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Do You Go Out to the Movies or Wait for the DVD?
SpecialAgentXXX asks "After I see a movie, I usually end up buying the DVD to see the deleted and behind-the-scenes bonus material. So I not only pay for $20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets, $8 for parking, and $12 for popcorn & drinks. But now that I have a home theater system, I've mostly stopped going to the movies and just wait half a year for the DVD. The only exception is watching a movie in DLP or the IMAX Experience like Harry Potter since those are better qualities than a DVD. Are more people doing this? The cost of going to the movies is now more than double that of a DVD!"
I can't afford going to the movies or to buy a DVD
You insensitive clod!
http://Lenny.com
I wait for it to be broadcast, I'm not in a hurry..
I used to enjoy going to the cinema to see a movie, and certainly some of the really require a look in at the cinema - big screen, and all that.
However, I do find that other people in the cinema are annoying. Generally there are:
- people talking;
- people eating stuff from noisy bags;
- people slurping the last few drops of their drink;
- kids kicking the back of the seat;
- any number of other annoyances.
It's getting more and more difficult to actually enjoy watching a film in a cinema these days. With the advent of high-quality DVDs and home theatre systems, I'm moving more and more towards waiting for the film to come out on DVD and watching it, in peace, at home.
Here, a trip to the movies is a little cheaper that in the US. And DVDs are more expensive. But I think it's worth the extra money and waiting a big of time.
Granted, some films have to be seen in the cinema. I'll be there the 'Return of the Sith'. Sorry, but even if it's a terrible film, I will have to see it.
T.
By waiting, most people will either say it's good or bad.
Also there's been a loss in the "movie-going experience"
I mean, commercials in the intro, those stupid "No Smoking" jingles, at home, I can just watch the movie
Error 407 - No creative sig found
if it's something i haven't been looking forward to but was recommended by friends or such i will tend to wait for the DVD release. but if i've been really excited for something (like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Garden State) then i will make the effort to go and see it.
i will tend to also go and see films that do not see a wide release (and subsequently a smaller distribution for the DVD release) in theatres - foreign films fit well into this catagory but films like Barbarian Invasions and Station Agent qualify as well. i just had a chance to see Izo (the new Takashi Miike film) at the Vancouver Film Festival and as far as i know it was oner of the first screenings outside of Japan and wouldn't be available on DVD in North America for another 6-10 months or so.
only in some instances have i bought a DVD without seeing the film before though, most of the time we'll go on cheap night to the rental place around the corner and grab some interesting ones i've missed in theatres and then if i really enjoy it then i will make the purchase (but i'm very picky on what makes it into my DVD collection).
... on how much DVDs cost where you live ! Here they are about 5 or 6 times the price of a ticket (30 euros compared to 5 or 6 euros at most cinemas). Can you say overpriced ? That's why my collection of DVDs can be counted on a single-digit.
I still go to the movies, especially since they built that huge multiplex to replace the two smaller cinemas. The main difference is that I'm more demanding of the whole experience : I generally pick a morning session during work days of the second or third week after release, so that there are about 4 or 5 other spectators besides me in the room.
Another advantage of reduced audience, in addition to the total silence during the movie, is that you can just go to the other spectators and discuss the movie with them afterwards.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
Aside from the Alamo Draft House, movie theatres around here don't serve beer.
At home you can have cheap beer... and pause the show for the ensuing bathroom breaks.
that, and it's just plain weird going to the theatre on my own.
-metric
I still love going to the Cinema - no matter how much I upgrade my home system its still not the same. Sure, you can be unlucky and get idiot talkers occasionally, but bad framing (my number one old complaint) has been almost completely eradicated since the studios' piracy worries have led to staff actually being present in the booth again.
However, I've just recently become a Dad, and getting the opportunity to go out to the pictures is a rare and precious thing reserved for something really exciting. Even before then, there are so many films coming out I don't have time to see them, so I do a lot of catching up on DVD.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
Ok, sorry I forgot this was slashdot :) :)
Personally I like going to the movies. I dont have a home theater system, but surely you cant compare it to the big screen. Around here we have theaters banning food and drink in certain rooms. So all you have to do is wait a couple of weeks for a movie to be shown in the special no-eating room.
Some cult movies are best appreciated in the theaters. Watching Star Wars with a crowd of other fans gives you a feeling of community. I remember when Episode 2 premiered and everyone went crazy when they saw Yoda fighting like that. And then at the end everyone stood up and clapped like a maniac
I used to be a renter, but my gf insists on going to the movies. I dont think it's worth buying a DVD though. I dont have a lot of time to kill and I'm not the sort of person that watches a movie more than once. It's a matter of personal preference, I suppose.
There must be a few of you.
Cinemas suck, morons cant sit and watch anything quietly. Its worse if they are kids or the kind of idiots who think taking a really young child (i.e of wailing age) to the cinema is a good idea.
Bush and Blair ate my sig!
Movies are way too valuable a way to kill time during business travel to waste seeing in a movie theatre. Airports, planes, trains, and ferries are full of people watching DVDs on their laptops or personal DVD players to fill all that 'wasted time'.
Your cost estimate is missing the amount you presumably shelled out to build that state of the art home cinema experience. How much "savings" from cheaper DVDs are you really making when you add that in? Or, in other words, how many DVDs would you have to buy instead of cinema tickets to make up for the value of your huge TV / surround sound? My pulled-out-my-ass guess is >1000 at least.
