I’m confident more people would see films in theater if they had jobs that paid better and worked them fewer hours. My friend with a full time office job and bartending gig at night trying to make rent isn’t spending a lot of time and money on theaters.
It’s like that meme with the dog saying “no take ball, only throw”. The rich don’t want to pay us any money, but they want us to spend a lot of money.
I disagree, the people with better pay would use that extra cash and replicate the theater in their homes, and that is not hard to do even on a low budget these days. Why would I want to go into a theater with uncomfortable seating, over-priced and bad food (they need to update their offerings,) people on phones, chatting, yelling, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a stranger, and not be able to pee without missing a portion of the movie?
I did say “more people” not “all people”.
Also, go to better theaters. Alamo Drafthouse (I think they settled their union busting problem) for example will kick people out for being disruptive, and has pretty good food delivered to you at your seat.
Also there’s a pretty big gulf between “Let’s spend $60 for dinner and a movie” and “let’s spend $1600 for a home theater setup”
People are social creatures, and many people enjoy watching something with a crowd.
Me, I prefer watching at home so I can be comfortable and piss at my leisure. But every so often as a change of pace I’d go see it in a theater.
A “better theater” is not like 45 minute drive there and back. I think I will pass on that.
People are social creatures, but they are also experience driven, and when you add up all the issues with the theaters, it is not a good experience. In the past, it was the ONLY experience, but that isn’t so any longer.
The current numbers show it is not turning around, quite the opposite. No signs of improving.
Living somewhere where you need to drive is a whole other set of problems.
I’ve enjoyed seeing movies at alamo drafthouse and similar. It’s okay if you don’t. But I stand by my original claim that more people would go if they had more money.
Someone linked to this clip by Ryan Coogler, director of Sinners (and so many more) talking about film formats.
We stopped going to theaters since the pandemic, but his explanation is getting me amped about going to see this film, even though horror’s not my thing.
Netflix has its place but it doesn’t replace the theater experience.
I am not a horror fan either and I really enjoyed Sinners. I would almost go so far as to say it has more in common with dramas and musicals than it does horror.
Netflix is old news. The entire system of streaming has full circled back to cable.
This goes for most of the streaming channels, added commercials, increased the prices, it is basically a split cableTV model.
The traditional method of running a movie theater is old news. I don’t understand why they’ve been so slow to adapt, especially when the answer is staring them right in the face; just show older movies.
Theaters are following an outdated business model where they mostly show newly released movies. But people don’t want that anymore. Who wants to spend $20 on some generic Hollywood BS that’s cranked out today? You know what they would spend $20 on? Seeing The Matrix on the big screen again, taking their kids to see Labyrinth or The Goonies, watching Saving Private Ryan with all the power that movie theater sound systems can deliver.
Oh sure, they’re slooooowly adapting. Sometimes theaters will have a single screen with some limited event, not even hosted by the theater, showing something like a Miyazaki film, or a single Star Wars film to celebrate its anniversary. But those are few and far between. Go look at the showtimes for your closest movie theater. The choices suck. Now imagine if there were showtimes for Terminator 2, Seven Samurai, Interstellar, The Big Lebowski, or one of the original Indiana Jones’s. Hell, even movies that are considered campy would be good compared to new stuff today. If there was a showtime for The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, can you honestly say that wouldn’t be a more appealing choice than The Accountant 2?
Movie theaters are fun! The whole experience is fun! Getting your drink and snack, settling into a comfy chair, and really watching a movie; no talking, no phones, just the movie with premium quality and sound. And there are SO MANY movies! Why is this experience still almost exclusively for new releases, most of which suck now? You want more people going to your theaters? The solution is RIGHT THERE, just adapt!
I’m lucky to live in LA where there are theaters like this! Alamo Drafthouse is great
In the city I am currently living some independent movie theaters are showing 4k versions of more or less old movies (recently Le Haine, Captain Harlock, Paprika), most of them in original language with subtitles and I am having a blast. I am happily going back to movie theaters and I whish they’d do it more often (also supporting local businesses is a plus).
