EVER PAY TO GO TO THE THEATRE THEN REALIZE YOU PAID FOR CRAP AND WASTED YOUR MONEY? So is it worth it anymore to pay for movies? I mean video games now past movies as the top money market for entertainment so signnof the times or sign of the garbage hacks making crap?
shareIt really is crazy! The price of tickets for movies really has gone sky-high, as have the concessions, to boot. It's sickening!
The only way to get a discount is if one is either a Senior citizen, or if one holds an annual membership to a repertory movie theatre in his/her area.
There have been afew occasions in which I've paid a lot of money to see a film, and it's turned out badly, but since they do cost so much, and i am a Senior citizen, I'm much more selective about the movies that I go to see, and am glad of it.
Movie prices are way out of hand. The last few movies I saw were the Planet of the Apes films. I mostly went because my sister is a huge fan of those movies. She can't get anyone else to go see them with her. So I go and she buys my ticket!
Not like I'm THAT cheap. It's just that these movies keep coming out in the summer and my birthday is in the summer. So it's my birthday gift from her.
Otherwise I never go to see movies in the theater. There's a Redbox at the local grocery store. If I really want to see a film, I wait for it to come out on DVD . The rentals are $1.25...so I can wait!
Eh...to each their own, but seeing a movie on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, with a whole bunch of other people, whether I know them or not is a real treat for me. Seeing a movie on DVD and or an elaborate home theatre system just isn't my cup of tea, because, regardless of what other people say, the experience is never, ever the same as seeing it on a great big, wide movie theatre screen, as movies are really meant to be viewed.
shareYes I can surely understand your reasoning for wanting to see a film in a great big wide screen.
There are some movies which I first saw when I rented the video or DVD. Some of them I wished I had seen on the big screen. There really IS no comparison.
But with the price of tickets and the fact that my town doesn't even have a theater anymore (the nearest Cineplex is 22 miles away), I've sacrificed the big movie experience for convenience and cost!
And actually those big Cineplexes don't do much for me . I grew up in a time with the widescreen theater, the big balcony, the plush seats, etc. Those were real theaters. Today's multiscreen theaters just seem like big living rooms to me!
The price of tickets for movies is expensive these days, but the prices for concessions are even more ludicrous, especially since a lot of what one get to eat at most movie theatres tastes very chemical laden and artificial, to boot. I have a large AMC Cineplex about five minutes away from where I live, it has really comfortable seats and big screens, and I've gone there afew times and seen some wonderful movies there.
I've even made special road trips to the opposite end of the state that I reside in, and even to neighboring states to see my all time favorite film, West Side Story, and it's all been worth it, also.
If more movie theatres, even the few independent repertory theatres left here in the United States, followed the idea that Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas has and implemented a "zero tolerance" policy on cell-phone texting and talking during the movies, a lot more people would come back to the movie theatres, I'm sure.
I've heard this meme repeated often over the years, but honestly I can't think of a single instance of a film not being every bit as enjoyable on my high def television screen.
shareTo me, the experience is just not the same, that's all. I don't especially like staying home to watch movies, which is why I don't have any type of DVD player or home theatre system. Nor do I intend to get one.
shareI prefer to be at home even though I have nothing like a really wonderful home set-up -- but I actually agree with you that the movie theater experience is WAAAAY, way superior.
I still enjoy a movie seen on my screen at home, but there is no denying the sheer sensory impact of seeing something on a massive screen with state of the art audio in a theater. Everything is heightened.
A decent, nicely behaved audience can sometimes enhance the experience too. Comedies really do seem funnier when viewed collectively -- laughter is contagious and more fun with a ton of people sharing it.
But these days, at least in my particular area, nobody is a good audience now. I'm not willing to kiss goodbye to £15 only to be constantly distracted by a-holes, these days.
I'm willing to sacrifice the amazing visuals and audio experience for the comfort of being at home with my admittedly smaller screen. It's just a personal preference of how much one can tolerate and how much it's worth it.
While I see why you prefer to be at home watching a movie on TV, the reason that I go to movie theatres to view movies is because the experience of seeing a movie on a great big, wide movie screen, in a real movie theatre with the lights down low, and sharing the experience with a bunch of other people, whether one knows them or not, is very, very special. I mostly attend movies at the three independent repertory movie theatres that we have in our area. With rare exceptions, I do not attend the cineplex theatres.
shareDo you not find that repertory movie theatres don't even have very big screens though?
Granted the audience there will be better behaved than in most cineplexes, but the screens tend to be tiny and some of the technical experience is actually better on a home theater system.
I hear what you're saying about the element of sharing the experience with an audience, however.
I just can't afford to only shoot for attending the specialist theatres in hopes of that more respectful crowd.
Plus. . . . . pajamas! I cannot replicate the wonderment of getting to lounge on my sofa in my jammies. ;)
Actually, however, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Somerville Theatre, and the Brattle Theatre, which are all located here in the Boston area, have sizable movie screens that don't look like Big TV's, at all.
Also, even the Cineplexes have been participating in the brief national re-release of older classic films, as well, now.
If I have nobody to go with, I go solo to the movies. I figure..why deprive myself of a movie that I wish to see just because I don't have anybody to go with? Life's too short.
shareIt's almost the same amount of good movies today as there was 5 years ago, 10 years ago... you just have to know how to pick the right ones to watch.
shareDude, today they gather stats via database queries unlike anything that existed ten years ago...they write scripts to target a non white sixteen year old girl audience and can tell you the average that kind of movie will make and how much of that is their boyfriends...movies are not just marketing and trying to make a good movie- now it's targeted marketing and formula scripts. That's why so much sucks now.
shareI try to stick to matinees anyway, which offer a pretty good savings and have the added benefit of smaller and more polite crowds.
shareNot where I live.
First of all, for some mysterious reason it's actually hard to track down a matinee showing in my city. For some reason the lazy bastards mostly seem to want to throw just one afternoon showtime in there before the rest are full price evening showings. If that one available matinee showing is not convenient, you're out of luck as there are no other times to pick.
And good luck finding a morning showtime -- I used to love 10am showtimes in my former city. Where I live now, it's unheard of.
And, even the matinee prices in my city are daylight robbery now. They are around the price the evening showtimes used to be not that long ago.
What a crime! I guess I'm pretty lucky because my local multiplex starts up at 11 am and the first showing is only $7.50
shareFor me no, I pay £10 for a trip (including tickets, snacks, coke, and bus fair) and I'm very picky about what movies I see and only go to ones which I know I am going to enjoy, any movie which might be a bit of a gamble I wait until I can rent it and I end up going about twice a month which is fine for me
shareThe frequency with which I attend movies depends on what happens to be playing at the movie theatres that I like to patronize, at the time, if one gets the drift.
share£10.75 is the price of just the one adult ticket alone in my nearest cinema, and that's the 12 noon showtime!
Seriously. Just my ticket is more than £10. If I factored in bus fare there and back, one snack and a small drink, I'm looking at probably the £25 mark or more. And that's just for one person, myself.
You can buy the movie on DVD or even Blu-ray for that!
So if you're carefully choosing a movie to go see that you are almost 100% certain you're going to like anyway, the price these days -- for me -- means it's more sensible to just wait and buy the damn thing outright.
Then if I like it as much as I thought I would, voila I have it to own and watch as many times as I want.
And if I don't really care for it, I've still only spent the same sum of money on it that I would have spent anyway going to see it in the movie theater.
The gap between theater and digital is so negligible now that I rarely feel obligated to go to the theater nowadays, unless it's something I REALLY want to see.
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