Analysis: Cinemas all across Ireland are adapting, evolving, and finding new ways to bring audiences in
Cinema going has been declared dead more times than anyone can count. Streaming has made it easy to stay on the sofa and half-watch something while scrolling on your phone. The idea of leaving the house, committing to a time, and sitting in a dark room with strangers can feel like a lot to ask.
And yet, cinemas across Ireland are not fading away. They are adapting, evolving, and finding new ways to bring audiences in. Time Out's recent list of the 100 greatest cinemas in the world featured two Dublin spots, with Rathmines’ Stella Cinema landing in second place and the Irish Film Institute at number 35. Jessie Buckley and Richard Baneham's recent Oscar wins proved that we are a nation punching above our weight in film-making, and if Time Out are to be believed, punching above our weight in the business of film screening too.
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From RTÉ 2fm's Laura Fox Show, is knitting in the cinema a thing?
The Stella turns a film into an event with plush seats, an opulent art deco setting and cocktails giving a sense of treating yourself to something a little indulgent. Screenings of both new releases as well as cult favourites and beloved classics (basically, films people have seen before) sell out regularly in advance. It is clearly not just about what’s on screen, but the experience, the setting and the oppportunity to make an evening of it.
Other cinemas have found their own ways to draw in the crowds. Dublin’s Lighthouse Cinema has a lively programme which mixes arthouse with the more mainstream. They also lean into events which feel properly communal, like a Twilight marathon, or the ever-popular Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote which recalls the fondly missed Rocky Horror Picture Show nights which ran for decades in the now defunct Classic Cinema: chatty, camp, slightly chaotic, full of commentary and laughter.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Arena in 2017, Lisa McGeough reports on the reopening of the Stella cinema in Rathmines
Ireland's arthouse cinemas still cater to the cinephiles, with gems like Cork’s Triskel and the Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast. At the same time, there is also a deep affection for local cinemas across the country. This was never clearer than when Cillian Murphy and Yvonne McGuinness stepped in to buy the much beloved Phoenix Cinema in Dingle. Against the odds, the newly refurbished Eye Cinema in Galway reopened in February after being forced to close due to flood damage.
The big chains are doing their own work to keep people coming back. The Odeon has turned something as simple as a limited edition new-release-themed popcorn bucket into a minor event. Multiplexes like Vue have added luxurious recliner seating and expanded programming, from international films to live broadcasts of theatre, opera and concerts catering to a wide and diverse audience.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, RTE Business reporter Adam Maguire on why cinemas are facing big challenges post-pandemic
At the same time, places like the Arc Cinemas, Omniplex and IMC trade on familiarity, refurbishing the cinemas you have been going to for years, where the person filling your popcorn bucket used to date your next door neighbour. Movies@ fits easily into a whole day out, shopping, something to eat, and a film to finish it off, part of proceedings rather than the main event. Old stalwarts like the Savoy on Dublin's O’Connell Street are still holding on, even after controversially closing the iconic Screen One in 2018.
Of course, the picture is not always straightforward. In Galway, the Pálás was pitched a flagship for arthouse cinema, a striking space with serious ambition behind it. It has struggled financially and closed in February 2025 (there are plans to re-open under new ownership), showing that admiration does not always translate into ticket sales.
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From RTÉ News, mixed reacton to the closure of the Pálás cinema in Galway
The cinema experience is not always perfect. There are complaints about people on phones, talking when they should not be, a kind of distracted half-attention that feels at odds with the point of being there.
Then there are moments like 2025’s Minecraft screenings, where audiences took things in the opposite direction entirely. Shouting along, cheering and treating the film like a raucous audience-participation event rather than something to sit quietly through. It has been framed as a nuisance in some corners, something that needs to be stamped out.
But, it feels like more of an opportunity than a problem. Crowds were showing up, ready to spend money, fully engaged, a bit overexcited and leaning into the experience together. There is no reason cinemas could not meet that energy halfway, with special screenings which lean into this enthusiasm rather than trying to contain it. Not every showing needs to be silent and reverent. There is room for an alternative.
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From RTE Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, why cinema goers can't get enough of horror movies
Sitting in the dark with a room full of strangers, reacting together, is still one of the best parts of cinema. I was two years old at my first cinema outing, a re-release of Disney’s The Jungle Book in the Ambassador in Dublin with my Dad, and life was never the same again. The colours and the songs playing on the enormous screen were mesmerising.
I have gone to the cinema regularly ever since. We all know how a horror lands differently when you can feel the tension ripple across the room, and a comedy hits harder when laughter builds and spreads.
For all the talk of cinema’s decline, what is clear is that audiences have not disappeared, they have simply changed how they show up. Irish cinemas have adapted, reshaped themselves, and found new ways to bring people through the doors. When the lights go down and the popcorn is passed along for a couple of hours, it seems that we are willing to leave the house after all.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
