TV couldn't kill the cinema experience. The advent of VCRs couldn't kill it. Nor could DVDs, Blu rays or even streaming. Even the shutdowns caused by COVID-19 were temporary.
While it's hard to predict what audiences want - hence the risk-averse proliferation of sequels, franchises, remakes and reboots - the evidence is there: if movies are screened that attract people, they will come. Top Gun: Maverick is a good example.
It doesn't seem to have been simply nostalgic Generation Xers who turned out to see Tom Cruise go flying again, keeping the film in cinemas for more than half a year. Cruise has been around for four decades and is still going strong so younger viewers have had plenty of time to discover, or be introduced, to his early work. His role as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is one of his best known from the 1980s, helping establish the grinning, cocky "Tom Cruise" persona.
Such films benefit from being seen in cinemas, both for the scale - any remotely comparable sound and vision system at home would be very expensive and large - and for the communal experience, with action, humour and even pathos given a boost when enjoyed with a receptive crowd.
That said, it would be a pity if only the blockbusters inhabited cinemas. While some movies might not benefit as much as others from large-scale projection, most movies still seem to be made with cinemas in mind. While comedies, like action movies, benefit from being seen with an appreciative audience, even the experience of watching an intimate dramas can be enhanced by an attentive communal experience: you can pick up the feeling of those around you.
And the welcome retrospective screenings of old movies remind us of what we've been missing when we watch, say, one of the best Alfred Hitchcock suspense movies or a sci-fi classic like 2001: A Space Odyssey at home. Well restored, these gems shine just as brightly as their newer rivals on the big screen and they've earned their place.
There are downsides, of course, and not just fear of COVID or other illnesses. Cinema etiquette is sometimes ignored, with people talking or playing with their phones through the movie. Some complain about patrons' eating and drinking but while this can be distracting, it's a necessary evil (the concession stand is where cinemas make a lot of the money that keeps them going). At a recent movie there were two annoyances - a broken Exit sign that hummed like a blowfly throughout the film, and the persistent noise of kids running and yelling outside the cinema. But these, thankfully, are exceptions.
Drive-ins are on the verge of extinction but outdoor cinema screenings have become popular, even if they don't offer the same privacy as a car to engage in any amorous activities. But they do offer that communal sense of occasion.
Indoors or outdoors, big films or small films or new films or old films, the cinema is still a vital part of our culture to cherish.
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