In a tricky box office summer, how can indie cinemas survive?

For 90-plus years, the Parkway Theater has been a fixture in South Minneapolis, gathering generation after generation of patrons in front of its lone movie screen.

For 90-plus years, the Parkway Theater has been a fixture in South Minneapolis, gathering generation after generation of patrons in front of its lone movie screen. Outside of its walls, the years brought plenty of change: wars, economic swings, social movements, a pandemic, technological innovations, and the rise of antagonists — from the massive, multi-screen megaplexes to the bits and bytes that delivered films to people’s fingertips. But this wouldn’t be the movie business without a few plot twists, a fair bit of strife and plenty of character development. The movie exhibition industry remains in a state of flux as it navigates a slew of challenges including pandemic aftershocks, digital streaming, strike-delayed content, changing consumer tastes and a years-long bout of high inflation. Cinemas and movie screens in the US have contracted in number since the pandemic, falling by about 1% from 2020 to 2022, according to data provided to CNN by Omdia, a London-based analyst and advisory firm. In 2023, the situation worsened, with cinema sites and screen numbers dropping by more than 6%, Omdia data shows. The larger operators trimmed down the less-performing sites, while smaller cinemas who didn’t have as much leeway shut down, David Hancock, Omdia’s chief cinema and movies analyst, wrote in an email to CNN.