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.
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.
Nope. All behaviors can be changed. Opera isn’t dead. High level black-tie event are not dead. If people want to get in badly enough, they’ll dress right and behave.