North Texas Daily

Since March, movie theaters around the country have shut down, for the safety of their workers and those who constantly see movies. We have seen many new ways to get movies out to the public — like on-demand releases and the resurgence of drive-in movies. A couple of months ago, many theaters decided it was time to open back up, and show classic movies like “Empire Strikes Back” and “Jurassic Park.” While not a big deal, it wasn’t until the release of “The New Mutants” and “Tenet” that encouraged thousands of people to sit in a germ-infested cesspool to see a movie they could watch on their TV in two months.

Who do you blame in a situation like this? The current COVID-19 pandemic has done nothing but worsen an already dying movie theater industry. The people that are going to these theaters, putting their full trust in employees to clean every square inch of the chair they sit in, are completely disregarding the safety of everyone, including themselves. At some point, you have to realize that some things are more important than a big screen and $12 popcorn.

I plan to make a living off of talking about movies, and one of my biggest problems now is telling myself that seeing a movie in a theater is not the way to do it. It is tempting for all of us, but at the end of the day, the safety of your classmates is more important than seeing a movie that has been put off for almost three whole years.

That brings me to another question I have. If “The New Mutants” is owned by Disney, why is it being released in theaters? The live-action version of “Mulan” is being released Sept. 10, exclusively to Disney+ for $30. I feel like Disney is putting one movie in theaters and one on-demand at the same time, just to see which one will make them more money in the end. As disgusting as that is, I think that “The New Mutants” should have gone on-demand as well, and there is no reason as to why it should have exclusively been put in theaters.

There is no way to justify it, if you go to the movies at a time like this, you are endangering yourself and others. The movie theater industry struggling is no excuse. It is an unfortunate situation, and I do wish the best for all of the major theater chains, but there are a million other things that are more important right now than going to see a movie. Seeing a movie is a luxury. It is not a necessity. There are millions of movies that you can stream, and there are millions of alternatives to finding ways to keep yourself entertained.

At the end of the day, just don’t do it. Go to a drive-in, where they are showing the same movies that you could see in theaters. Think about others before you think about yourself. Think about how if you go see a movie, that could impact the people you live with and then it is just a large stack of dominos falling from there. I can promise you that these movies coming out are not going anywhere and that watching them in a movie theater is not a necessity. I think that, more than anything else, we need to make sure we have our priorities straight. Seeing a movie should be at the bottom of that list, and if you value seeing a movie over the safety of yourself and everyone you come in contact with, then you are the biggest part of the problem.

Featured Illustration by Miranda Thomas