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Ebert: I'll Tell You Why Movie Revenue Is Dropping
schwit1 writes in with a link to Roger Ebert's webpage where he gives his opinion on the decline of movie industry revenues."According to Ebert movie piracy isn't the problem. He contends that the industry needs to lower prices on tickets and popcorn, keep people off their cell phones, show a wider variety of films, and understand that movie streaming is here to stay. From the article: 'The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It's the theaters that are losing their charm.
Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can't depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out.'"
Try coming up with an original idea that doesn't SUCK .
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
It's all sequels, prequels, and superhero movies. I have a 60 inch HDTV and just watch what I want in my own home theatre now... and my popcorn has real butter on it too!
How about some couches and beer? It doesn't even have to be that classy; movie theaters have gotten bad enough that the classiness level of a brewpub would be a big improvement.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
ok, I like kids.
But parents need to stop using movie theaters as a way to keep their kids entertained for an afternoon. You come to a movie to see a movie, not to fucking socialize.
and to that idiot with the laser pointer, be happy I'm an old fuck and have too much to lose to shove it down your pie-hole - sideways.
The Alamo Drafthouse theaters, mostly in Texas but slowly spreading out (1 in Colorado and one in Virginia now) are superb models of successful customer-friendly theater experiences. Good equipment and seating, first-run movies, a clear and well-enforced no talking/texting policy, and oh yeah, good (yes, actually pretty good) food and *beer*. Not to mention great local events, a variety of special showings and unusual feature runs, and no crappy ads for cars and stuff before the show (instead a series of usually topical shorts or Youtube vids, usually hilarious). They are awesome and I hope they continue to spread.
- Oshyan
Or perhaps the movies themselves just suck more than they used to? Because there's no soul and little controversy? No "oomph?" Resorting to milking the entire comic universe over and over again? Dumb, sterile humor? Animal humor? Putting a monkey on screen is not funny (despite the idiot audience feeling obligated to forcibly laugh) unless the monkey is masturbating, flinging poo, or maiming people.
The Rum diary is a colossal disappointment, J. Edgar doesn't do a good enough job raking that fucker through the coals. Green Lantern was hokey, even for comic-book standards.
I agree with every part of this, but the problem is the same as in every area of commerce today: the execs make the decisions and the execs are some of the most arrogant and boneheaded people out there. There is no meritocracy there and the Peter principle is the guiding force.
They will continue to act on their beliefs and not listen to the real people that matter, the people paying the money, until it is too late.
You saw a movie in the theater, or you didn't see it at all. Further on, you saw it in the theater, or you waited a few years for it to come out on VHS for rental. These days, you see it in the theater, or wait for it to hit Netflix in a matter of months. I'd rather wait a few months and view it in the comfort of my own home, than to go sit with a bunch of ill-mannered heathens, watch 20 minutes of previews, and then shield my eyes from the glow of a hundred cell phones...
Unless they halve the prices, why bother? Blu-Ray on a 46" modern TV is most of the experience for cheaper per movie and you can't put a price on the freedom it provides in terms of food, not putting up with jerks and being able to not miss anything if you have to go to the bathroom. Best Buy and Walmart charge prices for new releases that are less than the cost of two tickets to see them in the theaters around here (metro DC).
Maybe if forensic accountants went through Hollywood's REAL accounting books (not the fake accounts they present the public), then they would find all this missing revenue, like how gazzillion $$$ earning films somehow don't break even - yeah right!?!
Take Nobody's Word For It.
...apple users on-board, how else will you get the whole "I'm a clueless consumer and I'll pay through the nose for absolute crap" thing going on. So far it's been disappointing to say the least. Despite the relationship between Jobs and the movie industry (albeit the cackest part of it.)
If the movie industry can tap into that market then they've cracked it - thus far itunes is a significant move in the right direction, but there's a lot of work to be done.
The *only* reason that I hate movie theatres is that there are always dozens of people around me who do not know how to eat quietly. Close your mouth before you start chewing (that includes the first chomp). Learn how to grab popcorn without ruffling your hand around for 2 minutes (better yet, lose the popcorn all together! Let's find a quieter food to associate with movies!)
The only theatre i go to is the Cheap theatres, and watrch them there with my kids, its $3 matinee's and $5 evenings I can take my kids spend $9-15 to get in and then get a large popcorn, 3 pops and still come out ahead. I rarely go to the big theatres any more for 3 of us plus the popcorn and stuff it costs like $60 or more prices need to come down Most movies are not worth thre $12 each to get in I would rather buy it on Bluray if i had to pay $36 for 3 of us t get in..
That's not the message I get. Personally, I haven't seen a good movie since 2006. That seems to be the year when all the good scriptwriters died and were replaced with underpaid teenagers on speed with the attention span of a flea. Sometimes it feels like there are actually a score of them each writing a five minute plotline (while being forbidden to talk to each other) to be finally merged into a single two hour piece of garbage.
I greatly hope more theaters like the Alamo Drafthouse or the Cinebarre open.
Food, booze, and a lack of noisemakers makes me actually want to go to the theater.
Who says movie revenue is dropping?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Think about it ...for a family of 4 it costs like 34 bucks to walk in the door plus another 20 bucks for popcorn and soda.I get to sit around a bunch of loudmouth jackasses who wont shut the hell up, keep there feet off my seats, or turn off the damn cell phones. All for the low cost of roughly 30 bucks an hour.Gee sounds like a blast to me... F that.
On: http://www.powned.tv/nieuws/binnenland/2011/12/bioscopen_draaiden_goed_jaar.html (dutch!!)
The main message translates to something like this:
"in 2011 the ten most visited movies have net resulted in EUR 73 milion. This is higher than the previous year when the top ten only grossed EUR 64,47 milion"
So what is the problem? About 10% increase doesn't look too bad to me?
I just read, you know, like five minutes ago and such, that this was the best year for movie theaters in the Netherlands EVER, so the bs about downloading is killing the movie industry is just that: a big s-load of bs.
Privacy is terrorism.
I like going to the movies but... I took my family (of 5) to the movies on Christmas day. After paying for tickets and buying 3 drinks and a couple snacks I was at almost $100 dollars. That is too much for seeing one movie. There is no way I can support that on a normal basis. If the movie industry wants me to watch more movies... lower the price.
He is exactly right. I stopped going to the movies because
1) Prices are too high.
2) Sound quality is poor: often too loud, not spaced correctly, distorted, poor surround effect, etc.
3) People are just so annoying with their damn phones. If it isn't ringing or chirping, it is just very distracting with the super-bright screens every few minutes. Can't you turn the damn thing off and watch the damn movie???
4) Kids screaming/crying/being annoying, seemingly no matter what time you choose to go.
5) Poor selection of quality films.
I can eliminate 1-4 by simply watching at home, with my huge HDTV and properly tuned surround sound system. Number 5 is another whole topic.
started bringing a little cart full of snacks and drinks into the theater so everybody could just buy stuff right there instead of going back and forth to the lobby. And it was amazingly popular. Why don't all theaters do stuff like that??
"UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity." -Dennis Ritchie
And that goes for many of the /. comments on this topic.
Things to consider....
1. Many people want to see films, but the cost of two tickets, soft drink and a baby sitter starts to approach $100.
Why not consider day cares in these giant megaplexes. Just saying it'd be an interesting approach.
2. For the price of a pair of tickets you could own the Blu-Ray.
Wait...how much does it cost to make a DVD? Not much...
I'd love to see a movie company experiment with a theater to provide the movie on DVD with purchase of tickets. Or simpler, mail your receipt and ticket stubs and get $10 off your DVD.
Be creative. Realize Americans have less leisure time. Less money. And less happiness.
Work with us.
Crappy Audio.
I've been to the movie theater maybe 7 times in the last 10 years. That's how many movies there have been of the requisite quality and type to make me want to actually go to the theater. I've watched nearly 1000 films in the same time period on my home theater system. I don't mind (and can enjoy) loud entertainment, but the louder you make your audio the more important it is that it NOT BE CRAPPY!
Every movie theater (except one) I've been in the last 10 years has had the audio too loud for the installed system to handle. It's crackly, tinny and rattly. Probably would have sounded BETTER turned down lower, with a compressor to pull up the low parts. If you want high dynamic range, you need good gear.
I did go to an iMax once. That was awesome, though I didn't see a title filmed with iMax. Havta do that someday. It was good though. Nice loud sound and huge screen.
So yeah, bad sound, and screens that are TOO SMALL. If I want to watch a movie on a small screen, I'll stay home. I want a HUGE screen. At least 10 meters. Most of the theaters around here have 3-4 meter screens or worse. And the selection is terrible. There are thousands of great films out there, it's just that most of them aren't shown in mainstream theaters.
How hard is it to set audio levels properly, or invest in clean amplification? That stuff shouldn't be that expensive nowadays.
People would think that is better to watch a movie at home because you can drink a beer or two. Or three, it does not matter.
What is really a 'plus' regarding watching movies at home is that you can actually PAUSE the move to take a pee!
I can watch movies at home on a big screen with good sound for under 3k$, my setup is *way* below that...
-Windows Media Center 2k5 HTPC with 600w 5.1 system, plays about everything I can throw at it.
-95" screen (1080p projector)
-Nice '70s comfy couch
-Popcorn maker in the kitchen, fridge in the living room.
Why should I go to the theater unless I want to buy a 15$ candy bar?
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
I think he pretty much hit it...
I've picked an arbitrary theater in my area, which is the easiest to get to. It has 10 screens.
If we go to the theater, we usually end up with crappy parking. So a 1/4 mile hike, unless we get lucky.
Say it's $10 per ticket, plus $10 per person for popcorn and soda (depending on your local market), the per-person price can be $20. That makes $40 for a couple, or close to $80 if you're bringing two kids.. Lets not forget, cost on the popcorn and soda are under $1 per person.
I don't even care about crying babies, noisy teenagers, people who forgot to shower sitting beside us, sticky floors, or people sending text messages.
Back when there were an abundance of video rental places, you could cut that $80 down to something more like $5. Now you can rent at Redbox for something like $1.25.
$80 vs $1.25.. That's a difficult one. So I don't get to see the movie today, I'll be able to see it in a few months. I don't have to be the first to see it. If I want popcorn, pizza, or anything to eat while I'm watching at home, I can. If I find the need to go to the bathroom, I can pause it. If someone calls that I want to talk to, the same.
In my last house, I had a home theater setup. $1,500 projector, about $4,000 in sound gear. That's roughly 70 movies at home before it breaks even. It also gave me the luxury of watching TV, or playing video games on it.. It's hooked to a cheap PC with DVI output, so we can even watch via Netflix, Hulu, or whatever.
In my own theater, we always have premium seating. The surround sound is set up for optimal sound on the couch. The couch is at the right distance, so we have the proper field of view. We won't end up with sore necks, like you'd have in the front rows. We aren't offset one way or another, so we only really hear half of the sound, or a sideways view a the movie.
All that is not necessary for a good viewing experience, but it's nice. :) I'd rather spend the $1.25 over $80 to watch on your average TV.
