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It’s no secret that ticket sales are still down. The first quarter of 2025 was largely dismal at the box office, and the blockbuster season wasn’t much better. A new superhero cinematic universe launched with the release of James Gunn’s “Superman,” but that film made about $600 million, which, while impressive, did not denote a supra-hit on the level of pre-2019 blockbusters. Marvel struggles, too, with its three 2025 films also making $600 million or less. The insubstantial car racing flick “F1” similarly made about $600 million, which wasn’t much, given its overwhelming budget.
Anecdotal evidence also indicates a general dissatisfaction with the 2020s theatrical experience. You might have heard your friends complain about rowdy crowds, overpriced concessions, or dirty theater spaces. Many theater-goers seem to remain on their phones, even in a dark theater, and AMC Theatres’ pre-show reels are now over 30 minutes long. One may also note a very general drive for people to remain at home; many feel that leaving the house to see a movie is simply not worth the hassle. Why see a new blockbuster on opening weekend when it will be available on streaming only three months from now? The convenience of having thousands of movies and TV shows readily available at home is going to win over the “trouble” of driving to the local cineplex and seeing a movie on a big screen in a darkened room.
Celebrated author Stephen King has an additional theory as to why the numbers continue to drop: subtitles. King recently posted on Threads that modern acting, especially from younger performers, encourages whispering and mumbling, leading home viewers to turn on subtitles. In theaters, one can’t turn on subtitles, and actors remain incomprehensible. The subtitle option, King says, is giving at-home viewing a massive edge.
Some people need to watch movies with subtitles
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Many studies have been conducted over the years on movie-watchers’ viewing habits, and it’s been concluded (by IndieWire) that a full half of at-home viewers watch movies with the subtitles toggled on. This is a result, it seems, from garbled audio. This could possibly be an issue with audio mixing on modern TVs that ramp up the volume on action scenes, but produce dialogue at a low volume. A lot of movies are mixed for the multiple channels of a large-scale movie theater sound system, and that same audio can feel imbalanced on an ordinary television. Some viewers like subtitles as a means to concentrate; with the dialogue on the screen, it forces them to watch instead of becoming distracted by their phones.
King feels that modern acting is also to blame. Generations of actors have grown up in front of cameras while not necessarily doing much work on stage. With a camera and a microphone inches from your face, one no longer needs to project from their diaphragm or emote to the back of a concert hall. Modern “up-close” film acting was pioneered as long ago as Mary Pickford in the 1920s, but the latest generation of actors, King feels, are especially bad about enunciating and projecting. As he wrote:
“The obvious advantage of streaming over movie theater movies is you can watch them at home. The secret weapon of the streamers, particularly when it comes to movies where the characters have strong accents: subtitles. […] Young actors in particular don’t seem to understand projection. Possibly because they work in TV and films without any stage experience.”
King is, more specifically, referring to a notably naturalistic acting style — certainly in fashion at the moment — that is meant to feel off-the-cuff and improvised. Projecting and enunciating are not part of this style, which King objects to.
This is a fair enough theory. Would people come back to theaters if the sound was mixed to be more dialogue-friendly, and actors were better about highlighting clarity over naturalism? Who can say?
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