Author Topic: Movie Theater Pet Peeves  (Read 355 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mac

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9913
  • Dewey Cheatham & Howe LLP
  • Location: Little Ol Town in the Midwest
    • View Profile
Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« on: October 12, 2011, 09:46:31 am »
Talk about your movie going conflicts here...

Not really a commercial, but more of one those pre-movie reminders. I love it

Believe in Yourself
Because the rest of us think you're an idiot.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter


Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2011, 09:54:05 am »
I very rarely go to the movies anymore because of asswipes talking to each other, on phones, texting, big heads with bigger hats on 'em. My biggest pet peeve is kicking the back of my seat.

When I do go to a movie on that very rare occasion, I usually wait a couple of weeks to avoid the majority of the crowds and it's either the early matinee showing or the last showing because I know the room will be mostly empty.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Mac

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9913
  • Dewey Cheatham & Howe LLP
  • Location: Little Ol Town in the Midwest
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #2 on: May 16, 2014, 11:43:43 am »
Ain't gonna work...

Who Wants Movie Theaters To Be More Like Airlines?

Quote
When in-flight movies became popularized on commercial planes in the early 1960s, air travel was like riding in a movie theater in the sky. Now going to the movies is going to be like riding in an airplane on the ground. Cineplex has announced they’ll be testing a new service at their flagship theater in Toronto. And when I say a new service, I really mean to say it’s an old service just with a new service charge. The idea is to make center auditorium seating cost more to patrons, because that’s a favored spot. I guess. Personally I prefer aisle seats, especially at theaters with tighter space between rows. The only time I like to sit in the middle is at an IMAX show.

Earlier today I saw a headline for this announcement and I immediately thought about how some airlines gouge their customers with added charges for a checked bag or for more leg room or for an aisle or window seat. Even though it’s the opposite on a flight — people prefer not to be in the middle — it sounded liked Cineplex was inspired by Spirit, for example, as they’re one of the worst offenders as far as taking something previously standard and tacking on a surcharge, especially if it’s liable to make the customer at all comfortable. I was rather surprised to find that the theater chain actually acknowledged an airline industry influence in their announcement.

“It’s really about providing our guests with choices when they go to the movies,” said spokesperson Pat Marshall, as quoted by The Star. “I sort of position it akin to an aircraft where you have your regular coach seating, then you might want a bit more amenities, so you go into business class, and then you have a first-class.”

But sitting in the middle seats is hardly like sitting in first class on a flight. Unless they’re going to be bigger and sectioned off from the lower class customers and come with a complimentary glass of champagne. If you’re going to make an airline analogy for something like this, you’re only going to make it more apparent that it’s like making customers pay more for a window seat. Or for a headset. It makes me think that next they’ll charge extra if we want to bring a sweater into an over-air-conditioned auditorium. Meanwhile, many cinemas already have D-Box motion seats, which lets us feel even more like we’re on a plane, specifically one with a lot of turbulence.

There’s also something that Cineplex ought to realize, and that’s a very big distinction between a movie theater and an aircraft: we need the latter a lot more than we need the former. Sure, there are other forms of transportation, but none as speedy and convenient as air. And when you’re on a flight, there’s not a lot of freedom of choice. That’s why the airlines can get away with a lot of the crap they currently are getting away with. The only alternative is to pay a whole lot more for better seats. But if you gotta fly, you gotta fly. Movie theaters can’t get away with a whole lot these days, because it’s a lot easier for people to just not go to the movies. If you gotta watch a must-see movie, you can wait and rent or stream the thing in a matter of months.

You’d think that the smarter thing to do here would be to offer cheaper tickets for the less desirable seats. Knock off a few bucks for the front two rows or the seats all the way over to the side. But theater owners don’t do that kind of thing. Sometimes they’ll try to avoid increasing costs, like when they keep a concession price the same but decrease the size of the popcorn bag or soda cup. But in spite of the interest of theater owners to introduce cheaper ticket prices, there will always be more interest in introducing new fees for things they try to make seem like a good deal.

If this sort of practice is kept up, one day we won’t have any more cinemas, because everyone will stop going to them, and an in-flight screening won’t just seem like being in a movie theater in the sky, but that will be the only kind of movie theater there is.
Believe in Yourself
Because the rest of us think you're an idiot.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2014, 02:48:32 pm »
I went on a little mini-rant about this on Twitter the other day, my basic point being that outside on inflation and cost of operations, you can't raise prices without adding value.  And I got news for these theaters who think this can work: the ushers, who spend about 30 seconds cleaning up the theater between shows, aren't going to care who's sitting where.  No one's going to be checking those assigned seats.

This is just giving people more reason to skip the theatrical window and wait for the disc or streaming version.  The money saved on tickets (which would be more, cause you know the high ticket price standard would be the LOWEST price, NOT the highest price) would go towards a bigger, higher-resolution TV (which are becoming cheaper by the day).

Raising the ticket prices arbitrarily puts one more barrier between the customer and the product, which is the stupidest business plan you could possibly hope to come up with.  You need MORE reasons to bring people to the theater: more movies, more variety, special events, etc.  They do Fathom Events but those are few and far between, they only happen one night at a time and they aren't advertised much (I only ever hear about it when I'm ALREADY in the theater for something else).  Sometimes they'll show a revival of a movie or a live concert or a play, but imagine if they did more.  What if one weekend they showed a whole season of Game Of Thrones.  I'd go in an instant!  They could have a food truck or BBQ or whatever, charge 20 bucks or something and I bet they could fill TWO theaters.  What if Vimeo did a nationwide week-long campaign of their latest, greatest hits in the theater, like a mini-festival?  I bet people would go.

