Excellent points! I agree that Studios are sabotaging themselves by reducing the theatrical window too much. Many excellent movies don’t get any theatrical runs at all. It’s like a restaurant giving away endless free samples. People are too full to dine out.
I’ve pitched the idea of Streamers running select boutique theatre chains where they can screen their most popular movies at a member discount. But if only we can all figure out how to how 113 movies in a year, cinema can be saved!
Yeah, I might go to the movies a little too often. I'm seeing "Black Christmas" tomorrow night, and taking the family to see "Home Alone" the night after that.
I like the idea of streamers running boutique theater chains. I've always said if I didn't have to worry about money, I'd run a movie theater and show a different double-feature every day. I'd settle for being allowed to program one room at a multiplex.
Those are Christmas favourites. Here’s another reason to see movies in a cinema. I saw Casablanca in a repertory theatre a long time ago. There was a scene near the end when I could see Ingrid Bergman shed a tear. I had seen Casablanca many times before but always on TV so I never noticed that she cried. That tear made all the difference for me in that scene.
Here in NL the cinema visits has been increasing year over year since the pandemic, and even the most obscure films from a corner in the world attract quite an audience
Personally when I lived in CA I found the film offerings quite monotonous, where the majority of films shown come out of Hollywood. Nothing wrong with that per se, but to me, film is also discovering and adventure and excitement of finding those hidden gems. If cinemas don’t offer that, I can imagine people will search for that online instead
That's an interesting observation, and something I've noticed as well.
My assumption is that the rest of the world is more open to non-American films than Americans are because we make so many movies here that we've never had to look outward to find more movies.
That said, I doubt that when it comes to Americans, it's a lack of foreign film offerings that are keeping people away from theaters.
Another Gioia brother?! @Ted Gioia, @Dana Gioia, @Greg Gioia - I would love to read a collaborative post about your upbringing! I am sure that it would serve to inspire many parents…
In Australia I find a lot of variables to my experience depending on which sate I'm visiting and which cinema - "hmmm, shall I do a soulless chain or 'small boutique' thing today?" If possible the boutique thing will win.
Why? Because: they're small, intimate and often have food and beverage offerings beyond the popcorn and coke thing; they have coffee, pastries, wine (sometimes full meals). They have soothing foyer music and tables etc, some even have a bookshop! - I love that. The staff are more interested, more engaged and feel like they're part of a 'thing', a family - all this gives the a sense of something to look forward too. Alas, these places are as rare as hen's teeth but I do support them and are willing to spend extra for it.
Big chains on the other hand leave me cold. They are cavernous, soulless and give me the impression that they couldn't care less. While I do understand the economic scale thing, the bums on seats/profit bit, I'm amazed that they can survive showing screenings where mostly I share the session with less than 5 other people - part of the joy of old fashioned cinema is seeing something with a room full of people. The person selling the tickets has to also then start serving the buyer the crappy candy and coke which means those waiting have to wait longer. The chains cut their staff down to the bare minimum whenever they can - often a disinterested teenager just starting out on the path of 'how to actually engage with other adult people - good for them, but bad for the customer.
I love your idea of serials but struggle to see how the money side of production for such short things would stack up in reality but hey, maybe I'm wrong.
People don't want just the movie, we want and 'experience' when we go out, we want our $ worth and a damn good time for a couple of hours.
Even though the rate of inflation for a movie ticket is lower than that of milk and gasoline, it’s the totality of inflationary pressure on a household budget that makes it harder to pay for a movie ticket. When I do see something about a movie I really want to see it’s to far away in time and distance. The closest theater to me is nearly an hour away.
I would personally love to see classic movies on the big screen. Give me Tuesday afternoons for old screwball comedies, Wednesday with icons like Bogart, Thursday for silent’s and foreign film Fridays. Leave the weekend for the comic book and other commercial content. A hybrid strategy might keep seats full enough to keep theaters open.
You make a good point that inflation in general has an effect on ticket sales.
The Alamo theater chain is the only one I know that embraces that hybrid strategy, though they don't do it day-by-day. Nearly every day they have at least one or two older films playing somewhere in town, along with all the latest releases. I wish more theaters would do that. Cinemark occasionally screens some classics, but not nearly as often as I would like.
The future of movies is: Live Theatre! Love movies, yes. But Audience effect is a lot more than experiencing one flat screen together. A few days ago we just sat down in the fourth row of our local small town symphony. I had amazing moment of first hearing them start playing as if through an Internet streaming audio channel. . . then I realized there were 60 sweaty musicians developing right in front of eyes and now surrounding us with real live music that is played as one pulsating thing by those skilled hands. The piece was unfamiliar but suddenly engulfed through all senses. You cannot really reproduce that onto wax, vinyl, silicone or digital forms. Plus, when you realize that playing a musical instrument quite literally sparks a player’s brain neurons like fireworks, we had 60 people there simultaneously on fire. Quite impressive for one small symphony stage.
Live theater is great, but something I see as separate from movies in much the same way that I think of opera as similar to, but distinct from, the ballet or the symphony.
Personally, I think the future of cinema is one in which fewer and fewer new films receive a theatrical release, those that do will have shorter runs, and cinemas will turn to showing old films in order to survive. The end result will be fewer theaters, with most films that are playing having been made in the 20th century.
Yes, live theatre is distinct from movies but part of the same stream of entertainment/art/storytelling. And opera, incorporating both symphony and ballet, is what filtered down to lite operetta and then American musicals. Which in turn degraded into vaudeville/music hall, but from whence sprung our greatest movie actors into the new tech of film. So that is quite a mighty stream! Movie watching can be done alone in an empty room. Theatre cannot exist without a sweaty audience. Different venues, different experiences is all.
