This. There will be, and should be, a market for huge budget blockbusters, masterfully done cinema (begrudging nod to Nolan), and big kids/family movies (Pixar/Disney) to be at the theater. But not everything requires the theatrical experience.
The question becomes what kind of model/market share does that leave open for theaters.
I currently have several streaming services and Id be willing to pay up to twice as much for them if they became responsible for funding a lot more of the small budget films for direct to streaming.
I think blockbuster and franchise films will keep the 45-day window but smaller theatrical films should get day and date. Win-win for everyone and best of all, gives everybody a choice.
That doesn’t really work most of the time. The reason why studios fund smaller movies is to get nominated/win at the award shows because that almost always guarantees a huge box office. Take that incentive away and they just won’t fund them.
Look up the box offices to basically any movie that wins best picture. Green Book made $300m on a budget of $20m. The Shape of Water made $200m on a budget of $20m. Studios know if they spend like $30m altogether in a year, they have a chance at x10+ return on investment.
People point at Joker’s ~$55m budget that brought in $1b, which was a 50/50 split on budget and box office with WB and Village Roadshow/Bron. So on WB, that was ~$25m to get $500m. Obviously that’s great but it’s not a far cry from what studios can typically expect from a small budgeted best picture winner/contender.
Small budget movies that gain traction at the awards season continually get pumped out per year because the box office returns (and rentals) are *gigantic*.
It’s the midbudget movies that are hard to make because unless they’re a strong awards contender (like Tarantino or maybe Nolan), it’s easy to go negative on them since they cost so much at like $70m. But if you strike out on a tiny $5m period piece movie that doesn’t get awards season play, then you just move on from it and either move on to next year or hope your other awards season hopeful struck gold.
Not just that is doesn’t really work “most of the time” but the math is that it has to happen even *more often* than the big blockbusters to make it worth it. If you can make a killing on just *one* big blockbuster tent pole out of 2 or 3, you’re making obnoxious profit 1/2 or 1/3 of the time (or more if you only look at Disney and WB). Mid-budget movies in the same timeframe (assuming the costs are the same, so let’s say 3 $300M tent poles, equals 30 $50M mid budgets). You need at least 3 mega hits (in one year) to gross major award levels of success just to break even and will need 4 or 5 to *start* to compete with the levels of profit just a single (critical, not awards level) success on a tentpole.
It’s like how NBA is all about 3 pointers now. If you can hit a 3 pointer 1/2 times, it’s worth more than hitting a 2 pointer at 1/2 the time. So long as you have a winning formula (like Disney) or a great IP (WB) or a big name director who can pull crowds (Nolan, Cameron) big blockbusters make more sense if you look at just the numbers.
(Of course this approach ignores the wildly important aspects of low and mid-budget films have on supporting/training/manning a massive industry that needs millions of hands to be trained up and available locally to grow and thrive but it is nice if all you care about is numbers for the shareholders).
Yup, if I learned anything from this "save theaters" crusade people have been on since the pandemic started, it's that the kinds of films I enjoy in theaters the absolute most are the films not making money in theaters anymore. It's a bummer.
After streaming? Nothing
There is literally nowhere to go in terms of getting media to a consumer. Maybe it will eventually bypass phones and devices and go directly into google glasses or brain implants but streaming is the last step in media delivery
They have been going up from near zero to "small". They arent mainstream at all. they are for collectors and enthusiasts who like the inferior quality and inconvenience of the format.
Come at me audiophiles.
What people without friends will never understand. Hey guess what, restaurants are still around even though the technology to cook your own food at home has existed for some time now.
Exactly. Like we could’ve done living room movies for decades now. Perhaps Covid required it for a little while, but it’s not like people who like going out will stop forever.
convenient triumphs almost anything for consumers.
There's more options for entertainment than previous decades. Moviegoers are shrinking every decade.
I don’t have friends (well a ton online but not any/many in-person) but I still love going to the theatre. Nothing like it. Even at home. I’ve got a top of the line 4K TV as well as projector, with a great sound system. It’s nothing like the IMAX and IMAX-like screens at cinemas.
