CP: Might the decline in attendance be a sign that we as audiences are finally voting with our pocketbooks against the kind of dismal product that’s being put in front of us?
Thomson: Undoubtedly, yeah. Take a concrete example: While a lot of people think that Revenge of the Sith is a quite distinct improvement on [the two previous Star Wars episodes], it’s still not very good. It has been going on for too long that these films–which we know are costing the earth, and which we’re having to pay a portion of the earth to see–get hyped and reviewed and talked about and yet we know they’re not very good. You talk to people time and again and you find that they’re coming away from movies disappointed. Now, there are a lot of good things to come out of that. People are spending more time looking at old movies on DVD–and I think that’s good because it leads to a sense of the wonders in our [film] library. On the other hand, the more you acquaint yourself with older films, the more shocking the decline appears.
Jaws attacked intelligent filmmaking? Huh? Is that some latte-sipping, beret-wearing, arthouse intellectual meme that I’m blissfully unaware of? Yeah, all those comedies and westerns and historicals from the 50s and 60s sure were the epitome of fine art, bursting with insight into the human condition…
Also, what is that “costing the earth” and “pay a portion of the earth” stuff all about? Did Thompson just smoke too much pot in his hippie days, or do these statements have a non-crazy interpretation?
Jaws attacked intelligent filmmaking? Huh? Is that some latte-sipping, beret-wearing, arthouse intellectual meme that I’m blissfully unaware of? Yeah, all those comedies and westerns and historicals from the 50s and 60s sure were the epitome of fine art, bursting with insight into the human condition…[/quote]
Kind of a pretentious phrase, yeah, but Jaws is usually cited as the first summer blockbuster and the beginning of that tradition.
Also, what is that “costing the earth” and “pay a portion of the earth” stuff all about? Did Thompson just smoke too much pot in his hippie days, or do these statements have a non-crazy interpretation?
I read it as “costing a lot.” No more weird than “cost an arm and a leg.”
So did I. I expect his argument to devolve into listing all the trees that were slaughtered to print, like, tickets for the film showings. And the horse hooves to make Dots. Stuff like that.
I don’t really see the decline in quality as being the primary issue. There’s just a lot of things to do these days, many of which are a lot more convenient than going to the theater.
And now that people with a widescreen HDTV and a progressive scan DVD player can see movies to a level of quality that is far beyond what was possible in the home 10 years ago…well it’s just going to get worse and worse for theater chains regardless of the quality of the offerings.
Well after actually reading the article all I can say is that apparently the movies suck because we, as a society, are a bunch of assholes who send people to Gitmo.
The one thing that is wrecking attendance at movies is the people who go to see movies. The drunks, the talkers, the kids dropped off for some cheap babysitting; I would LOVE to be able to go to the movies, but anymore it’s the single most infuriating thing that I can do. One person can ruin a movie for fifty people, and increasingly there are at least one of those people at every movie.
even though I do have a decent DVD collection at home, I always go to the theaters to watch flicks. I go at least once a week and sometimes during the big months (summer, winter holiday season), I might hit two flicks in a weekend. The audience is by far the only thing that ruins the experience, and I often wonder if the ability to watch so easily at home is the root of the problem. People go to the theater and behave like they’re in their own house, so now I often find myself trying to go to the less popular showtimes (6pm, 8pm, 10:40pm for example) just to try and get a slightly thinner crowd.
Most of the time I can tune a lot of static out, but some people literally will not stop talking for the entire duration of a film. Human beings can’t string together 2 straight hours of interesting thoughts, especially if they’re the type of human beings who would attempt it in a movie theater. I don’t know what the solution is, though. I think it would help to make sure roving packs of 12 year olds weren’t in rated R theaters, but that wont stop the majority of the disruptions in big time releases.
The crowds in Miami were the worst (have lived in NJ, upstate NY, NYC, Nashville, and Miami). They would literally just talk on the phone the entire time. Couples would just sit down and chat for an hour and a half, not watch a single frame of the film, and just leave when they were finished conversing even if there was still 30 minutes of flick to go. It was downright unreal. The only movie that shut them up in my 2.5 years down there was the Matrix, and they actually didn’t shut up until Trinity did her first pause in midair during the opening fights. And honestly, after that, it was an awesome crowd to see a film with. There’s nothing better than 200 people sitting awestruck from a movie, which is part of the reason why I love going to the theater so much.
