Star Wars Producer Says Box Office is Doomed 1203
Cutriss writes "Seen at CNN, this article interviews Rick McCallum, longtime producer at LucasFilms. McCallum says that DVDs will be responsible for the downfall of the movie industry *without* taking piracy into account, due to the fact that people think the home theatre experience is just as good, or better than the big screens, and they know that in five months, the DVD will be out on the market. Of course, his claim that "studios are barely breaking even" falls on deaf ears when I hear about 9-digit salaries for individual actors in a big-name film that's just some rehash of an old concept. He also mentions, of course, that DVD piracy and movie "sharing" groups will only speed up the cycle, and that they'll be putting Hollywood out of business, possibly within the next three years."
Too Bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
1. The food portions are smaller than a few years ago.
2. The price is WAY WAY higher!
3. People's cell phones are going off.
4. Some a**hole is giving comentary to the person sitting next to him/her.
Overall, not a very pleasant experience.
Re:Too Bad... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
Babies do not belong in movie theaters! You have to be able to sit down and shut up for at least 2 hours.
Which some 20+ year olds have problems with I know, but at least you can prosecute them. There isn't a jury alive that will convict a baby.
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Funny)
>baby.
Eh, maybe Texas.
-l
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Funny)
Go every day. Then you will hardly notice when they get smaller.
2. The price is WAY WAY higher!
Than what?? If you're comparing with a few years ago, see point #1.
3. People's cell phones are going off.
Build a Faraday cage over the building before you go in.
4. Some a**hole is giving comentary to the person sitting next to him/her.
Hmmm.. this is a tough one. I'm torn between a paintball gun and something like this. [darpa.mil]
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
Than what?? If you're comparing with a few years ago, see point #1.
It's more expensive for two tickets to see a movie then it is to buy a new release DVD at the Suncoast that is 100ft from the door of the theater.
It's $8.50 per ticket to see the movie in the theater, and all DVDs are 25% off duing the week after release at Suncoast. The decision becomes pay $17 for two tickets to see some commercials followed by a movie where I my or may not have the experience ruined by some obnoxious audience members, and the sticky floor will need to be washed off my shoes later, or I can spend $16 and watch the movie at home with no obnoxious people, and I can keem the movie to watch again whenever I'd like. Screw the theater.
You should never use a paintball gun... (Score:5, Funny)
That's what real guns are for.
Re:Too Bad... (Score:4, Insightful)
$6.00 for three movies (at my convienience) or $18.00+ for one?
No matter what the hardware that the movie theatre has, it does NOT justify a $9.00 ticket price.
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Many of us can't afford a huge home theater. I watch movies on a 27" TV with two external speakers. It's good enough for most movies, but huge movies like Braveheart or Lord of the Rings really deserve the big screen.
2) Don't blame the theaters for ticket prices. They break even on admission. They make virtually all of their profits on food. The movie studios are screwing the theaters over on what it costs to show a movie. The best example is the recent Godzilla. The studio (Sony IIRC) doubled their regular cost to the theaters and promised a gate similar to Independance Day (same creative team). When the theater execs finally saw the movie a week or so before it came out, there was a white collar riot where execs actually threw things and demanded their money back.
Several big theater chains (Lowes comes to mind) have failed recently, even with $8 tickets. Maybe if the studios would make more movies worth 8 bucks, they would get more butts in the seats.
-B
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure why someone modded this as Funny because I think zensmile makes good points. It costs a lot to go to the movies and the experience is inferior to what I can have in my home. Here's a few more additions to the list:
5. Sticky floors6. Six or seven trailers before the show starts
7. No control over sound, picture quality, environmental conditions
8. Just too many people in general
If the film industry starts hurting for business, they can start to work on making the theater a more enjoyable experience. Until then, I'm just going to wait a few months and get a better experience at a better price in my own place.
GMD
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Insightful)
Not to mention product comercials before a movie you have paid for...
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know about you, but the last few DVDs I bought have this 5 minute mandatory intro on them that plays before it gets to the main menu. The skip buttons are disabled during this thing, so you have to basically stop the DVD and then press play to get past the damn thing. I'm sure that this will be where trailers and teasers will be placed next.
And to add to whatever list is building, I'm kind of getting tired of the damn teenage kids running into the theater and screaming to their friends from the wings and then running out. WTF is with this? I never did this when I hung out at the theater as a kid, and I don't remember any other fellow-annoying teenagers doing this either.
Another point to add to the negative theater experience is that it is impossible for parents with babies to go to the movies. While there are ways of going without the baby, sometimes those options just aren't available. We decided for the price of a movie, we could go out and buy two thick steaks and a new DVD and just barbecue at home. Nice dinner, a movie, and we don't need a sitter and we can watch the movie again if we like.
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Informative)
It's a nice feature. Too bad nobody uses it.
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:4, Informative)
This is why you set up a linux box with ogle/videolan and use that as your DVD player. No FBI warning garbage, no macrovision, no regions, no disabled buttons, etc. Just the movie.
I read one comment in another thread where the guy was so annoyed that whenever he bought a DVD, he ripped it, removed all the crap, and then reburned it.