Of course I realise its nice to have a big TV and sound system for other reasons, but really...
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
I watch it on region free DVD before it comes to the cinema
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
but that usually happens before the movies come out. so no, i dont wait. i stay home AND see the movie
If you could choose the kind of people
you say the movie with, & maybe had a
chance to discuss / debate the flick -
afterwards... that might justify pay-
ing $ at the cinema...
- a bit like a classical music concert
I mean... who says we all have to stay
just while the film's running... let's
build little communities around films,
at least for the newly rising doco's
that may (hopefully) be changing how
people think about war, etc.
My 2.2 cents (includes 10% Aussie GST)
It depends on your situation, I guess. I happen to be single (like a lot of folks here, I gather) and live in a smaller city. Going to see a movie is usually a cost of $5-7 for me.
...buy a home theatre, the amortised cost of which the delerious^Wmysterious SpecialAgentXXX evidently hasn't factored in.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Because I have a nice home theater, and because the quality is even better than many of the cheap theaters near my place.
I am also happy not to have to deal with kids talking during the movies. However, I kinda miss the "social experience" of going to the movies.
It's fun to go to the movies with some friends. Besides, some movies you just have to see in the cinema because the screen is so much bigger there.
-- Cheers!
last I checked (being right now) a $30 DVD costs six times as much as going to a $5 movie. If you're going to include popcorn, parking, and going at 8:30 on opening night, it's only fair to include the cost of your home theater to every DVD you buy.
- people talking; - people eating stuff from noisy bags; - people slurping the last few drops of their drink; - kids kicking the back of the seat; - any number of other annoyances.
Also add: people moving around; couples making out; the odd idiot (or bunch of) who laughs in a high-pitched maniacal laugh in all the wrong places; cellphones ringing and people picking up and talking at leisure; the smartass who comments out loud and thinks he's witty; the guy in the next seat who has to explain *everything* to his numbskull girlfriend; the bitch you took out to the movies who gets bored stiff halfway through and wants to leave... oh just the hell with it.
Obviously, not all of this happens at once. Otherwise you'd see me on the news as "crazed man runs amok in cinema, slaughters dozens barehanded".
But the point is that the entire movie experience has gone down the toilet. Nowadays it's just a cheap (as in no quality) way of losing some time before getting layed just so you can say "we went out".
As a more or less movie buff, I miss the real thing. I miss the respect people used to have about going out to the movies, where they would dress and act nicely. I miss being able to let myself be swept by the magic of a good movie and only come to at the end, hands clenched and at the edge of my seat. I miss having the entire room gasp and breath and laugh and applaud like one, with me.
No doubt, it's also the fault of the kind of movies we have out today. Damn I wish I lived in the 60's.
What's there left to do? Theater seems to retain some of that, too bad I don't like theater (pretentious, pompous, overacted, snobs). Small cinemas catering to buffs like myself are good, but they are very hard to find and the odd asshole can still appear.
So you get your good movies on any kind of media that's popular (VHS, DVD, DIVX) and watch them in the privacy of your own home, with friends and family. Screw all the insensitive assholes out there and the movie industry of today, thank you very much.
i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
I despise trailers with all my heart, and if it weren't for the social inconvenience, I never again would watch a new release in a theatre, ever, no matter what, just because I want nothing to have to do with the awful trailers Hollywood shoves down my throat these days. Don't get me wrong -- a trailer is a WONDERFUL one-, two-, or three-minute reduction of a film I otherwise couldn't so much as sit through. But as for films in which I have an actual interest...
Every film that's part of my intellectual furniture right now, that I adored absolutely, that moved me or changed my world outlook or even which just was wildly entertaining, would have been completely ruined for me if I had seen a "modern version" of its trailer first. (You know exactly what I mean. Not just merely the "spoiling" of some plot points, yeah, okay, I know that the Titanic will sink, or that Jesus will be crucified, to use two popular examples, but the very taking away of all that gives a film heart and pulse.)
The exception, of course, is in 1) the rare cases where there is enough artistic pull that a film can be "presented" without being "Readers' Digested" -- VERY VERY rare today -- and 2) the cases, as I just mentioned, in which I don't mind watching a three minute reader's digest of a film that I have NO intention of seeing. [Usually even the worst of films have enough high spots to put together an interesting digest from. (Especially with all the money on CGI, etc.)]
Basically, my idea of a good introduction to a movie is a title, maybe a genre -- so I can select movies to watch based on how I would like to feel -- and "see this."
Every good movie ever made is accessible from a very wide variety of intellectual approaches; if you're not STUPID, you don't need to watch what amounts to a point-by-point synopsis of a film in order to be prepped for its watching.
You cannot tell me that nothing is taken away.
By the way: SOYLENT GREEN IS
a good movie.
People in the audience may get an oblique joke that the writer/director has made, which you might not necessarilly catch, and so on.
I saw American Psycho with a friend at a local 12-plex in a theater where nearly everyone did not have a great familarity with the english language, or that they were poorly educated. For those of you who haven't read the book, it's hillarious, and somewhat gruesome, and the audience only saw the movie as some slasher flick. It was kind of weird being the only 2 people in a nearly full theater, that got the jokes.
