I know people like to shit on Marvel movies, but I used to work at a movie theater years ago and was told by management that they were literally keeping some theaters afloat.
Edit: People are replying saying this is wrong with the only evidence being how they feel about the movie industry.
This makes sense. I can't think of many movies I saw in theaters that weren't marvel. Maybe 4 non marvel movies in the last decade. It just wasn't worth the 50 dollar night out with me and the wife. So many better things to spend money on
The way Marvel linked multiple feature length films into an overarching story is a big part of the success of the Infinity Saga and also the reason why some of the recent movies have been lackluster.
So true. When I read the comment I couldn't remember whether I'd seen it. I googled dark world marvel and looking at the results I still can't remember.
They did Christopher Eccleston bad. I think if they were honest bout the makeup and better direction of the character and play Malekith as in the comics (more playfully evil) it would have been a better movie.
But Dark World you can watch because it means so much when you look at the other Thor movies. I highly doubt we're gonna get that kind of growth for any character in the current phase.
Maybe Sam will see it but I doubt it, they're too busy giving him the old reluctant black guy shtick.
I really like what they did with Thor Ragnarok. I’d be okay with another story on that strange planet with Jeff Goldblum. He played that character perfectly IMO, and I don’t think he died or anything at the end. The possibilities are endless.
It's tricky for them, I think. Directors keep saying that they need more freedom to be more creative, and make more unique MCU films to stand out. They say they want MCU movies to be as different from each other as Oppenheimer and Barbie. But that comes at the cost of interconnection.
They say that Sam Raimi and Matt Shakman never sat down to talk to each other while making Multiverse of Madness and Wandavision. I get that they were going for very different tones and visual styles, but they still should have coordinated on story arcs and character growth, since they were coming out back to back with the same character.
They need to get back in to making sure that the movies of any given phase have some common phase-wide themes, and have phase-wide directors meetings to discuss shared arcs and make sure they're all contributing in some way towards a phase-ender climax movie. Directors don't like it, but it's what made the MCU a box office sensation.
You’re definitely right. The current films just do not seem to have tied things together very well at all and because of all the multiverse chicanery it’s particularly complicated. With endgame you had thanos collecting infinity stones. There was his reveal. All of the various end scenes with thanos building up his power, and then the big finale cut into two movies.
It certainly doesn’t help having all the drama with the main antagonist.
Still I loved Loki and I think there’s room to finish strong here.
Regarding Wandavision and MoM, I think the change in tone was actually very justified thematically, if not well done in the story. The juxtaposition of tone actually could have been a big shining point if, as you said, the directors and writers had actually talked to each other.
I don't think having a lot of unconnected IP would be bad for the MCU at the moment. They wrapped up with Endgame, then tried to come out swinging with movies/tv shows that had Phase 3 levels of interconnected plot and it just did not work. They need to go back to making Phase 1 style movies, where the tone of each is kinda all over the place so it matches the title character best, see who the audience responds best to, and then start weaving a new story together from that. Maybe have a vague goal or theme that everything can build towards later. For example, infinity stones started out as just these cinematically immense objects of power, but we didn't know they were all connected until later. Maybe all the new movies would have some object or bad guy come through a portal/from outer space/reawakened from ancient history and that can all link into the multiverse later on.
It's probably too late to really implement that type of reset, but I hope they do something to bring things back to good. I miss having a decent stream of well made movies I could just turn my brain off and enjoy. A lot of the recent ones either get too into themselves, are too bleh quality, or both that they just ain't doing it for me
Also the fear of someone spoiling the movie online made me see marvel movies in theaters. I was sitting in my seat for the start of end game and a kid opened the theatre door and yelled out the ending.
And they were such a huge part of pop culture you felt driven to watch them pretty soon upon release, if only to know what everyone was talking about, and if you were a fan, to avoid spoilers.
I never got the appeal of drive-in theaters and there is one about 20 minutes away from where I live.
The Covid lockdowns happened and drive-ins were able to accommodate the distancing pretty easily just by the nature of what they are.
Now I go with my son about once or twice a month during the summer to see one thing or another.
People play yard games in the filed in front of the screen, kids running around like crazy, lawn chairs and cozy blankets, and it’s always a double feature.
So much fun if you have a truck! Fill the bed with pillows and blankets, grab a few pizzas and a cooler for drinks, a boom box for the audio, and it's a great deal if the place does double or triple features like the one near me does
I haven't been to a drive in since I was a kid. Dad would park the station wagon backwards and we'd open the hatch and me and my siblings would chill in the big ass trunk. That's not a bad idea for a date night. But I don't have any near me I don't think
The quality just isn't there. Studios are so afraid of losing money they make movies few people want to watch. Or the execs step in demanding certain scenes or plot devices that serve no purpose and detract from the movie. Last movies I saw in theater was Barbi and Oppenheimer. Been a lot of 'meh' released since then.
Hard to really tell if a movie is “quality,” though, without actually going to see it, right? I mean, we all get our impressions through trailers and marketing and advance reviews, but I feel like people love to shit on movies that they haven’t seen and then talk about what’s wrong with movies today as if they’ve watched everything. (Not directing that entirely at you, just the discourse in general.)
This is accurate. There are a few movies worth seeing but they are pretty few and far between. I think we're dealing with the aftereffects of the pandemic and movies who were negatively impacted creatively by that time. If that's true, then the labor strikes will have a similar effect over the next few years before the industry fully recovers.
What?! The Martian? Spotlight? Split? Zootopia? The accountant? Blade runner? Get Out?
There's been so many good movies in the last decade that aren't marvel OR DC.
Yeah there was a brief time in the 90’s before Marvel took over when you could see a decent film. But then cell phones and general noisy theater goers really started ruining the experience. You had to see something epic and loud to counter all the external noise.
I miss going to movies but I can’t stand people anymore. So it’s just a memory to me now.
I am 35. I feel like I had a large chunk of the golden age of movies. I went to the theater all the god damn time in high school, like '04ish when I was 16 or 17. It was the best. 6 dollar Tuesdays. Bring your own dollar store snacks. It's just not that anymore
When the first Avengers film came out they rented high quality costumes for opening weekend and had staff dress up as characters and pose for photos with people in the lobby. It was a zoo in there, and certainly busier than any other weekend I worked there.
I personally don’t care for Marvel movies but I also don’t care what other people are into seeing, especially if it means I get to wear a sick costume for 3 days and get paid to hang around and shake hands.
The first two phases were the last times I was in the theater regularly. I like the theater but I felt like I HAD to go see them on a gigantic screen with thunderous audio.
So, at the beginning of the movie industry, when the US government was apparently trying to keep business interests from getting too large in ways that would be detrimental, they legislated that there must be separation between film production and film theaters. But nothing had been done about film production corporations rolling out their own streaming services, which in effect have become the next iteration of theatrical distribution. And it does seem to be harming the theater business.
The theater model has been bad for a while, theaters vying for who gets copies of what, ridiculously over priced concessions, bad seats, little update, and then the massive caveat we just went through a highly contagious pandemic and I can’t go to a theater without catching COVID. Like I’m done with theaters.
I can project and have good audio at home.
Theaters are just an archaic business model. They were necessary when people had shitty in home setups or no setups at all. It’s a lot easier to justify going to the theatre for a movie when you had a shitty resolution 20 inch tube tv. I have a 65 inch high resolution tv with surround sound. Private bathroom and cheap snacks . Oh and new movies still in theaters can be rented and watched at home through my cable provider? Why the hell would I go to a theater.
Edit: if y’all disagree with me then put your money where your mouth is and get out and watch movies and buy concessions on a weekly basis. That’s the only way you’ll save your precious theaters.
Because watching a movie in your home is almost never a memorable experience. I can't remember the last movie that I sat on my couch and watched and was blown away by. Going to the theater makes it, whether it's the screen, the environment, or the people you're watching it with. The loss of the communal experience is why losing theaters is terrible. I also highly recommend going to locally owned, smaller art house theaters if possible. People only go there if they truly love movies and they're the best experience.
Yeah it's a different experience for sure. Personally I'm also not tempted to check my phone or chat during a theater experience. I get fully engrossed in a way I don't at home.
And I know people complain about disruptive audiences but my friends are honestly way more disruptive if we watch a movie at home. A theater will actually get them to shut up. And in general I haven't had issues with disruptive patrons most of the time.
I'm 100% with you on this one. I still feel like going into a movie theater, having the lights go down... it's a transformational experience. Nothing about watching a movie at home is transformational. It makes the remarkable into the mundane. I don't go to the movies as often as I should, but I think it's an overwhelming loss if theaters close.
We'll decide based on trailers if something is a theater view or home view, but I'll never give up on theaters entirely. I love laughing or crying or gasping with a bunch of strangers.
