gutwrencher

one last thought. the problem with the theater experience today is....uncomfortable theaters and the selection of good films is dismal. "uncomfortable" meaning dis-respectful people, insulting prices and big mega-complexes with little or no atmosphere. dont get me wrong...I used to attend a film a few times a week, from about 1969 to 1986. maybe it's my age...or maybe it's just all of the above. I think it's changed, not me. now where I live, there is no way to go see Sunset Blvd on the bigscreen. many cities have this, but not here. I may go much more often if this were true in my location, the reason being that it would be watched by a classier type of film buff. I am a cinema lover....just not a person who can put up with the BS that comes with it today.

scottall

The best time to get a good theatre experience is a matinee. The last matinee I went to (about 2:00 on a Tuesday) was About Schmidt. The theatre was completely filled with people over 60 and then my GF and I. The whole theatre was completely silent except for the funny moments in the movie. It was great, gotta love the old folks.

SCHMEGGA

MartyMcSuperfly

Yeah, no kidding. It's 8 dollars around here for a F'in *matinee*, and 10-12 for a nightime show. That's of course not counting gas and parking, and 6 bucks for popcorn. Bring a date, and the cost doubles.

Now, lets look at DVD prices. 19 bucks for a movie *MAX* from DDD, no shipping cost, no hassle, and all the popcorn I can eat thanks to my hot air popper.

And I get to watch it more than once.

MoviePage

Wrong, wrong, wrong. I love movies, always have, but I hate the theatergoing experience (or at least, what the theatergoing experience has now become). I prefer to watch in the comfort of my own home, without all the typical theater distractions listed in above posts. I carefully study most movies that I watch, and DVD allows me to go back and watch a scene or shot again if I wish to do so. I don't think that when Kurosawa was framing a shot, he was thinking, "My God, this must be seen on a very large screen with a large number of people, or it won't be good cinema!" I just don't like the implication that loving cinema and loving theatergoing are inseparable, because I assure you that they aren't. My DVD shelves are full of movies old and new, my bookshelves are full of volumes covering the art and history of cinema, but I hate the theatergoing experience. I'm so fed up with it that nowadays I usually just wait until a movie is out on DVD unless it's a must-see "event" movie (Matrix, LOTR, big Oscar movies, etc.). I prefer my cinema without the requisite dose of obnoxiousness always found at theaters, thank you. I respect that a lot of people love the theater, so I'll just say that I'm hoping for a day when studios at least give people a choice (release DVD on the same day as the theatrical debut).

jim_cook87

There are only a few chains that have been financially successful the last couple years. Many have been declaring or near declaring bankruptcy so I don't think this is going to be as significant a factor in keeping all movies from going direct to DVD as you suggest. The most significant factor will be the studios getting their repeat ticket sales, followed by DVD sales...

But, the same type of thing was debated when TV came into existence (and, to a lesser degree, again with VCR.) People would be able to watch the same thing at home, why would they continue to frequent the theater? The studios came up with enticements: widescreen movies, color movies, bigger better sound, and no commercials.

If you notice now the trend is toward IMAX, more and more movies are seeing releases as IMAX films and IMAX theaters are becoming more and more prevalent. IMAX offers something you can't get at home, an 8 story immersive screen... Since the advent of VCR, studios have worked harder to make us view movie going as an event, they'll keep that aspect up too... And I'd suspect they might come up with other ways to differentiate the theater experience from the home theater experience...

But one possibility does exist, I've heard a few discussions along these lines... With digital rights management technology studios could potentially release restricted use DVD's the same day a movie releases in the theaters. For $10 you could pick up a single view DRM-DVD, then 6 months later they could release unrestricted DVD's. This way they still get their repeat business before releasing to traditional home video... Sure it smells like DIVX and we know how that faired, but if marketed correctly they might be able to make something like this work, so long as they retain the process of releasing to unrestricted DVD... (I'm not presenting this as an idea I endorse, just as an idea I've heard and which makes for some interesting discussion...)

Dacoops3

audrey

WADR you are, of course, entitled to your opinion and your preference. But the home video and theater experiences are different both psychologically and physiologically. Movies do not always play equally well in both environments.

danol

One movie that went straight to DVD without even a theater release was "Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives 1989.


More people on a number of forums believe it was better than Original "Eddie and the Cruisers" in 1983.