Anyway, my point is that going out to see the movies is a social event, people react in ways that you might not, which usually adds to the experience, If you're the type of person whos whole experience is RUINED by someones cell phone ringing once, then don't go if you're that uptight. If you're the type of person who enjoys hearing the pithy comment during some film which unexpectedly turns out to be realy bad, then go out and enjoy - you'll get more out of it then sitting home all alone. I like being in the audince of a 1000 people who go nuts when Yoda jumped around like the Tazmanian Devil, it's just fun.
..........FULL STOP.
I go to the movies to see films that are well reviewed or are about material that just doesnt translate well to the smaller screen.
I buy DVD's of memorable films or stuff I collect (eg sci-fi).
I download films that I probably wont get to see or have had mediocre reviews but whose content appeals to me. I make a point of not downloading stuff I just "have" to see at the pictures.
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
Add to this the free international postage many Region 1 DVD sites have (I used DVD Soon on this occasion) and it's a total no-brainer - Region 1 DVDs are the way to go for UK folks.
It's cheaper than buying the DVD.
No seriously... Local prices for DVDs seem to be totally ludicrous.
It's about $8 for the movie and about $50 for the DVD... it's the choice between buying my weeks worth of food, or a DVD... Hmm...
So with my monthly salary (which is above-average) I practially spend all my available income on DVDs, and yet can only get one or two.
-sigh-
I don't have a 30-foot screen at home, or massive surround sound speakers.
I wish I did, but until I can afford that I'm going to stick to going to the cinema.
My Journal
For you, Maybe, I don't know of any theaters in Pittsburgh that I'd have to pay for parking at. If it's really $8, take a bus, it's cheaper (here at least). Secnod, Ticket Prices here are still around $9. I can Imagine that there are places that you would need to pay for parking in, maybe a theater inside a city, but I find it hard to belive $12 tickets, I can get the premium tickets with the leather seats and stuff for $12 at loews. Third, I always have someone with me with a big purse, and we just bring our own low noise food (gallon ziplock of popcorn with REAL Butter, not that fake crap, a few cups, a 2 liter or two of dew). Try a different theater or something (Less You don't have many options).
Or, you could just hook a computer up to that home theater setup you got and steal it.
(Score:0, Interesting)
... never ever happened before....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Get to the cinema 10 or 15 minutes after the advertised time.
Duh!
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You can't beat the dollar theatre. During the week at night its a dollar. Weekend nights I think are like 2.50 or 2. I'm not sure. But the best is the 50 cent weekday matinee.
As for annoyances, I don't get too many in the theatres around here, even when its crowded. And when I get them, they don't bother me. I think they actually improve the movie experience somewhat. Sitting with a bunch of strangers is the way movies are meant to be watched, it definitely adds something.
The problem is that there are so few movies worth seeing even in the dollar theatre. I guess I'll see episode 3 for 50 cents. Other than that, I can't think of a movie I'm dying to see. It's pretty sad. All the movies I want to see I can rent at video barn where they have the HK imports and every Kung Fu movie ever.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
movies or dvd ?
...
i usually can't wait so long so i do bittorrent on suprnova or torrentreactor and look for a high quality rip or get it from irc
if i could afford it and wouldn't live in a country that thinks 500$ a month is a normal salary , i'd probably go for dvd-s unless i'm chasing a girl.
I'd tell you the chances of this story being a dupe, but you wouldn't like it.
You have to pay for parking as well? WTF?
Do you have to have reservations to get into Denny's too?
Where the hell do you live that requires you to pay for parking to go to a freaking movie?
Religion is for people afraid of going to hell.
I lean toward the DVD, but if it's an "important" movie, (obviously, a subjective decision) I'll probably view both. My biggest complaint is that the Theatrical Cut is often different from the DVD Cut. This has always bugged be since seeing the Theatrical Cut of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars" and only being able to get the "Special Editions" on DVD. And with things like the "Politcally Correct Cut" of ET, the Theatrical Cut is often desired because it is often truely unique.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
My wife and I almost never go out to theaters anymore, With tickets running $8 or higher per person, it's cheaper for us to wait and buy the DVD than to go see a film in a theater. Between the DVD clubs and buying used DVD's from a couple local rental shops, we're averaging less than $11 per DVD, and we have quite a few.
While it would nice if we had a larger screen to watch a movie on, our 25" TV works well enough for now, and we have a decent sound system. It's nice to be able to kick back and relax and just watch the movie. We can pause it if we have to (bathroom break, phone call, whatever), we don't pay outrageous prices for food or drink (besides, my hot air popped popcorn is better tasting that theater popcorn!), we don't have to worry about other people in a theater not being quiet or having garbage on the floor, and we get whatever special features that may come on the DVD. Where possible, we buy only the widescreen versions of movies, so we're not losing anything by the movie being "reformatted to fit your tv screen".
The only time we go to a theater anymore is if we have free passes, which I think we've had twice so far this year. We've bought a whole lot more DVD's this year, though....
The dry fish swims alone.
For my wife and I, it all depends on the movie. Some movies are worth seeing on the big screen (IE: Sky Captain) wheras most can wait til the DVD comes out (IE: Punisher). Up to last year, it was cheaper/same price to buy a DVD (25$ average in Canada) compared to 2 theater tickets (12.50-13.50 depending on the theater). Now most chains (at least in my region) have dropped their prices down to the 9.50$-10$, so without food (never had to pay for parking) it ends up being almost the same price.
