mndtrp

Theaters, AMC in particular, have been screwing themselves with the ever-increasing costs to see a movie. When it's over $30 just for two people to see the movie, it's out of my price range for more than one or two movies a year. It's not just a "hey, I've got a few hours, I'll go see something" thing to do anymore. Provided AMC stays in business, I have a hard time seeing them not showing any Universal movies ever again. The Fast and Furious franchise alone rakes in a lot of money and views, let alone anything else.

DJariya

The Fate of the Furious made barely over $200M in U.S. theatres. It became a big hit and made $1.2 billion with international box office.

Do you really think it could make all that money from streaming alone? How much would they have to charge? $40-50-60? And as I said, someone, somewhere, would copy it and upload it online within 48 hours if you do a PVOD that early.

and you're forgetting there is AMC A-List. $20/month in many markets to see 12 movies per month.

Draven

Piracy is always a concern but if you offer alternatives that are a) good and b) affordable, most people aren't going to fuck around with pirated copies. The music industry took a long time to figure that out.

I loved seeing that movie in the theater. It also cost me at least $60 to do so (me, wife, son and a couple of drinks and some popcorn). I'd happily miss out on the experience to get it at home instead. I'd pay $50 to own it on opening night...still cheaper than the theater.

eXcentris

TV cooler talk has gone the way of the dodo. The same thing will happen with movies.

fujishig

The theaters don't seem to make much money on the ticket (maybe that's changed) so who's being greedy, the movie distributors or the theaters?

DJariya

TV Water Cooler Talk died when streaming, DVRs and tons of streaming services flooded the market. There's thousands of shows in the market both on streaming and currently airing on TV. Most people simply cannot keep up with every new show that comes out and only maybe watch 1-2 hours of TV per night. There's like 20 different streaming services out there with various "exclusive" shows, but many, including here, simply cannot afford to subscribe to them all. There's also fewer movies that come out each year than television shows. TV has anywhere from 10 to 24 hours per season. TV is a huge time investment. You just need 90 minutes to 2 hours on most days to catch a movie you want to see.

There's always going to be that big "event" movie that people want to see and will want to see it right away when it comes out. I know there's always "that guy" who doesn't care, but the majority can keep up with seeing that special event movie that everyone is talking about a few times per month.

DJariya

The theatres take a roughly 30% cut of sales.

devilshalo

Theaters have always had to rely on concessions to make money. They don't make money from ticket sales until (really) after the 2nd week.

Why So Blu?

Correct.

eXcentris

And I fully expect "that guy" will become "most guys". If I look at my nephew, my niece, and their friends, all in their 20's, they just don't consume movies as older people do, i.e. it seems that millenials don't care about social pressure in this specific case because there isn't much of one.

Draven

My teenaged kids like movies and we make them watch the classics with us (well, 80s and 90s movies we love ) but if we didn't they would not care. They don't watch any television on a schedule and never on the actual TV. And they certainly aren't going to suddenly start going to the theater all the time as adults. When you can watch almost anything at the touch of a button, it's hard to get motivated to shell out serious cash just to see something opening weekend. I do it because I'm used to it and I enjoy it, but honestly...I haven't missed theaters at all during this. I have so much stuff to watch.

Theaters better get on board with that.

DJariya

I have plenty of stuff to watch too. But, I wanted to see the new James Bond movie and A Quiet Place 2 this Spring. I'm disappointed they are still months away from showing, but I'm not kicking and screaming.

I get it your kids probably don't care one way or another. They're young, they want to go outside and hang out with their friends, text and eat fast food together and watch short YouTube videos. They don't have the kind of disposable income most adults have for entertainment, so they find other things to keep them busy.

fujishig

I'm a little surprised (though I guess teenaged kids covers a broad range of ages... how old?). I figured there would still be the social thing of going to the movie with friends or on a date. It's similar to a restaurant where, at least for me, it seems really odd to go to one by myself but I will as an "event" with other people. Once you're older, are married, and have kids, much easier to just watch something at home, but even then every once in a while it works as a treat for the family.

If movies are going to mainly VOD, they will instantly lose any urgency I have to watch their stuff at full price because there's so much competition for the screen. It's like all the Netflix shows I'm half interested in but just end up on my queue that I never watch.

orangerunner

I think it depends on the theatre chain, the location of the theatre and the calibre of film in question. I've heard the studios take upwards of 90% of the box office take in the first week or so and then it gradually begins to give the theatres a higher percentage in the range of 20-50% in the following weeks.