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Insightful)
The Paramount Theater, in Oakland, CA provides a great old-time experience, including prize giva-aways, live organ music and a ton of other fun extras, again for a low ticket price, and they are packed for every show I have atteneded there.
Theaters that keep cramming in more seats and charging higher ticket prices for the same sub-standard experience SHOULD start to die, but specialty houses that cater to their clientelle will be able to keep picking up the slack and hopefully spread out from their hardcore urban niche to the rest of the country. Which for me would be a good thing.
And the death of the blockbuster would just be icing on the cake for me.
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:4, Interesting)
--
Re:Funny? He's serious (I think)! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Funny)
6. Stadium seating != La-Z-Boy
7. I decide when to watch, not someone else (with the exception of my wife).
8. Relaxing with your shoes off in the movie theatre is a bad idea due to:
a) floors sticky from spilled pop
b) the insensitive clod in front of me whining something about "can't breathe, need air, blah, blah, blah..."
9. 50" screen at 10' away = good, 50' screen at 10' away = bad
10. Beer is only a few precious steps away...
Re:Too Bad... (Score:5, Insightful)
Still waiting... (Score:4, Funny)
Hyperbole? (Score:5, Funny)
Not unless someone throws a sharpened DVD at them, ala Oddjob in the James Bond movies.
Well... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)
perhaps well some a little more quality independent film then?
And here we have an example of proper use of the "Interesting" mod - interesting way of combining perfectly good words in a way that looks like it might make sense, yet falls just a bit short.
I've encountered this phenomenon often enough that I think I can translate for those of you who speak English. If the big, crap-producing, "We'll find a way to squeeze money out of you" movie studios can't find a way to make money with the latest retread of a remake of an adaptation of an extension of a story that wasn't all that good in the first place, it could open the door for independent studios to step in with well-made films that cost much less to produce and therefore can compete in a market with diminished revenues. These films would then be made available to wider audiences in greater quantities, in theory anyway.
Not that I think this is likely - if independent films get too popular, the major studios could always use their last resort and make fewer, better films with talented, reasonably priced actors and lower production costs. If movies like Pluto Nash (Leonard Part 6 for a new generation?) are still getting made, Hollywood obviously isn't hurting all that much.
And yet, box office receipts keep rising... (Score:5, Informative)
It seems like that happens more weekends than not.
McCallum's predictions of doom sound like a bunch of BS to me.
Re:And yet, box office receipts keep rising... (Score:5, Insightful)
For decades at lest (probably longer), studios have been telling writers, actors, directors, etc that movies don't make any money. That's right, if you look at the numbers for [insert blockbuster movie here], you will find that it raked in some huge amount of money and then showed a loss within the studio.
This is, of course, a shell game used to avoid royaltes. However, it is common for studios to then turn around and cite this "bad numbers" as the evidence that a) there is healthy competion in the market b) there is no price-fixing c) there are no other anti-trust problems. So, when someone tries to guage the general health of the Hollywood economy, it certainly looks like it will all fall apart in a few years.
The important thing to remember is this: THAT HAS BEEN THE PERCEPTION FOR DECADES!! What's more doom and gloom about home formats has been running around since VHS. Heck, I can't get a group of friends to wait to see a matinee the next weekend for many movies!
Re:And yet, box office receipts keep rising... (Score:4, Insightful)
Ahhh...but when your prediction was a 23% increase over last year, that can be seen as a "loss" of 3%. It all depends on how you slant the line.
Charts will be the death of us.
Lucas THX (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds to me like a misquoted or singular rant, and not an offical platform of Lucusfilm. There is potentialy even more money to be made in the home theater market, and it's quite clear that they realize this.
-Chris
Hmm, and furthermore... (Score:5, Insightful)
A fact over which, of course, the movie producers have no power whatsoever. There have been dozens of movies I would have liked to have seen on the big screen, but didn't get around to, and after the DVD and VHS comes out they seem to just vanish. Meanwhile, every damn cineplex has the same half dozen pieces of crap playing, several hundreds of screens accessible to me in my metro area and I've got the choice of about fifteen pictures to choose from.
Unrelated to this comment, but I just have to vent on the following:
"Literally, our very lives are at stake now. George and I are just praying that we can finish 'Episode III' in time, before it's all over."
First off, FUCK I hate it when people say literally when they mean figuratively. I think I would like to show this man the difference between his life "literally" being at stake versus it "figuratively" being at stake... Literally. Second, oh come off it. Yeah, the movie industry will end, and there's no need for a patent office anymore because everything has already been invented, and nobody needs a hard drive bigger than 16 K, and Stephen King is dead at 55, and yeah, chicken little, the sky is, indeed, falling. Can we be done with this inanity, finally, at last? What planet do these idiots live on, anyway?
Note - I'm led to believe that the story of the patent officer who claimed that the patent office should be closed because everything had already been invented is a myth. "In his 1843 report to Congress, the then commissioner of the Patent Office, Henry L. Ellsworth, included the following comment: "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." As Jeffery shows, it's evident from the rest of that report that Commissioner Ellsworth was simply using a bit of rhetorical flourish to emphasize that the number of patents was growing at a great rate. Far from considering inventions at an end, he outlined areas in which he expected patent activity to increase, and it is clear that he was making plans for the future."
