Thursday, March 16, 2006
How Much For A Small Popcorn?
I used to love going to the movies. Some movies simply must be viewed on the big screen to be fully appreciated. Going to the movies used to be a fun outing and I looked forward to it each week. But times have changed. Not only am I visiting the theatre almost never, many people are staying away from them. The theatre owners and Hollywood are trying to figure out why.
Sometimes I think they just don’t get it.
Jam The Cellphone in Theatres And People Will Come Back in Droves
At least that’s what one might conclude after reading the above article. While it would be nice if people were courteous enough to put their phones on vibrate during the movie and if they did get a call, get up out of their seat and go to the lobby to answer it, ringing cell phones are not why I don’t go to the movies anymore. They are but one of the reasons.
I don’t go to the movies because I always get lucky and have someone sit behind me who kicks the back of the seat throughout the entire movie. Or a bunch of morons sit down next to me and talk through the whole thing or throw their food around. Or someone really tall or really wide decided they need to sit RIGHT in front of me. The chairs are extremely uncomfortable...ever since my wreck I have not been able to sit in those damn chairs. The floors are sticky. I don’t like that I have to sit through a half an hour of commercials before the movie actually starts and frankly? They just charge WAY too much to get in and way too much for pop and other refreshments. It is absolutely ridiculous that a small pop and medium bag of popcorn should cost me almost $10.
THAT is why I don’t go to the movies and I’m pretty confident that is why a lot of people don’t go to the movies like they used to. I would much rather wait for it to come out on DVD and then I put it in my Netflix que, buy my pop and popcorn and maybe even some candy for mere dollars, I can eat a pizza while watching the movie, I can fast forward through the commercials, I can pause if I need to use the restroom, I can rewind if the actor’s mumbled through something, (which I HATE that they do this--thank God for closed captioning), I am in the comfort of my own home with no loud, rude patrons seated near me, I can drink during a movie if I want and I can watch it whenever is convenient for me.
However, one of the biggest reasons I don’t go to the movies anymore is because there hasn’t been anything in a LONG time that is even WORTH seeing on the big screen. When Hollywood starts churning out some movies that just MUST be watched on big screen, I’ll go back. Until then? I will remain absent from the theatre.
But leave it to these guys, just like RIAA, to blame it on the consumer. Idiots.