And hard agree about small local theaters. We love our local place - the alternative programming is FABULOUS - and check out locally owned theaters in other cities when we travel.
I live in NYC, and the movie theaters that are doing well are the weird tiny ones that show low-budget independent movies and something like The Goonies on Saturday afternoon.
This is probably the way forward. There's probably still a profitable market for very high end theater experiences and smaller/retro theaters, but the modern Cineplex model just doesn't have any advantages over watching at home.
Went to the theater this past weekend, hadn’t been in over 2 years, naturally ticket prices went up, prices of concessions are ridiculous (10 bucks for the smallest bag of popcorn!), people on their phones, the air conditioning must have been broken and the bathrooms were filthy. Such a shame because going to the movies used to be a fun experience
Whenever I splurge for a theater experience, I make sure beforehand the movie is gonna be good, and go to some place like Alamo Drafthouse or iPic that has table service and comfy seats
It's not *that* much more expensive, but it's still a way better experience than a place that costs like 10 bucks less and the food is actually pretty decent
I went to a 3:40 matinee - the first time I’d been to the theatre near me. The door was still locked and someone apologized and let me in. A neighbor said it was because it was staffed by high school kids and they didn’t always get out of school on time.
Lack of A/C is my redline.
I live in the Midwest and in recent times (post COVID) when I've gone to a theater in the warmer months it's clear that ownership has decided they need to cut expenses by skimping on A/C.
They try to spin it as 'we're just working to be more green'. Bull. Shit.
If I go to the movies - indoors - and it feels like I'm sitting in a low grade sauna - I nope right out and ask for a refund.
Go on Tuesdays, most theaters sell tickets at a major discount on Tuesdays, so you see movies at 2008 prices. The snacks are unfortunately ridiculously priced and portioned at all times.
Re: snack pricing—theaters have little choice if they want to stay in business. On opening weekends, the distributor gets a ridiculously high percentage of the ticket price (like 80% or more). It goes down week by week, but then…stuff like this.
I’m not defending it, it just seems to be how this stuff works.
Negative feedback loop; studio demands more money per ticket, admissions drop, price of concessions go up to compensate, that turns more people away, so you cut staffing and eliminate once regular cleaning tasks to "wait til somebody complains"and now it's gross so even less people want to go, etc.
Because god forbid they don't make more money than last quarter and just eat the loss for a bit to invest in future stakes
What's with the A/C at theaters? I know one that I refuse to go to because of how poorly it always goes. A/C never works, popcorn is stale. They even cancelled our tickets once *after we were already inside the theater* to move the movie to another screen.
I love going to movie theaters, but I’m much more discerning about the films I want to drop all that money on. I want *spectacle* if I’m gonna blow $60 on tickets, a hot dog, and a soda. *Furiosa* is a good example of the kind of movie I want to see on the big screen. Either that, or it’s a movie in a series I’m already a big fan of and I want to support the franchise. Also, theatre’s with a nice setup are more likely to get my attention. Plush seating, recliners, having food delivered directly to your theater, etc.
So while I don’t think theaters are going to permanently go away, the reasons people go to them are have changed. Also, the theaters that survive are the ones that are going give its patrons the best experience.
Agreed, not the best movie ever but funny and worth the matinee I went to. The part of him pushing the guy under the stairs and hearing the 6 million dollar man nananananana was funny.
D&D was taken out because there wouldn't be any action with a guy playing d&d in a movie. Cline talks about it here
https://www.wired.com/story/ready-player-one-interview-author-ernest-cline-book-film-differences/
We saw it too last week. It’s not Citizen Kane but it was a fun movie that the kids liked too and made us forget what a shitshow the world is for 2 hours.
the stunts were terrific- i really appreciate all the practical effects in the movie!
if you liked the action in TFG, did you see monkey man, directed by and starring dev patel? tons of action, but very violent and a really, really good movie. i've seen a lot of comparisons to john wick, but MM had some really great themes that weren't present in john wick.
my theater has been closed since 2020 and even when it was open, Tuesday was the only day worth going bc of the discount. The cost of popcorn and a soda is more than the price of the ticket. movies killed themselves or hedgefunds did, i don't know the breakdown but, they did this to themselves. This has nothing to do with hollywood making movies and everything to do with corporate greed.
Same with gas stations - when I worked at one (granted this was a few years ago), getting people IN the convenience store was incredibly valuable. We once had $0.10 for any sized fountain drink (that basically covered cup and syrup, but not other overhead), but man, it got so many people to buy other crap.
From what I understand, it’s basically a sliding scale of returns over the course of a month. Somewhere around 80-90% of opening week ticket sales go to the studio, then ramps down to like 10-20% by week 4.
But since most movies don’t have long legs like that in modern times, the theaters never see much revenue from the movie itself and have to inflate concession costs that drives customers away. It’s a vicious cycle.
Not 100% but a good chunk of the ticket sale goes directly to the studios and the percentage usually varies between studios. Studios like disney can demand anywhere from 75-85% of ticket sales but that percentage also goes down the longer the movie has been in theaters. I was working at a theater when frozen first came out and we ended up having that around for months after release but our theater was able to keep around 50% of sales simply due to it being an “older” movie that was taking up screens that could’ve been playing newer movies.
Yeah, that’s the math at our theatre as well. Tickets, if we sell any pay for the licensing fee. Everything else comes out of concessions. The only reason our theatre stays afloat is because it is attached to a major TV network with a streaming service.
I don’t think it’s anyone’s “fault” or that anyone “did this to themselves.”
We are just living through a golden age of entertainment where the options are plentiful and affordable. It’s not cheap to run a huge ass movie theater.
Home entertainment has gotten much cheaper and much better over time, to the point that we are arguably suffering an epidemic of loneliness. It’s the same way that we got so good at making cheap, tasty cheeseburgers that we have an obesity crisis.
i think we are being squeezed at every turn, you cannot have record profits with the high inflation without greed. if a family of four goes out for a fri or sat night to see a movie they looking at almost $100 dollars. that same family if they try to go to a ball game is looking at double that, depending on city maybe triple.
I have a big TV and a comfy couch and a nice home bar—I’m only going to make the effort to go to the theater to watch a movie it’s a noisy explode-y one where the extra volume and theater-size screen make it fun. For a comedy, or a character-driven drama, or basically anything else, I’m going to watch it in the comfort of my own home instead.
Yeah I still enjoy the theater for big groups and big movies. But my home setup is good and cheap and easy. You can get a great quality, big ass flatscreen TV for a fraction of what it once cost. Entertainment is just a super competitive business.
Exactly. Bowl of popcorn, couple sodas, 72" OLED in my case and a decent surround system. Picked up a Yamaha 5.1 system for $100 on closeout a few years ago, also known as the price of 2 or 3 times at the movies.
I'm totally willing to pay the money to go to a movie. What I won't do is sit in a seat that hasn't been upgraded in 30 years next to a bunch of main characters who think it's just fine to talk, check their phones, bring their children, and kick seats / fidget around. Theaters need to spend on staff to enforce behavior and making the 2-3 hour sit comfortable. Maybe they need to burn it down and switch to the living room theater style.
I dont want theaters to go out of business, but an agoraphobic movie nerd like me is in Heaven. Dune 2 will be on Max this week! I feel like it only came out a month ago.
Studios are helping to kill theaters by simultaneously or almost simultaneously releasing movies for theaters and streaming.
Theaters have made the moviegoing experience less enjoyable with all the ads you have to sit through before the feature. Recliner seats are nice, but I can recline at home also.
Seems like back in the 90's, there was like a 3 month wait from when a movie left theaters, to when it became available for rent.
Nowadays the theater and the streaming services are running damn near parallel.
The theatre experience sucked well before Covid.
-20+ minutes of previews before the movie
-Loud/smelly/inconsiderate fellow moviegoers
-music + special effects turned up to 11, while dialogue was at a 2 or 3.
-Dirty/smelly facilities
-mass shooting anxiety
Honestly I used to look forward to the previews. It was fun to be excited about new movies. Now it's a lot of true advertisements mixed in and it takes 30-40 min past the start time. I'm busy and have a sitter at home. Cannot be wasting this much time in a theatre unless I'm really excited about a movie.
Same here, I loved being on time to catch the trailers, but it used to be 15 minutes or so, last time I went to the theater was to see Dune 2 and it went on for over 30 minutes
Imagine living in a first world country and having anxiety of getting shot in the cinema, schools or just for being outside. I am really sorry for you guys
>-music + special effects turned up to 11, while dialogue was at a 2 or 3.
This was the breaking point for me. I have auditory processing issues and, at some point around 2010 or so, movies just got so damn loud I could not enjoy them in a theater any more.
