Just thinking about how I've only been to two movies so far this year and felt like ranting about why. 
There are a few reasons, and I have a feeling I'm not alone on this based on similar feelings elsehwere online:
1. Poorly behaved viewers. I'm finding it to be increasingly the case that people are physically and/or mentally incapable of sitting quietly and still for the two hours of entertainment they've paid to see. It used to be just little kids at family releases, but people of all ages are guilty of this now. Talking, using their phones, you name it, they do it. There's little regard for the fact that others have paid to watch the movie too and may be interested in doing just that. New technology has only magnified these destractions.
2. Too many commercials. Long, long gone are the days of shorts, cartoons and serials. In their place are the same ads you get on TV (ones not even about movies) and a long parade of 5 minute, spoiler-heavy trailers. The only good this has is that if you arrive even 20 minutes late, you know you'll miss nothing.
3. Poor value for money, the biggest offender of all. Paying $12-$18 to get in to see the movie once when just buying the Blu-ray would cost $20? $4 for a bottle of water or $8 for a hot dog? Even if you get discount tickets (which even AAA/CAA sells, which I didn't know about until recently), you still get screwed with food. I can easily see why after all that and parking it would cost a family a four over $100 to go see a movie. I guess that's why chains push membership/point cards.
4. Closing gap in quality. Back around 2000 Roger Ebert questioned why anyone would pay to see a movie in a similar quality as their TVs at home could show? With 4K TVs on the way, this is shortly happening. Even today the difference in screen size between most HDTVs and 4K theatre projector, makes it hard for the eye to see any difference. When I went to see Iron Man 3 I thought the projection was dim and too soft in focus. It would not surprise me to hear that most theatres do not do an adequate job at maintaining their equipment. Now IMAX can't be done at home, or it's 3D variant, but most movies do not get released in such screens, or if they do they're not really shot in that format (or even for their entire run time). I'll save the issue surrounding Hollywood's push to kill physical home video formats for another time.
The best movie going experience I've had in recent years was seeing an Anniversary screening of An American Werewolf in London at a cult theatre, in 35mm with a special trailer selection and pre-show skit. The audience there was there to see the movie and all had a good time. I'd love to one day see How the West Was Won in Cinerama, or movies like Hello, Dolly!, Around the World in 80 Days or Ben-Hur in 70mm, but these are specialty cases and do not change my view that the traditional movie going experience has declined over the last several years, and that's not even getting into the debate about the quality of said movies as works of storytelling.
Well that was a long rant, lol. Anyone else here feel this way?
There are a few reasons, and I have a feeling I'm not alone on this based on similar feelings elsehwere online:1. Poorly behaved viewers. I'm finding it to be increasingly the case that people are physically and/or mentally incapable of sitting quietly and still for the two hours of entertainment they've paid to see. It used to be just little kids at family releases, but people of all ages are guilty of this now. Talking, using their phones, you name it, they do it. There's little regard for the fact that others have paid to watch the movie too and may be interested in doing just that. New technology has only magnified these destractions.
2. Too many commercials. Long, long gone are the days of shorts, cartoons and serials. In their place are the same ads you get on TV (ones not even about movies) and a long parade of 5 minute, spoiler-heavy trailers. The only good this has is that if you arrive even 20 minutes late, you know you'll miss nothing.
3. Poor value for money, the biggest offender of all. Paying $12-$18 to get in to see the movie once when just buying the Blu-ray would cost $20? $4 for a bottle of water or $8 for a hot dog? Even if you get discount tickets (which even AAA/CAA sells, which I didn't know about until recently), you still get screwed with food. I can easily see why after all that and parking it would cost a family a four over $100 to go see a movie. I guess that's why chains push membership/point cards.
4. Closing gap in quality. Back around 2000 Roger Ebert questioned why anyone would pay to see a movie in a similar quality as their TVs at home could show? With 4K TVs on the way, this is shortly happening. Even today the difference in screen size between most HDTVs and 4K theatre projector, makes it hard for the eye to see any difference. When I went to see Iron Man 3 I thought the projection was dim and too soft in focus. It would not surprise me to hear that most theatres do not do an adequate job at maintaining their equipment. Now IMAX can't be done at home, or it's 3D variant, but most movies do not get released in such screens, or if they do they're not really shot in that format (or even for their entire run time). I'll save the issue surrounding Hollywood's push to kill physical home video formats for another time.
The best movie going experience I've had in recent years was seeing an Anniversary screening of An American Werewolf in London at a cult theatre, in 35mm with a special trailer selection and pre-show skit. The audience there was there to see the movie and all had a good time. I'd love to one day see How the West Was Won in Cinerama, or movies like Hello, Dolly!, Around the World in 80 Days or Ben-Hur in 70mm, but these are specialty cases and do not change my view that the traditional movie going experience has declined over the last several years, and that's not even getting into the debate about the quality of said movies as works of storytelling.
Well that was a long rant, lol. Anyone else here feel this way?