I can't find a good reason to go to a theater to watch a movie. The only exception is, to get a movie on release day. We can save the discussion of pirated screeners for another time. We don't watch those. Your piracy habits are your own concern.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Cattle-call ticket window sales chutes
Bullet-proof talkback Teller-window system
TSA-style ticket-takers who just watched you buy the fucking ticket at the window
CandyCounter Nazis who charge $14 dollar popcorn + drink !specials
Dipsters corralled at Theater doors
Dark dank and who knows what it looks like in daylight inside the theater
Fixed backrests
House lights that actually illuminate the aisles to exit
Home PPV is easier and you have more control
A while ago I had the opportunity to visit a so-called "VIP" movie theater in Mexico City. The seats are all recliners, there's tables between every pair of seats, and -- best of all -- waiters who will bring you food and cocktails.
We need something like that here. I'd watch a lot more movies (and gain 30 pounds in a month.)
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
somebody give me a call when bedbugs suck less. As someone who considers it near a miracle, if not a miracle that they rid themselves of bedbugs after a year or so of cultivating a tribe of them, I will say that I'm sure as hell not going to spend $10+ on a ticket and $5+ on a soda to see some movie I can just wait and see at home. Seriously, I think there will be a distinct correlation between theatre attendance and bedbug control technology. Perhaps not the primary or even secondary correlation compared to other factors, but significant and becoming more so until things turn around.
I love previews, they keep my hopes of good movies alive. In fact, most of the times the previews are much better than the actual movie. I don't mind the unwashed masses because I usually go at odd times with the girlfriend and we usually see movies that have been in theaters for awhile. And we do enjoy the much better sound of a real theater instead of being at home.
What I do mind is the ridiculous prices for tickets. If it wasn't for Costco ($8/ticket), I wouldn't go to the movies ever. $12 to $13 a ticket is stupid and they're charging $3 extra for 3D. Now you're looking at $40 for two people with popcorn and drinks. That's like two games on Steam. Or in her words, that's "1/10 of a new purse."
Tickets should be $5 for matinee, $7 regular, $9 for 3D. That's how get more people back into the theaters. Or how about a refund if you don't enjoy the first half of the movie? I paid almost $100 for me, her, her two nieces, and a nephew to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D. About 1/3 of the way through the kids (all under 10) went "this movie is terrible, can we see something else." On one hand, I didn't want to teach the kids the bad habit of theater hopping but I also just spent $100.
Why does it have to be THAT loud it's never to low but lots of times it's to loud.
I feel like theaters are doing everything they can to make going to a movie an unpleasant experience. It used to be I could take a book to the theater and read until they turned down the lights. Or if I went with friends, we could chat while waiting for the movie to start. Sure, there were ads showing on the screen while you waited, but they were easy to ignore.
Then they switched to showing video ads for TV shows, toys, food, upcoming movies, etc., all narrated by an aggressively cheerful person with the volume turned way up. That makes it impossible to carry on a conversation, or to pay attention to a book or much of anything other than the ads. Which I assume is what they want, but it sure makes the whole experience a lot less pleasant and a lot more obnoxious. You'd almost think they didn't want my business.
"I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
that sounds like a translation of Ecclesiastes 1:9 - I suppose it's fitting that the source for that phrase is a book written over 2000 years ago.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
Either of these options beats the hell out of a movie theatre:
1) I visit my friends house, with his 46 inch tv, large living room and we watch a rented Blu Ray on his Playstation 3 with a small group of good friends, followed by gaming.
2) I watch a movie with friends on my 27 inch iMac, often a torrent as movies are delayed/no longer available in my cities only theatre. I own over 100 DVD's, I buy all my music, but will often torrent older movies, new releases as I simply *cannot* buy them. The same goes with TV episodes, if I want to see The Big Bang Theory etc, its a cinch to download by the season, compared with, what, spending 80 USD on some damn box set collection of DVD's, which I'm just going to rip in Handbrake to my harddrive?
Theres a few times now where I've gone to a movie theater, each time telling myself it would be the last time ever, and keeping the ticket. I saw Iron Man 2, Avatar and as a fan, Michael Jacksons "This Is It". I plan on seeing The Hobbit ASAP, as I love supporting local New Zealand movies (ha!), and my local cinema finally has 3D.
But overall? Why in the hell would I pay ~20 bucks to sit in an uncomfortable chair (and these are "new"), with 10 other people in a theatre designed for a couple hundred, as they laugh and snort and cough and bang their seats up and down, as we have to sit through minutes of ads at the start, including made for tv ads which look awful on the large screen, and then the movie itself is dim and blurry!
I'll take the perfect Blu Ray quality (not often, bugger physical media) or more commonly a good experience with a ripped movie/torrented movie on my 27 inch iMac, for essentially free.
---
The movie-going model has become broken. Even 10 - 20 years ago going to the movies was amazing. You get to watch something on a huge screen, with amazing sound, without waiting a year for it to come out. If you wanted to do a movie night, but didn't want to go to the movies, you were left with few options in a sub-par 25in tube environment. Basically, you would either rent a movie at a video rental store (remember those?) or get lucky and find something on television. Now, things have completely changed. When me and my wife do movie nights, we can watch it from Netflix Instant, Netflix Mail, Amazon, Vudu, DVR, On Demand (usually not long after the theater release date)--no need to go anywhere. Instead of a little tube tv with crappy speakers, we watch them on a crystal clear large screen hd through a high powered surround sound system. Pause, grab a beer, answer the phone, check my email, get the popcorn out of the microwave, play. Why would anyone ever want to go the movies, especially when they can wait a month for a much easier and more comfortable experience? Piracy isn't the problem, it's that the movie experience has become less rewarding compared with the other options.
He is pretty spot on. I've long complained that theaters are becoming a place where you'd want to do anything but see a movie. The annoying people, the high prices ($12 for a movie where I live), overpriced snacks that also suck (I can make better popcorn in the microwave than my local theater) and increasingly poor theater quality. It's to the point now that I can get better surround sound an a picture almost as good at home (and I didn't even spend all that much, although I do have a good subwoofer.) Plus, I can pause to take a bathroom break or snack break. And I can buy the movie on Bluray for the price of two tickets and a drink. Sure I have to wait, but really. who cares? There is nothing that I must see NOW. Avatar may have been the exception, since the 3D was well done and I don't have a 3D TV. (And that's the ONLY movie I'd recommend seeing in 3D, except maybe a Pixar one.)
The other day my wife wanted to see a movie in the theater for the experience. We literally couldn't find a single movie we wanted to see. So we watched something on Netflix instead. (Don't get me started at how poor their streaming selection is, though.)
From what I've heard, so little of the ticket price goes to the theater, it's no wonder they suck. The greed of the large movie houses is backfiring on them. Heck, I rarely even buy movies anymore for lack of anything I'd want to see more than once. Music is getting to be the same way.
I don't know, but it works for me.
And I would add: make movies that entertain, rather than shock.
(But not necessarily "fix" them; fixing implies the original model was a good one.)
1) Stick small-group theaters on the end. Slightly smaller screen, only seats 30-40. Attach a lounge room (with a view of the screen) and rent the whole shebang out, medium size companies will eat it up for single-day retreats/training. Great for birthdays on the weekend, or club/group events. Hell, why not fundraising efforts to go with it? Rent to them, they can sell the tickets. When not being rented, show fifth-run/classics for cheap ($2/$3). And when a movie is run like that, run it for a whole week or two, none of this "we'll run it one night and maybe do it again in five months" BS. Put up nice schedules for what will be shown (reservations have to be at least two weeks in advance so there's no rapid changing of the schedule).
2) Attach a small video rental store to the theater. Those xth-run/classics? When playing them, put a display out front so if someone really likes the movie they can stroll in, buy a copy, stroll out. Offer free movie viewings for frequent rentals (or free rentals for frequent viewings). Maybe make a thing that if they keep their ticket for seeing a first-run in the theater and bring it back when the movie releases to DVD, they get a buck off the movie or something. (Yeah, not many will save the ticket, but it's just one more perk to throw out there.)
3) Thursday to Sunday, after 8 or 9, put a strict age limit on who can get into higher-rated movies. PG13 can only have 13 YOs and up; Rs 17 and up. Make it 21+ after 11 to get rid of the high school crowd. Seriously tighten down on crying infants, talking, and phone use. Hire a bouncer in more popular theaters to kick out unruly groups (and make sure there are signs that say no refunds if you are).
4) Actually have the movie start when it says it will start. I'm so sick of going to theaters, sitting down at the stated time, only to sit through 10 minutes of commercials + 15 minutes of previews. I have no problem with commercials on the big screen, just play them before said time. Intermingle these with previews so people actually want to show up a bit early, causing more eyeballs on the commercials.
5) Reusable 3D glasses. The glasses I got were fine at the end of the movie last time, they'll work for this one, too. Why should I have to pay $2 when I can bring my own? Sell moderate-quality pairs for $15/pop and save the extra fee on the movie. Helps with the whole recycling thing, too.
There's more I'm forgetting, but these are things I've thought of for a while now.
In Hollywood, there is a formula for making money. Spend big money on special effects; don't worry about the story. The art of telling an original story is lost ( or maybe it has gone into hiding) Stories still interest people - until Hollywood rediscovers the story, they will IMO continue to lose money.
The fact that he himself still has anything to do with determining the flow and popularity of new films. Seriously, the man is artistic poison. I used to like his reviews until I realized he gives 4 out of 5 big-budget films an automatic pass; it takes something as awful as the Transformers sequels to drag an F rating out of him. Roger Ebert reviews are the film equivalent of payola, I'm almost certain of it. I'm not saying he needs to be a pretentious, judgmental ass, but seriously: can he even remember back to the time when he had standards?
And that whole vintage review thing? I get that it's cute when video game magazines or music rags do it, but they make it a weird little back page bit - often with some self-mockery thrown in there. I continue seeing dead serious reviews of things like Gone With The Wind when I look up his work. News flash, Bob: even you, old and outdated as you are, were still egg #37 back up in your mom's ovaries when Gone with The Wind came out. Yes, the Wizard of Oz, too. Quit spewing your bullshit about old movies; we don't care.
And speaking of video games, I'm sure you've all read plenty about his pretentious screed(s) that video games are not, and can never be, an art form. If the jackass was born 40 years earlier I'm sure he'd have said the same thing about film. He looks at passing media coverage of crap like Saints Row, chooses to consider that the apex of the art form, and concludes it will never be Art at all. Never mind that Saints Row, Streets of Rage, or Halo are our equivalent to Chris Tucker movies: no one ever said those were high art, they're just mindless fun.
Anyway, I should probably stop validating him with so much attention. He's a self-involved tool with no sense of perspective or irony whatsoever, he can't critique his way out a paper bag these days, and hopefully he'll retire soon.
Going to the movies is an excruciating experience. My wife and I decided to give it a try last year and went to see one after not having been to the movies in about 5 years.
It was awful. The movie did not start until a full 45 minutes after the time on the ticket, and that 45 minutes was filled with advertisements and previews for other movies.