Man who’s income relies on people seeing movies on his platform wants other platforms to watch movies gone, more at 11
Theaters are an outdated model. 1. they are too expensive, especially if a family is involved. 2. even if pricing wasn’t an issue, people are now (pushed by COVID) more comfortable (literally) in their own living room. I don’t see anything that is going to change this.
Netflix was built on people sitting at home, paying halfways attention, being able to pause or watch again
It’s an indictment on the modern life
A good film deserves respect. Leave your phone alone. Enjoy the experience
Johnson is right
Between subtitles and the ability to pause/watch in segments I’ve been able to take in and enjoy a lot more movies than I would be able to otherwise.
Accessibility and ease of use should not be condemned for the sake of some “purity” ideal.
That said, if I’m in a movie theater I will absolutely shut my phone, pay attention, and be respectful. Basic consideration in public spaces should always be a given.
Don’t lock me in a room with annoying strangers then
Alamo Drafthouse, or another decent cinema won’t hesitate to kick distracting people out.
Everyone’s complaints about theaters, are really just complaints about bad theaters.
Besides, the doors aren’t locked. So what are you even talking about?
The problem is that the theaters aren’t using their last bit of cash on hand in updating their theaters and fixing issues that are causing low turnout. Instead, they are creating “value packages” which unless you want to be locked into some subscription model (I don’t) then there is no value. This will all come to a head next year when the largest theater company in the world has their notes come due from the bank. Prediction is bankruptcy and closing of MANY theaters.
I’ve seen hundreds of movies in theaters and can count the bad experiences on one hand
Alcohol is even older news and yet people still love alcohol?
What do movie theaters being a new concept or not have to do with people liking them?
“Old news” is an idiom meaning outdated or no longer relevant. It isn’t quite that literal.
My point is the minds of business execs like this are so rotten that they can’t understand the difference between old and outdated, they value things on vibes and hype because they don’t actually know wtf they are doing.
The more people stick their heads into their phones the more the idea of making an event to go see an awesome movie in theaters becomes attractive vs watching it on a phone the way people already watch everything else.
I suppose. I don’t think he’s inherently wrong here, though. Ticket sales have been declining steadily for some time, and 2020 sped it up. Theaters have grown increasingly expensive to attend, while the experience has gotten progressively worse.
Exactly correct. They have been on a decline since the early 2000’s, and COVID sped up the decline by giving everyone a taste of watching movies at home.
The other part of that is that home theater gear has also improved greatly. In the 80’s/90’s, no one was anywhere close to replicating a theater’s video or audio fidelity. Now you can get massive 4k uhd screens which are technically a higher resolution than digital IMAX (2k stacked instead of true 4k), and pair it with 11.2 THX quality Dolby Atmos audio if you want. Good AV at home is far more accessible than it ever has been.
Very true! I have a great setup at home and I am sitting in the best position for it. Also, it isn’t deafening when action picks up. Louder is not necessarily better.
That has nothing to do with people not wanting to make an evening of going out with their spouse to see a movie and maybe get dinner or icecream… and everything to do with people being too busy, poor, overworked and friendless to go out to the movies.
longish response
If that spells the end of movie theaters, well I don’t know if I call the end of functional recreation activities outside the context of your home because you are too exhausted, lonely and broke quite the damning evidence that people don’t want to go to movie theaters that maybe it seems like it is…
I am not someone that is a big movie buff, especially because I find superhero movies suffocatingly boring and narrow in vision, but I went to the theater to see a Miyazaki film not too long ago and then saw The Boy And The Heron in theaters too.
Further I don’t uncommonly hear people, especially younger people, talk about being hyped to see their favorite movie in the theaters, it is a cultural statement of “I LOVE THIS SHIT” that people like to do as a way of engaging more enthusiastically with a movie or series they like. People are always desperately looking for ways to do this, that has never changed.
