andicus

Lack of desire to sit next to people I don't know.

Irritation at the sound of people chewing, or opening wrappers.

Cell phones.


Although my wife recently went with her sister to see Bohemian Rhapsody, and said everyone was quiet throughout the film. So I was disappointed I didn't go, but will see it at home.

Shannon Nutt

There are a lot of reasons, but obnoxious movie goers are at the top of the list.

However, add to that the fact that my nearest theater is in desperate need of a remodel (NO stadium seating and a screen that is improperly positioned - if you sit anywhere but the back three rows, you're looking UP at the screen from below) and the fact that they literally run 10 minutes of commercials every time I go (and that's BEFORE the previews start) - it's just become an unpleasant hassle.

I've gone from seeing a movie every weekend when I was in my 20s and 30s to MAYBE seeing six movies a year in the theater.

rw2516

Other. Availability and technology.

In the sixties and seventies the one and only guarantee that would get to see a movie was if you went to theater. Most movies only lasted a week so you had to go first week to be safe. Once a movie left the theater there was a good chance you would never get a chance to see it for the rest of your life.
Same for movies on tv. If you missed a movie it may never be on tv again.
We would sit in the car in freezing temps at the drive-in not to miss a movie.
Set your alarm for the late show in case you fell asleep. Or go to bed and get back up at 2am to see a movie

Then came cable. Premium channels offered insurance in case you missed a movie at the theater. You still had to go see low budget stuff that premium channels didn't carry. Still had to make sure you didn't miss airing of older movie on tv.

Psychologically, home video just shortened the window for home viewing. There was the convenience of choosing the watch time but that didn't affect the excitement of seeing the movie.

Even with premium channels and home video the need to see something right away is still there. But home theater technology changed that.

Where I'm at now. With a home theater, the release day of a movie is the day of the BD release. The few months between theater and BD doesn't seem to exist anymore. When a movie is announced I automatically think of the BD release date instead of the theatrical. My brain has rewired itself to think this way. I feel I can see any movie, any time, in a theater unto perpetualty(sp?).

coli

Hasn't there always been obnoxious movie goers, but we just started to notice it more when we got older? It's just like there was always obnoxious parents when I played youth sports, but I didn't really notice it until I was older and saw that they took it more seriously then their kids.

Alan Smithee

My parents aren't as huge into movies as I am, but the first thing I learned when they first took me to movie theaters was that you are supposed to BE QUIET during the movie. Don't know why that's such a hard concept for other people to grasp. Of course I've seen many old people be more annoying during a movie than some kids.

skywalker8

I see more movies at the theater than ever before, but that’s because I have lots of options just a few minutes away. Also, my wife gets up for work very early and thefore goes to sleep very early, so it’s very easy for me to catch a 9:30 35mm print twice a week or new movies that start between 9 and 11pm.
Nevertheless, going to see a movie is typically a stressful experience almost entirely due to the horrible people I have to share the auditorium with. Poor presentation is annoying, cell phones are super annoying, but talkers are the absolute worst. Sometimes I’m able to muster some courage and say something - sometimes that works. I also hate it when parents bring in kids and make no effort whatsoever to keep them quiet.

fumanstan

I still watch tons of movies, although I know that'll change soon with a baby on the way in a couple months. That said, seeing movies in different cities definitely bring a long different manners with them. Some of the nicer theaters in Orange County don't nearly have the problems that i've had in Riverside or Sacramento, where I seem to encounter a lot more people being obnoxious.

Yesterday the guy behind me kept kicking/bumping my seat, which is one of those things in airlines and movies that I can't fathom how someone doesn't realize that the person in front feels every nudge. During Justice League I had a younger girl fall asleep and basically lean all over on the arm rest adjacent to me. During Creed 2 there was an older fellow behind me that fell asleep 2-3 times and kept breathing/snoring heavily.

I generally love the movie theater experience too much so that these type of things don't drive me away though, especially with reserved and premium seating.

candyrocket786

That's when you turn on your phone's flashlight and leave it on until they put that damn phone down.

I dealt with a group of pricks that were carrying on a conversation about 20 mins into a film. I finally lost my shit with them only after several other people told them to be quiet (whom they ignored and simply provided a smart ass response for their behavior).

