Posted on 05/27/2005 5:15:59 AM PDT by Mikmur
Matthew Khalil goes to the movies about once a month, down from five or six times just a few years ago. Mr. Khalil, a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles, prefers instead to watch old movies and canceled television shows on DVD.
He also spends about 10 hours a week with friends playing the video game Halo 2. And he has to study, which means hours on the Internet and reading at least a book a week.
"If I want to watch a movie I can just rent it on DVD," he said. "I want to do things that conform to my time frame, not someone else's."
Like Mr. Khalil, many Americans are changing how they watch movies - especially young people, the most avid moviegoers. For 13 weekends in a row, box-office receipts have been down compared with a year ago, despite the blockbuster opening of the final "Star Wars" movie. And movie executives are unsure whether the trend will end over the important Memorial Day weekend that officially begins the summer season.
Meanwhile, sales of DVD's and other types of new media continue to surge.
With box-office attendance sliding, so far, for the third consecutive year, many in the industry are starting to ask whether the slump is just part of a cyclical swing driven mostly by a crop of weak movies or whether it reflects a much bigger change in the way Americans look to be entertained - a change that will pose serious new challenges to Hollywood.<\b>
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Try jurassic park when the kids see the water glass start shaking as the t-rex walks up.. Sounds like the whole house is comming down.
Yeah, but now pirates are starting to cut into this lucrative area. You just can't stop bright 16 year-olds when it comes to this sort of thing. They just see it as a challenge.
I have to disagree on that. The reason is simple: pirated movies lack surround sound, multiple language soundtracks/subtitling, and all those extra features you usually find on most DVD's. And with DVD's priced at US$20 and under, the incentive for piracy in the USA is actually not that high.
The concession prices are pegged to breaking even on the print rentals. That's why they're so expensive. The highway robbery starts with the salary demands of talent, followed by the producers' cut, then the cost of the distributor and the marketers. This gets passed through to the exhibitor in the rental price. The exhibitor can't stay in business without charging four dollars for popcorn. They have razor thin margins to begin with, and now with the upgrade to stadium seating to keep it interesting vs. at-home theatres, they have to pay for it somehow...
-I'd rather not suffer sticky floors and armrests, cell phones ringing, yakking people, mouth-breathing open-mouth chewing, hat-wearing dolts.-
Oh, I must oppose that and say I love going to the movies. For one thing, the popcorn is special. Must admit, there hasn't been anything great to see in a while.
When I do go, I go after the movie's been out for a about a week or so, always the late afternoon matinee. Stadium seating, last row, no problem :)
It's not a boycott.
It's a cultural shift.
People on average spend 52% MORE time watching movies than they did only five years ago...they're just doing it in places other than the theater.
I'm sure many Freepers mean it when they say they won't put up with, or pay for, Hollyweird product (uh, even as they say they have great home theater units to watch DVDs...which, uh, pay the Hollyweirdos more profit than theater revenues anyway)...but most people don't make the distinction between good, honest, non-offensive entertainment and just stuff to fill up the hours (another way of saying, somewhat empty lives).
I have heard this conversation in the video store many times:
GUY: You wanna rent this?
GIRL: I don't know, is it any good?
GUY: I don't think so. I don't know.
GIRL: Is J-Lo in it?
GUY: Yeah, and some other people.
GIRL: Okay, let's watch it.
Let's see...
Movie Theaters:
1. Noisy adults with cell phones.
2. High ticket prices: $9.50 each.
3. High popcorn prices: $16 for two cokes, popcorn, and one pretzle.
4. Commercials. As many commercials played as watching the same period of time on TV.
5. Noisy kids running up and down theater.
6. People kicking chairs.
7. Screaming toddlers.
8. Munchie line has 2-4 cashiers, but there are 24 stations, just never anyone attending them. 10-15 minute wait and flimsy cardboard carriers.
9. Loud employees talking in hallways or outside open doors.
All told: $35 for a lousy movie watching experience.
So much for the theaters being concerned about the patrons experience.
DVD:
1. $17 on average to buy. Get to keep the movie.
2. Popcorn, cokes, other munchies, about $5. No standing in line, no waiting.
3. No noisy adults or children.
4. Comfy chairs and no one kicking them.
5. No commercials.
6. Movie starts when I want to watch it.
7. Bad movies can be stopped. Long movies can be watched over two nights.
8. No loud employees.
We spent $2,400 on a Sony 57" WEGA HDTV, with an awesome picture. Spent $600 on a sound system, Dolby Digital, THX, all the goodies.
So, $3,000 total, over a 7 year usage (expected lifetime)comes to about $8.50 per movie for that system. Add in the popcorn and movie cost and each movies averages about $30 total. That's a bit under movie theaters prices, but we get a perfect "experience" and we get to keep the movie and use the HDTV for other things. A much better deal.
All of that plus you can pause the movie to take a bathroom break.
And fast forward past the really boring parts. 3 hour movies are usually REALLY slow movers.
What you still go to the movie theater to buy your drinks and popcorn? Surely you can buy drinks and popcorn for under $20.
Movie. The movie is still $17 to buy.
Plus you can enjoy adult beverages at home.
"Plus you can enjoy adult beverages at home."
And another plus. Sometimes a beer and nachos goes well with a movie. We can even have a pizza or tacos or whatever.
Maybe. For me, I refuse to go to the theatre if certain people (Sean Penn, etc) are in it. I wonder if any other people feel the same way.
Overall, you are probably closer to the truth with the 'media shift' thing, though, but I would bet that some of these people's politics affect the bottom line a bit too.
I don't red or rite very good sumdais.
asalrite.
"Cinderella Man" has been getting unbelievable reviews. The IMDB has posts from people who have seen it in preview and one after another have posted ecstatic reviews. I predict people will come out in droves for a movie with a story.
Weze all haves dose dayz downt we?
BTW, movie theater popcorn: Orville makes a Movie Theater popcorn that's real good and they also make a popcorn that has a pouch of butter mix to pour over the popcorn. Great stuff.
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