event. The success of Barbie was not just about the film itself, but about the experience of girlhood built around it.
Of course, that level of hype can just as easily backfire. Going to the cinema raises expectations, and if a film fails to deliver, audiences are far less forgiving when they have paid for a ticket. Promotion plays a crucial role in building excitement around a movie. In recent years, promo tours have become increasingly extensive, giving audiences the chance to get to know the cast while also helping them understand the film’s message before they even take their seats. However, bad promotion can have the opposite effect. Timothée Chalamet was nominated for an Oscar this year for Marty Supreme, a movie about ping pong that honestly lacks a lot of actual ping pong playing. While promoting the movie at a conference on preserving cinema at the University of Texas in February, he disregarded ballet and opera as art forms that audiences supposedly do not care about. The comments sparked immediate backlash, with many critics and fans accusing him of being dismissive and out of touch, especially when his movie is about ping pong. Bad promo can turn audiences away from watching films, even if it is just a seemingly innocuous throwaway line.
The future of cinema does not rest on audiences suddenly abandoning streaming, but on films proving why they deserve to be seen on the big screen. The cinema experience remains powerful, but it is not always guaranteed – it has to be earned. Through thoughtful promotion and good movie plots, audiences are able to see what separates films that simply exist from those that feel unmissable. In an age of endless convenience, the movies that succeed in cinemas will be the ones that remind us why leaving the house was worth it in the first place.
Visual: Mpho Makwela