Then there was the cost. $12.50 each for tickets, and then they wanted $8 for a cup of popcorn about the size of a big gulp, and another $5 for a 32oz coke.
Is this really where movies have gotten? A family of 4 would spend $100 just to go to the movies.
My wife and I watch Netflix at home on our HTPC. We don't have cable. We don't go to the movies. We use that money to buy Blurays of movies that are truly worth having. We spend $35 on Internet access and $25/month for Netflix with 2-at-a-time Bluray.
The #1 movie in America was called "Ass." And that's all it was for 90 minutes. It won eight Oscars that year, including best screenplay.
Funny enough I'm the IT guy for a small chain of arthouse theatres and there is no dropping of revenue going on there. Rather the other way round, this year was again better than the last.
And yes, tickets are rather cheap, concession (drinks, popcorn, etc.) too, there are about 30 different movies on monthly and hardly any of these are Hollywood movies. Still, people love that. They could buy the DVD instead, but they prefer to come into a friendly place, have a talk before and after the movie, drink a nice (and not too expensive) beer from a healthy selection, munch some very cheap and tasty popcorn and generally have a jolly good time. Many come at least once a week. Once you start to realize that there are literally thousands of great movies you've never heard of in the news there's a whole new world to explore. And once you realize that this is not just an "industry" you may even find some nice theatre you really like to go to.
I would totally agree that you can't rely only on blockbusters. Or on selling expensive beverages.
3D drove me away. I can't tolerate it and it is actually getting difficult to find a 2D showing at a convenient time. I have a 100" DLP HD projector at home so I wait for the BD release, rent that and enjoy the movie in glorious 2D for far less money. The cinemas can't compete with the comfort of my sofa, the sound and picture quality are comparable if not better at home (most 2D showings I've seen lately have been from 35mm film and isn't as clear as BD on my projector) and I don't have to take out a mortgage for snacks.
While VHS didn't kill cinema, BD and home theatre certainly can.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
I don't like Hollywood movies post 1980. The stories are insipid and repetitive. There are no surprises. The acting is polished, but without depth. I leave major movies with the feeling that I have been cheated.
This has nothing to do with modern TV choice, competitive media, or the exorbitant price of candy or Cokes at the theater. It is more basic. I do not feel entertained by the shit that Hollywood is pouring out. It is insulting and demeaning.
Other than that, everything is great!!!!
I have some DVD's I haven't watched yet after months or years, I think I'd view those before bothering to go out for a movie.
and I have a fairly normal computer and TV, not a fancy home theater system
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
TOO LOUD! I politely asked them to turn it down and they laughed at me. :(
$50.00 for two tickets.
$25.00 for a bucket of popcorn and 2 pops.
I get to enjoy 20 minutes of ad's at the beginning, Sticky floors because they NEVER mop. The asshole with his cellphone talking to his buddy. The lady that yells back at the movie screen. And the movie looks like crap because they are too farking lazy to remove the 3D lense assembly for a 2D movie. IS NOT in focus, and Oh the speakers sound like crap because they were bought new in 1989 and the foam surround has fallen apart. Theater owners REFUSE to do maintenance.
Screw them. it's why I built my own theater in the basement for LESS than $1500.00 including sound control, 1080p projector, BluRay player AND XBMC box. I had a nice Kenwood Soverign surround so that was free.
I now have better theater experience than the Movie theater, and I show better movies. figuring the price of 1 movie date a month and It will pay for it's self in 2 years easily.
No I don't have "theater seating" that stuff is stupid. I bought 3 cheap couches and built a 3 tier riser. Carpet tile rocks.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
I agree with some of the points, but here we go with the cell phones again. Now Don't get me wrong, cellphones are an annoyance but I've never and I think very very few people have said to themselves "I'm not going to the movies, people talk on their cellphones there. In my experience I have yet to get "blinded" as people say by a person texting in a theater. I've had people texting near me in the theater but its been a mild, mild inconvenience. I usually just go back to paying attention to the movie. But let me give my 'usual' movie experience. I live on the bad side of town. About a mile from my house there is an older theater that used to be the nicest theater in town. Now it shows movies that came out a few months ago (for example I'm about to go watch Moneyball) but tickets are only $1 and on Tuesdays its 50 cents. With this I see pretty much every movie that hits theater, even the really terrible ones, I just have to wait a few months (and deal with the normal type of people who go to the dollar show). In some cases I'll go to the regular theater, for example J. Edger and The Ides of March both times my friend and I were the only people in the theater, but nearly ever showing at the Dollar theater is packed.
If you're in Raleigh, check out Raleighwood. They show football games live on the big screen, recently had a firefly marathon followed by Serenity, and the theater has a built-in restaurant with waiters and everything. You can sit in a comfy chair, eat dinner and watch the film.
Tickets are a decent price - only problem is that they're a second-run theater, so you have to wait a bit to see new releases. I go there all the time if I want to see a movie with a friend if they missed it or whatever.
high ticket and concession prices have already been covered.
however, here's an idea:
I bring caffeine pills with me when I go out. (not just movies - sporting events, concerts, etc.)
avoids concession prices for soda, easier than bringing in your own beverage, and you don't have to leave your spot (the latter is particularly useful at a concert with a general-admission floor)
if I'm thirsty in addition to or instead of wanting caffeine, I'll hit the water fountain.
the idea is to make sure I'm alert for the event I bothered to go to.
PS
there's a movie theater near my house; the dollar store nearby probably does a brisk business in munchies that people smuggle into the theater.
It's a first run theater, it may be worth a few extra bucks for the ticket to avoid having to travel crosstown to a cheap theater.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
He's right. I haven't been in a movie theater for years, because it's so damn expensive. I don't miss it, but it would be nice to go see a movie now and again. Last time I was in a movie theater I paid under $5 for a ticket, prime weekend evening, not matinee. This was at a nice theater 18+ only unless accompanied by adult. No kids, no teens, and I have to say it but no minorities yakking on the cell phones. This theater also showed a lot of indie films and such that you couldn't see anywhere else local. They raised prices a lot, business slowed down, and were bought out and are now just another expensive place with kids being loud and people talking on cell phones and texting through the film, and no indie films. It's unfortunate.
I do go maybe once or twice a year to the drive in movies though. $6 to see two movies, sometimes three. For a fee you can bring your own food. I always buy something from the snack bar to support them. To top it off no worries about people being rude. You enjoy the movie in the comfort and privacy of your own car and can talk to whoever you're with without disturbing others.
In San Diego, Cinepolis USA is opening a luxury theatre chain and THAT is the first thing in a long time to get me back in the theatres. You can reserve tickets online for specific seats, the seats are luxury, leather... reclining theater seats and the best part is the integral 'blue button' where people bring you drinks, dinner, snacks... specific over 21 shows offer adult beverages. $20 a ticket, but the regular theaters here are $12 at least. I'm good paying a bit more to not stand in line and have a VERY comfortable seat guaranteed waiting for me.
I'm totally with you on the previews. Personally I think that they are an art all in themselves. First fight with my last girlfriend was because she was late and I went ahead and sat down instead of waiting on her. I never miss the previews. The the theater I always go to shows older movies (for example they are now showing Moneyball) but they only charge $1 period. Except tuesdays where its 50 cents. They are doing pretty well for themselves
They keep talking back to the screen.
I don't like Hollywood movies post 1980. The stories are insipid and repetitive. There are no surprises. The acting is polished, but without depth. I leave major movies with the feeling that I have been cheated.
Oh, gee, it's another one of those guys. Where to begin.
For one thing, most people disagree with you that Hollywood has produced nothing worthwhile since 1980. Good movies come out at roughly the same rate they always did: maybe a half dozen per year. The fact that Hollywood's output went from a couple dozen or so films per year in the fifties to hundreds per year today hasn't actually changed the number of good films produced. The noise to signal ratio is pretty god awful, but I don't think it's that hard distinguishing which films are worth the time.
Second, I can't believe anyone who clearly considers himself fit to judge an entire artistic medium doesn't understand why the plots seem repetitive: there no more plots out there. Seriously. Some very smart anthropologists and literary scholars have done good work proving that there are only about 6 or 7 basic plots in human fiction. From Thag regaling Oog with his Mammoth hunting story over the fire right up through Jerry Bruckheimer you've only got 7 starting points. Of course it looks repetitive after a while. The Greeks and Elizabethans accepted this. They didn't say: "Forsooth! If Aeschylus/Shakespeare doesn't come up with something new soon I'll simply have to stop attending the theata!". You can enjoy the art form without insisting that every film, or even one in a hundred, match up to Citizen Kane.
A lot of new stuff sucks; so did most of the old stuff. And there's nothing new under the sun.
We don't really need a self-important dolt to tell us why theaters aren't successful. There are hundreds of ways to dissect this problem and hundreds more ways to get creative in order to attempt to solve it and give a worthwhile experience/value to a movie-goer, but that's just a whole lot of words. Here's the bottom line:
What To Do = ( Home Experience > Theater Experience ) ? Stay Home : Go Out
Why don't we also ask Ebert to explain why Video Arcades died out as well... please, someone explain this!
Are you bovilexic? Moo!
Entertainment options have greatly expanded, salaries not so much. So with disposable income being shared with the likes of Angry Birds, movie theaters and other forms of entertainment will suffer (you don't hear the local orchestra whining about piracy despite their stagnant growth, now do you?).
However, the points made are all valid. It is hard to get a movies experience these days without feeling like your walled has been raped. We smuggle in all our snacks, even though I miss the slushy and popcorn part of the experience. I just don't miss it $5 worth (each). More and more the $8 matinee price irks me too much.
Long term I am guessing the industry is slitting its own throat. If you price it out of the reach of the younger set, they will grow up without movie going being a habit and part of their cultural view. Long term that will make it very hard to keep a loyal audience as time goes on.
I'd suggest:
1) Fairer concession pricing, about 1/3-1/2 off the current prices (still ridiculous, just not full on wallet rape). At least change out the jerky you call a "hot dog" now and then.
2) Variable movie pricing. Charge more for the blockbusters, but cut me some slack on the crap we all fully know is schlock that my wife or kids just have to see. Maybe we'd get less Micheal Bay crap if we got cut a discount on the flicks that spent less time CGI'ing things blowing up.
3) Beer and burgers. Seriously. I really like going to the local pub owned theaters that serve real food and real beer (no, your fermented rice water euro owned Bud Light is not beer). They charge just $3 a show for out of date movies in crap venues, but the experience is so much better (sadly the closest one is frustrating far away that I only partake occasionally).
4) 3D, and its surcharges. Yeah, just stop. Offer no-3D glasses for those of us who don't want to pay the price or get the headaches, but want to spend time with family members who not only tolerate it well, but actually still put value in the novelty. 3D creates more family rifts than you realize.
5) Cut down on the previews. If I want to spend 20% of my movie time watching ads, I could stay home. Heck, at home I can use my DVR and bloop through them all. So either I watch all your crap ads, or I show up late and get bad seats. What part of that makes me want to be a repeat customer again?
