Moviegoing won’t return to pre-pandemic levels, says former Disney CEO Bob Iger

The coronavirus pandemic has left a “permanent scar” on the movie business, former Disney CEO Bob Iger says.

“I don’t think movies will ever go back, in terms of movie viewing, to the level they were before the pandemic,” the media veteran said during a panel at Vox Media’s Code conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday .

Iger, who stepped down as CEO of the Walt Disney Company in February 2020, handing the reins to then-theme parks chief Bob Chapek, said “choice” was the main reason moviegoers didn’t return to theaters with same old pace.

He noted that consumers have become more comfortable with streaming services while they’ve been closed, and have come to enjoy the content on those platforms and the flexibility of being able to choose what to watch and when. Iger was quick to add that he doesn’t think the movie industry is a “dead business,” but that the pandemic has exacerbated and accelerated the shift in consumer habits.

Between January and the end of August, the domestic box office generated about $5.3 billion, down about 31% from 2019. It remains on track for about $7.5 billion in total ticket sales through the end of the year. By comparison, in 2019, the box office totaled $11.4 billion for the entire year.

There are other factors leading to this decline at the box office, including a significantly lower number of film releases. Only 46 films were widely released in the country in the first eight months of the year. During the same period of 2019, 75 films released widely.

On the plus side, moviegoers are now spending more when they visit theaters, choosing higher-priced tickets to see movies on premium screens and buying more discounts.

Iger noted that theaters aren’t the only place audiences can see the birth of major franchises.

“I think the film industry was saying that you can’t create a cultural impact without everybody going to the movies on the weekend in every country in the world,” he said. “And then I just couldn’t create franchises. I no longer agree.’

Iger pointed to HBO’s Game of Thrones and Disney’s own The Mandalorian as series that had a significant impact on the cultural zeitgeist without the help of movie theaters.

“That doesn’t mean moviegoing is going away,” Iger said. “I’m a big fan of movies. I love big movies … but it’s not back to where it was.”