Netflix CEO Says Movie Theaters Are Dead (semafor.com)
- Reference: 0176875121
- News link: https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/25/03/31/1856208/netflix-ceo-says-movie-theaters-are-dead
- Source link: https://www.semafor.com/article/03/30/2025/movie-theaters-still-dead-per-netflix-boss
> The post-Covid rebound of live events is all the more evidence that [1]movie theaters are never coming back , Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Semafor in an interview at the Paley Center for Media Friday.
>
> "Nearly every live thing has come back screaming," Sarandos said. "Broadway's breaking records right now, sporting events, concerts, all those things that we couldn't do during COVID are all back and bigger than ever. The theatrical box office is down 40 to 50% from pre-COVID, and this year is down 8% already, so the trend is not reversing. You've gotta look at that and say, 'What is the consumer trying to tell you?'"
[1] https://www.semafor.com/article/03/30/2025/movie-theaters-still-dead-per-netflix-boss
the consumer is tell you... (Score:5, Interesting)
That the content in the move theatre is not usually worth the expense.
Make good movies that are worth the experience and people will show up.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. Hollywood is gonna have a really tough time making a movie good enough for me to want the experience of paying $22 for 50 cents worth of popcorn again...
Maybe (Score:2)
The movie theatre experience isn't very good. Sound quality seems to be oddly bad these days, and of course the prices are high, and it's full of strangers who make noise and spread diseases and so on. It is much more comfortable and affordable to watch movies at home.
Of course I am an antisocial geek. Maybe normal people like being in crowded rooms full of noisy strangers.
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I feel like an old man because the last few times I've been to a theater I have found the sound to be a few notches too low, like below that loudness threshold you can hear, I'm here for the big screen I kinda want to be pummeled by the sound system as well.
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How about Perfect Days, Black Bag, Mickey 17, I'm Still Here, My Dead Friend Zoe, The Brutalist, Dune 2, Conclave?
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^ This.
Really big TVs have become cheap (Score:3)
Except for the experience of going with a group, I don't see a reason to go to a theater.
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Well you can get overpriced popcorn with so much salt and artificial butter-flavored oil that you'll get a stroke and heart attack at the same time, an overpriced watered-down half-gallon of the vague semblance of a soft drink, and a half-melted box of expired Milk Duds. No way to replicate that at home.
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Also if you do like the popcorn you can make it pretty close to the theaters with coconut oil and [1]Flavacol [amazon.com]
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Medal-Prod-Flavacol-Seasoning/dp/B004W8LT10?th=1
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> Also if you do like the popcorn you can make it pretty close to the theaters with coconut oil and [1]Flavacol [amazon.com]
Like the cliched reviews say, this stuff is a game changer for making popcorn at home.
It's also a game changer for clogging your arteries, so, probably don't eat it with every movie.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Gold-Medal-Prod-Flavacol-Seasoning/dp/B004W8LT10?th=1
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Oh for sure, oil cooking popcorn like this pretty much ruins any small health benefit it would have had but it's so damn good sometimes.
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No way to replicate that at home.
Challenge accepted.
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> Well you can get overpriced popcorn with so much salt and artificial butter-flavored oil that you'll get a stroke and heart attack at the same time, an overpriced watered-down half-gallon of the vague semblance of a soft drink, and a half-melted box of expired Milk Duds. No way to replicate that at home.
True, but you and your lady can bang on the couch if the movie sucks
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Prices and convenience are not helping.
The fact that you have to take at least an extra hour to watch a movie in the theatre is a deal breaker when I'm busy. Drive 15m to theatre, 30m round trip, find parking, wait in line to get the ticket, find a seat ... it might not be a good spot if the room is full, wait through all the ads, finally watch the movie and hope other people keep their phones turned off.
At home, if you run out of popcorn you can always pause and get more for cheap.
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> wait in line to get the ticket, find a seat [,,,]
Meanwhile, in the 21st century, I can buy tickets on-line and even choose my seat. And if I can't get a seat I like, I can always reserve it for the next showing.