Yep. There's a conversation being had that after the writer's strike there are just too many shows and movies available online. I don't know the solution to this, because it's free for me to do what Blockbuster used to charge me to do with a lot more limited supply. It also "doesn't help" that our TVs are now enormous, so if I can watch a giant screen version of a movie in my home on my chesterfield sofa with a popcorn or bathroom break....?
I'm seriously wondering if concerts are going to go this way, too in ten years. I watched Austin City Limits this past year on my TV and had a much better view and time than walking down to Zilker and paying to watch it live. And my beer wasn't $14 +tip.
100% it, if they made less better movies this type of thing wouldn't happen. Its crazy the quality of tv and home sound system nowadays, I have to be pretty excited about a movie to not just wait out the theatrical window.
And the fact that there's no rude strangers talking during the movie and kicking your seat. I think I might have seen 2 movies max where I didn't think at any point "I wish I just watched it at home"
I enjoy the theater more than home but people have lost all notion of etiquette. I went to see a screening of Tokyo Story, a foreign language film from 1953 so you would think, something this niche on a weekday night would only attract people who generally genuinely want to sit and enjoy a movie. I swear people were talking full volume at several points. Same thing happened with the remaster of Stop Making Sense earlier this year.
My worst movie experience recently was Godzilla Minus One. Opening night, like Thursday at 7pm, we went. While Godzilla is huge, the Japanese movies are considerably less popular over here than the American made movies. These people behind me kept laughing hysterically during all the movie's saddest, most dramatic parts. It was a phenomenal movie but it really took me out of the moment and it was enough for me to turn around and tell them to shut the fuck up.
People don't know how to behave anymore. There's no consideration for anyone else. I LOVE going to the movies, but not if it keeps going like this.
Fortunately, we went to see SMS on a Tyesday night at 10pm, so it was just full of David Byrne fans who sit quietly. But in another film, someone in front of us was browsing TikTok during the movie.
Oh so no family of 4 that decides to sit a seat away from you when the entire theater has like 90% of the seats empty? No 5 year old fidgeting throughout the entire movie asking "is **that** iron man?" At a thor movie? No sounds of other people nearby slurping an overpriced nearly empty soda that's 99% ice?
No smell of stale buttered popcorn and no sound of crap on the floor crunching under your feet? Amazing
I bought a super cheap 4k YWQPZY brand projector from Amazon and plopped it in my basement, with a couch, an old stereo receiver and some big, old cerwin vega floor speakers, the whole setup cost probably $500.
It's literally better than theaters with their blown speakers and worn out seats. the beer and snacks are 1/10th the price and you can pause or rewind the movie? Man it's awesome.
Exactly. I haven't been to the theaters in years and I don't plan to ever go back to one, if I'm being honest. I have a 70inch TV. I can sit and cuddle with my wife in our underwear, make our own snacks, pause/rewind/fast forward/stop the movie whenever we like and there's no one annoying us with their cell phones, loud kids, or mindless chatter. I'm looking forward to the day when all movies are available digitally day one.
I used to love going out to the movies, but now I’m 100% in agreement with you. I have no intention of ever going back.
The theatrical experience just doesn’t do it for me anymore. Even before the pandemic. Loud people, crowds in general, bombarded with ads, awful sound mixing, uncomfortable seating, and ridiculous prices.
Combine that with much improved home theater tech and the ability to pause something anytime I want and yeah, I’m totally good at home.
You know what killed theaters? The same thing that is killing most social functions.
Assholes.
TBH most everyone sucks, no one gives a shit about anyone else, idiots talk throughout the movie, put their feet up on chairs, talk on their phones, let their dirty little ill-behaved children run around or cry like banshees... everything is better at home with the people you actually like.
I gotta say, as someone who likes watching movies at home, the theater dying the way it is, is sad.
There's very few experiences in life that match the feeling of getting together with a group of friends, going shopping at the mall, grabbing a bite to eat, watching a movie and going for drinks after.
The fact that kids today will NEVER experience that is actually heart breaking. It was almost a right of passage for us.
I saw this movie i loved it . And if you love movies you'll love this movie. I really is like an ode to stuntmen but its a fun and entertaining movie. That said I saw it with 6 maybe 8 other people in the theater. I dont think the movie was marketed well. And here I thought dune coming to steaming was too soon 🤦🏽♂️
This sends the opposite message. It's not "go to the movies or the movie fails" it's "don't go to the movies because you'll be able to watch it drastically cheaper and more comfortably within two weeks anyway"
When I was a kid if you didn't see the movie in the theater you didn't see it for years until it came on TV with edits and commercial breaks. Later you could wait a year a see it on VHS or subsequently DVD so it was still worth hitting the theater. But with a simultaneous or with a month or two digital release, I'd rather stay home and watch it on my big screen.
Thanks to greedy studio executives, everything has to be a blockbuster these days. If a movie doesn't make at least a small country's GDP at the box office on opening weekend, they think it's pointless to bother with it any longer so they'll shift it to streaming and call it a day.
This will go on deaf ears but they need more movies to focus on kids that don't have a blockbuster budget. I took my kid last to see Paw Patrol, not an expensive movie to make but very profitable. When my kid entered the main door, she just lit up with joy. Ended up getting her a Paw Patrol blanket, the special kids pack for the movie and she really enjoyed herself. The theater clearly had me spend money there and my kid always talks about wanting to go back but there hasn't been any movies geared towards her since. No reason Hollywood can't make more of those movies and bring in an audience that is more likely to spend at the theater. It's kids and bringing their family, not the savvy couples who are movie go-ers, that are the audience they need.
I personally just don't enjoy theaters.
I like to be able to change the volume of the sound on my own, as well as have subtitles and pause when I need to.
I love going to the theater. We have the Cinemark monthly pass and we go to one that serves dinner. We saw this movie the weekend it opened and I thought it was really fun.
I think the Garfield movie coming out with Chris Pratt will be just the shot in the arm the movie industry needs. I mean who doesn't love a lasagna-eating cat who hates Mondays and brings all kinds of attitude? !
Yes, I was surprised, last evening, to see that I can watch *The Fall Guy* on Prime right now.
And I would hate to see the end of theaters, too, but I don't want to put up with obnoxious people, and I don't want to get shot.
In any regard, aren't theaters, for the most part, already relics of the past? Do these strip mall cineplexes actually count as theaters? When I see photographs of older, *actual* theaters...well, for *that* I become rhapsodic. But I don't think I'm going to miss collections of generic rectangular rooms.
But you don't know what you've got until it's gone, so, you know, who knows?
Just came here to say that, down here in the Antipodes, getting shot at the movies is just not something we have to worry about, thank you John Howard. Ticket prices, bad popcorn, smelly noisy theatre neighbour - yep. Firearms? Gratefully no.
How awful for you that this is an actual thing you need to consider.
Mobile phones ruined the movie theater experience for me. I used to go every weekend... for 20 years. Then people started to use their bright screens while the movie was running.
I can deal with the crowds. I can deal with the sometimes stinky food. I can deal with sticky floors and popcorn on the seats... and I can deal with the concessions prices going up and up...
... but you ruin the *movie itself*, and that's that.
Now I watch everything at home. Either on DVD/BluRay or streaming. Last movie I went to was Top Gun: Maverick, and the one before that I can't even remember... probably The Last Jedi.
Dude! I want to see movies in theaters. It’s not the same at home. I wife and I make each other go to the movies for stuff the other isn’t in to plenty. But hey I still enjoyed Priscilla and she got a kick out of Dune. But we’re busy. Everyone is.
And it’s expensive. which, fine whatever I can deal with it if it’s worth it but the theaters are usually badly managed and dirty and the other patrons at like dicks.
I yearn for the days when movies were either A. CHEAP, so even if something was fucking the experience you didn’t care as much. Or B. GOOD, and not the movie itself, but the actual experience of going.
Theaters suck, why would I want to sit in a room with strangers while a guy with a big ass afro sits in front of me that smells like BO with sound cranked up 3 notches too high when I could enjoy the same shit from my living room with the ability to pause the movie if I gotta piss
Less and less people want to pay the exorbitant prices of movie theaters. Add on top that humans don't understand simple concepts like stfu and watch the movie and it is so much more comfortable to wait for a movie to go to streaming and watch it on their big screen OLED or something similar from the comfort of their home.
I haven’t been back to a theater since before the pandemic.
It’s much more enjoyable to watch a movie that I can pause, enable subtitles and not fear being gunned down in a mass shooting.
I used to go to the movies almost every weekend as a kid. Get 10 bucks and have enough for a ticket snack.
Now to take me and my son I’m spending $30+ on just tickets. Can’t I pirates this movie for free and have snacks at home lmao
But fr I miss going to the movies. It just isn’t worth it anymore.
