Movie Theaters Are Dying Because the Future Is Better 

I worry that we are losing the ability to share common public spaces. Even many old people have forgotten how to be quiet in a theater. School board meetings and city council meetings have become shouting contests. The bookstore I work at encourages people to hang out for hours, but now it has become common for people to sprawl all over the floor, blocking access to the books and making aisles impassable.

As a huge computer nerd … i still prefer to own stuff. I don’t want my art to be files on a hard disk, especially if its one I don’t even own. I prefer books and records because they have literal weight.

I feel like an important aspect of movie theaters, music stores, bookstores, etc. is that sense of community. Going to a physical space with other people and interacting with them. It's part of why church is so important to some people. I still go to book stores because there are people that work there that love books that can make recommendations that an algorithm never could. You can also get that with libraries and not have to worry about the cost. Movie theaters specifically can have an energy that you can't get at home. I remember going to the midnight premiere of the Simpsons movie and evryone laughing together. I remember going to see Avengers Endgame and everyone cheering when Cap has Mjolnir and when everyone shows up in the portals. It's a magical, electrifying experience. Getting everything delivered directly to your house is convienent, and necessary for people with mobility issues, but it contributes to our general alienation and growing sense of loneliness. We need more reasons for people to go out, interact, and make friends with eachother, not less. Ideally they shouldn't require money for people to enjoy them, but that's a separate problem.

I very much miss the bookstore browse. Picking up a book, feeling it's heft, flipping through it's entirety to glance at a few random passages throughout before deciding whether to add it to my ever-growing stack of to-be-purchased books; Amazon will NEVER be able to replicate that. Sometimes you don't know you want a book until you've seen it in person, felt it. I miss the gargantuan magazine selection, too for similar reasons.

I remember when movie tickets didn't cost more than DVDs but here we are.

Theaters (mistakenly) believe they are selling "premium product." If they want butts in seats, cut the ticket prices by 2/3rds. And popcorn is the cheapest, crappiest snack on earth - stop marking it up 10000%. Sell it as the cheap slop that it is, and I'm sure people will flock to the movie theater.

The thing about "buying" things for streaming is you never know when it will go away. A service shuts down, rights go away etc, so I never consider "buying" something from a streaming service "owning it" and will never pay above rental prices for it.

Don't bring your baby to the theater, people.

Indy bookstores are actually increasing, in my experience. There are a handful of stores within a short distance of me. Two opened just last year. Bookstores are my happy place and have been for as long as I can remember. My family visits the local small book stores in any town we visit. I miss theatres but the experience isn’t the same as it once was. I seldom watch movies even at home.

Cinemas have always been hellish for me; I'm autistic and have a limit to how much noise I can handle before I completely lose the ability to understand what's going on... and as you can imagine, being in a room full of people and having everything blasted at me at about twice the volume I'm comfortable at made it really really hard to enjoy films! I haven't been to the big chain movie theatre in town for about ten years. If there's something I really, really want to see on the big screen, I go to the local indie place that serves real food for less than half the price of a bucket of cheap nasty popcorn, and doesn't make me take off my noise-cancelling headphones, that has comfortable seating and plenty of space between chairs, that has a room especially for patrons who might need a few minutes in the quiet to wind down. That's the future of theatres - small places that cater to comfort and the needs of all their clientele.

Predictions of the demise of movie theaters go back to the invention of television. I'm not ready to write them off yet, in the short or the long term.

I think what I miss isn't the media itself, but the social nature of the experience. Yes, streaming services et al are basically better in most ways, but it's much more lonely.

The Social Experience is what sets a theater apart; going to a movie on opening night (such as Infinity War) and getting that pure 1st time viewing experience with hundreds of other people, hearing the gasps/cheers/gasps coming from yourself and so many other people, talking with friends and random strangers as you leave the theater- you're not gonna get that at home.

