Too many alternatives. It will continue to be a film lovers hobby more and more. The theaters aren't going away I don't think they will just be premium and less in an area

I think it has more to do with prices than cinema being cannibalized by other forms of entertainment. Cinema is too expensive nowadays... but as long as total gross keeps going up, studios won't care. It shows we are still off the equilibrium point price vs. demand curve. Pretty simple economics, really. Not to mention worldwide gross and numbers of ticket sold are surely increasing yet.

That would be a 2D movie not longer than two hours in a small town german cinema though. Except for discount days. Watched TFA on the local cinema, 50m² screen, 10€. Bigger cinemas are way more expensive.

Another problem though, back in the 90s you waited more than half a year to one year for a damn VHS release. If you where lucky you might have had a four head or six head VCR with stereo. If you where really lucky you had a Dolby Pro Logic amp. And maybe a 28" tv.

Now usually i wait three or four month for a blu ray that has better picture quality than some cinemas. I've got Dolby Digital/DTS AVR's since 2001 and a decent though not even big 46" tv.

In other words, going to the movies was a much higher quality experience twenty years ago compared to what you'd get at home. At the same time ticket prices went up while home movies did not. I remember paying up to 40 DM for VHS tapes like Akira or Blade Runner Directors Cut. That's slightly over 20 €.

Now 2D Blu Rays cost no more than 17 €. Usually new releases are more in the 12-15 € range.

Ticket prices went from 8-12 DM (4-6 €) to 8-16 €. Ad some popcorn, softdrink etc...

You've gotta remember, the world market is a win now take on business nowadays. You squeeze every penny out of consumers right now, and if the company or even the entire industry fails later, so be it; you already pocketed your pay and you'll move on to be a career journeyman exec who goes to companies, destroys them by frontloading profits, and moves on. Look at Sears, look at Don Mattrick, look at Martin Shkreli and his smug-ass Satan face, look at banks, look at how little cable companies care that cable is on the way out, and so on. It is what it is. If movies die (and I doubt they will anytime soon because now more than ever revenue isn't dependent on total attendance as much as ticket costs themselves) they'll replace it somehow. These are the same people that convinced people that 3DTVs were a good idea.

Ticket prices are way too high, theaters need to stop being so greedy. People still go the theater because some times you just want to get out of the house, and a movie night is an easy thing to do that doesn't require a ton of planning. People still need to go on movie dates and all that.

Same in my area for two people it's $20 easily. I go to this theater in the hood now that's connected to a dying mall and for two people it's $6-7 which is a good deal. 

This. Me and my GF can watch pretty much any movie we want at home but we choose to go out to get out of the house. When it's to expensive though we don't really have a choice or at least not a hard one.

It's not the theaters that are tooooo greedy...

Increased pricing and better internet connections means that for a lot of people, streaming is simply a better option.

Especially when you can find DVD quality streams within a few weeks of release.

Most of the theaters here in Portugal are inside shopping malls and owned by NOS, a internet and tv provider. Still, the prices are at most 7.5 euros for 3D and there are various discounts like wednesday costs 1 euro less, or if you have the NOS provider at home, you get a card with which you can get an extra ticket for free, great for my girlfriend, or free drink and popcorn if you go alone. Still, even if it costed more, I prefer to go see the movie when it releases and prefer the cinema experience although I hate 3D (I noticed in TFA that if I don't care about subtitles, 3D is actually good). In summary, Portugal is awesome and tickets should be low so that people go to movies more.