The movie experience has to change (1 Viewer)

[Hastur]

The movie business will not change until it hits rock bottom. Still a long way from that. Hollywood will continue down the path of least resistance until it can no longer make money. It might be too late by them, though.

• Reviews are bought, not earned. If a studio spends a few hundred million dollars producing a film, they are going to spend money to make sure people think it is great. By the time true reviews come out, it is too late. The studios have made their money back. The digital age has made that a lot harder these days though, but Hollywood doesn't seem to have learned their lesson yet.
• Studios are shooting themselves in the foot by allowing almost instant streaming of new releases.
• Continued bad press of the theater experience(shootings/stabbings) does not help.
• As stated above, studios must cater to a global market, not just American tastes. The Asian market is highly lucrative, and likes a certain style of movie Americans have tired of. Movies will cater to where the money is.
• Executives are making decisions based on retaining their jobs, not on artistic endeavors. This is not new, but the above points have made it more pronounced perhaps.

 

[Todem]

Seems like there needs to be an evolution in the movie seeing experience - lots of movies failing at the box office. Maybe some type of subscription model where you get one viewing at home. Any ideas.

and I still want my butter drenched popcorn

Hollywood just needs to make better movies. What don’t you like about the experience? I still think it’s great.

Being honest here…..

People.

Cell phones, constant talking, loud, rude, obnoxious people.

The good thing for me is since I discovered the $5 Tuesday movies at Paragon that has all but vanished.

These mostly rude people don’t go to movies on Tuesday nights apparently lol. The theater is bare with maybe 5-10 people tops two weeks after the movie comes out.

It has saved the big screen experience for me personally.

And I agree the quality of movies has really gone way down. I maybe hit the theater 12 times a year tops.

Back in the 80‘s, 90’s and even 00’s it was almost a weekly outing.

Quality, price and people is what is killing the theater business.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

FYI - Costco has decent deals on AMC/Regal/Alamo gift cards to save a few bucks.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

To be fair, theaters (and by extension, studios) are caught in a bind. I can rent pretty much any movie ever made for less than $5, and I can watch it in my home with outstanding sound, the very best possible picture quality, and a glass of whisky resting on the side table. Theaters are never going to be able to compete with that on the basis of price, so they have to sell "spectacle" instead. But the movies I most like are not spectacles that demand a big screen - most days, I'd far prefer a comedy or mid-budget drama to Lord of the Rings. Special effects-laden epics or action movies are fine once in a while, but that's not really what I watch most of the time.

I'm not alone in having these preferences. I used to go to the movies all the time, but technology has made this business effectively obsolete. It simply isn't possible for movie theaters to stay open just so I can attend the 1-2 films per year that I might actually have some marginal preference for seeing in a theater.

As much as I dislike superhero movies, I get why studios did that. I can see why "superhero action movie" might be something a person wants to see on the big screen, if one is into that sort of thing. A lot of the complaints that people like me have about the kinds of movies being made today are really downstream of how streaming is killing off theaters. Maybe things will get better once the movie theater is dead and buried for good.

 

[Don Quixote]

To be fair, theaters (and by extension, studios) are caught in a bind. I can rent pretty much any movie ever made for less than $5, and I can watch it in my home with outstanding sound, the very best possible picture quality, and a glass of whisky resting on the side table. Theaters are never going to be able to compete with that on the basis of price, so they have to sell "spectacle" instead. But the movies I most like are not spectacles that demand a big screen - most days, I'd far prefer a comedy or mid-budget drama to Lord of the Rings. Special effects-laden epics or action movies are fine once in a while, but that's not really what I watch most of the time.

I'm not alone in having these preferences. I used to go to the movies all the time, but technology has made this business effectively obsolete. It simply isn't possible for movie theaters to stay open just so I can attend the 1-2 films per year that I might actually have some marginal preference for seeing in a theater.

As much as I dislike superhero movies, I get why studios did that. I can see why "superhero action movie" might be something a person wants to see on the big screen, if one is into that sort of thing. A lot of the complaints that people like me have about the kinds of movies being made today are really downstream of how streaming is killing off theaters. Maybe things will get better once the movie theater is dead and buried for good.

Yeah, I’m not really into action movies, and prefer the dramas that they usually wait until the end of the year to release to try to maximize Oscar buzz. If my wife and I wanted to go see a movie together, once factoring in price of a baby sitter to watch the little one, it would easily be a $200 night. Just not worth it for the types of movies into versus watching something at home.

