I'm so tired hearing about this "Box Office Slump", here's why it is!

Once again, they're writing about how the box office is slumping. But these idiots don't have a fricking clue why it's slumping - they need to get their head of of their asses if they ever want to figure out why!

It's real simple. I live in Delaware, not exactly a major metro area and yet I had to pay $9.25 to see a movie (I saw Star Wars again). That's one person to see 1 movie. And if I want popcorn and soda that's an additional $10 I need to shell out. BTW, if you ever see me at the movies I either have a big purse or oversize jacket because I need water to drink during a movie and I'm surely not paying $4.50 for the same water I can buy at the grocery store for 99cents. Hell, they have a soda vending machine in there and they charge $3.50 for what should be a normal $1.25 soda.

Now, instead of playing $20 for Movie, Soda & Popcorn, I can pay that same money for a money rental program with my local online movie store. Hell, all the movies come to DVD probably within a few months of release, so why should I have to pay $20 for one evenging at the movies when I can pay next to nothing and enjoy it on my home TV drinking my cheap water and enjoying healthier snacks. Sure, some movies don't relate well to the TV and maybe, just maybe I'll splurge once in awhile to see them like Star Wars. But I can tell you this, I've not been seeing movies the way I use to back in the late 90s. It's just too expensive and even the matinees are a shorter time period then what they use to be.

So if you're with the movie industry and baffled over why the movies are slumping, maybe you should consider the outrageous prices going on with attending a movie. Hell, I'd pay $10 to see a movie if I could buy my snacks for less than $5.

not the movie ticket price. They make all their money back from renting the film in selling us snacks.

But I agree with you, most of that stuff is too expensive, and poor quality at that.

That reminds me. I need to visit the little art house over by UNC. You can get a glass of wine to take in with you.

I hate going to the movies they are so predictable. Once in a great while a movie will come out which is actually innovative, but it's usually foreign and I have to rent it so I back up and read the subtitles.

On another note in regards to where you live: "Hi. I'm in Delaware."

when I could get a 20-pack at the grocery store for $3.00

Needless to say, if I didn't have a scratchy throat and didn't want to be coughing all through Star Wars, I never would have bought it.

I've had the scratchy throat at the movies and was repulsed at the fact I'd have to pay an exorbitant fee just to drink the water (or use the free water fountain which is teeming with who knows what in germs & bacteria). So after paying the $4.50 I swore I would never ever again go to a movie without a bottle of my own water. I'll wear my Eagles Hoodie Jacket (it's about 3 sizes too big) or carry a really large purse. No one bothers to see what I'm smuggling in. I think as long as it's not fricking obvious the movie folks don't care what you're bringing in

:)

...with the same exact condition that you had. I only have to do that ONCE and you know I'm not letting it happen again!

It has a plasma monitor that's 48" and a speaker system that is better than what you hear in theaters. That's the sort of set up people can get if they want and they'll gladly wait for the movie to come out on DVD.

Last August, I splurged on a 52" DLP television (already had a surround sound system) to play video games & watch movies.. and I haven't been to the movie theatre since. I don't miss 'em.

better movies.

Also, going to the movies is mostly a social thing for me, and here in Minneapolis, I haven't been able to find a regular group of film buffs like I had in Portland.

If I'm going to see a movie alone, I might as well do it in the comfort of my own living room. I have a backlog of about 40 films that I recorded off the movie channels in the days when I subscribed to them, and so far, none of them have had Roman numerals attached to them.

too much wild "video game" type action, with one dimensional characters. We went to see Star Wars and there were about 10 previews -one louder and more violent than the next with all the technological pyrotechnics. What a bore. People are sick of that.
We were in a packed theater and there was a collective sigh when they were over. No way would I want to see even one of them.

I haven't seen a movie in the theaters since January. I miss it, because when I had the money, I'd go EASILY 3-5 times a week with friends.
But now all I can afford is the occasional movie rental. Nowadays, I download movies.

That's like, my dream.

I've been reading that one day they'll have first run pictures available for download, and then no one will go to the theater.

I think that's sad, because I think there is *a lot* to be said for seeing a film with a bunch of strangers....but for selfish reasons I want to see Kingdom of Heaven now dammit! On me own computer screen!

So, I don't think movies will die any time soon, as i know there are others out there like me.

And, we have a 51" big screen TV, a powerful home theater system and, because of some connections overseas, I could obtain - if I wanted - first run movies on DVD within a few weeks of the movie opening in theaters. But, I still insist on seeing them on the big screen. Something different about it.

I think it's the quality of the movies this year that is also hurting... "Kingdom of Heaven" was supposed to be the big pre-Memorial Day summer lead-in like the original "Spider-Man" a few years back (or "Twister" a few years before that...), but it only did okay at the box office.

Popcorn - or any sort of snack - has always been expensive at the movies, even when it was only a couple of bucks to see a new movie in a first run theater. I don't think that is a big change.

What really good big budget movies have been out there this year? Elektra? (a bomb) Sin City? (good movie, but not for everybody) I can't think of much else.

and there's always someone kicking the back of my seat :)
I am a Fuddy-Duddy who likes to watch movies on tv.. I just wait til Showtime or HBO get the, put my jammies on, and hit 'pause' whenever I like..

Far too much of that.

...I can rear back in my La-Z-Boy with a big brewski and bag of my favorite non-PC snack. I can stop the flick when nature calls. And when it turns out to be a piece of shit (as happens often lately), I can pull it and slap in another, or at least not feel as though I was totally ripped off at the theater (just ripped off for the rental fee).

Watched "I (heart) Huckabees" this weekend, and what a pile of steaming horse dookie that was! Had I gone to a theater, I would have been supremely pissed off. But I was out only $4 to rent the turd. We had fun yelling obscene and very funny (to a coupla drunks) things at the TV set as the flop rolled on. Can't do that in a theater, I just have to sit there and fume. Dustin Hoffman should be ashamed.

Also, I can rent flicks that I never would see at my local profit-grab multiplex places. Like this weekend, we also watched "A Love Song for Bobby Long," and it was so damned good we watched it again the next day to pick up on the stuff we missed. It never screened here at all, too "small" a movie.