On the opposite, I don’t really get movie theatre as a social activity.

Watching a movie is a passive, solitary activity that you do in the same place and time as other people. It feels to me like it has the same social significance as meeting and then everyone checking their phone for two hours. Sure there is a shared experience at the end of it, but there are a thousand things you could do instead in order to experience things together, most of which more interactive and more “social”.

For me the only benefit of going with a friend is pushing each other to actually go and see the movie. But for myself, I have watched movies alone and didn’t find it significantly better or worse than going with company.