I’d probably make an exception for a good historical epic on the big screen (like Oppenheimer last year). Nothing really seems to be in the offing this summer though.

Only thing that really seemed to interest me looking at the summer slate is the new Yorgos Lanthimos.

 

[Capella]

Reviews are bought, not earned. If a studio spends a few hundred million dollars producing a film, they are going to spend money to make sure people think it is great.

Oh come on. There’s tons of huge releases that have had terrible reviews. Every single year there are numerous instances.

 

[Hastur]

Reviews are bought, not earned. If a studio spends a few hundred million dollars producing a film, they are going to spend money to make sure people think it is great.

Oh come on. There’s tons of huge releases that have had terrible reviews. Every single year there are numerous instances.

OK, yes, there is. What I meant was when a trailer comes on tv(or social media), the studios cherry pick what will put the movie in a good light, and omit everything else.

For example, the review you see in the trailer is "...awesome...". The full review could say "It would be awesome if the movie never came out".

Am I being ridiculous? lol absolutely I am. I'm just very jaded when it comes to reviews and 'best of' ratings. We've all heard about Amazon reviews and how they get manipulated. JD Power is known to base car ratings partly by how much the car manufacturer donates to JD Power. The 'Best of' ratings in your local town/city are complete trash, as they just give the award to the business/service to how many votes they get. I personally have witnessed two incidents where blatant, outright fraud has been committed, but the people who put these things together do not care.

I know, I know, I sound bitter. Now, get off my lawn!

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Reviews are bought, not earned. If a studio spends a few hundred million dollars producing a film, they are going to spend money to make sure people think it is great.

Oh come on. There’s tons of huge releases that have had terrible reviews. Every single year there are numerous instances.

OK, yes, there is. What I meant was when a trailer comes on tv(or social media), the studios cherry pick what will put the movie in a good light, and omit everything else.

For example, the review you see in the trailer is "...awesome...". The full review could say "It would be awesome if the movie never came out".

Am I being ridiculous? lol absolutely I am. I'm just very jaded when it comes to reviews and 'best of' ratings. We've all heard about Amazon reviews and how they get manipulated. JD Power is known to base car ratings partly by how much the car manufacturer donates to JD Power. The 'Best of' ratings in your local town/city are complete trash, as they just give the award to the business/service to how many votes they get. I personally have witnessed two incidents where blatant, outright fraud has been committed, but the people who put these things together do not care.

I know, I know, I sound bitter. Now, get off my lawn!

Is this really any different than, say, video games, though? We all know that you can't rely on sites like IGN or Kotaku for intelligent reviews, but there's no shortage of places to find word-of-mouth from actual people. I just assume that movie reviews are the same way. I can't recall the last time I read a movie review written by a professional critic when deciding whether to watch a movie or show. I'm much more swayed by the opinions of people around here.

 

[dickey moe]

Went to see Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes about a week or two with my son. I'm not sure I'll be going back to the movies anytime soon. Tickets were $15 each, and then with small popcorns, 2 bottles of water, and a candy for him it was another $35.

A group of 10 or so teenagers in the theater, talking, laughing, and running around. A middle-aged lady looking at her phone in the row ahead of us, the light from which was very distracting. A couple of people went out to complain about the teenagers, but not much was done (theater employee walked in and looked around once). Then my son said it sounded like one of the teenagers was beating up another one in the walkway back to the lobby area ( I didn't notice it). I didn't think the picture quality on screen was very good. Way too many commercials after the previews before the movie itself began.

Just not worth it to spend that kind of money (and that was just for two of us) and have to deal with inconsiderate people who don't know (or care about) how to behave in public. Not worth the aggravation.

Except I would have yelled at the kids and asked the lady to turn her phone tint down.

Not trying to be funny here but if you do that in Florida you may get shot.

Another reason to go to the movies!

 

[Capella]

Reviews are bought, not earned. If a studio spends a few hundred million dollars producing a film, they are going to spend money to make sure people think it is great.

Oh come on. There’s tons of huge releases that have had terrible reviews. Every single year there are numerous instances.

OK, yes, there is. What I meant was when a trailer comes on tv(or social media), the studios cherry pick what will put the movie in a good light, and omit everything else.

For example, the review you see in the trailer is "...awesome...". The full review could say "It would be awesome if the movie never came out".

