Ot: The King is Dead, Long Live the King

$8 soda
$10 popcorn 
$6 candy

Hard pass. I used to go every weekend. Now, I’ve seen 3 movies in the theater in the last 5 years.

JustInTime wrote:
$8 soda $10 popcorn  $6 candy

Hard pass. I used to go every weekend. Now, I’ve seen 3 movies in the theater in the last 5 years.

And thats not helping either...Imagine bringing a family of 4 or (heaven forbid) 8-10 kids for a birthday party? Some good friends of ours own a # of theaters here in the 5 state (MN) area and they are hurting (and scrambling).

I’ve got a 65” 4K Sony in the living room. Surround sound, and cheap snacks and drinks. No one is talking over the dialogue. 

I’m not going back, ever.

Yah, its a little akin to traveling on a plane...

I can imagine the # of phones lit-up in the dark theatre as people scroll through their TikTok drug (I mean feed).

StickierBuns wrote:
Make some good movies, lets start there. Also been hearing from some friends and online that going to the theater now is a shit show because all of these teens in the seats talk, yell and do goofy shit all movie long. I miss the experience but its gone the way it used to be and is never coming back. Rowdy behavior to make videos to post online is all some of these kids are interested in, I'd end up strangling somebody. My at home experience is so superior to it anyway.

I totally agree, make some good movies and stop trying to do remakes all the time.

purplefaithful wrote:
Yah, its a little akin to traveling on a plane...

I just canceled my flight to Florida next weekend for my dad’s memorial service. I’ll drive the 10 hours instead. 

Son in law flew to St Louis for work this past week. 3 hour wait on the tarmac as there was a mechanical issue on the way out. 3 hour wait on the tarmac on the way back due to a mechanical issue. 30 minutes circling the airport. 

I’d be on national news. 

A man needs to know his limitations and brother, I know I wouldn’t survive either stay on the tarmac. Nope. Nope. Nope. No way. No how.

purplefaithful wrote:
Really what I want in a movie these days? Good storylines please. Something that transcends the Marvel Universe and Tom Cruise.

IF the decision is experience? For me the movie theatre will almost always lose to my big screen at home.

============================================================
Domestic box-office sales for 2024 were $8.7 billion. 

According to Comscore, that’s a nearly 24% drop from five years ago. And 2025 isn’t off to a stellar start. Numbers are down 7% compared with the first three months of last year.

“What does that say? What is the consumer trying to tell us?” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said during the Time100 Summit last month. “That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you.”

Like all malls, clothing, department and big box stores, movie theaters will eventually go away. It's sad though, because I still love to see movies in the theater. Yes, it's expensive, and we don't go as much as we used to, but it's worth it to me, just for the experience. Every time I go, the smell of buttered popcorn takes me back to being a kid sneaking into John Wayne matinees with my friends. 

I think it's a lot like going to a baseball game. Who gives a shit about the game. The experience has value.  I do agree with the bold though. Storytelling seems to be a thing of the past.

I can find enough entertainment such as movies
streaming on my television...going to the movies is just too expensive these days...

And I can adjust the volume level when I'm at home. The last movie that I saw in the theater was Hostiles (Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike).  I couldn't tell you whether or not it is a good movie, I only made it about 45 minutes and had to leave because of the bone jarringly loud volume.

Yeah, I know ... get off my lawn!

Quit remaking movies. Also I have a huge tv, reclining couch with cup holders and my own snacks. I can watch movies at home

purplefaithful wrote:

And thats not helping either...Imagine bringing a family of 4 or (heaven forbid) 8-10 kids for a birthday party? Some good friends of ours own a # of theaters here in the 5 state (MN) area and they are hurting (and scrambling).

The pricing for concessions is insane. I think the prices stated above are not high enough to be honest.

Canthony wrote:

The pricing for concessions is insane. I think the prices stated above are not high enough to be honest.

I have heard that first run theaters have to do this to stay afloat.  They have to bid on the new release movies and the amount they fork over to carry them is obnoxious.  As well as a cut of the concessions.  

