The poor plight of the cinema

[chickabumpbump]

So Im from the UK, not sure if this will be different in other countries.

So our cinemas suffered of course during COVID, they bounced back well though!
I have a cinema card for a year, I get NHS ( hospital discount ) and its £160 for the year.
I see LOTS of films and get my money worth and I get to see "mystery" films early, I saw dungeons and dragons 3 weeks before it came out.
I like going to the cinema, its fun...but....

Its rarely RARELY full of people.

last night we saw Barbie and the cinema lobby and my screen was packed, which is an odd thing to see and an odd thing to say I guess, being shocked at a place being busy.
Tonight I will see oppenheimer. Now I know both these films are this years watercooler films which everyone will see but again the cinema is rarely packed.

This saddens me but I also understand why people dont go to the cinema.
Lets say the normal person only see's the "BIG" films or families go to your Marvels and Disney films
2 adults 2 kids ticketwise here is about £10 each on average. Parking or transport £. Everyone will want popcorn and drinks so maybe £10 each on average too.

So we are looking at £80 for a family for ONE film. Then you may have people eating loudly, talking loudly, phones going off, etc etc

Or for less than £80 you can buy netflix, prime and disney for a month. Go to the supermarket and get chocolate and snacks for WAY less than the cinema itself. Pause the film when you want, turn it off when you want and go to your own toilet and facilities.

Younger generations watch stuff on their phones and frankly cant sit still or concentrate on anything for 10 minutes without checking their phone or socials either. They cant sit in a cinema and be expected to be quiet for the sake of other people.

Sadly I cant see the cinema and theatre experience lasting long at all.

[Abaddon the Despoiler]

I don't know anyone who has been to the cinema in years. Most people just use a subscription service now. I used to goto the cinema about 3 times a week when I was younger. But then DVD's came out and I started collecting them because you get to keep the film. But now the last DVD I bought was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

[dobrowol]

We also have all those on-line streaming services to consider. People just stay home and stream.

[talemore]

You know how the ship Disney is sinking since it has kept on making movies for the sake of making the same movie over again, These companies are on purpose doing this.

Eventually people will take the value of pop-culture that they don't watch the movie for the movie.

You could make a 2 hour long movie showing an ASS and it would be as good as long it's part of the pop culture.

[chickabumpbump]

Początkowo opublikowane przez dobrowol:

We also have all those on-line streaming services to consider. People just stay home and stream.

Oh yes i forgot to mention that people have dodgy servers on usb sticks. My friend has one and its filled with movie rips that are sometimes available as the film is in the cinema.

[Icecream1973]

My last theather experience (post covid) was horrific: sat in front of some moron who was eating 2 bags of chips (crips) right behind my head, the entire f-ing movie.....

+ the heavily overpriced food + drinks. Offcourse there are plenty of budget options (in a form of a monthly subscription), however just as in flying economy, you have a higher chance of being seated with "people" who are not as well behaved as they should be during a movie....... (a few years ago we had consistent issues with large groups of particular type of teens who basically made a sport of it to ruin the entire movie for everyone in the theater).

BUT there is 1 thing that is a common issue in theaters these days & that is the very LIMITED amount of movies that are actually interesting enought to go see in a cinema.
Furthermore it does not help that a new movie is very quickly available on 1 of the many streaming services.

Also: I have a 61 inch TV @home + a very good home cinema set. So no need to go to all the way to a cinema. If I want to splurge on an outing: I'd rather go to a concert - got plenty of those in my city.

Personally I think western cinema's should take a look whats happening in some cinema's in Asia: example some of the premium services Sourth Korean cinema's are offering.

PS: 4D cinema experience is not worth the price (well, at least in my country)

[gza]

Cinemas are awful places, I feel like I'm stuck in time only it's been 20 years and it's still festering like a hot fart after last nights takeaway.

[Ocelote.12]

I don't like cinemas - they're too loud for my ears. It's better to watch when you can set the volume yourself.

[chickabumpbump]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Icecream1973:

My last theather experience (post covid) was horrific: sat in front of some moron who was eating 2 bags of chips (crips) right behind my head, the entire f-ing movie.....

+ the heavily overpriced food + drinks. Offcourse there are plenty of budget options (in a form of a monthly subscription), however just as in flying economy, you have a higher chance of being seated with "people" who are not as well behaved as they should be during a movie....... (a few years ago we had consistent issues with large groups of particular type of teens who basically made a sport of it to ruin the entire movie for everyone in the theater).

BUT there is 1 thing that is a common issue in theaters these days & that is the very LIMITED amount of movies that are actually interesting enought to go see in a cinema.
Furthermore it does not help that a new movie is very quickly available on 1 of the many streaming services.

