My theory about why the box office is in a slump

Its the damned commercials.

Why the hell do I want to pay $10 for a ticket and $15 for a bag of stale popcorn and a watered down soda in order to sit down and watch commercials?

Why should I pay for the privelage of commercials?

So more people feel this way and in order to make up for the slower sales, they put in more commercials.

It's a vicious never ending circle.

And now they're on DVD's.

and the $10 for popcorn and soda. Not to mention, the commercials piss me off. Of course, I still get pissed off that we have commercials now on cable. ooohhh, the good old days. :sigh:

:shrug:

eight bucks for a matinee? that could buy me 64 packs of ramen noodles, or approximately 12 billion bananas.

last time I checked anyway. Matinees are about $5-6. Frankly, it's been years since I've gone to the theatre. Netflix, $20 bucks a month, 15 movies a month if you watch them fast enough.

it's 10 bucks for regular price in the District (DC). :( We're gonna do Netflix I think.

I bring my own snacks and drinks

is people are much ruder than they used to be.

I don't want to pay $ 20 to go to a movie and have people talking all around me the whole movie. It bugs me.

When did people stop learning that you aren't supposed to chat during the film?

that they've forgotten/never learned the etiquette of watching a film as part of a communual group.

I blew my top once at some friends while we were watching a video at home because they talked over the movie constantly. It went something like :
Me:"Have you seen this movie before?"
Friend:"No"
Me:"So why are you totally ignoring it and talking over the dialog?"
Friend:"Was I?"
Me:"Only since the starting credits"
Friend:"Sorry"
Then spent the rest of the movie glaring at them until they clammed up for the rest of the film.

To this day, when s/o tells me they've seen a film, I wonder if they've just sat and yakked inanely for two hours and ignored everything on screen.

I can't stand the theater chit-chat. And turn off the damned phone!!!

A few years back,I had a nightmare of a first date. My date and I went to a movie, and she wouldn't-shut-up! I couldn't wait to get out of there and get to drink!

That and the sticky seats, but I would have put up with them except for the frickin commercials.

Oh! Those movies!


People are so poor (How poor are they?) their socks have holes in them. :rofl:

:spank:
I was talking about spilled drinks, bon-bons, "golden-flavored" popcorn topping (whatever the heck that is), etc. :rofl:

around L.A. at least. It certainly ain't butter, and I don't think it's even margarine. God knows . . .

:rofl:

I think there's only been two I actually wanted to see this year, and I've already forgotten them.

I do think its kind of funny the way they whine on about box office revenues. As if we're supposed to care how much money a megacorp makes. Make some good movies, then we'll throw our money at you.

Syrianna and Good Night, Good luck. They are already on my list. :)

at least 15 years ago. That itself was not what stopped me going to the movies, but it was always infuriating. I see ads everywhere else I go. :(

of a baby boomer:

We don't want to go to the movies and see something we watched on television forty years ago (e.g., "Bewitched", "The Beverly Hillbillies"). The last movie Hubby and I went to was "Good Night, and Good Luck", which was the first theatrical flick we've seen in about three years. (Excellent, excellent movie, BTW.)

Is there such a dearth of talented writers in Hollywood that all anybody can come up with are remakes of classic television shows?

Reduce the risk (make reruns of previously popular plays, movies, or TV series).

Lower the cost (make reruns of previously popular plays, movies, or TV series).

Leverage advertizing $ (make reruns of previously popular plays, movies, or TV series).

Later, Rinse, Repeat.

that's causing it to bleed money!

They're losing an entire demographic of the movie-watching public here. Nobody under the age of 60 wants to see a remake of "Scooby-Doo" (give me a break!) :puke:

Now, "The Producers" with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick I'd DEFINITELY like to take in . . . :)

We want to see original, intelligent, mature, plot-driven stories - not the movie equivalent of junk food.

When you can see the DVD in a couple of months?

King Kong, etc. The second parts and the bad remakes of old movies turned me off 5 yrs ago. I do not even rent or buy DVD's anymore. In the last 3 years I have only seen in the Movies The Bourne Identity I and II, Fahrenheit 911 and Syriana. I am planing on watching Munich.

the next one.

We paid $9.50 each for the tickets - so $19 total. Add in the $25 for the baby sitter and then we got a small popcorn - $5, and two waters, $7 for both and we are over $50 for the night.

