Posted on 08/03/2025 6:06:54 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Does anyone still go to movie theaters?
A mere 1% of Americans almost always go to the theater and rarely watch movies from home. Even though many people still venture to the theater, the failure to return to pre-pandemic ticket sales numbers has some predicting the end of cinema. In 2024, Revenue for theater owners was down 25% from 2023 and 40% from 2019.
Feb 10, 2025
They did this to themselves.
This is part of what has put the Hollywood on a downward spiral. The big studios have mostly been taken over by the streamers, which are Big Tech platforms run by non-movie people. The loss of creativity is serious. For all its faults, the movie industry used to be run by people who lived, ate, and breathed movies. The best of them wanted to do something of lasting value -- to reach for cinema as art -- while recognizing the need to sell tickets and put butts in seats. That meant accepting the discipline of connecting with the audience. Now, however, the industry is dominated by mega corporations with subsidiaries in the subscription business, and it shows: lowest common denominator fare for generic global audiences.
I need to update my movie recommendation list before I repost it, but I started this several years ago in response to the common freeper lament that Hollywood hasn't made a good movie in ages. Good movie are still being made, but finding them in the blizzard of hackwork and cash grabs churned out by the streamers is the trick.
The best stuff today, IMHO, is coming from the independent studios, not the Big Tech quantity over quality streamers. DEI can't touch a writer-director team of one. I'm heading out for a few hours but will try to loop back in later.
My Vince Lombardi Green Bay Packers will stomp you into the dirt.
If we could come to an agreement on the rules, which were subverted when television money took over and focused the games on casual tv audiences and the gambling interests.
And of course the boilerplate aspect applies to many industries. A huge benefit of AI is going to be freeing people from intellectual boilerplate work.
Theaters? No way. People have completely failed to know how to behave in a theater. I hate seeing everyone on their phones, and, worse, talking throughout the movie. Kids running up and down the theater throughout the movie. The prices are silly. At least $50 for two. DVD: $20, at home, in a nice environment.
Theaters are dead tech, mainly due to a dead society.
The content of the movie and how a movie is made are two very different things. I agree whole-hardheartedly that their content is abysmal at this time. All they have to do is dip into millions of decent novels in order to have fresh and wholesome content. It would be interesting to discover the reasons they don't do that.
Creativity that is not human, therefore not art.
Well said!
AI would never have that sort of imagination. ;-D
BTTT
Who creates the storyline? The plot and characteristics of the characters?
The AI is just a tool to give it life. A tool that can replace actors, cameras, environments, props, etc..
‘Civ: And to think I was going to ping you.
Larry: And you want to be my latex saleman.
A cartoon maker. No thanks.
It’s almost a tossup, who I dislike more: most politicians or all Hollywood elitists.
I guess it would be politicians, I can chose not to give Hollywood my money.
Well, as posted by others here, I don’t much like people these days. I’m old. Nobody thinks like me, acts well behaved like me or is as safe as me.
Hubby brought us home to his state of Hawaii. Lots of family here ... Who also don’t think like me, but whatever, aloha.
So we bought an older home and are renovating ... Prices! Son in the Ohana house going back to school ... Doesn’t like people either. Just re-tiled the pool and will eventually have a theater in the family room and library. I cook and garden.... No need to leave home much. No desire too either.
I’m old. It is enough. Can’t wait until I can ask AI to make me movies. Okay then ... One day at a time ... Until the money, time or energy gives out......
Gotta admit, that one makes me laugh. :-) And getting 4.7M views in a single year is a testament to.... something. Not sure what, but something.
I have little room to criticize, I've listened to a lot of marginal stuff over the years, Dr. Demento, Weird Al, Firesign, C&C, Lenny Bruce.....
There was a time when Hollywood made great movies without CGI. They just weren’t woke!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUAL1RBIBtI
I “rediscovered” movies six or seven years ago and have made an effort to see more films in theaters. It’s my forlorn gesture to help keep theaters alive so that a handful of giant streaming platforms don’t completely control distribution. They’ll push that dominance upstream to everyone else in the value chain and meeting Disney’s DEI quotas will be required for everyone. The indies need a place to find an audience without selling out to the Borg.
I have not seen any bad behavior in the theaters — and I live in DC. But I don’t go to flying spandex movies. That crowd is down the hall looking for sandworms and Sydney Sweeney’s boobs.
Price is an issue because tentpole disease has locked so much of the industry in a high cost model. But smaller movies and nonpeak times at an arthouse theater are often bargains. I see some good films for $7.
I find in writing, I want to be very descriptive in how I setup a scene, describe the characters, and state the outcome I’m seeking. It’s still GIGO for computers.
Until robotic technology catches up, anyway
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