One good thing about staying at home is to not have to deal with annoying kids talking throughout the movie, flashing laser pens at the screen, etc.... I can't remember where I read this (maybe an Ebert newspaper column), but a theory as to why kids/young adults talk during movies is that they grew up with watching movies at home, where talking didn't matter. You put them in a theater and they don't know any better. Whereas older adults (30s+) didn't go through that.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
hey wow some of us don't have a DVD player
w s/1096222386043_58/?hub=World/
3 123.htm/
I personally have a VHS VCR and a 13inch mono TV from 1980.
and I don't have the kind of money required to goto the movies...
you need to get some prospective dude.
Genoside in Darfur
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNe
disparity between the rich and poor
http://www.detnews.com/2002/census/0212/19/a06-58
sigh....sorry about that
END RANT
--meh--
$20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets, $8 for parking, and $12 for popcorn & drinks
Wow. That's gotta suck. I spend:
2 tickets @ 6 = 12
+
1 large combo @6=6
=
$18
And most movies aren't worth renting, much less buying, the DVD for. I've seen about a dozen movies this year. The only ones I'm interested in the DVD for are Sky Captain and maybe Riddick.
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
After I see a movie, I usually end up buying the DVD to see the deleted and behind-the-scenes bonus material
You like every movie you see so much that you need to own the DVD? Can't you rent it once from blockbuster to see "The Making of Rocky V" and "Home Alone 3: Director's Commentary version"?
So I not only pay for $20 the DVD, but also $24 for a pair of tickets,
You pay twelve bucks for a movie ticket? Does the matre 'd come and pour your soda refills from a lead crystal caraffe?
Lots of movie theatres allow you to buy discount movie coupons in advance in books of ten. Look into it.
$8 for parking
Where do you go to see movies? Broadway?
and $12 for popcorn & drinks.
In the old days, you had to pay cash for movie theatre food. There's a reason they take credit cards now. Nobody carries enough cash to see a movie with popcorn and drinks. Go out to dinner first. For that $12 you can get two bourbon chicken combo plates at the food court. It's actually pretty good.
I've mostly stopped going to the movies and just wait half a year for the DVD
RENT IT. Unless you're talking about Star Wars, or LOTR, or something of that ilk, RENT it. There are a lot of movies that are worth seeing but not worth owning. All that money you're wasting could be going into a Roth IRA.
If the movie is based on special FX, explosions or cinematography I go to a nice theater w/ fancy screen, comfortable seats and good sound. Anything from Shrek to Bourne Identity to Hero (-- great movie) I will shell out the $10+/head to go. Other than that, I will wait for the DVD (and download the rip I almost never bother w/ cam versions anymore).
The movie going experience is especially good in certain films. I try to go close to opening night on the big films. The vibe is much more interested. I just saw Sean and the dead (or whatever). The movie was very tongue in cheek and the crowd was very into it. Great movie for an enthusiastic crowd.
I almost never watch a movie over again. The theatre is much much cheaper. My typical movie experience consists of:
:-)
Tickets: $5 x 2 = $10
Beer: $3.50 x 2 = $7
Food: $5 x 2 = $10
Of course, the number of beers goes up depending on how bad the movie is.. but that's the great thing about the Draft House, no matter how bad a movie is, you can order enough beer to make it better
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
"The cost of going to the movies is now more than double that of a DVD!"
I wouldn't be so sure. Let's see:
Tickets: $24
Parking: $8 (is parking really that expensive in the US? Or are you driving a semi truck?)
Food: $12
Total: $44 or $22 per person
DVD: $20
Food: $5
Home Theater: $4699, I picked a few from the page you linked to (Yamaha surround: $999, 51" Zenith LCD: $3,700)
You have to consider the cost of equipment, because otherwise you could buy the whole theater and claim it costs you nothing to watch a movie there.
I don't know how long a home theater lasts, but let's try this, I think it could work:
The cost of watching a move at home = ( 4699/dvds_you_watched) + 20 + 5
You'll need to watch about 200 DVDs to get the average cost to $48 or 248 to get $44 and well over 1000 to get twice as cheap. So yeah, it is may cheaper, but that depends on how many DVDs you watch and how many people are involved.
For a while, the Cheap Seats theater in Burlington, VT had the *best* "courtesy leader" I've ever seen.
"The blondes... FAKE!!!"
"The (this)... FAKE!!!"
"The (that)... FAKE!!!"
Then they had a short, done with Barbie and Ken dolls about theater courtesy. The Barbie that was talking on her cell phone, disturbing other patrons, got a pair of jumper cables attached to her and shocked. (with special effects!!) The doll eating and throwing popcorn was sucked up into a shop-vac, etc.
At the end, they're all lounging together in a hot-tub, except it's a super-size soda.
I wish we could have more like this, instead of the thumpa-thumpa music and flying candy.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
That's all I have to say.
Really. You can keep scrolling now.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
I definitely don't go out to the movies. I think the last movie I saw in the theaters was The Chronicles of Riddick last June. Not a huge fan of the theaters, way too expensive (even as a student). If a movie costs $6.50, and I can wait and get the DVD for $8.99, I'm more than willing to pay slightly more to see all the deleted scenes and making-of stuff that comes on the DVD.