Point (5), Competition from other choices, is a very real threat to theaters. Home systems approach the apparent screen size (adjusted for distance) and the audio quality of theaters. Home systems exceed theaters in many, many cases, where theaters are ill-maintained as a profit-enhancing measure. And as the subject says, at home I can have the beverage of my choice and the snack of my choice, whereas every Regal has the same five or six snack choices and exactly one brand of soft drink. Great if you like Coke and Malted Milk Balls, otherwise not so much. (At least Century has Starbucks and real ice cream.)
And going along with (6), lack of choice, another advantage of seeing movies at home is that I can have the four or five martinis necessary to get through another Transformers movie.
As Ebert points out, there are exceptions. A couple of theaters in my area allow consumption of alcohol, although in "adults only" rooms so I still can't have a beer when my kid sees Twilight, (and God did I need one) [1]. My living room is still superior in this respect.
Used to be, our family would see one film a weekend and maybe two or even three over the holidays. I think the last film we saw in theater... you know, I can't remember. Maybe Sherlock Holmes (the first one)?
And finally, I'd like to add my voice to the plethora of responders who said: (8), if the movies didn't SUCK!.
[1] That was said in jest [2]. As a matter of fact, my teenage daughter HaaaaaAAAAAtes Twilight, in fact the entire teenie genre, preferring foreign films like "Son of Rambow" and "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging". I prefer... oh for instance, anything by Duncan Jones.
[2] We *did* sit through the second Twilight film, solely because I have a lot of respect for Dakota Fanning as an actress. Although, less now...
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Blacks with cellphones and mexicans with 100 kids then we'll talk about going back to the movie theaters
Now to the recent surge of bedbugs. We have watch out for that now.
Why would they remake something when they can just go see the original?
Because some people find subtitles distracting, and others find dubbing distracting. I watched the 2002 remake of Pinocchio with Roberto Benigni, and the dubbing of the Italian dialogue into English was distracting (even if not as distracting as the miscast Benigni, who should have played Geppetto and let the kid from Life Is Beautiful play Pinocchio). Dubbing isn't so distracting on an animated film, where there's less of an uncanny-valley-fueled expectation that mouth flaps will match the voice frame by frame, but then North America has what's called an animation age ghetto, where an animated film has to either appeal to kids or be a dead baby comedy like South Park, nothing in between.
..kill the theater experience for me.
I refuse to go to a theater that forces me to watch commercials.
I live in Chicago and the going rate for a movie is $12 per ticket... I wouldn't mind paying $12 but the last 10 movies I have seen in theaters have just been awful. Horrible Bosses, Killer Elite, The Spirit... etc etc... every time I see an ad on tv for a movie I think "Geez, that looks good" and then when I go see the movie I realize that the only good scenes were actually in the commercial already and the movie itself is just filler. Movies have become a combination of a Ponzi Scheme and a classic Bait and Switch. The Ponzi Scheme is based on the financing of movies: they raise tens of millions of dollars to produce a movie but the whole enterprise depends on building buzz to get more and more people to buy in and then ultimately nobody but the people at the top get profit. The Bait and Switch: all the movie company needs to do is make a product just barely enough like the film being advertised that people won't scream "This movie is NOTHING like the ads I saw for it" but then at the same time the movie company spends just the absolute minimum on actually making the product being advertised so that it really isn't what you thought you bought a ticket to see at all. In short, the reason I rarely go see movies at the theater anymore is that everytime I give it a try I just end up feeling like I got raped then mugged... and then there is always the actual possibility of getting raped and mugged because the other people at movie theaters in Chicago tend to be Neanderthals who show up ten minutes late, yell at the screen, and generally behave like they are in the stadium at a Bears game. Not worth $12 at ALL. I have a 52 inch tv at home and a nice couch so the DVD experience is pretty sweet by comparison..
if your life is such a big joke then why should I care?
How about some couches and beer?
That depends on the liquor laws in effect in a particular state. It can often be cost prohibitive to get a suitable liquor license, and in 21 to enter states, you'll have to turn away even those teens and college students who aren't drinking. Forget about showing (very profitable) Disney or DreamWorks animated films.
The theatres in Korea are always packed. Some of the great things they do:
1 - Reserved seating, all seats. You can buy your tickets two or three days ahead if you want and make sure you've got your seat for Friday night.
2 - All major chains have Apps. You can buy your tickets on the app, just show the barcode on your way in (I think you can do this in North America now too)
3 - Ticket Price - Friday night movie is about $7.78 USD, yes there is a surcharge for 3D or "vibration" seating
4 - Concession price - A 2 drink and popcorn combo is around $6 USD
5 - Lobbies full of seating. Waiting for your movie to start? Friends to show up? whatever, there are tables and chairs everywhere. Both inside the main area and down the hallways leading to the theatres themselves if you get in too early and the doors haven't opened up yet.
6 - They don't confiscate snacks. I've never seen them search bags or anything here. You want to bring something in with you, go right ahead
7 - Shows nearly around the clock. The first show of the day is at 8-10am, and they will often have showings until 3 or 4 am. At my local theatre, if I wanted to watch Mission Impossible Tomorrow (Saturday) I could choose: 8:30, 8:50, 9:00, 9:00 (special 32 seat theatre), 10:55, 11:40, 11:45, 13:15, 14:20, 14:30, 16:00, 17:00, 17:15, 18:45, 19:20, 19:45, 20:00 (special 32 seat theatre), 21:30, 22:00, 22:20, 22:45 (special 32 seat theatre), 23:00, 00:15, 00:45, 1:00, 1:30 (special 32 seat theatre), 1:45, 3:00. That's a staggering amount of shows available for one day. None of this, afternoon matinee, early evening, late evening, done garbage. The week days are not much different with shows still starting around 10.
8 - Special theatres. They have a few special theatres around town. Several theatres have some special couple booths for dating. You can buy a ticket for a booth which is a special 2 seat booth with a high back on it. They also have a very nice movie theatre in town which includes a full sit down dinner.
9 - The theatres don't have much to do with it, but in all the movies I've watched here in the last few years, I've never really heard people talking. You get the odd cell phone screen, but it's mostly just someone checking the time, not someone sitting there texting for a long time causing a distraction.
Now, not everything is perfect they do make a few mistakes:
1 - Excessive ads. Really excessive. They even repeat the same ad two times in a row.
2 - A low amount of actual movie previews. For the 10-20 minutes of pre-movie stuff we sit through we only end up seeing 3-4 actual movie previews. I like trailers.
3 - Not enough English subtitles. Not their main concern, but about 2 years ago the government made it one of their tourism aims to see Korean movies subtitled in English in theatres. That year one chain ran a pilot project which saw tons of movies made available to the relatively large foreign population living in the country. Near the end of the year they dropped the ball and since then, it's been rather hit or miss trying to see a movie with subtitles. They often go unadvertised, and run for a very short period of time. You basically have to check weekly and if you see English subtitles, drop everything and go see the movie if it is one you wanted to see because you don't even know if they'd be there next week. Sure they all get released on DVD with English subtitles later, but at the least I like to see the big action movies in theatre.
In the end, I've never been disappointed with a movie going experience in Korea. However, back home in Canada the success rate was not so high. Perhaps around 50/50.
There was still quite a delay between theater release and rental availability.
There is still a delay. Pathological cases like Song of the South aside, a date for the DVD release of Universal's Hop, a film released in U.S. theaters nine months ago, still hasn't been announced.
Before 1968, they also had the so-called Hays Code. Few movies that would today be rated R or even PG-13 were produced. Since then, community expectations for offensive elements in movies have changed; where would toddlers sit while their parents are watching a movie inappropriate for toddlers?
So don't go to 3D movies... problem solved.
You do realize you are posting in a thread about - why people are not going to the movies...
3D is just one trend I don't like and will not pay for (yes I've seen a few 3D movies).
When you say "problem solved", well not for the studios - that IS the problem!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Talkies don't give me a pounding headache, even at THX volumes.
3D doesn't give me a headache and it can be outstanding when done correctly, but the ridiculous volume of most theaters does give me a headache. Why should I come out of a movie with ringing ears and a pounding headache?
Considering I can buy the BluRay version of the movie for less than seeing it in the theater, I don't even bother going anymore.
Here for the new Mission Impossible flick, $18.95 for the ticket, $15-18 for a large popcorn and pop, yet I can buy it when it comes out for $28-30.
Yeah, no thanks.
Cheers to Mr. Roger Ebert.
I truely wish the US Executive and all Departments could do the same, but the evidence is not in their favor.
After 20 years of complaining, developing creative strategies, and watching my blood pressure rise, I finally came to the realization this week that in my town I WILL NEVER GO TO A MOVIE THEATER WHERE SOMEONE DOES NOT TALK DURING THE ENTIRE FILM. Objective proof: Only myself and ONE other person seated 10 rows behind during a showing of "Marilyn & Me" that laughed and talked to her imaginary companion the entire time. One of us was clinically insane and I can only suppose it was me for paying 8 bucks. Roger, Please ask the management to install a mute button for the audience.
proTip
Dinner, *then* the movie. Sneak in your own candy for dessert. Is this stuff really that hard to figure out?
What sucks about the theater experience?
- Tickets cost too much.
- Food costs too much.
- Volume that is deafening to the point of being painful.
- Out of control teenagers and thugs talking/yelling/fighting which disrupts the experience.
- Parents bringing crying babies into R-rated movies. Seriously wtf.
- Poor selection of films.
- People texting or using their cell phone and those fucking bright white screen dancing around at all time. Mainly hipsters who have to e-text their tweettags 24/7 and are too busy telling their friends about the obscure movie they are at rather than actually watch it.
I'd love to see a theater with ushers (and a real security guard) to escort the people that insist on fighting in the aisles. Ushers are worried about getting beat up so they don't do anything, and rowdy patrons know that. Now if a guy with a badge and a uniform comes in with the usher, it's a different game altogether.
For the most part going on weekdays early in the morning ensures you'll have a good audience. The rest isn't so easy to fix.
It's cheaper for me to go to a smaller artsy theater (Embarcadero Cinema in SF) where you have decent prices, well maintained theater/lobby/bathroom, good food selection, good patrons (not street trash), and interesting films to watch.
I love the movies but I don't care for the theater experience you get from most large chains. The small guys still do it right.
Let it do its job. The industry has to adapt to the consumer. Not the other way around.
Ebert is right, the prices for both tickets and snacks have gotten too high. He forgot to mention that there's about 15-20 minutes of trailers, commercials and other stuff before the start of the movie you have to sit through. I mean I am there for the movie - so play the movie!
The local theater here sells their tickets at the snack counter to try to tempt you but it takes too long to get through the line so I quit going.
It's rather odd that Ebert missed the reason that I and many people I know have stopped going to the theater: All the television-style commercials now shown at the beginning. You know, the kinds of commercials we _don't_ want to see because we thought we were at the theater to see a MOVIE, paying a high ticket price, and paying too much for popcorn and drinks. And then they show us effin commercials lasting 10 minutes long before even the previews start.
