Cinema's are dead

[JDL49]

So is the proper use of apostrophes.

???? Wth are you referring to ?

[Nerph-]

???? Wth are you referring to ?

I guess the title of the thread.

[Kokolums]

Cinemas are currently trying to adapt by offering a full restaurant experience including alcohol and adding reclining seats or a dining room. they also rent out venues for church groups, speaking engagements, live shows and parties.

if they can add some slot machines and card tables, they almost become a mini-casino. actual films are almost an afterthought.

[Endus]

Cinemas are currently trying to adapt by offering a full restaurant experience including alcohol and adding reclining seats or a dining room. they also rent out venues for church groups, speaking engagements, live shows and parties.

if they can add some slot machines and card tables, they almost become a mini-casino. actual films are almost an afterthought.

Alamo Drafthouses at least date back to 1997. Some local theaters up here were offering restaurant-style menus and alcohol in a similar kind of thing a good 5 years or so, years before the pandemic, since I've enjoyed several shows there and I haven't been to a cinema since the pandemic hit. This isn't remotely a new thing, just one whose popularity is growing.

[hellhamster]

LG OLEDs sold like pancakes this black Friday, I am expecting even less people to visit cinemas next year. Pretty much everyone I know in the market for a new TV snatched one.

[Twdft]

similar kind of thing a good 5 years or so, years before the pandemic,

Yeah, here in Germany that started at least 10 years ago. First leather seats with bigger armrests, foot room got bigger, then recliners. First only certain rows you had to pay extra for convenience. And I actually paid more for tickets, because those seats were a big improvement over the usual let's cramp as many seats as possible into the rooms.

But... as TVs got bigger cinemas already started losing me as a customer. Covid made me buy a projector and now I'm probably lost forever.

That said, cinema has a certain appeal. 20 years ago when Kill Bill was released I watched it in English on the first day. Right in the beginning when Bill shot Beatrix in the head the whole cinema shook in their seats, awesome moment. A couple days later I watched it again in German with a friend and only half of the cinema twitched and some giggling was going on. It was actually palpable how half the people have seen the movie before. I'll never have that experience at home.

[Koriani]

Well with Disney+ now making the same 'realizations' as HBO/WB made with the loss to revenue releasing movies direct to stream (or soon to stream) - I think Theaters very much still aren't dead.

As much as the public may want their blockbusters for 15 a month - neither the 15 a month standard, nor the sub numbers, and the expense of the blockbuster itself, are creating that reality for the viewer. The system is /not/ making the profits.

Either the blockbusters will die (or get made for way less) and the studio's just put out 'middle-road production cost' movies for direct to stream -- or the studios will shift ALL those movies releases back to the theaters for several months at a time before allowing them on their networks and the public will normalize showing back up to see them again.

And apparently Netflix's plan to show 'Knives Out" sequal on a limited run number of theaters (like 700 theaters vs. full release) for a couple of weeks, before pulling it and then delaying its release on their platform for a couple more weeks - is also not the plan go to with. It showed them they could have made more money releasing it wider (the way they did the first movie), because they definitely made good $$ for the release they did have - and could be showing a backlash of 'confusion' for subscribers (old or new) who can't find the movie on Netflix yet. =D

[Kokolums]

Alamo Drafthouses at least date back to 1997. Some local theaters up here were offering restaurant-style menus and alcohol in a similar kind of thing a good 5 years or so, years before the pandemic, since I've enjoyed several shows there and I haven't been to a cinema since the pandemic hit. This isn't remotely a new thing, just one whose popularity is growing.

i didnt say it was a new thing. i said they were "currently" doing it.

[Logwyn]

Cinemas are currently trying to adapt by offering a full restaurant experience including alcohol and adding reclining seats or a dining room. they also rent out venues for church groups, speaking engagements, live shows and parties.

if they can add some slot machines and card tables, they almost become a mini-casino. actual films are almost an afterthought.

The movie was always secondary to the industry. They really just cared about you buying theirs over priced popcorn and sodas. The concession stand is where the theater traditionally made all its money.

[exochaft]

The movies pulling these numbers are starting to be few and far between. You also can’t go off straight ticket sales as tickets tend to be a lot more expensive than the past. When adjusted for inflation neither are in the top 20.

Yeah, good example of this principle is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever compared to the original Black Panther. The opening weekend gross revenue was roughly the same, but the sequel pulled in roughly 40% less tickets. Basically, less people went to see the sequel but paid much more per ticket. Actually is the case with most of the Marvel movies as of late, where everyone talks about their gross revenue when reality is much less people are going to see the movies.

That being said, doesn't mean going to the cinema is dead yet. Covid didn't help things, but as with many businesses Covid wasn't the root source of the issues but rather exacerbated them. A better argument is that the movies that are being put out just aren't good or are of lesser quality than what we've become accustomed to. There have been a few movies that just skyrocketed or overperformed since Covid, and they were basically movies that were liked by a broad audience. However, a lot of the other movies that should be easy money (either due to the IP or the company releasing the movie) that are failing... and a common thread is that their stories/characters are terrible and/or they're loaded with political messaging. It all comes back to the people at the forefront of the movie industry tending to be out of touch with average people to the point where their created content reflects such viewpoints.

Main reason people go to see a movie in a cinema is for an escape from real life crap and to be entertained. If you start making all your movies saturated in current-day political/social messaging that gets shoved down your through 24/7 while not being entertained in the slightest, you aren't going to sell tickets. Add Covid and a recession on top of that, you're just shooting yourself in the foot.