Just gotta wait and watch for Fry's to have sales and you can get 6 or 7 DVD's for $45 or $50. Plus, there's a ton better older movies than newer ones. Most (not all) new movies have sucked major ass.
On a side note, I love collecting DVD's and CD's for the artwork, so for me, its always a win-win situation to buy a DVD.
-Vic
I usually go to see a movie and don't buy it on VHS or DVD.
I'm going to the movies once per week (sneak preview) and
if I want to see something interesting. On Tuesdays its cheaper
here (germany) and I can get a student discount. I try to stay
away from popcorn&drinks and I use public transporation.
I don't even own an standalone DVD player. I can
play them, but I don't watch or rent them.
A DVD can't replace an evening in a movie theater.
At home you are easily disturbed.
Doesn't the initial investment of a home theatre system need to be figured in here? Yes, $20 for a dvd, $24 bucks for tickets, yada yada. How about $1800 for a nice starter home theatre system? I think you have to watch a LOT of movies, make a lot of homemade popcorn, and drink a lot of bottled coke before that fixed cost starts to become less present.
Easy guys, I put my pants on one leg at a time. The difference is after I put on my pants I make gold records!
Who would go to the movies? Pay $12 AND get *SPAMMED* with ads?! Not for thith little black duck.
When I saw the Phantom Menace there must've been 50 ads before the movie. I don't even remember what the movie was about because I was still pissed about it the next day!
I think I've been to the movies maybe 4 times since then. And I used to go pretty much weekly.
Also, 2 of those 4 times, it was IMAX. The second of those two times started with ads, which were followed by:
"This is not an IMAX movie. It's a 35mm movie on an IMAX screen."
I shouted, "Why didn't it say that in the newspaper ad?" Someone should burn them for bait and switch.
Word to the entertainment industry (and sports and SO MANY OTHERS). If you treat people badly, the reaction you're guaranteed to get is:
"F me?! F you too."
That's just the way things are. Get a clue.
Astro
say a movie hits theaters at time 0 months.
time, cost, media:
-1mos. $0 crappy pirated private screening from the internet
0mos $20 at the theater
4mos $10 discount theater screening
6mos $7 on pay-per-view
9mos $20 DVD
1year $0 on local ZBYTV
just depends where you want to consume on the "consumption" line.
--- widget evolution: enhanced, plus, super, ultra, extreme, exxxtreme, ultra-extreme,
I've got a family of 4... To go to the theater with all of them means I'm out $30 just in the cost of tickets, and I'm restricted to family fare (My kids are 10 and 3). If I wanted to feed this bunch while there, it'd be easily another $20 - $30 (Just for some crappy snacks and drinks).
Like many of the other posters, I simply can't stand what the moviegoing experience has become. I don't like the crowds, and like the man once said: "In any sufficiently large group of people, most of them will be idiots." No place is this more evident than at a theater.
Home theater is where it's at.
For those that would die defending it, Freedom
has a sweet taste that the protected will never know.
Where I live, the nearest cinema is a 15 mile drive, thankfully parking is free. Tickets cost £5.50 (US$9.98) (although the price is a lot higher in London) and a bucket of popcorn and an obscenely large drink (with free refill) can be bought as a combo deal for £4.50 ($8.16) and we often have to wait until the film is out in the US on DVD before we get to see it at the cinema here.
DVDs on the the other hand have a high-street rrp of £20-25 ($36-45) (though they are often cheaper from supermarkets or online from amazon or http://www.play.com/). It's worth noting that the UK releases of films often come with fewer extras than the US version, so a lot of people buy R1 imports (multi-region dvd players are very common here).
Most of the movies don't interest me, and as a result I've ended up with a very extensive foreign film collection. Stuff you just can't see at the local theaters. Stuff like:
Noir
Sky High
Road
Company
The Heroic Trio
Spooks (aka MI5)
Slayers
Now granted that some of those are television shows elsewhere in the world, but they're still fun (IMHO) to watch. And Spooks goes from 59 minutes in the UK to 42 minutes in the US.
Lately, I have been just plain lazy and missed some of the good movies at the theater (like Spider-man 2). And I'm too lazy to return a rental. So on that rare occasion that I do get motivated I buy what I want to see on DVD. If I get to the store the week the movie comes out I can pick it up for about $15. And if I don't like the movie I can sell it at work for around $12
I also hate to miss any part of a movie, so the pause button works a lot better at home, compared to the theater.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
First it depends where you live:
My brother who lives in LA, says that he just buys everything when it comes out for $15 at BBuy. By the time he buys tickets for 2 and parks he's over $20, so for him it is an easy decision. He doesn't have a fancy HT BTW.
For me in Houston, I can do the same for under $12. The theater in LA has to pay for the real estate it sits on, so the LA movie patron helps out quite a bit.
Next it depends on your level of "must see"
My brother has no problem waiting until a flick comes out on DVD. There is the rare flick he will not miss on the big screen (me too). I have kids, so I'm in no rush to hassle with sitters etc. I'll just rent it for $1 at the local kiosk machine at the grocery store.