Movie theaters aren't places where people go to see Hollywood movies: they're communal spaces with multimedia, and there's SO much potential there to be explored, but they don't do that because they only see themselves as delivery systems for a specific, narrow band of content (Hollywood films), and they're not making a good return on that anymore.  They should be doing what home systems CAN'T do, and doing it as best as they can.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2014, 06:42:32 pm »
Op-Ed on The Dissolve about movie theater upcharges.

Oh, I'm so dreaming of having the space/cash for a big 4K TV.  Even though it would be way too big for my room, I kinda want one right here next to me.

Admitting that makes me feel like a terrible person.

Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2014, 09:30:24 pm »
What's your average ticket prices per your location (talking to you Mac and Neumatic). Theaters in my eyes priced themselves out of my pocket years ago. It became worthless to go for a lot of reasons as the movie going experience was not worth the price of admission....and this was matinee for me. Everything has to line up for me to see anything in a theater now and with each passing year, my trips there have become practically non-existent. Taking a cue from Neumatic's recent Film Festival, THAT is about the only thing that would get me back in their seats. But that would be an exception as it's an event.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2014, 09:34:45 pm »
I think it's about nine-ten bucks for a ticket, but I only go if it's a must-see on the big screen and I get the biggest screens (1, 2, 10, or 16).  I'm royally annoyed they don't put that information on Fandango when you order the ticket if it winds up being on the ticket you print out a second later.  I would order many more tickets if I knew what theater I'd see them in.

I listed out all the movies coming out until the end of the year that I'd consider seeing in theaters, and the price wound up being about the same as what I spent on the whole film festival.  10 days = seven months.  And that's if I see every movie I listed, which is unlikely.  I already skipped two.

I assume you put your theater ticket money to a nice TV, Chip?

Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2014, 09:41:17 pm »
I assume you put your theater ticket money to a nice TV, Chip?

Yep. One for the Living Room and currently looking to replace my Bedroom TV which is on the verge of crapping out. Not sure what make or model I'm going to go with, but it's gonna be minimum 42 inches, 1080p, etc....
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #8 on: May 20, 2014, 09:44:38 pm »
The other thing I did put a lot of my movie going fun into was just buying boatloads of new DVD's on release day. Every Wednesday at Best Buy (when I actually went there). I would average around 5-6 DVDs per week. It got insane and eventually I was racking up more titles than I was actually watching. Soon I had a huge stack in the corner, 40 dvd's high. At that point I went cold turkey and stopped buying all together with the exception of TV series that I just couldn't do without.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #9 on: May 20, 2014, 09:49:01 pm »
I have a MASSIVE collection of DVDs.  What stopped me was being able to rent them all in the mail or stream them combined with a massive lack of income.  Neumatic poor, baby.  Of course, I can't bring myself to sell any of those DVDs, and some are even starting to rot, I've had them so long.

I kinda want to get a 4K TV when I have disposable money, but I feel like since there's so little 4K content, I'd just feel like I'm watching low-res stuff all the time.  I do like that motion smoothing though, I know a lot of people don't, but it feels more 3D than 3D to me.  I'm really curious to see what VHS looks like through that.  Like you're looking through a waterfall or something.

Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2014, 09:52:41 pm »
Going through all my DVD's. Almost. I have so many that it will probably take me another 2 years to hit them all. I have found a few that have DVD rot which p*sses me off. The "BIG CLAIM" when the DVD format initially came out, the marketing people use that as a selling point. "That DVD will NEVER rot like Laser Discs". LIAR! I knew it was bullsh*t, but I still dove headfirst into the new format like there was no tomorrow.
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2014, 10:30:17 pm »
I got a ton of DVDs when I got my first player because I couldn't rent them anywhere.  No Netflix and no nearby Blockbuster, so if I wanted to see a movie, I had to buy it.  SO much money spent.  And I still have just about all of them.

Mac

  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 9913
  • Dewey Cheatham & Howe LLP
  • Location: Little Ol Town in the Midwest
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #12 on: May 21, 2014, 03:54:53 am »
More than a few times I've gone through my DVDs and sold the ones I know I will not get around to watching. My criteria... If I have not watched it in the last 5 years, gone.

My B & B has $5 movies before noon. I've gone a few times. Otherwise $8 for a flick. Then start adding all the variables. $2 for mega screen. $5 for the suites, etc.

The center BS will never work here.
Believe in Yourself
Because the rest of us think you're an idiot.

Neumatic

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4138
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #13 on: May 21, 2014, 02:34:43 pm »
See, I'm such a long-term guy that sometimes I take five or six years between movie watchings but that makes me enjoy it more.  It's probably me compensating for watching the same movies ad infinitum when I was a kid, having them burned into my memory so hard that I can't watch them and enjoy them anymore.  So that criteria don't really fly with me.

Chiprocks1

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 25865
  • Tell me a joke...
    • View Profile
Re: Movie Theater Pet Peeves
« Reply #14 on: May 21, 2014, 02:38:48 pm »
Dude. The Earth and our existence on this planet is ending next week. You better hurry up and finish the Twilight series or else.......
Chip's Rockin' Art
Michael Scott To Meredith: "You've slept with so many men, your starting to look like one. BOOM! Roasted! Go here.

 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
2 Replies
121 Views
Last post November 21, 2011, 08:48:12 am
by Mac
7 Replies
413 Views
Last post February 14, 2015, 09:25:23 am
by Chiprocks1
1 Replies
181 Views
Last post March 06, 2012, 10:45:52 am
by Chiprocks1
1 Replies
267 Views
Last post April 19, 2012, 07:16:24 am
by Chiprocks1
6 Replies
872 Views
Last post August 21, 2012, 05:48:44 pm
by boyinblack80

Automatic Image Resize Code