Atom Tickets announced the results of the survey it conducted, "Return to Moviegoing,” which observes consumers’ willingness to attend movie theaters once they reopen. "We're encouraged by this new survey and believe it's a good sign for the movie industry," Matthew Bakal, Chairman and Co-founder of Atom Tickets, said. "Our data also showed that eagerness to return to the movies has more to do with how often you went to the movies before the pandemic rather than by age or region."
The survey, issued on 17th August received over 16,000 U.S. responses of which 74% revealed that they are ready to return to theaters within one month. 40% said they are ready to return to theaters right away, an increase of 59% and 25%. On the contrary, only 0.8% said they never plan to return to theaters and 15% said they would wait until there is a vaccine for the coronavirus, down from 21% in May. "I'm pleased to see the heightened interest in safety measures including pre-ordering tickets and concessions," "We know people want to enjoy the movies together with friends and family and will do so responsibly."
The most critical safety condition to return to theaters once they open for 34% of respondents are safety measures. The most critical measure noted by 30% of moviegoers is staff and guests wearing masks, more than doubling in importance from Atom's May survey (14%), and rising in importance over heightened theater cleaning procedures at 13%, an 8% decrease from May. 85% of August moviegoers said that they plan on wearing a mask even if it is not required by the theater or local government.
87% of consumers who responded to the survey said that purchasing digital tickets from their device instead of a box office is a large safety implementation. Just under half of those surveyed said they would rather wait for new movies to be released before returning, while 35% said they'd be more willing to attend to see classic movies. Of those who have never pre-ordered movie theater concessions, 68% said they are now likely to try it, a 61% increase from May. 90% of those who have already experienced pre-ordering said they would do it again.
The 2020 films that moviegoers are most excited about include “Black Widow,” “Wonder Woman” 1984, and “James Bond: No Time to Die.” For 2021, moviegoers are already eager to see “The Eternals” from Marvel Studios, “The Batman,” and “Jurassic World: Dominion.”
We're encouraged by this new survey and believe it's a good sign for the movie industry. Our data also showed that eagerness to return to the movies has more to do with how often you went to the movies before the pandemic rather than by age or region.” Matthew Bakal, Chairman and Co-founder Atom Tickets
