LAST UPDATE: MAY 12, 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 TAKEAWAYS
- Roughly 2 in 5 Adults Now Comfortable at the Movies: Forty-one percent of adults said they feel comfortable returning to the movie theaters, roughly in line with last week’s share, led by 53 percent of Gen Zers who said they would feel safe entering a theater. Forty-nine percent of millennials and 41 percent of Gen Xers also said they’d feel comfortable going to the movies right now, though baby boomers still lag behind at 30 percent.
- Nearly 3 in 10 Adults Say They Would Feel Comfortable Returning to Movie Theaters in the Next Month: Not everyone is as eager to return, however, as a smaller share of consumers (21 percent) expect it will be more than six months before they return to cinemas.
- Comfort With Other Activities Also Ticks Up: Consumers are still most comfortable with returning to museums (47 percent), while going to an amusement park (40 percent) and a theater performance (37 percent) aren’t far behind.
- More Than Half of Consumers Are Streaming TV Shows, Movies Weekly: Streaming behavior was down slightly from last week. Fifty-nine percent of adults said they stream TV shows at least once a week. The share of consumers who stream movies at least once a week fell 1 percentage point to 52 percent.
- Consumers Are Most Excited to Return to Movie Theaters, Though It’s a Close Call: Fifty-one percent of adults said they are excited to head back to the movies, followed by 47 percent who said the same of concerts and museums.
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: