Cinemas struggle in a world that cannot sit still

Screen time and scrolling are rising. The movie-going slide began before the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Samer Elhajjar

On a quiet Thursday in March, Cathay Cineplex at Jem screened its final film. There were no closing credits to mark the moment, no farewell montage. But Cathay's ending didn't fade quietly into the night. Four months later, Jem's landlord, Lendlease, filed a claim for $3.4 million in unpaid rent, catapulting its quiet closure into the public spotlight. A statutory demand followed.

What began as a private lease dispute morphed into a public reckoning—a referendum on the future of the big screen in an age dominated by palm-size smartphones.

A LONG SLIDE

Rewind to 2017: Singapore cinemas sold 20.4 million tickets. Crowds queued for blockbusters, and the weekend movie remained a time for family bonding. By 2019, admissions slipped to 18.4 million, the first clue that audience habits were changing even before Covid-19's arrival.

Fast-forward to 2024 and the change is unmistakable. Only 8.4 million tickets were sold, generating about $88.2 million in revenue. More than 60 per cent of the audience had drifted away in five years, signalling that Cathay's exit at Jem was less an anomaly and more of the visible tip of a submerged shift.

Singapore's numbers might read like a case study, yet the pattern is everywhere. In the US, box-office revenue topped out at US$11.9 billion in 2018, only to sink to US$8.5 billion (S$10.9 billion) in 2024. There is no positive future to look forward to yet. PwC's latest Global Entertainment and Media Outlook suggests a return to pre-pandemic levels for box offices could remain elusive well past 2026.

WHY THE AUDIENCE DRIFTED AWAY

While box-office sales slope down, streaming is climbing fast. The video-streaming market in South-east Asia reached US$3.9 billion in 2024. Market research firm Imarc Group projects this figure to touch US$10 billion by 2033, expanding at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 11 per cent.