Does the movie industry realize how much its customers are INSULTED by having to sit through these ads?
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
For all of the reasons listed above, and a few more.
During my last movie theater visit, Cinemark had a new warning right before the feature film began. "Thank you for your courtesy" doesn't cut it any more. Now they make it clear that they will remove people from the theater. Whether they actually do or not, who knows. Nannies aren't just for kids any more! Thanks to you grandpas, grandmas, parents, other adults, and your kids who can't refrain from tweeting or facebooking for an hour and a half. Now we all get to be treated like babies.
I can't believe it, he's actually on to something there...
Theaters that are enjoyable get customers to come back over and over... even if Hollywood isn't holding up their end of the deal
It's not rocket science Roger!!!
I have now left more than one movie because of groups of people shouting "You go girl" along with much other advice to the characters on screen. I get my refund but the theater does nothing.
these days however, i am on a waiting list for a kidney transplant. I have 2 hours to respond or they will contact someone else.
I spend a significant part of my life in restaurants, meetings, cinemas, presentations, debates, etc...
I no longer turn off my phone
As if this is a new idea. MPAA and all of the other alphabet soup of orgs dedicated to IP rights have been trying to preserve their 200+ year old business models for 60+ years. From the Mickey Mouse/Sonny Bono copyright acts to DMCA and they have found that the only way they are able to make any headway is to pay Washington to enact special laws that limit liberties and penalize free will. Any new internet copyright protection legislation must include recourse for the defendant with recovery of expenses and while protecting fair use and absolutely must include due process. To allow the industry who brought us the DMCA and Broadcast flagging to self police the internet is like giving a crack addict the keys to the police evidence locker. Stop SOPA. Stop ProtectIP!
I went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie tonight. It's just as good as the first Robert Downey Junior outing. The previews, however, were another matter entirely. Another CGI-fest by the makers of Transformers. Another CGI-fest based on Jack and the Beanstalk. Another CGI-fest whose entire premise I remember nothing about.
This is the problem. Special effects are good enough now that we can do pretty much anything with them, which translates in reality to bigger explosions and more eye-candy at the expense of a plot or even a premise. Sherlock Holmes was one of the few big-budget movies that has enough witty writing to keep me interested, and I suspect I'm not alone. More often than not I tend to wait for my movie buff friends to recommend something to me, and that usually means that it's out of the theaters before I get the urge to watch it.
It ain't the prices; it's the content.
Your brain is not a computer.
For two people, it's trivially cheaper to buy a movie on blu-ray if you have a big-ish TV and a blu-ray player. I understand that these are fairly big 'ifs', but I happened to already have these things because I own a PS3 and a Plasma TV.
But if those two things are assumed, you can buy a BD movie for $25-$40. Less if it's on sale.
If you hate the movie, you can almost always find someone that's willing to pay at least $10 for it. So now you've got a price range of $15-30 for the movie. (If I decide that I like the movie enough to keep it, the nominal price is divided by the number of times that I watch it. Honestly, I've yet to sell a movie since I don't buy movies that I don't think I'll like.)
Movie tickets around here are up to $14 after tax, I believe. So I'm practically even already, for just one ticket. If there's more than one of you, obviously the amortization gets better very quickly.
I can buy the snacks I want, pause, sit in a comfortable chair, pet my cats or go to the bathroom if I like. I can do almost all of those things at the same time, actually.
To get to a decent movie theatre is a half-hour trip for me, at least, by metro. (That's a $3 cost; that's far cheaper than driving the car and paying for parking, almost certainly.) If I buy the movie from Amazon.ca, it's delivered to my door.
The ONLY thing I miss out on is seeing the movie as a brand new release. But it turns out that sometime in my late 20s, I stopped caring about that. Now that I'm in my mid-30s, the whole movie-going ordeal seems like a tremendous waste of time given all the other things that I'd like to do.
So, to review: I save time and money, and sacrifice a bit of timeliness for incredible convenience. What in the world do they expect to happen with ticket prices?
When Suri Cruse has 20K worth of presents for Christmas something has to give. Actors want higher and higher salaries because of the "draw". Better idea when Tom Cruse ( who has an acting range just above porno quality) produces a movie don't go if he is paid too much. Also Morons like James Cameron, Peter Jackson spending BILLIONS to produce a story they are relying on special effects too much. 4 Kids an an adult $150 bucks to see a movie that is only available in 3D- Not worth what is playing. I too prefer 2D as I wear glasses already. 3D is much too gimmicky and should only be implemented without the need for glasses.
Last two times I went to the theater was to see I Am Number 4 (2010), & Star Trek (2009). Seriously. It's just not worth my money to go to the movies much anymore. Yeah, if the prices were lower, I'd go see more movies again instead of waiting for them to be online or TV. It's really basic supply & demand really; Not news.
One room of my house has been converted into a mini-theater/game room. We have two projectors (the little one I though would be good enough... but wasn't and a much better one which cost me less than $1000 and is REALLY great). It allows us to play multi-player games together, but more importantly, we have a 120" movie screen with surround sound, two couches, bean bag chairs, a popcorn machine, a drink dispenser and a mini-fridge. And no... we're not fat :)
I built this room up when 3D movies came out. It's too damn hard to find a movie theater anymore where I don't have to wear a shitty pair of plastic glasses that give me head aches from the 3D or the unfamiliar pressure on my temples (sadly I lied about being fat... I have a really fat head... hopefully it means I have room for a bigger brain but more likely is a deformity). Last time I took the family to the theater, it cost me $18 a ticket (I'm in Norway), that's $72 just for tickets. Then two medium buckets of popcorn, 4 drinks and a pack of candy for each of us ran about another $50. That's $122 to go to the movies. Oh... and I had to pay for parking as well. That was another $20. So $142 for a movie. Sometimes we even had to pay for the cheap ass glasses... that adds up to another $20. So, now we're up to $162.
I can go online and purchase a film from iTunes, it costs $10-$20. If I rent, it's $2-$5. Popcorn costs us about $0.50 a bucket. Drinks cost $1 each. Candy costs $3 a pack (as we tend to purchase over priced, imported reeses peanut butter cups). Worst cast, $39, but more often closer to $29.
The movie room altogether cost probably about $2000 and since the kids and I spend probably 1/4 of our recreation time in there, it is paid off QUICKLY. Even if we did a movie night every other week, it still would have paid for itself in less than a year.
We stopped going to the theater for many reasons, but 3D (stupid glasses to see crappy picture quality) is the biggest one. Ticket prices was #2. Parking #3. Overpriced junk food #4.
OH!!!!! One more thing. Last time I went to the movies, they actually played 40 minutes of advertisements before starting the film. NO SHIT!!! 40 Minutes!!!! I clocked it. After gouging me for a fortune in tickets and junk food... they then forced me to watch 40 minutes of advertisements before seeing the 92 minute film!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!!?!? The kids were already out of drinks before the f-ing advertisements were over.
For a good laugh... I can buy round trip tickets to London for $100 a person (after taxes and transportation to and from the airport as well as parking), for a total of $400 between us. Then pay about $120 for a motel room for us. Even eating out every meal, we'd save about $10 per meal, or $60 in total. So, $460 for a weekend trip to London for the whole family. $162 times 3 is $486. So it actually costs me less to go to London with the whole family for a weekend than to go to three movies.
Hey, all U that know what's wrong with the theaters, build one that is "right." Fer instance, there are treatments for walls that block radio signals, so you have instant "The text don't work" and "The phone don't work." Then station someone in each theater to specifically report the blabbermouths and throw them the H out. That'd fix 90% of the problem people have with going to the movies. People eating popcorn? Well, some folks are never satisfied, and popcorn is about 50% of the reason I go to movies. Of course, I see most everything too stupid for words (things like Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, Brothers, etc.) As for the box office being down, well hey, you have to give us some movies. Earlier this month, the string of opening movies practically dried up, and the "new" shows that were opening locally were "Moneyball", which I had already seen weeks before but was being brought back for some reason, and another one I can't remember, but the same situation, it had already run its course weeks earlier. What's up with that? Of course I didn't go back and see them again. Stuff I see again is like "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" that is truly good, and has know actors and actresses. Rooney Mara is great, and of course Daniel Craig is Daniel Craig. Then I went to TinTin this afternoon and... was bored. I think I hate all animations, save maybe Madagascar and Ice Age. I just didn't care, and the string of happenings that would surely kill all involved but didn't, 'cuz it was in the script, was just too much to keep me caring. My one thought throughout was, "Why do I care?" and the answer was, "I don't." Only thing worse than the average animation is the movie based on a video game - they almost always suck. No, I didn't go to the latest Transformers movie. Etc. Lots of reasons to not go to movies, but I tend to get there 3 - 4 times a week, anyway. Love the popcorn... and the movie experience.
The 3D mania isn't helping. When Cameron does 3D, it's good. In Avatar, at no time does anything appear in front of the screen plane. Most other "3D" movies have excessive in-your-face depth effects, as studios desperately try to justify the excess price. It's like being whacked in the face with a wet noodle.
Even worse: in your face 3D commercials. Grrr. Especially Coca-Cola commercials. Also commercials which try to make little grey cars look exciting.
Not worth $14.
(Recommended: "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". See in 2D: "Hugo", "Tintin". Avoid: "Tom Cruise goes to Dubai".)
Didn't need Ebert for that, heck I've been saying that for years!
WHY I LIKE THE MOVIES
My sweetie and I really like watching movies at the theatre. When you fully consider the adventure that awaits, the measly $20-25 bucks you shell out (more if you pay online) to take you and your sweetie out to the movies these days is a real bargain.
The adventure begins with that long rope line at the door. Its fun to get pressed in with complete strangers and weave your way in and out like cattle to the slaughter working your way up to the pimply-faced kid with the glazed look and speech impediment. Usually I just smile a lot, sign the little ticket and laugh at all their little hand gestures. You know they're so helpful and friendly.
When you make it past the counter you get another treat as you stand in the line to buy your munchies. For me its always difficult to decide between the little $10 bag of popcorn or the $5 dollar bag of peanut M&M's. Either way I usually wash it down with a $5 dollar cup of sicky-syrupy Coca-Cola. My sweetie likes getting the bottled water for $4 dollars. She says "its decadent and thrilling to pay so much." Frankly, I don't know how they're able to do it without going out of business-- if you went anywhere else you'd have to pay at least $6.50, maybe less.
When we finally get our tickets and munchies though, that's when the real fun begins-- negotiating the lobby. Its quite a trick to make it to the other side without getting jostled or run-over by all of the other folks. On Fridays and Saturday nights they have all the really experienced players out on the floor who know all the moves. It can be quite a challenge, but the real rush is when you get to that "Ticket-Taker" boss. Boy that guy is tough. He's got his mumbling down to an art. That's where so many players get tripped-up, trying to figure out if he said five doors down on the left or nine doors down on the right.
