I'm curious about his disparagement of "noisy fanboys an girls". Is fanboy now just a generic term for someone we don't like?
I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
211–220 of 287 posts
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#212I think Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is doing it right: 1. Food & beer/wine served with movie -- convenient and much preferable to overpriced popcorn. 2. Cellphones must be turned off. 3. They take talking seriously, and preface each film with a strongly (and amusingly) worded statement to that effect. 4. No babies allowed except on specified baby nights. 5. Creative and fun special events, such as quote-alongs, sing-a…
I went to an Alamo in Houston and while I liked the concept, the theater was a bit dank (which I worry is an inevitable result of serving beer and food) and not a place I'd prefer taking my kids --- which is relevant because "family of four" seems to be the core market for blockbuster films. I like Alamo, don't get me wrong, but there are downsides to the model.
The Alamo Drafthouse in Houston was a franchise location and not run by the same owners. In the past year or two, however, the parent company purchased the franchise locations outright and shut down the franchisee concept.
My guess is Houston will be looking up...
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#213I think Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is doing it right: 1. Food & beer/wine served with movie -- convenient and much preferable to overpriced popcorn. 2. Cellphones must be turned off. 3. They take talking seriously, and preface each film with a strongly (and amusingly) worded statement to that effect. 4. No babies allowed except on specified baby nights. 5. Creative and fun special events, such as quote-alongs, sing-a…
At the Alamo Drafthouse in San Antonio, they play a slightly modified version of this before every movie I've seen -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo9v_GIuDBk
Definitely a good place to watch a movie, and I think Ebert is spot on.
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#214I think Alamo Drafthouse in Austin is doing it right: 1. Food & beer/wine served with movie -- convenient and much preferable to overpriced popcorn. 2. Cellphones must be turned off. 3. They take talking seriously, and preface each film with a strongly (and amusingly) worded statement to that effect. 4. No babies allowed except on specified baby nights. 5. Creative and fun special events, such as quote-alongs, sing-a…
For the NYC crowd, there's a spot very much like this in Williamsburg: www.nitehawkcinema.com
Food is quite good, service is impeccable. It's a more intimate affair, only two people per booth - and there's only 30 or so seats per house. They do drink & entree specials themed with the films, which is pretty cool I guess. They helped get state law changed in order to serve cocktails and beer in the actual house.
In-between the featured presentations is curated from local (often quite good) film artists.
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#215Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
" both of which, incidentally, suffer from the same competition movies do: high quality home theater setups and internet streaming. " Live events shouldn't be so easily compared to movies and home entertainment. While you can wait for a movie to come to DVD for a similar experience, it's not the same for a live event. Watching a concert on YouTube isn't nearly as much fun as going to watch it live. Going to a live ev…
Concerts maybe not, but watching sporting events at home can usually be a better view and watching experience. Yes, the atmosphere of a home game for a passionate fan base cannot be replicated, but for casual fans who just want to watch the game in comfort, HD TV, comfy couches, and regularly priced food and drink is an attractive alternative compared to going to the stadium.
You'd think so, but you have no idea just how much you miss by watching TV. At a football or soccer game, you can follow all 22 players at once, not just the half dozen around the ball. And a baseball game in the summer is as much a warm day spent outside with friends as it is a sporting event. Also you get to see more of the game, since you see how the fielders are positioning themselves and how the base runners are positioned to possibly steal a base, whereas TV just focuses on the batter and pitcher.
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
You might like this: http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/ They even provide an RSS feed of new trailers.
Ugh, Quicktime. Of all the movie trailer sites, this is the only one that expects you to install some slow, clunky software first.
You're joking, right? How do all of the sites that require Flash also not fall under this same statement?
(Yes, I'm being somewhat snarky, but I'm also genuinely interested in your take on Flash-based sites. Is it an issue of "Flash is already installed and QuickTime is not" or something beyond that?)
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#218In addition to ridiculous ticket prices, the actual movie doesn't start until 15 minutes after the scheduled showtime. While you're waiting, you're expected to watch advertisements. I don't have any concrete data to back this up, but I feel it wasn't always this bad.
I've always wondered why movie theaters are showing ads, when you are charged to watch the movie. Aren't ads supposed to be an alternative to directly charging your customer?
Any additional revenue stream is good for papa!
At some point, research was commissioned by movie industry types to find the viewers' "time of highest alertness", i.e. when to deliver the best scene. It turns out that viewers are most focused in the first 20 minutes, which is consistent with most research efforts in other fields (see the usual stuff about 15 mins presentations etc).
Trailers were already being shown in that timeframe, to allow for latecomers, so adding regular ads was a no-brainer.
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#2192. Ticket prices are too high. People have always made that complaint, but historically the movies have been cheap compared to concerts, major league sports and restaurants. I had to check this claim, because inflation and purchasing power can fog people's memories. Using average U.S. ticket prices[1] adjusted to 2010 dollars[2], I get the following: Year | Price | 2010 price adj. w/CPI ------------------------------…
7.89 for movies? What? Where? I'm guessing this data is skewed by the low prices of rural and suburban centers that are underpopulated. Here in the urban world where most of the population lives, movies start at 11 or 12 dollars and then there's a 3D surcharge of a couple bucks. When my gf and go to the movies here in Chicago its about 30 dollars before any snacks. Toss in a few bucks parking too. Oh, want to order o…
It's pretty common for me to pay 7.50 in Lansing MI (almost 500,000 in the metro area). That's mostly because I always get a student discount (hooray college town where they assume everyone under 30 is a student).
Re: I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping...
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ugh, Quicktime. Of all the movie trailer sites, this is the only one that expects you to install some slow, clunky software first.
You're joking, right? How do all of the sites that require Flash also not fall under this same statement? (Yes, I'm being somewhat snarky, but I'm also genuinely interested in your take on Flash-based sites. Is it an issue of "Flash is already installed and QuickTime is not" or something beyond that?)
Yes, Flash is already installed. It also opens instantly and is never slow. It doesn't open up weird framed windows that don't match the chrome of the rest of the OS. It doesn't try to trick me into installing iTunes to download it, and it doesn't try to trick me into installing iTunes and Safari every couple of days when its separately installed software updater pops itself up. Quicktime (and iTunes) are just terrible software on Windows -- they perform poorly, make no attempt to act like Windows applications, and are almost on the level of malware when it comes to the updater.