Sass mentions another atribution of the quote to Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office Charles H. Duell, who didn't say it either. http://www.urbanlegends.com/misc/patent_office_ul
The box office isn't totally doomed... (Score:5, Funny)
Some movies are doomed (Score:5, Funny)
How is this any different than VCRs? (Score:5, Insightful)
Interesting Quote in the end.. (Score:5, Funny)
Its already over lad! George shot his own golden goose with Episode I. "Before its all over" reads to us fans like "before you suckers realize what tripe we are churning out each episode".
Starwars is dead. Long live Starwars.
Silly Me (Score:4, Funny)
Unless you have money to burn, nothing beats seeing a movie in the theater. Now if they'd just start putting real butter back on the popcorn...
Try getting that big screen at home (Score:5, Insightful)
No, it's the big screen I like. Mitsubishi electronics' best efforts notwithstanding, home theater will never be as impressive as a screen the size of an auditorium wall with all the characters projected in incredible detail. The movies I really love I go to see three, four times on those big screens, just because I prefer to watch a movie "up there" than "down here".
When I can afford to outfit an entire room of my house for darkened projected DVD movie experiences, I may reconsider. For now it's easier just to spend $3 apiece at the cheapie theater.
More complaints (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't they always say this? Wasn't it said about videos, CD Video, cable? Who produces the DVD's? OK, so if people stop going to theatres then thats a revenue stream down but more income from DVD rentals, sales, airlines, pay per view, airlines ....
I really wish they'd just see that technology opens up new revenue streams faster than it closes them down.
Naturally... (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure, the chump with $20,000 home theatre could wait, but obviously, money isn't a big factor in his decision.
Personally, I enjoy a night at the movies, but I also enjoy snuggling up at home to a movie with the girlfriend... I think both will be around for a while, personally.
I'm sure someone said similar things when VHS was introduced.
Yaaahh! (Score:5, Interesting)
And oh, here's a thought...who forces them to release a DVD in 6mo's??? Seems like they could delay the release of alternate distributions indefinately. Don't think so? Go ask Disney. They did it for a VERY long time.
If it's such a risk...release alternate media 1 or 2 years after the movie comes out.
Wow. That was hard to think of wasn't it. Perhaps if he stopped thinking about his next big rip-off-money-making-flick, such an obvious concept would be obvious to him too.
What was his point again...
Re:Yaaahh! (Score:4, Insightful)
Cause lets face it
Entertainment today is more expoitive than it ever has been. They ploy on your material and cultural associations, but rarely have anything to say that is applicable beyond the cultural microsecond in which they are released and promoted.
In fact, this is part of a bigger problem in the whole 'Business at the speed of light' goal we got caught up in
Nonsense! (Score:4, Interesting)
Pretty sneaky!
Movie industry dead within 3 years? Good riddance! (Score:5, Funny)
just another generational shift. (Score:5, Insightful)
just because you have managed to earn a living doing something in the past, that is no guarantee of being able to do so in the future.
technology changes the rules, and some industries suffer, but other industries prosper.
the movie industry needs to realize that they are not "entitled" to make money from traditional movies, they must provide us a reason to do pay them for the experience.
if they made movies that were worth the extra $5 to see on a big screen vs. my tv, then maybe I they wouldn't have this problem.
It'll Be As Dead As... (Score:5, Insightful)
It'll be as dead as...
...movie theatres after TV.
...Live music after radio.
...theatre after movies.
...radio after TV.
There's something that going to the movies can provide that DVDs can't. The movies provide the whole "going out" experience, and the crowd. How many times have you gone to a movie and remarked "when that happened, the whole crowd laughed, yelled, groaned, etc."
Staying at home with a DVD and the microwave is lame. Dinner and a movie is cool.
Better yet, we may see more innovation in theatres like the Cinema and Drafthouse. If you've never been to one of those, you don't know what you're missing.
In other news... The sky is falling (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at how piracy has destroyed the software industry! Oh, it hasn't? But people have been pirating software for 10 years, how can software vendors still be making money?!!! Funny, isn't it?
My hope for the future is that we get rid of alot of the "Fame and Fortune" aspect of acting. In the future (thanks to the Internet), I believe that anyone will be able to broadcast anything they want, and may become famous, but not necessarily rich.
Hollywood makes lots of great movies, and a lot of bad ones. But they've only been around for less than 100 years. They may simply be a short-lived 20th century phenomena, with other forms of entertainment eventually taking over. Don't boohoo about it. If they disappear, it will be because nobody wants their stuff, not because everyone wants DVD's...
For the record, I've never put off "going to the movies" with my wife, simply so that I could watch it on DVD/VHS/PPV three months later...
In other news... (Score:4, Funny)
Traveling Theater Companies call for legeslation to regulate the new "moving pictures" industry, citing flickering and health concerns.
The dairy industry seeks non-dairy product regulation and distinctive markings so that consumers will not be "duped" by "inferior" products.
Television networks are calling for increased regulation of Cable and Satellite Television providers citing "unfair competition".
Looks like these movie guys are a little slow on the uptake with the same old false logic.