This model worked well for the theatres owners when a film like Titanic (1997/1998) played to large crowds for three months while the home video window was still at least four to six months. Much of the later revenue were people seeing a film multiple times.

The big change in the last 20 or 30 years is the sheer amount of content coming from very direction and the perceived entertainment value. For instance in May of 1986 you could see "Top Gun" in its 70mm glory for $6.00 at the local theatre or you could wait until the middle of March 1987 to rent the pan-and-scan VHS tape for $3.00 and watch it on your 20" CRT-TV. This model was a much more compelling reason to see the film in the theatre. For better or for worse, things have evolved and the perceived comparative value just isn't as strong as it once was.

Draven

They are 14 and 16. My 14-year old daughter is far more social and I think she's been to maybe three movies with her friends. But she parks herself on Facetime and spend HOURS just hanging out, doing stuff in their rooms, etc. It's like having your friend over all the time. My 16-year-old son isn't nearly as social and basically plays video games while watching/listening to Twitch streams and podcasts. They have zero idea of "this TV show is on at 8 PM" or "this movie showing is at 7." They just do not operate on schedules. And that's the thing - the natural evolution of technology has lead to this. They want to do what they want right now and if they can't they move on.

Hell, I work in TV and they literally watch nothing on it. It's all screens.

I say cut down on the amount of theaters, make fewer movies a year, get the prices of them under better control (for both the studios and the theater), make them "events" that are worth keeping in theaters for a month or more and send everything else to VOD.

The point is they need to do something. Record executives went through this. Movie studios are next.

candyrocket786

Considering I use to go to the theater a few times a year and simply wait for the Video release window for everything else, this mostly likely means that window will be shortened.

Thanks in advance AMC/Regal. Good Luck.

Mabuse

AMC: “We aren’t going to show any more Universal movies.”

Me: “How many Universal movies were you showing yesterday?”

MLBFan24

Or...

Universal - we will explore more VOD options instead of theatrical releases.

AMC - we will refuse to show all Universal movies

Universal - yea, that’s what I said. More VOD releases.

fujishig

I thought Universal basically wanted to have their cake and eat it too, releasing stuff day and date in theaters and VOD.

DJariya

All this shit because of Trolls World Tour?

Draven

I think certain movies are tailor-made for this kind of situation - Trolls World Tour was the perfect one to try it with.

milo bloom

Even as a kid back then, the theatre showing was just a thing to do to not be in the house. And once VHS became sell-through, our trips to the theatre went massively down. Even in the past few years, we were only going for the new Star Wars movies and stuff like Sonic the Hedgehog.

Even so, I can't imagine paying the current VOD prices, unless they also included a discount for future purchase, even if it's just the digital copy.

But the theater experience is passe, even if they do sell beer and better food at some of them now.
I'd still rather be on my couch or in my nice Ekornes chair, with my choice of drinks and food.

And my kid definitely has very little interest in the theatre, and not that much in movies at all. Shows on streaming services are a big thing for him, but even more is stuff on youtube. More and more, there's people making fantastic content on there that isn't just pranks or music. Just recently we've been watching shows about weird home computer designs from the 90s, or the history of Arby's. There's just more interesting content than the latest overblown explosion-a-minute action flicks.

actionjackson29

The thing that will stop this is no one is gonna pay $20 to rent a movie to make this worthwhile. People on here that love movies don’t want to pay $20 to own a movie. After coronavirus people are gonna want to be out of the house. I spend a lot of time at home but, going to the movies on the weekends with other people is an experience that I don’t wanna lose.

orangerunner

I think if the studios do decide to make every big-budget tent-pole summer film into a $19.95 movie-on-demand experience it will remove the sense of exclusivity that the theatrical release offers. When a Marvel, D.C. or Star Wars movie comes out movie-goers pre-purchase tickets and most of the showings are long sold-out during the first opening weekends which gives the audience a sense of reward for having bought their tickets in advance and showing-up early. The fans wear their costumes and there's a real vibe in the air. This helps create the sense of an important and memorable "event" in people's lives.

With the on-demand model there's no effort required. It's not going to sell-out. There's no passion, no sense of anticipation or urgency from fans. It's just another 2 hours of sitting in your living room watching another movie but you can proudly say you saved a few bucks in the process and didn't have to deal with the outside world.

devilshalo

Well, what's the difference of having a watch party in which you get several of your friends together and dress up to do this like a UFC fight and share the cost of a $20 rental? Especially after all this covid-19, who will want to congregate like that now around big tentpole films? Unless the studios cut a deal that they share a larger portion of that first weekend take, the movie theaters will suffer greatly.