Theater vs. Home Theater?

[PeruvianSkies]

There has been for over 50 years now a battle between home viewing and the movie theater. It started as TV vs. the Movies, then Color TV vs. the Movies, and then with the advent of home video it became an even bigger battle as now the screens and sound systems need to attract people. However, people have big screens and big sound systems at home...so why go to a theater? There is more to it than that folks....

Once upon a time the cinema was a thriving, enjoyable, family-filled, fun, and experiential time. It was for lack of better words: an event! A time to feast your eyes, ears, mind, and soul into the deep recesses of a glowing white screen. The love and passion for movies though is what is dying, which is a tragedy. I love cinema. I always have, always will. I love looking up at a huge screen with the deep, rich color and the truly 3-Dimensional experience that you get. I love being taken back into time or into a place that exists only in the imagination. However, there is a decline in that amount of 'good' movies that are being released. The love and passion has worn off and while people still flock to see SHREK 3 or SPIDEY 3, are these really that memorable? Life-changing? Are they just a quick 2-hour escape and then......what's next?

The great movies, the really great ones make a lasting impression. They are the ones that you talk about for days, maybe even go and see a few more times. They are larger than life. Movies like the original STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES, or THE GODFATHER. These are movie events that people just soak up. In the years to come the movie industry needs to keep up with the standards of excellence in both the actual films and the presentations of film. Instead they spend millions of dollars promoting movies that flat-out-suck. They market to death these movies, even try merchandising the oddest things, and then wonder why people would rather sit at home. Hmmm.

There are only a handful of recent films that I recall being 'movie events'. That is, movies that people talked about, buzzed about, and sometimes event went as a whole group. I can't recall anything post-2000 except LOTR, but the 1990's had a few. They were:

JURASSIC PARK (first DTS film and wow did it ever ROAR)
TERMINATOR 2 (Yep, he came back!)
THE LION KING (they promoted this film about 2 years before it even came out)
TITANIC (call it what you will, this film, unlike the ship, stayed afloat forever and was re-released to theaters because people kept coming)
HOME ALONE (it was Black Friday and I never saw so many cars in all my life at the theater....)

[JSE]

There has been for over 50 years now a battle between home viewing and the movie theater. It started as TV vs. the Movies, then Color TV vs. the Movies, and then with the advent of home video it became an even bigger battle as now the screens and sound systems need to attract people. However, people have big screens and big sound systems at home...so why go to a theater? There is more to it than that folks....

Once upon a time the cinema was a thriving, enjoyable, family-filled, fun, and experiential time. It was for lack of better words: an event! A time to feast your eyes, ears, mind, and soul into the deep recesses of a glowing white screen. The love and passion for movies though is what is dying, which is a tragedy. I love cinema. I always have, always will. I love looking up at a huge screen with the deep, rich color and the truly 3-Dimensional experience that you get. I love being taken back into time or into a place that exists only in the imagination. However, there is a decline in that amount of 'good' movies that are being released. The love and passion has worn off and while people still flock to see SHREK 3 or SPIDEY 3, are these really that memorable? Life-changing? Are they just a quick 2-hour escape and then......what's next?

The great movies, the really great ones make a lasting impression. They are the ones that you talk about for days, maybe even go and see a few more times. They are larger than life. Movies like the original STAR WARS, INDIANA JONES, or THE GODFATHER. These are movie events that people just soak up. In the years to come the movie industry needs to keep up with the standards of excellence in both the actual films and the presentations of film. Instead they spend millions of dollars promoting movies that flat-out-suck. They market to death these movies, even try merchandising the oddest things, and then wonder why people would rather sit at home. Hmmm.

There are only a handful of recent films that I recall being 'movie events'. That is, movies that people talked about, buzzed about, and sometimes event went as a whole group. I can't recall anything post-2000 except LOTR, but the 1990's had a few. They were:

JURASSIC PARK (first DTS film and wow did it ever ROAR)
TERMINATOR 2 (Yep, he came back!)
THE LION KING (they promoted this film about 2 years before it even came out)
TITANIC (call it what you will, this film, unlike the ship, stayed afloat forever and was re-released to theaters because people kept coming)
HOME ALONE (it was Black Friday and I never saw so many cars in all my life at the theater....)

There are still a lot of good movies out there, you just have to find them. I will agree that there has been a decline if good "blockbuster" movies over the years but I don't know if that's the sole reason people of not going as much. I really think it comes down to cost and the theater environment. Why spend $8 - $10 a head when you have to deal with the crowds, rude people and hassle? Especially when a lot of people now have HT systems ar home that sound "in their minds" good and they can go down to McDonalds and get a DVD out of the Red Box for $1 a night. I love going out but these days I would rather spend the money going to a small venue concert.

I could go into my rant about our increasingly self obsessed, rude, inconsiderate society at this time but I won't.