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

A family of five doing the math, since nobody in this debate ever shows their work. Tickets: roughly ninety dollars. Popcorn and drinks: forty. Parking: fifteen. Total: about one hundred forty-five dollars for two hours. The same film rents for six ninety-nine in about eight weeks, which we watch on a TV we already own, with snacks that cost four dollars, pausing whenever the toddler needs the bathroom. This is a one hundred thirty-eight dollar premium for a bigger screen and sticky floors. We go once a year now, for birthdays. That's what theaters have become: a birthday venue.