I read this rather interesting article about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas saying that the movie industry will change soon. This is a pretty interesting part of the article:
“We’re talking Lincoln and Red Tails – we barely got them into theaters. You’re talking about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can’t get their movie into a theater,” Lucas said. “I got more people into Lincoln than you got into Red Tails,” Spielberg joked.
They are also talking about movies being more expensive, comparing them to a broadway piece, and running for longer periods. I must admit, I wouldn’t mind that business model instead. There’s few movies these days that doesn’t just cater to lowest common denominator (New Star Wars, Transformers and the like) and if we can get rid of the crap,I would be immensely pleased.
Its also interesting to note that they mention Cable as the new adventurous area instead and I think they are right. Look at shows like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and stuff like that, and we are going towards exciting times in my opinion instead of just cop shows.
I don’t think Lucas’ predictions are remotely close to what will happen and I hope their internal monologue involves them admitting that their films aren’t that great and maybe that has something to do with it (Lincoln was mostly solid but cheesy and while I never saw the entire red tails, I saw a ten minute clip or so they released and it sucked).
I guess having enough $250 million films flopping could crash the industry, but I don’t know if that will happen. I don’t know how many $250 million non-sequels not based on comics get made (s’up John Carter and Battleship), but I feel like studios are like gambling addicts. The promise of a fairly big payoff make extra risk worth it.
I feel like we will get very safe $250 million projects that are totally bland like Iron Man 3 and riskier stuff for $100 million… Which used to be a lot but I feel like that is the baseline for action movies or semi fx driven flicks. And we will continue to devour them quickly and forget them. Movies in theaters for a year is nuts with the home setups people have.
That last sentence to me is the most important point: the wide-screen HD television experience IS the new theatre. I think that more and more people are saying “fuck it” to going and paying $10+ each to sit in a noisy theatre with dipshits who won’t turn their cellphones off, bad acoustics and expensive crappy food, when they know that there’s very good programming all over cable TV that they can watch on their 60" TV at home ON DEMAND, eating their own much better food, and adjusting their own environment to suit them. Plus you can get all those movies from the movie theatre within a very short period of time anyway.
The adjustment that will happen, I suspect, is that movies will be made with cable in mind more and more. Movie theatres are unsustainable, but if producers and directors still want to make movies, they will aim them at the television venue for release. We might see a drop in movies for that reason, but I don’t think that is a bad thing. In fact, hopefully it will lead to more good work being turned into extended but limited length work, like Campion’s Top of the Lake (which ended up sucking, but that’s the model I’d like to see pursued).
Yes, yes, yes and fucking yes. I haven’t been to a movie in the theater in five or six years, simply because other people invariably ruin it. I’m with Voltaire on this one.
I dunno, most people are I think rather gregarious and enjoy the movie experience - it’s like the beach. Whoopin’ and hollerin’ together at the good bits in movies is good fun.
Also, there’s something special about the size of a movie screen, the dominance, the all-encompassing nature of it.
So I doubt going to the movies will die as a thing, just find its own level as one among many options.
My wife and I used to go to movies constantly. Every Saturday we would go to a matinee. It was affordable and just a nice excuse to be out together for a few hours (grab some lunch, see a movie, go home happy). In Omaha several years ago we could see a movie and each have a soda for ~$20. It led to us seeing some truly terrible movies, but given how cheap they were and being in good company, the bad movies were as enjoyable as the good ones most of the time. A bad movie or an annoying crowd didn’t feel like a waste of money.
Now that we live in LA and it would cost us $35+ to see a movie and buy a soda to share, we just don’t bother. If the movie sucks or the audience is loud, it actually pisses me off that I wasted that much money. Instead our Saturday dates involve going for a walk, stopping off at one of the many places around here to eat, and then watching something on Netflix.
We went to see all the LoTR, Spiderman, the first Iron Man, and The Dark Knight at Midnight showings. Compare it to now where we didn’t see the Spiderman reboot, The Avengers or Dark Knight Rises until they were out on Blu-ray. Halve the price and we would have seen every one of those in theatres. We’re patiently waiting for Iron Man 3 to come out, and we’ll do the same for Man of Steel.
Oh, and caught Red Tails on cable last night. Well, let’s call it the first 40 minutes of Red Tails. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing. Terrible, just terrible. Bad script, bad acting, and vaguely racist at times (which was surprising)
The wait from Cinema to on demand or blu ray is also a lot quicker than it used to be. 3 or 4 months and you can watch it. used to be a year +. i can wait 4 months or so for a film
I’ve had movie experiences ruined by all kinds of inconsiderate movie-goers: the idiots who are constantly asking their friends what’s going on (and the idiots who feel they have to explain every second of the movie to their friends), parents who bring kids who are constantly crying, throwing a tantrum or asking questions loudly, people who feel that they must carry on a conversation on their telephone, loudly, while the movie is showing, hecklers who feel the need to share their comments with the rest of the theatre (“that’s an ugly dress”, “OH I SAW THAT COMING A MILE AWAY”, “what the hell is he talking about?”).
They need to post a goon squad outside the cinema with batons.
I think thats an american thing. Here in Denmark its pretty much unthinkable that people shout, jeer or make annoying noises, check phones and the like during the movie. Its not just frowned upon, its struck down upon rather quickly
Does Denmark have assigned seating in theaters? That’s my favorite thing that they had in Singapore that they don’t have in the US. It means that seeing a new movie isn’t a question of waiting on line for 2 hours before actually getting in the theater.
(As to how it’s done: at the box office, there’s just a touchscreen that shows all of the empty / open seats, and your seat number is printed on the ticket. It’s easy to implement, as long as everybody isn’t a dick about it.)
Yeah, we have assigned seating, and it works exactly like you said. When you order a ticket you get to select from available seats as well. You cant be a dick about it - then the controllers kick you out. You can order tickets from home, usually 7 days in advance, or at the cinema like you write.
I go at least a dozen times/year to various theaters in San Francisco (and previously Boston) and almost never experience issues with people talking or using cellphones, etc. Maybe one out of every 10 I’ll see someone texting for a moment and don’t think I’ve heard a phone ring for a couple years now. They generally disappear pretty quickly after the previews start.
Sometimes they’ll clap at the end, or cheer at a certain part, but even that doesn’t happen much.
LA and Seattle/Redmond/Bellevue areas here. LA is a mix, I can actually get assigned seating at some places, but I’ve also seen shittier and more rude moviegoers there.
I mostly don’t care enough to go to the theatres. It costs too much, the sound usually leaves my ears ringing, and it’s a crapshoot as to whether the larger audience will actually be a positive or negative experience.
I know they’re not anywhere near as good as Alamo Drafthouse with its expulsion policy, but places like SIFF, The Guild, & Sundance in Seattle are usually pretty uneventful. I’ve never had an issue up here.