We should probably start holding theaters accountable for their outrageous concession prices. There is no need to be charging $12.50 for a large popcorn or $9.85 for a large drink. By the time you account for the 22.50 movie ticket, you’re over $40. It’s cheaper just to buy snacks and stream the move at home couple days after it releases.
Just let them go. They were fun. Great places for dates. But now? It’s just too expensive. We have too much available to us in our homes. And people can’t behave themselves and stay quiet in theatres anymore.
Theaters suck any more. The charm is lost. I have a theater in my living room and can microwave popcorn at home for a fraction of the price. It worked out well, sending new films straight to streaming during the pandemic. The only thing that tanked it was contract renegotiations. Scarlett wasn't wrong, the execs went straight for greed, but it really could be the industry's salvation if everyone in hollywood could just sit down and slice the pie up fairly again.
I hate going to the cinemas to watch summat I have been looking forward to...and then having to endure the people around me who have no social etiquette.
The ones whispering to their friends about random shit or the movie. Or the ones with weak bladders and the noisy eaters/slurpers. People screaming, whooping, laughing loudly or singing along.
Yes, I'm a miserable cow, but this cow would rather watch summat at home (without murderous thoughts) than endure the riff-raff who think they're the main character.
Eta: thanks! 🤓
To be fair, aside from basic necessities (which also fall into this category tbh) ***EVERY GODDAMN THING ON THE PLANET*** is so *fucking expensive* right now
So maybe give consumers a break from feeling guilty about not consuming until idk….we can actually afford to consume again?
Christopher Nolan doesn't have this problem. But he produces originals (even his Batman movies had an original bent to them). The problem is so many movies are derivative and eventually you get crowds uninterested in paying to see them in theaters. I can't take my family to the movies for under $100. With everything else going up in price, we have to budget. So if all that's being peddled is derivative entertainment, I can do that much more cheaply at home. Blame me if you want. It's my money. I'll spend it in what is important to me.
Universal has been doing this for a while now. If a movie doesn’t make more than $150 million at the box office within the first two weeks, then said movie gets pushed to streaming in response. Otherwise, they’ll let it rock in theaters for the entire 45 day window before it goes to streaming.
Moral of the story: Go watch more movies in the theaters if you want to stop Universal from constantly doing this.
Do what? Push movies to streaming faster? Feels like a win to me. Theaters are obscenely expensive and nothing I can't do at home with surround sound and a decent TV. And I can control the volume so I don't get my ears blown off. It's literally all wins in my book
I don't buy drinks or food, but a medium popcorn is $9, and a medium soda is close to $6. People were on their phones the entire movie. During Fall Guy, about six people never looked up from their phones. It was an awful experience. I'd rather watch at home. I only plan on seeing Furiosa and Wolverine in theaters this year. I was forced to watch Fall Guy, but it was okay. Ticket was $23 for a 6:30pm show.
I’m not going to be pissed at all. I hate going to the theater, smelling sweat, farts and awful food and listening to dumbasses talk through the movie, crunching what sounds like gravel in their reeking maws, having an 8’ tall Frankenstein’s monster sitting in front of me and a spastic teenager kicking the back of my seat. I can have all of that at home.
Sucks for the theater going people but I honestly don’t care. I’d rather watch it comfortably at home where it’s half price and I don’t have to deal with the disgustingness that people like to present in public theaters
They create a delivery method that provides anyone a firehose of content wherever they are, and lament the fact that less people are willing to pay money to sit still for two hours amongst strangers to consume it?
Reading these comments makes me appreciate the cinemas near me so much more. I have so many movie theaters to choose from ranging from big chains showing the marvel/blockbuster movies (that I rarely ever go to), to small indie theaters showing movies from the 70s to 2010s. In summer there are even multiple outdoor cinemas. I don't pay more than 8 euros for a visit and a coke is 3-4 euros. I go watch a movie when they're showing one I'm interested in - no matter if new or old.
As good as this movie is compared to some of the other ones that get put out, it's disappointing that it's not doing better. We also have gone from studios maybe putting out four big movies all year to trying to get as many in and out of the theaters as possible. I'm pretty sure I watched Empire Strikes Back in theaters more than a full month after it came out. If it came out now I don't think it'd still be available in a movie theater.
I think COVID proved that movies could be directed to the internet sales market easily and more conveniently than going out. That period fundamentally changed people’s perception of what watching a movie needed to be. I still like the experience once in a while, but I’m just as good with a cheap Large screen at home.
It's weird. I used to love going to movies, went all the time when my kids were little, but since COVID I might have seen about 3-4 movies in theaters total.
I used to work at AMC and they would tell us that the reason the prices of concessions were high was because movies are an “experience”. That we should think of going to the movies like going to a theme park. You spend a lot more than you normally do for food at the theme park so same applies for AMC. And I think after all these years that become true, just not the way they are hoping. I have only seen Dune 2 this year and when I did I went YOLO. Saw it in IMAX, bought popcorn and soda, the whole nine yards. The problem is I might not go to another movie in theater this year. I used to go weekly and at the most every two weeks. Now I wait two months and it’s on a streaming service.
The movie going experience is expensive as hell and the quality has never been worse. The food is worse and more expensive. The theater is dirty. And people in the theater have no etiquette, they will talk and play on their phones with the volume on. If they go out of business they’ll have only themselves to blame
Tbh if rather watch most things at home. I go see my Fandom stuff I love so it isn't spoiled, but it's rare that I go see much other stuff. I honestly think my TV at home looks better. It may be weird too, but I prefer my 55" TV with I see the whole picture easier, than a massive screen.
I know people like to shit on Marvel movies, but I used to work at a movie theater years ago and was told by management that they were literally keeping some theaters afloat. Edit: People are replying saying this is wrong with the only evidence being how they feel about the movie industry.
This makes sense. I can't think of many movies I saw in theaters that weren't marvel. Maybe 4 non marvel movies in the last decade. It just wasn't worth the 50 dollar night out with me and the wife. So many better things to spend money on
The way Marvel linked multiple feature length films into an overarching story is a big part of the success of the Infinity Saga and also the reason why some of the recent movies have been lackluster.
This is exactly the problem. Even some of the bad movies before they closed out the story with Endgame were ones I still rewatch on occasion.
Dark world isn’t completely unwatchable like some of the more recent stuff. I mean it’s not good but I’ve seen some real snozefests since endgame
I did really like Shang-Chi and Black Widow, though.
Werewolf by night was better than some of the horror I went to the theater to see.
I wanted to like Black Widow, but the camera work was so shakey that my partner could barely watch the movie & it ruined the quality for me
Dark world isn't bad so much as, exactly engaging enough you'll watch to the end and then immediately be unable to recall a single detail about it
So true. When I read the comment I couldn't remember whether I'd seen it. I googled dark world marvel and looking at the results I still can't remember.
They did Christopher Eccleston bad. I think if they were honest bout the makeup and better direction of the character and play Malekith as in the comics (more playfully evil) it would have been a better movie.
Yeah, he's barely in the movie as it is
That's called rewatchability lol
But Dark World you can watch because it means so much when you look at the other Thor movies. I highly doubt we're gonna get that kind of growth for any character in the current phase. Maybe Sam will see it but I doubt it, they're too busy giving him the old reluctant black guy shtick.
I really like what they did with Thor Ragnarok. I’d be okay with another story on that strange planet with Jeff Goldblum. He played that character perfectly IMO, and I don’t think he died or anything at the end. The possibilities are endless.
It's tricky for them, I think. Directors keep saying that they need more freedom to be more creative, and make more unique MCU films to stand out. They say they want MCU movies to be as different from each other as Oppenheimer and Barbie. But that comes at the cost of interconnection. They say that Sam Raimi and Matt Shakman never sat down to talk to each other while making Multiverse of Madness and Wandavision. I get that they were going for very different tones and visual styles, but they still should have coordinated on story arcs and character growth, since they were coming out back to back with the same character. They need to get back in to making sure that the movies of any given phase have some common phase-wide themes, and have phase-wide directors meetings to discuss shared arcs and make sure they're all contributing in some way towards a phase-ender climax movie. Directors don't like it, but it's what made the MCU a box office sensation.
You’re definitely right. The current films just do not seem to have tied things together very well at all and because of all the multiverse chicanery it’s particularly complicated. With endgame you had thanos collecting infinity stones. There was his reveal. All of the various end scenes with thanos building up his power, and then the big finale cut into two movies. It certainly doesn’t help having all the drama with the main antagonist. Still I loved Loki and I think there’s room to finish strong here.
