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Roll the credits: Has Gen Z abandoned the cinema?
Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ present alternatives to going to the movies.
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Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ present alternatives to going to the movies. (Shutterstock/zieusin)
T
he cinema business in Indonesia dates to the Dutch colonial era. The first movie theater in the country opened in 1900. It was run by Dutch proprietors in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Watching a movie was a luxury then; the price of a second class ticket was worth 10 kilograms of rice.
Fast forward over a century and watching movies is a common hobby for many people. Cinemas vie for the public’s favor by offering seating options, the latest sound systems, better screens, innovative ticketing systems, snacks, drinks and even fancy toilets.
However, streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ present alternatives to the cinema experience. They provide the ability to choose from countless films and the luxury to watch them essentially wherever and whenever for the price of less than two local cinema tickets.
These platforms are undeniably doing a great job appealing to people. In the United States, for instance, they have eaten into the previously burgeoning cinema industry and have forced traditional players to seek to differentiate their business.
In a recent Forbes article, Dana Feldman wrote about how cinemas have started fighting back against Netflix in terms of cost.
Regal Cinemas, one of the US’ largest cinema chains, has launched a new, unlimited-ticket subscription plan. Starting at US$18 per month, moviegoers can now watch unlimited films in any Regal cinema. This is an attempt to mirror Netflix’s subscription plan, which start at $9.
Another US theater offering similar services is AMC, which successfully gained 860,000 subscribers in its first year. The subscription plan allows moviegoers to watch up to three movies per week in IMAX and 3D for $20 or $24 per month, depending on the location.