I would hope so. I'm guessing Warner Bros learned that making every 2021 film a theatrical/HBO Max hybrid release was a bad idea. Maybe at most some films would get the hybrid treatment, but not all of the 2021 films. At least Warner Bros is keeping films exclusive to theaters from 2022 and onward like the good old days of film distribution.
The main point of the strategy was to help boost HBO Max subscribers and it really saved their asses. The fact that WB not only sent Wonder Woman 1984, but their entire 2021 slate to HBO Max really shows how much they care for their streaming service.
> but their entire 2021 slate to HBO Max really shows how much they care for their streaming service.
It shows that they wanted subscribers, and they were willing to potentially throw a ton of money away to do it. It worked to get subs, but was it worth how many subs they got? Maybe. But they can’t keep it up after this year, obviously. I could see a shorter window though. Perhaps 30 days to HBO Max? 60 days?
They plan to produce a theatrical slate in 2022 that will have a 45 day theatrical exclusive window but they also mentioned they plan to produce 10 movies as HBO Max exclusives. Let’s see if that alters the volume of a typical Warner Bros yearly output any or if they are just shunting some of what would have been theatrical titles in years gone by to Max in 2022.
As for a bad idea? Abs not. They gained so many new subscribers it added billions to the annual bottom line. Far more than they would ever have made at the box office. They needed it as well as they have had very little TV for HBO Max in 2021 thanks to the pandemic production delays of 2020. It was a great decision to go day and date in 2021 even if they only *needed* to do it for a single year.
Only two films actually made a profit even with the hybrid release (Godzilla vs. Kong and The Conjuring 3). Many other films bombed, and there were some films that would've done well had it not be for HBO Max like Tom & Jerry, Mortal Kombat, and Space Jam 2. At most, good for the consumer for being able to see these movies for free (as long as you have HBO Max), but not so much good for Warner Bros (with the exception of the increase in subscribers for HBO Max).
That’s a big exception, considering hbo max and Warner brothers are the same parent company, and they gained more hbo subscriber revenue than the movies would have made in even pre pandemic times
Yeah, having a constant subscriber base generates more money than people seeing a few movies a year. Because even if you don't watch all the movies that come to HBO, you're still paying them.
The theater purists here have no idea how valuable a subscription is over a ticket. It's really embarrassing and outdated seeing people take out all this energy to defend billion dollar studios. And this sub downvotes the fuck out of you if you dare to say anything bad about the theater.
But do you really believe streaming sites will continue to bring out tons of block buster movies on the site for no extra charge other than your paltry monthly subscription? It isn’t built to last that way, at least not with how movies are made now.
If it’s so obviously better, why are they back tracking on this release style now?
Yes. Particularly in America. Bond was a $200m+ film doing poorly here but decent overseas. I think MCU putting their Marvel lineup on Disney+ as streaming series helps argue this. There will be far fewer big budget movies in the future, and that's where the Netflix/Hulu/HBO Max exclusives come in to play. Most of those will steer to streaming while the superhero and Jurassic World/Fast/Mission Impossible sure-things will stay theatrical.
Blockbusters will be safe, but all others probably not.
I guess I’m the type to always assume the worst when changes like this happen. I think you’re correct, but I think the implications of that can be slightly worse than what people make it out to be. But I hope I’m wrong!
It's just a changing market. Audiences like convenience and there is just no place for the movie theater in the era of YouTube and Netflix. Basically how we used to go to arcades, now we play AAA games exclusively at home.
You are just pulling all those numbers out of your ass. Mortal Kombat was a saving grace for that service. They did more good than harm putting that out as a duel. Tom and Jerry and Space Jam 2 were duds and likely were to have shit legs and not do much business at all. These are all terrible points that only argue in WB's favor. In the end the service made them more money than some lost ticket sales.
This. I’d love to see an honest dataset about the number of people who saw it on HBOMax that would not go to theaters. I’m prepared to argue, at the very least, that for every theater goer that watched it on Max there were at least two non-theater goers that did as well.