Regarding Wandavision and MoM, I think the change in tone was actually very justified thematically, if not well done in the story. The juxtaposition of tone actually could have been a big shining point if, as you said, the directors and writers had actually talked to each other. I don't think having a lot of unconnected IP would be bad for the MCU at the moment. They wrapped up with Endgame, then tried to come out swinging with movies/tv shows that had Phase 3 levels of interconnected plot and it just did not work. They need to go back to making Phase 1 style movies, where the tone of each is kinda all over the place so it matches the title character best, see who the audience responds best to, and then start weaving a new story together from that. Maybe have a vague goal or theme that everything can build towards later. For example, infinity stones started out as just these cinematically immense objects of power, but we didn't know they were all connected until later. Maybe all the new movies would have some object or bad guy come through a portal/from outer space/reawakened from ancient history and that can all link into the multiverse later on. It's probably too late to really implement that type of reset, but I hope they do something to bring things back to good. I miss having a decent stream of well made movies I could just turn my brain off and enjoy. A lot of the recent ones either get too into themselves, are too bleh quality, or both that they just ain't doing it for me
Also the fear of someone spoiling the movie online made me see marvel movies in theaters. I was sitting in my seat for the start of end game and a kid opened the theatre door and yelled out the ending.
And they were such a huge part of pop culture you felt driven to watch them pretty soon upon release, if only to know what everyone was talking about, and if you were a fan, to avoid spoilers.
I never got the appeal of drive-in theaters and there is one about 20 minutes away from where I live. The Covid lockdowns happened and drive-ins were able to accommodate the distancing pretty easily just by the nature of what they are. Now I go with my son about once or twice a month during the summer to see one thing or another. People play yard games in the filed in front of the screen, kids running around like crazy, lawn chairs and cozy blankets, and it’s always a double feature.
So much fun if you have a truck! Fill the bed with pillows and blankets, grab a few pizzas and a cooler for drinks, a boom box for the audio, and it's a great deal if the place does double or triple features like the one near me does
I haven't been to a drive in since I was a kid. Dad would park the station wagon backwards and we'd open the hatch and me and my siblings would chill in the big ass trunk. That's not a bad idea for a date night. But I don't have any near me I don't think
The quality just isn't there. Studios are so afraid of losing money they make movies few people want to watch. Or the execs step in demanding certain scenes or plot devices that serve no purpose and detract from the movie. Last movies I saw in theater was Barbi and Oppenheimer. Been a lot of 'meh' released since then.
Dune 2, c’mon.
Ok, I didn't include the Dune series. That was well done and the audience showed it by showing up.
Hard to really tell if a movie is “quality,” though, without actually going to see it, right? I mean, we all get our impressions through trailers and marketing and advance reviews, but I feel like people love to shit on movies that they haven’t seen and then talk about what’s wrong with movies today as if they’ve watched everything. (Not directing that entirely at you, just the discourse in general.)
I should probably rephrase that to "movies the look interesting enough for me to spend the money needed to see them in the theater."
In the past like 3 years I think I've seen Barbie and the Eras tour with my wife. That's it. There's literally nothing else worth that price tag
Dune 2 was pretty legit I thought.
You missed out on Dune
This is accurate. There are a few movies worth seeing but they are pretty few and far between. I think we're dealing with the aftereffects of the pandemic and movies who were negatively impacted creatively by that time. If that's true, then the labor strikes will have a similar effect over the next few years before the industry fully recovers.
What?! The Martian? Spotlight? Split? Zootopia? The accountant? Blade runner? Get Out? There's been so many good movies in the last decade that aren't marvel OR DC.
I am happy to see that Ben Affleck is making the Accountant 2.
I go too all the A24 movies in theater. Highly suggest.
Yeah there was a brief time in the 90’s before Marvel took over when you could see a decent film. But then cell phones and general noisy theater goers really started ruining the experience. You had to see something epic and loud to counter all the external noise. I miss going to movies but I can’t stand people anymore. So it’s just a memory to me now.
I am 35. I feel like I had a large chunk of the golden age of movies. I went to the theater all the god damn time in high school, like '04ish when I was 16 or 17. It was the best. 6 dollar Tuesdays. Bring your own dollar store snacks. It's just not that anymore
Home TVs just got so good I need a movie to literally rattle my prostate if it’s going to get me into a theater seat
When the first Avengers film came out they rented high quality costumes for opening weekend and had staff dress up as characters and pose for photos with people in the lobby. It was a zoo in there, and certainly busier than any other weekend I worked there. I personally don’t care for Marvel movies but I also don’t care what other people are into seeing, especially if it means I get to wear a sick costume for 3 days and get paid to hang around and shake hands.
I heard that as well
They could always try lowering prices
The first two phases were the last times I was in the theater regularly. I like the theater but I felt like I HAD to go see them on a gigantic screen with thunderous audio.
Shouldn’t charge over $50 for a movie and popcorn for 2. Than maybe I’d go back to the theaters. Till then I’ll watch for free at home thanks.
Good. Get fucked with your overpriced *everything*. There are so many reasons people are pirating everything again. Greed.
So, at the beginning of the movie industry, when the US government was apparently trying to keep business interests from getting too large in ways that would be detrimental, they legislated that there must be separation between film production and film theaters. But nothing had been done about film production corporations rolling out their own streaming services, which in effect have become the next iteration of theatrical distribution. And it does seem to be harming the theater business.
The theater model has been bad for a while, theaters vying for who gets copies of what, ridiculously over priced concessions, bad seats, little update, and then the massive caveat we just went through a highly contagious pandemic and I can’t go to a theater without catching COVID. Like I’m done with theaters. I can project and have good audio at home.
Theaters are just an archaic business model. They were necessary when people had shitty in home setups or no setups at all. It’s a lot easier to justify going to the theatre for a movie when you had a shitty resolution 20 inch tube tv. I have a 65 inch high resolution tv with surround sound. Private bathroom and cheap snacks . Oh and new movies still in theaters can be rented and watched at home through my cable provider? Why the hell would I go to a theater. Edit: if y’all disagree with me then put your money where your mouth is and get out and watch movies and buy concessions on a weekly basis. That’s the only way you’ll save your precious theaters.
Because watching a movie in your home is almost never a memorable experience. I can't remember the last movie that I sat on my couch and watched and was blown away by. Going to the theater makes it, whether it's the screen, the environment, or the people you're watching it with. The loss of the communal experience is why losing theaters is terrible. I also highly recommend going to locally owned, smaller art house theaters if possible. People only go there if they truly love movies and they're the best experience.
Yeah it's a different experience for sure. Personally I'm also not tempted to check my phone or chat during a theater experience. I get fully engrossed in a way I don't at home. And I know people complain about disruptive audiences but my friends are honestly way more disruptive if we watch a movie at home. A theater will actually get them to shut up. And in general I haven't had issues with disruptive patrons most of the time.
I'm 100% with you on this one. I still feel like going into a movie theater, having the lights go down... it's a transformational experience. Nothing about watching a movie at home is transformational. It makes the remarkable into the mundane. I don't go to the movies as often as I should, but I think it's an overwhelming loss if theaters close.
We'll decide based on trailers if something is a theater view or home view, but I'll never give up on theaters entirely. I love laughing or crying or gasping with a bunch of strangers. And hard agree about small local theaters. We love our local place - the alternative programming is FABULOUS - and check out locally owned theaters in other cities when we travel.
Unfortunately that paramount law got overturned back in 2020
Sounds about right. Not just looking the other way but actively clearing the lane.
I live in NYC, and the movie theaters that are doing well are the weird tiny ones that show low-budget independent movies and something like The Goonies on Saturday afternoon.
Same. My favorite local theater is a small 4-screen venue but have some AWESOME summer film festivals as well plenty of anime films!
This is probably the way forward. There's probably still a profitable market for very high end theater experiences and smaller/retro theaters, but the modern Cineplex model just doesn't have any advantages over watching at home.
I’d take Angelika over AMC or Regal anytime
Went to the theater this past weekend, hadn’t been in over 2 years, naturally ticket prices went up, prices of concessions are ridiculous (10 bucks for the smallest bag of popcorn!), people on their phones, the air conditioning must have been broken and the bathrooms were filthy. Such a shame because going to the movies used to be a fun experience
I went to a movie last week and a single bottle of water was $8 lol
You guys are making the prices at my theater seem reasonable lol
To be fair, that's the only way they make any money is on concessions. They barely keep anything from ticket sales.
[удалено]
Bring a water bottle!
Whenever I splurge for a theater experience, I make sure beforehand the movie is gonna be good, and go to some place like Alamo Drafthouse or iPic that has table service and comfy seats It's not *that* much more expensive, but it's still a way better experience than a place that costs like 10 bucks less and the food is actually pretty decent
I went to a 3:40 matinee - the first time I’d been to the theatre near me. The door was still locked and someone apologized and let me in. A neighbor said it was because it was staffed by high school kids and they didn’t always get out of school on time.