Also: I have a 61 inch TV @home + a very good home cinema set. So no need to go to all the way to a cinema. If I want to splurge on an outing: I'd rather go to a concert - got plenty of those in my city.

Personally I think western cinema's should take a look whats happening in some cinema's in Asia: example some of the premium services Sourth Korean cinema's are offering.

PS: 4D cinema experience is not worth the price (well, at least in my country)

And thats the sad thing, I like going to the cinema but I cannot argue ANY counter point as they all make sense to me logically.

If kids or people were messing around in a film I wanted to see, I would 100% kick off or say something or demand staff throw them out.

[Crazy Tiger]

We don't go to the movies often, but usually when we do it's in the morning. Tickets are cheaper then, but it's indeed often empty.

It doesn't surprise me that less people go when the ticket price for one person for one movie matches a month of a streaming service.

[Lora Grim]

Początkowo opublikowane przez dobrowol:

We also have all those on-line streaming services to consider. People just stay home and stream.

This.
The thing with humans is that we like to take the path of least resistance.
Right now that is to just stream movies onto the big screen at home.
It is arguably cheaper in the sense that only one person "needs" to pay for a group to watch, it is faster, more convenient in the sense that you can pause at any time to pee and grab snacks.

You can rewind it you didn't understand something and can have subtitles turned on. I don't think there were subtitles on any of the movies i watched in cinemas.

Cinemas at this point is a hangout thing... and only if you desire that specific atmosphere a cinema provides.

[Tiberius]

The pandemic changed many things

[Icecream1973]

Początkowo opublikowane przez chickabumpbump:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Icecream1973:

My last theather experience (post covid) was horrific: sat in front of some moron who was eating 2 bags of chips (crips) right behind my head, the entire f-ing movie.....

+ the heavily overpriced food + drinks. Offcourse there are plenty of budget options (in a form of a monthly subscription), however just as in flying economy, you have a higher chance of being seated with "people" who are not as well behaved as they should be during a movie....... (a few years ago we had consistent issues with large groups of particular type of teens who basically made a sport of it to ruin the entire movie for everyone in the theater).

BUT there is 1 thing that is a common issue in theaters these days & that is the very LIMITED amount of movies that are actually interesting enought to go see in a cinema.
Furthermore it does not help that a new movie is very quickly available on 1 of the many streaming services.

Also: I have a 61 inch TV @home + a very good home cinema set. So no need to go to all the way to a cinema. If I want to splurge on an outing: I'd rather go to a concert - got plenty of those in my city.

Personally I think western cinema's should take a look whats happening in some cinema's in Asia: example some of the premium services Sourth Korean cinema's are offering.

PS: 4D cinema experience is not worth the price (well, at least in my country)

And thats the sad thing, I like going to the cinema but I cannot argue ANY counter point as they all make sense to me logically.

If kids or people were messing around in a film I wanted to see, I would 100% kick off or say something or demand staff throw them out.

Many did, but 2 or 3 adults do not stand a chance against a group of 5 to 10 teens & there were a couple of incidents that turned into a couple of brutal fights (police intervention + people being hospitalized etc etc) & that is not the way people want to enjoy a trip to a cinema. Nowadays this is luckily not a huge problem anymore + additional security measures have been implemente etc. but sporadically this problem still pops up...... (most city folk here in Amsterdam have simply learned to stay away from the city centre activities the days after ramadan/sugar festival).

Anyway, in 2024 some large (non Disney) movies are set for release, I am looking forward to those!

[Haemorrhoid Graboid]

Początkowo opublikowane przez chickabumpbump:

So Im from the UK, not sure if this will be different in other countries.

So our cinemas suffered of course during COVID, they bounced back well though!
I have a cinema card for a year, I get NHS ( hospital discount ) and its £160 for the year.

Maybe if they stopped giving out politically correct handouts they wouldn't need to charge familys so much.

[chickabumpbump]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Icecream1973:

Początkowo opublikowane przez chickabumpbump:

And thats the sad thing, I like going to the cinema but I cannot argue ANY counter point as they all make sense to me logically.

If kids or people were messing around in a film I wanted to see, I would 100% kick off or say something or demand staff throw them out.

Many did, but 2 or 3 adults do not stand a chance against a group of 5 to 10 teens & there were a couple of incidents that turned into a couple of brutal fights (police intervention + people being hospitalized etc etc) & that is not the way people want to enjoy a trip to a cinema. Nowadays this is luckily not a huge problem anymore + additional security measures have been implemente etc. but sporadically this problem still pops up...... (most city folk here in Amsterdam have simply learned to stay away from the city centre activities the days after ramadan/sugar festival).

Anyway, in 2024 some large (non Disney) movies are set for release, I am looking forward to those!

Napoleon Im hoping is worth seeing!

[Pieshaman]

I have cinema at home since I went ultrawide.