Are Movies Over?
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Are movies over? As film studios collapse and lose billions, have other forms of entertainment dethroned movies as our favorite escape? Let's explore the issue from multiple points of view!
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Remember, apathy is the enemy.
You’re absolutely correct. Unfortunately apathy has already set in for most of my friends and family. I also see all movie UA-camrs views are down across the board (unless they’re complaining about wokeness)
I feel like the outcry from people blaming other people for not going to see movies like Fall Guy and Furiosa are insane. Fall guy looks good and not bringing me into theaters and Furiosa is a prequel for a highly successful movie from almost a decade ago where they decided that Charlize Theron is too old to play an action lead so we will just replace her. Why is Charlize too old to be a lead but not Liam Neeson in the taken movies. It seems like a slap in the face, and I feel the fans weren’t having it.
As for planet of the apes, I feel like they really tried their best to make this movie appealing but I think alot of people are like well I haven’t watch since the James Franco movie and I’m afraid to make the time commitment to catch up on the series
Hollywood's apathy is the enemy.
@@Dan_TheAnimal Honestly Anna Taylor Joy was the only reason I went to watch Furiosa a Mad Max Saga.
Apathy is the killer. It's not the ranters and ravers, and those who moan about everything. It's those who just think f#@k this and quietly walk away.
It feels like nothing is the same after COVID. From governments, society, entertainment - everything was negatively affected by the lockdowns and events that happened. People just don't care about going to the movies anymore and I count myself in that crowd. I'd rather stay home and just watch a Blu-ray or 4K on my TV and not deal with people. I hate to say that but that's how I feel and seemingly how others feel. It doesn't help that movie studios only care about blockbusters these days. I watch a lot of older movies and 90% of it wouldn't even get green lit now and that's sad.
totally agree with this i'm the same, i used to go every week but now i just prefer to watch movies at home and not have to tell someone to turn there phone off or stop talking, people are just so rude
Movie theaters were dying before Covid, sure, Star Wars and Avengers made money, but people used to go way more in the 1990s and 2000s. There were more genres to pick from and better movies. Dramas like Good Will Hunting or A Few Good Men would make money.
Agreed
Great video Heath. I've been saying for a while now that I think streaming has devalued the arts... not just movies, but music too. People just aren't as invested in the arts anymore -- the arts have become disposable. Our pop culture just doesn't value movies and music the way it used to 30 years ago. It's sad, because I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to get it back. At least, not like it once was. It seems as though an overall appreciation of the arts in general is in itself declining and becoming a niche thing.
The main problem with going to the cinema now is the complete lack of cinema etiquette. People updating their social media status or eating food that's so loud it could be measured on the Richter scale. I try and book time off work so I can go midweek and to early showings and have the screen more or less to myself . But that upsets my wife because in her eyes I'm wasting holiday's not spending time with her 😂😂
People's attention spans get shorter and shorter.
I typically go see 11AM/12PM showings on Saturday or Sunday and they're usually pretty dead, that might work for you. And you won't have to burn PTO!
I go to an early matinee which is usually just a handful of people in the auditorium, mostly older folks who behave. It's been great.
In the UK, the big chains don't have ushers or usherettes in the actual theatre any more. There's maybe half a dozen youngsters in a 12 screen multiplex. If there's a problem, there's no-one there. Though they do broadcast requests telling people to switch their phones off.
This is a big one for me despite still going all the time. Even the morning showings there is most of the time a guy in the first three rows or back that is always on their phone distracting people. It’s a bummer. I wish there were more Alamo Drafthouses all over.
Of course this isn’t the entire reason or even close, but I guarantee if you ask older people or anybody it’s a big factor.
I managed movie theaters for 15 years before leaving the industry a couple years ago to go back to school and pursue other careers. "How do we get people to care about movies" on both a small scale, and an industry-wide scale has been the subject of countless discussions and presentation I've seen over the years. Typically in my case it's been situated in discussing getting people back into the theaters but not always. It's a multifaceted topic as you touched on, and if there were an easier answer, theaters might have been able to reverse the trends of diminishing attendance that has been going on since before streaming was a major thing, and before covid. Instead price increases, premium format screens, and other gimmicks were used to get more money out of the customers so the industry could point to record-breaking box office numbers every year.
I remember going to a conference one year, probably a year or two before Covid, and part of either the opening or closing night speech was about how people thought TV would kill theaters, then it was VCRs, then it was Cable, and now it's Streaming, and none of the past predictions of death came true, so why would this one? At the time it felt to me a bit like burying their our heads in the sand. I realize this anecdote is specific to theaters dying and not movies in general but there's a bit of a symbiotic relationship there.
I will say a few positive things though because there has been a lot of gloom and doom lately. I know over on the F This Movie podcast Patrick has mentioned on a number of occasions how certain kinds of movies don't get made anymore, for instance. I do think we allow ourselves to get caught up in the social media mentality of always looking up at what's next, and forgetting about great stuff that came out just weeks or possibly even days before. We can talk like Disney/Marvel killed movies (now imagine how many more theaters would be closed now if MCU box office grosses hadn't helped prop up theaters for years). Or we can acknowledge that 2023 gave us big budget action and franchise stuff (including movies I love like Across the Spider-Verse, Godzilla Minus One, and movies that I really liked, like Barbie, and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning). It also gave us crazier stuff like Poor Things, Bottoms, Beau is Afraid, and Dream Scenario. We got Nolan, Scorsese, Miyazaki, and Mann. I thought American Fiction and the Holdovers were really good drama/comedies. We get mid-budget horror stuff that ends up on Shudder. While it's not movies, I think we've also got some of the best TV series coming out right now like The Bear, or Shogun that give us some the of the same human stories we look to movies for. It's also easier than it has ever been to access endless amounts of the best films that have been made throughout the history of cinema.
People just need to keep championing the things they love. Not everything is a success from the start. Cult movies are a thing for a reason. If you loved Furiosa, keep being enthusiastic about it even beyond the opening weekend. Tell people why you like it. Continue to champion it while it's in the theaters, when it hits, VOD, and when it hits streaming. Have some friends over and put on a movie. Champion other movies that people might not have heard of. Let people borrow some of those blu-rays you bought and still haven't taken the shrink-wrap off of yet. Just keep spreading the love.
Very well said. I do agree with what you said about getting those smaller, mid-budget releases but I think the problem with those is that the studios don't advertise them and they get sent to die at the movie theater. 2 of my favorite films this year were Knox Goes Away and Land of Bad, both of which had near zero advertising and only about 1 week stints at the box office. But I told EVERYONE I could about both of them
@@Gobzer5526 I don't envy anybody who has to figure out how to do marketing for movies in the social media age. You can put your trailers in the theaters, but if it's for a smaller budget movie that trailer probably isn't getting put in front of a blockbuster, and as we've mentioned, the theatrical audience is dwindling now anyway. Everyone puts their trailer on UA-cam but that isn't enough to get people to actually find it or click on it. The studio/distributor can link to their trailer on social media, but again, but if you're a smaller distributor, good luck getting anyone to see your post. You can try to get influencers or movie sites to discuss your movie, but Knox Goes Away is going to get them less clicks than talking about any major release. Looking at the studios/distributors for both those movies mentioned as well, I'm not surprised that they didn't get a lot of advertising out there.
Honestly, the older movies are a lot better. Start playing classics again and more people will go. Alien in the theater was incredible.
Older movies are better but I’m done with theaters. Rattling speakers with bad sound, misaligned projectors with dim bulbs, people on phones…
It’s not a good experience anymore.
I went to see North by northwest in theaters just a few weeks ago, what an experience!
The release made $2mil. Sadly those won’t keep theaters afloat.
I agree that older movies are better but I disagree the general public will suddenly return. I'm 32 and feel like the majority of people younger than me don't care about modern movies and certainly don't care about the classics
I kindly disagree, I love The Batman, Pearl, SAW X, and so many more. Newer movies are just drowned out by the other masses.