I'm pretty much at a point in my life where I have almost no tolerance for this kind of crap and it's also why I see very few movies on release or at the theater.

Hokeyboy

Two words: RunPee.

Seriously. As someone who both loves watching movies in theaters, is well into middle-age, and lives with ulcerative colitis, RunPee is a godsend.

melasnus

Same here.

Mike86

I used to use RunPee a lot in case I had to step out or to see if there were end credits scenes. Lately though it’s gotten bogged down by ads and wants you to use some credit system or something to use it. I uninstalled it because of that because I often found I could Google an answer faster.

Alan Smithee

I'll just add that another thing that annoys me is the different "versions" of movies now offered, with debates over which is the "right" one. As a long-time fan of 3D, I not only resent the upcharges for it but also its being treated as an "add-on" with the option of paying less for a 2D showing. It seems people are increasingly refusing to pay the upcharges, or at least researching whether the 3D is "worth" paying extra for or not, and in response theaters are running more 2D showings. I've always believed that there is only ONE "correct" way to present a movie, so because of this I also now have to make sure that I'm going to the "right" showing of a movie- meaning that I have to KNOW a movie was shot or converted in 3D, and then make sure that they're actually showing it in 3D when I go see it. It would be a nice surprise to not know a movie was 3D and then find out it was when I got there (and yes, I know there's people out there who don't like 3D, that's their right but I don't believe in altering any aspect of a movie to suit any audience- I'm sure many of them wouldn't mind so much if they weren't being charged extra for it anyways.) Meanwhile there's people who do like 3D who aren't getting to see it because they go to the "wrong" showings- my dad went with friends to see Wonder Woman last year, I asked him if it was in 3D and he said it wasn't but didn't know it was even made in 3D. Had the showing been in 3D, they likely would have enjoyed it.

The same goes for different aspect ratios; first of all the recent IMAX trend is backwards because a proper large movie screen should be WIDER and not taller, but if a movie is going to be intentionally shot in a "taller" ratio then that's how it should be shown everywhere. As stated, many new non-IMAX theaters already have native 1.85 screens anyways and show scope movies letterboxed with no masking, so why not just show the "IMAX version" everywhere? Jurassic Park was intentionally shot in 1.85 because Spielberg wanted to emphasize a taller image; I saw it on (proper) side-masked screens theatrically and all was good.

JeffTheAlpaca

It seems like too much work and I don't want to see a movie at a set time with no pausing.

Ash Ketchum

Maybe it's because I grew up and live in New York, but my experience in that era was very different. Major movies often played in theaters for months. And then they moved to the second-run theaters and then the third-run theaters. Popular movies often returned in reissues or on double bills with new releases. Neighborhood theater owners had wide discretion over what to pair with a new release and a lot of great movies showed up that way. Most of the time, I had to wait for new releases to come to my neighborhood theaters before I could afford to see them. This could take months or, in the case of high-profile "roadshow" releases, years.

Films I saw multiple times over several years in theaters back then: WEST SIDE STORY, THE GREAT ESCAPE, the first five James Bond films, the Sergio Leone/Clint Eastwood westerns, PLANET OF THE APES, THE WILD BUNCH, BUTCH CASSIDY, VANISHING POINT, etc.

zyzzle

Three main reasons:

1. Crappy movies
2. Outrageous prices
3. Health / Sanity reasons (ie, dealing with the Human factor crowds and inconsiderates)

I'd rather enjoy a nice, non-PC '40s to '80s film at home, at my own pace, with a good cerebral script that doesn't insult my intelligence every five seconds like the modern garbage does.

Oh, and I forgot the blankets.... the filthy blankets. Reason #4.

rw2516

I grew up in 1960s Davenport, Iowa. The Quad Cities. There were four indoor screens and five drive-ins. No second run houses, although a big hit would sometimes get a second run at the drive-in after an indoor run.
Most movies the drive-ins got new and exclusive to drive-in. We had to see all Planet of the Apes movies, John Wayne, horror/sci-fi, Elvis, Matt Helm at the drive-in. Usually one week only. There was no duplication between any of the drive-ins or indoors.
It was like the drive-ins took care of the overflow from having only three indoor screens. If ten movies were released in a week, 1 or 2 might go to an indoor and the rest would first run at the drive-in. Two of the drive-ins specialized in low budget, euro, genre stuff. No AIP, biker, sword/sandal, etc. ever played indoors.
One indoor theater specialized in stuff like Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Doctor Zhivago, etc. and they would play for months.
A new James Bond would last six weeks. That's about the limit for a big hit at the other three indoor. During this time other releases probably backed up.