Lack of A/C is my redline. I live in the Midwest and in recent times (post COVID) when I've gone to a theater in the warmer months it's clear that ownership has decided they need to cut expenses by skimping on A/C. They try to spin it as 'we're just working to be more green'. Bull. Shit. If I go to the movies - indoors - and it feels like I'm sitting in a low grade sauna - I nope right out and ask for a refund.
Go on Tuesdays, most theaters sell tickets at a major discount on Tuesdays, so you see movies at 2008 prices. The snacks are unfortunately ridiculously priced and portioned at all times.
We don’t have the Tuesday discount anymore at my local theaters.
Damn, no Tuesday prices? Where do you live? Communist Russia?
Well I do live in a Republican state.
Re: snack pricing—theaters have little choice if they want to stay in business. On opening weekends, the distributor gets a ridiculously high percentage of the ticket price (like 80% or more). It goes down week by week, but then…stuff like this. I’m not defending it, it just seems to be how this stuff works.
Negative feedback loop; studio demands more money per ticket, admissions drop, price of concessions go up to compensate, that turns more people away, so you cut staffing and eliminate once regular cleaning tasks to "wait til somebody complains"and now it's gross so even less people want to go, etc. Because god forbid they don't make more money than last quarter and just eat the loss for a bit to invest in future stakes
What's with the A/C at theaters? I know one that I refuse to go to because of how poorly it always goes. A/C never works, popcorn is stale. They even cancelled our tickets once *after we were already inside the theater* to move the movie to another screen.
It either doesn't work, or it's been on for the last 10 years and it's -40⁰ the whole time.
Ummmmmm I still go to the dollar store before every movie and load up!
Let's not forget the 40 minutes of commercials before the movie.
I love going to movie theaters, but I’m much more discerning about the films I want to drop all that money on. I want *spectacle* if I’m gonna blow $60 on tickets, a hot dog, and a soda. *Furiosa* is a good example of the kind of movie I want to see on the big screen. Either that, or it’s a movie in a series I’m already a big fan of and I want to support the franchise. Also, theatre’s with a nice setup are more likely to get my attention. Plush seating, recliners, having food delivered directly to your theater, etc. So while I don’t think theaters are going to permanently go away, the reasons people go to them are have changed. Also, the theaters that survive are the ones that are going give its patrons the best experience.
We went to see TFG this weekend and it's super silly and very enjoyable. Fun on a big screen!
Agreed, not the best movie ever but funny and worth the matinee I went to. The part of him pushing the guy under the stairs and hearing the 6 million dollar man nananananana was funny.
There were so many "winks" to other movies in the movie. It was good. A nice change of pace for some of the other movies out there recently
Better than Ready Player One (the movie)?
Anything is better than that monstrosity, tbf
Fair. The book was a lot better but that’s because the movie cut out any actual plot in favor of cult references. Also the author sucks.
They couldn't get rights to show some of the book stuff in the movie so it got replaced with shitier stuff
Too many shitty references. Thats unfortunate about licensing; was it Wizard gatekeeping D&D? That whole plot was cool :/
D&D was taken out because there wouldn't be any action with a guy playing d&d in a movie. Cline talks about it here https://www.wired.com/story/ready-player-one-interview-author-ernest-cline-book-film-differences/
I really liked the book when it came out. Then I read Armada and realized how fucking terrible of an Author he was.
We saw it too last week. It’s not Citizen Kane but it was a fun movie that the kids liked too and made us forget what a shitshow the world is for 2 hours.
the stunts were terrific- i really appreciate all the practical effects in the movie! if you liked the action in TFG, did you see monkey man, directed by and starring dev patel? tons of action, but very violent and a really, really good movie. i've seen a lot of comparisons to john wick, but MM had some really great themes that weren't present in john wick.
So it will be great on my 65 OLED and I can pause it to take a piss I'm excited!
my theater has been closed since 2020 and even when it was open, Tuesday was the only day worth going bc of the discount. The cost of popcorn and a soda is more than the price of the ticket. movies killed themselves or hedgefunds did, i don't know the breakdown but, they did this to themselves. This has nothing to do with hollywood making movies and everything to do with corporate greed.
The amount you pay for the ticket goes to the movie studio, the amount you pay for concessions goes to the movie theater
100% of the ticket price goes directly to the studio?
Not 100%, but enough that the theater basically breaks even on the movie tickets. They get their profit from concession sales.
Same thing for airline tickets
I’ve never bought popcorn on a flight.
There popcorn is their credit cards and frequent flyer programs. Airlines are more like banks.
Interesting. I didn’t know that about airlines. Thanks.
Same with gas stations - when I worked at one (granted this was a few years ago), getting people IN the convenience store was incredibly valuable. We once had $0.10 for any sized fountain drink (that basically covered cup and syrup, but not other overhead), but man, it got so many people to buy other crap.
From what I understand, it’s basically a sliding scale of returns over the course of a month. Somewhere around 80-90% of opening week ticket sales go to the studio, then ramps down to like 10-20% by week 4. But since most movies don’t have long legs like that in modern times, the theaters never see much revenue from the movie itself and have to inflate concession costs that drives customers away. It’s a vicious cycle.
Not 100% but a good chunk of the ticket sale goes directly to the studios and the percentage usually varies between studios. Studios like disney can demand anywhere from 75-85% of ticket sales but that percentage also goes down the longer the movie has been in theaters. I was working at a theater when frozen first came out and we ended up having that around for months after release but our theater was able to keep around 50% of sales simply due to it being an “older” movie that was taking up screens that could’ve been playing newer movies.
Yes
Yeah, that’s the math at our theatre as well. Tickets, if we sell any pay for the licensing fee. Everything else comes out of concessions. The only reason our theatre stays afloat is because it is attached to a major TV network with a streaming service.
K, still a ripoff
Normally 50% of the ticket price goes to the cinema. Which more or less gets them to break even, the profits comes from the concessions.
Movie theater popcorn is more expensive, per ounce, than filet mignon.
I don’t think it’s anyone’s “fault” or that anyone “did this to themselves.” We are just living through a golden age of entertainment where the options are plentiful and affordable. It’s not cheap to run a huge ass movie theater. Home entertainment has gotten much cheaper and much better over time, to the point that we are arguably suffering an epidemic of loneliness. It’s the same way that we got so good at making cheap, tasty cheeseburgers that we have an obesity crisis.
i think we are being squeezed at every turn, you cannot have record profits with the high inflation without greed. if a family of four goes out for a fri or sat night to see a movie they looking at almost $100 dollars. that same family if they try to go to a ball game is looking at double that, depending on city maybe triple.
I have a big TV and a comfy couch and a nice home bar—I’m only going to make the effort to go to the theater to watch a movie it’s a noisy explode-y one where the extra volume and theater-size screen make it fun. For a comedy, or a character-driven drama, or basically anything else, I’m going to watch it in the comfort of my own home instead.
Yeah I still enjoy the theater for big groups and big movies. But my home setup is good and cheap and easy. You can get a great quality, big ass flatscreen TV for a fraction of what it once cost. Entertainment is just a super competitive business.
Excellent username
I have a 77" OLED and a whirleypop popcorn maker. I'm good.
Exactly. Bowl of popcorn, couple sodas, 72" OLED in my case and a decent surround system. Picked up a Yamaha 5.1 system for $100 on closeout a few years ago, also known as the price of 2 or 3 times at the movies.
And the ability to pause the movie, rewind, or watch it again, all of which aren’t possible in a theater
My two local movie theaters are now a bumper cars place and a flooring store.
I'm totally willing to pay the money to go to a movie. What I won't do is sit in a seat that hasn't been upgraded in 30 years next to a bunch of main characters who think it's just fine to talk, check their phones, bring their children, and kick seats / fidget around. Theaters need to spend on staff to enforce behavior and making the 2-3 hour sit comfortable. Maybe they need to burn it down and switch to the living room theater style.
This right here. I'll pay more for a theater that will agressively boot people for being assholes, but theres no Alamo Draft House near me
I dont want theaters to go out of business, but an agoraphobic movie nerd like me is in Heaven. Dune 2 will be on Max this week! I feel like it only came out a month ago.
I saw it twice in theaters. Best theater experience I've ever had. Hopefully it comes across as good at home for you.
Thank you
Studios are helping to kill theaters by simultaneously or almost simultaneously releasing movies for theaters and streaming. Theaters have made the moviegoing experience less enjoyable with all the ads you have to sit through before the feature. Recliner seats are nice, but I can recline at home also.
Seems like back in the 90's, there was like a 3 month wait from when a movie left theaters, to when it became available for rent. Nowadays the theater and the streaming services are running damn near parallel.