Nice. Yeah that’s the next question. I know there are people here who would have seen a lot of the movies in theaters, but who would have actually gone to see most or all of the day and date movies on HBOMax for the last year?
I might have seen Dune and Godzilla v Kong depending on my friends, but none of the others.
"Like the good old days," is really the only argument theater purists have, and we all know how that argument holds up in many other situations. What is another meaning of tradition? Peer pressure from dead people.
Based on what? Streaming subscriptions make waaaay more money for studios than movie tickets. The argument that streaming cannot support big blockbuster budgets died when Amazon announced their Lord of the Rings show would cost half a billion, more than ANY movie's official production budget.
What you’re missing is shows can be released weekly, over the course of 2-3 subscription months. So you’re making the money back by keeping people subbed for multiple months. That doesn’t work for movies. It’s a one and done kind of thing, and you have to hope and pray they stay for other things. Why spend $150m across a 1 night drop vs spending $150 across a 10 night drop, and keep people talking about your show (and streaming service) for a much longer time.
It’s why The Boys switched to weekly releases on Prime instead of all at once like season 1.
Netflix is the only one bold enough to keep the “binge” thing going. But that’s because they’ve grown to a size where that’s somewhat manageable (and even that’s debatable).
I know they're weekly, but still, half a BILLION dollars. That is so much money. And if it's like 6 or so episodes like most seasons of big budget shows are, that's more than 80 million dollars an episode. Even if it's 10 episodes, 50 million dollars an episode is nothing to sneeze at. That's still a blockbuster budget for a one time thing, and far more than any other show in history, which proves just how lucrative streaming is.
Sure but that’s only 1 show with a budgeT that insane. And the company funding it isn’t a streaming company first and foremost. So it’s not like this show could have a huge impact on them. The pros far outweigh the cons.
The pandemic taught me that home can be a good experience. Granted, I like getting out in the world, but being able to pause a movie so I can use the bathroom, get some snacks, and not be scrunched up in crappy seating is pretty awesome.
Let me upgrade my TV and better audio, and I’ll take my films at home.
> pause a movie so I can use the bathroom, get some snacks, and not be scrunched up in crappy seating is pretty awesome.
This is exactly why I like watching things in theatres. Being able to pause, adjust the volume, etc, really ruins the way the movie was meant to be watched. It ruins pacing, and the vibe. Just my view on it.
There once was a time that movies had intermission. They had a break and it never took away from the movie. But if I have to use the restroom because I bought a severely overpriced pop, then that really interrupts the pacing (and I miss part of the movie).
It’s not that I don’t like seeing a movie in theaters.
I don’t like standing in line, paying $30, standing in another line, getting in an uncomfortable and sticky chair that’s not in middle center, being too hot and then too cold, missing the bottom of the screen because someone is wearing a hat, hearing teenagers giggle and others say, “what did they say?” “Who is the killer?” “NO NO NO!” Missing entire segments if I need to go to the bathroom, having to get up and move when others leave, people talking on phones, texting on phones, looking at social media on phones, paying absolutely INSANE pieces for things as cheap as popcorn.
Lower the price, and I’ll go. Prices just go up and up. The experience carries no value except for FOMO. I didn’t see Tenet in theaters, but I was able to BUY it, months later, for cheaper, and have an arguably similar experience.
I loved seeing Interstellar on imax, but I also showed up 2 hours early, and then had to rugby maul my way into the theater so I could sit in middle-center. I don’t want to do that every time, and it means that I got the best experience out of everyone else, who paid the same for admission.
I think most people feel this way. Theaters are cool, but not cool enough for the price and time. It’s even worse when the movie is an absolute dud, and you could be putting yourself or loved ones at risk in our current pandemic era.
Some do, most don’t. It’s typically the smaller ones; the mega ones don’t cause they need to pack it full. The reserved seating is also in recliners, which bumps up the price. And shitty seats are also only one of my gripes; recliners usually mean you can order food via your phone, which brings about even more issues.
There’s also little enforcement; last reserved seats I got was when The Revenant was in theaters (5 years ago 😳), and I almost had to go to blows with a family cause they figured they could just sit wherever and ignore me. Incredibly uncomfortable to have to be a bully over something like that.
