Are movie theaters dead, or is the big screen irreplaceable?

The theatrical window is the whole business model, and it collapsed. For decades the rule was roughly 90 days between cinema and home release, which gave theaters a real monopoly on newness. Now the standard deal is 17 to 45 days, and some titles hit streaming in three weeks. Every consumer has done this math: why pay twenty dollars per person plus parking when the same film lands on a service I already pay for before the month is out? Theaters aren't competing with streaming on experience anymore. They're competing on patience, and patience always loses. The National Association of Theatre Owners spent years begging studios to hold the window, and the studios walked away the moment streaming revenue looked bigger. That tells you everything about where the leverage went.