Do you think movie theaters should consider opening themselves up to more events other than movies? Such as live sports, concerts, TV episodes? Even host video game sessions of some kind whatever form that might take?

We discovered our local IMAX is in similar condition to yours when we went to see "Oppenheimer." Definitely due for a refurb.

I think theaters can do more to bring crowds in. I’m a hardcore Harkins Theaters fan. Every Tuesday, they show a classic movie. And every week they have a franchise playing. For example, they’re currently showing all the Spider-Man movies one at a time on Mondays. The previous one was hunger games. Then harkins has a harkins rewards. They have a harkins cup with $3 soda refills. Then they have a popcorn perks. For 30 bucks, you get 30 free medium popcorns. You can upgrade it to an XL for 3 bucks. And you can immediately get a refill and they’ll give you a second bag. So you can get two XL popcorns right away. Then they have a points system. You get 5 bucks free when you get 200 points. It’s a great theater and nothing is ever run down.

Inflation is corporate greed

My Kraft 8 has $5 Tuesdays. I take advantage when I can. IMAX is out or other premium screens. I can't always drive to Detroit or something. I always make an exception for the Kristen Stewart Lesbian movie. The first one was the Runaways the one this year was Love lies bleeding. Its 4 hours out at least. That's really rare though. I usually but food or drink. Lack of vegan options. Working on my personal Theater experience for all vegan popcorn and butter and other snacks. I go matinee usually barely anybody there half a dozen at beast maybe a bit more. Its abnormal to be in theater with allot of people like the case of the Fall Guy recently. That's just my anecdotal experience. So far this year. Every movie I have seen in the theater I have enjoyed. I have seen 6 movies in theaters this year so far. So that's roughly one or two movies a month almost. A couple I missed for first month second. Money went somewhere else at that time. 2024 is the most time I went to the movies in a while.

This video is so spot on with every single point. Just went to Furiosa over the weekend and the seats at my theater were in really rough shape and the cost of 2 imax tickets with a medium popcorn and 2 drinks was like $60. My biggest reason that I only see a select few movies these days is because people in the theater SUCK. Playing on their phones, talking the entire movie, coming into the movie late, it is infuriating.

Vote out byedumb. Duh.

I love you Dan!

I used to go to the mocies once it twice a month. The two things that stopped me from doing so : first the behaviour of the audience I can't stand when people talk or are on the phones during the movie it and second the cost going to the movies now is high. Nowadays I go to the cinema to watch the "must watch on the big screen" movies like Dune Part 2. Great video as always Dan.

2 very important factors to consider are also: 1- movie length (most could be cut 20-30 without affecting the story) and 2- marketing (address your target audience with a purpose). Two examples of bad marketing: furiosa wasn't about her and max was never there, and the fall guy is action film that was sold as a rom-com. Big gap between potential viewers and their expectations.

I think eventually the government will allow studios to control the means of distributing films, giving tech and media conglomerates the ability to solve a lot of issues like price and quality. Imagine your movie tickets being bundled in with your prime membership or Apple one subscription. Disney already does a great job with parks and cruises despite being a media company.

You could also include the affordability of high quality home entertainment, huge screens, Dolby atmos etc. People can have an excellent experience at home.

Going to a theater is like rolling the dice on if you will be sitting next to morons.

Super Stream all day!! Iykyk 🙌

I think it’s he 3 month window to streaming hurting movies. Bringing a family or spending to catch a movie left and right is also part of the economics in the house. They are spending on other things since Covid. It is really about the economy, Less money for leisure.

The last two Guy Ritchie movies I wanted to see in theatres but they never played in Canada. The weekplanet boys said it didn't play in Australia either. It bombed because they didn't release it internationally.

creators should put different versions that are not the full film on VOD and streaming services cut out a few key scenes and say "if you wanna see the whole thing, go to the cinema" like Clue did with the endings that one time I bet people went to different screenings in the hopes of getting different conclusions to that

movie budgets need to be brought under control too.

