Looking for discussion on the future of theaters. (1 Viewer)

[Ryan-G]

Hi all,


This has been on my mind a bit, the future of theaters. I live in Pittsburgh, and I've noticed a trend that interests me. What I've noticed is a decrease in the number of theaters.


A good portion of my city is college town, but strangely, the foci of the colleges does not have a theater. There's one about 20 minutes away, but none in that area. Similiarly, one of the biggest shopping areas in my city had both it's theaters close, with no new ones to replace them. The area surrounding it is reasonably affluent, but the presence of theaters is relatively low.


It reminds me a bit of the death of the drive in, though I was only a child during that event. In the last 3 years, I've seen exactly 2 movies in a theater, Avatar and Watchmen. OTOH, I'm a massive consumer of Blu-ray, buying 1-2 movies with each pay. It's not that I don't want to see movies in the theater, it's that it's now a minimum 30 minute drive each way, on top of the 2-3 hours for the movie.


The occasions I have attended, I went to the largest in my city, an enourmous Lowes. Even there, on Friday nights, only the central snack area is open. All of the little ancillary ones positioned in the hallways remain dark and empty. I wonder if they've ever even been used.


This was brought to mind again this past week when I accidentaly discovered a movie on X-box Live that was available before it even hit theaters. Which makes me wonder...Is this studios testing the waters for Day&Date releases in VoD format? Have theaters decreased in number and clout to the point where studios are now considering if it's viable to bypass the theater?


To my experience, I think it's likely that this is the case. I doubt I am the only one in my area who doesn't attend theaters due to the lack of nearby ones. I'm thinking that attendance has now dropped sufficiently, and home-viewing has increased sufficiently to entice Studios to consider new avenues, But I lack the experience to make fair judgement on the topic.


What are your thoughts on the matter? Do theaters seem to be in decline in your cities?

 

[cocol]

i am interested in it,but i have no idea in my mind.

 

[drobbins]

In town here we have a theater, bowling ally, bingo and loitering in front of the auto parts store. The next closest town is about 45 miles away and is usually similar to a Christmas shopping madhouse every Friday & Saturday night. Even though watching a movie does not allow for much socializing, it is something to do. The theater parking lot usually has many cars in it although not what I would call full.



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[Paul D G]

Did Dave just say he's quitting HTF?!


There really isn't an issue with movie theaters in my area - about 30m outside Chicago. They just opened a new 16-plex that's always packed a few miles away. There's a theater about 1/2m from my house but I don't like to go there - too much riff-raff. I prefer to go to one about 7m away that's kind of in the middle of nowhere - literally. I go afternoons and when the theater is in a rural area you're less likely to have bored teens show up (ie: the aforementioned riff-raff). Plus the free popcorn on Wed and their rewards program are bonuses.


In all there's 7 or 8 theaters within 20mins of my house.

 

[CRyan]

My area is the same as Paul. Plenty of theaters that always seem to be packed on Friday and Saturday. Although, I have not been to a theater in over 3 years.


I believed theaters were going away a few years ago when everyone was reporting horrible sales figures for the entire industry. But go figure, it was a lack of anything that resembled quality or anything that interested people (imo). I mean movies sales have been on the rise now for a couple of years again. And they did a smart thing - They brought back a better 3D bringing more interest back to the theater.


As I have gotten older, I have tended to forget the teenage market. And as long as movies are somewhat affordable, movies will continue to be a teenage meeting place for friends and dating. One of the reasons I believe so many movies have decided to be PG-13 these days. I don't believe college kids are a major demographic for the movies. Certainly not when I was in school. Most are just getting away from home and now have plenty of other things to get into besides sitting in a theater. Hell, we even had movies at the dorms.


Regarding movies direct to xbox or other venues before street date. Hollywood has always employed different tactics for movies expected to perform poorly.


And regarding the extra snack centers located throughout the theater. I have never understood those. Every one of the theaters here end up closing those within the first year of operation. They all quickly figure out customer convenience is not worth the extra labor cost. No one goes to a particular theater because they have easier access to snacks so there is no value in it for the theater owners. I can only imagine that the respective managers look at the sales figures for each booth and realize they are paying more in salary than they are making in sales. They would do better I would think by having just one additional vending area and alway have the top grossing movies in that immediate area.

 

[Carl Miller]

Most theaters in my area used to be large single screen theaters. Now, they've all been divided into 4, 6, and even a few 8 screen theaters where the screens are so small and the sound so bad that my wife and I don't even bother anymore. There were two theaters that didn't go this route, and they're both out of business. There are a couple of true multiplex 12-14 screen theaters around, but one is very unsafe and the others a bit too far away.


There is no lack of theaters however, and I suppose the model that they all use around here subdividing a big single theater into a 6 plex must work because they're all usually very busy.

My wife and I used to go to the movies about once a week but since this change over the past 10 years or so, we rarely go...haven't been to a theater in nearly a year and don't plan to go anytime soon.

 

[cocol]

awesome!