Where have the blockbusters gone?

[Bamagan]

Incidentally, to the people who were talking about how loud and cold theaters can be, I think that's a side effect of them anticipating a full house. A room with 100-200 living people can get pretty warm and pretty noisy, even if they're all doing their best to be quiet (that many people shifting in their seats and many of them snacking and slurping, not to mention coughing and sniffling and even just breathing). When there's only 20 or 30 people there, yeah, it can get loud and chilly. I don't mind the cold so much, but I often bring headphones to listen to music through all the commercials and trailers if I get there too early, and nowadays I leave the ear buds in half the time.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I just saw Oppenheimer. It's a rarity: a summer blockbuster with intelligence. ......It's an interesting (and enjoyable) movie about an interesting man and one of the great historical/scientific events of the 20th century. It's very Christopher Nolanish: long, intense, and with a very loud musical score. I won't say any more to avoid spoilers, but I recommend it.

Oppenheimer's the first movie we've been to see at the movie theatre in a while, and I really enjoyed it. Told a good story, very thoughtful and just plain interesting. Before that, the last one we went to see was the Top Gun one, and before that it was American Sniper, I think. For me, I like going to movie theatre's to watch a movie but there just haven't been any I've been interested in going to see. The Superhero one's just bore me to sleep, the last one we went to, I literally went to sleep half way through. John Wick was okay but really just good action and not much else - watched that at home, it's not something I'd pay to see altho I did enjoy it. Mostly Hollywood has gone cliche, and the scripts are appallingly bad so I check movies out hoping for a good one, but in the end I mostly just shrug and we watch old movies at home instead.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

For a good part of my early adulthood, seeing movies in the theater was fun and nostalgic. I gradually aged out of that, possibly because I never had kids and thus no one to try passing the habit or tradition to. Things like Christmas and other holidays atrophied as well, likely for similar reasons. I think some of the remarks above about the relatively high cost of bringing a family to the movies may be contributing to people losing the nostalgic phase more rapidly than I did. I don't have data to back it up and my own experience is too narrow to be useful, but I get the impression that families do fewer such 'movie night' events now than they did twenty or forty years ago. Yes, there are other things families do that are more expensive, like sporting events and theme parks, but even 'back in the old days' those were events that were typically much less common than going to the cinema. So maybe blockbuster summer movies withered on the vine because that's what Millennials decided to give up in favor of avocado toast and lattes. Changing technology is likely a contributing factor as well. Is the movie itself any better in a theater, or is it just the experience or ambiance? If the experience doesn't feel like a ritual to enjoy, just a boring habit of an older generation, why not jettison it in favor of watching the movie when and where you want?

We used to have huge movie theatres, two aisles, maybe even a balcony, red velvet curtains to lend a sense of ceremony. Often a B-movie first. The big screen really was the big screen, even if they had another smaller screen for smaller audiences.

Then we got a few multiplexes, still mostly big screens, but you'd go partly for the Baskin-Robbins flavours and the popcorn (you couldn't buy popcorn in supermarkets).

Then they built the out of town and big multiplexes, trying to squeeze 8 or even 16 screens above a shopping centre. Half of them were not much bigger than a big telly. Prices just kept rising, the staff were cut so there's no-one to make customers stop talking, and the at-home experience is now often better - the screens not quite as big but you're closer, you have the surround sound, all the snacks you want (can even buy Butterkist), drinks, and not deal with other customers nor a smell of stale grease.

Unless cinema produces films where people want to see them as a group, and/or provide a luxury environment, more chains will close.

The Picturehouse cinemas may be small but they show interesting arthouse films, and they'll sell me wine or whisky and cake, too, and have fabulous reclining seats. Glass Onion and NTTD were a pleasure to watch; hoping to see the Barbie film soon.
.