Even though movies sometimes showed up again as a reissue or tagged on at the drive-in, you never knew if they would ever be back.

Living in Kansas City in the 70s with 30-40 screens spread throughout the metro, you never knew how long a movie would play or if it would ever come back.
When Breakheart Pass was released it played all over town. It was at one drive-in paired with Death Wish. Figuring this could be the last chance to ever see Death Wish, we went to the drive-in in middle of winter.

MrRound2

I live in a rural area and the nearest theater is 100 miles away so that's the main reason, but I have a hard time justifying a ticket at 12-15 dollars when I can buy it for that much

TheGuy

I usually only go to advance screenings of new movies when I can get passes. They usually have security so that if you turn on a phone or make a disturbance you get kicked out. The fact that there is usually a hour or so wait to get in also usually eliminates kids.

digidoh

One of the indoor screens closed between paragraphs. Sounds like someone's cooking the books.

tonyc3742

It might be a hassle, but the AMC app has RunPee "GoTime" on most of their movie descriptions - scroll right twice (first screen is movie descrip, second is cast, third is GoTime).
Googling might be faster, but this has it in one place for most movies.

I do see a lot of movies in the theatre, but my main reasons for not going, when I don't go, are:
- Schedule/availability (work/life)
- Expense
- Movie selection

Why So Blu?

I use After Credits to see if there's a mid or end credit sequence.

brayzie

1)Main reason for me is that it's more convenient to watch movies, current or old, from home. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, RedBox, it's too easy.

2)Obnoxious crowds for popular films. You have people with loud kids, people that don't turn off their cellphones, people talking during the film...it gets annoying. Now, back in the day when there when you had to wait forever for a movie to come out on VHS to rent, you'd put up with it. You don't have to anymore.

Josh-da-man

The crazy thing about disruptive audiences is that I find the least disruptive people tend to be teenagers. I used to cringe when a noisy pack of teens would sit in front of or behind me, but they always shut up and watch the movie when the lights go down.

The worst talkers tend to be older people, and if you get two middle-aged women sitting next to each other they’ll talk through the whole fucking movie.

And then you have parents with young children who yell at their kids constantly... Stop that! Sit still! You’re going to spill that! Be quiet!

And then there are those guys who stand up, pushes their way through the rows, walks out of the theater, and comes back in, and pushes their way back to their seat every ten fucking minutes.

People texting on phones doesn’t bother me as much as loudmouths or the in-and-outs.

DJariya

You live in the Bay Area...Is it really that inconvenient? I'm sure there are a shit load of big movie theaters around the San Francisco area. Unless you live in the boonies or you have an issue with parking and the expense to go out. I know SF is a super expensive city.

Just go to see something at a time that works for you, unless you work at really shitty hours. Most big movies have a large assortment of times throughout the day and night.

IMO it's really not a chore. Saying it's too much work is a little odd IMO. Is driving to the bank or going to the grocery store or going to Best Buy to blind buy BDs too much work? Is driving to a concert at a "set time" too much work? Is driving to see a 49ers game or a bar to see a game with your friends "too much work"? If you enjoy going out for entertainment, nothing is too much work. If not, then that's another story.

I understand if you just don't enjoy the experience of being a large public room with strangers. But saying it's too much work and a chore because of "set times" is very strange.

If it's too expensive or you don't live conveniently near a theater, then yeah I can accept those reasons as well.

Alan Smithee

As a Cheap Bastard, I hate paying for parking which you have to do pretty much anywhere in San Francisco. But a GOOD theater shouldn't be a "chore" to go to, but a thing you actually want to do. Any theater like that is doing it wrong. A good theater should also not make you want to leave the instant it looks like the movie is about to end, but when you finally do leave you should be wanting to go back as soon as you can. Sadly, no theaters near me are like that. (I'm not very familiar with bay area theaters other than the Century domes which are still sitting closed now.)

I actually don't like pausing movies unless I REALLY need to- I'll usually just let the phone ring during a movie for example.