Consumers Prefer Movies At Home

Ubergrendle writes "A poll conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Associated Press and AOL confirmed that 73% of movie viewers prefer to watch movies at home rather than at a theater. This article comes on the heels of a consistently poor box office this year, even despite the presence of the new Star Wars film. Despite this demand for home viewing, only 5% admitted to downloading a movie from the internet."

Comments

Re:HA!

[ergo98]

I love how the submissions says the following:

Despite this demand for home viewing, only 5% admitted to downloading a movie from the internet.

Despite? How in the world is this despite, as if downloading movies is part and parcel of watching movies at home?

I drop by my local Blockbuster every now and then and peruse their selection of full-quality DVDs, getting very recent movies. My life is too busy these days to differentiate between 0-dayz and 3 months old, and I'm perfectly happy to wait until it comes out on DVD (most of the time it isn't even waiting -- it's simply the first time I have an opportunity to see the movie).

The Big Screen

[NetSettler]

If you think the numbers are high now, just imagine how high they will be when large flatscreens get cheap...

They don't call theaters "The Big Screen" for nothing.

And besides, in all the rush to have more choices for moviegoers at theaters, the Big Screens you get at theaters are getting smaller while the ones you get at home are getting larger. As theaters make more and more small rooms to watch in that aren't that dissimilar to home, what's the difference other than sharing the room with a lot of noisy strangers.

Eventually, to survive, I predict that theaters will have to go back to the really big screen. Or start featuring other things, like food, just as air conditioning was once a big draw (and might be again if the poor in the US keep getting poorer and return to the days where they can't afford "basic needs" like dvd players and air conditioners).

There may also be a few kinds of specialty movies, like comedies, where a critical mass of people who are smart enough to get the jokes and make others realize it's time to laugh doesn't hurt either...

Food prices

[tedhiltonhead]

Many people here are complaining about theater food prices. For many theaters, concessions are their only opportunity to earn real money. In my local area, out of an $8 ticket, the theater keeps about $1. ONE DOLLAR. Concessions *require* a huge markup to bring in enough revenue to make the theater profitable enough to exist.

So, the real culprit for high concession prices is Hollywood, for requiring theaters to pay them so much.

This is, however, an excellent reason to eat dinner *before* the movie. :)

Fair Use

[MarkByers]

If you have bought a copy of the DVD, you can legally download another copy where the annoying faetures are removed, under fair use. Well you can in Europe anyway, not sure about other countries.

Watching movies at home...

[turthalion]

From my blog entry this morning... saves me retyping it all in.

So the CBC has this story, about a recent poll of Americans which found that 73 per cent of them prefer watching movies at home, whether through DVD, VHS or pay-per-view, rather than in the theatre.

I'm sure Hollywood will get in a panic about this, and the MPAA will claim that piracy is to blame, even though only 5 per cent of those polled said they had downloaded a film.

My response to Hollywood is: can you blame people?

You're paying about $10 to go to the movies these days, just for admission (and even that's likely to get worse in Canada, when you read this about Cineplex Odeon buying Famous Players) to watch the latest crapstravaganza featuring the current flavour of the month actor who can't act their way out of a paper bag. The main character has some token development, and is surrounded by wooden characters brought to dubious life by bit actors. When will Hollywood realise the importance of casting for the small roles? Most of the Hollywood movies I've really enjoyed are the ones that people all of the roles, large or small, with quality character actors. Look at Shawshank Redemption, or even Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, which didn't win any actors any awards, but were riddled with people who know how to act. And that makes it so much more convincing versus say, garbage like The Fast and the Furious.

So people end up staying home--why get the car out, haul the family down to the theatre, spend $40 on admission and $30 on popcorn and drinks for a feature you're pretty sure, based on track record, is going to be disappointing? Much easier to stay at home and spend a few bucks renting the DVD or watching the pay-per-view.

But appallingly bad films are not the only reason people are staying at home. Look at the difference in the viewing experience.

At the theatre, I'm stuck in a seat that allows limited shifting of body position, the floor is sticky, people beside me talk to each other about other things throughout the movie, the guy behind me is busy explaining the film to his girlfriend (or worse yet, summarising the plot of Episodes I, II, IV, V and VI of Star Wars at the same time as watching and trying to explain RotS), I'm nowhere near the center of the screen because I no longer have the inclination or energy to line up first or barge past everyone else when they open the doors to get a good seat, the picture is grainy, often out of focus, and the sound is turned up so high and the sound system so poor that high-frequency noises like R2D2's beeps, are actively painful...

Contrast that with, say, watching a DVD at home. I get the seat I want (though I can move during the film if I want, as well). I can put my feet up. My seat is right in the center of the screen. I can have the amount of ambient light I want. I can get up and go to the bathroom without missing the only meaningful line of dialogue in the film, the popcorn is cheaper and tastes better, the picture looks great. And as for the sound system (audiophile geekout coming up, you have been warned)...

I have extreme control over the volume. I can boost the center channel volume so as to hear dialogue perfectly, while keeping the rest of the speakers lower. I've got an Arcam AVR100 amp driving the rear speakers, center channel and subwoofer, and a Musical Fidelity A300 dual mono amplifier driving some Monitor Audio Silver 8 speakers on the front, and the whole experience is way better than what you get

That's why I like LIVE theatre

[neonfrog]

I agree with you, the social aspect is kind of important. But theatre beats movies for that hands down.

* You and your friends not only have an event to talk about, you have an event that only you saw (every live theatre performance is a little different)

* One word: Intermission (bathroom AND discussion about what's coming next!)

* You know exactly where your money is going because you can SEE actual people and stuff in like 3D or something (OH! THAT'S what reality is!)

* You support LOCAL arts and often even get a voice in what those will be (surveys about upcoming shows, comment cards for the one you just saw, etc.)

* When there are special effects, they are especially interesting because they are decidedly NOT computer generated!

* A movie has to shred your ears and eyes with "CRASH BANG!" and vibrate your seat with 8Hz explosion bass to "immerse" you in the experience. Theatre just uses people which automatically piques your interest and you focus on the event more closely. YOU create your own immersion out of inrigue and desire. You aren't pummeled with "immersion" tactics.

I have seen 3 movies in the theatre in the last 5 years -- LOTR*. The story was important to me because I'd read, nay worshipped, the books for years and years. It's gotta be that big for me to spend my money that way versus supporting a local live show.

I actually remember MORE fondly the experience of watching the LOTR director's cuts at a friend's house with a small gathering of people with whom I usually frequent the live theatre scene!

* I did see one other movie in the theatre during that time frame, but I was on a date with the person who soon became my wife. The movie wasn't really the point.