Slashdot Mirror
Piracy Not To Blame In Decline of Moviegoers
lucyfersam writes "In a somewhat surprisingly earnest assessment, the NYTimes has an article about the massive decline in movie-going that does not once try to blame piracy and file-sharing programs. It sounds like studios are beginning to understand that they have only themselves to blame." From the article: "Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cellphones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough."
Yah, I agree with this. I think it has less to do with crappy movies (cause lets face it, most movies are and have always been crap) and more to do with crappy theatres. Most of the people in my family have really good to moderately good home theatre systems. The picture at theatres has sucked for ages, and the sound isn't any better than most surround systems I've been around; it's just louder. That's easy to fix at home.
Then there's the other movie goers. They talk... younger teens like to laugh at inappropriate places to seem cool... cell phones... people sitting in front of you if you don't have stadium seating... people kicking your chair... people putting their feet on your chair or the chair next to yours...
I used to go to theatres alot back when I was with my ex, but that was just to do something different than sit at home all night (we sat somewhere else!) Now I have a love/hate relationship with the theatres. I want to go, but when I do, I tend to not enjoy myself for above reasons. All the people problems weren't as much as an issue when the sound was comparitively good and the picture was so big. Now, when I look at the picture, all I think about is all the scratches on it.
You should feel lucky that noises are the worst of your problems. In the late 1970s, when the punk movement was taking hold in Germany and France, cinemas there often became places where no decent person would go. Why is that? Well, many of the punk tots at the time would throw human waste at patrons, rather than popcorn. It was not uncommon for a moviegoer to be hit by a wad of sperm, or even a chunk of human feces, while watching a film.
People started to complain, and cinemas began to wisen up. Troublemaker punks were tossed out of theatres at the first sign of agitation. In the end, the cinema environment substantially improved. It was again possible to watch movies without disruption.
The moral is that you must take action to maintain a quiet theatre. You must contact the manager when things go bad. Let them know you're displeased. That will lead to a far more enjoyable movie experience.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.