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Your favorite Hollywood excuse for 2005's crappy box office returns — Page 2

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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan
The generation (dare I call us the Star Wars generation) that spent the most disposable income on movies a few years ago is getting older and having kids.

With surging ticket & concession prices, it's becoming less economically feasible to hire a sitter and go to the movies. Especially when the time away from home is being unnecessarily extended by 20 minutes of commercials (!!!) and previews before the movie begins. For those with kids old enough to go to the movies, the ticket & concession prices alone make it a bad deal economically when you can wait four months for the DVD.

Then we have to deal with the idiots in the row behind who are dragging kids too young to a movie (my greatest horror story was sitting next to the couple who brought a toddler to see Jackie Brown) or chatting on their cell phones, disrupting the film for everybody around.

DVD sales are going gangbusters because it lets the entire family watch repeatedly in the comfort of their own home, on their own schedule, in theater-quality sound without those annoying "other people" ruining the experience.

If the theaters wish to get serious about courting people, it all boils down to sacrificing the profit margin in favor of increasing the bottom line. The following suggestions will improve profits if theater owners would have the brains and balls to implement them:

1) Cut matinee prices in half and expect greater than a 100% increase in ticket buyers.
2) Enforce age minimums for non-children's films.
3) Kick out families with disruptive children and kick out anybody who takes a phone call during the film.
4) Make 2-for-1 "Date Deals" for non-peak evenings like Monday and Tuesday.
5) Offer free tickets for parents who bring 1 or more children to a children's movie.
6) Cut the price of concessions. $6.75 for a regular hot dog and a soda is ridiculous. $4.50 for popcorn is insane. Offer a better selection at a reasonable price.

If theater owners did this, would you be more likely to attend? Feel free to copy these suggestions verbatim and send them to your local theater. I'm gonna do that myself.


Dude, you could copy this and send it to every major studio/distribution head. EXACTLY what needs to happen.
Nemo me impune lacessit

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Originally posted by: ADigitalMan

If the theaters wish to get serious about courting people, it all boils down to sacrificing the profit margin in favor of increasing the bottom line. The following suggestions will improve profits if theater owners would have the brains and balls to implement them:

1) Cut matinee prices in half and expect greater than a 100% increase in ticket buyers.
2) Enforce age minimums for non-children's films.
3) Kick out families with disruptive children and kick out anybody who takes a phone call during the film.
4) Make 2-for-1 "Date Deals" for non-peak evenings like Monday and Tuesday.
5) Offer free tickets for parents who bring 1 or more children to a children's movie.
6) Cut the price of concessions. $6.75 for a regular hot dog and a soda is ridiculous. $4.50 for popcorn is insane. Offer a better selection at a reasonable price.

If theater owners did this, would you be more likely to attend? Feel free to copy these suggestions verbatim and send them to your local theater. I'm gonna do that myself.


One to add: Get rid of the TV commercials before the movie starts. Having to sit through endless trailers was ok, because at least it was movie-related. But tacking on a bunch of commercials for Coca-Cola, cars, deodorant, etc, is too much. The movie doesn't actually start until 30-40 minutes after the listed start time.
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The problem is that the theaters that do employ techniques such as those listed here often go out of business far too quickly. People say they will attend, but they rarely do. To make some of these ideas a reality, sacrifices must be made. Usually this happens in sound or picture quality, comfort and cleanliness, or taste and selection in food and drinks. Then people just start going to the bigger theaters as a result. Even if the chains do charge outrageous amounts of cash, people still pay. It's sad, but true.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
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As someone who worked for one of the big chains, I must sadly concur. My chain was one of the better ones, but they still played commercials before the trailers. If you want to blame anyone for commercials, blame the studios for their sheer greed. Sony took 90% of the box office grosses for the first 3 weeks Spider-Man 2 was in theatres. If the theatres don't have that operating income, guess what happens? Concession prices skyrocket, exhibitors look to commercials to supplement what they're not getting from the gate, and so forth. As to the problem with bringing toddlers to R-rated movies, as much as I am a defender of free speech and freedom of expression, this problem would be dealt with easily by a ratings system that restricted this sort of behaviour. Let's face facts: the MPAA is a joke in more ways than one.

The cell phone problem could be dealt with structurally: let's build movie theatres where cellphone coverage is poor to nonexistent. Problem solved.

This was indeed a sucky year for movies. I only went to 2 or 3 staff screenings this year, compared with 10 or more in 2004.

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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Originally posted by: GundarkHunter


As to the problem with bringing toddlers to R-rated movies, as much as I am a defender of free speech and freedom of expression, this problem would be dealt with easily by a ratings system that restricted this sort of behaviour. Let's face facts: the MPAA is a joke in more ways than one.


Well, I think any system they put in place will be useless without enforcement. I mean, it can't get much clearer than a single letter rating, followed by a brief description of the content (Drug use, sexual content, etc). It's incumbent on the theaters to ask for id, and prevent people who shouldn't be in there from getting in there.
Nemo me impune lacessit

http://ttrim.blogspot.com
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As far as over pricing the tickets and food goes, it didn't use to be a problem for me - I worked in a movie theater, originally Hoyts Cinema which was later bought by Regal Cinema, for 2 and a half years, which is longer than anyone should work in a movie theater. I stuck around mostly because of this one golden perk: you could see free movies on your day(s) off. Plus, and this was more a liberty than a perk, you could sneak into movies and check out the previews so you would know in advance what to avoid witout relying on the Internet. I got in a lot of trouble for making fun of the Troy, Catwoman and King Arthur trailers, among others, and it was worth it .
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

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Originally posted by: Han Solo VS Indiana Jones
I got in a lot of trouble for making fun of the Troy, Catwoman and King Arthur trailers, among others, and it was worth it .