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> Except for the experience of going with a group, I don't see a reason to go to a theater.
Says the person who lives in a house, likely in the suburbs.
Because a large TV, nice sound system, etc, are much less possible if you live in the city, so you're likely watching movies on a 50" TV with TV speakers or a soundbar turned on low.
Megaplexes might be hard to get to since they're almost always located out of the area, but smaller theatres are located in many urban centers offering people who prefer to walk or
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> Because a large TV, nice sound system, etc, are much less possible if you live in the city, so you're likely watching movies on a 50" TV with TV speakers or a soundbar turned on low.
Unless you're renting somebody's closet, you can still mount a decent sized TV right to the wall. Bluetooth headphones are also a thing, so you don't necessarily have to rattle the walls to get decent audio, either.
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TIL that 50" TVs are small laughable things. Geez, I remember 24" or so TVs being an above average home viewing experience.
Now get off my lawn.
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> So maybe it's dying in the US, but if your apartment's the size of a shoebox, they aren't going anywhere yet. And yes, there's always the option of moving, but then you often need to then acquire a car, with maintenance, insurance, etc, and then sit through long commutes often in bad traffic. So there are tradeoffs.
I think that it really isn't dying here - but in need of different films. The recent Disney megaflop of Snow White, a 350 million dollar production (before at least that much in Marketing- only grossing 80 million worldwide has sent Disney and those in Hollywood who support politics over content into a panic. Si it's a Chicken little "The sky is falling lament.
They need writers, directors, and crew who want to tell a good story, rather than the hamfisted guano they are serving up for a while now.
The
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You can probably find the space to hang a 85" TV even if you have an apartment the size of a shoe box.
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> Except for the experience of going with a group, I don't see a reason to go to a theater.
Unless the group is insanely huge, just invite them to your home ... so still no reason to go to a theater.
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Even including both candy bar purchases AND a somewhat-nice meal while I am out, the amount I have spent on going to the movies in the last few years or so is nowhere near the cost of a TV and surround sound system good enough for me to not want to go to the movies anymore.
To be fair though, the cinema I go to doesn't have the problems oft-cited here on Slashdot. The ticket prices and candy bar costs aren't obscene, the seats are comfortable and I have never once been in a session where other patrons have r
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I used to go to movie houses a lot. The always-on cell phone culture has normalized inconsiderate behavior. I also used to go to a lot of concerts and cells have ruined that experience as well. At the start of Covid got a big ass TV. I'll still go to a movie or a concert, but it better be really good.
What an asshole (Score:4, Interesting)
The Oscars are awards for theatrical releases. Neflix does everything they can to game the system, so that they can exploit the Oscars for promotion without actually making their movies available for anyone to see on the big screen. Now this.
I do understand that a lot of the crowd here is anti-social and hates the thought of going out to see a movie with other people. That's fine, you can stay at home and let Netflix track and catalogue all of your viewing habits. Not everyone likes that though, some people do actually enjoy theaters, and there's no reason why Netflix needs to be such assholes on this.
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> That's fine, you can stay at home and let Netflix track and catalogue all of your viewing habits.
You really think movie theaters aren't doing that through your credit cards [California excepted]? Unless you are paying cash, of course you are being tracked. Even with cash, they are now deploying facial recognition systems to track your responses to movies.
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I suppose you are paying for everything with cash? Otherwise everything you purchase is being "tracked and catalogued".
Have they tried (Score:4, Insightful)
Making movies that people want to see in a theater?
Re: Have they tried (Score:3)
They have tried that -- hence the 167 comic-book-themed special effects spectaculars on offer.
The only problem with that is that even grandiose over-the-top special effects on a giant screen with amazing sound gets repetitive eventually, and then you have to come up with some other draw that can't be replicated in peoples' living rooms for less money. That's not so easy anymore.
