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Culture

by Carlo Longino

Fri, Aug 19th 2005 8:45am





Movie Theaters Blame Slump On Bad Movies

from the that-deuce-bigalow-sequel-says-it-all dept

Movie studios are beginning to move away from their staggered release schedule, where movies come out on DVD or video some time after they've been released in theaters, in hopes it will give their revenues a much-needed boost. While so far, it's been smaller players that have made these moves, incoming Disney CEO Robert Iger said on an earnings call earlier this month that the industry needs to consider compressing its release windows on a bigger scale. This, of course, upset movie theater owners, with the head of their trade body blaming the slump on "not so good" movies and saying that releasing movies in theaters and on DVD at the same time would destroy the cinema business. Both men are partly right: Hollywood does seem to be churning out a lot of substandard fare these days, but it's also time to rethink the staggered-release approach. Clearly, business as usual isn't working for either the studios or cinemas. People increasingly don't like to go to the movies, forcing movie theaters to try some new things. The MPAA's idea of innovation, on the other hand, is through bullying and legislation. People want good movies at a good price with a good viewing experience -- whether that's in the theater, or at home.

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  1.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 9:14am

    Do you ever write about anything but how dumb ever

    I don't mind a humbling reminder from time to time, but since it seems to be the norm rather than the exception, perhaps you are unaware that seeing the same news story with slightly different protagonists can become boring after, I dunno, the third article? But I suppose the Pulitzer commission could come up with a Mean-Spirited category at some point in the future and then you'd be set. My question to you is, if everyone is so dumb and we who are in the know are not, how come we haven't come up with a single sustainable way to abuse their lack of acumen so as to serve each of our own ends? Could it be that they make the rules as they go, and that, by means of preserving the status quo, those rules aren't as dumb as they seem to us?

     

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  2.  
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    Daranthalis, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 10:31am

    Re: Do you ever write about anything but how dumb

    Even for an Anonymous Coward, the proceeding post is the biggest load of crap I've read all day. It certainly matters to me what the entertainment industry is doing because the industry absolutely has the ear of my government. Reporting on it is not trivial. Reporting on it IS a path to sustainable methods of improvement, because it doesn't allow anyone to remain blind to the problems.

     

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  3.  
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    cliff, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 11:58am

    No Subject Given

    No, what is destroying the cinema business is those high *ss prices they have these days. Notice there were more people going to the cinema just a few years ago when movies were under $8.50 a person??

    When are these people running the theaters going to understand? ;-)

     

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  4.  
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    Chris, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 12:42pm

    No Subject Given

    Not to mention the half hour of commercials you can't fast forward. If it weren't for trying to get a good seat, I'd show up a half hour after the movie is slated to start. Then again I only go once or twice a year because of the prices. :)

     

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  5.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Aug 19th, 2005 @ 5:41pm

    UGH

    The mind-numbing horror of the before-the-actual-movie-starts experience can be summed up with one word:
    "Fanta"

     

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  6.  
    identicon
    miken, Sep 1st, 2005 @ 4:01pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    AMEN! But you forgot the OUTRAGEOUS price of a combo meal, which I guess is O.K. since 50cents of every twenty dollar combo goes to the Will Rodgers Foundation. Yup, gotta be sub-standard movies, thats it.

     

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  7.  
    identicon
    marconi, Mar 14th, 2006 @ 2:47pm

    I'll say it

    It's the other people in the theater. nobody wants to deal with that hootin' and hollering' during the movie.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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