3rd: how much of your life revolves around bad movies? Evidently quite a bit as we're now choosing the most cost effective way to watch more video. My brother used to go to the movies weeekly, so to keep the same level of entertainment, he has decided the "buy" route is the way to go. For me, I went out once per month at the most, so I just end up renting.
4th: if you have $$, you probably will see the flick and then buy it to watch again and again anyway. There are few movies I've bought. I probably have 1/10th the movies my bro has.
5th: if you want a HT, you're gonna find some way to justify buying one. I have a nice HT setup, but it is not just for movies.
Basically, the conclusion is to find a great paying job in a low cost of living part of the country, then you can watch the movies for cheap then buy them all over again to watch on your HT system that you paid big $$ for. Why settle for one or the other when you can have both!!
easier said than done, eh?
The primary targets for Movie Theaters:
1. Kids in the dating age 18+
2. Adults out on the town, before they have kids.
3. Under 30 but above 18+ and typically male (Blockbuster Action and Sci-Fi Horror Flicks).
4. Adults with young children (Disney, Pixar, etc.)
5. Young teenagers 12-17, they'll see anything to get out of the house and suck face in the dark.
The remainder are the one's buying/renting DVD's or doing pay per view (cable/satellite). Then there is the less then 1% who pirate over the Internet and burn their own DVD's. Add another 2% for those who bought 321 Studio's software before it was banned and who burn copies of DVD's they rent.
The cost of large screen TV's, DVD players, and Home Theater stereo systems have dropped quite a bit in the USA. Why pay $20+ USD for two to see a movie (not counting food) in a theater when you can sit in the comfort of your own home and watch a high quality DVD (rental cost $3-$5)?
Notice the target audience above? I remember the late 1970's and early 1980's when there were a heck of a lot more rated R movies out there. i.e. nudity, drugs, extreme violence, etc. Notice how most movies are not R rated anymore? This is because of the target audience!
The movie theaters don't make a heck of a lot of money on ticket sales they make most of the money on popcorn and soda. Think about the cost of popcorn and fountain soda then think about what you pay for it in the theater! It's a 200% markup!
I have an 8 week old baby girl you insensitive clod. We're lucky to see a DVD. Hell, we're lucky to see 5 hours of sleep. However we do enjoy pizza, beer and a movie at baby night at the Parkway Theater in Oakland.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
I go to maybe one or two movies a year. And they better be damn good movies. The last one I went to in a theater, I think, was Shrek 2 and only because my daughter bugged the hell out of me. Before that it was Hulk.
I don't rent movies. I don't do pay per views. I wait. I am patient. I wait for Blockbuster to finish quenching the surge of demand for a new movie, and then I buy it when it hits the "Pre-Viewed" rack. Even then I wait until they run the "2 for $20" sale. That's when I stock up. I walk out once or twice a month with an armload of DVD's.
Sooner or later I'll purge the collection and recoup some of those costs via eBay. For now, though, it's kinda cool knowing that I legally own over 400 DVD's and not a cent of my money has gone to the MPAA.
1) Sound
Most of these theatres are run by people with no real AV calibration experience as far as I can tell. They EQ the bass up too high, the mids too low, and the highs are shrill. This is one of the reasons I couldn't enjoy Matrix Revolutions; the low mid of the punches was turned into an oatmeal slap by the horribly configured audio system. And this was on Sony DTS. Much of the time there is also some kind of buzz in the background. This is why I had trouble watching X Men 2 and a few others.
2) Video
Lots of times the video ends up looking flat and desaturated. I'm not sure if this is badly maintained projectors or what. It's often off center and obvious when switching reels. I long for digital video.
3) Audience
I hate them. Loud, obnoxious asshats chatting on cell phones and commenting aloud on the movie. Kids brought to the WRONG movies, so they're asking questions or crying. The lip smacking of the teenage couple making out behind me. Rednecks with their laser pointers and minimum wage ushers who won't do anything about it. No thanks.
You'd think for nearly (or over in some cases) $10 a ticket, they could have someone come in and set this stuff straight.
I don't have a huge home theatre system but watching it on my ordinary 36" TV with my Wharfedales and my Onkyo receiver is a better movie experience by far than going to any of the theatres near me.
vk.
I used to go to movies. Not a lot, but I did go. When "Fellowship of the Ring" came out, I went.
The experience was pretty awful. From the house lights not going down on time and the light from the left-open doors shining on the screen to the sticky floor and talking/sneezing/coughing.
I watched, and muttered those now immortal words "I can do better than this at home"
A year later I had a DLP projector under the couch (852x480) and a 100" screen at the living room wall. It lives up to my claim - I've never even looked at a movie theater since.
My costs for the first couple of years works out to be $3-4/per hour of viewing. Cheaper than a movie theater and a lot more rewarding.
A.
...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
Well, the MPAA blames us of pirating, why NOT do it.
We're all considered guilty anyways.
Im doing my share.
1. What movie it is and how badly I want to see it in the theater. I usually go for the movies I really want to see.
2. I always go with someone instead of by myself.
3. If I have time.
There are a lot of movies that I want to see, but there is lack of free time.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
While going the movies is getting outrageously expensive (10 euro's for a ticket here in holland, ridiculous!), going to the cinema is more than just seeing a movie.
Sure, you can watch it at home (A VERY decent projector & home theater can be gotten for about $8.000 these days) with full cinema quality. Especially if you live alone and don't have any kids running around or other idiots yapping about. You can watch a movie in beter than cinema quality and not have to be annoyed by phones going off and such.