Either way you can get plenty of good exercise walking down that enormous hallway that just goes on forever and ever and ever. One time this old couple came up to us and asked if we knew the way out. They said they'd gotten lost in there and had been wandering around for a long time. Ha ha ha. We knew that was a trick so we sent them down to the mid-level mezzanine! My sweetie and I got a good laugh out of that one.
Your first break comes when you finally find your theatre and make your way up the steps, past those cans they put out for target practice, over the couple inevitably making-out in the third row, to your seats. And the experience is always heightened, for me at least, by the forty-five minutes of real-estate slides and mind-numbing commercials. They do such a good job of getting you into the mood to watch the show. I especially like the ones that advertise all those fantastic programs you could have watched if you'd stayed home.
I don't know who thought it up, but kudos to whomever it is that always manages to put the flatulent fat guy in front of us and the ceaselessly talking couple behind us. They're always an excellent choice to distract us from the row of wiggly, whining kids with the constant coughs two rows up. How exciting it is to sit there and experience the delightfully aromatic and aurally invigorating atmosphere while we wait and wonder what mysterious illness we'll surely develop this week. My sweetie and I love the mystery-- last time it was Malaria. This time my sweetie is hoping for Denge Fever while I'm holding out for Whooping Cough.
Then comes the best part-- my favorite part-- of the whole experience when they turn down the lights and switch from the really sharp projector showing the slides and commercials to the other projector they have for the movie-- the one with the soft, fuzzy look that makes you have to squint to get it into focus. And they lower down the sound too, which is always a relief. You know right before, while they're still running the commercials its always just blaring. Its good that they can turn it down for the show. W
You can thank the baby boomers for that. They hate thinking and originality.
Corollary:
If making movies was so easy anyone could do it.
I got to maybe 1 show every 18 months when I used to go at least a couple of times a month.
There are so many commercials before movies, if you get there early they have commercials before the commercials. Fuck that noise. I refuse to pay money to watch commercials.
Want to bring me back here are the steps.
1. no commercials
2. a bouncer
The bouncer needs to kick out anyone who talks after 1 warning, or opens a mobile device without any warning.
WHY I LIKE THE MOVIES
My sweetie and I really like watching movies at the theatre. When you fully consider the adventure that awaits, the measly $20-25 bucks you shell out (more if you pay online) to take you and your sweetie out to the movies these days is a real bargain.
The adventure begins with that long rope line at the door. Its fun to get pressed in with complete strangers and weave your way in and out like cattle to the slaughter working your way up to the pimply-faced kid with the glazed look and speech impediment. Usually I just smile a lot, sign the little ticket and laugh at all their little hand gestures. You know they're so helpful and friendly.
When you make it past the counter you get another treat as you stand in the line to buy your munchies. For me its always difficult to decide between the little $10 bag of popcorn or the $5 dollar bag of peanut M&M's. Either way I usually wash it down with a $5 dollar cup of sicky-syrupy Coca-Cola. My sweetie likes getting the bottled water for $4 dollars. She says "its decadent and thrilling to pay so much." Frankly, I don't know how they're able to do it without going out of business-- if you went anywhere else you'd have to pay at least $6.50 for it all, maybe less.
When we finally get our tickets and munchies though, that's when the real fun begins-- negotiating the lobby. Its quite a trick to make it to the other side without getting jostled or run-over by all of the other folks. On Fridays and Saturday nights they have all the really experienced players out on the floor who know all the moves. It can be quite a challenge, but the real rush is when you get to that "Ticket-Taker" boss. Boy that guy is tough. He's got his mumbling down to an art. That's where so many players get tripped-up, trying to figure out if he said five doors down on the left or nine doors down on the right.
Either way you can get plenty of good exercise walking down that enormous hallway that just goes on forever and ever and ever. One time this old couple came up to us and asked if we knew the way out. They said they'd gotten lost in there and had been wandering around for a long time. Ha ha ha. We knew that was a trick so we sent them down to the mid-level mezzanine! My sweetie and I got a good laugh out of that one.
Your first break comes when you finally find your theatre and make your way up the steps, past those cans they put out for target practice, over the couple inevitably making-out in the third row, to your seats. And the experience is always heightened, for me at least, by the forty-five minutes of real-estate slides and mind-numbing commercials. They do such a good job of getting you into the mood to watch the show. I especially like the ones that advertise all those fantastic programs you could have watched if you'd stayed home.
I don't know who thought it up, but kudos to whomever it is that always manages to put the flatulent fat guy in front of us and the ceaselessly talking couple behind us. They're always an excellent choice to distract us from the row of wiggly, whining kids with the constant coughs two rows up. How exciting it is to sit there and experience the delightfully aromatic and aurally invigorating atmosphere while we wait and wonder what mysterious illness we'll surely develop this week. My sweetie and I love the mystery-- last time it was Malaria. This time my sweetie is hoping for Denge Fever while I'm holding out for Whooping Cough.
Then comes the best part, my favorite part of the whole experience, when they turn down the lights and switch from the really sharp projector showing the slides and commercials to the other projector they have for the movie-- the one with the soft, fuzzy look that makes you have to squint to get it into focus. And they lower down the sound too, which is always a relief. You know right before, while they're still running the commercials its always just blaring. Its good that they can turn it down for the show. We wouldn't want to miss any of those witty comments from the au
So for all the people talking about how movies are all sequels & super-heroes: No. Absolutely not true. Most movies aren't. Just the movies people actually care about.
The 5 most recent movies rated at AV Club (which is not an indie movie site):
A biopic of Margaret Thatcher
An Iranian movie examining the after-effects of a divorce
A charming story of a black teen lesbian
A documentary where an anonymous Mexican narco hitman describes his job
A melodrama about unfit parents.
None of these are sequels. All of these can be seen if you live in or near a metropolitan area. The actual top 5 grossing movies of 2011:
Harry Potter 8
Transformers 3
Pirates of the Carribean 4
Kung Fu Panda 2
Twilight Saga 2
So what's being argued? Movies are coming out that meet Slashdot's demands for something different & original, just they aren't popular. So obviously Slashdot's advice that movie theaters need to stop showing sequels is wrong!
By the way, just clicking on the Slashdot movie tags, the last 5 movies Slashdot has mentioned are:
Lord of the Rings 4
XMen 4
Star Wars
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Toy Story
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
I knew it when I read this part: "keep people off their cell phones"...
Gee... I wonder which demographic could possibly be yapping away on their 'sail phones' throughout movies, with no regard for other people...
I wonder which demographic is principally made up of incredibly selfish, sociopathic scum, who can only pretend to care about the feelings of others...
It wouldn't be your precious BLACKS, would it?
Watch this, Slashdot idiots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06-t6xQNyVU
How the Jewish mafia screwed you.
Looking forward to the sequel "Boobs" though.
I can't go with my girlfriend any more. Too loud for her to bear.
One theater is getting to be too loud for me too. Approaching rock concert levels.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
One of the best previews I've seen for a long time ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8gRF_m6CSI
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
There are two theaters in town; the one closest to me is a 'Rave' theater; they want $5 for a bottle of water. Seriously, $5.
Super anal-yst. Of course it's missing the most obvious thing. But since you spend your time partying with film celebrities or what ever, it's forgettable.
We are in a very deep recession. The people are worried to buy food or to pay back their mortgage, or pay back their credit card or student loan debs. The Americans were living of their credit cards, savings is now negative for a decade. After the housing bubble busted, many lost their house, and are in deep debs. The wages are stagnant, unemployment is rising. If you follow the financial news, you are not sure if in 10 years you still have your social security or your savings for retirement.
But of course, the number one priorities are a) bail out banks and make sure that Wall Street can still milk the economy without creating anything of value and b) save the new-age mafia cartel, the MAFIAA and the RIAA, with every increasing draconian copyright laws.
Maybe if we stop the War on Wages, we wouldn't be in the mess. Maybe if we increase the wages, like the productivity of workers, they would have money left to spend for stupid movies.
http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
Theatre in Amsterdam south-east. Some rom-com with Colin Firth. 25 teens constantly texting, chatting and to top it off a fist fight. Add a barely cleaned house and a sound system that's set to booming only (which doesn't work well with dialogue). Speak to the theatre and some minimum wage kid is perfectly happy to issue a refund but that's it. Nothing much ever changes. Nowadays I sometimes accompany my 8 year old but that's it. Besides, film has lost it's charm to me. They all seem to lean on a hefty effects budget, a hideously overworked sound track and some big name actors. Scripts and acting seems an afterthought.
They have inflated the prices over here as well, 3D price hikes finally finished to nail the coffin for me.
I now have two kids, and I cannot justify to go to the theatres anymore. Id rather spent some money
on a big screen 3d tv and a decent blu ray equipment once my kids come into the movie age.
The costs for tickets are hilarious. If you want to watch a normal movie it is 14 USD over here and if you wanna see it in 3d
it is 20 USD. Now you spend about 80 USD for a four people family add to that maybe 10 USD for the snacks (probably more) and you are close to 90-100 USD. For 500 USD you are in for entry 3d TVs which going to the movies five!!! times. Go about 10 times with your kids and wife there and you can buy a decent blu ray equipment with a PS3 as Blu Ray drive.
There simply is no way to justify to go to the movies anymore. It even is way cheaper just to wait a few months and then rent the movie. I simply wonder why anyone still goes.
being the operative phrase.
This is simple biased memory. You (or we, as a collective culture) remember the good stuff, not the bad.
If you did actual proper statistics on this stuff I'd bet you'd find just as many crappy movies in the 50's, 60's, 70's etc. as you do now. (Sturgeon's Law probably applies.)
HAND.
At least for myself, the situation actually became worse over the past few years, and the symptom is actually quite clear.
Half a century ago, movie theaters were the only place to see a movie. A few decades ago, video set people free to view a movie when they'd like to see it. At first, it took about a year for any recent movie to arrive on video, but during the 1980s and 1990s, this timeframe did drop to just a few weeks.
A little more than a decade ago, DVD started its rise and the movie industry at first did offer mostly old movie titles on DVD. Movies were still being screened for usually 2-4 months in theaters, and released on DVD after at least half a year (for poor movies) and up to 2 years for certain blockbuster movies.
A few years ago, BluRay (BD) started. However, upscaling on recent TVs or BD players does make DVDs look quite good. Not exactly that crisp like a "real" BD, but e.g. for CGI animation, there's no way for casual viewers to tell the difference between DVD and BD without a magnifying glass. Some "softer" upscaling edges are sometimes more pleasant to the eye. So the video- or dvd-like "let's resell the same stuff on different media" business didn't work out that well.
Today, almost no movie does run for more than a month, and DVD/BD sales do start from as low as 6 weeks after the initial theater screening, DVD/BD rental even do start 4 weeks after the initial theater screening. Only major movies do experience the grace of having their DVD/BD released 4 months after initial theater screening. However, just during the initial theater screening, you can find the DVD/BD date by searching for the DVD at Amazon. Am I the only one to see a plot here?
Of course, "recent" DVDs are being sold for about two movie tickets (and after 2-3 years, you'll find some of them being a giveaway in some magazine). Some movies even do debut on DVD/BD first and aren't being offered to movie theaters at all.