Am I being ridiculous? lol absolutely I am. I'm just very jaded when it comes to reviews and 'best of' ratings. We've all heard about Amazon reviews and how they get manipulated. JD Power is known to base car ratings partly by how much the car manufacturer donates to JD Power. The 'Best of' ratings in your local town/city are complete trash, as they just give the award to the business/service to how many votes they get. I personally have witnessed two incidents where blatant, outright fraud has been committed, but the people who put these things together do not care.

I know, I know, I sound bitter. Now, get off my lawn!

No that I understand. Agree with you there.

 

[Capella]

Took my kid to see Garfield yesterday. I got candy beforehand for myself but still a kid’s meal for him and a popcorn and drink for the wife and I was 30 bucks. Crazy! The showing was pretty full shockingly and everybody behaved in there.

I like seeing movies and my son is obsessed with going to the theater but I just can’t get past 60 bucks round trip for the whole thing.


Movie was TERRIBLE too even for a kid’s movie. I’ve had to sit through a lot of kid’s movies let me tell you and this might be near the end of the list.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Who thought the timing was right for a GARFIELD movie anyway?

Did they not see Zombieland where it was made a punchline?

Little Rock: So do you have any regrets?

Bill Murray: "Garfield," maybe.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Took my kid to see Garfield yesterday. I got candy beforehand for myself but still a kid’s meal for him and a popcorn and drink for the wife and I was 30 bucks. Crazy! The showing was pretty full shockingly and everybody behaved in there.

I like seeing movies and my son is obsessed with going to the theater but I just can’t get past 60 bucks round trip for the whole thing.


Movie was TERRIBLE too even for a kid’s movie. I’ve had to sit through a lot of kid’s movies let me tell you and this might be near the end of the list.

Good to know. I am about to watch this with my 9 year old.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Who thought the timing was right for a GARFIELD movie anyway?

Did they not see Zombieland where it was made a punchline?

Little Rock: So do you have any regrets?

Bill Murray: "Garfield," maybe.

I think at this point it is simply make whatever is available that will trigger any sort of nostalgia button on enough patents for the movie to turn a profit.

What I was wondering this morning is how much these types of movies boost the property in general and make it worth it even if the movie tanks.

 

[Capella]

Took my kid to see Garfield yesterday. I got candy beforehand for myself but still a kid’s meal for him and a popcorn and drink for the wife and I was 30 bucks. Crazy! The showing was pretty full shockingly and everybody behaved in there.

I like seeing movies and my son is obsessed with going to the theater but I just can’t get past 60 bucks round trip for the whole thing.


Movie was TERRIBLE too even for a kid’s movie. I’ve had to sit through a lot of kid’s movies let me tell you and this might be near the end of the list.

Good to know. I am about to watch this with my 9 year old.

My son absolutely loved it fwiw. Had a great time.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Took my kid to see Garfield yesterday. I got candy beforehand for myself but still a kid’s meal for him and a popcorn and drink for the wife and I was 30 bucks. Crazy! The showing was pretty full shockingly and everybody behaved in there.

I like seeing movies and my son is obsessed with going to the theater but I just can’t get past 60 bucks round trip for the whole thing.


Movie was TERRIBLE too even for a kid’s movie. I’ve had to sit through a lot of kid’s movies let me tell you and this might be near the end of the list.

Good to know. I am about to watch this with my 9 year old.

My son absolutely loved it fwiw. Had a great time.

I'm sure my kiddo will too, so by default I will have fun. This one likes watching movies a little more than my son did, so her liking any movie experience is a win for me.

We are sitting in the car for a few minutes and I got an eyeroll when I told her I am giving her my pitch for a podcast. Also something my kid thought was dumb and couldn't convince him of.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Took my kid to see Garfield yesterday. I got candy beforehand for myself but still a kid’s meal for him and a popcorn and drink for the wife and I was 30 bucks. Crazy! The showing was pretty full shockingly and everybody behaved in there.

I like seeing movies and my son is obsessed with going to the theater but I just can’t get past 60 bucks round trip for the whole thing.


Movie was TERRIBLE too even for a kid’s movie. I’ve had to sit through a lot of kid’s movies let me tell you and this might be near the end of the list.

Good to know. I am about to watch this with my 9 year old.

My son absolutely loved it fwiw. Had a great time.

Well then that's all that really matters.

But lower your expectations for your son.

I keed, I keed!

 

[Runkle]

Who thought the timing was right for a GARFIELD movie anyway?