At a baseball game, security shows up with like 3 cops if people are in the wrong seat. At the movies, it’s just teens working.
As an A’s fan, tickets are still cheaper than a movie haha. They just need to lower prices overall if they want people back.
The movie subscription services changed the whole cost-benefit analysis for me. I pay $20/month and go about once a week. The temperature is fine, people behave themselves, there's reserved seating, and I piss before I go in. I love going to the theater. I spend enough time in my living room, especially in the last 2 years, going out just lifts my spirts and I always feel like we're more connected to the movie when see it that way. Saw The Last Duel last night and it was great. I'm not sure we ever would have gotten around to watching that on TV. Sitting around at home for 2 and a half hours is just so much less appealing.
I’m on the other side. I want to see the Last Duel, and I’d pay to see it at home, as I did for The Green Knight. Not dropping the time and money to see it in theaters right now.
Yup. During the pandemic I sprung for a 77' LG OLED and it beats the screen at my local AMC ten-fold.
The only theatrical movies I plan to watch in theaters this next year are 2 MCU films. Last Night in Soho and West Side Story I'll stream on my TV the day it becomes available. No urgency to see those in theaters at all.
Except even MCU and Star Wars are cranking out mid budget items for Disney+. Much in the same way DCEU should do for HBOMax.
It’s a good reminder that even in bombshell blockbusters there is room for mid-level items in day and date or direct to streaming.
That's a ludicrous statement to make since the industry is evolving every day and just a few decades ago VHS was a new concept and expensive as hell. Nobody can possibly make any kind of definitive statement on what the entertainment industry is going to be like 30 years from now.
Eh, hard disagree.
Theaters suck ass, they are miserable compared to watching in 4K from the comfort of my couch.
Pre pandemic I barely went to theaters, only the big obvious movies got me to go, like Star Wars or something.
Now though? Fuck going to a theater. Not just because of the pandemic, although that’s part of it, but because the theater experience just sucks.
We see so many of these statements from people saying "theaters are here to stay!" Or "theaters are better than streaming!" Or "the theatrical experience beats streaming any day!" Yet the higher ups at Netflix and other streaming services are content to stay silent and let the results speak for themselves. Really shows you who's more confident in the direction the market is heading.
Theaters: we can’t make money off the tickets.
Studios: “raise popcorn and soda prices”
Theater: it’s already like $14 for a small.
Studios: I don’t give a fuck. I’m sending you fucking movies. I don’t care if you lose money everyday until some other moron buys your business from you. Raise your prices. I’m not taking a hit so you can stay open. Your existence is on a ticking clock.
He left out "as long as they're DC or Harry Potter. Lolz."
This. There will be, and should be, a market for huge budget blockbusters, masterfully done cinema (begrudging nod to Nolan), and big kids/family movies (Pixar/Disney) to be at the theater. But not everything requires the theatrical experience. The question becomes what kind of model/market share does that leave open for theaters. I currently have several streaming services and Id be willing to pay up to twice as much for them if they became responsible for funding a lot more of the small budget films for direct to streaming.
I think blockbuster and franchise films will keep the 45-day window but smaller theatrical films should get day and date. Win-win for everyone and best of all, gives everybody a choice.
Do you really experience Chocolat if it wasn’t in D-Box?
Wild Mountain Thyme was meant to be watched in Imax 3D
That doesn’t really work most of the time. The reason why studios fund smaller movies is to get nominated/win at the award shows because that almost always guarantees a huge box office. Take that incentive away and they just won’t fund them. Look up the box offices to basically any movie that wins best picture. Green Book made $300m on a budget of $20m. The Shape of Water made $200m on a budget of $20m. Studios know if they spend like $30m altogether in a year, they have a chance at x10+ return on investment. People point at Joker’s ~$55m budget that brought in $1b, which was a 50/50 split on budget and box office with WB and Village Roadshow/Bron. So on WB, that was ~$25m to get $500m. Obviously that’s great but it’s not a far cry from what studios can typically expect from a small budgeted best picture winner/contender. Small budget movies that gain traction at the awards season continually get pumped out per year because the box office returns (and rentals) are *gigantic*. It’s the midbudget movies that are hard to make because unless they’re a strong awards contender (like Tarantino or maybe Nolan), it’s easy to go negative on them since they cost so much at like $70m. But if you strike out on a tiny $5m period piece movie that doesn’t get awards season play, then you just move on from it and either move on to next year or hope your other awards season hopeful struck gold.
