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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Topic: Skipping the movie theater altogether?
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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"
Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 11-15-2010 01:06 PM
so basically what i'm saying is "from where i sit" it's usually not worth the trouble.
let's face it -- did i *really* need to see "social network" at the movies? (did i need to see it at all?)
years ago i would've said "go see it as the director intended" but today, you might be able to do that at home depending on your setup -- and, nowadays, most of these directors don't really have much to say and i don't hold them in the same high regard as directors from the bygone era.
now, this isn't to say that i don't honor the director's intention when i'm showing a movie (as a projectionist)... but as a consumer, i have a right to my own opinion...and (most of) today's movies/directors just don't do it for me anymore.
those of you who still "feel the magic" -- more power to you. wish i was feelin' it too.
L.A. prices may not be "average" but when you live there (or N.Y.) who cares what the "average" ticket price is? if anything, it should only make them angrier that they're paying about double the "average" price for the same movie. (and let's not even talk about 3D surcharges.)
given those prices, can't you see my point? would you honestly pay $16 (plus surcharges and/or concession) to go to the movies? or would you suddenly be a little more discriminating? and what if i told you it might take an hour each way, door-to-door? would it still be worth it?
rhetorical questions -- i'm confident you'll answer whichever way helps you prove YOUR point.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-15-2010 06:43 PM
There are numerous differences between the movie industry of 30 years ago and the movie industry today. The differences already make it difficult or impossible to bring back the classic single screen movie palace experience. I worry those differences may eventually do widespread harm to American's entertainment industry.
30 years ago movie theaters had much of the market to themselves. Back then it could take years for a movie to go from theatrical release to debuting on premium cable and even longer to show up on broadcast TV (cut to ribbons of course). Depending on the theaters in your city or town you might have had to wait weeks or months before a certain movie arrived.
Obviously we don't have to wait anywhere near as long for a movie to show up on home video today. The DVD and Blu-ray formats have far better image and sound quality. Due to Redbox and similar services those movies can be rented at very cheap rates. Download/VOD services from Netflix, AppleTV, Sony's Playstation store and others make it possible to rent without moving that big butt off the couch. The theater still has its exclusive "window," but that window is as little as 3 or 4 months now.
Americans also have only so much time they can devote to leisure activities. Yet we have so many more choices now than we did 30 years ago.
The movie industry and movie theaters in particular have more competition. One of the things concerning me most is the business philosophy running underneath Hollywood studios and the giant media companies who own them. Entertainment "content" is being treated more and more like a commodity such as oil or wheat where it's all just the same. Instead of each movie or TV show being its own individual creation it's all turning into, uh, corn.
Customers have a legitimate gripe about all the sequels, remakes, remakes of TV shows and all the other derivative content being pushed into movie theaters. This season it seems the top two event titles (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I and Tron: Legacy) are sequels. I think one reason Avatar did so well at the box office is because it wasn't a sequel or remake (but sequels will be derived from it). I also wonder if the same "holy crap, this is a new movie" factor played a part in critics falling all over themselves to praise The Social Network. I liked The Social Network, but it wasn't the greatest movie I've seen in years -the way some critics put it.
Broadcast and cable TV is suffering from the same problem. How many damned installments of CSI and Law & Order do we need? Producers and various business people LOVE unscripted "reality TV" since such shows don't require many professional actors and writers to make. Maybe they took the Seinfeld idea of "shows about nothing" a little too literally. I don't like any of that crap.
All in all, the current boring nature of the entertainment industry (TV, movies, music, etc.) is making it so much easier for me to spend more times doing other things like working out and doing other activities away from the couch.
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John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-16-2010 06:43 PM
Bobby, you have hit the nail squarely on the head. The old argument about theatrical presentation being a "night out" and a chance to get out of the house doesn't cut it anymore. Witness the decline in movie attendance over the past decade. That's the real number, not "grosses". It's all about fannies in the seats, and there are less and less of them all the time.
I believe that people are finding out that the best (and most economical) way to view entertainment is to stay home. I used to be a season ticket holder for pro football games. Got tired of the travel, the rude people who went there, and the ever escalating ticket prices. Found out that the best seat in the house is now at home in front of my HDTV.
Sadly, I think the same thing is happening in our industry, and the suits on the west coast are too damned dumb to admit to it, so they will get their pound of flesh by shortening the video window. I fear exhibitors are in for a rough ride, and a number of them will not survive. Meanwhile, NATO, just like Nero, keeps playing that fiddle.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-16-2010 10:49 PM
Dammit. When I think I have proof-read and edited my posts properly I still find stupid grammatical errors in them anyway. Check out the doosy at the end of the 3rd sentence of my last post in this thread. Horrible!
I digress.
Yes, I agree, exhibitors may be in for a tough ride (as if they're not already dealing with enough crap now: in/out of bankruptcy, converting to "digital," dealing with shrinking windows with video release, unruly customers, cellular phones, crying babies, fluids of some sort left behind on the seats, etc.).
Fundamentally, I still believe there can be no movie industry without movie theaters to show the shows. It's a frame of reference not lost on the public. A movie that doesn't play in theaters is only and only ever will be a made for TV movie. It isn't a real movie. Plain and simple. Most people don't care about made for TV movies. The movie has to have been booked in real movie theaters to qualify as a real movie. That separates it from all the dozens upon dozens of straight to video/cable shit titles that seem to be released every week.
Movies made for TV have to be repackaged into something bigger (like a mini-series with uncut action on premium cable) to make audiences take any kind of notice at all. Spartacus: Blood & Sand on Showtime is damned near porn, and even it doesn't upstage most Hollywood fare on Blu-ray product shelves in stores.
I have talked about this subject casually with co-workers and certain friends here in Lawton, OK. Nearly all have zero clue what they will be losing in an all home video based entertainment paradigm. It will be SHIT. Production budgets will collapse and the quality of "content" will plummet from the levels the industry is already struggling to maintain.
Between what the movie industry is doing to ruin itself and how Internet download video streaming could totally ruin the business models of 90% of all local broadcast TV stations we all probably ought to bone up on our video game playing skills. The way things are going those damned XBoxes or Playstations could end up being the only ways people get their news, weather and entertainment. It's a scary scenario. But possible.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 11-16-2010 11:23 PM
Ultimately, if the movie distributors undermine the movie theaters then they will completely undermine the business model that makes it possible for them to produce major, big budget movies.
No movie studio anywhere is going to spend $100 million, $200 million or more on a 2 hour movie made to show only on TV. The big "tent pole" titles so much of the public loves in the summer and holiday season will be no more in a model where all movies debut on home video.
Sure, the "artsy fartsy" indie loving crowd might like this. At first. Unfortunately the big spectacle titles are the thing which draws people into the theaters and provides the industry the opportunity to sell them on all the ancillary, lesser titles (which includes some level of indie fare).
Without movie theaters, TV networks and their limited number of available time slots would represent the next best outlet for new "content." I've already gone over why TV is dealing with its own business model problems. DVR time shifting and Internet download streaming are negating the ad revenue business models to allow networks to save the movie industry and preserve the big budget release model.
If the theaters go, so much more of it will go. The losses will bleed into video store shelves, cable/TV networks and more. It's really scary that it sounds so overly simplistic, but the situation seems pretty damned clear. It's a sort of domino theory. Yet the movie distributors are doing zero to prevent the catastrophe from happening.
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