Will Theaters Be Extinct In 10-15 Years?

Pete-D · 12-27-2007, 04:49 PM

A friend of mine insists that this will happen and in movie industry could be headed down the same path as the music industry due to internet piracy and various other threats. Of course this is not the first time the movie industry has heard this song and dance. TV was supposed to kill the movie theater, then the VCR.

We've heard movie execs moan about declining box office though. We've heard also that digital downloads are coming and that the theater window will close or narrow and things like day-and-date releases will become common?

But the thing is on closer inspection, box office ticket sales (not just inflated box office grosses) have actually risen dramatically since the DVD format was introduced in 1997.

Movie Box Office Results by Year, 1980-Present

Shows that ticket sales through 1998-2007 are higher than the early 90s or all of the 80s prior to DVD, the internet. Industry execs need to understand that 2004 and 2002 might just have been peak years, it's unrealistic in any industry to have every year or every other year topple your all-time best year.

I think by and large going to the movies for a lot of people is only half about the movie itself. The theater has been a gathering point for the masses since the days of Shakespeare and before. People need to get out of the house. Teenagers need to have something to do on a Friday night. A movie is an easy option for friends or a date.

I think the movie industry does need to do a better job of curbing piracy though. It's one thing for someone to bootleg a movie off a camcorder, but to have high-quality screeners leak onto the internet -- is unnacceptable.

Also the general quality of the theater experience needs to improve. Better supervision and I think larger screens (more IMAX sized screens) would be a start.

Lou Sytsma · 12-27-2007, 04:53 PM

No - people are social animals. You can't divorce man from men.

Blu · 12-27-2007, 05:28 PM

I'd be one that would be happy to see first run movies go straight to DVD.
No more sticky floors, noisy kids (even in R rated movies) over priced food, and a pause button so I can go fix a drink or expel said drink without missing anything.

JohnRice · 12-27-2007, 06:05 PM

Absolutely, theaters will disappear and all movies will look like Beowulf.

I know, because I saw it on Extra.

Michael Elliott · 12-27-2007, 06:37 PM

I'm just curious as to how people can afford to go. I've actually went seven times the last three weeks, which is the most I've gone since probably 1998. Six of those were at "second run" shows so tickets were only $4 but I went to see SWEENEY TODD today and the matinee price was $6.75, which I think is just crazy. However, it's $9.25 at night, which just blows my mind. I don't see how people, or just a couple, can buy two tickets, two drinks, popcorn, candy or whatever week after week. That $9.25 isn't a lot of money for a lot of people reading this but to some that is a lot of money.

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David Norman · 12-27-2007, 07:27 PM

My response is that only the Theaters who continue to act like they are doing you a favor by letting you watch their movie will go away (deservedly so).

As to the cost -- my family quit buying the soda, popcorn, and candy for the most part a couple years ago or do so only occasionally. Put a candy bar or M&M in the purse -- the soda is pretty easy to do without since virtually no theater can make even edible popcorn around here anymore.

What I find personally is that going to Theater or watching movies at home tends to lead to going to more. My family has been to see at least 6 or 7 this month without me. I think they've gone 3 or 4 times in the last 10 days (Charlie Wilson, Walk Hard, Golden Compass, I Am Legend) and I know that Sweeney Todd and National Treasure are on the agenda before they go back to school. That plus 3 or 4 DVD's in the last few days.

Kyle McKnight · 12-27-2007, 07:44 PM

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Originally Posted by Michael Elliott

I'm just curious as to how people can afford to go...Six of those were at "second run" shows so tickets were only $4 but I went to see SWEENEY TODD today and the matinee price was $6.75, which I think is just crazy...it's $9.25 at night, which just blows my mind. I don't see how people, or just a couple, can buy two tickets, two drinks, popcorn, candy or whatever week after week...

I've got a lot of theaters around me being in DFW. One, Cinemark Tinseltown 17, before 6pm is $4 and afterwards is $6. Other than this theater (which has the most comfortable seats) you're looking at a minimum of $7 daytime, $9 nighttime. Instead of going to dinner and a movie, I like to go to movie and then a dinner. We often think the theater experience sucks because it seems everyone must constantly cough, eat nachos, munch on popcorn, unwrap multiple sets of candy, shake their drinks to try and get every last drop of soda out of their ice, check messages on their phones causing little squares of light to pop up in my field of view, make comments throughout the movie (I'm okay with a whisper every now and then seeing as if you're not in the row behind/in front of me I likely wont hear it), heavy breathing, leaving the theater constantly (it's not like you have to go to the bathroom every two hours...if so, don't drink anything), tapping your foot on the ground/chair etc...etc...etc... The worst that I do during a movie at a theater is shift my legs a few times.

I'd be glad to watch a movie in my home the night it releases in theaters as long as it was $10. If there is a license applied, $10 should cover two people and go up from there. As much as I love going to movies, out of seeing probably around fifty movies this last year, I doubt there were more than five or six that didn't have patrons in the theater who were overly noisy. Those that weren't were probably seen a week or two after release, during the day.

Pete-D · 12-27-2007, 08:02 PM

Shrugs. I'm still in my 20s but going out to a bar is far more expensive. After cover, parking, a few drinks, maybe a shot here and there.

Going out to grab a bite and get a few drinks really is not much cheaper than seeing a movie.

Going to a concert or a sporting event is far more expensive.

So going to a movie is comparatively cheap. I rarely get a drink or popcorn or candy though. I just never have even when I was a kid and got used to it.

Now if movie theaters want to generate extra revune ... start selling exclusive high-end merchandise. If I could get say one of those high gloss collector's books for an event movie, I'd buy one every time. Similar to what you can buy when you go to a concert. I got one for The Phantom Menace in 1999 and I know the ArcLight in Los Angeles sometimes carries extra stuff like this. For Batman Begins and War of the Worlds I remember we got these cool glossy collectible movie tickets specific to that movie as well, which I kept.

Michael Elliott · 12-27-2007, 08:41 PM

When I saw TODD today there was a family of three sitting in front of me so that was $18 there. Each had a large popcorn and a large drink, which was another $30 at least. That just seems like a lot of money when you could rent a movie for $1 from RedBox, do Netflix or any other type of rental thing. Perhaps I'm just getting cheap but my girlfriend and I are going to watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN this weekend and $18.50 to get in the door is just a tad bit too much. I sneak my drinks in so that cuts down on the cost.

I think prices in Louisville are around $7.50 except for Friday and Saturday showings when they are $8.25. Each Tuesday is $5 all day, which are the ones I'd try to hit if I went to the mainstream, first run shows. I was just a little taken back by the prices in Cincinnati, although they do have a couple second run theaters up here that are only $3 and $1.50 on Tuesdays.

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