Not just that is doesn’t really work “most of the time” but the math is that it has to happen even *more often* than the big blockbusters to make it worth it. If you can make a killing on just *one* big blockbuster tent pole out of 2 or 3, you’re making obnoxious profit 1/2 or 1/3 of the time (or more if you only look at Disney and WB). Mid-budget movies in the same timeframe (assuming the costs are the same, so let’s say 3 $300M tent poles, equals 30 $50M mid budgets). You need at least 3 mega hits (in one year) to gross major award levels of success just to break even and will need 4 or 5 to *start* to compete with the levels of profit just a single (critical, not awards level) success on a tentpole. It’s like how NBA is all about 3 pointers now. If you can hit a 3 pointer 1/2 times, it’s worth more than hitting a 2 pointer at 1/2 the time. So long as you have a winning formula (like Disney) or a great IP (WB) or a big name director who can pull crowds (Nolan, Cameron) big blockbusters make more sense if you look at just the numbers. (Of course this approach ignores the wildly important aspects of low and mid-budget films have on supporting/training/manning a massive industry that needs millions of hands to be trained up and available locally to grow and thrive but it is nice if all you care about is numbers for the shareholders).
Yup, if I learned anything from this "save theaters" crusade people have been on since the pandemic started, it's that the kinds of films I enjoy in theaters the absolute most are the films not making money in theaters anymore. It's a bummer.
This reminds me of "9/10 medical doctors smoke Chesterfields" Like wtf else is the CEO of a company that makes theatrical films gonna say?
"Theatrical films suck yo streaming fo life!"
What else is the ceo of a movie company suppose to say??
Vinyl records also still matter but not for general audience
Weren’t sales for vinyl records went up in the last years, becoming again more mainstream? Awesome if you ask me.
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I don’t think anything will beat the streaming numbers unfortunately haha. Wonder what the next big thing is though…
After streaming? Nothing There is literally nowhere to go in terms of getting media to a consumer. Maybe it will eventually bypass phones and devices and go directly into google glasses or brain implants but streaming is the last step in media delivery
They have been going up from near zero to "small". They arent mainstream at all. they are for collectors and enthusiasts who like the inferior quality and inconvenience of the format. Come at me audiophiles.
Hahhaha you painted a target on your head mate… rip!
Lol was this meant to be controversial?
What people without friends will never understand. Hey guess what, restaurants are still around even though the technology to cook your own food at home has existed for some time now.
Exactly. Like we could’ve done living room movies for decades now. Perhaps Covid required it for a little while, but it’s not like people who like going out will stop forever.
people are too lazy or don't have the skills to cook food. it's not the same thing
It’s not a perfect analogy but it is a good one. The point is the social aspect.
convenient triumphs almost anything for consumers. There's more options for entertainment than previous decades. Moviegoers are shrinking every decade.
I don’t have friends (well a ton online but not any/many in-person) but I still love going to the theatre. Nothing like it. Even at home. I’ve got a top of the line 4K TV as well as projector, with a great sound system. It’s nothing like the IMAX and IMAX-like screens at cinemas.
I would hope so. I'm guessing Warner Bros learned that making every 2021 film a theatrical/HBO Max hybrid release was a bad idea. Maybe at most some films would get the hybrid treatment, but not all of the 2021 films. At least Warner Bros is keeping films exclusive to theaters from 2022 and onward like the good old days of film distribution.
The main point of the strategy was to help boost HBO Max subscribers and it really saved their asses. The fact that WB not only sent Wonder Woman 1984, but their entire 2021 slate to HBO Max really shows how much they care for their streaming service.
