re: How long will movie theaters survive?

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always wondered why someone hasn’t made a movie about Chesty Puller, but you couldn’t tell his story in a 2 hour movie

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Thank you. His deeds were legendary and a real soldier's general. Once he spotted low ranking officers cutting in the chow line in front of enlisted soldiers. Chewed their arse out and made them go to the back.

So many great stories and would make one hell of a movie. Semper Fi.

If you haven’t listened to Jocko podcast Ep. 121 it’s very informative and entertaining.

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Unfortunate consequence of Hollywood killing itself on a DEI sword.

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When art takes a backseat to ideology, you know and feel that there’s something wrong with the film. And as a result, they don’t have the same impact on pop culture as established iconic movies and no one rewatches them years later. Ever get a quote reference from the Ghostbusters remake? Ever hear anyone say “The woman king was on TV and I had to rewatch it”?

Movie theaters are teetering on the cusp of extinction.

My wife and I, for our anniversary over Valentines Day weekend, attended our first movie since well before Covid.

Argyle .... the wife loved it. I thought it sucked.

From a purely observational standpoint here's my opinion:

1 - theaters downsized their seating considerably (while they were closed for Covid). They now have half the number of seats, but they upgraded (sic) comfortability but spacing rows futher apart and putting-in really comfortable recliners. (It didn't work. They're still dirty theater chairs that 1000s of others have farted-in ... at minimum.)

2 - somewhere along the line, theater owners began to believe that the louder the sound system, the better. (Again, failure ... it's too loud. It's painfully loud.)

3 - Concessions are insanely overpriced. $22.00 for a bad box of popcorn and a large diet Coke with too much ice, is insane. It used-to-be part of the experience. Now it's part of the absurdity.

4 - Modern, 4k TVs combined with 4k streaming services and 4k surround sound, in one's own home, in front of an 80+ inch TV .... watching a movie in your own home environment is supperior to the movie theater experience. (And more people are designing quasi-in-home movie theaters into their houses according to a friend of mine who designs and installs them.)

5 - Most movies are the products of woke, ideological, activist Hollywood minds, which makes most movies uninteresting and unwatchable.

6 - There's the to-and-fro aspects of the modern movie experience. It almost doubles the time spent on the experience. 30-45 minutes getting there, getting parked, getting seated and roughly the same getting out and getting home. Throw-in having to sit through 30-45 minutes of commercials, promotions and previews BEFORE your movie ever starts .... it's 4 hours outta of your life that you'll never recoup.

Bottom line is, Hollywood, their distributors and their movie theaters are putting out a bad product. Our local theater is in an affluent area, but I've heard some horror stories about other areas and filth and bad smells and disruptions and lack of security and understaffed snack bars and disgusting bathrooms and rude fellow patrons. Who wants to take a date or your wife or the kids and insert them, and yourself, into that mess?

Movie theaters are done. They're the last remnant of the old Mall model, be they strip malls or Super Malls .... they're done and so are the theaters contained within them. Same thing for mall centric department stores and restaurants. Macy's, Belks, Bennigan's, Applebee's, etc., etc., etc.

Now you might shop from one, order out and have your food delivered-to your home, and watch the newest movie in the comfort of your own home .... all without leaving your home.

What will always survive?

Local, detached and independent, bars and restaurants combos. With that in mind and in the interest of sociability .... I see Dinner Theaters, where goid service and good food and artsy movies and entertainment is promoted and lived-up-to .... I see Dinner Theaters becoming the next niche thing that might, eventually, be chained.

Anyways, it is what it is these days.

Just wait until there are opium dens or drug houses with VR head sets and recliners where you can get stoned out of your mind while watching a movie remake in 3D that is customized to your wants and needs and desires all while being stimulated by whatever including touch, custom smells/fragrances, moving chairs, etc.

It's coming. It's already here for some ... the total immersion experience. It's going-to-be very expensive but it's coming.

Movie theatres and pizza chains are to me, recession and pandemic proof. Everybody loves movies and pizza

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Oppenheimer was pretty good

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1.5 hours decent

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A good friend of mine is in the cinema biz. He's a fan of the quality of movies. His family has a few theaters in the DFW area. They've been struggling the past two years. Top Gun: Maverick has been the biggest hit and biggest money maker in the post-COVID era. Marvel has been nothing but flops. Something has to give to make the movie-going experience change and get it back to pre-covid era to save the theaters. They have the bowling/wall-climbing/arcade/chuck-e-cheese environment locked down in an affluent metroplex area. It's simply that nobody is going to the theater anymore.

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One idea would be to bring back some of the classics back to the theater. I'm not sure how all of that would work, but it could be done (Star Wars re-released after they added CGI years back). Watching Saving Private Ryan, Terminator, The Bourne Series on the big screen again would seem to be a draw for audiences.

I'm sure there are legal hurdles and how to divvy up the money as challenges, but it could certainly spark the theater scene.

I think "peak movie" is in the rear view mirror. Every so often you will get a great flick, but they will be sparse. The money making model has changed. Hollywood is adapting.

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but they don’t make good movies like before

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sure "they" do

oppenheimer, killers of the flower moon are two great movies

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sure "they" do

oppenheimer, killers of the flower moon are two great movies

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I won't say there are never any good movies anymore but they are few and far between. Maybe a decent one every year or so. 30 years ago you'd go to the theater and have trouble deciding which one to watch that particular day.