Why spend money to watch it in the theater, if you can legally get a copy of it online? Without IP protections, any theater employee could legally create a copy of the film (not to mention the audience) and distribute it.

There's no audience participation in Avengers, and with today's home AV setups, there's little benefit to the theater environment; there's no incentive to pay to watch something that will be freely and legally available in a day or two (at most).

> Why spend money to watch it in the theater, if you can legally get a copy of it online? Without IP protections, any theater employee could legally create a copy of the film (not to mention the audience) and distribute it.

That already happens with a lot of movies where the movie is leaked (even sometimes before it lands in the cinema) and it does not seem to change anything to the theater results.

Because capturing and viewing those is not legal, and not simple. Have no doubt that the legality matters, since it incentivizes making the viewing simpler (imagine popcorn time having devs who could openly work on it without fear of being legally prosecuted).