Have You Been to the Movies Lately?

A couple of movie threads I found:

Movies or TV?

Favorite war movies:

I carried my boy to the movies last night. $20.00 USD for the movie. Another $15.00 for poporn, drink, and candy. He enjoyed it.. that's what matters. Other than that, not sure if it was worth it. Have you ever asked for your money back at a movie?

Are there any genre/actor/actress in movies you are there on opening night??

Since the 1950's are movies better/ worse, or just different?

Re: Been to the Movies Lately?

Ah, see - when you are old and decrepit like I am, you can take advantage of "senior rates" and "bargain matinees."

Most of the time, my popcorn costs more than my ticket -a far cry from Saturday matinees of my youth - double feature, a serial, and at least two cartoons. Admission for 12 to 18 year olds was 25 cents and popcorn was a dime.

Re: Been to the Movies Lately?

I wish that there was a theater close enough to go to. Most of the time, I wait for the DVD, but some movies are just better seen in the theater. Unfortunately the closest theater to us (18 miles) closed, and now we would have to drive about 60 miles (or more)

Cinema? Maybe once a year or so, usually because our daughter wants to see the latest Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean or something like that. We have a couple of places to go to in town, so we could go more often if we wanted to. However, we usually stick to TV or books
(See the What do you read? Review Authors You Like! thread).

/Claes

BradM said:

A couple of movie threads I found:

Movies or TV?

Favorite war movies:

I carried my boy to the movies last night. $20.00 USD for the movie. Another $15.00 for poporn, drink, and candy. He enjoyed it.. that's what matters. Other than that, not sure if it was worth it. Have you ever asked for your money back at a movie?

Are there any genre/actor/actress in movies you are there on opening night??

Since the 1950's are movies better/ worse, or just different?

Click to expand...

We go out to see a movie only occasionally, which means 4-5 times a year. I'm not a big fan of modern movie "theaters," which Jay Leno aptly described once as "the concrete bunker at the end of the mall." I am old enough to have witnessed the last days of the great movie theaters, and their sad demise. I lived in Chicago, and when I was in high school (late 1960's) there were two great ones in my neighborhood. They were less than half a block from each other, and owned by the same company, and between them had nearly 7,000 seats. Both still stand, but the bigger of the two, the Uptown (4000+ seats) hasn't been open for many years, although there is movement afoot to restore it. The other one, the Riviera, is still being used for concerts. My first job was at the Riviera, in 1968. I recall hearing my boss, a taciturn, stoop-shouldered man named Mr. Whitaker (I don't know if he had a first name) often saying, "We aren't in the movie business here. We're in the candy business." Below is a newspaper ad that heralded the Riviera's opening in 1926 (The Uptown opened the year before).

Last movie I saw in a theater was 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'.

that's what? 7 years ago?

Since then I saw a whole boatload on airline flights when I was traveling quite a bit. Saw "Dodgeball" on a flight back from LA a few years ago and almost wet myself laughing on the plane.

Movies are just not a great priority for my wife or myself at this point in our lives. I do like watching them, but the only time I really get to watch anything other than kids movies is at night while I'm doing dishes or on sick days when I'm in the house by myself. So I pick and choose very carefully.

Jim Wynne said:

I recall hearing my boss, a taciturn, stoop-shouldered man named Mr. Whitaker (I don't know if he had a first name) often saying, "We aren't in the movie business here. We're in the candy business."

Click to expand...

That's exactly right. I, too, first worked in a theatre (granted not in the classic versions but rather one of the more modern ones) and the admission is simply to pay for overhead, film rights fees, and the like...the concession stand is where any theatre tries to make the profit.

Factoid...as a former projectionist I can honestly tell you that if the theatre ruins one of the films (drops and scratches, burns, crimps, or anything else to the point where it cannot be spliced and playable) it's generally a $15K-$20K fee to the distributor. A small portion of the admission also goes towards a kitty incase this scenario ever plays out.

My first "real" paid job, aside from babysitting, was also at the theater. We had three, one of the "grand old dames" one newer but still had some character, and a drive in theater. I was the ticket girl usually, but sometimes I helped out in concessions. Yup, candy and soda was where the money was. We didn't inventory the drink mixes, but inventoried the cups, cuz they cost us more than the drink mix/carbonated water did. We were allowed to drink all the soda we wanted, as long as we brought our own cups

And, yes, it is so sad that new cineplexes have none of the character that the old theaters did. Even the names...Rialto, Royale, Riviera...Now they are just Cinemas, theaters, or cineplex. I doubt my children will ever experience the fun of sitting in the balcony, or looking up to view a mock up of an ancient city under night skies.

Haven't been lately. I think the last one(s) I saw in a theatre was either The Lake House or The Devil Wears Prada. Can't remember which was the last one cuz I saw them almost back-to-back weekends.

As for theatres and drive-ins, I didn't grow up in a big city with grand old theatres (we had several of the modern ones), but we did have a couple of drive-ins which eventually closed. However, a couple years ago a new drive-in was built and opened with 5 or 6 screens and it has been doing very well, from what I'm told. It's very popular with the younger generation.

Claes Gefvenberg said:

Cinema? Maybe once a year or so, usually because our daughter wants to see the latest Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean or something like that. We have a couple of places to go to in town, so we could go more often if we wanted to. However, we usually stick to TV or books

/Claes

Click to expand...

I guess I go a few more times (dates with wife), otherwise, I'm the same as you.

So then, is it fairly savvy of movie producers to keep making these big special effects movies, where even adults acknowledge something is lost when watching at home?