What Disabled Filmgoers Reveal About the Future of Movie Theaters
Inevitable Foundation’s Head of Research Saga Darnell discusses The Adaptive Cinema Opportunity Report, a first-of-its-kind look at the relationship between disabled people’s theatergoing habits, accessibility, and potential box office returns.
By Abbey White
Last September, U.S. theater chains representing two-thirds of the North American box office pledged to inject more than $2.2 billion in upgrades to their domestic cineplexes.
Potential improvements will span screens, sound, seating, signage, and more, the addition of food offerings like bars and restaurants, as well as entertainment like arcades as part of an ongoing effort to bring attendance and ticket sales back to pre-pandemic levels.
But exhibitors’ struggles stretch back much farther than 2020. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw highlights a decades-long decline in attendance, largely obscured by inflation and the rising costs of the theater-going experience.
Filmmaking itself is also in an equally challenging place, due in part to low box office returns. Golden Globe-winner Brady Corbet and Oscar-winner Sean Baker both highlighted how filmmakers are struggling to turn a profit on their critically and industry-acclaimed projects while on this year’s awards circuit.
As creatives and exhibitors alike scramble for ways to woo back in-person audiences, a new study from Inevitable Foundation reveals the role disabled moviegoers could play in that effort.
The Adaptive Cinema Opportunity Report is a first-of-its-kind look at the habits and preferences of disabled filmgoers, and what that reveals about the current state of accessibility in movie theaters. The findings illustrate how effectively or ineffectively exhibitors are reaching a community with a significant — and often overlooked — $21 billion in discretionary income.
More than 100 disabled respondents answered a 100-plus question survey about everything from movie subscription habits, ticketing process preferences, and accessible movement outside and inside a theater to air filtration, seating, lighting, and even how a film’s duration impacts in-person viewing and accessibility.
It’s the latest research from the nonprofit geared towards addressing the entertainment industry's larger disability data gap. Below, Inevitable Foundation’s Head of Research Saga Darnell discusses what inspired the report, some of its key insights, and how many of the survey’s findings could be key to the industry’s existing efforts to save theatrical.
Illustration Credit: Meeya Tjiang
This report is coming on the heels of the Greenlight Disability Initiative. Why did a survey around movie theater accessibility make the most sense as a next step in the foundation’s research efforts?
While we understand disability inequity in entertainment as a complex social problem, we also know that for many industry decision-makers, their bottom line is their top priority. The report we released in July, “Audiences are Waiting for Hollywood to Greenlight Disability,” made the business case for inclusion by revealing how film and TV featuring authentic representations of disabilities and mental health conditions can drive streaming subscriptions, audience engagement, and movie ticket sales.
One of our key findings from that report was that 20% of all audiences, both disabled and non-disabled, would go to more movies in theaters if those films included authentic representations of disabilities and mental health conditions. In an age of industry contraction and decreased theater attendance, this fifth of the population equates to significant buying power. In considering ways to leverage this data into actionable change, we realized when it comes to movie theaters, the shared physical space presents its own set of access barriers.
If the movie includes authentic representation but the theater isn’t accessible, the inclusion of disabled people hasn’t been fully realized. The Adaptive Cinema Opportunity Report exposes the ways disabled audiences are currently being excluded from theaters and is a natural follow-up to our ongoing effort to facilitate tangible progress toward true equity for disabled creatives and audiences alike.
There are so many aspects of the movie-going experience, from before you arrive at the theatre, to navigating the venue and its facilities, to the screening itself. How did you determine what you needed to touch on and how specific you needed to be about accessibility asks?
This is actually the foundation’s most comprehensive study to date. The survey we distributed clocked in at more than 100 questions. Because there are so many parts of the process of going to a movie, we leaned into thoroughness and specificity to get as accurate a picture as possible of the wide array of needs that disabled moviegoers have. That meant asking about peoples needs, experiences, and ideal set-ups through a combination of multiple choice and free response questions.
