The two thousand year catalog of Western philosophy is full of dire warnings about the dangers of pride and hubris, warnings like “pride goes before a fall” and “those whom the gods would destroy they first make mad”, to name just a couple.
I dunno. A big thing that still needs to happen in order to get the theater audience back is to bring the theater experience back up to audience expectations. Out here in the hinterlands, we don't have those nice Manhattan art-house theaters. We have the local multiplex, with everything that that implies. Take some of those micro-divided boxes that have screens not much bigger than you can buy for your home, and combine them and actually have big screens again. (If you're showing the same movie on three different screens, why not have one larger theater and show the movie on that screen?) If you're going to charge $20 per person for food, it needs to be good food, not sloppy hamburgers and greasy undercooked fries. An example of the sort of thing that happens: One theater here tried having reserved seats, for an extra fee. But today's understaffed theaters have no ushers, so there was no on to prevent people who bought general-admission tickets from sitting in someone else's reserved seats. That idea died pretty quickly. They try to do luxury, but they don't get what luxury actually is.
Don't make me download an app and create an account just to buy tickets. It should just work through your Web site. I know you want me to have the app so you can collect my personal data and push ads to my phone. But I don't want you to. I just want to buy tickets. Why is that so hard?
And, fer chrissakes, clean up the place occasionally. Mop the floor. Clean the upholstery. Pick up the trash. Repair the broken seats. If the roof leaks, fix it. If the sound isn't working right, fix it. Take some pride in the business. Quit treating the theater like it's the last resort for people who don't have big screens at home.
You are absolutely right and I'm sure I'm a little spoiled for having spent most of my theater-going life in DC and Los Angeles. I remember that the multiplexes I went to as a kid did have bigger screens for the big releases and smaller ones for the other movies. We have a lot of options here for food and drink too, but it's often of a low quality and still very expensive. I don't know why I can't get a draft beer for 5 bucks. Charing 10 or more just because I'm a captive audience makes me mad and does not engender loyalty.
All that said, the studios can't really control any of that. All they can do is make good movies that people want to see. So far in 2025, they seem to have done a good job, and when the movies are great, audiences will put up with a little more crap from the theater chains in order to see them.
No but it looks interesting thanks! Reading the opening paragraph and it makes me think I need to finish a long gestating essay on Red One, which I saw at Christmas and thought was a very strangely made movie until I remembered that it had originally been intended to be a streaming release.
Seeing that article really explained to me why so much lately feels like rough drafts. Why bother putting in the work to polish a story if the audience isn't going to pay any attention to it anyway?
Yep… totally agree. And the reason why it will be more catastrophic for Netflix is that Trad Hollywood never promised anything more than a couple new items once a week. Netflix trained its audience to expect a constant firehose of new content in their face every hour of every day of the week.
If my wife could part with all her wifely viewing experience, I would cancel Netflix and never give it another thought. Rubbish.
My wife is a teacher and puts “Love is Blind” on just to have background noise while grading.
yeah I hear that a lot, actually
See if she can get along with free services like Pluto.tv or Tubi.
I dunno. A big thing that still needs to happen in order to get the theater audience back is to bring the theater experience back up to audience expectations. Out here in the hinterlands, we don't have those nice Manhattan art-house theaters. We have the local multiplex, with everything that that implies. Take some of those micro-divided boxes that have screens not much bigger than you can buy for your home, and combine them and actually have big screens again. (If you're showing the same movie on three different screens, why not have one larger theater and show the movie on that screen?) If you're going to charge $20 per person for food, it needs to be good food, not sloppy hamburgers and greasy undercooked fries. An example of the sort of thing that happens: One theater here tried having reserved seats, for an extra fee. But today's understaffed theaters have no ushers, so there was no on to prevent people who bought general-admission tickets from sitting in someone else's reserved seats. That idea died pretty quickly. They try to do luxury, but they don't get what luxury actually is.
Don't make me download an app and create an account just to buy tickets. It should just work through your Web site. I know you want me to have the app so you can collect my personal data and push ads to my phone. But I don't want you to. I just want to buy tickets. Why is that so hard?
And, fer chrissakes, clean up the place occasionally. Mop the floor. Clean the upholstery. Pick up the trash. Repair the broken seats. If the roof leaks, fix it. If the sound isn't working right, fix it. Take some pride in the business. Quit treating the theater like it's the last resort for people who don't have big screens at home.
You are absolutely right and I'm sure I'm a little spoiled for having spent most of my theater-going life in DC and Los Angeles. I remember that the multiplexes I went to as a kid did have bigger screens for the big releases and smaller ones for the other movies. We have a lot of options here for food and drink too, but it's often of a low quality and still very expensive. I don't know why I can't get a draft beer for 5 bucks. Charing 10 or more just because I'm a captive audience makes me mad and does not engender loyalty.
All that said, the studios can't really control any of that. All they can do is make good movies that people want to see. So far in 2025, they seem to have done a good job, and when the movies are great, audiences will put up with a little more crap from the theater chains in order to see them.
Had you seen the article on Netflix and "casual viewing"?
https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/
(Still working through it myself.)
No but it looks interesting thanks! Reading the opening paragraph and it makes me think I need to finish a long gestating essay on Red One, which I saw at Christmas and thought was a very strangely made movie until I remembered that it had originally been intended to be a streaming release.
Yeah I called it an OK second draft movie.
https://natewinchester.wordpress.com/2024/11/29/red-one-2nd-draft-writing/
Seeing that article really explained to me why so much lately feels like rough drafts. Why bother putting in the work to polish a story if the audience isn't going to pay any attention to it anyway?
Exactly right. I believe that’s exactly what their mindset is. Just make it “good enough”
Netflix is starting to suffer from what Trad Hollywood is just getting over: bloat.
Netflix just has way too much garbage programming, but it keeps churning it out because Netflix needs a large library.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Netflix rolls out a free streaming service much like Tubi to test out lower budgeted shows.
Yep… totally agree. And the reason why it will be more catastrophic for Netflix is that Trad Hollywood never promised anything more than a couple new items once a week. Netflix trained its audience to expect a constant firehose of new content in their face every hour of every day of the week.