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Here is a snippet from an article on the Utah Statesman:

According to a Redbox study, Americans watch more than 5,000 movies in their lifetimes, an average of about seven per month.

I cannot find the original source of this "Redbox study". I can only find videos on US Today and Yahoo News that make the same claim and cite the same source.

I also cannot find comparable and credible studies to compare the claim. There are credible answers for how many movies the average American watches at the cinema, but not in general.

Does the average American watch 5,000 movies in their lifetime?

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    It's unclear how exactly "watch a movie" is defined. Could be an actual movie theater, but also Amazon, Netflix, air plane, DVD, etc. I probably watch a dozen or so on the plane during a single round trip to China. – Hilmar Nov 02 '19 at 19:29
  • What counts as movie? A 44 minute episode of a TV series? – Bernhard Döbler Nov 03 '19 at 14:11
  • Since I am asking about the "Redbox study", the definition of "watch" and "movie" would refer to however the authors of that original source have defined it. – TransparentBlue Nov 04 '19 at 07:21
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    I think that's a doubtful claim made by a DVD rental company. Look at the math. 5000 movies spread over 70 years is a bit over 71 movies per year. When's the last time you watched 70 movies in one year? I'm sure that some people probably do, and that some people may see even more, but 71 movies a year for 70 years? Balderdash. – NothingToSeeHere Nov 04 '19 at 18:08
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    @Ring 71 movies a year is less than 2 per week, with todays television channels and considering the number of hours per week people spend watching television, that doesn't seem excessive at all. – gerrit Nov 05 '19 at 08:42
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    Remembering that Redbox is a renter of cheap movies, it is entirely possible that the average Redbox customer watches 7 movies a month. It says nothing about the average American. – DJClayworth Nov 05 '19 at 17:51
  • @gerrit, I doubt if the average person would be able to sustain that rate for long if they actually work and have families. I see to many other things preventing that from being the norm. Watching television shows and watching movies are two different things. – NothingToSeeHere Nov 05 '19 at 20:07
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    @Ring Depends on TV habits. 4 hours per week of television seems low. At least here the public channels show movies several times a week, and then there are channels that show only movies. I don't know how it is in the USA. – gerrit Nov 05 '19 at 20:16
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    There are movies on TV, no argument. But there is also news/weather/shopping and a multitude of other things to see besides movies. So, 71 movies a year for 70 years? Nah, I don't see it ;-) – NothingToSeeHere Nov 05 '19 at 20:19
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    There are many elderly Americans who watch an old movie on TV every night. Or at least the first part of the movie, before they fall asleep. Is this counted as watching 365 movies? – GEdgar Nov 07 '19 at 01:33
  • I would doubt "watches". I would rather said "played". Sometimes I have netflix on for a whole day as a background noise. So maybe 7 movies goes by. I watch maybe one or none. – SZCZERZO KŁY Nov 07 '19 at 08:25
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    5,000 movies is one per day, every day, for ~15 years. Average human lifespan is, say, 75 years. So now you only need to *average* one movie every 5 days, or about 6 per month. The back-of-the-envelope plausibility math checks out. Especially when you start figuring-in folks who watch many more movies than that per week. – warren Nov 08 '19 at 18:34
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    @warren Furthermore, that average is probably pumped *way* up by the few people who watch movies every day. – Omegastick Nov 22 '19 at 07:25
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    @Omegastick - definitely! For example, I *know* for a fact my sister watched Lion King over a hundred times one year because we had no cable, and my parents would let us choose a tape (no, that's not a typo) each day to watch during the summer. And that doesn't count the movie *I'd* pick each day that summer, too :). There's 200+ in just 3 months – warren Nov 22 '19 at 13:51

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