Bunch of things: 1) Movies too long. 2) Quality of the Movies is down. 3) Too much CGI garbage. 4) attention spans are going, not just young folks. 5) Too much pushing political agendas. 6) Over saturation of movies and can watch them anywhere (on your phone). The only thing that swing this back is very good movies getting made.
It was Hammer Studios that made horror movies great again in the late 1950's. Think about it. Classic horror and monster movies were always the leading money-makers until some snide corporate snobs took over and started telling us what we're supposed to like.
When I was younger tvs were smaller and movies were cheaper.
So rather than watching a movie at home on my 27” tube tv I went to the movies.
Today we all have 65”, 75”, even 85” tvs and going to the movies is expensive.
I used to think they had gotten more expensive. But when you factor in inflation, it's roughly the same it's always been. Plus the two major chains offer flat rate monthly subscriptions that make it far cheaper to go
True with a 8 dollar subscription I get a ver y long list of films in my Prime que, I haven't even had the opportunity to catch up with...Why should I spend in gas, pop corn, soda and a 15 dollar ticket times 4...to watch a mediocre film?
4K HDR with proper headphones, almost as good as the theater, if not better. You can pause and pee.
But many watch on tablets and phones. Yikes.
My TV is better than the screen and projector. My couch is more comfortable. I can control the volume. I can turn on subtitles. I can pause it. I don't have to find a sitter.
Obviously do what what you want. But you can't expect the quality of new movies to improve if you don't support the good ones financially. Especially the original, non-IP ones.
Also, I would say that watching a movie at home often just isn't the same in terms of engagement. It's easy to let it become background noise, talk over it, split it up into parts, (thereby disrupting the narrative flow, pacing, emotional impact) etc. In short, you can end up not really watching it. In the theater, a good movie dominates all your senses and forces you to engage with it. You get more out of it
For those of us that are still into movies its important for us to pass it onto others and the next generation. My daughter likes movies. The other day she wanted to show me Legally Blond and we watched it. Then a couple days later i showed her True Lies and she really liked it. It was a little long for her at 140 min but she stuck with it. We stayed off our phones like 96% of the time. Were still struggling with that one. But if we dont pass on our passion for movies it will surely die.
Your tv is a big phone screen 😏
@@AZITHEMLGPRO spoken like a true Gen Z kid! haha
A huge part of it is the fact that you can watch these theatrical titles at home for much less in just a few months. The studios need to make it clear that if you want to see this big tentpole film like Furiosa or whatever it's not going to be available for 6-12 months like in the past. At the root of all the problems in the entertainment industry is streaming. It changed everything so abruptly that none of the studios really understand how to use it and audiences got lazier than ever watching stuff at home for bargain prices. If things don't change in the next few years things will be in major trouble for this industry.
yep. Dune 2 is on Max less than 3 months after release... in other words, it's basically free now...
so you don't even have to wait long for successful movies
Stopmotion, Banshees of Inisherin, Barbarian, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Northman, Boy Kills World, the Dunes, The Iron Claw, The Menu, and Mad God are my favorites from the last few years!
I'm bummed since I missed both Stopmotion and Boy Kills World in their extremely limited theatrical runs and I go to the theater often. The next few months of theatrical releases look so dire, I wish they would have waited until now to release them.
@@politefan8141 yeah, I baaaarely caught Stopmotion at the tail end of it's run. I had seen Ungentlemanly Warfare on a Tuesday and saw Boy Kills World was playing so went and saw that 2 days later! Got lucky both times that I didn't blink and miss em!
Great video! I think that the film industry (mainly theaters) is suffering because of a number of factors. I don't think it's a single issue, but rather a combination of all of these:
1. Prices- It's getting expensive to go out to the theater. If you have a family, it's ridiculously expensive to see ONE film ONCE. Not everyone can afford to see everything they want, so they have to choose.
2. Theatrical experiences aren't as good- People have been bad about talking and being on their cell phones for years, but it's gotten exponentially worse over the past few years. It's made me a lot more picky about what times I go to the theater because I just want to avoid those people if possible.
3. Streaming- The time gap between theatrical release and streaming release has shrunk significantly. If you're patient, you can wait a few weeks and watch the new films on a streaming service or the Blu Ray release shortly after the streaming release. Dune: Part Two (the biggest film of 2024 so far) was released digitally in mid-April, a month and a half after theatrical and on Blu Ray in mid-May, two and a half months after its theatrical release. That's not even counting the endless streaming films and TV shows that come out all the time that.
4. Too many big blockbusters- There are way too many big-budget I.P.-driven blockbusters meant to "define" the year. Just in March alone, we had Dune, Kung Fu Panda, Ghostbusters, and Godzilla, all in addition to smaller films. Think of the big films of the 1970s for example- Godfather 1/2, The Exorcist, Jaws, Rocky, Star Wars, Superman, Halloween, Alien. Those were big defining films of the DECADE. You only got a few big films per year. Now for 2024 ALONE- Dune, Kung Fu Panda, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, The Fall Guy, Planet of the Apes, Furiosa, Inside Out, A Quiet Place, Despicable Me, Deadpool, Alien, Beetlejuice, Transformers, Venom, Lion King. Those are just a bunch off the top of my head that are meant to be the big films from ONE YEAR! There are probably a bunch more that I am forgetting.
5. Inflated budgets- Films should not have to make close to a billion dollars to be profitable, but with large budgets and marketing campaigns, box office returns that would once be considered good are now failures.
6. Length- While this one doesn't bother me as much as others, most blockbusters don't need to be 2.5 hours or so long.
7. Lack of originality- It now takes special event films to draw in the masses. Spider-Man: No Way Home was a big event for Spider-Man fans. Top Gun: Maverick was respectful of the original and an experience made better in theaters. Barbenheimer became a viral internet sensation that somehow managed to get two completely different audiences to watch both films which benefited both of them (and that kind of marketing sensation could only happen once). Oppenheimer was a 3-hour movie about science and senate hearings expertly told by one of the best filmmakers working today. Barbie was an I.P., but was an energetic and original take on the source material. Aside from those and a few other examples, people are getting burned out on remakes, reboots, sequels, and "legacy sequels".
8. Studios- Many people don't like studios for a variety of reasons: who runs them, who works for them, what the studios put out, and the politics of the studios.
9. Politics- Many people are just tired of putting political messages ahead of storytelling.
10. COVID-19- For a number of different reasons (and it factors into a lot of the above reasons): there are some people who still don't go to theaters because of the pandemic. People have gotten used to watching films at home where they can freely talk to people and play on their phones at the same time. Budgets have gotten large in part to COVID protocols, set shutdowns in case of an outbreak, both of which extends shooting schedules. Blockbusters which would have been guaranteed hits pre-pandemic are now risks because people just get tired of the same types of films every year. You also have films that got pushed back because of the pandemic (and now the 2023 strikes), so release schedules have become crowded.
Sorry for the long comment. I tried to keep the points as brief as I could. There are probably other reasons, but these are the main ones I've noticed.
My friends and I regularly meet up to see a movie at the cinema. To us, it's part of our night out.
Budgets too high, studios too greedy and complacent, too much rehashing, and too much content all lead to lower box office intakes. Modern films don't even look as good as older ones, and usually have a cheap quality due to being lensed on digital over film stock.
There are the exceptions, box office wise, such as the Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Top Gun and occasional horror types of films that at times rake in a ton, but in general the box office is dying.
I miss when budgets for big films like Last Crusade were only 50 million, a film that looks and is one hundred times better than the latest Dial Of Destiny which cost nearly 300 million. Everything costs far too much and looks cheaper than films of the past.
