arch13

Explain that to me MrSelfDestruct.
Theaters did fine for years paying the same rent and distrobution fee's.
In fact, as most theaters pay for the right to show a movie for the whole chain, their cost has not risen greatly over the past four years regardless of opening new theaters.
Why would a movie cost twice as much? Ticket costs have risen in tandem with rising rents and liscencing fee's. If ticket costs have risen in concert with new costs for the theater owner, then this is really about increasing their bottom line, not making ends meet or covering costs.
Often, theaters make a bulk of their money on the concesions. The rest is made up through ticket costs.

What this amounts to is a money grab at a captive audience that is not designed with meeting rising costs, but instead with increasing profits.

I for one always let a manager know my displeasure with the practice. I refuse to speak to an assistant manager, and will wait as long as needed to watch a manager log my complaint instead of hearing me out then forgetting about me.

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Fire

What it comes down to to me is that the face of entertainment media is changing- the old ways for the record companies and movie studios WILL NOT WORK ANYMORE- piracy CANNOT BE STOPPED- and they are loosing money like blood from an artierial wound- the world is changing, just as globalization has changed manufacturing worldwide, the studios are going to have to adapt to survive- and it is not a great idea to adapt in a way that insults and pisses off your customers- Itis a short term patch that will not solve the inherent problems that plague the industry- My two cents worth on fixing the problem involve making movies that do not suck, I see more viability in projects like those done by peter jackson, and (though he is now a hack) George lucas- they are not complaining about loosing money, are they? largely because they created a FRANCHISE that people love, and they make a bazillion dollars on the merchendising - look at the release of dvd's- T.V. shows are making great money on this- I guess the idea is not to make a movie, but to make a setting, a place that people can escape to (that is the purpose of entertainment, after all) and capitalize on that- I sorely hope that Hollywood and others are catching this trend, and actually do something neat once in a while......

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Shirtninja

Those are funny. I also like the piracy ads that suddenly covered the malls I work at. Everywhere I walk, there is an ad telling me not to pirate movies. Its like they want me to make me do it out of spite.

denim

They put that there because there are people who will pay for a ticket, come in with a camera, film the movie, then post it online.

JustDisGuy

I wonder how many of these people shut off their video cameras when they see these ads...

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Willy

I just go to matinees so I know it won't be crowded and walk in 15 min after the advertised start time. I also avoid the concession stand most of the time. Paying $6 for half a gallon of coke that will make me have to pee halfway through the show and $5 for popcorn I can eat at home for $.35 or candy that I can bring in my pocket for $.75 doesn't make sense to me. For some people buying $15 worth of junk food to eat during the movie is part of the experience. I call these people "victims of advertising".

I just laugh at the FBI warnings you can't fast forward through on DVDs. I mean really, do they think people will read it if they can't FF through it? Or that people pirating DVDs are doing it because they think it's ok and had no idea that it was illegal because they always fast forwarded the FBI warning? Please.

Xell101

I shouldn't be paying to see something someone paid to have shown to me that I am completely disinterested in, particularly when the tickets around ten bucks and the concession stand prices are absurd.

denim

Probably not. OTOH, there are usually people around the asshole, and those people might do something about it.

KungFuGuy

i like watching movies in movie theatres. its the atmosphere. the worst part is that there's no leg room ever.

i don't like the ads, and feel that if they show ads, that should reflect in the cost of admission.

its hard to tell theatre chains not to though when they're making $400m per year off of them in addition to their normal admission takings.

most of the movies i see now are screenings, and there are no ads and no trailers at all before them, so its actually where when i go to a chain theatre. The last one was a loews, and it wasn't to bad, and that was for Team America: World Police.

Stompy

That's why I just download them.

No ads, no hassle.

The ads are part of the reason I stopped going to the movies - that and I'm sick of wasting money on crappy flicks, but that's another story.

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denim

You're their excuse to do it to the rest of us. Thanks so much.

DelayedReaction

I used to work there, and know exactly what their response would be and where it would go. It's always been a crappy theater, and the only reason I went was because my family was with me. Well we all learned our mistake.

I might e-mail corporate though.

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LIMilf

I wouldnt mind that much about the advertising if it lowered the cost of the actual movie. But with movie prices going up and up, and more commercials being shown, it doesn't make sense.

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Stompy

No, I'm not the reason they do it. The movie industry brought in something like $9 billion last year, that's the second highest in history. They aren't losing money, and whoever believes they are is grossly misinformed.

They do it because you're simply a "consumer" to them. Not only can they get away with jacking up ticket prices for crappy movies you've seen again (just look at how many are remakes), but they can ALSO profit from all the ads they show you prior to the movies starting.

If it's okay for them to do that, then it's okay for me to do what I do. Not legally, of course, but from what I believe in. I see it from an "eye for an eye" perspective. Obviously the "consumer" isn't winning this battle seeing as how new legislation is being passed to make it illegal for you to fast forward through commercials, so I'm not too concerned about the moral aspect to it all.

These companies are far more immoral than I'll ever be.

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filtherton

Same here. I'm sooo glad i didn't pay to see RE:2 apocalypse or anchorman, or any number of other bad movies i may view in the future.

keyshawn

Hell,
I completely agree with everyone in the thread. I only go to the movie, 15-25 minutes after the posted time..
What ultimately makes the industry continue to do this is that lack of consumer discontent. My boss and the AMC corp. office CONSTANTLY stresses that the customer experience is VERY important, and that I should do anything to make them have the "best movie going experience possible." [our motto/slogan for workers]

I often hear people as they exit the theater, complaining how loud the other customers were, how crappy the food was, etc - BUT NONE OF THEM TOOK THE TIME TO COMPLAIN TO US. It's especially ironic, when the problem could be remedied by a lowly peon worker like myself.]

If you are really discontented about this - RIGHT NOW - express your digust about this issue and write a quick e-mail to the corporate office of your theater. Tell them that your money is spent elsewhere...



CONTACT INFO:

lowe's - http://www.enjoytheshow.com/contactus/index.cfm
amc - http://www.amctheatres.com/contactus/index.html
cinemark - http://www.cinemark.com/contactus.asp
regal - http://www.uatc.com/corporate/comments.html


- if you have more rants/q's about the movie industry, just ask me.

/paid $5.15 an hour to clean up after messy people @ your local AMC theater.
[at least, right now, I have tons of BOGO rentals @ blockbuster, due to the large cups have coupons on them.. if you want some of them, PM Me]

hiro-acid

I'm only 30 but I can recall a time when even the idea of trailers was so offensive they would only show them AFTER the feature.. of course, I did grow up going to alot of drive-ins and movies, even as a really young child of 3-5 (thanks Mom!). The rise of commericals in the theatre is really only a natural progression from movie trailers - if they'll sit through one kind of product promotion, why not another?

I've chosen to stop frequenting cinemas that play commericals when-ever possible (not always easy, as I live in a smallish city of 240,000 people with roughly 15-20 screens), but have found myself quite happily entertained at our only art-house cinema. If you don't like commericals then exercise your choice not to watch them.. your continued quite acceptance only allows this propigation of commericalism to continue and thrive..

Hippie.