On the other hand, you usually also go to the movies to get out of the house. Especially if you're a geek, you probably don't get out much anyway, as most computing based activities take place at home or at work. Also, it's more fun to take a chick to the movies than bring her to your living room.....
While it is outrageous, and if the movie's decent you WILL end up downloading it or buying it on dvd, there is still to substitute for the cinema. Getting out of the house and watching something with other people isn't the same as sitting in your living room alone at 3 in the morning watching the latest flick you got of bittorrent.
Jesus, I'd stop going to movies at those prices too. I go to the matinees on Sat. or Sun. mornings: $5/seat. The theater has a 5 acre parking lot & parking is free. I eat before going or smuggle my food in.
My suggestion: Move.
Probably 25%/75% movies/DVD for me.
If it's a movie I REALLY want to see, or one that the theater is especially suited to, I go out to see it.
Otherwise I just Netflix it.
Note: Matinee prices and student discounts are your friend. Parking $0, tickets $6 each, snacks hidden in large pockets, and I live in central New Jersey, where things in general are NOT cheap... Movie prices are far lower in less populated areas. Also, AAA used to (and I think still does) have discounted movie ticket vouchers for members. They often have some restrictions on use (such as needing to wait 2 weeks after release of a movie to use the cheap tickets). There are other sources of cheap tickets if you know where to look and don't mind a few restrictions.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
Speaking as someone who has a home theatre, and who doesn't go to the theatres much anymore, let me try and address what you said
I bought the home theatre anyway. I already have it. I didn't initially buy it as a cost savings, I bought it because I really wanted it and I had no competing places to spend the money on (ie. no kids, no wife).
Now that I have it, I find there are only a very few movies I make a point of seeing in the theatres (eg. LOTR). All others I wait for on DVD.
I do this because it costs me about $20CDN to go to a movie and buy popcorn+drink. A DVD usually costs me about $30CDN. For a huge amount of movies, my sound system and display are good enough to substitute for the actual theatre. Older theatres don't have as good sound system as I do, and my sofa reclines. I can also drink beer, smoke, pause, or grab a snack.
For my brother, with a family of four, a trip to the theatres runs on the order of $60-70 CDN. He also has a home theatre, and does almost all of his movie watching at home. For him, the economics have tipped so now that he has the theatre watching at home is way cheaper. Again, he already has the theatre.
I agree that if you buy the home-theatre because it's cheaper than the movies, the cost of equipment offsets that. If you've already bought the home-theatre, then a lot of people will basically decide that, ignoring what they paid for the theatre setup, the cost to you now to see the movie makes it cheaper at home.
I also buy DVDs to collect them because they are movies I want to watch again in the future. Not all movies are around to be rented after 10 years.
An analogy would be a bread maker. If you buy a bread maker, the subsequent loaves of bread are cheap. If you amortize the cost of the bread maker, you have to make lots of loaves of bread to ever actually realize an actual net savings.
However, if you really like the bread from a bread maker, the initial cost of buying the appliance is worth it.
Unlike corporations which actually need to account for depreciation, an individual consumer can separate the two. Because there's that whole micro-economics argument about how many utils of enjoyment you got out of the purchase, not simply wether or not you've actually made a net savings.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Cost of movies is double the DVD? OK, I know I'm a cheapskate, but even I wouldn't make that claim.
2 movie tickets: $10 ( I only go to matinees: smaller crowds, lower prices. Last movie I went to was a year ago and it was $4.50 each)
Parking: $0 -- don't go to movies in the city. When I lived in the city, I just went to movies in the closest suburb: they all have free parking there
Snacks: $2 (maybe a blue ICee. all other snacks I take in myself from home. Candy bars fit in your pocket, and I have snuck a large sandwich down the front of my pants and walked into the theater. What usher is going reach for my "package" to verify it's not real?)
Did it even occur to you that you could just *rent* the DVD if all you want to see is deleted scenes?
Kids today, sheesh!
Of course, that means there are very few movies I can even consider buying - which is great news for my wallet.
I would like to go see movies in the theater, but all the movies I want to see just aren't appropriate for a 4 year old. So, I tell myself I'll wait till they come out on DVD (I've got a 40" HDTV, after all), but usually forget.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I almost always go to Matinees which are about $5.50 right now. So me and my kids comes to $16.50. Parking is free and I do not waste the money on the theater snack items. I am there to see the movie on a huge screen wiht surround sound, not eat overpriced junk.
I do have about 30 DVDs but I stoppped buying them, unless it is something like The Lord of the Rings uber special edition, or Lexx first season which I had to buy in Canada. I simply have a netflix account and rent them. I rarely watch a movie more then once or twice. If it is a classic like Office Space then I buy it, but otherwise I just rent and wait a few days.
So overall. I go to the theater for big movies where the screen and sound will have an impact. You lose so much on the puny 27" screen.
A clean, well made, properly projected and calibrated 35mm film blows away any DVD.
Most movie theaters, however, don't show clean, well made, properly projected and calibrated 35mm films.
Considering that the time from theater to DVD is three to five months at this point, I waits and buys.