People are just worn down, and of course the Netflix CEO doesn’t get that lol.
At the end of the day it is just basic physics though, you can’t have as big of a screen and even more crucially as hifidelity audio (with low frequency speaker for big explosions and action) if you aren’t watching the movie in a theater with the space and setup for it. I know tech CEO types have temporarily forgotten that with their sad fumbling obsession with VR and stuff like that, but it is just basic physics. Sorry, your soundbar or bluetooth speakers just are never going to recreate the sound you get at a theater because again, physics.
This isn’t to mention the entire experience of cinema being enhanced, yes enhanced by the fact that you are witnessing it with a group of people. As much as people complain about movie theaters, this is legitimately a big part of the human experience and again VR or other digital recreations of that are never going to cut it when there is a brick and mortar movie theater down the street.
The question isn’t whether movie theaters have a future or not, it is whether we are willing to see it or not. The only thing that could really kill movie theaters long term is if the trend of hifi audio systems and home theater setups had continued being popular in the U.S. past the 2000s, but that shit died because nobody can afford a home anymore so what is the point of buying a nice sound system if you never know when you are going to have to move?
In that sense, at least in the U.S., the movie theater has a VERY secure future.
Theaters tend to be dirty, and the people tend to contribute to making the experience worse with their lack of common decency and consideration for others. Add the cost to attend and the value just isn’t there for many people. These are the major factors to declining sales. Additionally, my home setup is quite nice and not as expensive as you might imagine. My home experience is great. There’s no one to interrupt, throw food, or generally make a nuisance. Also, I can pause at my leisure if I need to take a moment for something else.
I mean, sure, it makes sense that you have convinced yourself you are a fundamentally anti-social person in this context, I get the feeling and vibes but I don’t buy it is actually true.
The reason movie theater ticket sales are going down is people are falling apart, it is pretty simple.
If you are burned out, watching a movie on your tv and not stressing out about driving to a movie theater and buying tickets and finding parking etc… is going to be much more attractive. That doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t much prefer to go out to the movie theater instead if you felt up for it.
I think you may be confusing your own joy at introversion with a wider process of the social fabric of society being torn apart here, most people do not just want to sit at home and be lonely, to such an extreme degree that if the process of going to the movies was easy and affordable and they had the energy just the idea of being in a room with other people excited about something is enough to tip the scales in favor of going out to the movies not even factoring in that the experience would do justice to their favorite thing 100 times better.
If people by and large do not desire that experience, and I can’t stress this enough, it isn’t because movie theaters are obsolete or people didn’t fundamentally desire to watch movies in big groups on awesome screens and sound systems, it is simply what the social fabric of society tearing apart looks like in the medium of cinema as people retreat from public spaces.
I want to be clear too, I am not throwing shade at you for preferring to watch movies alone at home, I am just saying that is not what the majority of humans want and indeed for most humans replacing group activities with watching movies alone is NOT an actual ful replacement for the activity. Maybe for you it is, and that is ok, but I am very skeptical most people feel the way you do even if the narrative you are conveying is a popular one in conversation about movie theaters.
Why are you equating a poor movie going experience with being antisocial and introverted? This resort to ad hominem is unnecessary just because we are having a discussion. I get plenty of regular social interaction, it just doesn’t involve theaters. They’re a pretty minimal interaction space, anyway, if you’re behaving as you should in that space. People can get out and enjoy each other’s company for cheaper and with a better overall experience in myriad ways. While I agree that there need to be more third spaces, the theater won’t be it, if for the expense alone. I remember a time when it was a good way to enjoy some A/C for a couple of hours for relatively cheap. It’ll cost $20+ just for the ticket to sit in a dirty chair.
Rian Johnson? The guy that directed The Last Jedi? 🤢
Yeeeah I really can’t take anything he says seriously.
Movies do belong in cinemas. Rian Johnson‘s movies do not.
