What factors led to the decline of town or city centre cinemas in late 1970s and early 1980s?

There are three main reasons that have contributed to the decline in cinema attendance in the late 1970s to early 1980s, that has lead to the rise in multiplex cinemas and the downfall of fleapits. These three factors consist of social, technological and economic. Cinema attendance within this time period was at a decline due to the introduction of VHS (home videos), piracy and the recession. VHS (home videos) enabled people to buy films and watch in the comfort of their own home as many times as they wish. The reason as to why this was such a big success was because it was a lot cheaper to watch at home - at the time they were in a recession which meant no disposable income for families, it was able to be watched multiple times in the comfort of their home, and it was also new so it created a hype in which people wanted to follow. Piracy also enabled people to watch films from home, however this meant a decline in profit to cinema and production companies because people were streaming current cinema movies online at home for free. 

The rise of the multiplex cinemas caused fleatpit cinema's to be closed down due to multiplex cinemas appealing to a wider audience and showing blockbusters which fleapits didn't have the license to show. Multiplex cinemas are cinemas that are built up of multiple cinema screens which allows a variety of films to be aired at once. Multiplex cinemas are often located in shopping centres this is because it is placed in a location where going to the cinema can become a day thing. The main target audience for multiplex cinemas is teenagers this is because they have a disposable income and teenagers mostly go out shopping with their friends and having a cinema in the same location will attract them and draw them in. 

Audiences were also encouraged into going to multiplex cinemas due to the VFX (special effects), sound effects and visual effects ect that were incorporated into blockbuster films. VFX were new and attracted a wider range of people to the multiplexes. It became popular to watch these films in the cinema due to the experience gained, rather than watching it at home. This is another reason as to why multiplex cinemas became a success leaving fleapits to fall. 

Overall, cinema attendance declined between 1970s - 1980s due to the introduction of home videos, VHS and piracy. Watching films at home became a craze, it was new and everyone wanted to try it. It became a success due to it being a lot cheaper to watch due to the recession and it gave the ability to watch films in the comfort of your own home. E.T (1982) was the most pirated film in the UK due to all of the reasons and benefits in which the ability to watch films at home gave. Although, cinema attendance dropped it soon began to rise again in the later 1980s due to the rise of the multiplexes.