Did they not see Zombieland where it was made a punchline?

Little Rock: So do you have any regrets?

Bill Murray: "Garfield," maybe.

The whole concept of Garfield is a lowest-common-denominator moneygrab

 

[TLEF316]

Yeah.....putting out a Garfield movie in 2024.....woof. Nobody under the age of 40 even knows the character. I know that you can basically take little kids to almost any animated movie and they'll be entertained for 85 minutes or so....but is really not one writer in Hollywood capable of coming up with an original character for that sort of movie?

Makes absolutely zero sense. Was guaranteed to be a massive flop. Could have saved 10's of millions by casting a bunch of nobody's (rather than bog name actors) and gotten the exact same result.

Someone (probably multiple people) raking in a 7 figure salary greenlit that movie. That's hilarious to me

 

[bigbottom]

I thought the Garfield comic strip back in the day was terrible as well. Never understood the draw.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I thought the Garfield comic strip back in the day was terrible as well. Never understood the draw.

At least it gave us Garfield minus Garfield

 

[bigbottom]

I thought the Garfield comic strip back in the day was terrible as well. Never understood the draw.

At least it gave us Garfield minus Garfield

So good.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I get where @Capella is coming from when talking about the price of the experience. Here's the way I started thinking about it - less in terms of I could watch that at home for X amount, and more in terms of cost/family outing. What I mean by that is that our day was about that much - probably $45 or so for the two of us. But I wouldn't think twice about paying for that for mini golf and snacks, entrance to a museum, etc. Sure we could watch it at home in a few month, but let's be honest - too often that includes parents looking at devices, annoying pets, neighbor kids knocking gat the door, or the 100s of other life distractions. I guess the midwest-nice extends to the theaters around here and I seem to avoid the annoying people on their devices and talking.

I also agree with Capella that the movie itself was pretty bad. But I laughed at a couple spots and she had a blast. Afterward she said the movie was more awesome than she thought it would be and that we should go to movies more often. Well worth the price of admission.

Probably my favorite moment of the day was before the movie started. I think the usually uncomfortable silence from the intro b.s. to the start of the movie is funny as people are chomping and opening stuff. Today when the silence hit, by daughter and I broke out laughing at the exact same moment into the silence, which made both of us laugh harder. For a bit we were the a-holes annoying the people around us.

 

[Dr_Zaius]

I thought the Garfield comic strip back in the day was terrible as well. Never understood the draw.

Yeah the comic strip was definitely meh. The Garfield Christmas Special from the 80s somehow ended up being good, though, and the farm side of the old Saturday morning show could be pretty funny at times.

 

[wlwiles]

This year is rough due to the writers strike. I thought there were a lot of really good to outstanding movies in 2023: Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, Spiderverse, Past Lives, The Holdovers, Air, Blackberry, Asteroid City, Barbie, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Poor Things, Rye Lane, Scrapper, May December, Society of the Snow, All of Us Strangers, The Iron Claw.

2023 was the best movie year since 2019 and one of the better of the last 20 years.

Part of why I don't go to the theater anymore is that out of all these (probably great) films you named that came out in 2023, I've only ever heard of 4 of them. I guess I used to be exposed to "what's coming to theaters" via commercials while watching regular tv, which I don't really do anymore, so I'm not exposed to what's coming to theaters.

 

[arrow1]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

 

[B Maverick]

Seems like there needs to be an evolution in the movie seeing experience - lots of movies failing at the box office. Maybe some type of subscription model where you get one viewing at home. Any ideas.

and I still want my butter drenched popcorn

Hollywood just needs to make better movies. What don’t you like about the experience? I still think it’s great.

Being honest here…..

People.

Cell phones, constant talking, loud, rude, obnoxious people.

The good thing for me is since I discovered the $5 Tuesday movies at Paragon that has all but vanished.

These mostly rude people don’t go to movies on Tuesday nights apparently lol. The theater is bare with maybe 5-10 people tops two weeks after the movie comes out.

It has saved the big screen experience for me personally.

And I agree the quality of movies has really gone way down. I maybe hit the theater 12 times a year tops.

Back in the 80‘s, 90’s and even 00’s it was almost a weekly outing.

Quality, price and people is what is killing the theater business.

This is where I am. For some reason, people going to a movie theater seem to suck more and more each year. Acting like its their living room. I don't get it.
Yes the prices are going up, as with any form of entertainment. But is the price worth dealing with people? All depends on the movie.

 

[B Maverick]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

Oh that would be original: Ethan Hunt teams up with Garfield to stop Gru and his minions from bringing forth Beatleguise.

 

[Capella]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

Fall Guys was original. Nobody went to see that. Oppenheimer and Barbie were original. There’s an original movie out every week. There will always be sequels but there is more new content than any of us could ever see.

 

[B Maverick]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

Fall Guys was original. Nobody went to see that. Oppenheimer and Barbie were original. There’s an original movie out every week. There will always be sequels but there is more new content than any of us could ever see.

Fall Guy is about as original as Road House (2024) or Point Break (2015) were.

But to the rest of your point, yes there are some original movies out, but also a lot of sequels, remakes, reboots, etc

 

[Ilov80s]

This year is rough due to the writers strike. I thought there were a lot of really good to outstanding movies in 2023: Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible, Killers of the Flower Moon, Zone of Interest, Anatomy of a Fall, Spiderverse, Past Lives, The Holdovers, Air, Blackberry, Asteroid City, Barbie, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Poor Things, Rye Lane, Scrapper, May December, Society of the Snow, All of Us Strangers, The Iron Claw.

2023 was the best movie year since 2019 and one of the better of the last 20 years.

Part of why I don't go to the theater anymore is that out of all these (probably great) films you named that came out in 2023, I've only ever heard of 4 of them. I guess I used to be exposed to "what's coming to theaters" via commercials while watching regular tv, which I don't really do anymore, so I'm not exposed to what's coming to theaters.

Yeah that’s a huge reason. People don’t watch TV/commercials anymore. So then there’s no conversation to be had about them with friends or coworkers. I’m sure most people have no idea what those movies are. It’s sort of going the way of boxing where the quality adult movies are a niche product.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

Fall Guys was original. Nobody went to see that. Oppenheimer and Barbie were original. There’s an original movie out every week. There will always be sequels but there is more new content than any of us could ever see.

Fall Guy was TV show reboot, Barbie is an original screenplay, but a known IP.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Something original would be a start. Despicable Me 4, Garfield, MI #12, etc..

I am not sure where to put the blame for this, but more often than not I blame us. Yes, it's a business, but it's also one that we largely control the outcome of based on what we see and click. Just read the posts in here from people that are posting similar to you, but also saying things like why bother seeing _______ when I can just watch at home on a decent setup. I am including myself in this, as my last 10 movies I saw in the theater would be a pretty damn embarassing list. I am in the movie threads touting one thing, but then spending money on Garfield and crap.

There are just so many variables and decisions made, but I think the long and short of it is the vast majority of the population just want to be mildly entertained for 2 hours, not take many chances with their money as prices increase, and mostly go to see movies with the family that feature a lot of action and explosions to justify going to the theater. We should not be surprised when most of the options are mostly that and because of streaming nothing lasts in the theaters for more than a couple weeks now it seems.

 

[nirad3]

My company offers "summer Fridays" where we get off at 1pm. I typically dip out well before that and enjoy going to the movies - alone - on several Fridays during summer.

I'll probably go see Furiosa this Friday or next. That one deserves to be seen on the big screen.

 

[thecatch]

The movie theatre experience for me as an adult has probably passed me by. Even Dune 2, which looked amazing and is definitionally the kind of movie designed for theatres, was less than a spectacular experience because it was so long. I'd rather have dealt with a downgraded special effects experience to watch that at home with a pause button.

That said, my kids love going to the movies and it's a great way to kill a couple of hours with them. Whatever it ends up costing is almost irrelevant.

 

[Capella]

I get where @Capella is coming from when talking about the price of the experience. Here's the way I started thinking about it - less in terms of I could watch that at home for X amount, and more in terms of cost/family outing. What I mean by that is that our day was about that much - probably $45 or so for the two of us. But I wouldn't think twice about paying for that for mini golf and snacks, entrance to a museum, etc. Sure we could watch it at home in a few month, but let's be honest - too often that includes parents looking at devices, annoying pets, neighbor kids knocking gat the door, or the 100s of other life distractions. I guess the midwest-nice extends to the theaters around here and I seem to avoid the annoying people on their devices and talking.

I also agree with Capella that the movie itself was pretty bad. But I laughed at a couple spots and she had a blast. Afterward she said the movie was more awesome than she thought it would be and that we should go to movies more often. Well worth the price of admission.

Probably my favorite moment of the day was before the movie started. I think the usually uncomfortable silence from the intro b.s. to the start of the movie is funny as people are chomping and opening stuff. Today when the silence hit, by daughter and I broke out laughing at the exact same moment into the silence, which made both of us laugh harder. For a bit we were the a-holes annoying the people around us.

My son is still talking about it (when will it be on tv daddy) so it’s a pretty easy 60 bucks well spent.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I was thinking about it a lot today and what is missing. What I came with is that it was the combo of tech and prestige TV & their companies that are mostly to blame for the state of theaters today and our choices.

Tech made it less of a spectacle. Going to the theater isn't an event for most types of movies. When the experience is comparable, that $15/ticket for the family that is a tough ask when you know it's going to be at most a $30 purchase and you get the rewatch factor. More and more people choose to go only when it's a huge action movie they can justify and is still enough of an upgrade from what they have at home to make it worth it.

Prestige TV shifted the cultural dialogue and habits to streaming and shows. Less and less people were talking about a movie like The Sixth Sense or There's Something About Mary. We started talking about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Still now at work people are way more likely to talk about new shows. What it has become is people are happy with a couple services to stay on top of the shows they love, and catching up on whatever movies happen to be on that month. On top of that, the subscription services had way more free reign for content than the movie studios, which pulled the talent that direction and away from movies. Hell, how many directors have gotten pulled into the superhero and Star Wars movies that we wish were doing content like we see on the streamers? The ones that rejected the studios can be found on the TV shows that are the best.

What gives me hope is that we have some fantastic young directors that people seem to know making movies. We also seem to have shaken the superhero part a little bit. Unfortunately, what seems to have replaced it is remakes and legacy sequels, but hopefully some more Barbies and Oppenheimers will poke through and give studios more confindence in some other fare again.

 

[culdeus]

I was thinking about it a lot today and what is missing. What I came with is that it was the combo of tech and prestige TV & their companies that are mostly to blame for the state of theaters today and our choices.

Tech made it less of a spectacle. Going to the theater isn't an event for most types of movies. When the experience is comparable, that $15/ticket for the family that is a tough ask when you know it's going to be at most a $30 purchase and you get the rewatch factor. More and more people choose to go only when it's a huge action movie they can justify and is still enough of an upgrade from what they have at home to make it worth it.

Prestige TV shifted the cultural dialogue and habits to streaming and shows. Less and less people were talking about a movie like The Sixth Sense or There's Something About Mary. We started talking about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Still now at work people are way more likely to talk about new movies. What it has become is people are happy with a couple services to stay on top of the shows they love, and catching up on whatever movies happen to be on that month. On top of that, the subscription services had way more free reign for content than the movie studios, which pulled the talent that direction and away from movies. Hell, how many directors have gotten pulled into the superhero and Star Wars movies that we wish were doing content like we see on the streamers? The ones that rejected the studios can be found on the TV shows that are the best.

What gives me hope is that we have some fantastic young directors that people seem to know making movies. We also seem to have shaken the superhero part a little bit. Unfortunately, what seems to have replaced it is remakes and legacy sequels, but hopefully some more Barbies and Oppenheimers will poke through and give studios more confindence in some other fare again.

TV at 4k sitting at a distance of 10 ft with a sound bar is equal or better to 90% of the in theater tech out there now. Add a surround set and it's 98%.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I was thinking about it a lot today and what is missing. What I came with is that it was the combo of tech and prestige TV & their companies that are mostly to blame for the state of theaters today and our choices.

Tech made it less of a spectacle. Going to the theater isn't an event for most types of movies. When the experience is comparable, that $15/ticket for the family that is a tough ask when you know it's going to be at most a $30 purchase and you get the rewatch factor. More and more people choose to go only when it's a huge action movie they can justify and is still enough of an upgrade from what they have at home to make it worth it.

Prestige TV shifted the cultural dialogue and habits to streaming and shows. Less and less people were talking about a movie like The Sixth Sense or There's Something About Mary. We started talking about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Still now at work people are way more likely to talk about new movies. What it has become is people are happy with a couple services to stay on top of the shows they love, and catching up on whatever movies happen to be on that month. On top of that, the subscription services had way more free reign for content than the movie studios, which pulled the talent that direction and away from movies. Hell, how many directors have gotten pulled into the superhero and Star Wars movies that we wish were doing content like we see on the streamers? The ones that rejected the studios can be found on the TV shows that are the best.

What gives me hope is that we have some fantastic young directors that people seem to know making movies. We also seem to have shaken the superhero part a little bit. Unfortunately, what seems to have replaced it is remakes and legacy sequels, but hopefully some more Barbies and Oppenheimers will poke through and give studios more confindence in some other fare again.

TV at 4k sitting at a distance of 10 ft with a sound bar is equal or better to 90% of the in theater tech out there now. Add a surround set and it's 98%.

I'm in the minority because I still think the theater experience is better. I also don't have that great of a set up, so that is a point many have over me. It was just Garfield, but my $800 TV and $300 soundbar aren't even close to the theater. On top of that, it forces people (well, civilized people) to put their stuff down and focus on the movie. Again, maybe people have a more dedicated movie space, mine is filled with annoying cats and distractions. For me theater >> home still for any type of movie. It's just that our lifestyle and having kids has meant what I am spending my money on in the theater is the very crap that we are saying we are getting sick of. If it was just my vote and dollars I would be seeing the newest PTA or Aster in the theater and watching Garfield either never or at home - not the reverse.

 

[Courtjester]

We saw Furiosa and loved it. Non-stop action almost to the point of overload. I am an XD snob and we had one free ticket, so my wife, daughter and I were at around $60 for tickets and food. We always go first showing, so not a lot of obnoxious people.

We waited and just paid the $25 to buy Fall Guy on streaming. It was good but not great.

I know we are not the norm, but I can’t remember another summer where we actually have a list of movies that we plan to see in the theater. Maybe it is because this is my first summer being retired and my wife has 8 weeks off for the summer.

 

[Chadstroma]

We saw Furiosa and loved it. Non-stop action almost to the point of overload. I am an XD snob and we had one free ticket, so my wife, daughter and I were at around $60 for tickets and food. We always go first showing, so not a lot of obnoxious people.

We waited and just paid the $25 to buy Fall Guy on streaming. It was good but not great.

I know we are not the norm, but I can’t remember another summer where we actually have a list of movies that we plan to see in the theater. Maybe it is because this is my first summer being retired and my wife has 8 weeks off for the summer.

Yea, that is a retired thing (congrats on retirement!)

Even when I was a kid and went to the movies a ton, there was never a list.

One core memory... I was talking to my best friend from growing up. During summer we use to go to the local Mann 6 Theaters basically when they opened. One of us would buy a ticket and then the other waited by the exit door. Then that one would let the other in and we went to our first movie. After seeing that movie, we would then catch the next movie. On and one to 5 or 6 movies. We would get out and it would be like 10 or 11 and we would go to the Del Taco and get like 20 or 30 tacos and the two of us would destroy them. Then we would walk home. Not even a list there, we just remembered the times and went.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I was thinking about it a lot today and what is missing. What I came with is that it was the combo of tech and prestige TV & their companies that are mostly to blame for the state of theaters today and our choices.

Tech made it less of a spectacle. Going to the theater isn't an event for most types of movies. When the experience is comparable, that $15/ticket for the family that is a tough ask when you know it's going to be at most a $30 purchase and you get the rewatch factor. More and more people choose to go only when it's a huge action movie they can justify and is still enough of an upgrade from what they have at home to make it worth it.

Prestige TV shifted the cultural dialogue and habits to streaming and shows. Less and less people were talking about a movie like The Sixth Sense or There's Something About Mary. We started talking about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Still now at work people are way more likely to talk about new movies. What it has become is people are happy with a couple services to stay on top of the shows they love, and catching up on whatever movies happen to be on that month. On top of that, the subscription services had way more free reign for content than the movie studios, which pulled the talent that direction and away from movies. Hell, how many directors have gotten pulled into the superhero and Star Wars movies that we wish were doing content like we see on the streamers? The ones that rejected the studios can be found on the TV shows that are the best.

What gives me hope is that we have some fantastic young directors that people seem to know making movies. We also seem to have shaken the superhero part a little bit. Unfortunately, what seems to have replaced it is remakes and legacy sequels, but hopefully some more Barbies and Oppenheimers will poke through and give studios more confindence in some other fare again.

Yes, this. It is not at all a coincidence that the golden age of premier television (plus streaming) is also an extinction level event for movie theaters.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I was thinking about it a lot today and what is missing. What I came with is that it was the combo of tech and prestige TV & their companies that are mostly to blame for the state of theaters today and our choices.

Tech made it less of a spectacle. Going to the theater isn't an event for most types of movies. When the experience is comparable, that $15/ticket for the family that is a tough ask when you know it's going to be at most a $30 purchase and you get the rewatch factor. More and more people choose to go only when it's a huge action movie they can justify and is still enough of an upgrade from what they have at home to make it worth it.

Prestige TV shifted the cultural dialogue and habits to streaming and shows. Less and less people were talking about a movie like The Sixth Sense or There's Something About Mary. We started talking about The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Still now at work people are way more likely to talk about new movies. What it has become is people are happy with a couple services to stay on top of the shows they love, and catching up on whatever movies happen to be on that month. On top of that, the subscription services had way more free reign for content than the movie studios, which pulled the talent that direction and away from movies. Hell, how many directors have gotten pulled into the superhero and Star Wars movies that we wish were doing content like we see on the streamers? The ones that rejected the studios can be found on the TV shows that are the best.

What gives me hope is that we have some fantastic young directors that people seem to know making movies. We also seem to have shaken the superhero part a little bit. Unfortunately, what seems to have replaced it is remakes and legacy sequels, but hopefully some more Barbies and Oppenheimers will poke through and give studios more confindence in some other fare again.

TV at 4k sitting at a distance of 10 ft with a sound bar is equal or better to 90% of the in theater tech out there now. Add a surround set and it's 98%.

I'm in the minority because I still think the theater experience is better. I also don't have that great of a set up, so that is a point many have over me. It was just Garfield, but my $800 TV and $300 soundbar aren't even close to the theater. On top of that, it forces people (well, civilized people) to put their stuff down and focus on the movie. Again, maybe people have a more dedicated movie space, mine is filled with annoying cats and distractions. For me theater >> home still for any type of movie. It's just that our lifestyle and having kids has meant what I am spending my money on in the theater is the very crap that we are saying we are getting sick of. If it was just my vote and dollars I would be seeing the newest PTA or Aster in the theater and watching Garfield either never or at home - not the reverse.

Same. My setup is not great, I have like a 42” TV. Trying to get a soundbar but the wife says it will clash with her decor

We do have a 55” or whatever in the basement with surround but the kids have commandeered that for the Xbox so we have the living room setup I mentioned above

That said I probably only go to a handful of movies a year, last year was Dune 2

 

[Gally]

For the last two years I have been going to a small chain theater called The Paragon on Tuesday nights only for $5 tickets on first run movies.

Did you watch Checkmate or Rochelle, Rochelle?

 

[TLEF316]

For the last two years I have been going to a small chain theater called The Paragon on Tuesday nights only for $5 tickets on first run movies.

Did you watch Checkmate or Rochelle, Rochelle?

Sack Lunch

"How'd they get in there??!!"

 

[Gally]

Part of why I don't go to the theater anymore is that out of all these (probably great) films you named that came out in 2023, I've only ever heard of 4 of them.

I was going to say the same thing but thought it was just my lack of movie interest. Figured I would be the only one that was wondering how I never even heard of almost all of these movies.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

For the last two years I have been going to a small chain theater called The Paragon on Tuesday nights only for $5 tickets on first run movies.

Did you watch Checkmate or Rochelle, Rochelle?

Sack Lunch

"How'd they get in there??!!"

You guys are sleeping on Deathblow.

 

[Gally]

For the last two years I have been going to a small chain theater called The Paragon on Tuesday nights only for $5 tickets on first run movies.

Did you watch Checkmate or Rochelle, Rochelle?

Sack Lunch

"How'd they get in there??!!"

You guys are sleeping on Deathblow.

I prefer Prognosis Negative over Deathblow. But if you aren't into the Deathblow type genre you can go with more artsy stuff like Cry, Cry Again or Ponce De Leon.

 

[JAA]

As stated above, studios must cater to a global market, not just American tastes. The Asian market is highly lucrative, and likes a certain style of movie Americans have tired of. Movies will cater to where the money is.

This is the deal.

Waaaaay to much money in global sales to care about enjoyment of the US consumers.

 

[nirad3]

When I was a bachelor I had a nice surround sound setup. HDTVs weren't a thing yet but my TV was about as good as you could get. I liked watching movies at home. Fast forward 15-20 years and we do have the HDTV (can't believe this thing's lasted 11 years) but ditched the sound bar several years ago. I do most of my movie-watching on my iPad with Bose headphones these days.

So with that all in mind I do enjoy the movie theatre experience. Plus I love the popcorn.