Excellent points! I agree that Studios are sabotaging themselves by reducing the theatrical window too much. Many excellent movies don’t get any theatrical runs at all. It’s like a restaurant giving away endless free samples. People are too full to dine out.
I’ve pitched the idea of Streamers running select boutique theatre chains where they can screen their most popular movies at a member discount. But if only we can all figure out how to how 113 movies in a year, cinema can be saved!
Yeah, I might go to the movies a little too often. I'm seeing "Black Christmas" tomorrow night, and taking the family to see "Home Alone" the night after that.
I like the idea of streamers running boutique theater chains. I've always said if I didn't have to worry about money, I'd run a movie theater and show a different double-feature every day. I'd settle for being allowed to program one room at a multiplex.
Those are Christmas favourites. Here’s another reason to see movies in a cinema. I saw Casablanca in a repertory theatre a long time ago. There was a scene near the end when I could see Ingrid Bergman shed a tear. I had seen Casablanca many times before but always on TV so I never noticed that she cried. That tear made all the difference for me in that scene.
Here in NL the cinema visits has been increasing year over year since the pandemic, and even the most obscure films from a corner in the world attract quite an audience
Personally when I lived in CA I found the film offerings quite monotonous, where the majority of films shown come out of Hollywood. Nothing wrong with that per se, but to me, film is also discovering and adventure and excitement of finding those hidden gems. If cinemas don’t offer that, I can imagine people will search for that online instead
That's an interesting observation, and something I've noticed as well.
My assumption is that the rest of the world is more open to non-American films than Americans are because we make so many movies here that we've never had to look outward to find more movies.
That said, I doubt that when it comes to Americans, it's a lack of foreign film offerings that are keeping people away from theaters.
Another Gioia brother?! @Ted Gioia, @Dana Gioia, @Greg Gioia - I would love to read a collaborative post about your upbringing! I am sure that it would serve to inspire many parents…
In that post I would serve as the cautionary tale to those parents.
In Australia I find a lot of variables to my experience depending on which sate I'm visiting and which cinema - "hmmm, shall I do a soulless chain or 'small boutique' thing today?" If possible the boutique thing will win.
Why? Because: they're small, intimate and often have food and beverage offerings beyond the popcorn and coke thing; they have coffee, pastries, wine (sometimes full meals). They have soothing foyer music and tables etc, some even have a bookshop! - I love that. The staff are more interested, more engaged and feel like they're part of a 'thing', a family - all this gives the a sense of something to look forward too. Alas, these places are as rare as hen's teeth but I do support them and are willing to spend extra for it.
Big chains on the other hand leave me cold. They are cavernous, soulless and give me the impression that they couldn't care less. While I do understand the economic scale thing, the bums on seats/profit bit, I'm amazed that they can survive showing screenings where mostly I share the session with less than 5 other people - part of the joy of old fashioned cinema is seeing something with a room full of people. The person selling the tickets has to also then start serving the buyer the crappy candy and coke which means those waiting have to wait longer. The chains cut their staff down to the bare minimum whenever they can - often a disinterested teenager just starting out on the path of 'how to actually engage with other adult people - good for them, but bad for the customer.
I love your idea of serials but struggle to see how the money side of production for such short things would stack up in reality but hey, maybe I'm wrong.
People don't want just the movie, we want and 'experience' when we go out, we want our $ worth and a damn good time for a couple of hours.
Even though the rate of inflation for a movie ticket is lower than that of milk and gasoline, it’s the totality of inflationary pressure on a household budget that makes it harder to pay for a movie ticket. When I do see something about a movie I really want to see it’s to far away in time and distance. The closest theater to me is nearly an hour away.
I would personally love to see classic movies on the big screen. Give me Tuesday afternoons for old screwball comedies, Wednesday with icons like Bogart, Thursday for silent’s and foreign film Fridays. Leave the weekend for the comic book and other commercial content. A hybrid strategy might keep seats full enough to keep theaters open.
You make a good point that inflation in general has an effect on ticket sales.
The Alamo theater chain is the only one I know that embraces that hybrid strategy, though they don't do it day-by-day. Nearly every day they have at least one or two older films playing somewhere in town, along with all the latest releases. I wish more theaters would do that. Cinemark occasionally screens some classics, but not nearly as often as I would like.
The future of movies is: Live Theatre! Love movies, yes. But Audience effect is a lot more than experiencing one flat screen together. A few days ago we just sat down in the fourth row of our local small town symphony. I had amazing moment of first hearing them start playing as if through an Internet streaming audio channel. . . then I realized there were 60 sweaty musicians developing right in front of eyes and now surrounding us with real live music that is played as one pulsating thing by those skilled hands. The piece was unfamiliar but suddenly engulfed through all senses. You cannot really reproduce that onto wax, vinyl, silicone or digital forms. Plus, when you realize that playing a musical instrument quite literally sparks a player’s brain neurons like fireworks, we had 60 people there simultaneously on fire. Quite impressive for one small symphony stage.
Live theater is great, but something I see as separate from movies in much the same way that I think of opera as similar to, but distinct from, the ballet or the symphony.
Personally, I think the future of cinema is one in which fewer and fewer new films receive a theatrical release, those that do will have shorter runs, and cinemas will turn to showing old films in order to survive. The end result will be fewer theaters, with most films that are playing having been made in the 20th century.
Yes, live theatre is distinct from movies but part of the same stream of entertainment/art/storytelling. And opera, incorporating both symphony and ballet, is what filtered down to lite operetta and then American musicals. Which in turn degraded into vaudeville/music hall, but from whence sprung our greatest movie actors into the new tech of film. So that is quite a mighty stream! Movie watching can be done alone in an empty room. Theatre cannot exist without a sweaty audience. Different venues, different experiences is all.