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What you don't want to see the 4th iteration of Superman on screen? The 4th attempt at a Fantastic Four series (they'll get it this time for sure!)? The 7th (or is it 8th) Jurassic Park film? (this time we'll make one even approaching the first)
RedLetterMedia predicting this 8 years ago, evergreen video: [1]F**k You, It's January! (2017) [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H18RUB1cxfI
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People generally don't want to see ANYTHING in the theater - if the problem was lack of quality streaming services would be dying too. They're not. Most people just wait to stream the movies at home rather than to go to a theater.
Home screens have consistently gotten bigger and bigger. Almost everybody has at least a 65" screen at home now and if you really want it you can get 85" TV's for less than $1k and 98" TV's for about $1.5k. That's not cheap but its also well within the "I like movies as a hobby
Generally Agree (Score:2)
End of the day, the people have largely spoken. Theaters are struggling because people are choosing not to go to them. Now, that could also be because theaters are charging insane amounts for the ticket, popcorn, etc, but that's all part of wha the theaters sell. If they can't do things to entice people to come in, that's on them.
Growth of large home theaters, streaming services producing movies straight to streaming, and more have certainly sealed it for theaters.
Or maybe movies just suck nowadays? (Score:2)
They're pretty bland. Movies have gotten bland and boring not to mention too full of themselves.
We want "proof of humans" (Score:2)
With AI everywhere now, we go where there is actually humans, such as live events and not prerecorded ai generated slop. More and more places are banning phones too to force your humanity.
Netflix is on life support (Score:2)
Seriously, I'm not seeing anything really interesting or original coming from Netflix at this point. Most of what they put out is just formulaic mass market crap lately. Anything they're licensing will be available on other services eventually. The cutting edge days of Netflix are behind them. They aren't taking the risks they used to. Now they just blow the production budget on big name stars, maybe the SFX, and hope nobody notices they skimped on the writing again.
No good movies (Score:2)
I haven't seen a good movie release since ~Endgame or therabouts. I might go see the next avengers movie in a theater. Otherwise I only watch scifi anyway, and there hasn't been a strong scifi movie release in over a decade.
The Theatre is an in person experience (Score:2)
You go out with friends, you eat dinner, you might shop or do some other activity. The restaurant and bar experience has gotten worse and significantly more expensive. In Canada, bars and restaurants have gone to all hard surfaces with no sound absorption. They are now so loud that you can't have a conversation, only eat, drink and leave. So the over all experience of going out with my friends to see a movie has become less appealing. I don't think it is about the quality of the movies. Maybe the 15 mi
If Broadway is flourishing, (Score:2)
Movie theatres could do fine. Studio distributors have ensured that cineplexes cannot make money by running films only on concessions for which there is little to no incentive to buy. Studios keep selling the same predictable hack formulas and premises, weak dialogue and characters, and have no idea how disingenuous the mandatory diversity inclusion program is over having a real story.
Can't tolerate the 45min Preview/Ads (Score:2)
It is excruciating to grab preferred seat, then have to sit thru brain numbing stupid advertisement before the movie starts. That's Why; The theater killed it by infiltrating the goodness of the material.
What is the consumer trying to tell you? (Score:3)
Very simply, by staying home we're telling them "STOP WITH THE BULLSHIT MOVIES."
It's telling my shelf has a dearth of post-2010 films. Why? Something snapped in Hollywood around that time. Shit story writing. Writing that tries to pound a certain, unwelcome, unwanted agenda into our heads with a railroad spike and maul. Writing that treasures shiny CGI and mindless action and virtue-signalling over storytelling.
If i wanted to be preached at I'd go to church or join a Democrat rally or something.
Fuck off, Hollywood. You died sometime in the mid-2010's. You've become as irrelevant, intolerant and incoherent as those who you try to prop up politically.
You know what? Fuck it. Keep digging. Keep digging your own grave 'til you can fit all of Hollywood in it. I will not cry or moan when you get buried under your own hubris. I will roast marshmallows over the glowing embers of your burnt, charred corpse.