The other downside to the loss of book stores and movie theaters is the loss of them as a third place for people to come together outside the home. Additionally with on demand streaming and endless programming choices society continues to isolate itself into their own silos instead of discussing the weekly TV episode every one was waiting to see the next day at work or school. Bowlin Alone, Robert Putnam, is a great read on this subject. Are we sacrificing the wee bit of collectiveness we had as a country for convenience?

What I miss most about the slow death of bookstores, video stores and even movie theaters is the loss of browsing sans algorithm. Streaming imitates the process of walking through the aisles and plucking something random off the shelves, but it's just that, an imitation. After a few weeks of streaming, any given service will be spoon-feeding me exactly what it thinks I want, mixed with whatever their marketing dept is pushing that week. Being grabbed by a book cover or movie box cover, and discovering either a hidden gem or a piece of schlock so bad that it serves as the basis for a story you and your friends tell each other for years, is dying as a practice. And yes, there's a loss of community that's part of the bigger move too online life in general.

As someone who has been on-board with a lot of the new ways since their early introductions: The new ways leave a hole in our hearts. When an audience is engrossed in a comedy, being a part of that audience makes the movie genuinely a lot funnier. A scary movie is a lot scarier. It's a way to connect with other people you don't even know, to share an experience with strangers, a little glimmer of communal synchronicity. (This phenomenon can also be used for evil; but when used for good can help improve community cohesion and heal wounds.) As you touched on, digital media also has such an inevitable air of impermanence. Physical books still feel much better. It still feels best to hold a CD in your hand and say "this is mine", and it also encourages listening to albums as experiences instead of just flitting about all over the place. Video games have also undergone a similar shift with digital sales being the only available option in PC gaming these days and the consoles rapidly headed that way. I may be a curmudgeon, but I am not a luddite. I know the numerous advantages of the new ways, and I use them. I just worry that maybe we traded away too much.

Unfortunately there are significant drawbacks. Music online and streamed reward the artists significantly less than physical copies, this is also true of e-books. Movie theatres provide a big screen experience that only people wealthy enough for home theatre can regularly afford. It is hard to find or browse books on the internet, it being easier in a store. Many jobs are lost by these closings. Monopolies are formed among online sellers in a way that is harder to make happen in physical locations, hurting consumers. Digital books and music means no resale of used items for people looking forward to affordable access. Having good internet access to do all this is also unaffordable for many. Streaming services add up in costs. Kindles etc., have an entry cost and replacement cost. Electronic devices are also causing massive environmental damage with rare metal mining and energy use.

The problem with the new stuff (and I mean the last 30-40 years or so) is that many of the downsides they have were actually put there by design. Books, movies and music... they can take them away from you even if you 'bought' it. Social media sites? They suck up all your data and build up a personality profile to sell you stuff you didn't know you wanted or to manipulate you in a certain way. It's not about making money anymore. It's asking the question "how do we make more money?". And they'll keep asking that question until everything breaks.

I seldomly disagree with you, but in this case I do. I will miss movie theaters because the experience of going to the movies and seeing a motion picture on the big screen just doesn't compare to watching at home for me. It's not the same like with music - listening to a CD or streaming songs isn't much of difference to me. The downsides of a theater visit (the people, the noise, the costs) are real. But the experience always made up for it, to me anyway. So in the end I think it's all a matter of personal taste. Nevertheless, keep up your great work. Regards from Germany!

In the 2000s, the theaters seemed to have collectively lost their minds, cranking up the volume to the point where you're shredded at the molecular level if something explodes onscreen. I have sensitive hearing in the first place, and I couldn't take it anymore. Last movie I saw in the theater was Tron Legacy in 2010.

