Motion Picture Projectionists

Highest risk Lowest scored Low pay & highrisk
Imminent Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
43% automation risk | Moderate Risk
Pays better Higher growth
42.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Plausible shift for workers who understand projection, framing, media handling, and production equipment.

Audio and Video Technicians
34% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
51.8 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Directly reuses AV setup, playback systems, troubleshooting, show timing, and venue operations.

Audiovisual Equipment Installers and Repairers
40% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
45.8 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Strong move for projectionists with equipment setup, signal routing, calibration, and maintenance experience.

Broadcast Technicians
36% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better More jobs
49.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Transfers audio-video signal monitoring, equipment operation, and fast response to playback issues.

Sound Engineering Technicians
37% automation risk | Low Risk
Pays better Higher growth
48.9 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Reuses sound reproduction, levels, synchronization, and live technical operations with focused audio training.

Compare this job with others
or search for another job
Share your results with friends and family.

Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
1.1/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

86% (Imminent Risk)

Imminent Risk (81-100%): This occupation appears highly exposed to end-to-end replacement by AI, software, robotics, or other computer-controlled systems. Roles in this range often involve predictable, repeatable, or rules-based work with limited need for human judgement, trust, creativity, or adaptation to messy real-world conditions. This does not mean every job will disappear immediately, but it is a strong signal to consider safer alternatives or start building more resilient skills.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

We have not found any highly rated human strengths for this job yet.

What users think

Based on 32 votes

73% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted that it's probable this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 86% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Motion Picture Projectionists will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very low paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Motion Picture Projectionists was $38,180 ($18 per hour).

The median annual wage for Motion Picture Projectionists was 22.9% lower than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very slow growth relative to other professions.

The number of 'Motion Picture Projectionists' job openings is expected to decline 3.7% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 1,950 people employed as 'Motion Picture Projectionists' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 79 thousand people are employed as 'Motion Picture Projectionists'.

People also viewed

Computer Programmers Graphic Designers Actors Lawyers Web Developers

What people are saying (2)

Tyler
07 Aug 2025 01:15
This has been outsourced to digital since the early 2010 (like 2012), even before then, not many people made their actual living as a "film projectionist." The big chains (AMC, Regal, Cinemark, etc) just use it as a prestigious role for their regular employees. Last time I worked at a cinema (7 years ago) it was the Managers who looked after the digital projectors whenever issues arose, which wasn't super often. Sorry, but this role had its hey-day (even had a union) for a near 4 decades.
Aaron O'Gorman (Highly likely)
12 Apr 2021 00:26
I was replaced by a computer 10 years ago
Leave a reply about this occupation
0/8000

Job description

Set up and operate motion picture projection and related sound reproduction equipment.

O*NET-SOC code: 39-3021.00