Absolute unadulterated hogwash (Score:5, Insightful)
Ticket sales will improve as the economy improves. Theaters will install new technology to make the movie-going experience better. Ticket prices will increase leading to bigger and bigger box-office takes. DVD sales will remain strong. Hollywood will continue to thrive. Piracy will be a secondary factor (as it is now) until fat bandwidth is ubiquitous; after that, it will be controlled by social factors. MPAA will continue to believe that they represent the forces of free speech; people like me will continue to laugh in their faces.
Hollywood will face a major defeat, however, it won't be economic. It will be legal. Copyright extentions will be cut down by the Supreme Court and DMCA will either be stricken down or repealed. Hollywood will then have to resort to marketing (gasp!) to prevent mass piracy.
Bah humbug (Score:5, Interesting)
Furthermore, people will STILL go to the movies as a social event, it's something to do with friends, it's an experience, and most people just don't have home theater equipment that comes close to that yet, until we all get InFocus-style LCD projectors for our living rooms. Oh yeah, and if you want us to come to the theater, consider that just maybe 10 bucks+ a person, not including snacks and soda is a little outrageous - when I was a kid, I remember it was 4-5 dollars, and I'm only 23. Price has gone up substantially faster than inflation, and the quality of most major studio releases has gone down. Hmmm....
Heh heh (Score:5, Funny)
I should have known better ;-)
Anyway, my favorite quote was at the end:
Personally, I'd like to see Lucas standing out on Hollywood Blvd holding a placard that says "The end is near! Repent from your evil filesharing ways!"
But they keep breaking records! (Score:5, Insightful)
6 or 7 years ago, I'd take my girlfriend to the local 3-screen theatre and we'd watch a first-run movie for about $5 a head, plus a shared $8 combo. Total cost, after taxes, $18. Now, the ticket price at my local 12-screen megaplex is $13 per ticket, and the cheapest popcorn+soda combo runs $9 plus tax. Total cost, after taxes, $38.
Now, at $18 for a night out, it was worth it. But once the cost of the experience exceeds the price of owning the movie on DVD, I get a little hesitant about running out to the theatre every weekend. So now, unless it's a movie that will truly benefit from the big-screen experience (i.e., Clones), I simply wait and buy the DVD. That's right, I buy the DVD, even if I'm not sure I'll like the movie. Know why? Because it's still cheaper than seeing it in the theatre, and plus, I get to keep the movie. So even if the movie sucked, hey, at least I still have something to show for it. If it had sucked on the big screen, all I'd walk out with would be some butter on my fingers.
What I'd like to see happen is for studios to make less use of expensive, superfluous special effects and quit pandering to the silver-spoon prima donna crybaby megastars like Julia Roberts, and start hiring equally-capable, but far lesser-known (and thus, far cheaper) actors, like Guy Pearce. Of course, now that he's becoming popular, you'd have to opt for someone else, unless he's willing to continue working at his "Memento" salary levels. This way, we'd get more diversity on screen, and the movies would be far cheaper to produce (and dare I dream, far cheaper to watch?).
Am I the only one who, when I see a Tom Hanks movie (and don't get me wrong, Tom is an amazing actor), I have a lot of trouble accepting him in whatever role he's supposed to be? I keep seeing Forrest Gump. Of course, he was great, but he's still got that recognition, and sometimes, that can hurt a movie. I mean, come on, George Clooney as Batman? Sure, he did a great job, but I kept seeing the doctor from "E.R." I think this was one of the reasons I liked "Memento" so much - I'd never seen Guy Pearce before.
By the way, there's no way that the industry will die in a mere 3 years. That's insanely fast. They couldn't die that fast if they tried. It would take nothing short of some extreme economics and a perfect sequence of disastrous coincidences and events to eliminate such a massive industry so quickly.
It's not Hollywood in trouble (Score:5, Insightful)
BO take is off because the economy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Now that we are in lean times of course I, and many others in a similar situation, are not going to go out to the movies as often as once was.
We're all feeling the crunch McCallum, you are not immune to it.
Insert your own cheap shot about the drop being off due to rather poor story telling and execution for the last two Star Wars movies.
So don't blame the internet and kids with fat pipes. Try looking closer to home for the real reason things are so green right now.
This man needs help (Score:5, Funny)
Is it just me, or does Mr. McCallum sound a little paranoid/delusional? If Episode III brings in less than half a billion in box office and 3 hundred million in merchandising tie-ins, I'd be surprised. Yet Rick and George "literally" have their "very lives" at stake. I guess they're just a few pirated DVDs away from living in a cardboard box.
History repeats itself.... (Score:4, Insightful)
In the late 70's/early 80's they said the VCR will kill the film industry.
Now Rick McCallum is claiming that DVD will kill the film industry.
He claims that "single movie that can survive on box office gross alone". That may be true, but only because of natural competition. The total revenue for a movie in the day and age is theater release + home release. That TOTAL revenue is what pays salaries and production costs. What, did he think the DVD was going to be just pure profit? Actors aren't making 20 million just based on theater release.
But it is unlikely that theaters are going away anytime soon. Why? Because the studios control the supply and demand for movies (for the most part). You pay $8.00 to go to a movie because you can't see it on tape, even if you had a movie quality home theater. And it is going to be decades before >50% of the public has movie quality home theaters anyway. They release the movie on DVD only after noone is seeing it in the theaters anymore.
