IFH 273: Movie Theaters are DEAD...Not So Fast with Phil Contrino

Published: Oct. 23, 2018, 1:31 p.m.

Are movie theaters dead? Every summer there is a barrage of articles announcing the death of the movie theater experience. Those articles state the new generation is not interested in going to the movies anymore, that they stream everything.

This kind of rhetoric has been spouted off since television was invented. Then it was VHS, then DVDs and not streaming. Movie theaters have always been able to find a happy home and compliment the new movie screening technology of the day. Today on the show we have Phil Contrino from N.A.T.O,  the National Association of  Theatre Owners. Phil and I discuss the movie-going experience. What theaters are doing right and where they can improve. We also discuss what place indie films have in the modern day movie theater experience.

I've always had a ​love for the movies. It's like a church for me. Whenever I've been in a tough place in my life I go to the movies to escape, think and see what comes to me. It's almost meditative. I truly hope they'll always be a form of the communal movie going experience and I have a feeling there will be.​

Enjoy my conversation with Phil Contrino.