Theaters in Trouble

People love to go to the movies. They eat buttery popcorn and sit in cushy seats. They laugh with friends and family. They watch the latest films on the big screen. But many movie theaters are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have stayed open. But ticket sales are down. More people are watching movies at home. With streaming × stream AJA KOSKA—GETTY IMAGES to display something digitally, such as a movie or TV show (verb) On Friday night, we decided to stream a movie. services, they have lots of choices.

Movie theaters like this one in San Francisco, California, have been hurt by the pandemic.

Richard Greenfield is a media analyst × analyst URBANCOW—GETTY IMAGES a person who reviews and makes sense of information (noun) The business analyst recommended that the restaurant raise the price of some menu items. . He spoke to TIME about the future of movie theaters. “Do people get so in the habit of watching Netflix that they don’t want to go back?” he asked. “I think that’s a real risk.”

Now Streaming

AMC is the largest theater chain in the country. “Closed” signs are posted at many of its theaters.

On December 3, Warner Bros. made an announcement. Its 2021 movies will stream at the same time they are shown in theaters. The company says this is good. It will help people who “aren’t quite ready to go back to the movies.”

In October, Regal cinemas temporarily closed all of its U.S. theaters because of the pandemic.

But theater owners aren’t happy. They say they’ll lose money. Why will people pay for a ticket when they can watch the movie at home?

Adam Aron is the head of AMC. It’s the largest theater chain in the United States. “The theater business is expected to recover × recover SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY-NASA—GETTY IMAGES to return to normal after a difficult period (verb) It took several weeks for the town to recover from the hurricane. ” after the pandemic, he said on December 3. He says that AMC 
will act “aggressively × aggresively PAULA SIERRA—GETTY IMAGES forcefully (adverb) The dog barked aggressively. ” to keep its business.

Since the pandemic began, more people have been watching movies at home.

Cassidy Kelly will be glad to hear this. The 5-year-old lives in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Cassidy likes going to the movies with her family. Movie theaters are “different and bigger” than home, she told TIME for Kids. And the best part? “Big buckets of popcorn!”