*spits on Hollywood's grave, and then takes a piss on it.*
A smaller part of staying home instead of going to a movie house is -- at least around here, the amount of decent, well-ran, clean, well-EQ'd movie houses with crisp projection and great sound are so slim I built my own 20 years ago.
But that's a different problem than making shit movies.
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Or just that people don't have the disposable income to blow on entertainment when they're already having to put their weekly grocery run on their credit card. Could also be that...
Ya'll are laboring under the delusion that most of what Hollywood produces hasn't always been crap. As time passes, we tend to forget the garbage that was released years ago and focus only on the garbage being released today. We'll fondly remember the original Star Wars, but does anyone else remember any of the other movies re
Sonic 3 just grossed 489 million (Score:4, Insightful)
On a 122 million budget. Even if you double that to account for marketing it's still a pretty damned good profit.
Just because Disney made a stinker doesn't mean movies are dead.
Now if you keep trying to take movies for little girls and turn them into big blockbuster marvel movies yeah you're going to have problems.
Fun fact that's why Snow White was such a shitshow. They wanted to turn it into a big blockbuster with a huge action scene at the end that obviously wasn't going to work with the existing story. Sleepy and dopey weren't going to be busting heads hulk style.
So they took the dwarves out and replaced them with thieves and that pissed everyone off because of course it did it's Snow White in the seven dwarfs not Snow White and The Avengers. So they reshot the entire movie to put the dwarves back in and kept the thieves because they still wanted that marvel movie money.
This is what happens when you make a business plan first and a movie second.
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I actually just got around to watching that movie. Holy shit, that flick was awful. Yeah, my fault for thinking a movie geared towards children might be even slightly entertaining to a middle-aged adult (at least I didn't pay for it). Seems like the peanut gallery here complaining about Hollywood not making anything "good" seems to be forgetting that Hollywood only cares about profit (which yes, you pointed out). Hollywood will happily turn Sonic the Hedgehog into a never ending franchise if they were s
It was literally two films hastily cobbled togethe (Score:2)
They shot a bombastic marble style action movie that tested poorly with audiences for obvious reasons and then they tried to reshoot it into an actual Snow White movie and weld the two together.
The way you know Disney new that wasn't going to work was when they didn't put any toys out. They knew they had a disaster on their hands. But they couldn't resist chasing marvel money. A movie for little girls was never going to bring in half a billion dollars.
Won't be missed (Score:2)
I stopped going to the regular movie theaters decades ago when they stopped having very large screens and the audio was often too-loud, clipped-to-hell garbled rubbish. I've gone to imax theaters a few times since then, since they're worth it: very large screen and pristine (loud, but good) sound. There are also still a few independent owned theaters around that I would still go to, since they have 75+ year old 50 foot screens. If I want to watch a film on a small screen, I'll stay home. My cheesy little
The experience used to be better (Score:2)
I want to watch a film, not be distracted by some idiot messing with their phone or chattering away to their friends.
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That's how I feel COVID really killed the theater experience. There was a huge change in common courtesy and socially acceptable behavior. I really don't ever want to have to see/smell someone changing their kid's shit diaper in the aisle then tucking it under an unused chair ever again.
Dinner & Drinks on Movie Night @ Movie Theater (Score:2)
CEO is a dumbass if he said that and is just blowing hot-air out of his ass.
We go for Dinner & Drinks on Movie Night at movie theaters in my area and we always shop around for the best dinner and drink experience. We eat good salads, pizzas, burgers, wings, and other semi-bar like foods and there with pretty decent drink and alcohol choices with plenty of specials and good variety.
[1]Studio Movie Grill [studiomoviegrill.com] which was popular for a decade but then went down-hill fast in quality got replaced by a few of the othe
[1] https://www.studiomoviegrill.com/
I'm not in disagreement, but... (Score:3)
... but it's almost comical how many recent slashdot stories fit the template of "XYZ is definitely happening, says CEO of company that stands to profit if XYZ in fact were to happen".
