'Movies try to escape cultural irrelevance'

The high/low duality of art and comedy is the premise for one of the great comedies ever made, "Sullivan's Travels." Preston Sturges, 1941.

 

You laughing your ass off? No, not at all. The old man, well, I thought maybe he'd appreciate it more if it had French subtitles!

 

Good point. But, I think about how many times I saw Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and E.T. and a couple others and as many times as I saw those, my kids have seen the Toy Story and Cars movies at least as many times. When most of us were young, the idea of owning a movie seemed so out there that a lot of kids these days have every bit the relationship with the Star Wars movies, the Pixar movies, the Harry Potter movies that we did with the movies from our youth. The biggest difference is that for us, that involved going to the theater. Most kids these days don't have that, at least not as much as we did...

 

For me, going to a movie is like going to a ballgame. An event. An experience. I love watching either at home, as well, but nothing like getting your ticket torn, waiting for some concessions as people mill about, then getting in your seat in a darkened theater while the previews begin. No potty breaks. No pause button. You're captive. They've got to try to sell that experience, some how.

 

Movie ticket sales have held pretty steady since the 1990s.

www.the-numbers.com/market/

 

Oh, appropos of nothing, there is also an absolutely insufferable article on the front pages of the A&E section today which is a first-person account of the writer taking his precious children to a highbrow play, and whether they were ready for it yet. (Spoiler alert: They sure were!)

 

Agree completely. The problem is that it becomes harder and harder to justify going.

Between video on demand, cost of babysitting, home theaters, $10+ tickets etc... it becomes easier to justify staying home.

 

That's a pretty substantial drop in the last 10 years.

 

It was interesting that during the worst part of the recession when restaurants were going out of business and people were going years and years between vacations, that people were still going to the movies all the time...

It seems like it's been the last year or two where the prices (in part because of 3D) have gotten to the point where people are starting to push back.

 

A lot of people go to the movies when the economy is good. Fewer go when the economy is bad.

Over the length of time measured by the graph - which includes the arrival of lots and lots of competing entertainment technologies - ticket sales look pretty stable to me.

 

As I understand the piece, another issue seems to be the demographics of movie goers changing. I bet a much larger percentage today are teens than generations past. And that accounts, then, for a change in what kind of films get green-lighted (for wide distribution). Hence, "Mad Men" becomes part of the adult cultural zeitgeist in a way that "The Master" or "Cloud Atlas" does not. Would not have been the case in the past.

 

I hear this so much, especially on a blockbuster new release when people are standing in line for two hours, and I just can't fathom it.

If you go to a ballgame, you are seeing something that, in at least some small way, is the only possible time to experience it. But with movies, there is no difference between going on opening night and waiting a week when it's so much more convenient. I can see it for kids who want to be part of the conversation at school, or if an adult's peer group spends a lot of time discussing current films and you need to be up on them to follow along, but as for the value of the experience I just don't understand it. I saw Titanic on opening weekend and it was the worst moviegoing experience of my life. Too crowded, too long a wait, and all the oohs and aahs drowned out the dialogue. (OK, not that Titanic was oozing with important dialogue, but you get the idea.)