Keep in mind that a 30-50 million dollar budget movie in the 80's and 90's would be closer to 100 million or more today when you factor in inflation. So it's not so much that budgets have gotten too big, but that audiences have shrunk dramatically. The money is just not there. Also, those older movies look better because they used real sets, real stunts, real in camera fx and shot on actual film, as you pointed out. That level of craftsmanship has largely been disgarded by studios and audiences
As pointed out, The Last Crusade and Temple of Doom would have cost 200 to 300 million today. 50 million for Last Crusade in 1989 was astronomical for a movie. But why would you as a viewer give a damn what a movie cost or whether or not the studio is being greedy? Just go see the movies that interest you.
Go see Furiosa if you want real stunts, shot on film. It's a beautiful movie.
@@devononair Furiosa was shot on digital (Arri Alexa), not film. It also has a ton of CGI and other digital shots.
I'll be honest, there's so many distractions in the cinema these days (noisy food, people talking or on their phones) I prefer to watch my movies at home without the distraction, but I do go a couple of times a month at the moment because I get 2 free tickets from sky cinema each month.
Not to mention crazy people stabbing audience randomly like happened in Boston.
Even till this day movie disturbances still haven't been solved lol.
There was a guy behind me on Furiosa crinkling packaging of some kind for a good portion of the film. Drove me nuts, they should make noise-free packaging lol.
Lol what Movie theater did you go to ? Cause the Alamo Drafthouse has extremely Strict rules about people talking or on their phone during a movie.
@@DodgerFanAD_23 Independent theater in Jersey
Streaming and/or internet access killed the music business in the exact same way. People blamed Napster, long albums with weak tracks, CD prices and other factors - but all it always goes back to ease of access. Once Apple Music, Spotify and other came into prominence, album sales nosedived and never recovered.
Same thing with movies. Only it more clearly happened with covid shutting down theaters. It forced everyone to the online experience how everything was so easily attained and without the theater hassle (high prices, poor theatrical presentations, rude patrons, 'night out' commitment). When the covid scare was lifted, people just didn't come back. Then you add on the generational difference as mentioned in this video such as social media fascination and phone addiction, there's a young generation that hasn't been groomed to see movies very high in their priority. Ex - in the last couple of weeks we've been watching the Star Wars franchise with our 22 yr old son-in-law who's never seen them at all; videogames is his culture along with a majority of that generation.
The franchise/sequels argument is asinine - there's literally hundreds of non-franchise films in theaters yearly - PEOPLE VOTE WITH THEIR MONEY. Those movies simply don't do as well. Looking at the top 100 box office will always show franchise films but they DO still release original films, they just don't often succeed. Empirical data proves this, so that argument needs to be squashed, the options are there. Right now, today, 10 of the top 20 films this previous weekend were originals. The options are there for movie goers.
I don't believe theatrical numbers will ever climb back to what it once was because Pandora's Box has been opened, movies are free or cheap online and always will be. But I also believe it'll never go away, there'll always be a desire for that experience.
Otoh, since streaming is so unsustainable as it is I wonder if that will force the hand of the studios. Netflix survives because it is the first streamer to exist. That's the only reason.
I personally still love going. Here in the UK at cineworld, I have my unlimited card, which I pay £18 a month, and go as much as I like, which is great value in my eyes. I usually still go at least once a week.
But I look at my brother, who has kids and do understand how expensive it can be for all of them to go, along with snacks, etc.
Can't beat seeing a film on the big screen in my eyes.
I think a major part is the lack of quality you only have to look at the hits over the last few years Top Gun, Barbie, Oppenheimer wether you like them or not all made with passion and attention to detail, when Top Gun was released many people asked why? and Paramount wanted to send it to streaming a forego the cinema release and Tom Cruise said no and look what happened, he knew this was a must see movie for the cinema so many movies are not and that’s the truth, I’ve just watched the Fall Guy on the cinema and the next day it’s was released on VOD these decisions will be the death of cinemas
Also Studios definitely need to cut back on how much they will pump into a project (look at movies like Megan, The Invisible Man & Beekeeper) the days of multiple billion dollar hits are over I think 1 or 2 movies a year will hit that mark now going forward, personally I’d like to see more old films being released look at SW EP1 it’s recent release for one week makes $11M a film that Disney hasn’t had to spend anything on so why did they not release the whole OG trilogy say over 9 weeks new hope for 3 weeks etc studios are clueless they should look at Phantom Menace as an example of ways they can be making money and getting people into the cinemas
Granted, I am older Gen-X (50) and I have been part of the problem for theaters. I love watching and collecting physical media and have been doing so for a number of years now. My collection is around 2,000 films and TV shows. And with theater tickets frequently over $20, if I know that I want to see it, but it isn't a huge epic film, I'll wait and apply those funds to actually purchasing a physical copy of it.
I do occasionally still go to the theater. I just went to see Furiosa over the Labor Day weekend. But that isn't typically for me. Most of the time I wait until it comes out on physical media, and buy it then.
What does draw me to the theater is big epic films that have IMAX shots / format that simply cannot be replicated in my home. Things that will draw me to the theater are things like Dune, Aliens Romulus, Day One, Beatlejuice, etc.
But I also miss the talking films. Where are the 12 Angry Men, Double Indemnity, Closer, Leaving Las Vegas, etc type of films? Well... They have left because not enough people go support them.
Okay... Wes Anderson... And the Coen brothers. But who else? Everything else is a popcorn, turn your brain off established franchise, or is trying to establish a franchise. How many Fast and The Furious films do we really need?
Films are targeted to the widest audience, so intellectually intelligent films aren't nearly as profitable. We are a bunch of gremlins packed into a theater watching the lowest brow fair, if we go at all. Someone please turn on the gas... But as I pointed out earlier, I am no better than anyone else, and those are the type of films that do pull me out of the house.
...but I will buy smart hoity-toity films. Go to see them in the theater? Meh.
The market has flipped. What I mean by that is that the movie theater was dirt cheap at one point. So cheap that in a number of movies characters in that movie meet clandestinely to exchange information in a theater. I can't imagine doing that now... But home copies are dirt cheap. You had to very wealthy to purchase films when I was a kid. But you could rent them.
Now you can have literal access to tens of thousands of movies on large high resolution screens and excellent sound systems. Why worry about sitting next to strangers?
So yeah... I think that theater attendance is declining due to death of hundred cuts. Home theater systems are unimaginably good, streaming services and physical media can put thousands of choices at immediate hand. Other activities compete for our time and the rising costs all around all cut into what gets made and marketed. Hence we don't get too many 'The Lighthouse' style of films anymore.
If theaters were cheaper... I would probably go more often.
Personally as a young person I’d rather read and enjoy my books I buy then going out to the cinema, I like going to the cinema when it’s actually convenient and worth the money, but for the most part I prefer the tangibility of a good book 📚
At least you are reading a physical book though! It's one medium that seems impossible to overtake. I know lots have kindle etc but physical books are irreplaceable
@@DomH75 Yeah it's a difficult one to pit one against the other as I love both mediums so much. But in terms of value for your money there is clearly only one winner. What movies have over books probably is return value, as you're much more likely to re-watch a movie multiple times compared to re-reading a particular book unless it's one of your favourites. Yeah something special about going into a book store of new or secondhand books and getting lost amongst all of them.
*than going out to the cinema. Not then in this case
@@Kev_Cos I haven't seen an actual Kindle out in the wild in some time. Amazon barely even markets it anymore. I think people are favoring actual books because they prefer the feel of it over just another digital gadget.
As an author, I’m glad to hear that.
Pretty much everything you said about movies also applies to music. It just doesn’t occupy the space in our popular culture that it once did, especially back in the 1960s & ‘70s.
I totally agree. I was a teenager in the 1970s. Your whole identity revolved around what kind of music you liked, to the extent to denying you liked something old-fashioned! That culture has long gone. And streaming had a lot to do with that.
You're right. Part of the reason for that though, is the insane price of concert tickets now, imho.
@@MothGirl007 That's true, but the market changed. Pre-streaming, bands made their real money from sales of records and their tours were like loss-leaders. Now with streaming, they make a pittance from downloads, and so the concert has to be profitable. That's the difference that I see.
