I wanted to go the movies this weekend but the movie I wanted to see is no longer at my local theater, I would need to drive 45 minutes to see it. It’s only been out for 2 weeks but I could go to one of three screens in the local theater still showing Captain America which I have no interest in. It wouldn’t bother me so much but this about the fifth time this has happened in less than a year.
It’s a lot of different factors and unfortunately the movie industry has just been going on inertia and greed for years and this is the result of that.
Another commenter mentioned prices. Prices for everything have risen but when it costs more for a month of a streaming service than the price of one movie ticket it makes the movie ticket harder to justify.
Speaking of streaming, it’s obviously far easier to stream a movie at home rather than make the effort to go to the theater. Add the cost and complexity of child care if you’re a parent and a night out at the movies is expensive and a headache.
Take those two factors out and you’re still up against the issue of time and marketing. This is the more personal one for me so these examples below are my personal thoughts and feelings.
Before the night of the Oscars, I had only heard of two of the nominees for best pictures and only had the chance to see one in theaters. I see the advertisements but I’ll be honest unless the ad really piques my interest, I don’t know where to watch said movie. Is it streaming? What service? I don’t know they showed the logo at the end but I wasn’t paying enough attention. Is it in the theater? It is? Ok, let’s go see it, oh it was only in the theater for two weeks but you can stream it now on Amazon for $20. I don’t want to stream it and I wanted to see it in a theater. And if I want to see it badly enough, I don’t want to pay Jeff Bezos the money to do that so I’ll wait until it’s on one of the ones I subscribe to. Or it’s a movie like Mikey 17. I’ve never heard of that movie anywhere except on this website and about half the times it’s been mentioned, it was in articles like this saying, “why isn’t anyone going to the movies?” Same shit happened last year with “Fall Guy”. Movies used to be allowed to grow and find their audience, now it’s all the bottom dollar and extracting that value as soon as possible.
Two of my favorites:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, been awhile since I watched it all the way through and wanted to do it for the 50th anniversary.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit, not only is it a great noir movie but the comedy is on point too. So many good jokes and references to golden era cartoons and, who can forget the best Disney villain, Judge Doom.