Moviegoers mingle outside at the Roxie Theater in 2024. The Roxie became a nonprofit organization in 2009 and receives support from government grants to meet its modest operating budget.

Famed director Martin Scorsese made news last month when he explained to film critic Peter Travers why he no longer went to see movies in a theater. Citing audience cellphone use, incessant talking and generally restive behavior that often drowns out dialogue, the director of “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” told Travers he’d had enough. 

Of course, big screens in the U.S. were in big trouble long before Scorsese’s admission. The pandemic only turbo-charged the pre-COVID trend away from theaters in favor of home-based entertainment media. In the first half of 2020, Netflix added more than 26 million subscribers. So when shuttered theaters reopened, audiences — specifically American audiences — did not rush back in droves.

But the changes haven’t been the same everywhere. Consider the differences between Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, and Paris, arguably the birthplace of cinema. The city of Los Angeles has approximately 100 movie theaters, while petite Paris, with half the population and less than 10% of L.A.’s geographical size, has more than 130. And while Los Angeles suffered permanent theater closures and steep box office revenue reductions due to the pandemic, Paris’ theaters are nearing pre-pandemic ticket sales. What gives?

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I’m an inveterate film-watcher, semiretired cinema instructor and long-time film programmer with a Bay Area international film festival. In other words, I love popcorn and movie theaters more than most other things. When I moved to Berkeley almost 50 years ago, there were more than a dozen theaters showing movies, most with at least........

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