It might be. My personal experience though is that whenever I go (usually peak time on weekdays), it is 98% empty (only the typical couple central seat being us

It might be. My personal experience though is that whenever I go (usually peak time on weekdays), it is 98% empty (only the typical couple central seat being used). The movie is going to be projected with or without more people. Even selling the seat for 0.5$ generate some money for the theater, and probably even more given what the average user spends at the concessions. I'm oversimplifying since the Producers of the movie request X$ per ticket, but you get the idea. MoviePass managed this badly, but there is definitely an opportunity here.