Need confirmation by another source (Score:2)
I don't believe anything is dying until NetCRAFT confirms it.
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> I don't believe anything is dying until NetCRAFT confirms it.
One of the cinemas near me turned into this weird combination sports bar and virtual shooting range place. Yeah, I'm completely serious - it's a place for people to play with pretend guns and then drink, perhaps not in that exact order. A bit prior to the election, they also hosted a watch party for the current president. That's gotta tell you something about the sort of demographic they tend to attract.
Our previous closest movie theater became a gym sometime back in 2008. This has been going on for way
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One of the coolest theaters I've been to was this weird thing in Asheville, NC (go figure) where they replaced every other row of seats with tables and served pizza and beer.
Again (Score:2)
Not like the last time?
Studios tie the hands of most theaters (Score:4, Informative)
The studios with their restrictive approach to content are not helping the theaters. Theaters cannot do a "in case you missed it" run. They cannot have "Star Wars Week", they can't run old movies weekly on a "theme day". If a theater wants to show the latest releases, then it has to sign away control of what it shows. It cannot show movies that it may well know the people in its neighborhood would pay for. You can either be an "independent" theater and not get the latest releases, or you can show the latest releases and have no independence.
Ad fatigue (Score:2)
We've gone to the movies a few times in the last year, and I mostly hated it. Ads go on for 15-20 minutes after the listed start time, then you get a bunch of trailers for another 10 minutes that are so spoiler heavy that they ruin any desire to see those movies. So by time the movie even comes on I am out of both snacks AND patience.
Given the shrunken audience I am guessing this is all a desperate money grab to make up for the tiny audiences, but it is resulting in a death spiral where their few remainin
Abysmal Experience (Score:2)
To add to the issue of movies that really just aren't worth our time to watch, the biggest issue I have
with Movie Theaters would be the theater itself and the people who are still there.
People are disruptive as hell.
Talking / texting / playing with their phones during the entire show.
The family who is letting their four year old run up and down the isles, screaming the entire time.
Poor maintenance. Theater smells like mold, floors are rarely clean, speaker systems aren't maintained
and barely work, half an h
Once upon a time (Score:2)
Theaters were necessary because of the tech of the day.
Today, there is nothing enjoyable about going to the theate.
Drive across town, pay to park, wait in line, buy overpriced snacks, sit in a very uncomfortable seat and watch endless commercials.
Once the movie starts, the sound effects are too loud and the actors mumble or whisper and there are no subtitles.
Worse than that, it's impossible to pause for a restroom break or rewind to catch something you missed.
Theaters are dinosaurs that deserve to die.
Live
Lack of etiquette killed theaters for me (Score:2)
Especially the use of smartphones. I have had to request a refund many times when other patrons wouldn't stop using their phones. Or smoking weed. Without any enforcement from the theater. I still have some unused tickets from those refunds.
That said, I'm also not subscribing to Netflix. The movie catalog is pisspoor. Only some series are worth watching. The audio compression is intolerable in a good home theater.
It's all Blu-ray, Torrents, and OTA DVR for me.
These (Score:2)
> 'What is the consumer trying to tell you?'"
1) Most of the movies being made now suck.
2) The prices are too high.
3) I don't want to be forced to buy and reserve seating online (which seems to be the norm here now).
4) Patrons are tired of 20+ minutes of forced ads and other nonsense at the start.
5) It could be just my imagination, but it seems like people at the theaters are just ruder than ever with their damn phones and talking and children screaming.
What I really want back is a service like Netflix dis
Megaplex (Score:5, Insightful)
Megaplexes may be going away, but movie theaters will stay around. There are two independent theaters near me that do great, playing old films and occasional art films, or special occasion films like Oppenheimer on 70mm. They only show a few movies a week but they are almost always packed.
