I don't. I'm not certain I'll ever go back to one even after Covid.
The movie theater was a magical thing for me growing up. Mostly because we were poor as shit so it was a huge treat to get to go to the movies... even if it was the 2nd run movie theater for $1.00 a ticket. Getting popcorn was awesome and we would always get the combo that allowed for the free refill. Mom always had to go to the bathroom mid-movie so she would stop and grab us new popcorn on the way back in.
At this point, though, we have massive tv's with ridiculous quality in both picture and sound. We have purpose built/designated rooms made to maximize the immersion in whatever story we decide to take in at the time. We can make our own popcorn without having to pay $35 in concessions for a family of 4.
I don't care for 3D movies. I don't find IMAX to be worth the extra dough. Stuff like the seats rumbling during certain scenes of the movie is kind of cool and adds to the immersion but I can get similar effects if I have my sound and sub tuned in properly. It certainly isn't worth the trade off of dealing with people who are talking loudly, peeking at their phones, possible kid freakout.
I keep reading about how AMC and Regal are struggling and I understand they have employees that depend on them for a job but... TBH, with Disney owning like 1/3 of the movie going experience anymore I'm really disinclined to continue spending my money at theaters. Perhaps only for shit like Marvel or some such I would still go to a theater but I've got a huge 4K tv, good sound, and a dedicated space for movies/tv. If movie houses start, or in some cases continue, to release major "theater" releases direct via streaming (at a reasonable rate) I will definitely never go to a theater again.
Originally Posted by |Zach|:
I enjoy going to the movies but echo what some say about not always being interested in movies that come out especially being someone that does not really care about any of the comic book universe movies.
But I like going during off times when there are not a lot of people and grabbing some popcorn. Alamo is right down the street from me and does a solid job.
As a kid, I loved going to the movies. But that was also back in the 70s and 80s when you had no choice. It was easy to appreciate (at best) or overlook (at worst) the communal theater experience because it was the only way to see the film unless you wanted to wait years for it to come out on TV (or, later, a year for it to come out on VHS). Of course, there were no cellphones back then, so people weren't yapping away or playing Candy Crush at full brightness.
Nowadays, I only go to the movies if it's a matinee during the week. And I literally ask how many tickets are already sold before I purchase. If it's only a handful, and I feel pretty assured I can sit off by myself, I go in.
Some movies do, IMO, need to be seen on a big screen. Of course, I'm biased, since I worked in an IMAX theater. But I've seen some amazing giant screen films in both 2D and 3D. "The Dark Knight" was amazing. "Avatar" in 3D was probably the best 3D I've seen. Even films like the "Star Trek" reboot were incredible. Remember that scene where they see the Enterprise from the shuttle for the first time? When you're looking at it on a 60'x90' screen, you feel like you're actually there. Of course, all the Marvel films were awesome. But those tentpole films aren't that frequent; for other smaller films, I can wait for it to come out on PPV. [Reply]
Originally Posted by EPodolak:
There's a little theater down my street I go to pretty often. It was built in the 1920s, nostalgic period design, classic vibe. Mostly show small films and docs there, with a few exceptions. One of my favorite places in the world. Saw a movie there this week, a Chuck Berry documentary. I was the only one watching.
That’s a cool set up. I haven’t been to a theatre since Christ was a corporal but I’d go to one like that. Sounds like the theatre in Inglorious Basterds. [Reply]
Originally Posted by EPodolak:
There's a little theater down my street I go to pretty often. It was built in the 1920s, nostalgic period design, classic vibe. Mostly show small films and docs there, with a few exceptions. One of my favorite places in the world. Saw a movie there this week, a Chuck Berry documentary. I was the only one watching.
Did it talk about how he farted on people? [Reply]
I used to enjoy movies at the theatre a lot. But over the last 20 years, I've only gone to about 2 a year. Too many redundant movies. Sequels almost always disappoint. Comic book movies are essentially all the same. And now.... I don't want to sit in the same room with 100 mouth breathers. [Reply]
From 1989 to 2013, we went to the movies five times, usually because of some reason. 1989 Lethal Weapon 2, my current wife and me first date. 2005 Apollo 13 my 45th birthday. 1999 The Blairwitch Project, because they made the film near us in Maryland. 2007 Zodiac, my wife and me are big true crime fans. 2011 Source Code, I had two free movie tickets.
We moved to a large retirement community in Florida in 2011, in fact it's the largest with 127,000 people. We have three 8 screen theaters and residents tickets are only $8.50. After we've been here a couple of years I told my wife we should start going to the movies, we are retired and we have nice theaters with almost no kids in the theaters. So in 2013 we went to see Gravity and from then on we went just about every month, probably at least 50 films. Our last was January we saw 1917. Since then I've lost interest in seeing films, I dropped all the premium channels from Directv and I'll watch occasionally an old B/W on TCM. [Reply]
