Chinese Movie Industry Recognizes Movie Watching Is A Social Experience
from the at-least-someone-does... dept
Yesterday we noted that the MPAA and movie theater owners were whining about how much people coming in an taping movies was hurting their business. The obvious response, we pointed out, is to recognize that going to the movies is a social experience. It's not just about the content (though, that is important), but the overall experience. If they improved that, then people would want to go -- even if they could score the same movie off the internet or a cheap DVD bought off the street. While the folks in Hollywood refuse to entertain this idea, someone (anonymously) in the comments to that story pointed to an article in China noting that this is exactly what Chinese movie theaters have done. After years of declining attendance, they finally shaped up and made going to the movies cool again. They improved the overall experience, putting in better equipment and more comfortable seats. They improved the sound and the lighting as well. It sounds like they also made some theaters to be more like bars, to help attract young adults away from traditional bars. Yet the supposedly "creative" movie people in Hollywood insist "nothing can be done" to get people into the theater.
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Optimization Issue
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Theaters
All of these are great places to go, but I think the problem is that the movie industry sees their big market as being those under 18, and these places aren't geared to them. Of course if the movie industry and theater chains actually tried to put more of these adult-marketed theaters around, they might at least see a lot more 20+ year-olds going out on dates or even for married couples without kids.
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
Why Herbert, that is a lovely idea that the MPAA will probably try out if any of their idiots got wind of the idea ....
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theaters are always packed in taiwan...
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Re: No Subject Given
Not to mention patent it.
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Some more links
A search of the ChinaDaily site for "Flying Daggers" (aka the movie with the best boxoffice earnings in China) showed a few other interesting articles including one on Warners Home Video's efforts in an environment that includes significant copyright infringement. Hint to these guys: subtitled and dubbed.
Another article talks about the Chinese film industry. The focus here is about foreign investment and an overview of the industry.
-cmh
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Re: Optimization Issue
I'm from the era of the "roadshow" with reserved seats, state of the art presentation, and curtains-- and no hyper-manic trailers and certainly no commercials. People dressed for the occasion which was one of elegance and decorum.
Cinema is not a social experience. It is a shared immersive experience, not a giant living room or bar.
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Can't take the rude folks either
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theater-going
Most important on my list, though, is the noise control...if that could be handled better, i'd go to the movies way more often.
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