Young Men Avoiding Movie Theaters
from the uh-oh dept
The trouble the movie industry is having in attracting people to the actual theater isn't new. Many people have been saying that they just don't like going to the movies any more, and there are three pretty clear reasons: (1) The movies themselves don't seem compelling. (2) The movie-going experience (price, sticky floors, tons of commercials, screaming babies, ringing phones) just isn't that appealing and (3) there are so many alternatives for our entertainment dollars, from DVDs to video games to TV recorded on DVRs to the internet, that going to the movies just doesn't have the same draw. In a normal industry, of course, people would look at these changing conditions and try to deal with it. In fact, a few in the movie industry seem to be getting it, admitting they need to improve the quality and even improving the experience of going to the theater. However, these moves still appear to be on the margins, while the core of the industry does nothing but point fingers. Well, the longer they point fingers, the more people they're going to lose. Going even deeper than earlier surveys, a new report, sent in by alex, finds that even more than any other demographic, the always important "young male" demo are increasingly avoiding movie theaters, preferring to watch DVDs at home or play video games instead. Of course, there are some (outside of the young male group) who might say that the fewer young males there are at the theater, the better the experience will be for others...
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the problem with theaters
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Re: the problem with theaters
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Movies
Oh, not to mention the lack of movie selection.
For the cost of one person going to the theatre, I can rent several movies, make my own popcorn, and entertain as many guests as I like . . not to mention the ability to pause, rewind, and fast forward.
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Movies
The homogenized pablum coming out of all elements of the entertainment industry is leading it right down the drain. As the corporations get larger, they get further away from their core, putting them out of touch with mainstream America, thereby driving people to alternate forms of entertainment. I personally find myslef at the library more than ever.
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No Subject Given
1. A half hour of boring commercials before the movie.
2. $8 a ticket is absurd.
3. Dirty theaters without enough leg room, and I'm only 6ft.
4. People coming in 45 minutes after showtime because they know there is a half hour of movies before.
5. Horrible movies.
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Re: No Subject Given
Aside from that movie, the only other thing I'm going to see this year is the new Lion Witch and the Wardrobe because the CGI looks awesome.
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No Subject Given
The price is absurd
The patrons are unruly
I've seen 3 movies at the theatre in the last several years and the all started with Star Wars.
:P
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Re: No Subject Given
No wonder you're bitter
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No Subject Given
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Young male demographic avoiding the theaters
This leaves young women and old people, which together don't make a good movie audience mix. Young women are the ones you see answering their phones at the theater. Also, in groups young women can be quite annoying, because you know they can't keep their mouths shut for and hour and a half straight. All of these qualities are sure to upset the older couples who just want to sit their and enjoy the movie like they have in the past.
With the decline in ticket sales, movie theaters do need to push the movie-going experience. I've seen some places try it. I've seen theaters with cheap admission and elaborate menus, making their primary profit off of the dinner experience rather than charging $10 for a tub of popcorn. I've also seen movie theaters adapt a bar atmosphere, their primary profit is based off of the drinks rather than the ticket price. The problem I've seen with these types of places is that they are forced to show movies that are older. Most have never had a movie the first week it was released, actually most had never shown a movie that was still in (movie-only)theaters.
I don't know the little things about the theater business, but I can imagine that it comes from the Production companies. I imagine that the production companies wants the theater to charge a certain price per ticket when new films come out. Either that or the cost to have new movies at a theater is too expensive for these places who primary source of profit doesn't come from ticket sales. These theories lead me to think that the responsibility lies with the production companies. If they are going to require such high amounts to show a movie then they have to make movies that people want to see.
A good example of that is Project Greenlight. I watched it when it first appeared on basic cable earlier this year. I didn't make it past the first episode where the picked the script. The impressions I got from everyone involved is that it was between 2 scripts one was a good story and the other one was more profitable. Though everyone got to give their input, the production company got the final say in which movie got made, because they were paying for production costs. I haven't heard anything about the movie since. I have heard that other project greenlight movies failed....I wonder why?
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Movies
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Re: Movies
The popcorn is $4 for small and up to $12 for "jumbo".
Drinks tend to run $3.75 for "Jr size", up to $9 for a cup.
The theaters will not let you enter past 15 minutes after the "showing" time, but the abundant amount of commercials are sometimes over after 45 minutes - it was noted in a study a few years back, that most people become extremely uncomfortable after sitting for 90 minutes - and several resources advise to avoid sitting in the same position for more than 30 minutes.....and with a 110 film and 50 minutes of previews, that’s a lot of aching after that movie.
