Cinematical

I used to be able to take my girlfriend out for $10 to see a cool flick. But now...

Tell me now, what's more motivating, downloading a movie for free and NOT SPEND $20 for some MOVIES, jesus christ. Screw that.

It's not even that, even though I can download movies ***I still rent.***

Heck no for the $20 for a movie. Not worth it. Too expensive to do that every weekend on top of everything else I pay for and have to spend money on.

What's worse is that prices are only rising more and more, still. Even when less people go prices are rising keeping even more people away.

And theatre food... that stuff is about $5 for popcorn $4 for a medium drink, and if my girlfriend wants a bottle of water it's $3.

So the entire theatre experience is about $35, I'd rather go to a nice resteraunt.

Screw that. Blockbuster just got my business for life. ;)

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Hmm... As a person who used to see two or three films a weekend (circa 2002), there are three main reasons.

1) a lack of anything I must see and can't wait for. Sin City--everyone's telling me it's good--but not so good I can't wait for DVD.

2 and 3 are specific to my area. I moved back to the Chicago area from Oregon and theaters here feature lots of commercials and lots of annoying teenagers who talk through the damn movie. I know the ads are showing up everywhere, but maybe the rude, overprivileged white kids aren't...

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my large-screen hi-def television and a 5-dvd at a time netflix account has me sitting at home watching the criterion collection and obscure japanese anime more often than not, i'm afraid.

i tend to go to the cinema to see the big spectacle film, or a film like "lost in translation" which i absolutely wanted to see on the big screen because of the incredible tokyo visuals in the film.

if i had to make a judgment on my own decreasing visits to the cinema, it would be that home-theater technology has overcome some of the "wow" effect of going to the movies (especially when most movies just don't "wow").

cel

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I think the simple problem is that the movies are exceptionally below par this year. Cinderella Man? For Movie-people it looked like usual Ron Howard Oscar courting hooey, for non-movie people it looked boring. Mr and Mrs Smith? Not bad, but certainly not a water cooler Monday morning gross 250 million kinda movie, too pedastrian for that.

Stephen King wrote a perceptve column for EW a few months back that stated that movie stars aren't nearly as important as Hollywood myth makes them out to be. Last summer's films were huge because they were largely and shockingly good. For once the franchises offered their best game. Harry Potter 3 was, at times, damn close to early Spielberg, Bourne Supremacy was better than the first installment, and Spiderman 2 was kinetic, involving and cheesy in the good, nostalgic way. Let's not forget the overrated but extremely profitable Shrek 2, and the stylish Tom Cruise thriller Collateral. So far, the best mainstream films this year are Sin City, and that was flawed, and way too violent to be a huge hit and Batman Begins, which suffers from a similar dollars paralyzing darkness.

For once maybe the people are rebelling against the crap that Hollywood routinely serves them, or maybe they are just too preoccupied by five dollar DVDs at Wal-Mart. Either way, here's hoping that this kicks off another of those 1970s or early 1990s cinema rebellions that spawns the movies we love and remember.

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Primarily it's the fact that I work all day and have two young kids (4 and 1) and a wife I'd rather spend time with in the evenings and weekends. When the kids are older I'll probably start going again.

I also am content to watch DVDs for now. I have a portable player I use on the train to watch movies during the 45-60 commute each way.

--Chris

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The cost of tickets is one of the main factors. If the movie is lousy, I feel that I was ripped off of my hard earned money. I would much rather wait for the DVD version to come out (which is faster and faster these days) and watch it in the comfortable confines of my home. I can even have a cold beer with my popcorn and go right to bed when I finished.

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As another former sometimes multi-movie weekendgoer, I must say that the amount of "must see" films definitely affect how much I go to the theater. Additionally, we recently purchased a 57" television and that makes the whole home theater thing an even bigger factor. Netflix makes my life easier, and I can cruise through about 6-10 movies a month without even trying. My TiVo catches pretty much anything I haven't seen already, based on my selections, and I hit the movies when I absolutely have to see something, like Return of the Sith.

Otherwise, while I'm not quite at an NYC scale of waiting on lines, the theater nearest to me isn't exactly easy to get in and out of - the prices seem to go up $.25 every six months, making it a $30 trip if we only get sodas and tickets. Then, I'm dealing with the people behind me actually talking on their cellphone, let alone letting it ring - and every twelve year-old has one nowadays - making it a non-fun experience. I'd just as soon wait six months and watch something in my living room, frankly.

When I find myself not saying "who greenlighted this again?" over and over, I'll go back to the movies. Until then, I'll wait.

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I also used to go to the movies all the time, and generally enjoyed the experience. Now I will not go see a movie unless its a tuesday night or saturday morning due to crowds. I hate paying 9 bucks a ticket and having to battle some fat guy for the arm rest. Don't get me started on the food; my wife has what we call our 'movie purse' where we can stuff snacks and drinks to avoid signing over our firstborn child for popcorn that gives you a headache.

It may sound strange, but the previews used to be one of my favorite parts of the experience, but due to 5 or 6 COMMERCIALS before the trailers, and all the shitty music and cutting edge artists we are subjected to, I just can't take it anymore. Russel Crowe also ruins it....

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I'm going less because it costs so much more. Two tickets, popcorn, a soda and some Jordan Almonds costs $40 where I live.

Plus, I can rent a DVD and watch in complete comfort in my home.

However, in defense of going to the theatre, since I can't afford a home theatre system, there is nothing like the full-effect of sound and imagery that you get at the movie house!

