Movies are more magic on the big screen. Can Kansas help the ailing movie theater biz? | Opinion

Last fall, I decided to once again make a habit of moviegoing.

I hadn’t been a regular attendee at the movies — the actual movies, the ones you see in a theater with a bunch of strangers, on a big screen — since before the pandemic. But I’ve been hearing a lot lately about the decline of movie theaters, another casualty of the streaming era, and decided to reclaim the experience for myself before it was too late.

So over the last few months, I’ve spent most of my Wednesday afternoons at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, watching Oscar-bait pictures like “Tár” and “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Dark comedies like “The Menu.” Horror movies like “Pearl.” Obscure European sci-fi flicks like “Vesper.”

Here and there, I even saw a stinker or two.

Now, all these offerings are — or soon would be — available for home streaming. Certainly, my own high-definition TV is perfectly suitable for such viewings.

But the movie theater was better.

Put it this way: I’ve seen Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” at home and at Liberty Hall. Home is fine. On the big screen — yes, bigger than the one you have at home — you feel like you’re sitting alongside Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelley as they snoop on their neighbors and uncover a murder across the way. One version is a TV show. The other immersive, an experience.

And if you’re minding your manners — a big if, admittedly — the movie theater is the place to put away your phone, silence the ringer, hush yourself up and give your attention to just one thing for a couple of hours. It’s like a little bit of Sabbath from our multitasking world.

Still, there’s a danger that all of this is going away.

The pandemic was tough on movies and movie theaters. They haven’t recovered. Regal Cinemas — which owns multiplexes in Lawrence, Topeka, Shawnee and Wichita — has declared bankruptcy and is closing down some of its theaters around the country. Leawood-based AMC Theatres reportedly lost nearly $1 billion during the fourth quarter of 2022. The industry is shaky, to say the least.

So I am admittedly intrigued by a bill in the Kansas Legislature that would give movie theaters in the state a bit of a boost, by letting them keep the sales taxes they collect for the state over the next two years. The cost is modest: just $3.8 million a year. That’s a drop in the bucket next to multiplexes’ losses, of course — though AMC’s Derek Hein testified in favor of the bill — but it might be enough to keep the smaller homegrown movie theaters in towns across the state alive for another moment or two.

Then again, maybe it’s just delaying the inevitable.

I hope not. Yes, home entertainment systems are both astounding in their capabilities and relatively cheap. Sometimes, darn it, the picture really is better at home. Streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and HBO Max offer an astonishing number of options to occupy your time.

Despite this, it is my wholehearted belief that people still need to get out of the house every now and again. I look around the state at historic theaters like the Granada in Emporia and the Orpheum in Wichita — old-time movie palaces that fell into disuse during the first golden age of TV, only to be revived and refurbished by their communities to serve new generations — and believe our collective need to gather together to enjoy ourselves will ultimately overwhelm at-home convenience.

If I’m wrong, the Oscars — airing this weekend! — might not make it their 100th birthday in 2028. If I’m wrong, a temporary sales tax break won’t make a difference.

But I’d rather be right. Jimmy Stewart at home isn’t the same as Jimmy Stewart on a big screen. The same is true of Grace Kelly, Captain America, Indiana Jones, Lydia Tár and Michael Corleone. And it will be true for our future movie stars — if only we let them. See you at the movies.