Feb. 22, 2026, 6:00 a.m. PT
Been to the movies lately? Me neither. And the motion picture industry is feeling the pain. There seem to be a number of reasons for this — see below — but many of the myriad entities in and around Hollywood that support the business are struggling or going under. Regrettable as that is, there are some interesting consequences beginning to surface. Let’s roll the film.
First of all, the movie business in Los Angeles is facing a number of unprecedented headwinds, some of which may be permanent while others are less so. The labor strikes that took place in 2023 created a disruption and backlog in production that still hasn’t been resolved. That might work itself out. But then there’s the merger mania among studios a few years ago that required the surviving firms to take on huge debt loads, making many of their regular activities untenable. And then there’s the high production costs inherent in Southern California movie-making, forcing some companies to shoot elsewhere. Add to all that the COVID hangover that still affects many industries, and you begin to get the idea.
There are other factors too — namely, that movies have seemingly been less creative lately. So-called franchise movies with thin plots and exhausted characters have not always endeared themselves to viewers. Indeed, movie viewership has declined by some 24% during the past five years with some theaters turning to special events to keep going and others closing altogether. Industry employment has also declined significantly, by some measures as much as 40% over the past few years. I’m no movie critic, but a little more imagination and somewhat fewer variations on a handful of tired themes might help to win back some viewers.
All of the above notwithstanding, perhaps the two biggest headaches facing the industry are the proliferation of streaming and the advent of artificial intelligence. Both are 800-pound gorillas — the first negatively impacting big-budget movie making (most streaming content is much cheaper to produce than blockbuster movies) and the second, well, affecting almost everything else. Why pay writers, directors and stars the big bucks when a computer can do similar work for peanuts? Virtual matinee idols are already emerging, and they can be made to do and say anything with a handful of mouse clicks. We might scoff at the stilted and formulaic copy being written by machines today, but tomorrow’s is likely to be a lot better.
So, why is all that of interest to us antique bugs? Partly because there are closures underway of costume and prop houses that have staggering inventories of really cool stuff. One of most recent was the recent liquidation of CRC, a 50-year-old costume house in Hollywood that had enough costumes to outfit a major motion picture with thousands of extras. Besides garments, their inventory includes hats, jewelry, purses, shoes and boots, uniforms, western wear and more.
A recent liquidation sale attracted hundreds of bottom-feeders, but the bulk of the inventory went to family members who are now beginning to sort things out. If you’re in any part of the clothing business or just want to see what’s available, a preliminary look is at hollywoodvintageco.com. It may be that there’s more movie-related stuff out there now than ever before.
Mike Rivkin and his wife, Linda, are long-time residents of Rancho Mirage. For many years, he was an award-winning catalogue publisher and has authored seven books, along with countless articles. Now, he’s the owner of Antique Galleries of Palm Springs. His antiques column appears Sundays in The Desert Sun. Want to send Mike a question about antiques? Drop him a line at silverfishpress@gmail.com.
