One of the largest chains of movie theaters is (probably) going bankrupt

originally posted by: TTU77
drive ins sound awesome. outdoors

I'm deaf!!!

TOP GUN bitches.
'Merica!
pew pew pew

a reply to: TheGreazel

Yes I believe most all of us agree. I have Paramount+, Amazon prime, Hulu and Discovery+. I love EVIL and What We do in the Shadows. Tons of old really really old movies on Paramount not to mention the live local cbs feed it provides. And of course I have YouTube red.

I like to scrounge and use the restroom frequently. No more holding a 2 liter medium cola soda in my bladder for 2 plus hours then race to the men's room of a crowded theater then ohhhhhh boy that's one of the bestest most O OOhhhhhhh O'tastic feeling.

👍😁

Edit: reply function malfunction

originally posted by: PolyATS
TOP GUN bitches.
'Merica!
pew pew pew

Ok, this one I really do want to see. But I'll standby my bathroom.

Eh, I don't go to any of the big theater chains. Won't miss it. I always go to the local independently owned one that's been in town since before I was born. The prices are better, the snack selection is better, the bathrooms are always clean. And they always have a great selection of older movies alongside the new movies.

a reply to: EternalShadow

Hell, there are still websites that host cam recorded fioes where to my surprise there is still apparently a good bit of money in being sneaky in a movie theater and people willing to watch low quality videos with heads moving along the bottom of the screen lol

originally posted by: TTU77
drive ins sound awesome. outdoors

Thankfully there are still a few in Tennessee. It's nice watching movies with fireflies floating around and the air blowing cool air while drinking a few snuck in beverages lol

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

Cineworld is 2nd largest? I can't find one listed in Chicago.

originally posted by: AutomateThis1v2

originally posted by: TTU77
drive ins sound awesome. outdoors

Thankfully there are still a few in Tennessee. It's nice watching movies with fireflies floating around and the air blowing cool air while drinking a few snuck in beverages lol

sweet, i live in TN

Where?

Yeah, that's the next industry to go.

I used to love the movies. The magic of sitting there with a big pile of popcorn, extra extra butter, a big drink, watching things on that screen come to life... it was wonderful!

Then they banned smoking in theaters. Not just some shows, but all shows. So now, when I went to see a movie, I was uncomfortable for most of it. Prices started going up, first on that luscious popcorn and the drink, then on the tickets. So now if I went to the movie I was uncomfortable and broke. Then the ambiance went downhill... suddenly, children (who were sometimes too young to even be seeing that movie) were running up and down the aisles playing and screaming. No one bothered to do anything about it; if they tried, the parents would take them out and demand a refund... can't have that!

We used to have a drive-in just a few miles from me. Loved it! I could cruise up in my car, head over to the concession stand, pay for some popcorn and a drink (or bring my own drink if I didn't like what they sold!) settle back with a calming smoke, and enjoy the show. The ambiance was gone... none of that new fancy Dolby surround-sound, but it beat the holy hell out of that theater.

Then the drive-in closed. From what I was told, Hollywood didn't want to sell their newer movies to drive-ins. That gave the theaters an unfair advantage, and drove the drive-ins out of business.

Oh, did I mention? That popcorn was deemed "unhealthy"; the stuff they sell now is nothing like it used to be.

So I had to wait for new movies to become old movies and get aired on TV. The upside was that TV was improving! Satellite TV was the rage, and you could get all those channels with movies! VCRs came out and most movies would be for rent on VHS not too long after they were released. Even better, I could buy the ones I liked the best, and watch them over and over.

But the big satellite was too insecure. Someone figured out that they could encrypt the channels so only those who paid the big bucks could watch the movies. Instead, we had the little dish... it promised much better selection and less of an eyesore in the yard for a reasonable price.

That is, until Dish Network started trying to overcharge me for something i had already paid for.... dropped them over that like a hot potato. DirecTV worked well for a long time, until AT&T bought it out, then it became over-priced, underserviced, and over-restricted. Wound up dropping them, too.

But now we have streaming! Yippee! Except that in order to watch what I like, I would have to have 20 different streaming services and pay each one (well, most of them anyway) a monthly fee. On top of that, my Firestick is already loaded to the gills, and they don't make a bigger Firestick. Disney+ is pushing it even farther... I have a subscription because I like the animated movies, the Marvel movies, and the Star Wars shows. But then I started tuning in to see this new movie being advertised... great! Click... and they want an extra $20 to see it now!

Fair warning Disney+... you already get paid every month. Keep begging for more to give me what was promised and you won't get paid every month. You'll join videodiscs, big satellite dishes, dial-up Internet, and Polaroid film on the garbage heap of yesterday's failures.

Then came the Chinese virus, death itself to the masses, that invaded only specific stores and sections and could not penetrate through a piece of cloth. Movie sets shut down... theaters shut down... and streaming was the only way to watch anything. I just watched the Orville's new season... pretty good, but it had been so long since it was sidelined over a bad cold, I had to start watching at season one and marathon it to remember what had happened!

And of course, political correctness came along as well. Remember James Gunn, the guy who brought us "Guardians of the Galaxy" 1 and 2? Yeah he was fired for saying something mean on social media a decade or so ago... don't remember the specifics, because I didn't care. I wanted to see the next movie, which was originally scheduled to be out and old hat by now, but is just now being filmed.

In the interim, I think I'm supposed to be satisfied with watching animated Groot shorts. News flash: I'm not.

In short, the theaters did this to themselves. Hollywood did this to themselves. They made it so damn hard to see their product, so damn expensive to see their product, so damn uncomfortable to see their product, and then started making that product so politically correct it wasn't worth seeing. Just once, one time, I would like to see a movie made in 2022 that does not include a gay reference. I go sometimes months without seeing one in real life, so why are they in every single movie? And they don't add anything to the plot even! It's just extraneous gay sexual references thrown in for the sake of throwing them in.

I am not going to turn gay... no matter what you do, no matter how many times you show it, no matter how wonderful you think it should look to me, I will never turn gay. So stop with the in-your-face advertising. Once in a while, if it pertains to the story line? OK, no problem... but not every single movie!

As far as I am concerned, shut every damn theater in the country down... they don't do anything for me except make me wait until Hollywood gets more money for telling a story that probably sucks in the first place. For that matter, Hollywood can burn to the ground tomorrow and I won't miss it one little bit. The worst thing it would do is allow independent filmmakers a shot at actually producing something fun to watch... and that's not a bad thing.

TheRedneck

a reply to: Axios

You cant adapt if you are following a narrative.

originally posted by: TheGreazel
Hollywood should stop with acting special and not wait months or longer before they sell the movies to streaming services.

Many movies i would have wanted to see , but simple skipped because i do not like to go to the theater anymore.

It is not about the money , but about comfort and the ability to enjoy a movie.

I remember going to a Lord of the Rings movie , in a packed theater with hundreds of people and bad airconditioning.

Never again lol.

If the larger studio's would set up a shared streaming service , they would get my money , now they don't.

a pause button,

bathroom, kitchen, fridge,

just steps away.

no parking fees.

no time deadlines.

i haven't been to a theatre in a few years.

it was a stars war movie. i got the red light saber the villain had.

i can smoke and the booze is cheaper.