Will Home Theater and VOD Kill the Movie Theater?

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/1619/will_home_theater' target='_blank'>http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/1619/will_home_theater</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Why are people so harsh about movie theaters? For better or for worse, it's a communal experience! What did you expect? Nevertheless, I agree that movie theaters are in trouble in their current state. But what's really the cause? My guess: The movie theater model as we know it has become outdated. All you have to do is ask yourself: Why were so many people excited to go to the movies, say 10 to 15 years ago, than they are now? Answer: Exceptional and incomparable audio and video. These days, a few thousand dollars of high-quality A/V equipment can bring you a near-similar experience right in your living room."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/theater.jpg" /><br /><br />I agree, unless Star Wars or Star Trek are in the title, I have not gone to the theater for it in years. Frankly, the experience is better in my home and I don't have to deal with unruly patrons. But, the IMAX in our city is showing first run movies now, so I am thinking about checking that out in the next few weeks. I am hoping that the slight premium for tickets and the fact that the IMAX is not connected to a mall, it might filter out some of the annoying patrons.

[jeffd]

theatres are also plagued with problems and still feels like a "cheap mass person service". Seats are plain, leg room is nill, floors are sticky, the film is often a little out of focus because at the distance of the booth, they don't notice it, screens often have damage and visable patch jobs because its expensive to replace, the sound levels are often not to my liking and rarly do the surround sound speakers work right, nothing prevents other viewers from making out burst and talking, some of said people need a shower..badly.

Before, when there wasn't an alternative, people suffered through these problems in the movie theatres because it just wasnt worth walking out and trying to get your money back, or fix the problems. Now that we can have the same experience at home with NONE of the above problems, who wants to mess with theatres?

[Suhit Gupta]

I actually started having problems with theatres when they started assigned seating in better, larger and leather seats for additional money. They were already gouging us with the super expensive popcorn and drinks but giving away the good seats took it too far. I was one of those people that came and stood in line a couple of hours before the first showing of a movie to get a good seat but now that didn't matter.

Anyways, I was thinking that more than VOD, it is mail-in movie rentals like Netflix that will kill theatres. I mean VOD definitely has a hand in it, but it combined with Netflix has basically given me enough to watch on TV and I am quite happy with that combination. So now I reserve going to a theatre for only special movies that I really want to watch on opening night.

Suhit

[Phoenix]

I don't know if I can even begin to put into words how much I agree here.

Movie theatres are becoming worse and worse, largely in part because people are becoming more and more rude.

What are the reasons I'm tired of movie theatres... Hmmm... Let me count the ways... (And a few of these things have been mentioned, but I concur...).


1) People who come to movies just to talk. I'll never understand this. Why come at all if all you're going to do is yap through the whole thing? Go to a restaurant!

2) Teenagers who sit and check their cell phones every two minutes. Makes me want to look over and shout, "Hey, you're not that important!".

3) Ringing cell phones.

4) People with their stupid, terribly distracting BT earpieces with the bright blue blinking LEDs that you get to see in your peripheral vision. I have one of these and I like the blue LED, but I have enough sense to remove it from my ear and place it in a pocket. Why people wear these things in their ears in a darkened movie theatre througout the entire movie is beyond me. Do they think they look all "cool and futuristic"? Do they think people are going to admire them? They don't and they won't. Talk about dumb.

5) Crying babies (I love babies and kids, but still...)

6) People who get up and squeeeeeeze past you to go walk out during the movie, which I don't mind, but some people do this repeatedly.

7) People who kick your chair.

8.) No leg room.

9) Uncomfortable seating. Of course, I'm 6'5" and built like a linebacker, so this isn't everybody's problem.

10) Sticky floors.

11) Commercials. I might be able to tolerate commercials (and the key word here is tolerate) if they could change them once every week, at least. But when you're forced to watch the same set of commercials (and they're so bad and so boring) in every movie you see over the course of six months just in order to get a good seat, they should think about handing out 45-caliber handguns, too, so you can blow your brains out. :lol: How about showing us cartoons (Bugs Bunny, Ren and Stimpy, or something along those lines) before the movies? Show us something that actually entertains us. Does everything have to be about money?

12) Previews. I like previews, but c'mon, twenty minutes worth? Enough is enough! I don't need to know what's coming out eight months from now. Who makes these decisions, anyway? You know there are too many previews when after they're done, you forgot which movie you came to see.

13) Concessions that require you to mortgage your house just to pay for it all. That's OK, I'll bring my own food and drink and not feel a lick of guilt in doing so.

14) Temperatures. It's either too hot or too cold.



&lt;Sigh> After drawing up this "list" of cons and sitting back and taking a good look at it, why do I even go? I put up with it all because I want to see the latest movies. Maybe my gf and I shouldn't care about that anymore. Maybe our Netflix subscription should be enough. Maybe we need to re-examine how we do things. But I do wish Netflix could put out a VOD service with their entire catalog accessible. That would be fantastic.

And could I propose that cell phone blockers become mandatory equipment in theatres? It would probably eliminate problems 2, 3, and 4 listed above.

There is this higher-end, or what I call "boutique-theatre" that opened up near us, which is nicer than the regular theatres in some ways. It's supposed to offer HD quality viewing (we couldn't tell the difference quite honestly), and it offers live guitar music before the movie (which was really nice), nice chairs with a lot of legroom (which was great, but no neck support which is really uncomfortable), beer, wine, and food with waiters (but who won't run and get concession items for you, which is weird), and in some of the rooms no one under 21 is allowed (thank God). They charge a premium for this, but as I pointed out, even this theatre has its flaws. And people are funny... when they get around luxury that they're not used to, they turn into snobs. It's annoying, yet can be humorous to watch.

Theatres are not all they're cracked up to be and I suppose this goes without saying to people who've spent anymore than five minutes inside one. What I think would be great one day is the ability to have the newest movies stream right to your home for viewing in privacy. Now that's what I want.