Ticket Sales Are Down Because Of Piracy, Right?
Here’s a short anecdote from a guy that escorted his girlfriend to a screening of “Derailed”. He explains all of the security and harassment they had to go through just to see a movie at the theater.
“People who submitted to the search (everyone from
what I could tell) had their cellphones taken from
them and checked at a table set up in front of
the theatre and they were given a ticket to reclaim
it when they left.…
To add further insult to the debacle at the
gate, near the exits at stage right and left
were two uniformed security guards at each door,
all four with video cameras scanning the crowd
and making themselves very conspicuous.”
Add this in with the 40 minutes of commercials they show us before a movie now, and you have one of the worst experiences around. I say, who cares. Who needs a theater, I’ll be damned if I’ll be treated like this, and the second I am, is the second I stop going to theaters for good. Take the time to read this, and understand that this is not a single event. This happens all over and is coming to a theater near you. Even on a normal Tuesday night.
My girlfreind and I both experienced the same thing at the pre-release screening of The Wedding Crashers. Metal detectors, purse searching and they checked your cell phone for a camera and took it from you if so. However we did not see any security gaurds with video cameras.
My girlfriend and I had a different opinion on it, as I thought it was quite rediculous but she said, “Well if people didn’t sneek video cameras into theaters then put it online, then they wouldn’t have to do that.” That got me thinking about how the masses must feel about the added theater security. The comment that my better half made was simply a reminder that most are not so quick to get up in arms about this kinda strict security. So how much is too much and when does the average consumer feel that the hassle is less than justified? Are WE a little too touchy about this, and should we have a little more understanding for why the companies need the security?
As for me personally, the whole theater experience has close to died completely… and since my home theater technology constantly grows I am increasingly finding myself without the desire to go to the theater at all, save a few occasions with groups of friends or for high action theater requiring movies. Its simply much nicer to sit on my reclining leather couch and watch whatever xvid dvd backup over the network through XBMC. The simple lack of the 45 minute commercial segment before a movie is worth staying home if you ask me. Not to mention the concession stand is much cheaper in my kitchen.
Comment by angrycamel — November 6, 2005 @ 5:56 pm
Being as how I work in the biz, I have to say that we lose hundreds of millions of dollars to piracy every year. Yes, the producers are seen as greedy sometimes and the budgets seem outragous (personally, I don’t think tom cruise is worth a 20 mil paycheck plus backend, but hey) but you have to remember that a movie is staffed by some 100+ on set crew members who make at least $30 plus dollars an hour for 16+ hour days for 6 to 10 weeks. After all of our hard work, it shows up on a street corner in China being sold the day after it came out for $5. Or, it gets downloaded off of the internet and watched on a computer by my friends. I’m personally offended when people I know come up to me and say that they downloaded a movie I worked on off the internet. It’s theft, from me.
So yeah, for advanced screenings, I say take the cell phones (can’t you live without it for 2 hours), pat them down, and let the audience know that piracy will not be tolerated. If they do commit piracy, nail them to the wall.
I don’t believe that $5 for a coke that costs $1.25 at 7-11 is reasonable, nor is $6 for popcorn, but that is were the theatres make their money. For a blockbuster their take of the box office is usually less than 20%, so they need to get it back somewhere.
While I’m on the subject of theatres, here’s some suggestions. Put away the cell phones, the test pagers (they’re really f’n bright you know), leave the kids home, and shut up during the movie (this includes the previews). As for the commercials, I think they suck too, but like I said, the theatres are trying to stay in business (see above). Besides, most theatres now a days put the actual movie start time in the paper, so it is possible to buy your ticket online and show up a couple of minutes before the previews.
Lastly, for those of you who do like to watch movies at home, more power to you. But for me, a guy in the business who’s work and life revolve around the digital but prefers the analog, here’s a few numbers for you.
standard def 307,200 square pixels tv
high def 2,073,600 square pixels highest high def tv (ther are lower res standards)
2K digital projection 3,186,688 square pixels what some theatres are doing now
4K digital projection 11,186,176 square pixels what the studios want but won’t help pay for
film equals or exceeds 8K digital 44,761,088 square pixels what every theatre has been doing for 90+ years
Comment by rex — November 6, 2005 @ 7:26 pm
Very well put Rex and I see where your coming from. I guess we are the two ends of the spectrum. ;)
Comment by angrycamel — November 13, 2005 @ 11:42 am
And I’ll bet that guy thinks he pays too much for gas… Oil companies make around 10%. I’m with you Jon… screw the theatre
Comment by seadated — November 21, 2005 @ 12:43 pm
so you mean you are are not against piracy? you comments are all about the negatiive or disadventaged on attending trailers live…does that mean that you’d rather buy a pirated dvd or vcd covering up the trailer than to attend to alive one?
Comment by rose — September 20, 2006 @ 10:38 pm
so you mean you are not against piracy? your comments are about the negative or disadvantages on attending the screening of a movie, so you’d rather purchase a pirated dvd or vcd covering the screening of a movie than to attend a live one?
Comment by rose — September 20, 2006 @ 10:45 pm
No. I’d rather wait till its on dvd and watch it at home. Nothing put out these days is worth going through the uncomfortable experience.
Although I did see Snakes on a Plane on the Thursday release, thast something the movie studios should look at. It was a great fun experience.
Comment by Jon — September 20, 2006 @ 10:51 pm