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Oh shit. Okay. We’re doing this thing for real. https://twitter.com/variety/status/1334565856605478913
To be crystal clear: I don't really care that much.
This was inevitable. I've been saying it for awhile. Home viewing was always going to become the standard and theaters are going to become more and more specialized for a smaller group of clientele.
This was inevitable. I've been saying it for awhile. Home viewing was always going to become the standard and theaters are going to become more and more specialized for a smaller group of clientele.
There's the basic practicality reason but it cannot be overstated how much the theatrical experience being, on average, incredibly shitty actually is for most people made this happen. Prior to moving to LA going to the theaters was a huge gamble for my viewing experience.
When I was home for Christmas in Maryland last year I was freshly reminded of this. Went to see a movie at the local AMC, which has been recently renovated, and the projection was dim to the point that I actually couldn't see a lot of it.
I went out and complained *twice* to the theater management and both times they just looked confused, said they'd look into it, and literally nothing changed. I saw the same movie again in LA and I cannot emphasize how different it looked.
Most major movie theaters outside of LA and NYC are generally poorly maintained, unclean, and run by people who neither like movies or understand how they're meant to be seen. Not to mention that audiences outside of LA are, in my experience, incredibly rude and disruptive.
The holy experience cinephiles imagine moviegoing to be is largely impossible for most people who don't live in the most major metropolitan areas. Even during college in Miami my moviegoing experience was largely trash.
Theaters not turning the house lights off. Movies playing at, like, 60% volume. Dirty, scratched screens. People on phones and talking. My audience literally started vocally heckling UNDER THE SKIN.
It's fucking awful.
It's fucking awful.
All this to say: movie theaters largely killed themselves by being the crappier option. If you want people to pay more to go see something in a theater then that experience actually has to be SUPERIOR to the home experience. And in most places around America it's just not.
