At our local Drive-In, it is almost a community event. Before the movie, the next car is always a neighbor and the kids all play football or soccer together in front of the screen. We put our fold-up chairs in front of the cars and blankets for the kids in front of the chairs. Many bring a dinner from KFC or other fast take-out place. The theater tolerates people bringing in their own snacks and drinks.

If we liked the movie, we will often buy it in a few months when it comes out on DVD. If we didn’t like it enough, we still chalk it up as an enjoyable family outing; the kids ALWAYS love it. The family that own the theater aren’t getting rich but they do live comfortably. This is an experience I wish you city dwellers could enjoy. Just leave your cell phones at home though, your friends are probably already at the show.

I don’t believe today’s movies are any worse then those of 10, 20, or 50 years ago. In fact, just the opposite. If you watch a lot of the old top movies today, they look so corny, the dialog is stilted, and special effects are just plain bad. Watch movies like “Gone With the Wind”, “Jaws”, “Star Wars”, or “Ben Hur”. In their day they were blockbusters, but today they wouldn’t even get played in their current form. All would need major re-writes and special effects.

Some movies like “Of Mice and Men”, “Dr Strangelove”, “The Wizard of Oz”, and “To Kill a Mocking Bird” will always be great.

just my to cents worth

P.S. Since Jarhead was so craptacular, I am sure that the next few movies that we do see at home will be rated “U” as in you must have a uterus to enjoy them. God help me.

Cuban’s policy is to offer the DVD at the movie — on the web same time — and a couple of showings on his HDTV channel, same time as theatrical release. He ends up making at least as great a return on his investment dollar and is growing a following.

What you have to understand is that the model has expanded into other areas, it’s not just the tentpole box office results, it’s also the DVD splash. And a great box office buzz, creates good rental and DVD returns. Hollywood is not crying too hard.

Always will be changes, video gaming subtracting potential movie goers, shortened DVD release cycles and etc. But blaming “media bombardment” sounds as hollow now as it was the first time around, when VCRs were the supposed Box Office killer. Things morph, they change, this revolutionary techie rallying cry of overthrow is overwrought and wrong. Movies are escapes, and ‘good’ is very subjective.

The sky is not falling
http://johnaugust.com/archives/2005/the-sky-is-not-falling

The Hollywood crisis that isn’t
Everyone panic – that’s an order!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/04/hollywood_crisis_no_crisis/

Radio broadcast association is also running stupid ads, recently.

Their obnoxious ads sound like a breaking news story, trying to draw my attention… just so it can interrupt at the ‘critical’ moment to ask me to pay more money. The announcer then tells me that I shouldn’t have to pay for radio.

LOL

But I am paying for “free” radio, and the cost is being jerked around by their stupid, offensive commercials. How stupid can they be to repeatedly remind me of that?

Next will be HD-quality screens [even if it is just existing DVDs played through an up-converting player/box].

Their FX & explosion-laden “event” movies will have to be in 3D with Smell-o-Vision [or better yet, "Feel-a-Round" from Kentucky Fried Movie] for them to keep anybody paying money for over-priced snacks and predictable plot-lines.

Their current plan seems to be: If the per-screen income is dropping, just show it on more screens!!

There is of course the other problem that many movies aren’t even worth renting, or watching on cable. I hav no interest in most chopsocky movies, movies about the “hood,” or VanDamme/Diesel/etc. bloodfests.

As Dave Drews also notes, the only way to see a lot of movies as the director planned them is to rent/buy the “director’s cut.” An example Dave didn’t mention: all three “Lord of the Rings” movies, which were not bad in their original cuts, but worked much better in the Director’s Cuts.

Just today, I read a new review of Ridley Scott’s film from earlier this year, Kingdom of Heaven, which had been rightly lambasted at the time. Turns out, it was so butchered by the studio that you lost all reason for why anyone did anything. All they wanted was the battles. What was lost was an amazingly deft portrayal of interesting characters set amongst trying times. And even the battle scenes were butchered just to get the running time down to an easier to sell two hours. The studio released Scott’s full cut in one crappy theater in LA to fulfill a contract obligation most likely and the reviewer got to see it. He was stunned at the difference between what Scott created and what the studio spat out to the public.

I rarely go to the theater anymore, usually only going for spectaculars where the big screen works. But, then I have to contend with idiots who bring babies, fools who can’t shut the f__ up, ads run before the film and cheap theaters who turn down the brightness of the projection lamp to save money. I wait for the DVDs with the extras and the unbutchered film.

You’d be suprised how many crappy films started out with really good scripts that got rewritten into crap and then after filming, got pulverized more via test screenings and studio committees trying to second guess the filmaker.

If a film fanatic like me rarely goes to the theater anymore, and with the high quality and lowering cost of home theaters as ticket prices rise to stupifying levels, no wonder the general public is staying away.