Now piracy may be an issue and that is one of the points he seems to be making. However, in order to be all that widespread everyone would need T1 lines to their houses and the total bandwidth of the Internet would have to be tripled. Most people will still be on dialup in 3 years, so mass use of a Napster-clone is unlikely to be feasible. Unless people are willing to stay online for 2 weeks to download a movie.
Brian Ellenberger
-1 Redundant (Score:5, Insightful)
When VCRs came out (circa 1980), people from the movie studios claimed it would be the death of the big screen cinema. They adapted and survived and made more money than before.
When so-called piracy came out (circa 1980s), people from the movie studios claimed it would be the death of the big screen cinema. They adapted and survived and made more money than before.
Now that DVDs and overly expensive home theaters are out, someone from the movie studios is claiming it will be the death of the big screen cinema.
These people really have no clue what they're talking about, do they?
Come on, people. Yeah, cinemas are grossly overpriced, but people keep going to them in droves. There's a very heavy social aspect there that no one seems to realize. Your family isn't "going out together" if you rent a movie (or stream it from a server) onto your own 30" screen. It's not really a date with your girlfriend if you're not paying for her rip-off slime popcorn at a theater.
Yeah, I'm sure this guy is speaking for himself, not for the company. That doesn't make him any less of a short-sighted dork for saying it.
I have full faith and confidence in the ability of American business to figure out how to make a buck no matter what the technology is.
Riiiight... (Score:4, Insightful)
Home Theatre is better... (Score:5, Funny)
The Theatre Experience is Crumbling (Score:5, Insightful)
About 3 years ago in Canada we had a projectionists' union strike. It didn't end well. The frequency of fuckups in my moviegoing experience has at least tripled. They are constantly threading the film up - especially first releases - with the wrong lens (i.e. anamorphic vs. standard). Film breaks are more common, and apparently unrepairable now.
They run innumerable ads before movies now. When I hear the voice say 'and now a word from our sponsor...' I feel like standing up and spouting off for 10 minutes because I am their goddam sponsor.
The popcorn prices are laughable. The soda/pop prices are fucking astronomical.
Mobile phones. Laser pointers. Hell, GameBoys.
The waits have gotten longer.
First-run movies often get cycled 24-7 so the prints fall apart faster. Which means you need to see it earlier (see previous point).
I liked the theatre experience before; there's a certain crowd-vibe that is really enjoyable, sometimes even saving you from a bad film (the complete derision shown in the last Godzilla remake was spectacular. I've never seen a whole movie openly, loudly mocked by the entire audience before. And it was fun.)
These days though... being able to control the lighting and sound perfectly, being able to pause to go to the can, eating my own sensibly-priced junk food... like most, I make a judgement call when a movie comes out. If I'm dying to see it, I'll go. Those movies are rare these days.
I'll start going more often again... (Score:4, Insightful)
Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
The only movie worth seeing in a theater... (Score:4, Funny)
... is the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Everything else really doesn't have the value-add to make it worth driving out to a mega-plex to be surrounded by the same people you see on Cops and Girls Gone Wild.
movies are to be fun, not complicated (Score:5, Insightful)
For instance, I used to go to movies a lot. I used to have a main stream movie theaters close to me. That theater is now closed and I have to go much farther to another theater where i have to pay for parking, where they have several concesion stands but even on busy weekends they only have one open, usually with only two staff, to serve the entire 30 screens, and where they clean up the during the credits. And don't get me started on the five minutes of unrelated product commericals. I never had these problems at my old theater.
Going to a movie is no longer a pleasent experience, and it has nothing to do with cell phones, or people talking, or babies. It has to do with the number of screens and the number of seats that is necceary to show a main stream movie. Movie going should not be something that has to be scheduled, planned, and carried out in a careful operation. It is supposed to be fun.
So, I mostly go to the occasional art flick where I can drop in, buy a ticket, and enjoy the show without having the experience ruined by excessive lines, cleaning staff, or overt commercials.
And, in time, I may get a home theater, and more DVDs. Of course, if the DVDs continue to become increasing draconian, I may just abandon the whole movie going expereince
Pop Quiz: (Score:5, Insightful)
Going to a theatre is immersive. There are (ideally - screaming children and cells aside) no distractions at a movie. You're completely involved with what's going on on-screen. Same thing happens in a play - they darken the theatre for a reason, and it's not to see the actors better.
Watching a movie in your typical living-room is completely different. You know you're watching a movie, you don't become as involved in it.
I think $10 for a movie is ludicrous (I grew up with a $4 second-run moviehouse on the corner of my street). I can't really afford it, but I go anyway. Why? Because it's a change of scenery, it's a night out, it's not sitting in my living-room. And because, for any given movie, I have a better shot of enjoying it in the theatre's immersive environment.
Triv
Why are they screaming for us to save them? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Stop charging more than the DVD costs for two people to see the movie in the theatre. And I don't mean raise DVD prices either. There is no reason it should cost more than 10$ for two people to see a movie, or more than 8 for that matter.
2. Stop paying Julia Roberts and Arnold Schwartzniger 40 million to be in a movie. Easy.
3. Make movies worth seeing and not these overhyped pieces of garbage like the last two star wars have been. In most cases a movie CAN wait, I've got better things to do.
For now I'm more than happy to watch DVD's on my 53" widescreen in the privacy of my own house. I don't have to worry about people moving past me because they bought the 72oz soda, or a bawling child. If Hollywood doesn't like that, fix their problems, don't make it out like this is my fault.
How is Lucasfilm hurting? (Score:5, Interesting)
His citing Titanic isn't a good example either. Titanic was a total aberation for movies. It made as much the next 12 weekends as it did it's first weekend (within 10-20%) instead of having the usual 30-50% drop off that most major movies do now. People just kept going back again and again, and you can't expect any movie to come close to what Titanic did. I just think they're blowing everything way out of proportion. Yes, I'm sure downloading movies hurts them some, but not that much (I know I'm not going to take the time).
History repeats itself (Score:5, Insightful)
And then there was Valenti's prediction that VHS would kill movies. As you can see, it hasn't.
I don't think that DVDs necessarily mean the end of movies, either. Though if it means studios start to concentrate on quality, putting an end to the sort of crap movies that seem to dominate the box office these days, that could be a blessing. (No more Adam Sandler, please! No more Tom Green!) There are some films that you just have to see on the big screen, and I've been known to drive all the way from Springfield, Missouri to Kansas City to see films that may not make it down here. (I'm considering such an expedition to see Spirited Away, for instance, even though I've already seen it on a DIVX ripped from the Japanese DVD.) But I could be an exception to the general rule...
Maybe we should... (Score:5, Funny)
Theater 1, The Playpen: Squalling babies allowed, offering counselling at a premium for idiots who take their 2 year olds in to see the latest rated R slasher flicks.
Theater 2, The Lame Room: For people who really don't care about watching the movie, and instead want to talk, make out, use their cel phones.
Theater 3, The Idiot Room: for people who want to do their own MST3K performance.
Theater 4, Paradise: For people who actually want to *gasp* watch the movie.
That way, they'll actually make MORE money, rather than driving away the folks who would normally want Theater 4!
Meanwhile, has anyone else noticed the irony that this is the same Lucasfilm that not only took upwards of 5 years originally to release their movies to tape/DVD, but supported the old "pay to watch" DIVX standard, refusing to release the original trilogy to DVD until it died?
Amazing! (Score:5, Insightful)
This is the first good news I've heard on Slashdot this week!
Although I think he's being a little bit optimistic on how soon this will happen. Have a look on IMDB at how much money even the worst recent movies have made vs. their production cost.. That's a disgusting profit margin for any industry.
Protect our freedoms! Fight DMCA / CBDTPA / SDMI / SSSSA / Palladium / etc. Boycott Big Media!
Easy fix. (Score:5, Interesting)
SW: Clones just sucked. That's why I didn't see it again and again like I had previous Star Wars movies.
Re:Propoganda (Score:5, Funny)
But I get a lot more enjoyment out of my toliet seat than I do out of most hollywood movies.
Re:Propoganda (Score:5, Funny)
more and more, what you find in one is coming from the other.
movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Funny)
It's good to hear that losing a kidney doesn't mean I can't participate in Slashdot discussions.
But the cell phone thing is not a myth. It happens to me all the time. You are a very lucky person (except for the whole kidney thing, of course).
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Funny)
The second time, three different cell phones rang during the movie, and two of the people even had converstations! If the one guy who was in the row in front of me was only a couple seats closer to me, I would have reached down and turned off his phone for him. Perhaps even with the power button instead of throwing it against the wall.
It's not an urban legend - they're not common, but it happens.
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Interesting)
My main beef is being in a movie theater where a group of kids are there -- not the eight year olds, more often the 15-18 year old -- and chattering away. I wonder why the heck they bothered to pay to come to the movie in the first place if they're not going to pay attention?
I once was in a theater where a whole row of school kids was sitting and goofing around, with the guys trying to impress the girls, and generally being a nuisance. Apparently someone finally got sufficiently irritated to complain, because the theater manager came in, stood at the end of the row, and told them all to get out. A couple of them started whining that they'd paid good money and he couldn't throw them out, and his only reaction was that it was his theater and he could do as he pleased, and if they wanted to bitch to him about it then they could do it outside, but they weren't staying in his theater one more minute.
He got a round of applause from the rest of the audience as the whole row of kids got up and filed out.
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Interesting)
--jeff++
They are also ridiculously expensive (Score:5, Insightful)
It costs about $8-9 USD for a ticket for one person. If a couple is going, that's $16-18 just to get in the door, and there are a rather large number of DVDs that sell for that price (including new releases.)
Anyone with kids is hopelessly punished by the ticket prices, not to mention the confectionary stand. (Suuuure you can convince the kids to skip that $2 medium drink and those $3.50 candies!)
And for what? To have your feet stick to the floor? To listen to the idiot with the cell phone, or the couple/group that spend more time talking than watching? Perhaps for the joy of screaming "Focus! Focus!" when the monkey upstairs in the projection booth lets everything go fuzzy?
As to "going bankrupt", maybe Hollywood's big money directors and stars will be forced to do what many of us in the tech industry did last year -- take a pay cut in order to keep working. I realize 10-15% cuts for them amount to a few million dollars a year in some cases, but they can afford it far better than "normal" people can.
And if I hear another MPAA or RIAA exec trying to justify the prices as being necessary to cover the costs of producing the "failures", I think I'm going to puke. No other industry I know of tries to justify their costs by pointing to perpetual mis-management, poor marketing, and poor salary negotiation skills. It's called "ROI" people, and if you can't grasp that basic concept and deal with it you should be out of business!
Price gouging at the consession stands (Score:5, Insightful)
Since they say you can't bring in your own stuff, forcing someone who say, is hypoglycemic or has a bunch of kids who will make noise unless they have something to shove into their mouths to pay those prices to keep their blood surgar up is tantamount to extortion.
Re:Price gouging at the consession stands (Score:5, Funny)
Sure, they say this, but are you telling me anyone is really checked before they come in to see if they have food with them. Some of the bigger items aren't practical, but candy will fit pockets just fine. If you live in colder climates, then just about anything is game thanks to winter clothing. You can fit a one liter or several 20 oz. bottles of soda in a coat sleeve and throw it over your shoulder. Those huge bags of popcorn that are sold in grocery stores will also fit in a coat sleeve - sure I got strange looks when the coat thrown over my shoulder had one sleeve sticking out at a 90 degree angle, but they people who work there really don't care.
Re: concession stands keep the theater alive (Score:5, Insightful)
He claims he has never once seen a theater that would have been profitable if it wasn't for selling concessions!
Apparently, Hollywood screws over the theaters pretty bad on their cost to show new films. (Typically, they do a 90/10 deal. Hollywood gets 90% of whatever a new movie earns in ticket sales, and the theater keeps the other 10%. After the film runs for so many weeks, the amount drops on a sliding scale. So after a few weeks, it might be 70/30 instead of 90/10 - but lots of people already saw the movie by then.)
Furthermore, Hollywood often forces the theaters to enter a contract guaranteeing they'll show the movie for no fewer than a set number of weeks. (That partially explains why so many of the mom and pop theaters, and maybe even some of the drive-thrus, have closed down. To offer a decent selection of movies all showing at once, you have to have a large number of screens.)
For old movies, they sometimes offer a deal where a theater can simply buy it, instead of renting it - and then can make 100% of the profit showing it whenever they like. This is rarely done, however. (Hollywood makes exceptions to this rule for perennial favorites like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", where a theater would obviously rather just buy it outright if they could.)
So what you really have is a business model of selling people food and drinks, not making money showing movies. That's why the stuff seems like such a rip-off.
You think movies are expensive HERE? (Score:5, Informative)
The theater experience is not, but it ain't that nice. Gimme DVD any day.
Re:They are also ridiculously expensive (Score:4, Informative)
Yes.
Check prices in London [londonnet.co.uk], and you'll find they're more in the £5 to £7 range.
When I go to the independent cinema here in Pennsylvania, it's more like $5 US. And you actually get movies that are worth watching!
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Insightful)
While the movie played, he kept answering his cell phone, and his kids kept running in and out of the theater, either due to boredom or restlessness.
Half way through the movie, I got up and complained to the theater people, who asked me if I wanted my money back or tickets to a different showing! I expected them to go in and escort the guy and his undisciplined children out the door, but it was much easier for them just to placate the people who complained about the problem.
This is exactly the reason why I believe that theaters are doomed. There were a LOT of people in that theater, in the rows before and after, who were annoyed by this guy. They didn't complain; though, mostly due to cowardice or laziness.
Anyways, I left, and haven't gone back to that theater since. I wonder how many others have done the same?
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Insightful)
Half way through the movie, I got up and complained to the theater people, who asked me if I wanted my money back or tickets to a different showing! I expected them to go in and escort the guy and his undisciplined children out the door, but it was much easier for them just to placate the people who complained about the problem.
Exactly. It's this short term thinking that eats at many businesses. They think that because someone doesn't complain, they must be happy. Many of the people around you that night probably won't go back. The theater would have been better off loosing that one loud customer.Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Interesting)
Make the movie theatres smaller, charge 15 or 20 dollars to go. That price includes all the soda or water you can drink.
Offer a bar which serves beer and wine (maybe mixed drinks - but that license is more difficult to get and more expensive and not to mention the possible fallout of really drunk customers etc)
offer more confortable custom seating - like real couches for example.
Have a waitress, and offer food for sane prices.
Show movies two months after they debut.
This will allow for a true *experience* as the movie industry would like you to believe that they offer, which they do not.
If you do this - people will enjoy coming and seeing a movie. Hollywood needs to pay the actors less, and focus more on the viewers experience.
We will see that there will be more of a hit on the industry than just DVD. Eventually there will be entertainment options far more interactive and on demand than DVDs, cable and movie theatres.
Its obviously going to take time and money - but their industry is dying, as it should. Its modle is obsolete and impractical and over priced.
