LAST UPDATE: AUGUST 4, 2021
Tracking the Return to Normal: Entertainment
This tracker is part of a series from Morning Consult gauging when consumers will return to normal activities in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more and sign up for alerts.
Movie theaters, concert venues and amusement parks were just some of the businesses forced to shutter their doors when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the United States in March 2020. And while some of these businesses have attempted to reopen and recover, not all consumers are ready to leave streaming behind and resume out-of-home entertainment. As vaccines are distributed, Morning Consult will continue to monitor consumer comfort in going to the movies, concerts, amusement parks, theaters and museums.
Morning Consult is tracking pent-up demand and excitement for many of the activities listed on this page. Bookmark this page for weekly updates of these figures, and read our deep dive on which industries will see a post-pandemic boom in consumer demand.
KEY TRENDS
- Comfort Heading to the Movies Dips: 47% of adults said they are currently comfortable checking out a film in theaters, the first time Americans’ comfort with the activity has dropped below 50% since mid-June. Gen Zers (62%) and millennials (53%) remain the generations most comfortable heading to cinemas.
- Despite Drop, Museums Remain an Activity Consumers Are Most Comfortable With: The share of people who are OK with going to a museum has dropped 7 percentage points from a record high of 60% reported on July 10, but it’s still the leisure activity in which people have expressed the most comfort. Comfort attending concerts and visiting amusement parks each dipped 5 points from last week.
- “Black Widow” Delay Pays Off: Earlier this year, Walt Disney Co. decided to push the release of “Black Widow” from May to July, and state-level comfort data indicates this was a good call. A Morning Consult survey in April found that nationwide, an average of 47% of consumers felt OK visiting a movie theater at that time, roughly one week before the original release date of “Black Widow,” before comfort climbed to an average of 58% of adults nationwide in a July survey conducted days after “Black Widow” hit theaters and Disney+.
- Free Is Key to Bringing Gen Zers Back to Movie Theaters: Although 42% of Gen Zers said they are likely to visit movie theaters more often after the pandemic, the availability of new films on streaming or video on-demand platforms could prove to be a hurdle, as 70% said that was a reason they didn’t go to the movies. However, roughly three-quarters of Gen Zers ages 13-24 said free or discounted tickets and concession items would make them more likely to visit a movie theater.
Tracking the Return to Normal
“When will things return to normal?” is a common refrain murmured within political, business and health care leadership circles. To help answer this complicated question, Morning Consult is tracking a number of key indicators in its public opinion polling, from willingness to get a COVID-19 vaccine to consumers’ comfort level in returning to leisure activities such as dining out to what people are streaming during the pandemic. We’ll be updating these pages every week with new data and analysis: