There are two nontraditional movie theaters in downtown San Diego. Neither caters to current mainstream tastes. And with some movies still going straight to streaming (since Covid), are San Diegans still eager to make the journey to smaller cinemas and chain theaters?
The question pits the live experience of a first-run movie versus the convenience of sitting on your own couch where you can pause the movie for bathroom breaks and snack refills.
First, downtown’s offerings. The Digital Gym Cinema in East Village is owned by the Media Arts Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting independent film. There’s also the Rooftop Cinema Club in Little Italy, adding a view of the city and an outdoors element to the theater experience.
Rooftop’s communal watching experience includes nostalgic, second-run hits like 13 Going On 30 or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The Digital Gym leans toward local and international film. They’re doing a Bleak Week event, screening nothing but “Cinema of Despair” for the first couple weeks of June – not exactly fun fare for the whole family.
If you’re a downtown resident who wants to watch new mainstream flicks like The Devil Wears Prada 2 or Obsession, you’ll have to travel. The closest multiplex is AMC Mission Valley 20.
Our anecdotal survey shows downtown cinephiles are split.
Michael, 39, grew up watching movies in theaters and vastly prefers that to streaming.
A young ACE parking employee named Cooper likes the convenience of streaming. He compared it to having “your own home movie theater.”
One way the mainstream theaters are luring people back to the big screen is with subscription perks. As of last year, AMC A List Stubs subscribers could watch up to four movies a week.
A subscriber named Sebastian said some of the only time he gets to spend with his cousins is when they go to the movies. He also values feeling present in the moment for those two hours every week. The sentiment was echoed by a trolley security guard named Greg, whose AMC subscription allows him to spend more time with his wife.
That’s not for everybody, though. A woman who refused to offer her name, said she prefers streaming because she is “not a public person.”
The Sun’s polling was informal. But an S&P poll shows that as of 2025, the number of Americans who “frequently” visited theaters was nearly half of what it was in 2019. Even over the past year, a majority of Americans report going to the movies less.
It all comes down to your passion about the theater experience.
An elderly gentleman named Gonzalo summed it up: “It’s like a baseball game, he said. “Emotions come out” when watching a movie with a crowd. That’s hard to replicate at home. SDSun