Of course, there are three ideas about this symptom:
First idea: the movie industry is likely to say earnings from theater screenings are so poor they're forced to enter the post-screening market that early. And there's also a lot of movie piracy on the internet, where people start downloading screeners very soon, just in order to hold a copy of this movie - so they're offering DVD/BD very soon at low prices to discourage people from doing so. However, this doesn't explain why retail stores do publish DVD release dates that early.
Second idea: the casual viewer does have multiple options for entertainment: movie theaters are just one of them, there are also DVD/BD, video streaming services - and computer games. During the past two decades, computer games went from "written by half a dozen guys" to "multi-million dollar project with more than 60 developers, 100 screen artists and a dozen of sound developers". Games like Batman Arkham City do give such a movie-like impression that people can't decide at first wether they're viewing some split scene or some in-game action - so these games also do offer quite an astonishing level of entertainment as well.
However, everybody's daily time is still limited to 24h and in the end, the "entertainment market" is being sliced into much more pieces than half a century ago.
Those who probably kept a 90% market share "back then" just aren't able to accept they're now only receiving a fraction of what they were used to.
The third idea is simple as well, but needs some explanation: there are multiple branches within the movie industry. One does the theater screening sales, the other cares about the post-screening sales (DVD/BD). Of course, the second one has to follow the first one - otherwise, the second team would kill any potential success of the first team.The theater team is limited by a certain timeframe, while the DVD/BD team literally has a nearly endless amount of time and still benefits from the initial hype and marketing done by the first team.
By some top management view, the post-screen sales are much more inte
That is why 3D failed in the 1950's, 1980's and will fail this time - it is just completely incompatible with a good human interface!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
...like the budget airlines. It costs very little more to show to a 90% full house than to a 10% full house. Like a plane, its the flight that costs.
I prefer to see films off-peak but when the Odeon (2,200 seats - biggest in Europe) is only 10% full its not good for the bottom line.
The airlines have the technology - why can't cinemas adapt it?
The problem with movies/films/videos is that they are neither truly social or interactive and to be honest they are lately just regurgitation old story lines. On the other hand games are both social and interactive and allow one to escape the reality of life for a few hours a week. If you look at the sales figures for BF3 and COD the type of money being talked about makes Hollywood look like yesterdays cough, game. Also your average consumer has a finite amount of entertainment time and funds so if more and more people are playing games then someone is going to lose out, so I am not surprised movie ticket sales are down or stagnant.
Moral code and generic observation like the one the GP had or the code as in the bible are older than anything written. For any moral code you can trace in an old text 2000 year back, I can probably come up with an older one 2500, 3500 or even older like sumer / akadian civilization.
Whereever civilisation has sprung up, proverbs and morals code have sprung up.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
And Westerns were just Samurai movies...
Maxim: People cannot follow directions.
Increases in truth directly with the length of time spent explaining them
Somehow, I can't help thinking you are a virgin posting from your parents' basement.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
huge, widescreen TVs and surround-sound systems are now somewhat affordable and in almost every home. why go to the theater when you've invested so much in your home theater system?
The second half of that movie sucked ass. You are better off having walked out.
The main thing for me is that the films are all rubbish.
Theres plenty of good films in other languages with subtitles but I can never get my boring western friends to go to anything that doesnt involve hollywood cliches.
It would be interesting to see the figures for Bollywood films, French and Spanish language, to test some the assumptions.
A blog I run for the wealth
My sister lives in Austin so I've been to at least two Alamos there and really learned to appreciate them ... Luckily, those of us in the Northern Virginia/DC area have the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. Comfy seats, alcohol, food, and NO KIDS!!! But unlike Alamo it is a single screen/stage venue. Still movies are cheap ($1 Monday, $2 Tuesday and $5.50 Wed/Thu !!!), they do open mic comedy, screen TV shows like The Walking Dead. I don't think I've been in a "normal" theater since Avatar 3D and even then I waited until its run was almost over and went during "church hour" on sunday to avoid the crowds and the kids.
If you can't be good, be good at it!
The movie theater that my wife and I frequent charges only $5 per seat, and a large drink with large popcorn (with refill) is $4.50. A drink refill is $0.25 . Can't beat it. The only drawback is that they only have 1 screen with 2 showings. Each showing is usually a different movie, currently 'The Muppets' and 'New Year's Eve,' so you can't be too picky. One of the movies is usually held over for the next week. When they had 'Avitar,' it was both showings one week. The movies that are showing are current movies, though they are not going to be a first day showing. They're usually a couple of weeks after release at the earliest.
Now, the facilities could be better. Their seating came out of another theater that upgraded. My butts large, and I wouldn't mind wider seats, though I do fit in the ones that they have. Their screen isn't as large as some. But, for $15 for my wife and me (we share the popcorn and drink), we'll continue to go there frequently. I will continue to watch on netflix, too. But, I'll be damned if I'll pay $12 admission and $14 for a large drink and popcorn on a regular basis. We have, in past years, gone to a movie on Black Friday. After seeing the prices this year, we did not. Ebert is correct. The prices in the theater are too high. I haven't streamed or downloaded any first run movies, but when the cost exceeds the experience by so much, it's no wonder that it's done.
"Digital projectors are orders of magnitude more expensive, less reliable, and more labor-intensive to operate and maintain than 35mm projectors"
is this inherent to the underlying technology or because of the BS self-destruct DRM they put in them? I have two DLP projectors in my house, one of which is over 5 yrs old & other than an occasional bulb replacement the ONLY issue I've EVER had with either of them is the F_____G HDCP handshake on the HDMI.
I think the REAL reasons theaters are dying is home AV has gotten so good & so cheap so the commercial theatre experience sucks by comparison. my 1st 61" DLP (720) set was ~$4K in 2004 - now you can buy a pretty good projector (1080) for less than 1/2 that (hell, costco's got 60" LCDs for $1,300 - Aquos, not vizios). there are decent HDMI receivers for $500, a bluray player for $100 (assuming you don't already have a PS3) & why in the world would you ever want to deal w/the hassle of a commercial theatre?
in MY theatre there's no parking, no tickets, no concession line (& we serve beer/wine), don't need a sitter, movie starts when I sit down, no (or at least minimal) ads, seating is a leather sectional 10' from a 108" screen, if I need to take a call/text nobody gets PO'd & there's a pool table & restroom adjacent to it. remind me again why I'd ever want to go to a commercial theatre?
when did the coin-op arcade die?
shortly after the tipping point when consoles offered a superior experience at a lower price (amortizing the upfront cost).
this is EXACTLY what's happening to theaters! when the home experience was an analog 480i VHS tape on a 25" screen w/2-channel audio we went to the theatre. now that it's 1080p blu-ray on a 108" screen in 7-channel we stay home.
until they invent holodecks theaters are done & even then only until the price point drops...
Here in Rhode Island I went to see Tin Tin with my little one, but there was only one showing for the day in the 2D version, at a very inopportune time. I started getting woozy after while, my little one took the glasses off 1/4th of the way into the movie because it made her feel sick.
I normally like this theater for all the features and events it promotes and shows ( Recently LOTR marathon of the extended versions), but I hope this situation with the 3D vs 2D is not of their own choosing. I wonder if the studios are pushing the 3D versions by forcing theaters to limit the 2D show times.
I see a new trend locally in the theaters here. For many years the shiny new theaters we had popping up were just extensions of the old idea of what a good theater was... more screens, bigger screens. In the last five years I've noticed a very pleasant change. Every new theater we have now is a "dinner and a movie" style place.
We have three brand new theaters, all in this format. You can order real food at all of them, and a wait staff brings it to you. I recently saw the latest Twighlight movie at a Cinebistro here and it was by far the best movie experience I have ever had. The theater was upscale and modern. It had a section with a full bar, a billiard room, and even a small bowling alley. Everything was high tech and modern. The movie "posters" were actually digital displays that moved. When you purchase your tickets, you select and reserve your seats. A waitress takes you to your seat ahead of time and takes your order. The seats were really comfortable and had convenient tables that swing out. The food was very good. It made going to the theater a full experience rather than just watching a movie (which I do alot of at home... I watch far more movies than I do television). If you live in an area with a Cinebistro http://cobbcinebistro.com/ I can't recommend it highly enough.
Depending on the mood and movie, there are times I want to interact and other times not. So i choose the appropriate venue or viewing time.
Most first run movies - no interaction. Second or nth run movies interaction is fine most of the time... For that one can't beat local college/university movie nights.
While I was never a student at MIT I went to several screenings of movies there. Now that is(was?) an interactive experience, more so during movie marathons.
Where I am now, the nearby university doesn't seem to do much in terms of movies like that, so I miss that.
Ten years ago, movies were vastly superior to TV shows:
*) better visuals
*) better actors
*) better writing
*) better soundtrack
With shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad et. al. this gap has mostly vanished. Now it gets increasingly difficult to justify such a high price (and inconvenience) compared to TV.
Some romantic comedies have even trouble beating an average episode of How I met Your Mother.
+1 (times infinity and beyond)
http://www.bitrebels.com/design/theme-recycling-there-are-no-fresh-movie-posters/
If there's one thing they care about, it's money.
And quite frankly, "original" movies don't sell as well as shit blockbusters like Transformers. Nowhere near as well, and nowhere near as profitable.
At that, the making of movies themselves is a business in and of itself; countless changes made to satisfy wildly divergent interests on every film, to the point where not one script would ever get through these days without drastic changes.
Movies are a creative art form. The artistic and creative part of anything gets flushed down the toilet when it becomes an industry. The "Movie Industry" is an oxymoron, you can't have creative artistic industry any more than you can force love. So of course the latest Hollywood blockbuster feels artificial and forced. Often you have to consciously make an effort to laugh at the comedic routines and the plot is following a predictable formula to the letter and you can actually anticipate the "unexpected plot twists" which are so routine now.
Yet, there are always the kinds of movies that few hear about: some low budget movie that barely makes money, a producer that makes the movie because he genuinely feels for his movie, the kind of producer that would rather die than release an unfinished work of art. That's not an industry, that's the heart and soul at work, making movies. These are the movies that captivate you, that make you think, that make you laugh and make you cry. These are rare, and they can't be mass produced. The Movie Industry on the other hand needs movies to be mass produced. They got billions of dollars and they want to turn that money into movies so they can take billions more on weekends when you take your girlfriend out to a movie. They're not interested in making art, they're not interested in making a movie, they're interested in their ROI. They're not running an art studio, they're running a business. It's not art, it's business as usual.
Making good movies is not the business they're in. Hollywood is about profit maximization and ego-stroking. You're not going to get a good, nutritious meal from McDonalds, either. It's got the salt and fat and sugar that pander to tastebuds and people go there by choice but it's not good for them, it's not good for America. And it's a chicken/egg argument over whether bad American tastes drive McDonald's practices or whether McDonald's practices ruined America's taste.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Hollywood-style cinema will not enjoy a resurgence until the maximum term of copyright is reduced to 14 years. Remakes from even one generation back will be forced to compete in the open market, where many if not most will die out, and the big source of money will once again shift to genuinely new ideas. The screenwriters will deliver, and so, in turn, will the audiences.
