Why do you think movie tickets sales are in such a big slump?

13

Comments

  • Reply 41 of 65
    tmptmp Posts: 601member
    Reasons? How about my eperience seeing Revenge of the Sith:



    Spend $13.50 on ticket, wait in a stupid long line to get to the candy area to spend 6 bucks on the Vat O' Diet Pepsi, spend two hours alternately hating a movie that was totally devoid of the decent acting, writing or the humor of the first three and hating the people who brought infants to the theater and wouldn't take them out when they started bawling, and then the capper: give the greedy bastages at the Grove 2 bucks to park.



    I'd rather watch the DVD on my laptop, thanks.
  • Reply 42 of 65
    protostarprotostar Posts: 272member
    1.Price, although I can get in for $6.00 b/c I'm a student.





    2.People on cell phones. God I hate when I'm in the movies in some dumb bitch (most of the time it's a girl) gets on her phone and talks. Not just for a couple of seconds to tell the person she's in the movie theater but they actually have a conversation! And what's more they get upset when you tell them to shut the fuck up!! Unbelievable. I think the movie theaters should be able to put cell phone jammers in the walls to prevent interruptions during the movie.





    3.People with babies. I hate children, but when people bring their babies and toddlers to the movies it only excerbates my hatred for them. Why would you ever bring your 1 yr old child to the movie when he can't even understand what's going on? Is it to make everyone else suffer? Because that's what you're doing. I went to see Episode III and right when Darth Vader's mask was being put on his face, a baby started to scream. I was so enraged I wanted to turned around and force choke it to death. MY movie experience RUINED b/c of some stupid inconsiderate person and their stupid kid. I think children under 5 should be banned not only from movie theaters but on airplanes as well. I also think cell phones should be jammed on airplanes as well.





    Quote:

    Like clockwork 10 minutes after the movie begins, you have the Ghetto Thugs arrive. They begin yelling at one another about where to sit. Then they talk to the screen, one another and start burning cell phone minutes like crazy.





    I think these people should be escorted out of the movie theaters, by force if necessary.
  • Reply 43 of 65
    aquamacaquamac Posts: 585member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by ipodandimac

    ticket prices are STUPID. and there aren't any good movies. that's it.



    I agree. The prices are too high. Some theaters won't even let you in if they think you have a can of pop or a snack. I thought I lived in a free country. Sadly most movies are formula trash or trashy trash. There are only a few i'll go to see at all.
  • Reply 44 of 65
    dojobidojobi Posts: 73member
    I haven't heard a phone ring in a movie for over a year now.



    Do you get the ads before the film starts to tell you to turn your phones off? Ever since they started reminding people to turn them off, I think people have become aware of it.
  • Reply 45 of 65
    I'll tell you why Hollywood is in a slump right now:



    Lame-ass movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith.



    That's why.
  • Reply 46 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by johnsocal

    ...

    Why do think people are not going to the movies as much anymore?



    1. crappy movies

    2. high ticket prices

    3. Overloaded with home entertainment- cable, satellite, computers/internet, videogames, DVD's, Big-screen HDTV, and etc.

    4. All the above

    ...





    I think there is no easy answer to that question.

    Crappy movies? Debatable, but not necessarily true.

    There are always some jewels in the muddle. Granted

    the sheer mass of annual movie production produces

    a lot of Crap. Part of the system, i guess. If you really

    want to see the good movies, you ought to go for a

    haunt - at festivals. What a pitty, however this is the

    (fullfill yourself).



    High Ticket prices? Compared to what? Ask yourself,

    what do you get for the 8$ price tag? A thorough experience

    of mass cultur with all the trimmings (including state of the art

    movie presentation) . Now you can argue, whether

    you do like it or not. The percieved price tag might be

    high. But oftenly the same guys, who complain about high

    theater price tags indulge themself much overpriced brand

    sneakers on a 2-monthly basis.



    No 3 Overloaded. This is quite a point. Maybe People are just

    fed up with all sort of mass consumption press. Also, maybe this

    means a big f**k you to all bland marketing suits. Hope so.



    Btw, i really love movies, the good ones, you know.
  • Reply 47 of 65
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Well, it's not so much that movies are worse now than at some other time (we always forget that our personal "golden era" of filmmaking included a lot of truly awful stuff), but the way that movies are bad now.



    There's a kind of industrial brutality to movies as of late, like the people that make them actually hate you, and yours, and the whole idea of art and entertainment.