I actually LIKE the previews so I'm not too irritated by "commercials" but those were unintelligible because of all of the people talking and catcalling. Then throughout the movie there were people talking, getting up to get past us constantly, a baby crying (!) and then the reel inexplicably stopped midway through so we had a 10 minute break while they got the reel reconfigured.

It's been a long time since we went to the movies (especially since we signed up for Netflix), and I can tell you that other than Brokeback Mountain (where I am fairly sure we'll have a more respectful audience sharing the theatre), I can't imagine going back.

A crappy experience for a lot of money.

No more for us.

That's pretty bad.

as compensation for our lousy experience as we walked out the door. And it expired by December 31! Like I'll even have time to go see another film before New Years!

Uh, no thanks.

I'm not coming back to that chain. I'll go to the indie art house up the street where Brokeback is playing if I go see another film over the next month.

With the real popular movies, if you don't get there before the commercials, then you get a rotten seat. So, I just wait for the movies to come to tape. The turn around on most movies is very fast these days. Also, many movies play for a week and then are gone before anyone can see them, so I have just given up going to the movies.

I think it's because people are living more closely paycheck to paycheck. A family of 4 might spend 50 dollars or more to go to a movie, or they can rent a DVD and make popcorn and Kool-Aid for a total of about 5 bucks.

Although I agree with you that the commercials are frustrating to sit though.

i don't mind previews even though those really are commercials as well. And i'm sick to death of sitting through "The 20" which is nothing but pure shit from NBC.

ignored. :(

instant gratification and empty spectacle, and subconciously Americans recognize that movies like that suck.

Just a theory.

Especially ones like Syriana or Brokeback that make statements or challenge us (meaning Americans) as a society.

I actually don't mind subsidizing those kinds of movies and the people who make them because I want them to keep making these kinds of movies. In fact, I consciously choose where and how I spend my movie dollars to ensure I DO put my money where my mouth is....

But, in my mind, it's not so much the movies per se, as it is the movie theatres - the experience of going to the theatre is the pits! I don't see any more good or bad movies out there than any other time, it's just that the whole audience/theatre issues turn me off.

..although those things are annoyances. It's more the competition from home-based entertainments. Home theater equipment now gives people the opportunity to experience movies with theater-like pictures and sound. Video games are now as much of a visual treat as movies and provide a higher level of immersion. To a great extent, movies here cannot compete with those things.

I'm like anyone else, I admire great sound when applied properly.
But Jesus Christ, from the time the lights go down they are blasting you with a high decibel assault.
If the movie has lot's of special effects, and whiz-bang shit, you can actually leave with a headache.

It's all the same thing anyway.

Corporate movie chains build these 20 theater mega-crapolis shit boxes, that show the same tired crap on five screens at the same time.

How many times is Steve Martin going to make the same freaking movie anyway?

Going to movie used to be an event.
It used to be something special.
The ornate theaters that used to have a single screen were magnificent.
I remember some in New York City that were like cathedrals.

Now it's like going to the freaking mall or McDonald's.

America.
Garbage in and garbage out.

Cheaper by the dozen part 2 indeed.

It's all garbage.

'specially when you can wait a coupla of months, get the DVD for ~ $16 (or rent it for $3), watch it in the comfort of your living room, no sticky floors and fresh hot popcorn.

commercial for a TV show?

Or, for that matter, what's the difference between Star Wars episode 1 and a commercial for action figures? Or King Kong and a commercial for a video game?

Why do people so carefully circumscribe the kinds of commercials they're willing to endure in such a commercial environment? Iit's all a commercial.

But I actually enjoy the previews. I really do. They ramp up my enthusiasm for movies and help me decide which ones I'll rent on DVD when they come out.

:D

either. I'll respect a creative attempt to sell me something. It's not like I'd ever go out of my way to watch commercials and I like to think that I'm a critical viewer not suckered by shallow attempts to appeal to my worst instincts. But I appreciate a good effort.

A movie trailer gives me notice (and a brief preview)
of something I have never seen, and may not have been aware
even existed- a new movie.

This provides a real service to me as a "movie consumer", in 2 ways:

1: I am made aware of a new, limited-time opportunity:
the opportunity to view a new film in a theatre.

