New Poll: Reasons for the Dip in Movie Theater Attendance

Hollywood honchos are scratching their heads trying to figure out why movie theater attendance was down in 2011.  Let's be more specific -- not just "down," but the worst in 16 years!  There are plenty of theories and a lot of reasons that probably add up to the slump, but which one is the primary cause?

Is it the bad economy?  Could it be backlash against the proliferation of higher-priced 3D films?  Maybe people just feel more comfortable watching movies in the privacy of their own homes on their big screen TVs and surround-sound audio systems.  It could also be that more potential moviegoers are finding their entertainment fixes elsewhere through other media, especially the Internet and videogames. 

Personally, I think the biggest factor is the quality of movies.  To paraphrase Field of Dreams, "if you make it, they will come," ("it" being "good movies that people want to pay money to see.")

There were some good movies in 2011 amid the piles of junk, but maybe we can argue that Hollywood didn't do a good enough job letting people know about them.  Here's another wacky theory -- maybe big theater chains themselves need to do a better job marketing themselves and the moviegoing experience instead of just depending on Tinseltown to do all the promotional pushing for their titles.

What do you think?  I have a new poll up, so share your opinion.  If you think there's another reason that I haven't listed, please let me know by commenting below.

Meanwhile, the results of my last poll are confirmed.  It was a tight race to determine which TV holiday special everyone loved the most, but How the Grinch Stole Christmas edged out A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Tune in next month to see what the most popular theory is for the decrease in movie theater attendance.