    Summer blockbusters feel like "HERE YOU GO YOU DUMBFUCKS! HERE'S SOME MORE EXPLOSIONS AND SHIT YOU'VE SEEN A THOUSAND TIMES BEFORE! HERE'S THAT PLOT TWIST YOU SAW A MILE OFF! HERE'S THE "WITTY BANTER" BETWEEN BUDDIES THAT'S SO TIRED IT'S ROTTING AND THE FLESH IT COMING OFF IN GREAT SLIMY STRIPS, BUT YOU DON'T CARE CAUSE YOU ARE TOO FUCKING STUPID TO KNOW ANY BETTER! HERE'S THE TRASH TALKING BLACK GUY! YOU LOVE HIM, YOU PATHETIC LOSERS! OH, AND HERE'S A HOT NINJA CHICK. ASSHOLES. LOOK AT THE CG SPACESHIP/BIG BUILDING/NATURAL DISASTER."



    But the really horrible thing is the whole deal is wrapped in state of the art production values, so it's like the slimiest corporate jackass you ever met in some kind of audio-animatronic cyber suit that gives him super powers.



    I truly think it's the cognitive dissonance-- the fact that the louder and higher resolution and multi-tracked and CGed and jaw-dropping amazing the technical aspects of filmmaking get the more cynical and half-assed and pandering and brainless and chicken-shit derivative corporate ass-covering every other part of them gets.



    Whether they realize it or not, I think people are getting pissed off at the movies, because some part of them know they are being played.
  • Reply 48 of 65
    e1618978e1618978 Posts: 6,075member
    Quote:

    HERE'S A HOT NINJA CHICK





    mmmmmm, hot ninja chick, mmmmmm
  • Reply 49 of 65
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by e1618978

    mmmmmm, hot ninja chick, mmmmmm



    Careful, e#s, hell might be "Elektra" on continuous loop....
  • Reply 50 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by addabox

    Careful, e#s, hell might be "Elektra" on continuous loop....



  • Reply 51 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by addabox

    Well, it's not so much that movies are worse now than at some other time (we always forget that our personal "golden era" of filmmaking included a lot of truly awful stuff), but the way that movies are bad now.

    ...





    Absolutely. Also, once you get a glimpse how

    an average movie project is gonna be developed,

    you'll quickly understand that more than somewhere

    else money is the driving force behind. Okay, nothing

    new here.



    As soon as actual cash money is invested in a film, and you all

    know when it is real, it's real, when it has pictures

    of dead Presidents on it, then an armada of smart marketing suits

    take over. This money almost always comes from the distribution

    company or an outside investor, but it is REAL money in the bank...

    not the PROMISE of money.



    The paradox is: a movie is a promise of "art" and "entertainment",

    which these guys don't even know to to spell. Sad.
  • Reply 52 of 65
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Absolutely. Also, once you get a glimpse how

    an average movie project is gonna be developed,

    you'll quickly understand that more than somewhere

    else money is the driving force behind. Okay, nothing

    new here.



    As soon as actual cash money is invested in a film, and you all

    know when it is real, it's real, when it has pictures

    of dead Presidents on it, then an armada of smart marketing suits

    take over. This money almost always comes from the distribution

    company or an outside investor, but it is REAL money in the bank...

    not the PROMISE of money.



    The paradox is: a movie is a promise of "art" and "entertainment",

    which these guys don't even know to to spell. Sad.




    Right. Movies have always been a "let's make some money" business, but at one time the people who decided how to go about that were "movie" people.



    Now it's "diversified holdings" people, and movies are manufactured in precisely the same way as any other mass market commodity whatever.



    In fact, they are manufactured alongside and in cooperation with the rest of the mass market whatevers, the better to maximize "synergy" across a full frontal assault on the desired demographic. Watch the movie/get the manga/buy the shoe/eat the happy meal/download the cellphone ring-tone/etc.



    Personally, I feel burnt out on the next big movie before it even hits the screen.
  • Reply 53 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by addabox

    ...

    Personally, I feel burnt out on the next big movie before it even hits the screen.




    Yeah. Here's the problem from a different angle:

    for a script (and therefor the final product, the movie)

    to be good, it needs to be something personal and

    emotional. But for a script (and movie) to sell it needs

    to be something commercial that a couple of hundred

    million people will pay to see. This is the main trouble

    of commercial film making.



    How do you find an idea that's both?

    What if all of the commercial ideas you come up with

    you aren't passionate about, and all of the personal

    ideas you come up with aren't commercial?

    How can you turn that personal and emotional idea into

    something with commercial potential? No easy questions.