We have a second run discount cinema here locally.  None of the blockbusters, but some decent movies and their concessions are crazy cheap (relatively.)  $3 for a tub of popcorn.  I will take the kids and support that.

Worked at a theater in HS and College. The cinema really receives very little money from ticket sales in the first few weeks of release. The percentage the studio receives from ticket sales drops each week the cinema screens the film. The longer a film ran in the theater, the greater amount the cinema itself took in. The only real money made was in concessions. Now with Netflix, and other platforms for viewing, movies don't stay in the theaters very long before you can watch them from home, Ergo the cost of concessions has to try and keep the cinema from closing.

Still love the "theater experience" What a great way to spend a couple hours with the family. Sadly, There is little out there any more that motivates me to spend the time and money. Years ago all the "talking animal" pictures, then all the different "superheroes" (and combinations thereof) I mean how many incarnations of Spiderman do we need? Our local theater here on Maui runs old full length features periodically and advertise well in advance...what better illustration that todays movie suck ass. Minecraft ? Really !?!

Vanguard83 wrote:
Worked at a theater in HS and College.  The cinema really receives very little money from ticket sales in the first few weeks of release.  The percentage the studio receives from ticket sales drops each week the cinema screens the film. The longer a film ran in the theater, the greater amount the cinema itself took in. The only real money made was in concessions. Now with Netflix, and other platforms for viewing, movies don't stay in the theaters very long before you can watch them from home, Ergo the cost of concessions has to try and keep the cinema from closing.

Still love the "theater experience" What a great way to spend a couple hours with the family. Sadly, There is little out there any more that motivates me to spend the time and money. Years ago all the "talking animal" pictures, then all the different "superheroes" (and combinations thereof) I mean how many incarnations of Spiderman do we need? Our local theater here on Maui runs old full length features periodically and advertise well in advance...what better illustration that todays movie suck ass.  Minecraft ? Really !?!

Couldn't agree more. I think the last Spiderman movie I saw was Spiderman 2, which apparently is 11 Spidermans ago. There are a lot of things I don't understand in this world (the list grows every day), and one of them is the appeal of movies made from video games and comic books. But to each their own I guess. 

Hope Lahaina is doing better.

There is such an excess of films and series available now, I'm totally fine with waiting a month or more until it shows up on Netflix or Prime. And even new releases renting at say $19.95, I look at it as...I'm saving at least that month on overpriced popcorn and soda.

We have a beautiful stadium cinema about ten minutes from the house, but the value of dumping $30-40 for me and the trophy wife to go spend 2 1/2 hours just isn't there when I'd rather watch anything at home on a 72" screen.

We have a pretty good movie setup (Not a home theater, but good TV, good speakers, big subwoofer). The movie theater experience is superior for us. It’s an out of the house experience. We’re actually watching the movie rather than having the movie in the background while staring at a different screen. We do enjoy the theaters that offer the more premium experience, with more comprehensive snack/meal options, heated seats, maybe cocktails or other adult drinks.

I think my big problem is lack of exposure to what movies (or media in general) I would like. I have no idea what’s playing at any given time. Even if I saw a list, I’d have no idea what would be good. I’m not seeing movie trailers or ads, as I mostly don’t watch ads. I’m just not getting exposed to new movies hardly at all. Youtube is my main media source. For whatever reason, my youtube algorithm never feeds me new good movies, only people shitting on woke movies with horrible plots, which are fine for what they are, but it’s not like a balanced ecosystem here. I sort of love/hate the idea of studios regurgitating their old IP. On the one hand, it’s easy for me to say, I liked that one so I should be the target audience for the new one, when faced with a lack of information. On the other hand, you know the 4th movie onwards in a franchise or any movie put out by a Disney studio which is like all of them, is probably going to be disappointing as a general rule.

This fake trailer for The Shining practically launched the early YouTube trend of creating wildly misleading trailers for well-known films—and in my opinion, none of the imitators ever quite matched it. pic.twitter.com/oV2QWkAVWY

— Stephen Gibbons (@Gibboanxious) May 9, 2025