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Netflix CEO: Movie Theaters Are 'Strangling the Movie Business'' (businessinsider.com)
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thinks the state of film is a "real tragedy" and that movie theaters are "strangling the movie business," he said at The New Yorker's Tech Fest on Friday. From a Business Insider report:On Friday, Hastings came down hard on these theater owners, saying there had been no innovation in the movie theater business in recent years, even as TV has been shaped by the rise of cable and internet networks. "Money" and "innovation" has flooded to the TV industry, Hastings said. Not so with film. The movie theater business has seen flatline revenue, Hastings said. Part of the problem is that small movies, such as many Netflix has snagged from places like Sundance, would be better distributed both at home and in theaters. That's a convenient position for Netflix to take, but Hastings said the movie studios feel the same way. Each movie studio would like to "break the oligopoly" of the theaters, but "they don't know how," he continued. If they collude to face the theaters, it's anti-trust, but if they are the ones to take the first step, their films will get killed. That means they just go along with the status quo.
It's all a bunch of teenagers kicking the back of your seat and smacking gum and talking on phones. I'll pass.
...it's the only place i'll watch films anymore; they innovate and do a wonderful job of it...
This being Slashdot, many of you don't want to go to theaters and see films. You want to view them at home, from your HTPC where you won't be bothered by other people, people you consider dumb, rude, loud, too young, always on their phones and generally needing to get off your lawn.
I remember this last time movie theaters came up. I was in the minority because I do consider going to the movies to be a social experience, especially when when seeing a suspenseful or funny movie.
The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
My understanding from how movie theatres work is that they barely make any money at all from the showing of movies. It is the production studios that take the greatest amount of profits from the movies shown at the theatre. Where theatre's make money is primarily from the extremely unhealthy food folks buy at the theatre. It's why we hear so much about movies from producers that flop because that represents a huge loss. Theatres are not so worried so long as folks still go to the theatre to see movies.
Gas stations use a similar model where most of their actual profits are from non-gas sales. They behave very much like a corner store. The gas that's sold isn't very profitable otherwise.
There are no intermissions or breaks on 3 hour long movies.
Slightly side-issue, but a lot of movies are way too long anyway. Sure, there's the odd Schindler's List or whatever that actually has three hours of story to tell. But Batman v Superman? F**k off with that. These shitty movie directors need to get their egos under control and realise that that kind of movie needs to be 90-100 minutes tops. More isn't necessarily better when you're telling a story that isn't actually very complicated or fundamentally interesting.
Oh no... it's the future.
Well if you really want to see a movie on its release date there are not many legal options.
First off, you're exactly right. If you want to see something the minute it's released, that's the only way to go.
So I'd like to offer another thought. What's so great about that?
Seriously. What's so great about having something the minute it's available? We put a lot of importance on that for some reason. The 2017 Chevys are out early, the latest Star Wars film was just released, Apple just made a phone that is 2% faster than their last one.
Why do we care?
Perhaps that's the thing we should be examining. The theater isn't a barrier to seeing a movie, they're a barrier to seeing a just released movie. That movie you want to see will be the exact same movie a week or a month or a year from now. And you have plenty of legal avenues (and far cheaper ones, and far more pleasant ones) than going to a theater.
Maybe the real problem is instant gratification, and our dependence on it.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
A bunch of that problem your seeing hasn't got anything to do with the U.S. Hollywood studios are making movies that will play in Asia, especially China, to people who may not speak English, so complex plots and dialog don't work very well. CGI works equally good or bad in all countries.
The problem is the Asia movie market has passed the U.S. and Europe in size so U.S. studios are pandering to it to make money