Wild that nobody listens to albums much now. As a result I think the quality of a lot of them has dropped. I used to love finding tracks on an album that were better than the singles.
The Disney Star Wars sequels are to blame for much of this decline. It showed audiences that Hollywood was capable of totally dropping the ball on the highest scale. I think it was the biggest nail in the coffin. ☠️
Bingo. The Last Jedi ruined movies for me forever
For sure. Star Wars will never be a great Theatrical event like it once was.
I enjoyed them about as much as anything else. I never put Star Wars on a pedestal, but will never understand the hate.
My local historical theater just sold out for Casablanca. I was surprised. I guess it's just, do they play what people want to see?
That's awesome.
yes, it is a product-driven industry... so that's Reason #1 when attendance is down.
and it's cool that a showing of Casablanca sold out, but, if Casablanca was playing all-day, everyday, it would not sell out... it'd be way less than Furiosa... that being said, it would be great for business if the industry would do more special screenings like that.
Good video. You cannot stop the progress of technology, but in my lifetime the experience of movies has been cheapened - almost rendered disposable - by the ability to watch anything on your phone, anytime you want, and often for free. I’m old enough to remember when The Wizard of Oz was telecast ONCE per year on television. And even decades after its theatrical release it was still a shared cultural event. Much as I love the proliferation of home physical media it was the beginning of a loss of something special in the exhibition of a film - and the internet took that cheapening ten steps farther.
Thanks Heath for a very thoughtful, well-presented talk. I fear you are correct. I also think that this has been going on for some time. People who are interested in film are in a minority. I remember telling friends about an interesting foreign movie I'd just seen, only to get a blank look. To most of them, movies have to be fun, and now mainly part of some franchise, or horror that follows by the numbers. Nothing too original or challenging, please 😒... You know it well: going to a current film means seeing the little screens light up all around you, etc. For most of them, the movie is just wallpaper to their lives, they tune in and out of it. I don't go to the theater anymore except for special occasions (we have an arthouse cinema here that features Film Noir, series, Silents and other good stuff). "Are movies over?", based on the the continuing independent productions and on festivals like Cannes et al, I'd say no. Interesting movies are still going strong, and I'm constantly discovering many from the past. I think there is still some hope for the future.
You are so right. I am mid 40s and was a huge, huge film buff. New movies do not interest me at all and sitting down and watching a movie has less appeal for me than it used to.
It is like Hollywood does not understand that they are not that culturally relevant anymore. I even prefer internet videos.
It doesn't help that Hollywood openly hates many of the people that they want to sell to.
Good, incisive essay, Heath. What you’re really asking for at this point is not better movies or better theaters or home presentations, but lifestyle changes and that’s going to be very difficult to alter at this stage or even modify. Asking people to make an effort to increase their attention spans and patience and stop these patterns of lazy intellect, involvement and investment is a tall order. Lifestyle changes can be near impossible to shift or manipulate because we all become so resistant to change and so quickly opposed to it too. My wife plays games on her phone while we watch movies and I never thought I would be with a person like that, let alone married to them. But all of my pleas and nagging for more focused concentration on her part do not get through to her. And she’s not some 23 year old bimbo either! This is what I’m saying about lifestyle changes, people inevitably choose a more is more philosophy and can’t figure out how decreasing their multiple diversions and detours can benefit them.
It's definitely the speed at which movies move to streaming. I remember the first time it happened for me. I'd really wanted to watch the horror movie M3GAN. It'd been out maybe a month or so, but thought I could still catch it at the theatre. Then I log into Peacock, and bam there it is already! Same with Oppenheimer, Barbie, etc. I remember it used to be said that movies showing in cinemas were essentially to market the DVD release 6 months later. Now even that's gone. The industry is cannibalizing itself.
I imagine it has something to do with beating the pirates to the streaming.
Stop making the same garbage over and over like the super hero and Star Wars movies and series, over saturation in my opinion.
Above ticket prices, the quality of films in the 2020s....the main thing that has stopped me going to my local cinemas is the audince. The public treat the cinema like their watching TV in their lounge. Talking, looking at their bright phones, hell...talking on their bright phones! Awful. Behaviour has got worse since lockdown.
I asked My daughter, who is 18 and always on her cell phone but loves movies, would you rather watch a movie at home with access to your cell phone or in the cinema with no access to her phone. Her response was that she would rather see it in the cinema IF it is something she likes and not too long. With movies running 2.5 to 3 hours long and with less variety that seems to be an issue. 🤔
You either give your attention to the phone or the movie. If you're doing both you're not fully immersed in the experience.
Before smart phones and internet, kids were used to know that for three hours they will be with their families at a park, theater, etc...without having ANY contact with their boyfriend...nowadays..they just need to be texting every five minutes.
They ARE much too bloated in my opinion.
For one thing a movie cant win an oscar unless its adheres to DEI. Hollywood has insulted the public too openly for too long.
I think Heath is correct in his assessment - younger people (Generation Z) have SO SO SO much at their fingertips these days vs previous generations that MOVIES are much lower on the list of "fun things to do". Internet/youtube/social media/tiktok are far more important to the new generation of kids than movies and that isn't going to suddenly change. Its going to continue to evolve where movies are just "content" that they sometimes watch passively. I see a lot of comments on here saying "show better movies and I'll go back to the theatre" - again- that's Generation X / Millennial etc thinking and that is the valid reasoning for why people 35+ dont go to the movies - but thats not the age range being targeting any longer. Younger people dictate what is being made...and they just dont care as much about movies. Again- Heath is 101% correct on that.
I'm frustrated with the studios. They hose us down with endless sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes, and nostalgia bait. It's pandering, and insults the intelligence of the audience. Replace the dreck with something worthwhile, and we'd see a Renaissance of movie culture.
Ok but there are real adult original movies being released all the time (albeit with tiny budgets and zero marketing) to theaters and they make absolutely no money whatsoever. People only show up for the franchise stuff (with horror beingthe exception). And the studios know this
Have you met the audience?
It insults itself.
@martydmc12
Just what I wanted--To have the obvious pointed out to me by a condescending twerp who thinks he's the first person to whom these ideas have ever occurred.
@@martydmc12 Yep.
@@Stratmanable nothing martydmc12 said was condescending.
I turn my phone off when watching a movie at home.
I know you've mentioned video games, but even that market is now in decline, layoffs are some of the highest in years due to falling sales.
I think that Hollywood has relied on too many sequels. So there's a fatigue factor.
But like you said, they've devalued the experience. Streaming, VOD and physical sales were secondary revenue for movies, but they seemed to think they could take the primary income from cinema revenues with streaming for themselves and that didn't happen.
So they're now stuck with lost revenue and no real means to replace it with those secondary revenues like streaming.
They NEED to get people back in the box office and the best way to do that is to start creating films based on the value of their stories, scripts and directors, rather than the algorithms they use to try and predict what people will want to see.
But I'd also increase the window between cinema release and home. Some films come to home viewing 19 days after cinema release. What incentive is there to go out to the cinema if you only have to wait a few days to get it online, possibly for free.
The genie is out of the bottle, the 9 million streaming choices with all their ‘content’ killed it. Movies are becoming the next books for the new generation, attention spans are a thing of the past, growing up with an iPhone in your hand and watching 5 second tik toks all day makes watching a 2 hour movie a daunting task
I still go to see movies in theaters, but where I live, the arthouse theaters are really the only ones where the audiences will not *actually ruin* the collective movie-watching experience. As recently as ten years ago, it was not nearly this bad, but something has changed. Audiences for big, multiplex-type films have become so much more disrespectful of the people sitting around them, in basic ways, than they used to be.
I'd say the way people act at the movies are the main reason as to why people would rather watch movies at home. Lots of people still go to the movies, but this seems to only be true for the opening showings of movies.
