Cinemas across the world are fighting for survival after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the to close their doors for much of the last 12 months.

Theaters also face competition from an increasing number of streaming services, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO, that allow people to stream films from their homes.

As vaccinations are rolled out, there is hope that cinemas will begin to reopen in the coming months but will they be able to attract film lovers as they did in their heyday?

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American writer Jonathan Taplin told The Agenda with Stephen Cole: "I think it's an open question. My guess is that when people get vaccinated and it feels safe to go back into theaters, people will go back into theaters. 

"Now, it may not be at the level that it used to be because when a company like Warner Brothers decides to put all their films on their streaming platform, HBO Max, on the first day of release, that's going to affect things because many people have large-screen televisions in their house."

However, Taplin says the growing number of streaming platforms charging subscriptions also isn't a long-term solution to attracting a global audience.

He added: "This plethora of streaming services will not end well in the sense that every single major media company is now putting up their own streaming service with their own exclusive programming. 

"I mean, people don't know what's a Warner Brothers movie and what's a Paramount movie – they want Martin Scorsese's movie. So, I mean, this idea that you can have 20 of these platforms literally, and each of them charging you $10 a month is is not going to work."