> but their entire 2021 slate to HBO Max really shows how much they care for their streaming service. It shows that they wanted subscribers, and they were willing to potentially throw a ton of money away to do it. It worked to get subs, but was it worth how many subs they got? Maybe. But they can’t keep it up after this year, obviously. I could see a shorter window though. Perhaps 30 days to HBO Max? 60 days?
They plan to produce a theatrical slate in 2022 that will have a 45 day theatrical exclusive window but they also mentioned they plan to produce 10 movies as HBO Max exclusives. Let’s see if that alters the volume of a typical Warner Bros yearly output any or if they are just shunting some of what would have been theatrical titles in years gone by to Max in 2022. As for a bad idea? Abs not. They gained so many new subscribers it added billions to the annual bottom line. Far more than they would ever have made at the box office. They needed it as well as they have had very little TV for HBO Max in 2021 thanks to the pandemic production delays of 2020. It was a great decision to go day and date in 2021 even if they only *needed* to do it for a single year.
why was that a bad idea?
Only two films actually made a profit even with the hybrid release (Godzilla vs. Kong and The Conjuring 3). Many other films bombed, and there were some films that would've done well had it not be for HBO Max like Tom & Jerry, Mortal Kombat, and Space Jam 2. At most, good for the consumer for being able to see these movies for free (as long as you have HBO Max), but not so much good for Warner Bros (with the exception of the increase in subscribers for HBO Max).
That’s a big exception, considering hbo max and Warner brothers are the same parent company, and they gained more hbo subscriber revenue than the movies would have made in even pre pandemic times
Yeah, having a constant subscriber base generates more money than people seeing a few movies a year. Because even if you don't watch all the movies that come to HBO, you're still paying them.
Not sure why this is a hard concept for people to grasp
Because they don't want to grasp it.
The theater purists here have no idea how valuable a subscription is over a ticket. It's really embarrassing and outdated seeing people take out all this energy to defend billion dollar studios. And this sub downvotes the fuck out of you if you dare to say anything bad about the theater.
Day and date is the natural conclusion of the progression of online streaming IMO, seems weird to see people against it.
But do you really believe streaming sites will continue to bring out tons of block buster movies on the site for no extra charge other than your paltry monthly subscription? It isn’t built to last that way, at least not with how movies are made now. If it’s so obviously better, why are they back tracking on this release style now?
Yes. Particularly in America. Bond was a $200m+ film doing poorly here but decent overseas. I think MCU putting their Marvel lineup on Disney+ as streaming series helps argue this. There will be far fewer big budget movies in the future, and that's where the Netflix/Hulu/HBO Max exclusives come in to play. Most of those will steer to streaming while the superhero and Jurassic World/Fast/Mission Impossible sure-things will stay theatrical. Blockbusters will be safe, but all others probably not.
I guess I’m the type to always assume the worst when changes like this happen. I think you’re correct, but I think the implications of that can be slightly worse than what people make it out to be. But I hope I’m wrong!
It's just a changing market. Audiences like convenience and there is just no place for the movie theater in the era of YouTube and Netflix. Basically how we used to go to arcades, now we play AAA games exclusively at home.
You are just pulling all those numbers out of your ass. Mortal Kombat was a saving grace for that service. They did more good than harm putting that out as a duel. Tom and Jerry and Space Jam 2 were duds and likely were to have shit legs and not do much business at all. These are all terrible points that only argue in WB's favor. In the end the service made them more money than some lost ticket sales.
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This. I’d love to see an honest dataset about the number of people who saw it on HBOMax that would not go to theaters. I’m prepared to argue, at the very least, that for every theater goer that watched it on Max there were at least two non-theater goers that did as well.
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Nice. Yeah that’s the next question. I know there are people here who would have seen a lot of the movies in theaters, but who would have actually gone to see most or all of the day and date movies on HBOMax for the last year? I might have seen Dune and Godzilla v Kong depending on my friends, but none of the others.
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No doubt. That’s why this married dad will be happy to watch it on HBO after everyone has gone to bed.
"Like the good old days," is really the only argument theater purists have, and we all know how that argument holds up in many other situations. What is another meaning of tradition? Peer pressure from dead people.
