Is This You?
05-28-04, 05:06 PM
#1
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Is This You?
On Salon.com, Charles Taylor today wrote a story about the decline of the summer blockbuster. (Here's a link, though you might have to watch an advertisement to get a free, one-day Web site pass to read it.) But there's one passage I found interesting:
I, too, have seen these guys in the video stores on Tuesdays. Is this you?
People also no longer care much if they miss a movie they wanted to see in the theaters since, in no time at all, there will be plenty of other ways for them to see it. In most major cities, you can buy a wretched bootleg of a new movie the day after it opens. Slightly higher up the aesthetic scale, you can see it on pay-per-view in your home or in a hotel (though probably shown in the wrong aspect ratio) a few months later, sometimes while it's still holding on at a few screens. And not long after that, the same movie that generated such hype just a while back will come out on DVD and be reduced to background noise projected on the screens of media megastores where consumers are given the choice of buying it in the correct widescreen format or in the falsely named "Fullscreen" edition, which actually gives them less of the picture. Every Tuesday at the branch of the national electronics chain in my neighborhood you can see customers with a stack of that day's new releases under their arm. Nobody ever seems especially excited about any one release. The buying appears indiscriminate, and you can count on seeing the same folks doing the same thing on the following Tuesday.
Last edited by Walter Neff; 05-28-04 at 05:14 PM.
05-28-04, 05:10 PM
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Yes, especially since I work in the Best Buy Movie Section, lol, but I only buy the movies that I want, not just because there new...
Last edited by DVD Giant; 05-28-04 at 08:12 PM.
05-28-04, 05:50 PM
#7
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the last 2 movies that i had no interest in going out to see at the theater, that i suddenly looked forward to picking up on dvd:
Master & Commander
Kill Bill V1 (already sold off)
my interest lies more in catalog titles.
i've seen this syndrome going back a long time
15 yrs ago, when i was collecting LDs, i would go into the store on street date and see a few LD fans picking up the latest and greatest releases.
i remember thinking "is that guy really going to be that happy that he has Rising Sun in his collection 5 yrs from now? is he still going to get excited watching it in 1997?"
Master & Commander
Kill Bill V1 (already sold off)
my interest lies more in catalog titles.
i've seen this syndrome going back a long time
15 yrs ago, when i was collecting LDs, i would go into the store on street date and see a few LD fans picking up the latest and greatest releases.
i remember thinking "is that guy really going to be that happy that he has Rising Sun in his collection 5 yrs from now? is he still going to get excited watching it in 1997?"
05-28-04, 08:31 PM
#10
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I guess it's me, because I usually buy something on most Tuesdays and since I've hit pretty much all of the catalog stuff that I want, I pretty much buy just new releases these days (whether catalog or from theaters)
although I might add if people don't really care about seeing a movie in theaters, why is Shrek making so much money? The summer blockbuster seems to be doing fine
although I might add if people don't really care about seeing a movie in theaters, why is Shrek making so much money? The summer blockbuster seems to be doing fine
Last edited by Jericho; 05-28-04 at 08:34 PM.
05-28-04, 08:49 PM
#11
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I'll be honest, 95% of the weeks I'm in Best Buy on Tues. (Wed. at the latest) picking up my movies. But unlike the article in question, my buying is not indiscriminate. I pick and choose in the ones I want before going to the store. And sometimes get a few extra if the price surprises me. Also unlike the article, I still do get excited about certain releases. Recent examples of ones that put a smile on my face to own them....
Bubba Ho-tep, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: CE & Enter The Dragon: SE
Bubba Ho-tep, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: CE & Enter The Dragon: SE
05-28-04, 09:07 PM
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i think so. i go to the movies way less and i know i can wait and get it on dvd. plus i figure a movie ticket costs ~$8-$10 so i use that cost when buying a dvd (the money i saved by NOT going to the movies). it helps.
05-28-04, 10:44 PM
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Not me but.....my co-worker is interesting. He is in a bowling league, works a 40 hour a week job, records hours of programming on his Tivo, plays video games like Link and GTA and buys on average 2 - 6 dvd's on Tuesday. Most of those are TV season shows.
Where does he find the time?
Where does he find the time?
05-28-04, 11:31 PM
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i do fall into that category but i dont..i like seeing movies on the big screen and i like looknig back at a movie 5 or 10 years from now and saying 'oh yeah i saw that in the theater'.but hey thats just me.horror movies and teen flicks (im 18,lol) i NEED to see in theater but others i dont mind seeing them on video
05-29-04, 09:01 AM
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Proud to say this is not me. I make my up my own mind what to buy and do not get excited by Tuesdays, like some people who have fallen prey to the zombification of the consumerist society we currently live in-- buy, buy, buy, but without a true feeling of self-satisfying pleasure. I think that's what the Salon article was getting on...
05-29-04, 05:06 PM
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Originally posted by POWERBOMB
Where does he find the time?
Where does he find the time?
I only stop by a retail store once every 2 weeks or so. with the size of my library, there is not much chance of finding what I need because I have most of what I want. I rely on on-line ordering at least twice a week....which beats the hell out of going out shopping.
05-29-04, 05:13 PM
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I only go to the movies that I really want to see. The experience of a popcorn covered floor with coke spillage everywhere that makes you stick to the floor is no longer apealing to me. Add to this that the fact most movie theaters are 21+ screens and they play the volume so low with almost no LFE that you only get a partial experience of the theater anyways.
The burnmarks on the film are annoying, as well as dirt and scratches that are apparent on the first reel of the film.
For 90% of the movies out there, i would rather watch them at home on my 100" 16x9 projector with my Dual SVS subwoofers churning out the bass on my B&W speakers 5.2 setup being played near Dolby Reference level.
The last movie that I watched in the theater was Troy, and was disappointed by the lack of sound and the softness in the color.
The burnmarks on the film are annoying, as well as dirt and scratches that are apparent on the first reel of the film.
For 90% of the movies out there, i would rather watch them at home on my 100" 16x9 projector with my Dual SVS subwoofers churning out the bass on my B&W speakers 5.2 setup being played near Dolby Reference level.
The last movie that I watched in the theater was Troy, and was disappointed by the lack of sound and the softness in the color.
05-29-04, 08:12 PM
#24
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I agree somewhat. I'm not the guy going every week to pick up 10 new releases simply because I don't have the funds to do so.
And the reason this is happening is because people are beginning to realize that $9.25 to watch the movie once in a theatre is not worth it anymore when you can get the movie for $15 a few months later and watch it whenever you please.
And the reason this is happening is because people are beginning to realize that $9.25 to watch the movie once in a theatre is not worth it anymore when you can get the movie for $15 a few months later and watch it whenever you please.