I went to see The Garfield Movie today, and three teenagers decided to talk loudly, laugh every few seconds, and most annoyingly, take pictures of themselves (with the flash on). They continued to do this for about twenty minutes before running down the stairs and giggling loudly on their way to the exit.
This (luckily) was the second unenjoyable experience that I've had out of tens of visits to a theater, but the problem seems to be getting worse.
People act the same way in theaters as they would at home, but even worse. It's sad to think about it as people only care about themselves and not also about everyone else in the room.
Well put! People act like they are sitting on their living room couch. They just yell out to each other during the movie. I’m not super-sensitive about talking but it’s gotten crazy.
I completely understand that there is increased competition out there. But why social media is one of them is beyond my comprehension. I would much preferred to watch even a mediocre movie over endless scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, especially something is vapid as TikTok. I believe it has a lot do with short attention spans amongst Gen Z and even younger Millennials (I'm an older Millennial, late 30s).
Movies will continue to exist for quite some time, as will theaters. Film has always gone through growing pains, just some more painful than others. If less and less people are watching movies, studios will have to adapt to that.
With all of that said, and no, this isn’t the only factor,I think it’s one of the biggest ones: COVID-19 changed the theater dynamic. I know we’re not strictly speaking of theaters in this conversation, but it’s a big piece of the puzzle, for sure. I think different habits were formed during the height of COVID-19, and many people never fell back routinely into the movie-going experience. And it affected how we watch from home. People didn’t “unlearn” the habit they picked up of scrolling on their phones when they were home during the pandemic.
I think there are a number of issues here, many of which you touched on in this video. You bring up the introduction of cinema 130 years ago, and if you think back to that time -- going to the movies would have been a big event since other forms of entertainment at that time would have been reading books, listening to radio, or going to a live show (and access to that form of entertainment would have been more limited in many smaller towns). Movies became more of an attraction because you could live in a small town area and see the same types of entertainment as those in larger cities. Even when televisions were introduced, there were still many homes in the 1950s (and possibly even into the 1960s) that didn't have access to the technology (either because of a lack of equipment or a lack of broadcast access). So again, not a ton of competition for going to the theater. By the 1970s and early 1980s most people had television which would have been some level of competition for theaters, but far less than today because you didn't have broad adoption of (or even access to) cable television for everyone; not everyone had VCRs to record movies that were broadcast on TV channels; and even then it could be years before a movie shown in a theater ever wound up on TV. By the late 1980s and 1990s there was more adoption of cable, more access to networks like HBO and Showtime which were a big thing simply because they had access to recently released movies. I'm not sure how much that really hurt box offices, but at the same time, it did provide more competition -- a couple could sit at home and watch HBO rather than going out to a movie. But at the same time, TV in the form of talk shows was more of a popular medium and that helped drive much of pop culture. When those shows referenced movies, it motivated people to go see what all the talk was about. And of course, the 1990s and early 2000s had the growth of rental companies like Blockbuster bringing even more competition. As you said, now we have the Internet. That provides access to tons of content and all of it on demand -- if there's a show you want to watch, you don't have to worry about being in front of a television at a specific time or having access to a specific channel, you can just stream it on demand. If you want to watch a movie, you can easily select one without having to go to a rental store and browse the shelves to see what's available (or pull up an HBO guide to see whether they are airing something you want to see that weekend). Also, because of the growth of these various networks and streaming platforms, there's other types of entertainment that's readily available. You can watch a football or basketball game easily on a Saturday night rather than going to the movies -- again something that was more challenging in the 80s, 90s, etc. when ESPN didn't show or stream nearly every game available. To be honest, I think it's this increased level of competition (direct access to tons of content, access to other forms of entertainment like social media or games, etc.) that's the biggest driver that impacts theater box office results. But at the same time, there are certainly other factors that contribute. I find myself constantly annoyed with the lack of editing in movies these days. Every film doesn't need to be over 2 hours -- let's reference the "big" movie of this weekend. Furiosa is 2.5 hours. The original Mad Max was 88 minutes. The most recent one (Fury Road) was only 2 hours. Why does this prequel need to be 2.5 hours? I haven't seen it, but I can already guess there's a good half hour of stuff that could have been left out. Similarly, I think the constant sequels also lead people to be more likely to stream those movies -- after all, it then makes the movie itself almost more of piece of a long-form serialized show than a feature film. Again, going back to movie history, the serials that were shown before films in the bygone years were not the attraction, it was the feature itself. When you have cinematic universes (especially when they also have television show components), it changes the way in which you view the film itself I think. Anyways, good conversation to have.
Unfortunately, society appears to be going along with what you're saying. My nephew is 32 and says he doesn't care to ever go to a movie theater again. He'd rather sit at home and watch whatever. But movies weren't made for that. That is an eventual landing place for movies once they've left theaters.
So, Netflix makes their own movies. But they're usually pretty bad to terrible. It's like they try to make one or two good movies a year, and the rest is trash made for people who just want something on for background noise, like fans of Chuck Lorre sitcoms or moms who watch NCIS. Then, typically when Oscar voters are paying attention - come September or later - Netflix releases ROMA, or MANK, or THE IRISHMAN, or MAESTRO. I saw half of those in theaters, by the way. Limited release runs before they hit streaming, so they could qualify for Oscars, but this whole model is maddening.
Some people say that movies aren't good anymore, they only make superhero movies, their home theater system is just as good, ...all of which are false. Not enough people seem to care about movies anymore.
I'm worried to be honest. I love going to the theater and I love physical media. If theater dies, how long before physical media follows? I see plenty of collectors boasting their home theater setup and claiming they don't go to large theaters anymore. Are we killing our own hobby? Is it just the movies themselves? There are plenty I've seen in recent years which were good, and weren't part of an existing franchise, and not enough people went to see them, so they got pushed out to streaming early.
I don't like going to the cinema anymore since its full of people on their phones / talking all the way through..... I buy everything on physical media now, 4K for films / TV shows I really like, and 1080p blu ray for the rest. It's not helped by the sheer amount of crap that comes out now, most of my collection is of older films and tv shows ! I rarely buy newly released stuff. Creativity has been killed, and everything must be a super safe play, and appeal to the maximum number of people possible at all times..... It's part of the reason why I don't think we will see things like the LOTR trilogy ever again, and we are over 20 years later with nothing even close to its brilliance.
Man, there's already almost 400 comments, so maybe mine will get lost in the shuffle, but judging by everything I've read, maybe we as a society are just losing (or have already lost🤔) our minds? 😅
I think there's some truth to the varying perspectives here. Attention spans have been in decline for years now. TikTok even has its hooks in my 67 year old dad, so it's not just a "young person" problem.
Commercial gain from movies has always been a gamble, & the art of the medium has been a victim of it, & with so much access & awareness to various choices now, outrageous spending on these gambles is really having its consequences rear their ugly heads.
Politics say more about the people in question than anything, only being a true problem if you let them be. And well, far too many have, allowing themselves to be made constantly angry for the sake of it. People are so damn pliable, it's sad. And the sheer awareness of everything thanks to the Internet, really has impacted our collective mental health.
Perhaps movies are "over" as we've traditionally known them. And now the studios will have to figure out a way to adapt. That's what we're seeing, the growing pains of change, trying to figure out how to overcome it, & basically the age old crapshoot that is making a dollar off of entertainment for the masses. It's hard to figure out what billions of people will all turn out for at any given time.
I think what will save movies is a) cutting down budgets b) accepting that not every movie will become a massive hit c) if we must do IP, then expand the IP so younger audiences can have a draw into the movies (stop with the Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, aybe even the MCU, find something for the new generation to call their own that maybe they already love, hell Maas and Sanderson are the highest selling authors right now maybe adapt their books? ; d) fix the theatrical experience to include ushers, less Ads/trailers before a movie starts, and for longer films include an intermission again. e) extend the window between theatre and streaming to incentivize going to theatres f) stop forcing influencers to use corporate language let them say "the new Mad Max movie" not "furiousa: a mad max saga" g) and this one I hate to say, but have more ads during streaming, ads that promote theatrical films so that theatres and streaming work collectively as an ecosytem, they both advertise each other to excite audiences about both.