2: I get to view the best 90 seconds of said movie,
which influences (HELPS) me to make my choice:
to pay $50 next week to view the other 188 minutes in a theatre setting...
OR to wait and watch it at home for $3.99 on PPV...
Or to pay NOTHING because it fails to interest me.

I am not a wealthy man; 50 dollars is a NOTICABLE expense to me.
Choosing between $50, $3.99, or ZERO is a big financial decision for me,
and the "trailers" help me make that decision.

A "Diet Coke" commercial does NEITHER of those things.

And that is kinda where the intangible LINE gets drawn,
at least in my mind.

If you make a 'commercial' which INFORMS me of something NEW,
that is "advertising", and it HELPS the consumer (ME).

But if you make commercials simply to repeat the name of a product
which EVERYONE is already aware of, since birth,
THAT is 'attempted brainwashing'.

I already know that Diet Coke exists.
Fer CHRISSAKE, EVERYONE knows that Diet Coke exists!!!
As you read this, some Amazonian fisherman who has never
even SEEN a Caucasian is fishing from a small raft made of Diet Coke cans...

Do ya see what I am saying, 1932?

you saw the trailer?

It's all a commercial of varying degrees.

Many of the pre-movie commercials I see are for TV shows. If you go to movies, you'd probably be interested in tv shows, right? So is that a problem?

Also, all the revenue from movie adverts go to the theater, which helps them operate. Most movies aren't in theaters for more than a couple weeks. In the early weeks of a release, the distributor gets most of the revenue, so it's rarer for a theater to have a hit which lasts long enough for the theater to get most of the revenue. Now, if you don't want to see your local theaters close, or if you'd like to see them hold down ticket prices, you might be happy to see them make money from advertisements.

And if you don't want to watch the advertisements, then just do what you'd do if there weren't advertisements: talk to your friends.

I Hate Them.

Especially the recruiting ads.

am totally uninterested in seeing commercials. The only thing I want is for idiots to turn off their freakin' phones!!

First and foremost, Hollywood is completely out of ideas. Instead of stories, they rely on special effects. Instead of coming up with something a little different, they rehash TV shows that were bad enough on the small screen. They sequel us to death.

Honestly, I rented the last Star Wars and watching it felt like doing penance.

Second, people are getting hammered by gasoline and home heating prices. There really isn't much money left over for theater tickets, so they all to to somebody's house and sit around watching rented DVDs, instead. The popcorn is fresher and cheaper and people who want to yack on the phone can leave the room and not miss much.

Third, the average multiplex has become a pretty hostile place to sit and watch a movie. The screen is small, they compensate for shitty acoustics by blasting the sound, and too many moviegoers don't know the difference between behaving in public and letting it all hang out at home.

Even the dating crowd is staying closer to home these days, or hitting a neighborhood bar, or doing something that doesn't involve shelling out $9.00 for bad art while they stick to the floor and some idiot on a cell phone describes every scene of the movie at top volume for another idiot at the other end.

effects and gimkery. Plot would be nice for a starter.

...proportionate to the additional increase in overhead for more than a decade. The thing is that no one would go see a movie if it cost $15+ a ticket. So, for a while they just ate profit loss (I know, waaaah! My heart bleeds for corporate interests.), and then they tried raising consession prices. Now, they've decided to offset their loss with the irritating commercial barrage. I'm most impressed at how offensive the military recruitment commercials are before children's features. Got to make a living at someone else's expense, right?

I can deal with previews. They give me time to get settled in my seat, go to the bathroom, and/or casually break out the food I bring in. They also let me know about movies that I might want to see, which I wouldn't otherwise know about.

I also don't mind paying for a good experience. However, it just isn't worth any amount of money to sit through snarky ass teenagers, crying babies (whose presence at R-rated movies is highly questionable in the first place), and idiots that can't bother to step into the hall to answer their cell phone.

Some people act the same at movie theaters as they do watching movies at home. Even the best movie with no previews can be ruined by thoughtless people in the audience.

It's a waste of time and money, especially for a family. Wait until it comes out on DVD and rent it for 8 bucks and pop your own popcorn.

And yea, nobody wants to pay $20+ to go to the movies and watch commercials. It's an insult to think that these fucking companies are so good that I'll pay to watch their shitty ass commericlas.

