Access is Opportunity in Hollywood

By Esme Mazzeo

Credit: Michel Caicedo

A new study from Inevitable Foundation (IF) points to disabled people as a key demographic that could provide revenue the entertainment industry needs— if only movie theaters were more accessible.

According to the report, titled The Adaptive Cinema Opportunity, 82% of people surveyed would go to the movies more often if theaters were more accessible, and 65% of those surveyed would rather go out to a theater than stream a movie at home. However, only 4% of respondents said they’ve had their ideal accessibility needs met when they went to movie theaters in the last two years.

Saga Darnell, IF’s Head of Research and Public Affairs, told Able News that previous studies conducted by the organization have proved that disabled and nondisabled people alike prefer authentic representation in entertainment. But, Darnell pointed out, even if a movie has positive disability representation, it can’t be a box office hit if movie theaters aren’t accessible.

Given that over 28% of the U.S. population is disabled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this means that movie theater executives are largely ignoring a population that has about $21 billion in discretionary income that they could spend at the movies if not for accessibility issues.

“We can see really clearly how movie ticket sales would increase if the investment money that is going into developing movie theaters right now was spent on reclining chairs, [which] disabled audiences often need to sit in one place for two and a half hours,” said Darnell.

Reclining chairs are just one example they gave of an accommodation that would improve the disabled movie-going experience and benefit non-disabled people in the process. Other suggested accommodations included simplifying the digital ticket-buying experience and making theater accessibility information easier to find on websites.