You can fix too-high volume yourself with a set of fifty cent earplugs. You can't do anything about image-induced headaches other than avoid the movie. I can't watch most 3D movies because I can't fit the glasses over my eyeglasses, and I can't see the film without my eyeglasses. So, I have a choice of blurry or not attending. Guess which one I've chosen many, many times, at the cost of a family of four in the cinema seats (since they'll stay home with me rather than leave me home alone)?
Virg
Well, that or the high prices. There are certainly a handful of movies I'd be happy to see; while I won't argue that there's a lot of junk, I feel like there's always been a lot of junk, we just only remember the good movies of other eras and forget all the crap ones. But I'm not going to pay 11 bucks to get to a theater and have to watch awful loud advertisements until the previews start... and then have half the "previews" actually turn out to be advertisements as well. If theaters want to do that, they should let us in for free. Otherwise, they should go back to the system of only displaying still, silent ads before the show starts (I didn't mind those), and leaving the preview time for actual movie previews (I didn't mind those either). Then I might actually start going to movies again.
So... cost?
Crappy picture quality doesn't make sense to me, the only issues I have had are when they don't turn up the brightness for 3D like they are supposed to do. I have the movie theater number in my phone, so I just let the people around me know what I'm doing, and call. If you get a recorded message, I tell the manager and ask for a number to call next time. I have had to call about brightness, and forgetting to change the lens between the previews to the movie, and the manager appreciates it because people won't return when their movies look bad.
And as for "stupid glasses" I thank goodness that I don't have to wear glasses all the time like most people I know, and it doesn't bother me like that. With "Theater 3D" televisions out now by LG and Vizio, you can buy glasses that will probably fit your fat head better than what they give you at the theater, and just bring them in with you. Same polarization, same result.
And thus your argument comes down to cost. Yes it's expensive, and that's why I don't go very often. Avatar and District 9 were the last two I have seen at a theater. The only reason I look at listings these days is to find a 3D movie, which I don't have at home. I may see Tin Tin.
I love the bit about how with all these entertainment choices, viewers need movie reviewers "more than ever". Good one! With Netflix or even Youtube, I read reviews by other viewers and decide if the movie is watchable by whether the five star reviews are written by people who aren't nuts. If I get fifteen minutes or an hour into the film before I switch it off in disgust, it doesn't matter, because I'm not shelling out $10 per movie and there are other things to watch. It's nice to have a well-regarded reviewer to confirm my own opinions of a particular film every now and then, but the truth is that everyone has an opinion, and in this day and age few are worth paying for. Case in point...
He is absolutely right, why go to the theater when I have a 60 inch at home, while i can stream off the internet directly?
I pay for 1 night for 2 people at the movies, 45$+ to watch a movie that lasts 2 hours, then stuck in traffic coming back home.
If I invest some money at home on internet, seats, popcorn maker, and 60 inch....I take all that away and still save money in the end.
The cinema is dying, and not from the fact people dont want to watch movies, but they now have access to all that tech the cinemas do....
the cinema needs to be realistic, they can no longer charge a second mortgage to go watch cars 2!!!
Popcorn costs nothing, so add popcorn vending machines that self serve the people, same thing with the drinks, less space needed for
people to be served , they buy there, and to avoid them buying from outside and bringing them in, which we all have done, make the pricing competitive to the stores.... people will want less to carry all that crap if they can buy it there at the same price.
And last, we know the movies are coming out more and more now , and not worth the price of the ticket, so why charge that much anyways, lessen the overhead with less employees, and bring down a bit the ticket price, then you will see more people coming back to the cinema....
I get discounted tickets if I buy them at the company store; however, when the movie is shown in 3D, I have to pay the surcharge, and often enough these movies are only shown in 3D now, so there is no normal option. $4 surcharge for 3D... sorry not worth it
"Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences"
I can't seem to parse this... help please?
Actually, the entertainment industries historically tend to thrive during economic downturns. But don't let facts get in your way, by all means continue to insist that the world is the simple black-and-white place you want it to be.
The problem is that the industry (and the music industry too) is run by bean counters (or brown shoes as Zappa calls them) and not the artists.
I think Ebert is more of a connoisseur of entertainment then just movies. The ideals he brings up match perfectly to what is currently happening in the video game industry. Where lack of innovation and change, matched with equally aggressive 'MY MONEY' tactics has lead to an equally disturbing evacuation of the industry. About the only games that are really changing are indie games, but those are mostly small puzzle games with only a very small percentage being anything that would go mainstream due to the lack of funding.
You can pretty much tell where the passion drops out of video games for the most part. Where the developers finally decide to join a big company and become a corporate cog, having all their hopes and dreams crushed in the process.
Movies and TV is very much alive, just not where you would find it. Anime for instance (Avatar fits under this umbrella) is still developing and prospering over in Japan. Unfortunately, most of the older generations over here not only don't like it, but they tend to ostracize anyone who watches it, usually labeling it as for children... Yet the younger generations that grew up around it and were properly introduced to it, or not, tend to love the stuff. Pokemon, Sailor Moon, and DBZ were about the worst thing they could've done to seed anime over here.
That is exactly why I don't go to theaters. Obnoxious inconsiderate mouth breathers with cellphones and ridiculous convenience-fees.
I still say the only good reason to go to a theater for movies is for horror movies. The experience of the audience wincing and getting scared at stuff is amazing. Plus it's a great way to snuggle and get close.
Go here and read about the Indian Hills Theater in Omaha.
I used to absolutely LOVE going to this theater, even up to 1999. It was wonderful, it was an experience, it was truly a nice place to be. It was pretty much the only thing I missed about Omaha when I moved to Colorado in 2000.
Now, since 2000 when the nearby hospital tore it down despite the objections of a ton of people, it's a parking lot.
And now, I watch movies at home on my 60" LED screen.
With CGI technology, the horror and spectacle of the Gordon Riots of 1780 chronicled in Dicken's Barnaby Rudge can be finally brought to the screen, including people actually drowning in booze from the burning of Langdale's wine and spirits warehouse. Almost all Americans and probably most Britons are completely unaware that rioters had the complete run of London for almost three days, right in the middle of the American Revolution. Too bad I don't have time to work on my screenplay!
Ok, so I must have just come out of a coma or something. Because I'm pretty sure that last time I checked, 3-D movies were still pure science fiction, and the closest we'd come was this "Magic Eye" type of half-assed STEREOSCOPIC "3-D" .
But everybody on slashdot keeps saying "3D" instead of "S3D".
And for the inevitable assholes who compares this to the advent of sound in movies, FUCK YOU. The only way that analogy compares would be if the movie came with a copy of the dialogue in printed text and you had to read it aloud yourself.
My brain ALREADY can look at a 2D image and build a "3D" representation of it, I don't need weird optical illusions to make the screen look likes it's deformed.
Call me when the 3D is REAL. As in, when I move my head, I want to be able to see behind the person. S3D does not do that, it just makes the fake "3D" scene warp and sheer and deform.
As for why I don't go to the theater any more? Many reasons:
1. Shitty facilities
2. Shitty employees
3. People with their cellphones and screaming fucking children.
4. Only about 20% of the seats in any given theater are actually worth sitting in. The rest are too close, too far, too high, too much to the side, and no matter what, some 12 foot tall freak of nature will sit right in front of you.
5. The audio is almost always jacked up. It's usually not balanced right, one speaker is usually blown, and they have it literally pumped to ear-shattering levels so the people in the shitty spots can still hear what's going on.
6. If you buy popcorn or fountain soda, you probably are using a container which was picked up or dug out of the trash from the last showing. This allows the employees to double-sell and pocket the extra.
If you are given a pre-torn ticket (i.e. only half) it's because the kid in the booth is double-selling the ticket.
Don't bother complaining, the door-watcher and shift manager are getting a cut on the deal.
And it's not just the loud kids or inconsiderate jerks texting or talking in the movies. It's the dipshits who can't sit there and watch a movie, they have to interact with the damn thing. And I'm not talking about natural involuntary reactions to a good film, either; I'm fine with some screams in a horror flick or kids laughing or crying during a G-rated film. But when some dumb bitch feels the need to offer advice to the characters on the screen, or make a running commentary of the film, or discuss the plot, or ASK FUCKING QUESTIONS, I begin to wonder if I have enough Shammies in my car to soak up all the blood from her dismembered corpse.
Raspberry Pi B-model: $35 NAS/Seedbox containing torrented H.264 movies: ~$100 46" 1920x1080p TV: ~$500 So, for the price of six or seven nights out, you can get a home theater setup and all the movies you want, with no recurring costs save your electricity and internet bills.
but just because there are 3d movies for the rest of us, doesn't exclude you from seeing the movie in 2d.
The need for both 3d and 2d theaters pushes some movies out earlier I might have seen at some point, or limits the number of movies they will carry more generally... it's the same thing as one brand of food pushing off others from store shelves by offering a huge number of choices.
3D is only one aspect of why people are not going to movies as much, but they are not helping. I'm not saying there should be no 3D movies but Hollywood is going overboard.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hello?
This is bullshit. It's PR.
Seed a bunch of stories about the crashing theater market, then fool Ebert into writing about it as though it were an actual fact on the ground, and then everybody assumes it's real.
It's not.
In fact, theater revenue from 2010 hit another record year, up from 2009, which was up from 2008.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/02/piracy-once-again-fails-to-get-in-way-of-record-box-office.ars
Why, oh why can't Slashdot readers stop being so easily duped?
If you were less stupid, we wouldn't have to live in the mess which is the world today.
Sigh.
I agree with Ebert.
1. A lot of movies are just plain bad. There are perhaps two or three men that are guaranteed box off pullers after that its zero.
2. Prices for Pop corn are ridiculously high. 2 weeks ago I went to an AMC theater for popcorn and a drink "special" it was $13.50. The popcorn tasted lousy (almost saw dust).
3. Seats were good+ but the movie was off.
4. Movies like J Edgar could have been great but producers held the actors back and the writing was bland,
I am starting now to go see the block busters only (Ghost Protocol) as they are entertaining and not afraid of anything. In other words its not bland.
I was put off by the last Sherlock as to violent and pretty well demolished any reputation Sherlock Holmes had. I will not go see anymore in the series.
I'll do you one better than buying: if you watch movies regularly, a DVD-at-a-time plan with Blu-Ray option is around $11 per month ($9 for regular DVDs), delivered to your door. If you don't, RedBox rents movies for $1.25/night on DVD, and are all over the place (local pharmacy/CVS, gas station, outside the grocery store). Again, the only penalty is waiting slightly longer for availability, but I have an effective cost of $2/movie on average, which is cheaper than your metro ride to the theater.
If you like to watch them repeatedly, then buying is slightly more convenient, and maybe cheaper long-term, but Netflix and RedBox have created a rental experience that makes theater-going even more painful by comparison.