More People Going To The Movies

from the how-could-that-be? dept

It seems that Jack Valenti is positively stunned that more people went to the movies this year, than in any year since 1959. There are these quotes from him making him sound absolutely flabbergasted, since he still thinks that the VCR keeps people from going to the movies. This is the guy, of course, who prediced that the VCR (and now the internet) would kill the movie business. So far, he's been absolutely wrong about his predictions - and it hasn't yet occurred to him that maybe he's thinking about these things in the wrong way. I'll give him a hint, though: going to the movies is a social experience. You go out to the movies to enjoy the whole experience. The large screen. The popcorn. The people. Staying in to watch a movie is a less of a social experience, but it does lead people to a greater appreciation of movies - making them (often) more inclined to go out to the movies. Certainly, there are some people who "just wait for it on video", but those people probably wouldn't have gone to see it in the theater in the first place, and are still giving Hollywood money on the second chance viewing. Why is it that no one in Hollywood has pointed out that Valenti doesn't seem to understand the very business he represents?

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