Films, not Cinemas (Score:5, Insightful)
This is clear evidence that the problem is not that people are no longer interested in having a night out watching a film but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular. They seem to have lost their creative abilities and focus almost exclusively on rehashing old films or making endless sequels to former successes. They also seem to have lost their ability to include moral messaging in a natural and often subtle way - it's not that such messaging is new, things as old as fairy tales are built on it - but what is new is that now it is delivered with all the subtly of a 2x4 to the head, breaking stories and characters to do it, destroying the entertainment value of the film in the process.
If they started taking creative risks again and starting making films that, while still moralizing, did it in a way that blends into the story so it does not alienate the audience they'd be a lot more successful. Humans crave new experiences and watching the 10th sequel to Star Wars or the umpteenth super hero film is not going to cut it. I'll save those for a long plane flight not an expensive night out.
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> This is clear evidence that the problem is not that people are no longer interested in having a night out watching a film but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular.
The fact that hipsters are packing the local art house cinema doesn't mean Hollywood is neglecting some massive silent demographic. It'd be like seeing a packed furry convention and imagining that somehow furry fandom could go mainstream if the fur suit manufacturers could just come up with better designs.
Sometimes, supply and demand is actually in equilibrium.
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>> This is clear evidence that the problem is not that people are no longer interested in having a night out watching a film but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular.
> The fact that hipsters are packing the local art house cinema doesn't mean Hollywood is neglecting some massive silent demographic. It'd be like seeing a packed furry convention and imagining that somehow furry fandom could go mainstream if the fur suit manufacturers could just come up with better designs.
> Sometimes, supply and demand is actually in equilibrium.
They are making movies for a demographic that checks off boxes, and doesn't go to Disney movies. The cratered Snow White live action film, all 200 plus million of it has returned only 80 million Worldwide, and in it's second week was beat by a budget film, "A Working Man".
I dunno, perhaps hiring people for their abilities rather than their politics might help?
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Disney has [1]historically [thedisneyclassics.com] gone through off times where most of their films missed the mark.
I'd be willing to bet though that their Lilo and Stitch remake does well. Lots of nostalgic millennials with kids are going to connect with that in a way that they couldn't with a remake of something that originally came out in 1937.
[1] https://www.thedisneyclassics.com/blog/thedisneyeras
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> Disney has [1]historically [thedisneyclassics.com] gone through off times where most of their films missed the mark.
> I'd be willing to bet though that their Lilo and Stitch remake does well. Lots of nostalgic millennials with kids are going to connect with that in a way that they couldn't with a remake of something that originally came out in 1937.
I have heard that Lilo and Stitch, and Moana should be pretty good.
But damn, it takes a lot of success to make up for Snow White. I have a real suspicion that Rachel Zegler might find it hard to get work in the future. When a person' attaches politics to the film, and those politics end up making Disney hire bodyguards for Gadot and her family, it isn't a good look.
Especially when a lot of people like Gadot. She seems like a decent person, as well as being really easy on the eyes. She isn't all that as
[1] https://www.thedisneyclassics.com/blog/thedisneyeras
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That's a well thought out and completely detached from reality comment ya got there.
16/20 of the top 20 box office releases last year were sequels or remakes. You may not like sequels and remakes, but the general public clearly does and the Hollywood studios will always go where the money is.
Inside Out 2 $1,698,863,816.00
Deadpool & Wolverine $1,338,073,645.00
Moana 2 $1,059,247,895.00
Despicable Me 4 $969,126,452.00
Wicked $744,164,780.00
Mufasa: The Lion King $719,984,192.00
Dune: Part Tw
Profit yes....but for how long? (Score:3)
> 16/20 of the top 20 box office releases last year were sequels or remakes. You may not like sequels and remakes, but the general public clearly does
I did not say that such films are not popular nor did I even say that I did not like them - just not enough to want to pay cinema prices. I merely pointed out that the cratering attendance figures for cinemas were related to the fact that Hollywood is not producing highly original, creative new films. The fact that 80% of the top films were remakes or sequels actually directly supports that point!
