Introduction
The Lecture Series Committee (LSC) is an MIT student-run organization that has brought speakers and events since 1944 and has shown 35mm films in campus lecture halls since 1950. The prices of tickets and refreshments are cheaper than those of many first-run theaters, but they share the same noticeable decline in attendence since the year 2000.
Some speculation gives the following factors for the declining movie theater attendance in general:
- Social factors eroding theater environment (talking, cell phones, babies)
- Sacrificing long-term relationships with theater-goers for the increase in short-term profitability (commercials, no ushers, etc.)
- Higher quality experience elsewhere (home theater)
- Declining quality of mainstream movies
- Easily available Long Tail content alternatives (Netflix, Amazon)
- Price
- Demographics: Aging baby boomers simply go out to the movies less
This study will observe the process of attending an LSC movie, leading to suggested changes that can be made to improve the experience.