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The primary reason for me was having a now 7-month-old son. Sure I could have a sitter watch him, but it's just not worth it to me. Instead I opted to "bring the theater home" and install a nice TV, surround-sound, etc. That with HBO/Showtime/Movie Channel/OnDemand and a Netflix account and I'm satisfied. Seriously, the only reason I miss the theater now is not seeing the movies early so I can discuss them with friends who've also seen the movie. It sucks having to tell people to shut up and not give away spoilers for months until the DVD comes out.

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There just aren't that many good movies being made--seriously. I see the ones I'm truly psyched about and ignore the rest.

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The reason we don't see movies in the theater anymore is because we have a toddler.

Although tomorrow we are going to see the new Batman movie at Reel Moms

http://www.bloggingbaby.com/entry/4586148726182359/

It's usually for kids under one, but if we don't go to a kids showing, I won't be able to see it on the big screen. This is one of those movies that you just have to see in the theater.

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With the big Hollywood moguls constantly on the wrong side of all political issues. It is obvious we god loving Christians do not choose to support their bad conduct. If the producers, directors and stars would just keep their politics to themselves, we might come back to the theaters.

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I'm going to call them the three Ps:

1) Prices. See everyone else's comments.

2) People. Have people always been this obnoxious in movie theatres? Cell phones are a problem, of course. But even more worrisome are the people who bring their completely disinterested young children to R-rated shows at 10pm and then let them roam free in the theatre. Eventually I suppose the price of a movie ticket will surpass that of a babysitter and the latter issue will go away.

3) Previews. I'm one of those people who enjoy previews, but everybody has limits. I could tolerate up to four previews, but nowadays six is more common, plus two or three straight advertisements. Advertisements? Before the movie I just paid twenty bucks to see? Give me a break.

Last year my income and the price of projection televisions finally converged and now my home experience surpasses the cinema experience in all but two ways: sound and timing. I haven't bought a set of home theatre speakers yet, partly for budgetary reasons and partly because of logistics (small living room), and of course I would prefer to see movies when they come out instead of a few weeks later. The former is a problem easily ignored, as while surround sound is a wonderful thing, not having it doesn't really detract from most movies. The latter is a problem that's rapidly extinguishing itself as theatre release dates and DVD releases get closer and closer; eventually I believe they'll be simultaneous. Until then, for 95% of movies I don't mind waiting a few months for them to come out on DVD.

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Two years ago, we went three times a month. Now, it is once every two months.
1. MPAA's uncompromising stance and their approach to piracy. I have bought a number of DVD's I cannot watch on my home theater because of copy protection. We decided to boycott.
2. Hollywood's liberal politics and morals cause us to avoid many of the movies produced, directed, and acted by a number of individuals such as Sean Penn, Babs, Whoopi, et. al. We decided to avoid those movies including Spielberg's because we feel Hollywood is leeching us for political gain.
3. Movies are more intent upon commercialism as opposed to creativity. Some independent flicks and TV shows are the last bastions of hope.

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Why go to the theater to watch 15 minutes worth of ads (that you're essentially paying to see) and inflated ticket prices when you can easily watch from the comfort of your own home?

There really has been no innovation in the theater industry to warrant a 'trip to the movies' when the experience is the same (if not better) from the comfort of your own home on a high-end plasma/lcd, surround sound, etc.

The movie industry itself will most likely blame pirating, other forms of multimedia like gaming, etc. for the decline in box-office revenues when they really have only themselves to blame. DVD is a billion dollar+ business for the studios - even more so than VHS ever was - so a decline in box office was inevitable and will most likely continue to decline as DVD sales continue to cannablize ticket sales. The announcement of the Star Wars movies shown in 3D is the type of innovation that the theater owners and studios need to consider to help differentiate the theater vs. at home movie experience. It probably wouldn't hurt to implement a cell phone jammer in every theater as well b/c I don't know how many times someone talking on their cell phone behind me has drove me nuts.

Did I mention how much I HATE the ads? This is another case of the movie industry getting too greedy as usual and thinking that consumers would be fine sitting in a theater paying for commercials for 10-15 minutes. Unbelievable.

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Pain-in-the-ass fellow theater patrons, I stopped going to the theaters more than 15 years ago because those times I actually went to the movies to see the the film I would miss half of jokes because of loud-ass people.

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I agree with Jordan Running; I have my own three P's:

1) Price
2) Price
3) Price

Ticket prices have gone over my line, and hollywood seems to be out of original ideas. Dukes of Hazard? Come on. I've even heard of an A-Team movie in the works. Gag.

I went and saw Star Wars 3, and a bucket of pop-corn and a soda was almost $13!! Forget that. These companies are getting too greedy and trying to take us for too much of a ride. I have bills to pay, thanks - I'll wait for DVD.

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It's all the crappy films and the heinously overblown prices that we have to pay to see them. Lately, I've been finding myself anticipating very few movies and those films are the only ones that I actually go out to see. I don't go to see a movie just to see how it is anymore because I see it as a waste of money. I'd rather spend that money on a film that I WANT to see and probably WILL enjoy and then buy the DVD when it comes out.

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1. I do not enjoy paying $25.00 for tickets and snacks for my wife and I, only to sit through commercials for 10 minutes before the previews (I have always like previews, however). Why do I pay to sit throught commercials?
2. The marketing driven movies created today simply do not appeal to me. The same formulaic, poorly acted, overproduced movies with horendous dialogue simply bore me. I like a good action movies (Kingdom of Heaven was well made and wuite good) but they have become so dumb due to marketing for the masses that I can not handle it.
3. Combine the previous two with ringing cell phones, jerks who answer their cell phones and people who bring 4 year olds to pg-13 and r rated movies after 9 pm and you get my total dissastisfaction with movies today.

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