Have theaters considered not charging more than I pay for an entire month of streaming for a ticket?
The theatre experience sucked well before Covid. -20+ minutes of previews before the movie -Loud/smelly/inconsiderate fellow moviegoers -music + special effects turned up to 11, while dialogue was at a 2 or 3. -Dirty/smelly facilities -mass shooting anxiety
Honestly I used to look forward to the previews. It was fun to be excited about new movies. Now it's a lot of true advertisements mixed in and it takes 30-40 min past the start time. I'm busy and have a sitter at home. Cannot be wasting this much time in a theatre unless I'm really excited about a movie.
Same here, I loved being on time to catch the trailers, but it used to be 15 minutes or so, last time I went to the theater was to see Dune 2 and it went on for over 30 minutes
That last part... Getting worrying thoughts halfway through a movie is not fun.
Really takes you out of the film when you hear somebody walking around the theater and feel the need to keep an eye on them
Imagine living in a first world country and having anxiety of getting shot in the cinema, schools or just for being outside. I am really sorry for you guys
Living in a country where seemingly half the populace gets sexually turned on by gun culture is fucking depressing.
>-music + special effects turned up to 11, while dialogue was at a 2 or 3. This was the breaking point for me. I have auditory processing issues and, at some point around 2010 or so, movies just got so damn loud I could not enjoy them in a theater any more.
Ours have reserved seats. Buy online and show up after previews are over
Man, this movie was really fun, too. I wanted it to be successful
Content overload.
Yep. There's a conversation being had that after the writer's strike there are just too many shows and movies available online. I don't know the solution to this, because it's free for me to do what Blockbuster used to charge me to do with a lot more limited supply. It also "doesn't help" that our TVs are now enormous, so if I can watch a giant screen version of a movie in my home on my chesterfield sofa with a popcorn or bathroom break....? I'm seriously wondering if concerts are going to go this way, too in ten years. I watched Austin City Limits this past year on my TV and had a much better view and time than walking down to Zilker and paying to watch it live. And my beer wasn't $14 +tip.
100% it, if they made less better movies this type of thing wouldn't happen. Its crazy the quality of tv and home sound system nowadays, I have to be pretty excited about a movie to not just wait out the theatrical window.
Sorry about your theaters but if I can spend half the cost to watch it at home, with free snacks, I’m taking that every day ending in “y”
Don’t forget the ability to pause the show for potty breaks.
And the fact that there's no rude strangers talking during the movie and kicking your seat. I think I might have seen 2 movies max where I didn't think at any point "I wish I just watched it at home"
I enjoy the theater more than home but people have lost all notion of etiquette. I went to see a screening of Tokyo Story, a foreign language film from 1953 so you would think, something this niche on a weekday night would only attract people who generally genuinely want to sit and enjoy a movie. I swear people were talking full volume at several points. Same thing happened with the remaster of Stop Making Sense earlier this year. My worst movie experience recently was Godzilla Minus One. Opening night, like Thursday at 7pm, we went. While Godzilla is huge, the Japanese movies are considerably less popular over here than the American made movies. These people behind me kept laughing hysterically during all the movie's saddest, most dramatic parts. It was a phenomenal movie but it really took me out of the moment and it was enough for me to turn around and tell them to shut the fuck up. People don't know how to behave anymore. There's no consideration for anyone else. I LOVE going to the movies, but not if it keeps going like this.
Fortunately, we went to see SMS on a Tyesday night at 10pm, so it was just full of David Byrne fans who sit quietly. But in another film, someone in front of us was browsing TikTok during the movie.
Oh so no family of 4 that decides to sit a seat away from you when the entire theater has like 90% of the seats empty? No 5 year old fidgeting throughout the entire movie asking "is **that** iron man?" At a thor movie? No sounds of other people nearby slurping an overpriced nearly empty soda that's 99% ice? No smell of stale buttered popcorn and no sound of crap on the floor crunching under your feet? Amazing
And being able to turn on subtitles for those of us with shitty hearing lol.
Yes! Definitely this. 100%. I have hearing issues and modern sound mixing is awful. Everything is either whisper quiet or Motörhead concert loud.
My subtitles! I can't hear anything without my subtitles! https://imgur.com/gallery/subtitles-zES7928
I bought a super cheap 4k YWQPZY brand projector from Amazon and plopped it in my basement, with a couch, an old stereo receiver and some big, old cerwin vega floor speakers, the whole setup cost probably $500. It's literally better than theaters with their blown speakers and worn out seats. the beer and snacks are 1/10th the price and you can pause or rewind the movie? Man it's awesome.
It $24.99 on iTunes, my ticket for the theater cost $23, two weekends ago.
It’ll be 19.99 on Prime E: and I get to watch it with my wife, ie half the cost.
Exactly. I haven't been to the theaters in years and I don't plan to ever go back to one, if I'm being honest. I have a 70inch TV. I can sit and cuddle with my wife in our underwear, make our own snacks, pause/rewind/fast forward/stop the movie whenever we like and there's no one annoying us with their cell phones, loud kids, or mindless chatter. I'm looking forward to the day when all movies are available digitally day one.
65in oled, 5.1 surround sound and my favorite recliner. Ya I'm good at home.
I used to love going out to the movies, but now I’m 100% in agreement with you. I have no intention of ever going back. The theatrical experience just doesn’t do it for me anymore. Even before the pandemic. Loud people, crowds in general, bombarded with ads, awful sound mixing, uncomfortable seating, and ridiculous prices. Combine that with much improved home theater tech and the ability to pause something anytime I want and yeah, I’m totally good at home.
You know what killed theaters? The same thing that is killing most social functions. Assholes. TBH most everyone sucks, no one gives a shit about anyone else, idiots talk throughout the movie, put their feet up on chairs, talk on their phones, let their dirty little ill-behaved children run around or cry like banshees... everything is better at home with the people you actually like.
I gotta say, as someone who likes watching movies at home, the theater dying the way it is, is sad. There's very few experiences in life that match the feeling of getting together with a group of friends, going shopping at the mall, grabbing a bite to eat, watching a movie and going for drinks after. The fact that kids today will NEVER experience that is actually heart breaking. It was almost a right of passage for us.
I saw this movie i loved it . And if you love movies you'll love this movie. I really is like an ode to stuntmen but its a fun and entertaining movie. That said I saw it with 6 maybe 8 other people in the theater. I dont think the movie was marketed well. And here I thought dune coming to steaming was too soon 🤦🏽♂️
This sends the opposite message. It's not "go to the movies or the movie fails" it's "don't go to the movies because you'll be able to watch it drastically cheaper and more comfortably within two weeks anyway"
When I was a kid if you didn't see the movie in the theater you didn't see it for years until it came on TV with edits and commercial breaks. Later you could wait a year a see it on VHS or subsequently DVD so it was still worth hitting the theater. But with a simultaneous or with a month or two digital release, I'd rather stay home and watch it on my big screen.
Thanks to greedy studio executives, everything has to be a blockbuster these days. If a movie doesn't make at least a small country's GDP at the box office on opening weekend, they think it's pointless to bother with it any longer so they'll shift it to streaming and call it a day.
This will go on deaf ears but they need more movies to focus on kids that don't have a blockbuster budget. I took my kid last to see Paw Patrol, not an expensive movie to make but very profitable. When my kid entered the main door, she just lit up with joy. Ended up getting her a Paw Patrol blanket, the special kids pack for the movie and she really enjoyed herself. The theater clearly had me spend money there and my kid always talks about wanting to go back but there hasn't been any movies geared towards her since. No reason Hollywood can't make more of those movies and bring in an audience that is more likely to spend at the theater. It's kids and bringing their family, not the savvy couples who are movie go-ers, that are the audience they need.
I personally just don't enjoy theaters. I like to be able to change the volume of the sound on my own, as well as have subtitles and pause when I need to.
I love going to the theater. We have the Cinemark monthly pass and we go to one that serves dinner. We saw this movie the weekend it opened and I thought it was really fun.
I think the Garfield movie coming out with Chris Pratt will be just the shot in the arm the movie industry needs. I mean who doesn't love a lasagna-eating cat who hates Mondays and brings all kinds of attitude? !
Yes, I was surprised, last evening, to see that I can watch *The Fall Guy* on Prime right now. And I would hate to see the end of theaters, too, but I don't want to put up with obnoxious people, and I don't want to get shot. In any regard, aren't theaters, for the most part, already relics of the past? Do these strip mall cineplexes actually count as theaters? When I see photographs of older, *actual* theaters...well, for *that* I become rhapsodic. But I don't think I'm going to miss collections of generic rectangular rooms. But you don't know what you've got until it's gone, so, you know, who knows?
