Was 2023 a bad year for movies, or was that just me?

I only saw three films in theaters last year, which is a pretty low number for me. I noted this in a column earlier in June of 2023 when I talked a bit about two of the films, Across the Spiderverse and Suzume and how odd it felt to have only seen two movies in theaters at that point in the year. Well, in the final six months, I only saw one other movie, that being the year’s top grossing Barbie, and honestly, I probably wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t gone as part of a work function. While that may seem like a pretty normal thing for the general population, it feels like a bit of an anomaly for myself.

My family has always watched a lot of movies, and my appreciation for film grew the more I learned about its history and the processes behind its creation. I would typically see on average a movie a month in theaters, maybe a little less, before the 2020 shutdowns rendered that pace impossible. Still, I felt it had rebounded in the months and years since, but last year once again regressed.

I think part of it lies in my own personal interest in the films that came out over the course of the year. Other than the prior two films I mentioned, the only other movies that I was really looking forward to seeing this year were Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3, The Creator, Oppenheimer and The Boy and the Heron. That list is pretty short for me already, and the fact that the last movie on that list had a very limited release window in theaters around here did not help. That being said, I didn’t make it to any of the other three movies either, which I think speaks to something else.

Fatigue from the constant content from Marvel’s cinematic universe initially put me off of the latest Guardians of the Galaxy film, despite the Guardians of the Galaxy movies being some of my favorites in Marvel’s now extensive MCU catalog and having seen the other two in theaters multiple times. But the other two films, Oppenheimer and The Creator, were the types of original works that I would usually go support in theaters. So…what gives? I think it has a lot to do with how companies seem to be conditioning people to wait until films come out on one of the countless streaming services that now exist. Seemingly, every entertainment platform now has its own version of the service and all are vying for their piece of the pie. Part of that strategy seems to be releasing movies as quickly as possible on these streaming services. Guardians, Vol. 3 was released in theaters on May 5. One could still see it in over half the theaters it was originally shown in the United States the last week of June. Only one month afterwards, on August 2, the film was released on Disney Plus, Disney’s streaming platform. While part of seeing a movie in theaters is the experience, it is also partially about the exclusivity of the content. But if I can just watch it a month later on something I’m already paying for in my own house, there is certainly an incentive to just wait. And even though I did not know either when or where either Oppenheimer or The Creator would release on streaming, I think that mentality still slipped into my decision on whether or not I wanted to go to the theaters or not to see them. It seems like a misstep by these companies looking for short term gains in subscriber numbers while sacrificing box office returns. Perhaps 2023 just wasn’t a good year for me personally, as looking ahead to 2024 there seems to be more I’m interested in, but I suppose we will have to see how it plays out.

A C ertain Point of V iew