Those deserved to be made fun of. If anything, you should receive some sort of humanitarian award for this.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
Webmaster/Primary Cynic
kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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I remember getting into an interesting argument about Troy with one of my former co-workers. She said she was looking forward to seeing some good acting, to which my response was, "From Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson and Peter O'Toole?"


Of course, she didn't know who I was talking about.

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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Yeah, it certainly wasn't coming from Orlando Bloom.
"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders, the most famous of which is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia'."
--Vizzini (Wallace Shawn), The Princess Bride
-------------------------
Kevin A
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kapgar.typepad.com
kapgar.com
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Originally posted by: Bossk
Originally posted by: Han Solo VS Indiana Jones
I got in a lot of trouble for making fun of the Troy, Catwoman and King Arthur trailers, among others, and it was worth it .


Those deserved to be made fun of. If anything, you should receive some sort of humanitarian award for this.


Thank you Bossk.
I'd like a qui-gon jinn please with an Obi-Wan to go.

Red heads ROCK. Blondes do not rock. Nuff said.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v72/greencapt/hansolovsindy.jpg
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Originally posted by: Number20
Don't forget one of Hollywood's favorite excuses for their bad sales: Internet Piracy.

Which is funnier when THEY are the ones doing the piracy,right before the movie is released in theater SW Episode 3
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It's funny how this piracy prosecution is turning out.

Princess Leia: I happen to like nice men.
Han Solo: I'm a nice man.

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the only reason their is a piracy issue is
1: the world is run by money.
2: because of 1, artists make works to make money.
3: people are just plain cheap and lazy

those aren't all the reasons, just the ones that spring to mind at the moment

blaming piracy for the lack of box office returns is just stupid in my opinion. It's stupid and it's a cop out of sorts. Make going to the movies something fun to look forward to if you want people to spend money at the theaters. I remember when I was a kid, going to the movies was something to look forward to. Also, I think the can think about having fewer screens than they have now. That might have something to do with it.
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Strange how Hollywood is still making the same excuse.

I only saw two movies in theaters this year and it wasn't because I pirated them and I don't know anyone who didn't go see a movie for that reason.  No the reason is with tickets now costing $13 a piece and there being an hour of ads before the movie, going to the theater just is not a good value any more.  When i was a kid you could go to the movies for $4.50 if you went to an afternoon showing, now a ticket costs almost three times that much but most of us are not making three times what we made when i was a kid so we literally can't afford to go to the movies.  In my family if we go to the movie it would cost us more then $70 just to get in the door for one showing that doesn't even start on time.  That is just under what we spend on food for a whole week, who can afford that.  No one.  Do have the money we use Redbox or buy the movie on Bluray where one flat fee covers everyone in the house watching the movie as many times as they want, the movie starts on time, and we can pause it if someone needs to go to the bathroom.

When with careful shopping my family can buy a Bluray for ten bucks why should we pay more then seven times that much just to see the same movie once in a setting full of rude people where the film doesn't start on time?  That and not piracy is why theaters are not doing well.

Going to the theater isn't fun any more and lots of working families can't afford to go.  In short the theaters have priced themselves out of the market place.  I mean i didn't even go to see the last Hobbit movie and I have loved every Peter Jackson movie i have ever seen but i just couldn't afford to spend $13 seeing a movie once.

Lower ticket prices, put cellphone jammers in the theaters, and ditch the ads and then I will come back. Until then I am people like me will be staying home.

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That sums up why my family doesn't go to the theatres. There was one old theatre in town at which tickets cost around $4.50 on Tuesdays, but it closed down recently because not enough people went to it. I would have loved to go more often, but now that I'm old enough and have the money to go across town to it and watch a movie (hopefully with a friend), it's gone.

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Yeah there was a cheap theater in my area that closed down about ten years ago.  I was sad to see it go.

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OK, you asked for it DrCrow

There is nothing right about eating up a dead thread.

Nobody sang The Bunny Song in years…

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So we are talking about the issue here instead of starting a new thread, what is wrong with that?

Also I am glad I had adblock on my home PC.

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Who is forcing you to read this thread?

Did I put a gun to your head.

If you have a problem with me then report me to the mods.

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DrCrowTStarwars said:

Who is forcing you to read this thread?

Did I put a gun to your head.

If you have a problem with me then report me to the mods.

 Alright.

.

HELP!....MODS.........HELP..........I NEED AN ADULT!!!!!!!!

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2005 was not the best yet there were some films i liked.

Serenity and Batman Begins were two films i still enjoy.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Davnes007 said:

I NEED AN ADULT!!!!!!!!

I laughed because it's true.

And Serenity was fantastic.

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2005 ... ah, yes ... A History of Violence came out that year ... It was the last major film to receive a VHS release, or so I've been told, anyway ... I'm rather fond of that movie ... even William Hurt doesn't bring it down.