Movie theaters around the world are sounding the alarm. Attendance in many countries has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and viewers increasingly prefer to watch high-profile premieres via streaming service subscriptions rather than in movie theaters. This is seriously damaging box office revenues for film companies, forcing them to rethink their strategies and abandon many projects.
Finam reports on the crisis facing the global film industry in 2025.
AMC fights for viewers with discounts and subscriptions
The rise in the cost of movie tickets, as well as snacks that viewers often buy to watch, has led to a decline in cinema attendance even in the world's largest AMC chain.
The company has already begun taking steps to remedy the situation. According to CNN, AMC is offering a 50% discount on tickets on Tuesdays, the most popular day for going to the movies. Seeing the positive effect of this measure, the company has also begun offering discounts on Wednesdays.
The stumbling block remains the ticket price. The average subscription to a streaming service in the US costs $7.99 per month, while the price of a premium movie viewing in New York or Los Angeles is $25 per screening. At the same time, for home viewing, people do not need to go anywhere, spend time on the road, or spend money on snacks at movie bars; they can simply watch new releases on streaming services.
Ticket sales are the main source of income for movie theaters. However, they are looking for a way out here as well, offering viewers monthly subscriptions. For example, AMC subscribers can watch four movies a week in theaters for a monthly subscription fee of $25.99.
Regal Cinemas, the second-largest cinema chain in the US, offers a similar subscription for $21.49 per month, which includes a cinema pass and a 10% discount on snacks.
Blockbuster movies from major studios remain a lifeline for movie theaters, as many viewers still prefer to watch them on the big screen. Nevertheless, according to research company Omdia, there were approximately 35,481 movie theaters in the US in 2024, which is 9% less than in 2022 and 13.8% less than in 2019. At the same time, box office receipts in 2025 are 24.1% lower than in 2019.
Disney suffers Pixar's failure and cuts staff
Streaming services are damaging not only movie theaters but also film studios. The third season of Squid Game, released on Netflix at the end of June, was further confirmation of the streaming platform's dominance in the film industry. The series garnered 106 million views in the first ten days after its premiere. The Squid Game franchise became the most popular non-English language show in the history of the service. In 2021 alone, the first season of Squid Game brought its creators $900 million on a budget of just $21.4 million.
This backdrop contrasts sharply with the recent problems faced by Disney and its animation studio Pixar, which has been one of the most profitable in the industry for the past thirty years. However, the recent box office failure of the science fiction animated film “Elio,” about a boy obsessed with the idea that he has been abducted by aliens, which grossed only $35 million on a budget of $150 million in its first weekend, showed that Disney and Pixar's market leadership has been shaken by intensifying competition from streaming platforms. Experts attribute the failure to the fact that many viewers are waiting for the cartoon's premiere on Disney+, which will take place shortly after the theatrical release, and prefer to watch the new release at home with a subscription rather than go to the cinema for an additional fee.
For now, Pixar is staying afloat with sequels to past blockbusters. Last year, the animated film Inside Out 2 grossed over $1 billion worldwide. This means that the studio will focus on sequels to stories that audiences have come to love and reduce the number of new original animated films. Pixar's Toy Story 5 and The Incredibles 3 are already scheduled for release in 2026, which should help compensate for the failure of Elio.
According to Bloomberg, in June 2025, Disney laid off hundreds of employees in film and television in an effort to cut costs. Over the past couple of years, the company has already laid off more than 8,000 people. Disney's competitors have also cut thousands of jobs. This speaks to the transformation of the television and film industry, where companies are cutting all projects whose profitability is in doubt and seeking to reorganize their businesses to become more competitive in the era of streaming services.