It was also important to us in the development of the survey to leave enough open-ended that respondents were able to introduce issues we may not have thought of. Lots of really interesting information came out of that effort. We discovered that for a significant portion of disabled viewers, walking is their most accessible way to get to a theater. We also discovered that anxiety around mass shooting events is one of the factors keeping people, especially those with mental health conditions, out of spaces for public recreation.
How accessible do disabled theatergoers feel the moviegoing experience currently is? And what are a few accessibility measures folks are looking for in their theatrical experience?
The information we’ve gotten back on current accessibility leaves a lot of room for improvement. We asked respondents about their ideal access needs at a theater, and only 4% said all of those needs were always met in the current landscape — needs like accessible parking spaces, seating, and ticket purchasing interfaces.
Many of the needs expressed by disabled moviegoers are free or cheap to accommodate and offer significant payoffs in terms of ticket sales. Some examples include captioning, sensory screenings, and seating in the lobby. If all their needs were met, more than 80% of disabled movie-goers say they’d go to the theater more often.
Moviegoing still has not fully returned to pre-pandemic levels. What does Inevitable’s data reveal in terms of why disabled people are hesitant to return to theaters? And were there any surprises in terms of what was stopping them from going more often?
Understanding the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was fruitful in addressing this question. In 2019, the average American attended a movie every three to four months. With the start of the pandemic shutdown in 2020, that number dipped to less than one movie per year, and though attendance has recovered somewhat, we’re still seeing a significant overall decline in how many tickets people are purchasing per year.
The data we’ve collected shows pretending COVID no longer impacts people’s lives isn’t working. We’ve seen a variety of disabilities emerge as a result of long COVID, and contraction of variants and other respiratory diseases remains a concern and priority for many. Movie theater owners can bring back audiences by implementing risk mitigation strategies. For example, a vast majority of disabled movie-goers feel safer in theaters with air filtration, and almost 70% would prefer masking to be either encouraged or required.
What were the leading improvements and accessibility measures respondents said would increase their engagement with the in-person theater experience? Were there any surprises in terms of what was stopping them from going to see movies in theaters more often?
Inside the theater itself, the categories of comfort, COVID safety, and sensory accessibility emerged as priorities for disabled movie-goers. Of the top five most common access needs in a theater, three focus on seat comfort (back support, wide seats, and reclining seats). Of the top ten responses, half focus on sensory accessibility (quiet audience, light strips, a scent-free theater, minimized strobing or flashing lights, and dim lighting).
What was most surprising to me was how straightforward they are. I was prepared for needs to be contradictory between different conditions, or highly complex to implement, but of these top six needs, all of them are relatively simple and affordable to implement. Half are about website functionality, lobby seating can be achieved for only the cost of chairs, and accessible parking spaces are already mandated by law.
What are some things the data revealed about what disabled theatergoers prefer in terms of their interaction and access points (before arriving at the theater, navigating the theater, and experiencing screenings) that surprised you?
The focus on digitization, automation, and customization. Digital ticket purchasing is by-and-large the preference of disabled movie goers, with 73% saying they’d ideally like to purchase online or on a mobile app. Anything that can be automated to accommodate someone who can’t physically complete a task should be present. This means automatic opening systems for internal and external doors, motion or button-activated sinks, hand dryers, and toilet flush. In terms of seating, especially, we also saw a big desire to select the specifics before arriving at the theater — more than half of disabled movie-goers want to be able to reserve their specific seat, including where it is in the theater (83%) and what kind of seat it is (62%) when they purchase a ticket. Disabled viewers have a diverse set of needs, and if they can’t know in advance those needs will be met, they’re less likely to show up. Making it possible for these people to ensure their needs will be met when they arrive is likely to increase attendance.
Is there an area of data that, if given a second chance to conduct this survey, you’d like to receive insight from respondents?
Now that we know what disabled audiences are looking for, I’d be curious to survey non-disabled audiences about how much more likely they’d be to come to a theater with these accommodations — things like comfort, clarity, and automation are valuable to many people, disabled and otherwise.