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
sheesh
Thanks for the answer, but the original question was comparing buying a DVD ($20) with going to the cinema ($24+$8+$12=$44). Even allowing for the somewhat strange "parking" charge (WTF is that? Parking at cinema's are free over here), the difference in cost is $24.
So to get the value of your home cinema experience, you would have to buy 3450/24= ~144 DVDs to break even. Heh, only a factor of ten off from my initial prediction. Good enough for government work. Take your figures though, $25 for a visit - $20 dollars for the DVD and you have 863 DVDs to buy to make up the difference.
Point taken about the idiots in the cinema. Some drunken bint spoiled a Indiana Jones marathon by subjecting us all to her oh-so-hilarious commentary.
Meine Schwester ist sehr, sehr reizvoll - Nietzsche
$24 for two tickets! Holy crap, where do you see movies? Manhattan?
Still, if you can afford your nice home-theater I don't think you need to get all cheap about movie costs.
I live in Tucson. We don't pay for parking at the movies. We usually don't get popcorn, but if we do it's not $8. Tickets are still under $10 - in fact, if you go in the afternoon, it's $5.
Also, by not buying a $20k home theatre system, I have saved enough money to go to 200 movies, which is about as many as I'm likely to see in the next dozen years, plus all that space that would be wasted is free for useful things like my wife's marimba and my computer.
use kazaa to watch movies.
I go to Rainbow Cinemas here in Canada. Possibly the best thing that has stuck around is these cheap theatres in the 'burbs (usually inside malls). For example, this one's $4.25 CDN Tuesdays & matinees, and $7.50 any other time. Sometimes they even have free movies for the kiddies and their guardians around noon on weekends.
So, if it's a money issue, I spend - and this is including my girlfriend - $8.50. Parking is free at the mall, and I don't buy any of that crap (maybe sometimes sneak in some bulk-barn candy).
Do I go to the movies? Yes, to the cheap theatre which isn't all that different from the other ones. The screen might be a little smaller but who gives a rats ass. The only movies I would go and see at a very expensive theatre would be something along the lines of Lord of the Rings, or something that's very visually stimulating. But you don't want to have an IMAX experience with fucking Adam Sandler, no matter how funny he is.
..of a major online DVD retailer. I never really understood those clients of ours (a huge percentage) who liked to be $100-200 in DVDs per week.
I much prefer the theater, and with services like Netflix and Blockbuster's new no-late policy, it's easy to get these movies and watch them on your own terms.
What I really noticed of those customers of ours who bought a lot of DVDs per week was that they were all really mainstream releases. Foreign, eclectic, cult or otherwise wouldn't have puzzled me so much, but these titles just sucked.
Sometimes you just have to get out of the house.
So I don't go to the cinema. Who wants to gamble that you get the theatre with a bunch of kids who hoot and holler or a crying baby? When I want to watch a movie I don't want any interruptions.
Last movie I saw in the cinema was Article 99.
Every movie theatre I've been to has free parking.
:)
Only morons spend 12 bucks on popcorn and drinks.
The theater gets like %1200 profit on that.
Sneak in your food n' drink, I do it almost everytime. The staff is too busy looking for people with digicams anyways
Also is it easier to get all your friends to come to your place, or all of them to go out to a movie theatre? I find most people just like to "go out" instead of going to someones house.
I usually end up waiting for the DVD now because I have kids and I have enough social responsibility not to incovenience everybody with it. Now when I was able to go to the cinemas, I went to the really expensive Arc Light Cinemas where the prices were expensive enough to keep the rif-raf out and only serious movie go-ers show up.
I see very few movies in the movie theater. These are movies which are stunning visually or ones I enjoy seeing with friends.
For the rest, I wait for the DVD to come out and rent it from Netflix. At approximately 12-14 movies / month, they cost me less than $2.
I buy very few DVDs - only ones which I am absolutely sure I will want to watch more than 3-4 times.
I'd rather rent a DVD again than buy it - $2 vs $10-18.
I reason that there's enough new/unseen stuff to keep me busy and very few things call for seeing over and over again.
Therefore, almost no DVD buying in my situation.
$2.95 to rent the DVD, $1.95 if I have a coupon lying around.
I don't buy DVDs because I usually only watch a movie once - why would I want to sit and do nothing for 2 hours watching something I've already seen?
The cinemas cost too much to go all the time ($14 x 2 + whatever), but we'll go once in a while. Sometimes we go to the drive-in up the road (2 or 3 movies for $15/car) but then you're stuck in a car or course.
No please, do continue...
By buying a used DVD, you are taking a used DVD off the shelf that someone else might have bought, forcing them to buy the original instead.
This assumes that the same people who trawl through ex-rental bargain bins are happy to pay full price for a new copy. I imagine that this isn't the case for most of the '2 for $x' crowd. Also, a 1/4 price DVD is more likely to be an impulse purchase than a full price copy. I just impulse bought a copy of The Thirteenth Floor for AUD$7 -- it's a fun movie but I wouldn't have paid full price for it if the bargain bin was empty.
A less intuitive but more accurate visualization is the understanding that by supporting a market for used DVDs, you push the asking price for brand-new DVDs up past what their price point would otherwise be.
This makes more sense, but unless the price doubles due to the second hand market, one and a bit DVDs are supplying two customers, which is a gain for us and a loss for them (relatively speaking).
Vino, gyno, and techno -Bruce Sterling