Quote Originally Posted by 3LB
I'd love to agree with RE with regards to new technology dumbing down movies, but that horse left the barn a long long time ago, and it twern't technology as much as it was profits. The summer blockbuster is what killed "serious" or "conventional" movies. With movie and concession stand prices continuing to go up, people are doing their own cost/benefit analysis - even when they see a so-called serious movie trailer, one that they think will be really good, they axe themselves, "does this warrant being seen in a theater?" or they tell themselves, "I don't need to see this on a big screen, I'll just wait until it comes out on DVD" or they amuse themselves trying to guess which antiquated amusement park ride Disney is going try to prop up next with a movie...Sir Terrier is right; people have voted and they'd rather watch Brendan Fraiser jump the shark (again) than watch something that might have some social or cultural merit. People want their senses challenged, not their sensibilities.
I also don't think technology dumbed down movies... But my issue with tech is that the movie studios keep thinking that new tech is the solution to the problems... There are 2 issues that need to be addressed:

1) The quality of the movies released - just because a movie is a summer blockbuster does not mean it has to be dumb... Why couldn't Avatar have a decent plot?

2) $$$$$$ - Setting up a HT with a big screen TV has become cheaper and cheaper, while going to the movies just keeps becoming more expensive... each new wave of tech is another excuse to jack up movie prices even further and ensure that the market contracts... This is why so many persons only watch big special effects films in the cinema... It really just costs way too much to regularly go and watch a movie, that you could enjoy just as much on a 27 inch TV screen as on an IMAX screen in the cinema... Hollywood assumes that means people only want to see blockbusters... Whereas I see it as meaning that people are only willing to pay the excessive ticket prices for the occasional blockbuster... Drop the prices to sensible levels and we might all be shocked at how popular even intellectual films become...