There has been a decline in going to the movies and the drive-in. Going to the drive-in is nearly obsolete. There are reasons why this is happening. The technical world is moving very fast.
There was a time when you had to go to the theater to see a new movie that had come out. There was the standing in long lines and the smell of the popcorn. You then had the big screen to see the motion picture. A lot of the young folks were making out in the back of the theater not really paying any attention to the movie being played.
Video cassette recorder
There was a small decline in moviegoing when the video cassette recorder (VCR) came into our homes in the 1980s. You could just rent movies for a cheaper price. You did have to wait for the movie to come out on tape. You also could wait until the movie came out on television or the cable movie stations like HBO and Cinemax.
The VCR had the technology to record the movie you wanted to see. The theaters would have a collection of the movies in storage at the theater. You now can have a collection of movies at home with the video recorder at home.
DVD
There are other recording devices that came afterwards, like the DVD player. This is the equivalent of the old record player. This player plays movies you can see and hear. You can rent movies that are now on these compact movie disks.
DVR
The next step up in video technology is the digital video recorder (DVR). You do not have to use a physical disk or tape. You can digitally record movies and favorite television shows. You can pick what you want to record and watch it anytime you want.
Flat screen TV
There are big flat screen televisions. The biggest TV coming out is 110 inches. Having a large TV is the final part of movie theater technology you need. Going to the movies is almost a thing of the past.
Netflix
There is an internet movie theater website. The site is called Netflix. The site has movies that are old and new. There are shows from television that you can watch over and over. It costs seven bucks a month.
Crackle
Crackle is another movie site that is similar to Netflix. They do not charge you to use their site. They do not air television shows. Some movies are not well known on the site.
Some movies still come to theaters first before going to the DVD. There are a lot more people renting movies than going to the theaters these days. Why go to the movies? There are some computers that are used as digital movie theaters.
There are computer towers that have three or four hard drives that are filled with movies. You can record the movies on blank DVDs as a backup. The computer can be hooked up to the flat screen television. You can attach a projector to your computer and have as large a screen as you want.