Cineworld in the UK has one of the best subscription services. For the price of 2 tickets a month you can see any films for free for as many times as you like. It literally pays for itself after your second movie. Plus it gives money off cinema snacks and outside restaurants

3, 4, and 7 are by far my biggest barriers to seeing more movies in theaters. I have a nice IMAX theater available to me, but it's a 45 minute drive so I really only go there to see movies like Dune or Oppenheimer in the larger screen possible. Otherwise, my local Regal theater is a shell of its former self... Seats and screens need maintenance or replacement for sure. As for the audience, totally agree theaters need users or something to enforce etiquette. I don't even go to the theaters that much anymore, but there have been several times the past few years where people have literally fallen asleep and were snoring during the movie... Like why would you pay $12+ to take a nap and ruin everyone else's time. Plus people checking their phones and talking. I have a pretty nice 4K TV at home-a lot of times, I'll just watch movies at home because it looks great albeit on a smaller screen, but no issues with the audience. And yeah, if I'm gonna pay $12-24 bucks depending on what type of theater, the movie better be good. A movie has to look really good for me to go see it in a theater now, because of the price and the two other issues I mentioned. If they're gonna make me deal with a potentially annoying audience and charge me money, the movie itself at least better be very good. Sadly, Hollywood has been putting out a lot of crap or just meh movies. Seems a lot of other would be moviegoers feel the same judging by low ticket sales.

Oh and in the UK show less bloody ads. I don’t want to see ads for McDonalds and car commercials. Ads plus the trailers can run to 30 mins now which is insane if a film is 2 or 3 hours long which seems to be the normal. Oh Hollywood. MAKE FILMS shorter.

Have you contacted IMAX regarding your local imax theater. IMAX has a customer service email that is very responsive usually next day. they seem to take these issues very seriously regarding their Theatres. If imax doesn’t do anything, then, I think you should report on that, since they argue, quality control of their theaters is a major selling point of seeing a movie IMAX over other competitors.

You killed it this video! Good job

Cute Monday joke. 😉

Great video Dan and I agree on all points. The theatres need to make going to the cinema inviting and an event. Employ staff who are film buffs and have actual manners, love connecting with cinema goers and have novelty merch only available at cinemas relating to the movie for people to collect. 2 for 1 tickets on specific days is a must and sell better food, drinks and concessions.its just pure junk food. Offer some healthier vegan alternatives.

I stopped going to the theater when they started that assigned seating stuff. I know I could move anywhere if the theater isn't crowded but I liked being able to sit as far away from other people as possible - ha

I think AMC would likely file bankruptcy and bring in new management that would close down some less popular theater locations (as they should) and bring more discount programs for loyal customers. Also, we have too many streaming series and they are low quality. People choose to stay home and use their time to watch those crappy shows because it’s “free.”

The digital only film showings and audience behavior has absolutely killed the experience for me. Without fail there has been somebody talking or texting in every single movie I have been to in the past year. Thinking about cancelling my Regal movie pass as well.

When I went to see the D-Day/Suga concert in the AMC IMAX here in Jacksonville it was the same thing. The seats were old and warn and gnarly gross. Cup holder arms broken and the speakers were in horrible condition. I don’t think I’ll go back to imax. If I’m gonna see a movie I’ll see it in the xd

May i add dim projector bulbs to the list? The big screen experience requires the appropriate level of brightness , or else a good amoled screen at home will put it to shame.

Great, thoughtful video. I think one issue that perhaps falls under the heading of "can't really be fixed" is the fact that people now have smart phones - i.e. diversion machines for 24/7 access to entertainment. No, it's not the same as a truly great theater experience, but younger people seem not to care about that. In fact, it seems that younger people feel that stories that are feature-length are too long to sit through, and actually prefer "short form" media. In other words, TikTok videos. (Of course, if some of the other items in your list get corrected - like the economy and making the theater experiencing more enjoyable, and extending the window before movies get put on streaming - even this issue might be offset.)