    Noooow the marketing department pitch in. With all

    their mighty numbers they have in mind...end of story

    If you are going to spend $80 million dollars for a movie,

    you want to be pretty much sure the final product will sell.

    By any means. However, even the most intelligent, creative

    and compelling projects will suffer to this proposition.

  • Reply 54 of 65
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Vox Barbara

    Yeah. Here's the problem from a different angle:

    for a script (and therefor the end product, the movie)

    to be good, it needs to be something personal and

    emotional. But for a script to sell it needs to be something

    commercial that a couple of hundred million people will

    pay to see.

    This is the main trouble of commercial film making.



    How do you find an idea that's both?

    What if all of the commercial ideas you come up with

    you aren't passionate about, and all of the personal

    ideas you come up with aren't commercial?

    How can you turn that personal and emotional idea into

    something with commercial potential? No easy questions.

    Noooow the marketing department pitch in. With all

    their mighty numbers they have in mind...end of story




    I think at this point the marketing department is pretty much the whole thing.

    And the only question is, "How can we minimize risk on our investment?"



    The answer, of course, is "presold" product: sequels, comic books, remakes, video games, or (as so hilariously lampooned in Altman's "The Player"), cobbled together bits of Stuff That Did Well In The Past ("It's The Graduate meets Psycho").



    Oddly, I think DVDs (and other distributions channels on the way) will actually improve the movies, by changing the economics of the "blockbuster" mentality and allowing for more personal films to find their audience.



    "Donny Darko', maybe not a great film but certainly an interesting one, almost didn't get released at all (a little too interesting, apparently) but has done quite well in its DVD release, enough so to make money for its backers.
  • Reply 55 of 65
    Quote:

    Originally posted by e1618978

    The other people at the movies. Nasty, crinkling celophane, cell phone jabbering, thuggish people.



    Very much so in my case. DVD rules, and not much more, if at all, expensive than a movie ticket.



    Nothing like lying in bed with my Panasonic DVD-LX9 on my chest and the head phones on



    - T. I.
  • Reply 56 of 65
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    There are a few really good "emotional" films that have made it through and had a following in the mainstream. Two of my favorite movies from the past couple years were Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Garden State.



    They weren't any kind of a financial explosion like Independence Day, Titanic, or the Star Wars prequels, but they did well.



    Anymore, I'm finding the really good movies on Apple's trailer site and then searching them out in my area. When Garden State was first released in the Kansas City area, it was only showing in ONE theater. It did very well there and spread out to others in the area.
  • Reply 57 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by CosmoNut

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind



    This flick is puzzling all together. If i remember

    correctly i've read the script before watching the movie.

    After i've finished the book, i had a strong need to watch

    that movie, because i simply couldn'd believe this

    amazing book is gonna be produced.



    This movie (and a ton of others) feeds a lot of

    hope. I believe there is and always will be

    people (read: producers) who are dedicated

    to movies - and good storys. I strongly believe

    that quality matters and quality will survive.

    I know it.



    "Multiplex" is just temporal insanity. It occurs and

    departs. Mark my word.
  • Reply 58 of 65
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    It's true, somehow good movies still get made, and good directors get to make the movies they want.



    Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic), Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways), David Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees), anything written by Charlie Kaufman, etc.



    On the other hand, all of these have that certain "indy" vibe which is threatening to become a genre in its own right-- you know, "small" feeling, quirky characters and a little bit "wacky" in their world view. I think the relatively small budgets that go with that approach account for them getting made.



    I guess I miss the days when something like Apocalypse Now or Taxi Driver could get made, but I think the economics of feature film making have made that pretty much impossible.
  • Reply 59 of 65
    vox barbaravox barbara Posts: 2,021member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by addabox

    It's true, somehow good movies still get made, and good directors get to make the movies they want.



    Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, Life Aquatic), Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways), David Russell (Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees), anything written by Charlie Kaufman, etc.



    On the other hand, ...




    Yeah on the other hand, let's play the inevitable

    top list game. No particular order in mind.

    List to be continued



    The Killing (Kubrick)

    The Shining (same)

    Alien 1 (Scott)

    Shattered (Petersen)

    Fargo (Coen)

    Memento (Nolan)

    Everything written by C. Kaufmann

    and

    Everything written and directed by D. Lynch
  • Reply 60 of 65
    nwhyseenwhysee Posts: 151member
    Humans suck. Dude next to me during 'Batman Begins' phone began to ring, instead of doing the obvious "act embarrased, and turn phone off" routine, this ninja had the audacity to talk to the person. I should have killed him then and there.
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