My point is that if movie houses want more attendees, they can keep the admittance prices as high as they currently are (or more), but severely cut the cost of the beverages and condiments to something more REALISTIC. And if you want to show commercials for other items prior to showing the movie, turn up the lights and show your commercials in place of the standard PSA "slide shows" you normally run during that time -- don’t say the movie starts at "X time", when really it starts at "X time, plus 50 minutes".
I won’t even go into the outrageous cost of parking some of these movie theaters in Universal City or Hollywood charge...
I visit the movies about once a month -- a $50 trip for 2 to the movies has become average in my budget, but now that these flicks are being released on DVD within 3 months of their big-screen debuts, I think a membership to Blockbuster-Video and desert for two (under $10) looks more appealing on my wages.
22 Year old movie-goer.
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Infants in the movies
Unfortunately when I went to see "The Ring" the reaction from one member in the audience made for a disappointing evening.
It was not long after the movie started that an infant started to cry. Who brought their baby to see the Ring?! It was not the crying that bug me so much as to who would subject a baby to such violence and why did the ticket seller let the mother take her baby to see this move? PG13 is not 13 months so I was a bit upset about the whole thing. Needles to say the baby cried off and on through out the whole movie.
I would hope the ticket seller would be more careful who they sell tickets to.
-Rick
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Re: Infants in the movies
However, there is a problem (on the theater's part) in your situation. I bet they didn't have any ushers or other such employees check the theater to make sure everything was alright. If an employee at my theater had caught the women with the child screaming, we would have kindly asked her to take the child outside because it was disrupting the movie. If she refused, we'd get a manager in there to take care of it.
Again, the ticket seller is only responsible for not selling tickets to PG13 and higher movies to kids under 13 that don't have supervision as well as not selling tickets to an R rated film unless the person is over 17 or has someone that is at least 21 years of age supervising them. And even if they screw up, the ticket taker should catch this too. At least, that's how it is at my theater. I can't speak for any other theaters.
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Re: Infants in the movies
I'm afraid I must disagree with you. It IS the theatre's responsibility to enforce 'Rules of the House'. While they used to long ago, the reason they no longer do so today is the constant threat of an age discrimination suit, or any other suit brought for silly reasons. Theaters make absolutely no money off the film itself (100% of theater revenue today comes from concession sales), so they can ill afford to be the target of a lawsuit, and a public one at that. So a fine line must be tiptoed to please everyone.
Unfortunately with this policy they please no one, which is apparent today with declining movie ticket sales.
I'd like to see a return of STRICT enforcement of house rules. No mother should be admitted with an infant to any movie. Period. In my city a vintage theatre exists that does exactly this, with ushers, and the crowd is well behaved, silent, and courteous throughout the feature. It also turns a tidy profit and shows are nearly always sold out.
So yes it can indeed be done.
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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No Thanks
I'd go see that at the theater.
I'd buy that DVD.
I'd rent that DVD.
I'd rather disembowel myself than see that movie.
Most movies these days land in the "rent" or "disembowel" categories. Only a few blockbusters were worth actually going to the movies and spending the time and money. I saw the Star Wars flicks, LOTR, and very few others.
I'd also like to point out that the sound systems in most theaters SUCK. I don't care if they are using THX, they can't touch the sound of my home theater system, and I didn't spend a fortune on it. I've been to a lot of high-end theaters, and NONE of them have impressed me. There is no excuse for crappy sound.
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Re: No Thanks
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Nothing that interesting
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1860
Could it be the technology or form of entertainment is getting old?
I'm sure Hollywood will figure out a way to beat one more out of this dead horse.
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noise
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Quality and demographics
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My wife and I completely stopped going to the theatre because of all the reasons listed above, but have found that the ICE ( http://www.icetheaters.com/index.html ) is where it's at.
The staff is usually really helpful, and the price is slightly less than that of normal theatres. They have plenty of screens, comfortable seats, leg room, and all the latest movies, and it's usually not crowded at all. When it is crowded, the folks are usually a LOT more quiet than other theatres too, especially those with kids (the kids usually get smacked and shut the hell up).
The reason it's hardly ever crowded is that it's in what some folks might consider shady parts of town, but anytime we go to the movies... this is the only place we go.
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Cinemas
It's just not worth going to the cinema here
In Birmingham (where I'm from), you have Star City which has 30 huge screens, good seats and the prices are roughly the same, that's the only cinema I actually go to nowadays
Annoying people in cinemas is always a problem, if it's kids that are ignoring the movie and talking/pissing about I usually shout at them to shut the hell up cos nothing short of fear seems to work on them
I have never been in a cinema where the ushers have actually been in the audience and ejected people for being noisy, I've always had to go outside and ask them to do this
I have worked in a cinema too so I know the reason for this is because the staff are supposed to be working, not watching films for free
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Why can't we buy a beer at the movies?
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