Eddie Lives: final concert was that of a Bon Jovi concert of 8,000 canadians immediately recognized Micheal Pare from the 1983 original, went *wild* chanting Cruisers Cruisers, over and over. The concert goers were told that another act would follow after Bon Jovi, *not* that the audience would be in the movie! Fred Scotti of the Scotti Bros took a gamble and it paid off big.


Minimum 8,000 would buy or rent the video to see if *they* were in the movie!

Ginwen

I love going to the movies at a theater. It's a night out, as opposed to just another night at home. I expect that will never change.

I very rarely have appreciable problemswith other audience members at the movies--in fact, the last time I remember was in January when I was on vacation in Florida (maybe Washington state movie-goers are just more courteous than movie-goers in other places).

Pretty faint praise, in my book.

jough

If by SW3 you mean "Star Wars: Episode III" I just wanted to point out that it won't be in theatres for another TWO YEARS.

So you're only going to go to the movies in December, and then not again until May 2005?

Just wondering.

Personally, I've been going to the movies less due to: a) the economic depression, and b) the shortend DVD release window - now those "maybe" movies are blind buys on DVD - and the discs usually cost less than a night for two at the movies (and I'm just talking about ticket prices - 2 x $8.50 around here = $17.00) Most DVDs don't cost that much, or at least not much more, and I can watch them more than once with more than one other person.

But I still check out all of the important movies in the theatre.

Looking forward to catching the second two Matrix films on the HUGE Imax screen.

-- Jough

jough

I think you're confusing the "theatrical experience" (seeing movies on a big screen with surround sound with a bunch of strangers with the "public annoyances" which will creep up whenever you gather enough people together in one place who never learned how to behave in public, let alone in a movie theatre.

The cinema was created to be displayed on the big screen, in a dark theatre, as a group experience.

The fact that many groups behave poorly under such circumstances doesn't mean that the medium is bad - but just shows the subpar upbringing and education of most people.

I have a moderately sized DVD collection and watch something on DVD every day. But there's no comparison to the theatre.

If you have a large format display device at home (20 feet wide - minimum) and excellent surround sound speakers, seating for at least 50 people, etc., then yes, I'd say I'd prefer to watch films in the comfort of my own home too.

But given the poor presentation of even the finest home theatre set-ups (let's face it, kids, the TV is just never big enough, is it?) and the limited resolution of the current state of digital technology (720x480, which is the DVD's maximum resolution, is still considered low-res even by home computer standards - it's less than a megapixel, whereas the film frame, when taking grain into consideration, is around 6 or 7 megapixels).

I hope some day for everyone to have homes large enough and bank accounts big enough to house a large projection (or better yet, a large solid state) display that rivals the movie houses.

However, that day is far from today.

-- Jough

turborobb

right right right right right!!! I don't care how big your widescreen HD TV is or how nice your stereo is... nothing beats seeing a movie in the theater on the big screen with a nice bag of popcorn! (unless you are one of those people who sit so far in the back of the theater the screen looks the size of your TV, but thats another arguement) I saw Attack of the Clones in the theater 5 times because I knew seeing it on the small screen wouldn't touch the thrill of seeing it on the large screen. I love going to the movies, I went 3 times this week alone. are you telling me the thrill of seeing Lord of the Rings on the largwe screen is anything close to being the same as seeing it on the TV screen... sorry, I just don't get it.

Also... you people who complained about all the people talking, parking, crowds, ect, ect.... when do you go?? You get what you ask for if you go to the movies friday night at 8. Like I said, I see movies all the time and never have any of these problems. Go on a monday-thursday afternoon (12-5pm) show, or if you are like me and stay up late, go to the 10pm show. I saw X Men 2 late monday night at 10:30pm on the giant screen at Disney World (I live in orlando) and there was hardly anyone there. But even if I when to the 24 screen mall theater full of teensagers, it's still better than DVDs.

To me going out, getting the popcorn, looking at the movie posters, playing pac man in the lobby, seeing the previews of upcoming movies, the giant screen, the sound, stopping somewhere and getting a beer or shake after the show... thats what movies are all about! As much as I like DVDs and movies, I have a collection of over 2000 DVD and VHS, but staying in and watching a movie on the small screen with the distraction of ringing phones, people coming over, ect. is way down on my list if things I like to do.

