The declining box office draw

In My Humble Opinion
41

I never go to the movies unless I really want to see something on the big screen. Here’s why:

  1. The cost of the two of us going to one movie is equivalent to what I pay netflix for a minimum of three movies.

  2. Sometimes I can’t hold it and have to leave the theater for a few minutes, and that sucks.

  3. Some asshole always gets a phone call and answers it.

  4. Some freakishly tall person will sit down in front of me five minutes after the movie has started.

  5. The previews are fine, but all the other crap (commercials, trivia, other assorted crap) sucks.

  6. The morons switching the reels inevitably fuck it up.

  7. I…I…I LIKE to talk during movies! I hate having to be all quiet. There, I said it.

42

All you people complaining about how the movie might suck… haven’t you heard of RottenTomatoes.com?

I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie and actively disliked it, although I’ve liked some more than others.
Also, as to movie quality/originality in general, I think it’s easy to get all huffy about remakes and adaptations and so forth, but does that really matter? Lord of the Rings is both an adaptation AND a remake. V for Vendetta is an adaptation. For that matter, The Godfather Part 2 is a sequel to an adaptation, and Ben Hur is a remake of an adaptation, and The Wizard of Oz is a remake of a remake of an adaptation.
There are certainly plenty of bad movies made, and maybe the percentage of sequels/remakes that are bad is higher than the percentage overall, but there are still plenty of good movies, in many many genres, being made.
For instance, right now my big neighborhood multiplex is showing:

Goal! The Dream Begins
Just My Luck
Poseidon
An American Haunting
Hoot
Mission Impossible III
Akeelah and the Bee
RV
Stick It
United 93
The Sentinel
Silent Hill
Scary Movie 4
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Inside Man
Thank You for Smoking

That’s 16 total movies.

Of those, there are (as I count them, being totally judgmental):
1 remake (poseidon)

3 sequels (MI3, Ice Age, Scary Movie)

1 video game adaptation (Silent Hill)

4 movies that look basically stupid and lowbrow (just my luck, stick it, an american haunting, rv)

1 movie that is a total cliche (goal)

2 movies that look like they could have been good and aren’t in any of the above categories but got bad reviews (hoot, the sentinel)

and 4 movies that I can see no stereotyped flaw with at all which got good reviews (united 93, akeelah, inside man, thank you for smoking)
Is that really such a disastrous ratio? And that’s ignoring the fact that, much as I might wish to mock Tom Cruise, and much as I really didn’t like MI2, MI3 has actually gotten quite postiive reviews. And I’m 32 but never saw the original Poseidon Adventure (although I read the book), so it doesn’t feel like a remake to me.

And I almost NEVER have problems with people talking in theatres. Maybe it’s a regional thing? I’m in the SF Bay Area…
(Oh, and if popcorn and drinks are too expensive… DON’T BUY THEM!)

43

Hoot is an adaptation of a book by Carl Hiassen.

44

I think the rise of video games, especially online gaming has hurt the movies. Movie watching is very passive. Gaming is not. After you’ve seen a hundred movies, you can guess how the next one will end. Gaming is not like that. 10 bucks for 90 minutes of entertainment vers 50 bucks for a hundred hours of entertainment.
I don’t know about you guys, but in my neck of the woods, the DVD release is about 1 to 3 days after it hits the theatre. Pirated copies are getting better and better. Heck, I see a guy on the subway and he has a portable DVD player and he’ll show you quality befor you buy it. 3 dollars or 2 for $5.

I just saw Posidon today. I saw the “IMAX” version. I have a pass that lets me in for free. The other people there paid $15 a head to get in there. Idiots.

45

If I see it in a theater and it turns out to be really good, I’ll want to have it on DVD. Since I don’t care to pay to see a movie twice, I just wait for the DVD relase for almost all movies.

Imagine a different world where movie theaters never existed. All movies are released straight to DVD. Everybody is happy. Then somebody gets the idea to stop the DVD relases and make the public go en masse to a central viewing auditoria where they have to wait in line and deal with screaming children and pay $4.50 for a bottle of water. Then to get their own copy on DVD, the public has to pay again.

There’s no way movie theaters would work as a successful business model if they were just coming into existance today. Movie theaters should die a slow quiet death just like drive-in theaters did back in the 70’s.

46

I think you’re mistaking your comparisons.

I don’t compare getting a movie ticket to seeing a play or musical. I don’t compare it to a professional sporting event. I compare it to one of two things: A book, or watching the movie in the comfort of my apartment with no one to make snide comments but me and my friends. If I so invite them.

Compared to a book, the movie is more expensive (since I normally buy paperback, and used ones when I can.) and less durable: It’s four hours entertainment, tops. A book is 8 to 12 hours, the first time through, and if it’s a good book I’ll re-read it for years.

Compared to a movie at home, it’s in comparison to a rental - which is $3-5 for a couple of nights, so I can review scenes that confused or fascinated me, if I so wish. And compared to a used copy of a big movie: it’s very close to the same price.

Now, part of this is that my entertainment budget is rather strained, but it’s also a matter of my tastes, too.

47

You either love the movie-going experience or you don’t. You either love getting out of the house and having the guy rip your ticket and eating overpriced jumbo sized food and sitting in the dark with your sweetie and staring up at a larger than life personalities on a big screen and having a shared emotional response with a venue full of strangers — or you don’t.

As technology and social mores change, aspects of the modern movie going experience may annoy the shit out of you, but for movie-goiers it doesn’t drive you to distraction: you learn to cope. Fewer people go to the movies as frequently now than in the 1940s, but movie theaters still pull in the blockbuster crowds in the summer and the Academy Award watchers in winter.

For those who don’t like the movie going experience, I understand. The technology available today makes in incredibly easy and convenient to sit at home and watch all manner of movies in a manner comfortable for you. Notice Hollywood still makes a buck off it, so I’m not weeping tears or losing sleep over any “declining box office” when there’s still an overseas market and DVD sales.

The declining movie-going theatre experience is real, but, I feel, not all THAT significant. There will always be weirdos like me who fell in love with the movie going experience and consider it inseperable from the movie product, and still prefer to experience movies primarily this way. There’s something to be said about having a nice home theatre system, and inviting friends over and eating lots of home cooked food stretched out on comfortable chairs, true. But, shoot – I can’t afford that. Plus I don’t have the room. Besides – I still like to get out the house.

48

Where the hell are you people seeing movies that talking and cell phone use is a earth-shattering problem? The more times I hear “I hate theaters and hardly ever go anymore because of the noise and cost” the more convinced I am that you people are blowing it completely out of proportion. First off, most have admitted to not going to movies often anymore yet are convinced that noise is a major consistent issue…I see a flaw with that argument. Also, since the OP’s question is why box office has diminished you are implicitly saying theaters are noisier now than 15 years ago. Frankly, I think that’s untrue. More likely you’re getting older and grouchier and are remembering those outings of your halcyon days with the bias of time and ignoring the fact you were probably a younger rowdier person back then yourself. Simply put, theaters have always been noisier than home but I don’t buy that things have changed dramatically. If anything the higher volume levels and immersive surround sound today make it more tolerable.

For the record, I visit theaters about 10 times a year in downtown Chicago. The theaters are crowded and massive. The population is diverse and generally not considered to be especially considerate in daily life. Noise in the shows is just not a problem. It happens occasionally of course and I avoid half-price Tuesdays at the theater known for the young, trouble making crowd but I cant see this being a overwhelming obstacle in most parts of the country if it’s not here.

I haven’t witnessed a person answering a cell phone in a show in over 3 years since they started adding those reminders in the previews. I’ve only heard a ring once or twice and those people are conscientious enough to mute the ringer quickly afterwards.

Either you people are living in some social wasteland or you’re comically oversensitive to living around other people. Considering the internet junkies that MBs like this draw perhaps that latter point isn’t too far off.

49

Why not? It’s true you may draw a line between the two but I don’t think you can argue that the general population does. For a large portion of the market a movie is a date/night time leisure activity. They don’t go entirely based on whats out, they go to the movie for the sake of going and the movie choice is just incidental. In that way, people looking for a way to kill a Friday night will certainly be choosing between a sporting event, a live performance or a movie. I personally cycle between movies, comedy clubs, plays, ballgames, bowling, and festivals when looking for something to do with a date or friends.

Of course if a movie I especially like is coming out it’ll move to the top of the list, much like a video game or a book, but for a big part of the audience the comparison is apt.

50

I’ve enjoyed movies with iffy reviews and I’ve loathed movies with good reviews. Anyway, I don’t really hassle myself with researching my entertainment options on a Friday night. Sure, that’s my “fault” or whatever but, hey, I’m not really lamenting my not being in a movie theater.

Same with the snacks. Of course I can not buy them. But I can sit at home, watch a film and eat all at the same time.

Someone said it before – I don’t need to justify my not going to the movies as much as the theaters need to convince me that I do want to go there. I’m perfectly happy sitting at home with my lady, watching NetFlix DVDs and nibbling on chips. When we want to be out and about, we’re perfectly happy to be at dinner or a park or a concert or any one of a thousand other places. If the theaters want me to be sitting in one of their seats, they need to give me enough incentive to think that it’ll be more enjoyable and a better perceived value than what I was going to do instead.

51

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!

Theatres, promote everything from blue jeans to cars to cell phones, theaters don’t promote movies!

Another thing is we are talking about expectations. These expectations are not just pie in the sky, let’s make up numbers. There is a ‘tracking’ system where people are polled about upcoming and recently released movies and projections are made on these. These are pretty good indicators with the exeception that “children’s” movies and ummm…“black” movies don’t track well. Meaning that they always track low, but will frequently do much better than the tracking indicated. Posidon, did what it was expected to do. M:I:III did less than expected.
Last year, there was constant talk about how much less they made in '05 compared to '04. This year, the movies are ahead of last year by about 5% and for the ‘summer’ they are up 11%.

http://www.nielsenedi.com/index.html

52

Freakazoid said so much over 10 years ago, “Always go for a percentage of the gross. There is no net in Hollywood.”
“GRRROOOOSSSS”

:slight_smile:
I have nothing to add but the alcohol option that you have at home is missing at the theatre.

53

Not all of them- some of the “Premium” theatres here serve alcohol during the movie! :smiley:

54

My two biggest gripes about going to the movies is sound that is way too loud, but the dialogue is still inaudible. At home, I have control over the volume and most of the time, subtitles. I hated subtitles at first, but now I rely on them. Very rarely do I not turn them on when they are an option on DVDs.

55

Lucky!