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point is the minds of business execs like this are so rotten that they can’t understand the difference between old and outdated, they value things on vibes and hype because they don’t actually know wtf they are doing.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.
The tickets don’t need to be that expensive, movie theaters are the cheapest group human experience possible since all you are doing is providing a room, electricity and a movie. If you don’t count the human labor, I guessss live theater or standup comedy is cheaper?
Every other type of entertainment including serving alcohol or food to people is actually much much more complicated and costly.
People, including introverts, desire being around humans and experiencing genuine human group interaction even if it isn’t direct. People often describe it as people watching or going out to dinner alone, don’t make the mistake of people only desiring one kind of direct connection with socialization.
A movie provides a context for people to come together and it is a very open and inviting context that doesn’t pressure you into uncomfortable situations while still letting you experience something together with other people, that hasn’t changed.
The major thing that has changed is again, people are falling apart and so have cut out going to the movies.
How can I enjoy company with my friends more than seeing a movie we were both hyped for in theaters and hollering or gasping along with the rest of the crowd? If I am into movies, that is like the prime movie experience, and newsflash a WHOLE LOT of people are into movies.
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.
The tickets don’t need to be that expensive, movie theaters are the cheapest group human experience possible since all you are doing is providing a room, electricity and a movie. If you don’t count the human labor, I guessss live theater or standup comedy is cheaper?
Every other type of entertainment including serving alcohol or food to people is actually much much more complicated and costly.
People, including introverts, desire being around humans and experiencing genuine human group interaction even if it isn’t direct. People often describe it as people watching or going out to dinner alone, don’t make the mistake of people only desiring one kind of direct connection with socialization.
A movie provides a context for people to come together and it is a very open and inviting context that doesn’t pressure you into uncomfortable situations while still letting you experience something together with other people, that hasn’t changed.
The major thing that has changed is again, people are falling apart and so have cut out going to the movies.
How can I enjoy company with my friends more than seeing a movie we were both hyped for in theaters and hollering or gasping along with the rest of the crowd? If I am into movies, that is like the prime movie experience, and newsflash a WHOLE LOT of people are into movies.