Floating population and demand for movie theaters in metropolitan cities

Using novel subway passenger and theater information data, we examine how the demand for a theater in a densely populated metropolitan area is affected by the floating population around the theater. We find that the floating population positively affects the demand for a theater and its impact becomes significant and larger in magnitude than the impact of resident population for theaters located in the largest metropolitan cities. Our findings suggest that taking the floating population as well as the resident population into account is necessary for measuring local market size accurately, especially for theaters located in the largest metropolitan cities.