If I spent all my time actively campaigning against everything that pissed me off, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else. So I pick my battles. The rest, I vote with my wallet. I suspect that’s what most people do and explains the drop in sales.
Have the people whose pockets are hit the worst trying to find out why ticket sales have dropped? I’ve seen lots of complaints here and elsewhere explaining why people don’t go to the movies any more. The answer is out there for them, but they don’t seem to be interested in making the necessary changes.
Theater owners/studios: here are my reasons for rarely going to the movies, in order of annoyance. I’m certain I’m not alone in these annoyances.
Ads. Why in the world do you think I want to see a perfume ad before I watch the film? I’m at the point where I’d rather miss the trailers than see a single ad.
More and more trailers before the movie. Come on, guys, I love trailers, but 10 of them?
Prices. I go during matinee, don’t get a drink (because I couldn’t make it through the movie without having to go to the restroom if I did) or food (diet), so the prices aren’t horrendous at that rate, but if I went at night, got a popcorn and Coke, I’d pay close to $20 per person.
Loud customers/annoying children/ cell phones. I’m an amazingly tolerant person toward bothersome sounds (I can handle my husband playing drums in the same room as me for hours), so this is at the bottom of my list. For this to even make my list, it has to get bad.
For some reason, I almost NEVER have problems with loud people in theatres. Sure, it’s happened, but for me, it’s the exception, rather than the rule. Maybe the fact that I live in silicon valley means that other moviegoers are hip young people who appreciate the movie-going code?
Anyhow, there are at least three reasons I still go to movie theatres (probably once a month on average):
(1) Big screen, loud sound system. I don’t care if you have an 84 incher. It’s still TINY compared to a real movie screen. And whatever the “resolution” of film is, it’s much higher than the 440 scan lines of a TV. And most of the theatres around here have good sound systems. The last time the sound was bad, I got a refund.
(2) When I’m psyched about a movie, I want to see it NOW
(3) It’s fun to be in a room full of psyched people for a big exciting movie
(For those complaining about popcorn and soda prices, by the way, why not just NOT BUY POPCORN AND SODAS???)
There is a chain of theaters here on the Left coast (and possibly to the east, I dunno) who have made “No Advertisements”* a part of their chain appeal, and those are the ones to which I go when I want to see a movie.
The Twenty has to be the worst possible offender, though.
*Well, no advertisements other than trailers. But I like trailers.
“The Heights” near Minneapolis is a historic theatre that has been operating since 1927.
I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there this past weekend for $8.
Before the show they had a lady playing music on an organ and during the last song she and the organ lowered into the orchestra pit.
Then they showed a Tom and Jerry cartoon, 1 preview for The Corpse Bride, the it was showtime.
The only ad I saw was a poster in the lobby advertising the Blizzard of the Month since the two guys that own the theatre also own the Dairy Queen next door.
The proposed law will require a movie’s listed start time to be the time that the movie starts, not when the ads or trailers begin playing.
I like to sit in the middle of the theater, so I always get to the show 20 minutes before the advertsied start of the movie, subjecting me to commercial after commercial.
But so what? That’s the price I pay for getting the seat I want.
I say that you do not have a leg to stand on if you have commercials projected in front of you from 4:00 until 4:19:59, if your movie is a 4:20 start. The price of your ticket doesn’t buy you anything but the movie- but that movie damn well better start when the ticket I bought says it’s going to start.
Kwitcherbellyachin’. 4:20 movie means the theater can project whatever it wants (within legal limits) until 4:20.
My home theater setup: projector, less than $1000; matte screen, $150; stereo, $400; projector mount, $130; assorted cables and hardware, $20.
I rarely see Hollywood movies in the theater any more. I go to the cinema for arthouse and repertory releases I want to support in the marketplace (remember, dollars = votes), but I won’t see Spielberg’s War of the Worlds until it’s on DVD and I can watch it in the comfort of my living room.
And with the ever-accelerated release schedule, that should be next week sometime.
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I think it’d be an interesting experiment for a megaplex to put two screenings side by side, one with the full gamut of ads and previews, and the other with no ads and no more than three previews. Charge five extra bucks for the latter. See whether people show up.
I’m impressed they actually just gave you the food. Last time I bought food at a movie theater I practically had an argument with the girl there who would not. give. up her attempt at upselling. I wanted a small popcorn and a small coke. I’m one person, I don’t need a gallon of freaking soda! Oooooh, but if I get a LARGE coke, it’s only 50 cents more! And I get ten times as much soda! Except I don’t WANT ten times as much soda, and I don’t want to spend the extra 50 cents! Stop fucking around and give me my damn popcorn and coke!
I guess the worst thing about it for me is the movies now start later and later because of the adverts. At my local theatre, the adverts plus trailers have run for as long as 28 fucking minutes after the scheduled showtime.
And I do hate the monstrous tubs of popcorn and soda they sell. Their price point is about $10 for a popcorn and soda, and even if you downsize to a manageable size, you save all of $0.50. And it’s no wonder so many kids at the theatre are morbidly obese or heading that way, when Mom and Dad are loading each one up with a cubic foot of buttered popcorn, a gallon of non-diet soda, plus the possibility of a 2000-calorie side order of nachos and malted milkballs for dessert. Good Christ, I think I saw a row of 4 kids last time that had between them $60 of trash food worth about 16,000 freaking calories!
Same here. On occasion I have some annoying noise, but 9 times out of 10, the people shut up the second the movie starts. That may be because I rarely go to shows before 9pm or so, though.
Trailer time is “wow” or “man, that is gonna BLOW” time.
Movie time is shut-the-hell-up time.
Most people get this. There are certain theaters in NYC that are more prone to in-movie talkers than others, and I avoid these like the plague.
Oh good, a movies rant. Going to the movie theater has become a thoroughly unpleasant (and expensive) experience for me. Mainly because movies are utter crap these days but not only.
Why oh why did they stop reserving the seats when purchasing the ticket? To save a measly minimum wage to a pimpled teenager now it’s a first-come first-choice basis. That’s great except that when the room is filled at around 50% it’s impossible to find a space for more than two people (and even then…) because all the groups leave an empty seat between them. You have to scout the room in the dark and inconvenience everyone to get half decent seating. Bastards.
I’ve sworn to never again support this incompetent, overpriced and greedy business.
Her effort woulda made me smile. See, a couple years ago I needed a computer to replace one at my office. I knew exactly what I needed and didn’t want to fuck around. The sales guy (CompUSA) offered some sort of extended warranty. I said no thanks. He argued. I said, “if I can’t get the computer without an argument, I’ll go across the road to BestBuy”. And I did.
Ever since that epiphany, I refuse to say “no thank you” more than once. Sure, it may make me look like an ass. Sure, it leads to extra work on my part. But it is A BLAST to see the look on their face!
I’ve walked away from 4 sales all together in ~ 2 years time. The movie concession woulda been number five.
I saw a film a large cineplex in Berlin a little while ago. The ads on-screen went on for 20 minutes. Then a guy came out offering to sell ice-cream bars. Then the lights went out again, and another fifteen minutes of ads played on-screen. All told, it was about 40 minutes past the declared time before the film acutally began. :eek:
Nobody batted an eye, though. Apparently this, and billboards on every building, is normal in big-city Germany.
(This is one of the reasons I like my local IMAX theatre. They rarely even have so much as trailers. )