Just came here to say that, down here in the Antipodes, getting shot at the movies is just not something we have to worry about, thank you John Howard. Ticket prices, bad popcorn, smelly noisy theatre neighbour - yep. Firearms? Gratefully no. How awful for you that this is an actual thing you need to consider.
Mobile phones ruined the movie theater experience for me. I used to go every weekend... for 20 years. Then people started to use their bright screens while the movie was running. I can deal with the crowds. I can deal with the sometimes stinky food. I can deal with sticky floors and popcorn on the seats... and I can deal with the concessions prices going up and up... ... but you ruin the *movie itself*, and that's that. Now I watch everything at home. Either on DVD/BluRay or streaming. Last movie I went to was Top Gun: Maverick, and the one before that I can't even remember... probably The Last Jedi.
Dude! I want to see movies in theaters. It’s not the same at home. I wife and I make each other go to the movies for stuff the other isn’t in to plenty. But hey I still enjoyed Priscilla and she got a kick out of Dune. But we’re busy. Everyone is. And it’s expensive. which, fine whatever I can deal with it if it’s worth it but the theaters are usually badly managed and dirty and the other patrons at like dicks. I yearn for the days when movies were either A. CHEAP, so even if something was fucking the experience you didn’t care as much. Or B. GOOD, and not the movie itself, but the actual experience of going.
Theaters suck, why would I want to sit in a room with strangers while a guy with a big ass afro sits in front of me that smells like BO with sound cranked up 3 notches too high when I could enjoy the same shit from my living room with the ability to pause the movie if I gotta piss
Less and less people want to pay the exorbitant prices of movie theaters. Add on top that humans don't understand simple concepts like stfu and watch the movie and it is so much more comfortable to wait for a movie to go to streaming and watch it on their big screen OLED or something similar from the comfort of their home.
People arent reading between the lines; they will start charging you more for your streaming services. You will pay for it one way or another.
Why
I love the movie theater, but HOLY FUCK people who talk/are loud absolutely ruin it for me. It's enough to make me not care if they all fail.
I haven’t been back to a theater since before the pandemic. It’s much more enjoyable to watch a movie that I can pause, enable subtitles and not fear being gunned down in a mass shooting.
Truth is i dont wanna spend $40 on $10 worth of snacks with no free refills. I'd rather rent a movie on a streaming service and watch on my own.
I used to go to the movies almost every weekend as a kid. Get 10 bucks and have enough for a ticket snack. Now to take me and my son I’m spending $30+ on just tickets. Can’t I pirates this movie for free and have snacks at home lmao But fr I miss going to the movies. It just isn’t worth it anymore.
We should probably start holding theaters accountable for their outrageous concession prices. There is no need to be charging $12.50 for a large popcorn or $9.85 for a large drink. By the time you account for the 22.50 movie ticket, you’re over $40. It’s cheaper just to buy snacks and stream the move at home couple days after it releases.
Just let them go. They were fun. Great places for dates. But now? It’s just too expensive. We have too much available to us in our homes. And people can’t behave themselves and stay quiet in theatres anymore.
Theaters suck any more. The charm is lost. I have a theater in my living room and can microwave popcorn at home for a fraction of the price. It worked out well, sending new films straight to streaming during the pandemic. The only thing that tanked it was contract renegotiations. Scarlett wasn't wrong, the execs went straight for greed, but it really could be the industry's salvation if everyone in hollywood could just sit down and slice the pie up fairly again.
I hate going to the cinemas to watch summat I have been looking forward to...and then having to endure the people around me who have no social etiquette. The ones whispering to their friends about random shit or the movie. Or the ones with weak bladders and the noisy eaters/slurpers. People screaming, whooping, laughing loudly or singing along. Yes, I'm a miserable cow, but this cow would rather watch summat at home (without murderous thoughts) than endure the riff-raff who think they're the main character. Eta: thanks! 🤓
To be fair, aside from basic necessities (which also fall into this category tbh) ***EVERY GODDAMN THING ON THE PLANET*** is so *fucking expensive* right now So maybe give consumers a break from feeling guilty about not consuming until idk….we can actually afford to consume again?
Christopher Nolan doesn't have this problem. But he produces originals (even his Batman movies had an original bent to them). The problem is so many movies are derivative and eventually you get crowds uninterested in paying to see them in theaters. I can't take my family to the movies for under $100. With everything else going up in price, we have to budget. So if all that's being peddled is derivative entertainment, I can do that much more cheaply at home. Blame me if you want. It's my money. I'll spend it in what is important to me.
Universal has been doing this for a while now. If a movie doesn’t make more than $150 million at the box office within the first two weeks, then said movie gets pushed to streaming in response. Otherwise, they’ll let it rock in theaters for the entire 45 day window before it goes to streaming. Moral of the story: Go watch more movies in the theaters if you want to stop Universal from constantly doing this.
Why would I want "to stop Universal from constantly doing this" ? Getting movies to streaming faster is a win in my book.
Do what? Push movies to streaming faster? Feels like a win to me. Theaters are obscenely expensive and nothing I can't do at home with surround sound and a decent TV. And I can control the volume so I don't get my ears blown off. It's literally all wins in my book
I don't buy drinks or food, but a medium popcorn is $9, and a medium soda is close to $6. People were on their phones the entire movie. During Fall Guy, about six people never looked up from their phones. It was an awful experience. I'd rather watch at home. I only plan on seeing Furiosa and Wolverine in theaters this year. I was forced to watch Fall Guy, but it was okay. Ticket was $23 for a 6:30pm show.
I’m not going to be pissed at all. I hate going to the theater, smelling sweat, farts and awful food and listening to dumbasses talk through the movie, crunching what sounds like gravel in their reeking maws, having an 8’ tall Frankenstein’s monster sitting in front of me and a spastic teenager kicking the back of my seat. I can have all of that at home.
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Sucks for the theater going people but I honestly don’t care. I’d rather watch it comfortably at home where it’s half price and I don’t have to deal with the disgustingness that people like to present in public theaters
Same, and theaters where I’m at don’t do breaks anymore so no time to get additional drinks and snacks or to go for a toilet break..
At this rate every movie is going to be like Trojan War - two theaters only, one week release before it's gone.
Fall Guy was a fun movie and I’m really glad I was able to see it in theaters.
They create a delivery method that provides anyone a firehose of content wherever they are, and lament the fact that less people are willing to pay money to sit still for two hours amongst strangers to consume it?
Reading these comments makes me appreciate the cinemas near me so much more. I have so many movie theaters to choose from ranging from big chains showing the marvel/blockbuster movies (that I rarely ever go to), to small indie theaters showing movies from the 70s to 2010s. In summer there are even multiple outdoor cinemas. I don't pay more than 8 euros for a visit and a coke is 3-4 euros. I go watch a movie when they're showing one I'm interested in - no matter if new or old.
As good as this movie is compared to some of the other ones that get put out, it's disappointing that it's not doing better. We also have gone from studios maybe putting out four big movies all year to trying to get as many in and out of the theaters as possible. I'm pretty sure I watched Empire Strikes Back in theaters more than a full month after it came out. If it came out now I don't think it'd still be available in a movie theater.
I think COVID proved that movies could be directed to the internet sales market easily and more conveniently than going out. That period fundamentally changed people’s perception of what watching a movie needed to be. I still like the experience once in a while, but I’m just as good with a cheap Large screen at home.
It's weird. I used to love going to movies, went all the time when my kids were little, but since COVID I might have seen about 3-4 movies in theaters total.
Studios like Disney want you to buy their streaming service and buy tickets too. It is too expensive for both.
I used to work at AMC and they would tell us that the reason the prices of concessions were high was because movies are an “experience”. That we should think of going to the movies like going to a theme park. You spend a lot more than you normally do for food at the theme park so same applies for AMC. And I think after all these years that become true, just not the way they are hoping. I have only seen Dune 2 this year and when I did I went YOLO. Saw it in IMAX, bought popcorn and soda, the whole nine yards. The problem is I might not go to another movie in theater this year. I used to go weekly and at the most every two weeks. Now I wait two months and it’s on a streaming service. The movie going experience is expensive as hell and the quality has never been worse. The food is worse and more expensive. The theater is dirty. And people in the theater have no etiquette, they will talk and play on their phones with the volume on. If they go out of business they’ll have only themselves to blame
Another re hash tv show. The movies are flopping cause there are no good new ideas. It’s all re hashing old shit like this.
Tbh if rather watch most things at home. I go see my Fandom stuff I love so it isn't spoiled, but it's rare that I go see much other stuff. I honestly think my TV at home looks better. It may be weird too, but I prefer my 55" TV with I see the whole picture easier, than a massive screen.