I've seen and met some jackasses in my day...
 

...but read a some of the comments regarding the multi-format release of the movie "Bubble" next week...from Newsweek:

If you could watch "King Kong" at home on opening night, would you go see it in a movie theater anyway? If the movie were "Capote," would you make the same decision? More important, should you even have the choice? That last question is getting Hollywood riled up these days, and all because of a quiet little movie called "Bubble." Directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh, it's a $1.7 million crime drama, starring nonactors—hardly a crowd pleaser like his "Ocean's Twelve." So why all the fuss? Because when "Bubble" opens on Jan. 27, you'll be able to see it in a theater and on high-definition cable and on DVD.

While I can understand concern about losing money, the one guy quoted sounds like a grade-A piece of shit. Wow...

Yeah, he sounds like a record label executive.
I think most of the movie goers are dating or got a sitter to have a sane evening out celebrating something. Since MADD has killed the club scene there aren't many other choices to spend an evening. Therefore the theaters will sell just as many tubs of $10 popcorn. :corn:

It's a free market system. Theatres have to justify the $8-15 charge in addition to the outrageous food charges. In many cases, you are paying for the large screen and better sound system, which most people cannot afford.

I do own DVD's of movies I have seen in the theatre, cable, or free TV.

I don't think anyone misses the time when the movie business was a 'vertical monopoly', with the entire production to theatre process controlled by studios.

Personally, I think spending $60 to take my son and wife to a theatre and have a soda and popcorn each has reached the limit. Unless it's a movie that really requires the large screen and sound, it's probably not worth it.

I totally agree with you. Not even worth it. My last experiences with the movie theatres have really shown me how much they have "lost their magic."

That being said, I just added Bubble to my list of movies to rent.

The last time my family and I went to the movies was to see 'The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe'. That outting cost us $45 in tickets plus another $25 in snacks. On top of that I got a speeding ticket because we were running late. That was $150. I don't think we'll be going to the movies again for quite some time.

I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha last week and a woman across the aisle from me was eating something crunchy froma crinkly plastic bag. I can only assume she was eating with her mouth open, as my inital thought that she had brought a microphone in with her was pretty unlikely.

I wanted to go up to her at the end and mention that she had spoiled the whole film for me with her noise, but accepted that perhaps I was in the wrong. I know the sound of other people eating drives me crazy, and I know the cinema does everything it can to encourage you to watch and eat at the same time. I'm going to have to accept that I'm better off watching films on DVD.

You should have thrown some maltezers at her...or told her to shut her mouth when she's chewing. Yucko! I can't stand hearing other people eat either and it drives my b/f nuts cause I tell him to chew quietly.

We just wait for the movte to come to the Rivoli and see it there in an old time movie house. We can get pizza and a pitchrr of soda, during the show. also going during the week we avoid the crowds. The screen is larger than the mulitiplexes and the keeps an important landmark open, Win/Win

Some things need to be seen on a big screen to be fully appreciated. King Kong, LOTR, gigantic-exploding-things-in-space-films, for example. Most of the other dramas, comedies and adventure films translate pretty well to home TV on DVD, as far as I am concerned.

Our cinemas are usually in a shoping complex right next to a supermarket so i duck in before everymovie and get a king size malteasers for like just $3 and a 600ml coke for $2. i just sneak em in in my handbag.

I dont mind paying up to $15.00 to see a movie, anything over and i get cranky. I went to a theatre recently in Mudgee NSW called "The Regent" it was fantastic - a HUGE screen (largest in NSW) and only $10 to get in. I saw NARNIA there and the seats were the old fashioned carved wooden ones, the screen was up on the stage behind huge velvet curtains and cornace, the tickets were sold at a "Booth" and the roof was about 8 stories high with dress circle and all... wish they were all like that.

10 little niggers at the regent
 

The Rengent even had a nursery for the children too young to enjoy the films yet, preserved since the early 1900's is this painting on the wall.. i was pleased that they were allowed to keep it there for history sake.

And the thread drifts right back to the title!

Though you'd have to be pretty old to have seen and met the painter in your day...

I don't buy the theory Mark Cuban is backing. But then, I'm single and I'm one of those people who don't mind buying a movie ticket. It's a chance to get out of the house and lose myself in a story and watching a DVD or a TV movie on my TV just isn't the same thing as seeing it up on the huge screen. Plus, I'm single, so I don't have to haul the entire family out to the theater with me.

And this Bubble thing won't be the magic bullet for this format, anyway. I'd have to wait and see them release a move with a lot of prerelease buzz this way before I buy that it's ever going to be a hit.

As you probably know, up here ours are at the mall. Love the pics you posted -- we had one nice old theater like that here (minus the murals, which would not pass muster in 21st-century America), but they turned it into a nightclub (which flamed out miserably). And what is/are Malteasers? Darn it, I'm American! I can't handle all this here furrin stuff! :lol:

Those of you who might be interested can read more about the Regent here, too. Very cool. :)

What is that supposed to mean?

We spoke to the manager (my SO is a theatre buff) and apparently it was touched up in the 70's

That mural is an interesting piece of history and I agree it should be preserved. However, I don't think a nursery is the proper venue to display it....... young minds and all that. :eyebrow: