Movie theaters -- really empty

[powellrj]

I think the problem is that there is very little worth seeing at the theatre right now. Star Trek has a following and I have seen some reviews for Angels and Demons, but beyond that the choices are thin.

I think that might be part of the problem. DD and I love to go to the movies and we went yesterday. Usually there are several previews that we make note of to see later and with this movie there was only one.

I think part of the problem is people are just busy. I know we have been really busy and just found the time to see 17 Again. Its been out for weeks, but we have had something to do every night for over a month. I was surprised how full the theater was for a Sunday afternoon for a movie that had been out for so long.

 

[bicker]

Folks should keep in mind that the prices are substantially set by the production houses, not by the theaters' indeed the bulk of the revenue from ticket sales go to the production houses. The theaters tend to make their money on the concessions.

I doubt decreasing prices would improve anything for theaters. LoraJ alluded to the problem with folks, especially children, misbehaving, and that would perhaps be exacerbated by lowered prices (not to mention how becoming the cheap hang-out in town would tend to increase maintenance costs). I think we need to realize that standard movie houses are an artifact of the past. There are so many new (and arguably) better ways to view feature films, these days, that we can consider standard movie houses to be non-viable in the long-run.

However, as spima3 mentioned, overall revenues are up. I think more and more people prefer having the theater to themselves, viewing, as LoraJ alluded to, a more crowded theater as a theater more likely to have folks in it who will behave in a manner that ruins the experience for others. The production houses have their pulse on their revenues, and know that sometimes high prices and low volume yield more overall revenue that low prices and high volume -- the Macy's versus Walmart scenario. There is a place for both market sectors, but increasingly the low priced distribution mechanism for feature films is television.

IMAX is really the future; though some people don't like it, it does provide a viewing experience that you really cannot get from a regular movie house, and a viewing experience that home viewing really cannot compete with on any level.

However, home viewing is really becoming many people's favorite means of viewing feature films. OctMtnWoods mentioned subtitles as one reason. My wife is hearing impaired, so that's a big deal for us. (Though, to be fair, IMAX theaters tend to have excellent apparatus for viewing textual renditions of the dialog.)

 

[bicker]

Related news article:

Theater owners see upswing amid a downturn

 

[jen0610]

We have a theater that is 5 minutes from our place. Go by it any time Friday after 6 p.m. and all day on Saturday, and the parking lot is over flowing. Go by it Sunday before 6p.m. and it's about half full. But after that, it may have a couple dozen cars in the lot. Sunday evenings are just not a hot time frame for going to a movie.

We will be at the theater Friday for the earliest showing we can get to for Terminator. We, personally, like to beat the crowds and go early, then go out for dinner.

 

[bgirldeb]

We saw Star Trek Friday night at 7:30, after it had been open for a week, and the theater was packed solid. We even had couples coming in and splitting up because there was one seat available in our row. Someone else tried to take my 7 y/o DS's seat when he got up to whisper something to my DH during the previews.

 

[wvjules]

We went to X-Men on Friday night and the theater and whole movie complex was busy; to be expected for a Friday night.

On Sunday we went to see Star Trek at 5:30 (at a different theater). The theater and movie complex were as crowded as they were on Friday night. Ushers actually had to sit and rearrange people because it was so crowded.

We don't do a lot of things so movies are our guilty pleasure. We usually go once a week and I personally have NOT noticed a decline in attendance at all. Its business as usual around here.

 

[jama]

They have been packed here...
star trek Sat afternoon show was a sellout...
Hannah Montanna last week was packed also...

 

[ICF]

I worked for numerous years at a theatre in highschool / college and Sunday nights are usually pretty slow, even in a good economy.

For us, we don't go to many movies anymore....they are on DVD usually 3-4 months after being released and I can rent for $1 and watch on our 57 inch HDTV. To take our family of 4 to a movie it would cost a minimum of $20 (assuming it's been out a few weeks as is now at the $5 price) or close to $40 if we went during the 1st 2 weeks and were paying regular price for the tickets.

 

[N&B'smom]

We went to see Star Trek on Friday night for the DLP showing and it was PACKED!!

 

[Nik's Mom]

We went to see Angels and Demons on Friday at 11:30am and expected it to be empty at that hour, but it was pretty full. Plus, it was one of those new theaters where a waiter comes to your chair to take your order from a full lunch/dinner menu. It's more expensive than the regular theaters so I was figuring that it would be empty.

 

[Golf4food]

I worked a theater in college - Sunday night's are almost always dead time. No wonder you didn't see many people. Try a Friday night next time - there will be more than enough people to convince you that Sunday night was the right time to go.

 

[MovieJunkie]

We actually had a pretty good audience today. Walking out we saw a couple going into Star Trek with a little baby. Hope the baby slept the whole time. It really is not fair to other in the theater if the baby coo'd and goo goo ga ga'd or cried the whole time.

I went to see Wolverine this weekend and just as the lights went out this huge family with three kids and a baby sat down right next to us, and I was like "Noooooooooo!" But as it turned out, all of the children were incredibly well-behaved, and the baby didn't make a peep. The one thing that happened was the boy started slurping his straw when he had no more soda left, and it was only a few seconds before the father shushed him and explained that he had to be quiet to be polite to the other people in the theater, and the kid turned and said "sorry" to me. I was so pleasantly surprised... there ARE actually well-behaved kids out there still!

 

[HGD24]

If you have young babies, babysitting is ridiculously high so going to the movies turns into a very expensive date. DH and I went to see Wolverine last Sat for Mother's Day and then went to a couple of stores to look for patio furniture afterwards since we had some time leftover before we said we'd be home - and it was nice to not have to shuffle the poor baby in and out of the car at each store.

Movie tickets $14 (matinee)
Popcorn $6 (medium-sized, brought our own drinks)
4 hours of babysitting - $40

Granted, we had our DD's daycare teacher who is in her late 20's watch her, but still - $10 an hour It makes going to the movies something you have to plan for and for some people, potentially save for.