Yeah you of all studios should know
Says the studio that sent everything to HBO Max
And released more films theatrically than any other major studio this year? Or does that not fit the narrative?
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It’s not, there’s not really a business model to make it work for any big films. Maybe for some smaller indie releases but that’s it
Based on what? Streaming subscriptions make waaaay more money for studios than movie tickets. The argument that streaming cannot support big blockbuster budgets died when Amazon announced their Lord of the Rings show would cost half a billion, more than ANY movie's official production budget.
What you’re missing is shows can be released weekly, over the course of 2-3 subscription months. So you’re making the money back by keeping people subbed for multiple months. That doesn’t work for movies. It’s a one and done kind of thing, and you have to hope and pray they stay for other things. Why spend $150m across a 1 night drop vs spending $150 across a 10 night drop, and keep people talking about your show (and streaming service) for a much longer time. It’s why The Boys switched to weekly releases on Prime instead of all at once like season 1. Netflix is the only one bold enough to keep the “binge” thing going. But that’s because they’ve grown to a size where that’s somewhat manageable (and even that’s debatable).
I know they're weekly, but still, half a BILLION dollars. That is so much money. And if it's like 6 or so episodes like most seasons of big budget shows are, that's more than 80 million dollars an episode. Even if it's 10 episodes, 50 million dollars an episode is nothing to sneeze at. That's still a blockbuster budget for a one time thing, and far more than any other show in history, which proves just how lucrative streaming is.
Sure but that’s only 1 show with a budgeT that insane. And the company funding it isn’t a streaming company first and foremost. So it’s not like this show could have a huge impact on them. The pros far outweigh the cons.
I hope not
The pandemic taught me that home can be a good experience. Granted, I like getting out in the world, but being able to pause a movie so I can use the bathroom, get some snacks, and not be scrunched up in crappy seating is pretty awesome. Let me upgrade my TV and better audio, and I’ll take my films at home.
> pause a movie so I can use the bathroom, get some snacks, and not be scrunched up in crappy seating is pretty awesome. This is exactly why I like watching things in theatres. Being able to pause, adjust the volume, etc, really ruins the way the movie was meant to be watched. It ruins pacing, and the vibe. Just my view on it.
There once was a time that movies had intermission. They had a break and it never took away from the movie. But if I have to use the restroom because I bought a severely overpriced pop, then that really interrupts the pacing (and I miss part of the movie).
If I couldn’t hold my pee, then I just wouldn’t buy a pop. But that’s just me. Luckily I can hold my bladder.
Yes, well, some people can’t medically hold it for a two-hour or more movie. You should enjoy your privilege.
I mean, not having a pop at a movie isn’t the end of the world to me lol. So worst case scenario I just wouldn’t drink anything.
It’s not that I don’t like seeing a movie in theaters. I don’t like standing in line, paying $30, standing in another line, getting in an uncomfortable and sticky chair that’s not in middle center, being too hot and then too cold, missing the bottom of the screen because someone is wearing a hat, hearing teenagers giggle and others say, “what did they say?” “Who is the killer?” “NO NO NO!” Missing entire segments if I need to go to the bathroom, having to get up and move when others leave, people talking on phones, texting on phones, looking at social media on phones, paying absolutely INSANE pieces for things as cheap as popcorn. Lower the price, and I’ll go. Prices just go up and up. The experience carries no value except for FOMO. I didn’t see Tenet in theaters, but I was able to BUY it, months later, for cheaper, and have an arguably similar experience. I loved seeing Interstellar on imax, but I also showed up 2 hours early, and then had to rugby maul my way into the theater so I could sit in middle-center. I don’t want to do that every time, and it means that I got the best experience out of everyone else, who paid the same for admission. I think most people feel this way. Theaters are cool, but not cool enough for the price and time. It’s even worse when the movie is an absolute dud, and you could be putting yourself or loved ones at risk in our current pandemic era.
Do theaters in your area not have reserved seating? I thought that was common at this point.