Movie theaters are basically action blockbusters and animated movies now, with some horrors and random low budget stuff. I’m ok with it, that’s just the way things go.
It's a big question, Heath. Not gonna break everything down here in one comment, but film has always been art for the masses and the masses have other interestes now. Film most of all requires an attention span, which is a quality that was destroyed by the smartphone. People also read less books now for the same reason. People have a problem watching a three hour movie but they're fine binging an 8 hour show. Yeah, it's baffling, but also understandable. I don't think you can do anything to change it. Change is the only constant and things are always in the process of becoming. Perhaps we will see in the future an amalgamation of film and video game, something like the Holodeck in Star Trek. It won't be film OR video game anymore, it will be a new art form. Who knows? In the meantime, if you DO love movies, there was never a better time to be a movie fan with entire swaths of movie history at your fingertips, both on physical and digital. It's YOUR chice to treat film as background noise or a thing with meaning. A website like Letteboxd give movies their resepect again. they are discussed and are the center of attention. So for every five people who check their phone during movies and never change the motion smoothing on their TV because "they don't see the difference", there is maybe one person that bothers to go on letterboxd and log the movie and write a revies. And of course you are doing holy work with your channel, and there are other very populat YT channels that give film its resepct and then some.
The art of cinema is up against "content" and the seemingly relentless need for some groups of people to hijack movies into peddling their particular political agendas. While that continues to be the case we will be served up vapid, soulless garbage that isn't worth watching once let alone getting excited about paying a fortune to go watch it in the cinema. Most of the stuff coming out at least in the western world these days is utter trash.
There are some rare exceptions that still get me excited like it's the 80s again like Nolan and Villeneuves films.
Most of my excitement comes from physical media announcements... Hearing Invasion USA is getting a 4k release etc.
If we want to get people excited again the first thing that needs to happen is decent films that focus on the story, character development etc and utilise the art of cinema to help tell the story not just some bland soulless "content" that looks and feels the same as the last 10 Netflix movies or shows you just watched. In terms of new films these days I'm mostly watching stuff from Japan or South Korea. They are making stuff like Hollywood used to know how to do but these days are clueless to make such things (as I said with some rare exceptions).
The movie industry in the west isn't helping it's own cause by continuing to pedal trash to audiences who have clearly highlighted they are tired of their garbage. Disney being the most prominent example of constantly kicking own goals but there are plenty of other studios doing the same to varying degrees.
Hopefully this is just a phase that technology has caused and where technology is the main focus and driver for delivery of mass entertainment as opposed to focusing on the quality of the films and tv shows themselves (with some exceptions like Stranger Things but we haven't seen a hit like that for a while from the self made content pool. And for every Stranger Things and Extraction there are 100s of utterly pointless bland rubbish movies and shows).
Anyway I'm just a grumpy old dude who's got an opinion just like everyone else. And that was mine. Hope you enjoyed it and/or agreed with it or parts of it.
I believe that popular entertainment is evolving beyond the formal 'Movie'. Like the horse & buggy it's becoming an anachronism of a past time. We are just going to accept change & evolve (or go the way of the dinosaurs)
The biggest problem why people aren't going is money. When people have less spending money, they spend less. That means people who are working class and/or lower can't afford to go to the movies anymore. They don't have enough money. Lower the price on everything if you want them back. I remember when a movie ticket, a large soda and popcorn only came to $12 total. Most of the time video stores with VHS tapes could be rented cheap and that's how most people my age got their entertainment fix back in the day, but those days are long gone, grazing the aisles of video stores.
Your perspective is dead on. My main reason for not going to the movies is that I simply can’t afford to go all that much. I can own the movie on disc for considerably less money. Having said that, I did go see The Phantom Menace in theaters recently.
I'm 26 and go to the movies almost every week but will say it hasn't been big blockbusters like the 2000s or the marketing is so lackluster not hitting the mainstream prime example Furiosa!
If content creators on youtube can figure out how to make content that earns $$, so can filmmakers and studio execs. I don't have all the answers, but the studios aren't staffing the right people to get the job done.
Partly, it's that the dominant values today are autonomy (freedom) and convenience. Watching films at a specific time in a theatre conflicts with these values. Even more importantly, though, we're all narcissists now. 'We all want to be the main player. Other persons' experience holds relatively little interest for us.
I agree with the too-quick turnaround to home video. The Fall Guy was released May 3, it’s on digital June 3. Way too soon.
I think it boils down to 3 Cs…
1. Cost - It costs a small fortune to take your kids to a movie with popcorn and drinks. That means a movie has to be a “must see” on the big screen.
2. Content - Studios seem to be cranking out content that fewer and fewer people are excited to see. Add to that the backlash against Hollywood elitism/apathy and it’s no wonder theaters are vacant.
3. Competition - With so many other options vying for our entertainment dollars (coupled with 1 and 2 above), it’s likely going to take some seismic shifts in the movie industry to right the ship.
Hopefully, it’s not too late - I love movies and would hate to see it all fade away.
Great points!
What is happening to movies happened to books, and it may happen to video games too at some point. New media replace the old. I'm sure movies will survive in some capacity, as books have, but it will never again be what it was in the 20th century.
I’m just gonna use a random example but people don’t take chances on new ideas with a small budget like make something like Napoleon dynamite it doesn’t need to be a giant cgi fest with huge effects and world ending consequences every time just focus on story, interactions and writing with a small budget
I think society has grown too cynical for movies. I love movies. Movies give us the ability to exercise our empathy. It seems people think movies are predictable and it seems the happy endings just remind modern audiences that life has no such happy endings. To me it signifies a fading of xhild wonderment and escapism. I love most movies simply cause i love movies. I hope we see a resurgence.
Movies may not be done but movie culture is.
Younger gens don't care. Video games and social media have usurped the throne.
Really? Is that why Super Mario Bros, Oppenheimer, Barbie, Godzilla Minus One, and Godzilla X Kong have been HUGE SMASH hits?
@@richardstange5939 In fairness, those are not typical. But I agree that love of film among all generations continues.
Civil War did well box office wise. Scaled back action, focus on characters. Must be made for old coot like me. More like that please.
People forget the industry pre covid was not great unless you were under the disney umbrella.
Yes, because they are not art anymore, these studios refuse to take risks, they refuse to give us anything new, they refuse to do anything from breaking the "agenda" and they don't care what we want (if you are going to stick with established franchises, we want our old heroes to still be heroes! Duh!!) but yeah, even at age 50, I would rather watch youtube at this point. Unfiltered real thoughts here, not board room decided trash that we see at the theaters these days, sadly.
Too many movies use CGI and remakes and reboots have become Normal now movies need to go back to basics focus less on CGI and tons of money and go practical and focus on more original ideas and story with really great strong relatable characters
Hollywood putting out these cookie cutter sequels and remakes or reboots is contributing to their own demise. The audience is figuring out wait I’ve seen this before and in many cases the original movie was better.
Streaming and gaming hasn't killed cinema but it has taken away 15% or 20% of the market which has a big effect.
I love the movie theater experience its one of my favorite things to do has been my whole life and i love sharing it with my family ,they still make great films and i could go every week but my issue is the price when our family of 3 go its over $100 and with inflation being so high on everything we can not afford it , and that sucks a theater is my happy place and greed has ruined it , we use to have a rerun theater three dollar tickets. I miss it
My gripe is rude people. People talking during the movie, and will not shut up. Yeah don’t get that at home.
I just saw the Bee Keeper not a terrible movie but it was simply The Equalizer on steroids.
Yeah I ended up collecting over 2,500 movies from best buy sales, thrifting, ebay, etc. and I don't watch them. I watch UA-cam or play video games. I used to watch movies daily, I don't know why I can't make enough time. I'm 32 years old.