There's a fundamental distinction that you seem to miss in your comparison: changes to books, music, and TV are just changing the distribution method; none of them are changing the experience significantly beyond the convenience factor and losing your ownership or the content you consume, as well as the communal/social aspect for those who enjoy that. Movie theatres offer a vastly different experience than watching a movie at home: a larger screen, generally better audio, and that group experience. Some people may not care about those distinctions, but they are distinctions nonetheless, making it an unfair comparison. There's also a flaw in your reasoning: if theatres become niche, they probably won't survive. Theatres are businesses with massive overhead: distribution companies take about 90% of ticket revenue for the first few weeks a movie is playing, then it drops to 80% later, and it's only after several weeks that cinemas saw any significant profit from ticket sales, and now that has been taken away because distribution companies release their movies on streaming within a month or even weeks after theatrical release, further decreasing cinemas' ability to make their investment back. This is why concessions are so expensive: because it's the only way they can pay the massive bills for power and rent. If cinemas become more niche, they'll lose even more of that potential to break even, not making them viable to continue. So, yes, I will continue to fight for the vastly superior cinema experience. I'd encourage you to check out Patrick H Willems recent series on this very issue. It's very good, and goes into much more nuance about the cause of the decline of theatres.

One thing we should all remember, is that physical media has a shelf life too, ever try watching a VHS tape on a dusty VCR, that hasn't been plugged in for years? Or how about trying to listen to audio cassettes on a old tape player, or watching a vintage film on a overhead projector, or trying to play an old video game cartridge on an 16 bit console. Surely, we have all experienced the moment, we might have to throw away all of this old media, because it's too old and too corrupted to be enjoyed like it was in the past, I have thrown away dozens of CDs, CD-ROMS, VHS and even DVDs, after they degraded and were taking up storage space, although it is sad to see them expire, I had to learn to let go, so this is my advice - enjoy whatever media while you can, and don't be upset that they are gone, but be happy that such things existed.

Movie theater goer here, I think what we will miss is the collective experience that can’t be replaced watching at home. Ultimately yes streaming is better in most situations. I think theaters will still be around but become very niche

2:26 I also love book stores - specifically used bookstores but I don't visit book stores as much as I visit movie theaters because when I go to a movie theater I don't bring anything that takes up space into my tiny apartment.

Capitalism killed the theatre kids

This weekend my fridge broke. Sunday night I ordered a new one, it would be delivered wednesday. They called me this (monday) morning if it was okay if they’ld come this afternoon? “Yes please!” This store used to be store front only. The internet came and they adepted and they are still a shop you can visit but in my case thatwould have been really inconvenient. I love that things are this easy nowadays.

I remember renting DVDs by mail through Netflix. That was so awesome to me in my 20s because I was big into foreign films then and I could practically watch anything I had heard of! I will never forget the excitement of getting those red and white envelopes in the mail and things have only gotten better.

The local theater here hasn’t been open for months. It’s not reopening. I’m not in a rural area, but a small city. There just isn’t an audience anymore.

Movie theaters like video rentals stores, like Chuck E Cheese like Best Buy, Perkins, Dennys all zombie businesses they exist in some form but are dying.

The one area where you and I may diverge on the subject of "the death of the movie theater" is where independent and foreign films are concerned. As someone who has been attending local independent film festivals, to me, theaters are still essential to non-studio films. Many films simply won't be seen by the viewing public if they have to rely on streaming services to get eyes on them, and those that do may never make their money back because the corporations that control these streaming services won't pay the creators any more than they absolutely need to and the services' algorithms completely bury anything that doesn't fit their AI programming. Documentaries and foreign films whose studios don't already have deals with US studios suffer the same fate. For every Cannes, Sundance, and SXSW festival - which might as well be considered studio festivals - there are dozens of smaller, regional fests that show amazing indie and foreign films/documentaries that deserve the eyes and hearts of the viewing audience. During the two quarantine COVID years, I attended the Nightstream film festival, which combined five smaller fests under a single virtual umbrella. It was a welcome way to support them and see some great films, but technological limitations were noticeable and I'm sure virtual festivals can be cost-prohibitive for these smaller fests. While streaming services such as Shudder and Kanopy do great work in their limited capacities, and boutique physical media distributors (Severin, Vinegar Syndrome, Arrow, Radiance, Third Window, etc...and Cthulhu bless DiabolikDVD.com!) pick up a lot of the slack, they aren't the complete answer. I agree with your conclusion that, for studio offerings, the game has irrevocably changed and multiplexes may soon be a thing of the past. But I pray that revival houses (repertory cinema) will continue to live and thrive. I don't want to live in a world where the Brattle Theater, the Coolidge Corner Theater, the New Beverly Theater, and others don't exist...

I have to argue with you here. It's not the WAY that I consume these things that bothers me; it IS absolutely better than it used to be. What I miss is the SOCIAL aspect of going to a theater with family, or going to a book shop with friends and browsing, or just trying to find a movie at the video store and having that discussion. I miss those things for myself, of course, but I feel more upset that kids today won't ever have those experiences. Again, I will admit that it's easier and those aspects can be better now, but getting together and going places is just so much more fun than going to someone's house and sitting on the couch or chatting online. Anyway, thanks for posting.

Streaming services are already dystopian with their exclusivity segmentation, their tiered pricing, the double-dipping by subscription AND showing you ads. The fact that streaming services keep launching the movies so soon after the big screen is what is killing movie theaters, but it is also killing the idea of the blockbuster. Everything being part of your subscription means no ticket sales, and now your movie has to claw back its investment from a significantly smaller pool that it shares with thousands of other movies and shows. The death of cinema is the death of big budget movies. If you're the kind of guy who goes to independent film festivals and watches that stuff, good for you, but it's not good for anyone else.

Well, I do understand the late Roger Ebert's love for the theater experience. You can watch Star Wars at home, but you don't get the effect of watching it on a ginormous screen that made space look like space. You can't watch 2001 on your laptop and get the same effect as the Cinerama experience. Thing is, I still remember what it was like taking the bus downtown to see Disney, The Three Stooges, or Forbidden Planet. Yes, I'm an old lady.

Piracy, it's the moral thing to do.

I should have realized that the dissonance of you praising streaming in front of your wall of physical media was _extremely intentional_ and was going to pay off. As the kids say: I should know by now to _let you cook._ 👏

Going to the movies with friends, to me, is very enjoyable. There's the excitement of the new movie, the discussions after the movies on the subways back home, and the joy of being around your friends. Streaming the same movie at home - simply does not have that same flavor. At home, too often you have to pause the movie for something, or you're watching it alone with no one to laugh along with. Yes, there are benefits, but there are also downsides. Mike

Combine brothels with movie theatres. I’ve been saying this for years.

My issue with movie theaters is the cost. Its around $100 bucks for 3 tickets, 3 drinks, 1 popcorn and a snack. Its just not worth it. On top of the cost people use their phones or are loud and annoying and the staff doesn't care. The only movies I want to see in theaters these days are the ones that I avoid watching the trailers for or read reviews of. Ones I want to see right away. I paid to see Black Widow at home day 1 and it was glorious. I wish they had not botched that so badly. I would much rather pay $35 and watch it at home with my family and my snacks then pay $100 for the same thing in a theater.

Without theaters, where would Lauren Bobert give her constituents a helping hand?

I agree that the way we get music and movies is better. However, it makes me sick to my stomach that small businesses are being put out of business because of huge monopolies. I miss small specialty stores which are going extinct.

For me, the quality of seeing a movie on the big screen with those massive surround sound speakers is currently impossible to recreate at home. For me, that makes all of the issues worth it…for the right movie

Movie theaters need to pivot to the back catalog. You know what has me excited to go to the movie theater? The Interstellar re-release. There are so many movies that work best in the theater, and the theaters need to lean in to this. New movies? Who cares? You want to put asses in seats, play the ORIGINAL trilogy, before George messed with them. Han shot first, god damnit.

Experiencing a movie with a crowd is sometimes the most fun part of going to the movies. And it’s really the only time my mother & I do anything together as well.

I am fearful of lost media, when all services no longer host a movie or song that I want, and sometimes have purchased

We used to have a Drive-in movie theater until a storm damaged the screen a few years ago.

The theater is a very special experience I want back in my life, but I’m broke and exhausted.

I don’t agree with your bookstore analogy. You don’t just go to a theater to “get” a movie, you go there to experience it. It is a qualitatively different process from watching one at home. When you read the actual book, it doesn’t make any difference whether you purchased it at a bookstore or online.

GREED killed the movie experience. Cost prohibited for many.

Convenience to support the megacorporate dystopia, all without any of the personal connection and experience. Yey.

I agree for the most part. Most of my desire to keep movie theaters around is personal. I love the feel of being there and all but the other reasons are a little bigger. My home movie viewing set up is relatively poor with not a ton of options to change it. The house is all windows so its down right impossible to not watch without a glare. The biggest problem, whoever, is my horrible attention span. At home, theres so many other things to screw with and do. Theaters force me to focus in a comfortable way I cant get at home. The alternative is better in mamy ways but ill definitely miss the old times.

One of my most treasured memories in a theater was when I caught the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie when I happened to be in Kansas City when it was playing there. Watching MST3K in a theater packed with other MST fans is something I will never forget. I'll miss stuff like that, but as you say, things gotta progress. Also, pouring one out for Borders. They were my hook-up for British comedy television on VHS back in the day. RIP you magnificent bastard.

I am one of those who has to be dragged into new ways of doing things. I would like to see streaming services treating artists and art with greater care, and I am glad you touched on that.

Well, the movie industry can't count on having Barbenheimer every year.

I'm sad that neither you, Steve, or any of the commentors I've read thinks of the Public Library as an alternative for accessing media. The Public Library is a font free materials, no paid subscription required, all you need is your library card. Libraries provide those desperately needed 3rd Places that do not require any kind of upfront financial outlay from a patron, and visitors can stay as long as they like. Everyone should make certain they have an active library card. Libraries are under threat from those who would censor access to particular materials, and by corporations who see the loaning-to-everyone-free principle of Public Libraries as a threat to their profit margins. GO, USE YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY, BEFORE IT TOO DISAPPEARS!!!

Being in my mid forties I have to agree. We went from "Be kind, rewind" to where we are now. I've got 2 kids, 9 and 6 and we sometimes go to the movies just for the kids to have an adventure, maybe twice a year. But we do have Movie Night every Saturday. Family gathers, getting Pizza delivered and eating popcorn from a cheap popcorn machine just works so damn well. Am I nostalgic for the olden times? Sometimes. Do I prefer how it's going today? 100%

This is very similar to a conversation that I had with a friend. When I got a job at a co-op grocery store, he said "That's stupid we should get rid of ma & pa stores. Everything should be Amazon". His reasoning was because he can get anything he wanted and nearly always next day. Seems to be convenience over community.

I worked in a video store back in the day, so I got into the "bad" habit of only seeing "spectacle" movies in the theatre, and waited to everything else (for free), especially comedies and dramas. That habit never ended. But I've stopped seeing even the spectacle movies, because I can't stand the sensory experience anymore. The movies are just too loud for my autistic ears. I can't do it. If the volume went back down to turn of the century levels, I'd go back... but, unfortunately, because of the small fortune it costs at this point, it might only be a single movie a year. 😐

I no longer go to movie theaters. I hate the customer experience. They say the movie starts at 7:00 but I have to sit through countless stupid commercial ads, and maybe the movie begins at 8:15. No cartoons, special features or trailers, just the same commercials that I would see at home on TV. Screw that! $20 for popcorn also turns me off.

Not to mention: 1. We get to set the volume 2. We get access to captioning 3. We have a gourmet (or not) kitchen 10 feet away 4. We have a private bathroom 15 feet away 5. We have a pause button 6. We set the schedule 7. We have a comfortable couch 8. We have alcohol if we wish 9. We have absolute quiet (or not) if we wish 10. We don't have to sit in a giant Petri dish for three hours 11. We save $50 for a much better date night

Same as it ever was. The delivery may change but it always was at the benefit of investors and shareholders. As soon as they demand more returns the experience will suffer. Streaming is already showing characteristics of the cable TV era.

I don't think theater to bookstore is a good analogy. The bookstore doesn't change your experience of the book like a theater arguably does. I for one will miss theaters for the cultural aspect of it. There is something about a group of strangers unspokenly agreeing to take in this experience together, to say nothing about scale or quality of presentation. (I know there are a million memes about crying babies or talking people, but these have been very rare in my personal experience.) There are a ton of reasons to enjoy streaming for accessibility reasons alone. I love it. But I love the theater too and not just because "big screen, loud noise good" It's somewhat akin to a concert for me. Can I listen to this song in my car/home on my own time? Sure. But beyond the live aspect, there is something to the community of a concert.

When I was a kid cartoons were a treat mostly reserved for one day a week. There were the one or two morsels the networks would feed me after school but every Saturday morning from 6 Am to noon it was an animation buffet. Nowadays the buffet is available 24/7 and while being an adult is certainly a factor in why I'm not as passionate about cartoons as I used to be I think an even bigger factor is that they're too readily available. Like candy if you can gorge on cartoons all day every day they cease to be a treat and therefore lose much of their appeal. At least for me.

As someone who has been watching movies in VR theaters, where you can always have the best seat in the house, where the 3D effects are perfectly separated between your eyes, where the screen is as big or small as you want, and where your friend who lives 1000 miles away can sit right beside you, they really are superior to the real thing in every way. I think as VR and AR get more normalized they really will replace the full experience of real theaters.

I feel like that last line could be applied to just about everything in life "instead of giving in to the fear of change, let's embrace it and help to build a better future" I can remember having a discussion back in 2005 about having a digital library that's easily accessible by typing in a web address and paying a small monthly fee. Little did I know that Netflix would come around not long after that. Now when I tell my 10-year-old daughter about these magical places called video stores where you can go rent a movie for a few days, she looks at me like I'm making this stuff up. A sign of the times I guess.

Not having to leave the house for many activities, making purchases or just browsing etc. is part of the reason why I stopped partaking in some of those activities altogether. I can't say that I love sitting right next to a stranger in a movie theater and listening to him munching on his popcorn or getting the jokes 5 seconds after everybody else did. But I do enjoy having a reason to go somewhere else other than my living room, spending time at those destinations and seeing people who came there for that same reason as I. I watch fewer movies, listen to less music and read fewer books than I did in the past because there are fewer and fewer public spaces for me to go to.

I stopped going because half the time my local AMC can't bother to properly calibrate a screening. There was a greater than 50% chance the volume would be deafening and the picture would be so dim you could barely see the damn film, and I finally asked myself why I was paying $20 for that crappy experience.

I still love seeing a movie in a theater. The huge screen, the sound, the immersion and the pure escape from reality once those lights dim. It is like seeing a play in a theatre vs on a screen. It is something special.

Instant gratification has killed society. Being able to do things instantly, without leaving your couch doesn't automatically make them better. Learning to be patient is essential. I see the challenges while raising my kids.

In the TNG episode "The Neutral Zone", it is revealed there is no "tee vee" in the 24th Century. Take that, Buck Rogers.

37 yo. I'm old enough to have been to drive in movies. That's were i saw several jurassic parks and matrix movies. nobody brought their phones because the cords were not that long.

My favourite Cineplex theater has a bar and therefore no children are allowed. I don't drink but the no kids has a huge part in me loving that theater. If it closes I will be very sad, I go there every chance I get.

Here's why my living room will always be better than a movie theater. 1-snacks are close by and already purchased for much cheaper. 2-the movie can be paused for bathroom breaks. 3-Volume is adjustable. 4-I can wear my jammies. 5-And most important to me...I have PTSD and experience sensory overload from a theater movie that is so fucking loud that I my startle reflex won't settle down for hours afterwards. Oh, and the people in the theater. No further explanation needed. The last movie I went to was pre-pandemic. I doubt I'll be back.

It really is not better, Steve. There are serious limits on availability, there is increased cost, and the community elements . Not saying movie theaters are cheap, but so much of the convenience is part of how badly our society is being run.

I weep for the lost movie going experience from decades past. Kids today don't know what they're missing.

$150 for a family to see a movie with soda and popcorn is insane to me. I’ll take Netflix and Orville Redenbacher’s nearly every time over that.

Seeing a movie on a massive screen filling your whole view and watching it with a group of people all experiencing laughs and cries together doesn't compare to watching a movie on a 78inch tv on my own

In the early 70's we had triple feature horror movies for 75 cents tickets prices. We could spend the entire afternoon at the theater! Those were fun days!

51 year-old here, and I agree wholeheartedly. I get cranky just when vids take bit longer to buffer, let alone when connection drops entirely.

The irony of someone dismissing the importance of physical media whilst being surrounded by....physical media.

I honestly don’t want the theater experience to go away though. I haven’t been to too many theater viewings myself, but it’s such a cool, epic, collective experience and if theaters actually priced things fairly and reorganized into something fitting the modern day, things wouldn’t be as bad I think, still different but, not AS bad

"I'm only 44!" Damnit Steve, I'll be 47 on Friday. You're making me feel old!

Movie theaters dead , television dead, radio almost dead, but the one thing you will have to pry from my cold dead hands are my physical media videogames.😂

I just went to see Robot Dreams (highly recommend) in the theater this weekend and guess what? It's the PERFECT TIME to go see movies in the theater because there's a decent chance there will only be a handful of people in it! No crowds! No lines! Woohoo!

Television and streaming has just gotten so good that they really have to make a movie that people feel is worth leaving the house for

Sorry but how is losing more public places along with ownership of media a good thing? This is like saying "libraries are dying because the digital only future is better." Going out is good, nothing beats the experence of seeing a film on the big screen, supporting the community and industry. Sorry if going outside is a little annoying for you but I prefare not to be socially atomized, thank you. I do agree the prices are bad now and if anything I would like to see things return to pre covid level of pricing and things to be more affordable for people who want to go to the cinema.

I think the big problem with the death of physical stores is that browsing the internet doesn't show you stuff you weren't looking for but might actually like. Digital sale show you things intended to get you to buy them. Physical stores have inventory for everyone, so you might find something you weren't expecting.

The main advantage to doing things old(er) school is interaction. If you wanted to see a movie with friends or family, you had to learn how to negotiate, how to plan ahead so that you had enough time and money, how to play the game so you knew when you were being ripped off and how to deal with the party doing it, how to mind your manners, and how to enjoy the experience in the moment. In other words, how to be human. You can’t learn that sitting on your couch staring at a screen. That’s just a simulation. You want the real thing, you have to get off your ass and do the work.

3D did a lot to keep me out of movie theatres before Covid hit.

I wouldn’t say that capitalism killed the theater, it’s simply moved on. There are fewer ‘big box’ stores than the height of the ‘00’s and I’m okay with that. Do I miss Borders, Toys ‘R’ Us, ‘The Mall’? As a child of the ‘80s spoon fed consumerism, you bet your ass. As an adult who understands the poison of capitalism, I appreciate my FLGS, the small friendly bookstore, and the local restaurants that pump money back into my neighborhood. In my town we have two thriving, small theaters (one shows movies outside in the local park throughout summer and fall on the weekends). I appreciate those curated, intimate experiences along with the ease of our digital world.

The big thing for me is the growing realization is when I go to a movie theatre with digital projection, I am just seeing an expensive version of of digital projection TV in a big dark room, nothing essentially different from my TV at home. At least when it was filmstock, it was a different experience on that fundamental level.

It isn't just about the movies themselves. It's whole experience of going to the movies. It's communial, where you share the experience with a group of friends and strangers. It's watching previews. It's buying popcorn, or even the smell of popcorn that permiates the theater. It's going out with a date and sharing popcorn and hoping your hands touch. It's hearing the reaction of the crowd after it's over and the lights come on. For someone who claims to love movies, you seem to miss the whole point of going to the movies.

Steve, I love your stuff and this is the first time I find fully disagree with your premise. I'm going to challenge the assertion that being able to get movies streamed at home is a better experience. It is a fundamentally different experience and IMO even as someone who puts care into my home therater environment it is a fundammentally inferior experience. Your supporting arguments are not wrong. The industry has massive issues. The capatilism of it all is making things increasingly toxic, and people have fogotten how to exist in public spaces moreso than pre-pandemic. And yes new media distribution is a revelation, I used to be an agressiveuser of alternative digital distribution networks prior to the advent of things like kindle, streaming audio and netflix. When getting what i wanted because easier through more mainstream channels than alternative methods then I happily switched. But Movie theaters, the theater experience? Irreplaceable. The period of the pandemic when I couldn't and wouldn't go to public spaces was hard in part specifically because I coudln't go t the theater, and the first social thing I started doing once fully vaxxed and masked was go to movies again. I say this as someone who will in heavy relase periods will go to my local theater up to 2 times a week and probably average over the year about 3 theater trips a month at least. I make use of the movie club plans that some chains have availabel to them and i go often enough than I actuall get a good deal. The reason i do this is that even in a very well puttogether home theater setup you are still not in a venue designed for one thing only. When I watch a movie at home from the vast libraries available to me thanks to internet streaming I am in the best circumstances just Watching a movie, in my familiar place, with all my familair distractions. When i go to the thetater to watch a film I am experienceing the movie, in a place i had to plan to go to, make the trip, and commit myself to the experience. I also have the communal experience which is usually quite positive and adds an energy to the experience. I will say I have seen a significant rise in poor behaviour in other theater goers over the years, mostly in the phone use, light discipline, and talking areas, but still even with as much as I go, I can probably only recount a handful of times a movie was disrupted to the point i remember it happenning. For me the space and the experience, the commitment of the appoiintment viewing, and the trappings are all part of an important rituatl to the medium. I would argue that theaters are dying because of an industry structure that is deep in the throes of enshitification and trying to squeeze every last dime out of the thing even if it kills it. If the future is just watching movies at home, then the future of the movie experience is NOT better just because of how easy it is.

Borders😢😢

You had me almost in tears. The finality of it the things from our childhood will soon be gone forever. There's a part of us that can't help but be sad at that. But you are right. end it's for the better. The drawbacks just outweigh the benefits. But I will miss that communal feeling of watching a really good movie with a theater full of my fellow human beings.

Seeing a good movie in a theater will always be a better experience than streaming it at home. Same with going to a library/book store/music store/etc. Going there, chatting with other people, browsing the inventory, and such are all part of the experience.

I have over 500 movies at home so I could start my own streaming service🤣!

I fundamentally disagree about movie theaters. I wouldn’t want to see the premiere of a movie if I wasn’t with a crowd of people. The thing I love about movies- heck, about stories- is that they literally bring people together. They are one of the last communal experiences we have. Standing in line to get that popcorn is part of that communal experience. It is one more exercise in social cohesion that we don’t get in the streaming world. We in 2024 have enough reasons to never leave our couches: to work, to interact with friends, or to be entertained. That is why I will always try to see movie premieres in theaters, and on the biggest screen possible.

Well lets see: - Inflation is high so the cost of living is high - I take my senior father and myself, get 1 adult, 1 senior ticket, a medium drink and my dad large popcorn and a large pop deal, he uses his Scene card and with the deal and senior discount, it still is close to 50$= WTF. - Streaming services get the movies within weeks of the movie coming out - The seats at my theatre need more cushioning so they are super uncomfortable :P

Blu Ray players actually have a built-in mechanism to allow studios to cancel the keys for older discs, and cause your player to refuse to play them. So I wouldn't be too confident they can't come into your house and effectively take them away.

The biggest damage to movie theatre's is due more to poor quality of films being releases into theaters.