The business model does not quite thrive when the people who “like seeing a movie in the theatre” were maybe last in theater sometime last summer, they think.
Well that’s about the best they’re gonna get, given ticket prices these days. Thoug(I will shell out $20/seat for those super comfy recliner chairs. Just not that often.
Which is precisely my supposition. Now it may be that the price of the ticket is actually pretty damn stable when adjusted for inflation. But people still see the price and pause. And when feeling less financially secure they pause and decide to stay and order a pizza to eat while streaming something instead. And not the overpriced popcorn that provides the theater’s profit margin.
When I was a teenager I used to go to movies pretty much every week, maybe even twice some weeks. But we would almost always wait for them to be at the local second-run dollar theater. Even then first-run prices were getting too high. It has been many years since I’ve gone out to a movie at all and the idea of paying to sit in a big room and watch a big tv with a bunch of strangers has actually grown kind of quaint.
I really don’t know why A-List is not more common or known. Every time people complain about the price of tickets I’m like, I pay $24.95 per month and can see 3 films every single week, in any format. (Which next month they will change to four films per week!) One single ticket price here costs more than that.
I’m so used to seeing films at packed showings, unless you go very early or very late.
I love my A-list! It also doesn’t matter what format (IMAX, Dolby, Prime), it’s still free. Of course, my location helps. I’m guessing there are more than 50 AMC screens within about a half hour drive, and a couple (Century City 15 and The Grove 14) have turned into the locations of choice for pre-release openings for award consideration. I generally see at least two free movies a week, which is considerable savings.
Sounds like the same here in NYC. There are AMCs all over the city that show many kinds of films, not just the newest blockbusters, and we have Lincoln Square, a prime location for premieres and early releases with the best IMAX in the country that people have literally flown hours just to attend. You’d never know attendance was down from the crowded showings here.
I think there’s been sort of a vicious circle: fewer people have been going to the movies, because the alternatives (like high quality, high production-values shows on streaming services) are so attractive. And because of this, the money and creative effort that might otherwise have gone into making theatrical movies has gone into making other content.
I wouldn’t want to see three films a week. And speaking to the supply side of the argument there aren’t three films a month I’d want to go out to see.
I’m sorry you live in a region where that’s the case.
Chicagoland?
There just aren’t that many movies that appeal to both of us enough to commit an evening to. As much as I argue that this year compared to last for the industry is economic, for us it is there not being that much that appeals to make that our night out. I’d rather have a nice dinner.
I live in Philadelphia and I feel the same way. I thought about the movies I have seen in the theater over the past few years. Most of them have been special showings of movies I have seen many times, own on DVD but really benefit from a giant screen- Labyrinth, Nightmare Before Christmas etc. My Gobi and I are already planning to see Princess Mononoke when it returns to theaters next year.
There is a movie currently in theaters that I want to see, The Day The Earth Blew Up, I have seen next to no ads for it. But several of my friends have seen it and give it rave reviews.
Quick side question for @DocCathode:
Do you know if the 2026 (?) Princess Mononoke release is part of AMC Theaters’ annual (?) Studio Ghibli Fest? Or will it be a separate release apart from the other Studio Ghibli selections?
I guess this is a roundabout way if you know whether AMC is still doing annual Studio Ghibli Fests. My family caught many of these films in the years before the pandemic, but lost track of Studio Ghibli Fest afterwards.
I hate to induce anxiety, but I checked my AMC app (local to Los Angeles) and Princess Mononoke 4K is playing right now in AMC IMAX. It started this weekend.
I don’t know. I just saw a post on Facebook about it.
We shall have to buy tickets then! We will also need to see if we can choose between a dub or a sub.
Given this film’s quality, the correct French term is excrément.
I just saw it last night. Thursday April 3 is your last chance to catch it in IMAX!
I guess it depends where you live. I just checked, and there’s only one AMC theater within 10 miles of my house. And this is in the middle of suburbia, not out in the boondocks.
For those of you who follow IMDb ratings, Snow White manages 1.6 out of 10:
But this seems to be a case of review bombing where there are a great many negatives given for example due to the controversy surrounding leads Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot over the Palestine issue.