From what I’ve read online it seems like people in the US generally never go to the cinema anymore, a big part of that being that the cinemas there fucking suck. Old low quality and broken everything, loud obnoxious people, overpriced snacks that aren’t good etc. (I guess that’s just the US in a nutshell though).
Overpriced snacks at cinemas are surely a mostly global thing but the rest of the things aren’t.
I’ve been to cinemas in 4 countries in Europe and they were all well kept and updated, no one said anything louder than a whisper (other than reactions like laughs and screams which are fine) and no one used their phones during the movies.
I got to the cinema about 4 times a year here in Sweden and have done so since I was a kid, never once had a bad experience.Wow, my SO and I go to the cinema between 4-8 times a year, but there’s always someone on their phone. The cinema itself is always excellent though.
would you say it’s:
Netflix will never replace theaters for every single person out there and I say this as someone who used to have a Netflix subscription that was replaced with increased amounts of piracy (and an Apple TV+ subscription, that’s literally the one thing I haven’t cancelled, great originals and only originals, no watching The Office or Friends for the umpteenth time, I’m starting to feel like a shill for saying it, but they have some great shows and many average or above average shows).
Netflix works best as “background noise”. Occasionally you’ll find a great show to binge that they’ll cancel soon, occasionally they’ll even have a decent original movie (which is sadly made specially for streaming where people are expected to be scrolling on theirp hone so the plot has to be repeated 3 times as they apparently told Matt Damon).
The theater is an experience. You go there to watch a movie you’ve been anticipating. You spend that ludicrous amount on snacks (or don’t) because you know you don’t go every week anyway. You go there because you want to be immersed, your phone on silent in the pocket, maybe you go with your friends or family and then it’s great to discuss it on the walk out after the end. If this is not something you enjoy then true, going to the theaters is an outdated concept for you and that’s fine.
If you mainly want it for background noise, there are cheaper services with just as much filler/ambiance shows.
I finally went back after more than 25 years of boycotting theaters, just to see The Odyssey. I was boycotting for 2 reasons: 1) Grossly Expensive snacks and 2) Having to pay to watch a company’s advertisements. I got over it for the snacks but the advertising still left me with a bad taste in my mouth (and there seemed to be even more advertisements this time around). I was spoiled I guess as I grew up watching nothing but movie trailers of coming attractions and a pre-movie cartoon. You can argue that movie trailers are advertising but I don’t count them.
Overspending on creating movies and shows only to cancel them and raise monthly fees is an outdated concept.
If Netflix and other streing platforms didn’t try to rapidly enshittify over the past 2 years, they might have been right. The main reasons I have gone to more movies is that I was kicked off my family streaming plans, and I’m not sure when/if I’ll be able to find it on streaming.
We want to go to the cinema. The problem was that for a number of years, there were no worthwhile movies to go see in cinema! 2026 has been an unusually great year for movies so far and it will continue to be great right until the end of the year because the remaining releases this year have more than a handful of interesting films among them. I’m waiting for Werwulf and Wildwood, personally. I wanted to go see more movies, but money are tight right now, so I have to pick.
I literally can’t remember the last time I had a year where I was this hyped to go see one movie, let alone five or six and having to actually prioritize which ones I’ll go support in the cinemas and which ones I’ll buy on bluray or DVD later. I think this hasn’t happened to me since 2018 when Hereditary came out. Every year since 2018 has been progressively more dull and disappointing, until this year and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
Kinda wild that when you start making movies that people want to watch, they actually go watch them. Who would’ve known???
Kinda wild that when you start making movies that people want to watch, they actually go watch them. Who would’ve known???
Well, that’s the thing. It might sound silly, but it’s actually really hard to know what people will like. That’s why they pay marketers millions of dollars a year to find out what people like. Tastes can change across the span of a few years, and by the time the movie comes out, audiences may have moved on to something else.
Also, making a good movie doesn’t guarantee that people will go watch it. There are plenty of good movies that flopped at the box office, and there are plenty of bad movies that made $1 billion.
Despite all that, I’m glad you’ve seen lots of good movies this year! Hopefully this momentum continues to 2027!
Both can be true.
Saying “for many people it’s an outdated concept” is absolutely true.
I don’t go to theaters anymore and quite possibly never will again.
That doesn’t mean no one goes anymore.
For that matter, making over 1 billion dollars doesn’t even require most people to go.
With tickets (in the US) costing around $20, if only 10% of people went to see a movie then it would make 700 million in just the U.S.
Yep. My wife was interested in watching the Odyssey. It would take ~5 hours, including travel, and about $75 for tickets, gas, and ONE snack and ONE drink. For that amount of money, we can buy pizza on the way home, buy/rent the movie, and watch it on our couch, AND do it again for a second movie, and still have money left over.
We are entering an age where impatience is a luxury. I can wait for the movie to be available for streaming.
not living within 20 minutes of a theater is definitely working against you there
going to the movies is like going out to dinner, for me. I can make dinner at home. I can have a different experience at the theater. both experiences can be good but they’re different. sometimes different is good. but experiences outside the home always cost more.
You can afford to go out for dinner?
Why are you including the movie itself in your time estimate?
That’s time away from home. Nobody likes that.
Based.
I rarely go to theaters but made it a point to see Oppenheimer and The Odyssey in theatres because there is no other way to watch 70mm IMAX. That way of watching a movie is a memorable and unique cinema experience in itself. So, I have to side with your wife on this one, simply because you just cannot get that experience in any other way.
EDIT: Another movie that should have been seen in a top notch movie theatre was Joker, but for a completely different reason. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s soundtrack was like a breathing, living being and a definite main character of the story. It was something that needed to be felt in a decked out theater sound system. Her Academy Award for it was a “no brainer”.
imho streaming is an outdated concept because streaming services have or are going back to the cable tv model thus negating the benefit of streaming. they’ve just becaome cable tv with a tivo box.
Modern non-pirated streaming services are indeed lile cable TV
But if you buy the movie and put it on your Jellyfin server or stream from a pirate site…
Exactly. It was relevant when it was cheaper and every station didn’t have their own service. In hindsight, having it all in one bill was the best part of cable.
Netflix revenue for last 12 months is $48b.
And there were a lot more than 8 movies in the past year.
Well, all those statistics don’t matter to disprove the statement that cinema is an outdated concept. You only need a single profitable movie to say otherwise.
Someone let netflix know that cable subscriptions are an outdated concept too.
I love going to the theater, i hope this means more movies in theaters
The theaters are fun, but it’s gatta be a really good movie.
Spiderman was worth it. Highly recommended.
Streamings the one that’s outgrown it’s usefulness.
I still love theaters. But I want wayyyyyyy less shiny fake CGI (and now mostly ai generated) movies.
I want shiny, exploding, space, special effects shit in the cinema. If it isn’t a visual spectacle then I’m happier watching at home.
Thats fine and all but not for me. Its boring and shallow for me.
I assume that’s why we have different movies
Totally! I was being snarky in my original comment, I do like some shiny boom boom movies but I want a little more diversity. Movies are all blending together a little too much like ai slop because they all use the same CGI and have the same plot…
To Netflix, shutup and allow multiple users from different devices to use the service.
