12 Facts About The Future Of Movies

We've been thinking about the future of movies, which many people say looks dim. Theaters are shutting down, and those still open struggle to make money. We've got too many franchise films, and movies based on dumb stuff like toys, and even good directors keep selling out. 

But people have been fighting for the future of movies for a long time, trying crazy gimmicks like smell-o-vision. We'll always have some good films to look forward to (including one that will release in 93 years), and streaming movies at home is bound to get better in the future.

Here's a look back at the facts we learned, about cinema's future and, uh, just about movies in general. The links all lead to full articles with much more info, so click every one that interests you, and maybe you'll get a chance to ride in a van with Danny DeVito. 

1. The pandemic drive-in movie craze did not last. 

Despite all the talk about how drive-ins were making a lasting comeback, we now have fewer drive-in theaters than before COVID, with even more set to close this year.

2. AMC is selling popcorn in malls with no theaters, to make up for selling fewer tickets. 

They might have more luck with their other popcorn ventures: packaging the stuff for grocery stores and delivering to people's homes. 

3. A John Malkovich film is scheduled to release in the year 2115. 

This was a stunt organized by a cognac company, to advertise their brandy that takes 100 years to age. 

4. Anthony Mackie told a Comic Con crowd that most movies now suck, thanks to franchises aimed at teenagers. 

Far from punishing him by blackballing him, Disney went on to promote him from The Falcon to the new Captain America. 

5. People once thought choose-you-own-adventure movies were the future of cinema. 

6. Streaming services are quietly sending their movies over in low quality. 

The resolution's just fine, but they still compress the footage, which is one reason streamed movies look so bad. 

7. Lost in Translation was inspired by a real Japanese whiskey commercial.

It starred Sofia Coppola's father Francis and Akira Kurosawa. 

8. More people than ever prefer to see movies at home rather than in theaters. 

And yet some networks are predicting that they'll soon be broadcasting their big event TV episodes in theaters.

9. The animated Dante's Inferno movie is a combined effort of six animation studios.

10. We're getting movies based on UNO, Magic 8 Ball, Hot Wheels, and Play-Doh.

Also Lena Dunham's Polly Pocket, which sounds like something a character would say on 30 Rock.

11. One of Danny DeVito's early roles was in a sex comedy about a van.

He wasn't the lead, but he became so famous afterward that they marketed the film with his giant head, which made it look like a horror pic. 

12. The new Predator movie is going straight to streaming, not theaters.

Disney seems to be doing this with many of its films that aren't tent poles, and especially with those made by 20^th Century Studios, even though such movies might do just fine at the box office. 

Top image: August Schwerdfeger