The entertainment system will be truely on demand in the future. The Computer will be the pipe for all media to come through. the "Television" will just be the chosen display device due to its proximity to the cumfy couch.'
movie thatres dont suck because people have forgotten how to behave - they suck because they are a dinosaur of a media delivery method. Its more like public transportation - rather than a limo ride, which is what a true movie going experience should be like.
People should show their distaste for hollywood by simply not going to the movies.
There was a theatre that opened in LA that costs 14 dollars per movie. 14!? A bottle of water costs 3.50 at the metreon in SF.
Hollywood deserves to go out of business.
Not all theaters are created equil... (Score:5, Interesting)
Some theaters are already doin' some of this stuff. The Warren East, here in Wichita has a balcony in one of it's theaters (only one, though). The balcony only seats 96 people, I believe. The seats are HUGE. The aisles are HUGE (absolutely no worries about stepping on toes, etc. on your way to the bathroom - it's 6 feet to the next row!) While you watch, they have a nice little coaster with a button on it - press it, and service shows up to take your order (usually bent down, to garantee they don't get in the way of other people's viewing. They are fairly considerate, and quiet - and the way the seats are set up, they are so high backed that it prevents almost all of your noise talkin' to the watress from reaching the people below or above you.) You can have a meal - pretty good food ranging from burgers to artichoke dip. Not a huge selection - the menu is like three pages. But enough variety for pretty much everyone to find what you want.
One of the cool features is the fact that the balcony serves alcohol. That in it's self is neat, but, the side effect is that no one under 21 is allowed in the balcony seating! No people with kids, no noisy teens (though, I've never had that much problem with 'em.)
Food price is pretty normal, but, the ticket prices are nasty - $15 a ticket for night shows, or $10 a ticket for shows before 6PM.
My wife and I went to see Spiderman, first showing opening day of the theater, in the balcony seats. After that, anything we want to see, we check to see if they have a balcony seat. It's expensive, but ya know - it really ends up being an experience. Having someone serve you, never have to get up from your seats (well, obviously to use the restroom), huge seats (oh, and the arms lift up - if you and your SO are setting together, just lift the arm up, and you have a chair the size of a couch! Seriously!), awsome sound system, no one bumping you as they try to go through, etc. make movie watching what it should be. Just wish it cost a tad less.
"Movies for Moms" (Score:5, Informative)
One of my local theatres has started running special "Movies for Moms" showings where noise and disturbances are *allowed*. They set up a row of tables at the back for diaper changing, keep the lights slightly brighter and the sound a LOT lower. They're doing a gangbuster business because they are giving people what they really want.
Re:movie theaters suck... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Propoganda (Score:5, Funny)
They need to learn to budget better like everyone else.
I know... I'm surprised that Hollywood would still keep making the same mistakes over and over again... like putting Madonna in any movie! [foxnews.com]
Re:Propoganda (Score:5, Interesting)
*sniff* Bye bye, Natalie. It was nice while it lasted...
Re:Propoganda (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Watchable movies? (Score:5, Insightful)
Option #1:
-Pay 2/3 of DVD price to watch the movie ONCE TIME in a room full of cell phones ringing.
Option #2:
-Pay DVD price and watch it at home as many times as you want, with the ability to pause, reverse when you want to see something again, etc.
The problem is not only that there are a lot of crap productions coming from Hollywood. It's also that they expect us to watch it in an expensive but crappy environment while eating popcorn with a 1000% profit margin. Sorry.
Re:Watchable movies? (Score:5, Insightful)
Be serious. The majority of the time I go to a movie, there's no significant interruptions (people talking loudly, cellphones, crying babies, etc.). The experience of sharing a story with five hundred other people, especially if it's a good movie, is a wonderful thing that I truly enjoy. The sense of scale a theater screen gives you cannot be equalled by a home theater.
I'm not saying one is better than the other, but come on, you can do better than this utterly selective nonsense.
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
The basic fact of the matter is that these companies have fossilized. It's time for new blood.
Re:Bullshit (Score:4, Interesting)
[flameproof suit on... check.]
I think the quality has gone up.
Off the top of my head, in the last 3 years: The Matrix, Toy Story 1 + 2, Lord of the Rings, Spider-man, American Beauty, Being John Malkovich (tell me that would have come out of a studio 5 years ago.. ha!), Fight Club, Traffic, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Requiem For A Dream, Shrek...
Don't forget how completely full of drek the early 90s were. The ratio of good-to-bad in studio films, IMHO, has improved.
Re:Oh no! (Score:4, Funny)
Thats right, they NEED this money, their lives are at stake!. They'll be dead men if they can't pay off Jabba the Hutt. Maybe a long nap in some carbonite will give George enough time to think about a career change.
Re:puh-lease (Score:5, Funny)
[Kid seated in front of a computer]: I just downloaded some movies.
[Shot of money being locked in a briefcase]
[Soccer mom at Wal-Mart]: I always buy DVDs for my kids, it's cheaper than the theatre
[Shot of a gun being cocked]
[Teenager at his computer]: I wasn't hurting anybody.
[George Lucas with a gun to his head]
[Voiceover]: If you pirate movies, or even buy DVDs instead of going to the theatre, you're supporting terrorism.
[Soccer mom again]: I wasn't hurting anyone...
[Fade to black]