Went to a movie theater for the first time in a long time last night

SV reX said:

I went to a movie last week. The ticket price was $4.50. I thought "Hmm.. that's great. I'll get some popcorn too".  The smallest popcorn was $20, and it was terrible. 
 

I went back to the same theatre this week. The ticket price was $11.50. No popcorn this time..  Turns out last week I went on a Tuesday- that's their discount night. I'll go on Tuesdays in the future.

Theatres are dead, and worse than that many of them are tied to malls. Malls are horrifically dead. That's a helluva a lot of real estate being wasted. 
 

I still like movies.

Funny, they just bulldozed the mall near me but left the ancient theater. Weird to see the huge concrete slab empty...with the AMC just sitting there alone.

In reply to slefain :

They get just enough. 
 

While regular movies still can't get people out, there is demand to go to movies. We did a small movie festival, and more movies were over 50% than not. 

I've been to two movies since Ford v. Ferrari pre-Covid. The Mario movie and Minions 4 with my kids. 

The quality of new movies lately combined with the cost of the movie ticket and snacks at the theater are huge contributing factors. I've been trying to get my kids to be more outdoorsy as their mother primarily keeps them within the confines of her home, and a movie theater isn't conducive to what I'm trying to promote in their life. 

But really, very few movies these days have captivated my attention to the point where I go "yea I'll pay to see that in theaters." Which sucks because I do enjoy the movie theater experience, the big screen, the sound, etc. 

I don't know what my last movie was. I really love the experience, but it's too pricey for me. 
 

My next one will be my daughters first, Moana 2. 

Haven't been to a movie since Covid and don't miss it one bit.

The last thing I wanted to see was the new Dune series and I watched those on my own couch, eating my own popcorn, not having to deal with other people.

It was everything I dreamed it could be.

For most movies, yes, sofa is fine. However, for some movies the scope really does make theaters better. Big-budget action movies, for instance? If it's one I really want to see, yes, I want to see it in a theater: I want sound that's bigger than anything I can reproduce in my living room. Also, given that I live in Phoenix and summers are miserable, it's nice to go sit in a heavily-refrigerated dark box for a couple hours. 

Toyman! said:

I haven't been in a theater is 15 years. I don't see that changing any time soon. The juice isn't worth the squeeze. 

Make that 16 years. 

The local theater near us has a special on Tuesdays for $6 tickets so we have gone a few times but not nearly as frequently as we did before Covid. I still enjoy the movie experience in theaters but a lot of the time there just is not a movie we want to see badly enough that we cant wait till it comes out on streaming or to purchase. 

I don't go to enough movies that cost is a real problem, though I reserve my investments for movies that I either want to support the makers, or that will really benefit from the big screen..  Usually it's just DW and I.  We missed Deadpool 3, which we kind of wanted to see in the theatre.

I really do miss the experience of being in a theatre to see something brand new, and the audience reactions, and the big big screen...

,,,but I sure don't miss the super-extended-dynamic-range Dolby sound system which they insist on jacking up so loud that it hurts your ears, yet somehow you still can't understand most of the whispered dialog.  A little compression can be your friend.  Just because you have 10,000 watts doesn't mean you have to use all of them.

I still go to the movies once a month or so and enjoy the big screen experience. I don't usually bother with snacks and at 10 - 15 of your dollars the price is OK although we will generally have a meal before or after.

My local is a multi theatre in an historic (1923 is considered historic in NZ) converted building.

Last movie I saw was the Jackie Stewart biography (HIGHLY recommended by the way) and we were in the smallest theatre which probably only seats a dozen or so.