I’m a AMC A-List subscriber and the majority of my movie screening experience has been positive. I am a matinee person, so I’ll go between noon and 4pm to see a movie. I rarely get anything from the concessions even when I’m with a friend or family member. I also give myself 15mins after the screening starts to actually get to the movie theater…just in time to see the last trailer and/or that horrible Nicole Kidman ad

Quality merchandise sold at theaters.

I stopped using A-List because there's an Alamo near me now. They have their own membership, which can be a better or worse value based on where you live (larger markets cost more). Some AMCs are better but still don't have the same facility quality or experience as Alamo. Even small things like the decoration of Alamo make it feel like a place to go because you love films.

More than the higher prices and the convenient streaming release windows, it's the trashy people who treat the cinema like it's their own personal living room that actually keeps me away the most. I would happily put up with expensive prices and rundown theaters, if there was at least a guarantee that people wouldn't talk and text throughout a movie. People always go on and on about how cinema is so special because of the communal experience it provides, but that very communal experience has actually started to ice people out because people within that community don't know how to act. Why am I going to spend a ridiculous amount of money in a so-so theater, just to have my experience ruined by assholes, when I can simply be patient and experience a film in peace with my big 4K TV, surround sound, and never having to worry about immature teenagers and stunted adults messing everything up? Simple, I won't. Haven't been to a theater since March 2023 (and before that, January 2022), and I suspect I won't be stepping into one at all this year, or the next. I'm simply done with it all.

I agree with all of your points. I will add that one more - the reason we haven't seen certain movies in theatres is because they just weren't there. Movies like American Fiction and Joy Ride simply didn't have showings. There were a couple other highly rated movies in the last couple of years that only had late night showings in 1 threatre and frankly, we are old and that is past our bedtime. :-) (I live in a large Canadian city so it isn't like there is only 1 tiny theatre in town.) We also would have gone to see Fall Guy the weekend it opened but there were limited showings of that movie because the threatre chose to have more showings of Phantom Menance than the new release so we just decided to wait the couple of weeks.

Where is a ticket 10??? I'm moving there lol

How about lower the costs of movies by cutting celebrity salary's and executive pay? That's THE biggest issue...

Great video, Dan. I agree with the points. They run movies too short these days, this one I noticed especially.

With regards to price, it’s also worth noting that we’re arguably getting a better product than in the 90s as well. Ignoring the movie itself (which is obviously the main part of the product), but the theater and seating. In some cases the theaters are falling apart like in Dan’s case. But in my case, most of he theaters have changed into luxury recliner seating, which are way better than the old theaters I used to sit in which jammed you up next to the next person fighting over an arm rest.

It’s so bad. I really hated it.

Theaters can blame them self.....The experience has become horrible...Phones, talking.......

The number one thing the industry thing needs to do is go back to the 1990's formula. Going from Theater > DVD > PPV > streaming. Going back to physical media is literally billions of dollars that the media companies are losing. The streaming format is killing theaters as we all know. Go back to 3 months in theaters, then wait 3 more months before it comes on streaming services.

Its not Rocket Science. Cheaper movies, cheaper food and less times.

Looks like Dan and John Campea were thinking alike. Since John did his list yesterday.

Love your Demon Slayer shirt! I got one just like it!

Very well put together Dan! But I will like to add one more Time! Today thats the most important thing we have because doesn't matter who you are, you only have 24 hrs a day but the options to spend that time has multi fold. Today you have so many options apart from cinema and that will keep increasing as we evolve. We can be purist and say cinema cannot be replaced but the truth is it already has for most. You have videos to watch, reels to swipe through, binge a tv show, podcast to listen, interact on social media and than spent time away with family & friends if any. Going to theater just to watch a film which will soon come on streaming is not a priority

I wouldn't put fall guy in the same category as other listed flops

My local IMAX is at an AMC Theater, and it is falling apart. the seats are bad and they rock. the floor is always sticky, and the sound volume shifts. However, the SAME theater has a DOLBY screen, and it is primo. Reclining leather seats, nice carpet, excellent sound and screen.

8.- Build more freaking Imax / Dolby Screens!!!