Movie Theaters Are Dead. Long Live the Movie Theaters.

At the beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of articles predicted the death of the movie theater. Now it looks as if rumors of its death were greatly exaggerated. Since the dawn of television, however, pundits have been proclaiming movies dead. Let’s test your knowledge of other things predicted to kill the movie theater.

Movie attendance has been in steep decline for 70 years. But at the height of movie attendance, one classic American movie sold more tickets than any other film ever since. What is the reigning king of the box office?

Gone with the Wind sold more than 201 million tickets, more than any other American movie.

This cinematic innovation, which was designed to bring people back into the movie theaters after TV’s invention threatened to keep people at home, was described by filmmaker Fritz Lang as “only suitable for shooting snakes and funerals.”

Cinemascope.

VHS and BETAMAX fought for the right to bring about the death of the movie theater. Why did VHS win, resigning BETAMAX to the trash heap of history?

Beta originally had a limit of one hour per tape, and they were more expensive to produce than VHS.

The invention of Blu-Ray Discs offered movie theater quality at home, yet people still choose to spend $8 on popcorn and see movies in the theater. Why is it called Blu-Ray?

The name refers to the blue (actually violet) laser that allows images to be stored at a higher density than the red laser used by DVD.

When Netflix began creating streaming content, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences refused to consider any of its films for Best Picture unless they gave it a theatrical run. What was the first Netflix-produced movie to be nominated for best picture?

Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma