Aren’t movie theaters in the situation they are because of movie studios? I worked for one for a couple of years, and there’s very strict rules on how many rooms a movie needs to play in, how often, and the studios get most of the ticket sales in the first few weeks. It’s the reason advertising goes hard to get you into the door quickly. It’s also why advertising falls off towards the back end, because it starts benefiting the theater more.
I’ve seen people claim this CEO is speaking for the consumer, and I find that depressing and hilarious.
All of these suggestions benefit studios, kneecap theatres, and would likely lead to higher costs for the consumer as theatres struggle to stay afloat.
End goal for studios is probably for AMC and Regal to fail. This way they can go back to owning their own movie theaters.
If you really want a healthier theater industry:
- break up the large movie studios
- prohibit owning both the content (studios) and the distribution channel (tv and streaming channels, movie theaters)
It’s already prohibited for them to own the movie theaters! And for good reason! It’s just that the US politicians have been too busy enacting fascism to update the law for streaming and TV.
Any other actions are attempts to distract from these two problems.
Also make it 2005 again so people can’t get a 50" widescreen TV for two hundred bucks.
Do people still call them widescreens? Aren’t basically all tvs these days widescreen? Do they still make ones that are square shaped?
Probably? Maybe? Just thought it was worth rolling out the adjective since it was comparing to the before-times. :-)
whats the longer windows that need to be enforced?
The “theatrical window” refers to how long a movie stays exclusively in theaters before it premieres on digital and physical.
Right now, the standard theatrical window is about 45 days before the movie drops on digital platforms (give or take a few weeks), but theaters want longer windows - meaning they want more theatrical exclusivity, a longer gap between the theatrical release date and the digital release date, so they can potentially make more money.
ok its kinda wierd because it sounds like sony is telling the theaters to do longer windows but presumably sony would make that call.
While all these things may help, the whole theater experience kind of just sucks vs home viewing. If it’s not a masterpiece of visual art meant to be experienced at scale (think Dune), then having to travel, being on someone else’s schedule, in a room full of people with widely varied movie etiquette, paying $10 for a box of candy, and sticking to the floor is generally a no go.
People suck. At the most emotional scene in Project Hail Mary, some assholes phone started ringing with a duck quack ringtone, and she didn’t stop it for half a minute, then she walks out of the theater while having a conversation. This is the problem with theatres, not the overpriced sugar products.
And poor projector quality is getting on my nerves.
I haven’t had a noise problem in a long time, but my last two theater visits (both PHM) both had seat kicking incidents.
And yes, I always drive to a theater a town over because of visual quality. I saw Dune with some friends at a local theater, and all the bright desert shots were ruined by wrinkles in the screen.
At this point, I’m probably averaging less than one theater visit per year.
They have been enshittifying theatres since the 90s and wondering why no one wants to go any more.
Went to see the 99-min Mario shillfest, some kid had his bare feet on the little table where they place your food.
And the projector screen wasn’t cleaned.
Theater quality has gone down the fucking tubes.
I picked up a bed bug at the last theater I visited.
Thanks for the new fear.
Scrapping ads and lowering prices would make a difference for me. I don’t go to the theater anymore and a large part of it is because it is insulting to pay prices that high then also have to sit through ads
I also wouldn’t mind previews to be scrapped. I can watch previews whenever I want, but fitting a movie in my schedule when I can’t just look at a real start time on the website is part of the problem.
I look forward to the genuine previews. Its the coke and wirless commercials that strait piss me off. I don’t mind seeing previews of movies i may have interest in.
I noticed this last time I was at a theater too, the giant concessions stand and the multiple soda fountains were not enough of an advertisement apparently. There were also ads for multiple different sodas shown before the movie.
I saw a straight-up depressing ad at my last visit to the theater. A couple of guys are out back of a restaurant talking, and a third guy joins them.
Guy 1: What are you doing with your tax refund?
Guy 2: I’m going to buy some recording equipment and start that podcast I’ve always wanted to!
Guy 1: Nice. I’m putting it back into this truck that I have so I can keep making money making deliveries to restaurants! How about you, [Guy 3]?
Guy 3: [Smiles ruefully, opens his phone to…]
And the ad is for an app that invests your money in crypto currencies. So the ad is shitting on the idea of pursuing your creative dream or owning your own real-world business, and endorsing the idea of taking all your money to the crypto casino.
Fuck. That. Shit.
I guess it depends on how long and how relevant. I find myself just wanting the movie to start, but that could partially be because I just had to sit through ads as well
It’s more a nostalgic thing for me. Movie previews used to be the only way to see new movie previews. You may see cut down versions on tv at the time but full length trailers were rare on tv.
It would help if previews didn’t spoil the movie so often
If we could walk in and just watch a movie that would be amazing. Trailers im a little meh on. I don’t see them ever stopping those.
My partner and I haven’t been to a theater since lockdown, but we decided to see Project Hail Mary. When we saw how much tickets cost — “convenience” fees and popcorn not included — we decided to find a new indie game to play together, instead.
I’m surprised that theaters still exist with prices like that. When people can barely afford the cost of living, why burn so much money on a 2-hour distraction?
I saw Project Hail Mary recently, and while I leveraged my assigned seat to show up at the listed time – even though as a kid I developed the instinct that you need to be at a movie early – I couldn’t quite bring myself to trust the conventional wisdom as to how long the previews and ads would go on after that.
I need to get over it. It was something like 28 minutes, and made the entire experience less fun than it should have been. I’m seeing Dune in the theaters, and maybe the Mandolorian movie if the reviews are decent (I’m still a sucker for Star Wars. Is what it is.). If I get to three in a single year, that will actually be a new high for me in the last 10-20 years.
Everything else is fine at home. We have a pretty big TV and a sound bar, and for all but about 1-3 visual and communal experiences per year, that is all I need. I remember when we were living large with a 32" CRT and stereo speakers that faced forward, so I still feel special watching on a “bigscreen,” and the kids these days (LOL… I’m old) all spend most of their time staring at screens from 5-11", so a movie on the big old TV is already a special treat.
My comment history is littered with this idea, but cinemas are settling into their best use case when they can’t benefit from a captive audience. They are there for big events and film devotees, but everyone who went to the theater because it’s the only place where you could see a movie on a half-decent setup will find other options. It’s not entirely unlike live theater before it, and all the grousing from auteurs will not change it. I’m not even saying they’re wrong, just that they benefited from the fact that they the artform they love had built-in technical and economic advantages that gave them a false idea about how invested the broader audience was in the nuances of their work.
Here I am in love with my 21 and 27" CRT still 😁
I don’t like obnoxiously huge screens in the home. 45" is even too big for a flat screen. I also dont have huge rooms which is part of it.
That was true with older flat screen technology, but newer tech doesn’t have as big of an issue with larger screens closer to the viewer. The smaller the pixels, the less of an issue it is.
Makes sense.
I’d get an oled. Because they are as close to CRT as you can get. But I’m not paying those prices !
Defender on genesis through component into my CRT = you’re in the arcade.
Oh, no doubt CRTs are the gold standard for retro gaming.
There is a device that exists that will add a filter to the video output to make it look like it’s on a CRT, although at $100 it’s been sitting in my cart for years.
I also saw Hail Mary at a local AMC and had the same experience. 25 minutes of previews, $25 for a small popcorn and drink, 25 people in the theatre, 25 lights on the ceiling, 25% battery life on my phone. Would rate the whole experience 25/100.
I’m not even all that picky. Two or three trailers and a couple of ads, I get it. The butts are in the seat and it’s pollyannaish to assume the suits won’t leverage that. Sometimes I even see a trailer for an interesting-looking movie that I didn’t know was in the pipeline. It’s just such a beatdown the longer it goes, and by that I mean the literal time commitment, yes, but also the sense of the social contract being violated, the tonal whiplash, and the clear diminishing returns on picking their audience demographics.
“Whaaaaa theaters are so expensive nooowww! It costs so much for popcorn and drink-”
Bring your own.
Are you people idiots? Just bring your own snacks, it’s that simple. Every time people complain about theater pricing, they are always including the cost of concessions. Just don’t buy them.
Most theaters do not give a single fuck if you bring in outside food, as long as you’re not obnoxious about it. And for those theaters that claim to care, I guarantee you the people checking tickets are not paid enough to give a shit.
Last time we went to the theaters, it cost $30. That’s it. We brought in massive burritos and drinks from a local Mexican restaurant and enjoyed ourselves. Don’t bring loud, smelly, or messy food and there s literally zero problem.
Meanwhile here in the Netherlands smaller cinemas stopped selling food in general, and instead have a bar (often serving pizza) and don’t allow cooked food into the screening itself and somehow cinemas are packed.
We brought in massive burritos and drinks from a local Mexican restaurant and enjoyed ourselves. Don’t bring loud, smelly, or messy food and there s literally zero problem.
Pick one, LOL.
Theaters need better seating as well. Most of the regular theaters around here have hard wooden backs or barely padded seating. I can’t sit in those for long without going home with back pain. I’ve had better seats riding in coach on an airplane.
I only go to the expensive theaters now because they have nice padded recliners so I can actually sit through a movie without pain. Since it’s so expensive, I only go to a few movies a year.
It is all pissing in the wind to me.
I have absolutely no reason to see a movie in the theater anymore. I don’t see anyway for theaters to change that.
I get all the technical experience I want at home and I see the movie entirely on my own schedule.
Scrap ads… Sony need to add 15 minutes of more previews!