The effect is really easy to see: just look at the figures compared to the 2019 box office figures. Back in
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You hit the nail on the head. I hadn't been to the movies more than a handful of times in the last 10 years until I got a Regal Unlimited membership last summer. Sorry, but movies aren't worth $15 per seat. By the time two people go and get a couple of drinks and some popcorn, you're easily at $50 or $60. That's just not affordable for many people, especially when most of the movies these days are retreads of old movies that shouldn't have been remade.
Since getting the unlimited membership, I've seen an
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> This is clear evidence that the problem is not that people are no longer interested in having a night out watching a film but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular. They seem to have lost their creative abilities and focus almost exclusively on rehashing old films or making endless sequels to former successes. They also seem to have lost their ability to include moral messaging in a natural and often subtle way - it's not that such messaging is new, things as old as fairy tales are built on it - but what is new is that now it is delivered with all the subtly of a 2x4 to the head, breaking stories and characters to do it, destroying the entertainment value of the film in the process.
If we take th recent cratering of the Live action reboot of Snow White, with its loudmouth Star Rachel Zegler, who even after she was admonished, Still wouldn't shut up, even her connecting the movie with her far left ideaos, aligning it with with Palestine. Her antics had her followers making death threats against Co Star Gal Gadot and ms Gadot's children making it necessary for Disney to hire round the clock Bodyguards for Gadot and her children Gal is an Israeli citizen.
THIS is what the movie indust
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> This is clear evidence that the problem is not that people are no longer interested in having a night out watching a film but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular. They seem to have lost their creative abilities and focus almost exclusively on rehashing old films or making endless sequels to former successes. They also seem to have lost their ability to include moral messaging in a natural and often subtle way - it's not that such messaging is new, things as old as fairy tales are built on it - but what is new is that now it is delivered with all the subtly of a 2x4 to the head, breaking stories and characters to do it, destroying the entertainment value of the film in the process.
> If they started taking creative risks again and starting making films that, while still moralizing, did it in a way that blends into the story so it does not alienate the audience they'd be a lot more successful. Humans crave new experiences and watching the 10th sequel to Star Wars or the umpteenth super hero film is not going to cut it. I'll save those for a long plane flight not an expensive night out.
I'm inherently skeptical of arguments that rely on an entire sector losing its creativity. The industry has definitely been overwhelmed with superhero movies, but that's what the public wants.
I'm not sure you can blame declining box office receipts on the movies that people are actually going to.
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> but that Hollywood is having real trouble making films that are popular.
I don't think that's accurate... It really depends on the movie. There's lots of stuff that's "popular" once it hits streaming that doesn't have a theatre draw. I know my wife and I do that - we only go to the theatre for very specific types of movies. There's other stuff we're definitely still interested in, but would rather watch at home because it doesn't warrant a monster screen and a bucket of popcorn.
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I'm not convinced that's a profitable business model.
If they pack 6 showings a week, that's about 900 customers.
If they clear $10/customer that's $9,000/week.
Call it 3 salaries at $52/k year (low pay and all other costs), they're down to $6,000/week.
Medium to largish commercial space is going to be about $10,000/month or so, that gets them down to $3,000/week
I don't know what other costs are associated, but I suspect it adds up and makes things pretty tight.
I suspect movie theaters going forward will be lik
Re: (Score:3)
The money in movie theaters has always been the REFRESHMENTS.
Let's go out to the lobby.
Let's go out to the lobby.
Let's go out to the lobby,
and have ourselves a snack.
Economics (Score:2)
One theater is more modern but is on the larger size, so probably seats around 300 with the old-style seating, not the new stadium seating. The second theater is an old-fashioned movie theater, maintained by the local organ preservation association because of it's original pipe organ, and seats something like 1,500. Two sold-out shows constitutes 3,000 people. As another poster pointed out, the ticket sales mostly pay for the films and overhead, profit comes from concessions. Even selling at cheaper rates