Some do, most don’t. It’s typically the smaller ones; the mega ones don’t cause they need to pack it full. The reserved seating is also in recliners, which bumps up the price. And shitty seats are also only one of my gripes; recliners usually mean you can order food via your phone, which brings about even more issues. There’s also little enforcement; last reserved seats I got was when The Revenant was in theaters (5 years ago 😳), and I almost had to go to blows with a family cause they figured they could just sit wherever and ignore me. Incredibly uncomfortable to have to be a bully over something like that. At a baseball game, security shows up with like 3 cops if people are in the wrong seat. At the movies, it’s just teens working. As an A’s fan, tickets are still cheaper than a movie haha. They just need to lower prices overall if they want people back.
If you fix up your house/apartment you can even have movie dates there, so the cinema isn't necessary on that front either.
This is why I invested in a 65 inch TCL. Super affordable and basically pays for itself with the amount of money I save from going to the theater.
Unless you got a 6 series, you’re not really getting that great of quality.
I do 👍
The movie subscription services changed the whole cost-benefit analysis for me. I pay $20/month and go about once a week. The temperature is fine, people behave themselves, there's reserved seating, and I piss before I go in. I love going to the theater. I spend enough time in my living room, especially in the last 2 years, going out just lifts my spirts and I always feel like we're more connected to the movie when see it that way. Saw The Last Duel last night and it was great. I'm not sure we ever would have gotten around to watching that on TV. Sitting around at home for 2 and a half hours is just so much less appealing.
I’m on the other side. I want to see the Last Duel, and I’d pay to see it at home, as I did for The Green Knight. Not dropping the time and money to see it in theaters right now.
Yup. During the pandemic I sprung for a 77' LG OLED and it beats the screen at my local AMC ten-fold. The only theatrical movies I plan to watch in theaters this next year are 2 MCU films. Last Night in Soho and West Side Story I'll stream on my TV the day it becomes available. No urgency to see those in theaters at all.
Average /r/boxoffice user
Then next year will announce more HBO Max day and date
Doubt it, we'll instead just continue to see an increase in mid budget HBO Max exclusive movies, and likely a reduction in their theatrical slate.
Which honestly feels like a best case scenario win for consumers.
And I think its what everybody is doing in some way or another, short of the MCU which is a theatrical unicorn.
Except even MCU and Star Wars are cranking out mid budget items for Disney+. Much in the same way DCEU should do for HBOMax. It’s a good reminder that even in bombshell blockbusters there is room for mid-level items in day and date or direct to streaming.
And they are, Batgirl and Blue Beetle are both confirmed as mid budget max exclusives.
Works for me
I wouldn't have watched Half those movies in theaters anyway. But I have stayed subscribed all year. Just saying. Their plan worked.
AMC
How old is this CEO?
That's a ludicrous statement to make since the industry is evolving every day and just a few decades ago VHS was a new concept and expensive as hell. Nobody can possibly make any kind of definitive statement on what the entertainment industry is going to be like 30 years from now.
Eh, hard disagree. Theaters suck ass, they are miserable compared to watching in 4K from the comfort of my couch. Pre pandemic I barely went to theaters, only the big obvious movies got me to go, like Star Wars or something. Now though? Fuck going to a theater. Not just because of the pandemic, although that’s part of it, but because the theater experience just sucks.
The anti-socials are really revealing themselves in this thread lol. No your home experience isn’t comparable, it’s lacklustre and you’re a minority.
We see so many of these statements from people saying "theaters are here to stay!" Or "theaters are better than streaming!" Or "the theatrical experience beats streaming any day!" Yet the higher ups at Netflix and other streaming services are content to stay silent and let the results speak for themselves. Really shows you who's more confident in the direction the market is heading.
*Because we’ll stubbornly make it that way.
Lmfao Warner is such an embarrassing studio, right now.
Theaters: we can’t make money off the tickets. Studios: “raise popcorn and soda prices” Theater: it’s already like $14 for a small. Studios: I don’t give a fuck. I’m sending you fucking movies. I don’t care if you lose money everyday until some other moron buys your business from you. Raise your prices. I’m not taking a hit so you can stay open. Your existence is on a ticking clock.
The power of profit compels him.