I watch movie UA-camrs more than movies these days. lol
Another factor I believe will really be the death knell for the movie theater industry is the continued release and adoption of 4K short-throw projectors/large format screens. Today these are still a fair amount more expensive than than a flat screen TV but the tech is getting better and the prices are coming down. Once we see short throw projector/screen packages coming in under $2,000 you really can truly replicate a full on home theater experience (after adding a decent surround sound system as well).
Yeah people keep asking for original movies but aren't going to see them so I don't know how to fix it other than go see the movies you have an interest in.
I’m a lifelong theater enthusiast, many great memories from the movies. I’m into it all, Fellini, spike Jonze, Gilliam, but also was into Star Wars and marvel. The diselunsionment began when I had spent years obsessing over episode 7 production, and while force awakens wasn’t a terrible movie, the movie wasn’t as good as its ad campaign. But it went downhill from there and Disney murdered my love for that franchise, which was already fragile after the prequels
I was on board with marvel until infinity war ended. There were maybe 2 good films post but now I’m so turned off.
The only difference for me as a movie goer is I wait for artsy films to come to disc because the home experience is better than the theater experience due to specs
MUSIC, TV AND FILMS TODAY ARE AWFUL. THANK GOD FOR THE OLD STUFF ❤
1. Make films that are culturally important.
2. Also, going to the theater with my family is roughly $100, that's bringing our own candy, sharing popcorn and soda. That makes it something that can't be done weekly. It's more of a special occasion.
Also, love your channel, keep up the great work!
I had the opportunity to watch two movies in Thailand, in a fairly new IMAX cinema (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and Furiosa), and the experience and movie going etiquette was fantastic.
During my adolescence, I was interested in movies but not as much as I enjoyed music. However, I definitely enjoyed and continue to enjoy movies. I honestly think movies, music, and most if not all forms of art/entertainment are now viewed as just a meaningless products or services. These once valued and treasured creations were markers for memorable and impactful moments in our lives. Unfortunately, they’re now only things, afterthoughts. They were reflections of lives and representations of hopes, dreams, and emotions. Tragically, what was once regarded as a passion and appreciated is now seen and treated as if they’re nothing. When I mentioned this to people, they look at me like I’m crazy and they often say, “Why do you even care?“
what if studios could create a sense of fomo, releasing certain films exclusively in cinemas that will not go to streaming, obviously they should never do away with physical media, but withholding select films that are cinema exclusives might help drive some fomo and get people back to the multiplex. to expand on that idea, they could also make the theatre experience a kind of event, where you go and you get some kind of booklet, or poster, something that makes people feel like they are getting an experience they could not have at home. also theatre’s should never stop updating their projection systems, and advertise that, get people excited to see a film with 4k laser projection, and dolby atmos surround sound. most people have no idea that these things even exist, the extent of the common movie goers technical knowledge is the screen size which is a disservice to the incredible technology that is out there that truly enhances the viewing experience.
Right on the money with this analysis. Ya know it's funny, every once in awhile somebody might raise an eyebrow to my physical media library as if they judge how I've wasted my money. Yet once upon a time, the guy with a whole library of books was the revered one for having a whole legacy of history and culture at his fingertips. Then movies started to take over yet nobody reveres them in the way that books once were. I regard my collection as a true library, as a way to preserve decades worth of culture and accomplishment in film as an art. But I worry what this will look like in even the next 15 years.
Great video, Heath. It saddens me that movies aren't as popular or as culturally impactful anymore. There are many ways to observe this reality. One that stands out is how few movies have *everyone* talking about them.
Decades ago, the 1989 Batman and Jurassic Park movies were cultural phenomenons. Folks did more than just see them. They talked about them, wore the t-shirts, played the video games, bought the soundtracks. They had a 360 degree cultural impact.
Now, in the 2020s, it's rare to get a movie on that scale. (Barbenheimmer feels more like an exception, than how things generally are now.)
Ah... batman the movie on the amiga. Loved that game. Jammmm (see if anyone gets that reference ;))
I remember when I saw Batman at the Universal City's Cineplex Odeon in 1989. That scene where the Batwing eclipses the moon caused a thunderous nerd-gasm. I don't hear people cheer like that anymore. Maybe social media has made young people too introverted to do that.
I'm 24 and I couldn't fathom watching a movie while on my phone. Just earlier today I watched Fireworks (1997) from Takeshi Kitano and it was an amazing, captivating experience that wouldn't have worked if I had my attention divided between two screens.
For my view on new films, I do like a good portion of them like the Dune movies, Shin Kamen Rider, Passages (2023), Past Lives, and I very much enjoy the Monsterverse films as a lifelong kaiju fan who has explored films in the genre from various decades. But overall it doesn't bother me too much if there aren't many films coming out that I am interested in at the moment as I'm constantly balancing watching older and recent movies.
You do bring up some very good points Heath and I'll admit it myself that I don't go to the theaters as often as I used to. But I still want to support movies by buying physical media, making reviews on Letterboxd and sharing them and going to the theaters whenever I can. Films are currently my number one passion and I do try to spread that passion as much as possible, but it can be hard to get through to people my age who only go to the movies a couple times a year to see the high-budget, marketed films.
Moviegoing is nearly over
Too expensive, too many other competing options (streaming, short-form media, video games, etc.) and the demise of Hollywood as an institution covers most of it
There are 2 key things that influence this. And no, one of them isnt the overall quality of the movie. You will be most engaged and into a movie when you watch it with your loved ones. Point. Blank. Period. I grew up watching movies with my movies with mom, and when she died about a decade ago, watching movies was never as enjoyable ever again. And thats a permanent change, that will never go away. I will never be able to enjoy movies the way I did when I watched them with my mom. And for others, it may not be their mom. It might be your ex-wife. Watching movies just isnt the same since you broke up. Or you watched movies with your best friend, and they might've died. And its just never the same. Heck, it could even be your dog. Maybe you watched movies while you cuddled with your dog. And he was the best boy to watch movies with. And maybe your dog isnt here anymore. I'm just saying. Death/divorce/breakups/etc forever changes a person in many ways. And movie watching might just be one of them.
The other key factor I feel is watching movies alone is never as enjoyable as watching it with a loved one. Just like eating alone. You could have a reservation at the best 5 star restaurant in Paris, France. But if it's a table one, the food just wont taste as good. Whereas McDonald's with friends will always taste better.
Wow - amazing topic Heath !! So many reasons for the decline of the movie going experience .
1) for sure , other mediums of entertainment. Video games (I don’t play them) are so more advanced now , and there seem to be so many gamers out there now playing so many more games .
2) we are getting too many remakes, sequels and reboots and not enough new films , and often these are not done by the original creator . I think remakes , etc , used to be accepted . As a society were burned out now . I was stunned to see a musical version of Back to the Future at my local performance theater (PPAC / I’m in Rhode Island.) All the Disney shows and films that transitioned to both musicals and new remakes . Boring.
3) summer blockbusters and even b films are no longer interesting, as you can get them 24/7 on streaming . Yet another problem with streaming . Constant bombardment of all types of film and tv show all the time . The summer blockbuster is no longer only for the summer , hence its not as much fun / unique , and with constant films or tv shows (Disney , I’m looking at you) , it’s just boring and it’s nothing more than “product” being pumped out . I feel bad as there is some of this stuff that I like , but even my patience has been tried , and I’m not watching Disney .
4) cost - this has been a long time coming . The cost of a movie , and concessions has been going up and up across the past 30-40 years so it’s cost prohibitive to take a family out . Even the average teenage or 20 somethjng fans may feel the economic pinch .
I’m sure there are many other reasons , but these are just some observations. Everything is hitting all at once . The pandemic didn’t help either - that disrupted the flow of patrons to the cinema …… now with our ability to see what we want whenever we want , why go into the cinema ?? Even the cost of building your own film collection is relatively inexpensive, (tv , blu ray player , blu rays , sound system) so once you have everything , you don’t need to go out , and it’s more cost effective .