But we still don't go to that many movies, because there just aren't that many good movies. I can wait for lesser movies to come out on DVD, and rent it by mail.

With DVD players at $40 and great looking TVs and sound systems at home, who cares anymore? There are maybe 2 or 3 movies a year that I'd even venture out to a theatre. I'd like to see King Kong in the theatre, but not much else these daze...

Go see it, what a magnificent tribute to the original. I've been to three movies this year, that was a must see, & definitely worth it. The other "must see" was "Hitchhiker's Guide".



Keith’s Barbeque Central

I stopped after the commercials started, and then the practice of seeing how few people can run a 24 megaplex, without cleaning the auditoriums, bathrooms, and seeing how surly and rude the people working there can be.

The pay per view on the cable system is three bucks, and if you really like it you can buy it, for alot less than the 25 bucks a visit will cost you.

just as good as DVD. Some of the 2004 runs are available free on demand, while pay per view is about $3.99 a view.

and not by artists.

We saw the remake of King Kong (it was a good 90-minute movie in a 3-hour package), down the hall from where
the remake of "Yours, Mine and Ours" was playing, next-door to the sequel to the "modernized" "Cheaper by the Dozen",
which will be replaced today with the remake of "Fun With Dick and Jane" and saw a trailer for the movie version
of the TV show "Miami Vice" (which I never watched).

So, my choices are not just whether to watch in the theatre or on DVD, it's whether to watch a crummy remake in the theatre
or the original at home on my big-screen TV.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see the Producers.








(edited for typos)

...a range of movie-going experiences.

I can remember going to the drive-in with my parents.

I can remember heading to historic venues that sat hundreds of people, closer in style to an opera house or stage theater than contemporary designs.

I remember when the idea of two or more screens under one roof was a novelty and when the cinema design began to move into the modern and post-modern styles.

And I can remember when going to see a movie was an event. It was something special. People hushed up when the lights dropped and seemed more conscientious of the fact that others were investing their time and resources into attending the show.

The present day equivalent is no longer a quality experience. The audiences are rude, the sound dicey, the concessions overpriced and you have to weave through some nondescript warren of stadium-seat nooks just to get to the cubicle where your picture is playing.

And that says nothing of the poor selection coming out of Hollywood lately, too.

One of the reasons arthouse screens are so great is because the people are there specifically to pay attention to the movie.

Why would I want to sit in a crowded theatre with noisy people, commercials and other nuisances and pay WAY more money to see it than I could rent it for at home. I can pause it whenever I want, eat my own better, cheaper food, have no interruptions and fast forward thorugh commercials/promos. It's a no brainer.

I don't even have to go to the movie store....I use Netflix. No late fees and watch the movies whenever I feel like it.

Why the hell would ANYONE in their right mind go through
the hassle of parking, standing in line and paying
ridiculous amounts of money for popcorn and carbonated
sugar water just to sit among strangers while being
assaulted with 30 minutes of advertisements and
trailers when with patience, you can rent the
film a few months later, fast forward through the
trailers and enjoy a nice glass of wine while nestled
comfortably at home?

BHN

Better movies, great previews, no ads, REAL buttered popcorn in sane quantities, hot cider if you want it, no kids (hey, I love kids, but not in grownup movies), and a couple bucks cheaper.

I still don't go as often as I do a Netflix night, though. It's nearly impossible to find a teenager to babysit these days. They aren't as money-hungry as I was as a teen, whose occasional $5 allowance bought nada. Apparently their parents buy them everything, so they don't need money so much...

the movie starts. Luckily, this season we kept getting free preview tickets - so I skipped both payment and commercials. The last preview gave us complimentary free tickets to anything, so we saw Harry Potter.
Otherwise, I can wait a few months for the DVD/HBO showing (they come faster and faster now)
Ah, and one more tip: go to the movie with a backpack filled with goodies (especially if with kids) that you purchased at a regular price from a much wider choice in advance.

It's about the people. The majority of people that I have encountered at theaters(and in life, in general) are completely rude and inconsiderate. So even a good movie is ruined by some jackass talking on his phone, punk kids throwing food, or crying baby because the parents don't want to pony up for a sitter or at least have the courtesy to remove the kid.