Does anyone have one of theose cheap seats theaters near you? They run movies after the major theaters, but before DVD, and all the seats are $2.00 and the popcorn is fairly cheap, I saw Lord of the Rings 2 there for the second time. I went at 2pm and was one of 3 people in the whole theater. wonderful to see it on the large screen.

IMO movies are rushed out to DVDs too soon. I remember the old days when I was a little kid Star Wars was rereleased in the theater every couple years through the 70's and early 80's.

MartyMcSuperfly

Some of us have jobs.

And pony up 20+ bucks for the privlage.

Azazoth

?

I saw this POS in the theater because the manager wouldn't let me in to see Kickboxer.

gutwrencher

...which is why I turn off phones, tell my friends to leave me alone and put the 2 german sheps out in the yard to chase away any invaders. you have much more control at home....than babysitting a bunch of dis-respectful vermin and so-called parents. and like I stated before, the location in which you live is essential. there are no movie houses here that show old classics, so I'm not interested. and most of what plays today....is crap. so I feel good about being a 30 year vet of the theater experience, with over 600 visits I'm sure. but times have changed, along with the atmosphere of going. so just because I refuse to go now, does not mean I dont love the cinema.....thats just dumb. I was watching films in theaters when alot of talkers here were still in diapers. to each his own...thats what counts.

Brad Hood

I have a 5 month old. All movies are straight to DVD for me.

Actually, I will be seeing Reloaded, and I did see The Two Towers at Christmas, but that's about it since November.

If you add in the cost of a babysitter to tickets, parking, popcorn, etc., DVDs start to look really economical.

Brad

agilliland

I think we should remember the history of theatrical films. Back in the '50's when tv was first starting out there was a huge backlash for theaters. Not all, but enough people had decided not to go to the theater anymore because they could get the same thing at home. Of course since there is a lot of money involved the film industry fought back by innovating widescreen and surround sound to make the theater experience more unique.

Now that widescreen tvs and surround sound systems are becoming more common place I think there is another backlash already being felt. I doubt it will be enough to kill the film industry, and hopefully it will inspire some innovation, maybe something more 3d or virtual reality

I sure hope the theaters don't die out though, because I think getting out to the theater is far better than watching at home.

Dabaomb

movies are made primarily to make money for the studios. Sure, they want to give us entertainment, but more than anything else, they wanna make money.

That said, it'll never happen. Also, when you have to go on a date and you can't think of anything to do, what do you do? Dinner & a movie @ the movie theater.

SCHMEGGA

Man, Brad you sound just like me! My wife and I were just discussing this the other day. Even though we love to go to the movies every once in a while, we can buy the DVD for cheaper than it would cost us to go and in the end we can see it as often as we want. If we don't like it then we can trade it in at the local used place and at least we get a portion of our money back that way. Plus, isn't it nice to pause and go pee rather than sit through a film with yellowing eyes?

gutwrencher

date? ohhh yeah, I remember those.

nah, I cook dinner for my wife at home, serve her, then we watch a flick at home in our ideal enviroment. besides, the living room is much closer to the bedroom.

Spiky

Man, I wish I lived somewhere where there was a decent theater. Here in Minneapolis, there's a couple THX theaters, all crap. There's no digital theaters and SW Ep2 looked like s*** on both the Imax and regular screen. Stupid crappy digital transferred to film. Shouldn't have bothered with the Imax.

Brand new theater opened near me (actually 3 theaters opened, all similar) a couple years back, it just plain sucks. The seats are uncomfortable, jerk kids frequent the place, the sound is adequate at best (is that really Dolby, or just a bunch of speakers?), the only saving grace is the workers are so stupid I could probably walk in for free if I tried. Oh, and the handicap seating is better these days. I often go with a family member who's in a wheelchair, making that an important feature. Other than that, crap, crap, crap.

I prefer my house any day of the week. I have better sound (my speakers aren't even insanely expensive, but theaters just don't care enough to make it good) and even with my current small TV I still prefer home. Once I bump up to 80-90", I'll have little reason to go to the theater except for the timing. Like I'll want to see SW Ep3 sooner than whenever the DVD comes out.

My current plans for theater going include Matrix 2, 3, ROTK, SW3. That's it unless the wife wants to see something. Maybe something else will come up in the next 2 years, but I think I can wait on most films. I don't even seem to care about XMen 2, maybe my aforementioned uncle will want to go...otherwise, when's the DVD due?