Sadly it’s the people connection that is lost . Same thing is happening with so much in our society. I got tired of the increasing costs at the local coffee shop (Dunkin Donuts) and the decline of their customer perks benefits . They cheapened the benefits , made it harder to reach point goals , so I have to spend more , so I stopped going . Like with the movie theater , I’m missing out on talking with other patrons , building relationships with the staff …. Similarly, we aren’t sharing the cinema experience. I’m both cases it’s corporate greed that is at the root cause . So much for family values .
I’m sure there’s more we can get to , but hopefully this starts the conversation.
Thanks for a cool , timely topic Heath !!
Chris
I agree that I’m not sure film as we know it can be saved . I’ve noticed a lot of my favorite things from pop culture , from grammar school to high school and college years are all disappearing, and for various reasons . A big part , as I mentioned is corporate greed . That may be the one common element . I don’t think you can or should separate cinema from the theater . “Going to the movies” is so unique. A real and amazing experience. We have to find a way to keep it all . I just don’t know why will help to preserve it . I’ve gone to mom and pop theaters , big franchise theaters , art house theaters , drive ins ……, such an amazing experience and a part of growing up . A real part of passing on an experience from older to younger generations . It’s also , as you say a communal thing - being in the theater with others snd going thru the experience together.
Maybe if they didn't run a three-month pre-marketing programme that includes so many trailers that you feel as though you've already seen it?
Conversely, there's no time for a word-of-mouth success, because by the time someone you trust persuades you the film is worthwhile, it's already left the theatre.
or if it's still in theaters, it's left the IMAX/Dolby/premium screens... so, remember folks, you only have one more week to see Furiosa on IMAX or Dolby!
as for the marketing, it's funny, anecdotally, I hear people saying they haven't heard of Furiosa... I think it's mostly us regular moviegoers who felt like we'd seen Furiosa already due to its trailers playing for 6 months in front of everything else we saw.
@@brandononbrand The marketing is aimed entirely at a young, online audience who are perceived to have short attention spans.
Are they still the demographic most likely to go to the cinema?
Perhaps that could be changed by advertising films in the real world.
And make going to the cinema more of an occasion instead of making customers feel like a widget going down a production line.
@@Old_Scot advertise in the real world? they still do traditional marketing, in addition to the online stuff... it's ridiculous how much they spend on marketing, given how ineffective most of it is.
18-34 is often the top age demo for a lot of movies... but it depends on the movie.
Cinema needs to be a regular thing, not an occasional thing. but they've made it "occasional" with the short windows, streaming, poor quality, high prices, etc.
but, again, my point is that the only way I was exposed to too much Furiosa was because of its trailer playing every time I went to the movies... I didn't see ads anywhere else, because I don't watch TV...
so anyone who hadn't heard of Furiosa likely wasn't in the movie loop to begin with.
@@brandononbrand I know they spend as much on marketing as they do on the film itself, but where? As you say, you see it in the cinema. Mostly I see it on youtube.
But surely they want to get people outwith the "movie loop" to enjoy the cinema experience - and incidentally increase their profits. And that requires creativity, not just following what they've done for a decade?
Time and money. That's why I see less movies in theaters.
What I don't get is that Dune 2 was a massive success, yet another desert sci-fi sequel released by Warner Bros with Anya Taylor-Joy in it (Furiosa) has tanked. Perhaps they were released too close together? I enjoyed both so I'm not really getting what went wrong here...
the quality of movies these days really suck, and they still get paid for the garbage you see in cinemas today, they should feel lucky
I literally have a Gift card for one of the local Movie theaters here in Texas, I haven’t used it though yet. Why ? Cause I’m waiting for an actual good movie to come out.
Use it for The Fall Guy. Still the most fun I've had at the theater this year.
I love movies. My Movie Theater is MILES away. They built a multiplex within walking distance from me in 2015. I was going there twice a week. Lockdown happened , rents went up and they shut it down. No more twice a week Movies for me. The last movie I watched in the Theater was Asteroid City. And that was showing in so few screens I had to travel 40 minutes to see it. Recent experience in a theater. Afternoon showing of John Wick 4 . Drunk teenagers shouted and talked , they got up multiple times ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE MOVIE.. About 6 people were on their phones too. It was a nightmare. Thankfully didn’t have to wait that long for the Blu-Ray. Finally watched the movie and I could hear the dialogue.
This has a lot to do with attention spans. People don't care about pieces of entertainment longer than ~5 mins anymore, full stop.
Yep. It’s incredibly sad and a huge factor for theater etiquette going down. People whipping their phones out constantly as if they are in their living room. Hurts to see almost half or more of all my showings… 😢
I don’t think we need movies to be the main/primary focus of entertainment. IMO it’s ok that video games and other things have their own large place. Movies as a whole aren’t going anywhere so we’re not talking about the survival of it as an art form. It’s just maybe the water cooler talk is about a new game or show and that’s ok.
I do agree things have become background content, but that’s a cell phone attention span issue not movies. People will be on their phone listening to an album, watching a show, or anything else. Cell phones have changed society and movies just happen to be yet another thing people have phones out during. If cell phones with internet existed 80 years ago. You’d have seen kids have Star Wars on in the background. Cell phones have molded generations for better and worse.
Also movies are inherently their own art form, but other forms of entertainment offer their own connection just as relevant as movies. A movies isn’t superior in the way it can connect with us it’s just another way. A book or a song can have its own connection just as meaningful. It’s just done in its own way and matters just as much.
Good video
When i see a movie trailer the first thing i think is, "Is it coming to the theater or is it made for a streaming service?" And then it gets confusing and hard to remember which new releases are streaming and which are playing at a theater. And in a way, that cheapens movies as a whole. Back when EVERY movie came to the theater it all just seemed more, I dunno, "special."
And a movie like The Fall Guy streaming 17 days after its theater release doesn't help the situation.
In the last year i lost my interast in video games
I can’t go to theaters anymore because of medical reasons. If they either made more 90 minute movies or put Intermissions back in I’d go back. I buy movies on Bluray or 4K to support the artists though
It pains me to say it, but many of the points you make here are spot on. Interest in film has declined significantly. The temptation to pick up your phone and scroll is killing out attention spans. To really appreciate a film, and pick up the nuances of everything that has gone into crafting a film, takes attention. Fewer people are willing to give the proper attention. To be fair, there are many poor quality films not worthy of attention, so it is a double edged sword. But there are still good movies being made. I agree, if you see something you like, talk about it.
There was a whole ecosystem 30-50 years ago in the 1970s, '80s and 90s that doesn't exist now that bolstered a film culture and a film conversation. Local newspapers before they were bought out into national monopolies like Gannett had 2 to 5 critics on their local staffs to review films, music, arts, restaurants, and they don't have that anymore. There were part of a conversation driving film culture. I could go to a suburban box theater or a university campus and see brand new French movies by Resnais or German movies by Fassbinder and it was perfectly normal, and there was a buzz around it. Nothing remotely like that now. And this is just a small part of it all. Too much to get into in a YT comment.
We lost the newspaper critics and they were replaced by Rotten Tomatoes and aggregate review sites where the average person just looks at the number and makes their decision based on that.
@@Gobzer5526 The problem for me with reviews is I like to go in to films blind and reviews give too much, so mostly it's just easier to what is the like distribution. Not rotten tomatoes though, one number is not enough. RYM is a good source. I can check out reviews after.
The price is astronomical to go to the theater. I paid $50 for two tix to Furiosa. That is a huge barrier, especially in the key younger demo who traditionally fill the theaters in summer. Barbenheimer is a good example of a phenomenon that can still occur. There is interest and enthusiasm out there to tap into. But the entire economy of the movies has to find a way to meet people where they are as well as making a good product and experience.