Are movie theatres heading for extinction?

@john65pennington : Can I assume you meant ” Extinction”?

I think youre using the wrong word, “distinction”, which means difference.
In other words, yes, i would much rather watch movies at home rather than at some pricey movie theater. One movie at home is $3.99 on TWC but at thee movies its $5 a person.

Movie theaters are doing just fine. People who love movies love going to the movies.

What people don’t realize is that movie theaters do not make money off the movie tickets. That money, or most of it, goes back to the film distribution company. On first run movies, all of it does. What keeps the theater open is the concession stands. That pays the rent, staff, and keeps the lights on.

Yeah, i just realized that. thanks for reminding me. i haven’t had my first cup of coffee, yet.

there’s nothing like seeing a movie on a BIG screen with the booming sounds and effects. And it gets people out of the house once in a while. I hope they don’t stop even though we see movies maybe 2 times a year.

I was a manager/projectionist for three years. And BarnacleBill is 100% correct. It works like this. The first few weeks the studio gets 95% of the ticket sales. After about a month it is split 50/50.

I dunno. With me it’s all about economics. When I had a family it was a big deal to go to the movies. Four kids, two adults, popcorn, soda, etc. It was nearly a hundred dollar trip.

When I didn’t have a family everyone told me I should get, do something, enjoy myself. So I went to the movies. To make it a complete experience I did get the “deal” of popcorn and a soda. Afterwards, I realized that for what I paid to see the movie in the theater I could have bought the DVD, a box of Orville Reddenbocher, a 3 liter bottle of soda. So, going by myself doesn’t make any sense either.

While I appreciate that theaters make money from the concession stand it’s really just too much for me. There hasn’t been a movie out in years that made me really want to see it as soon as it comes out, anyway.

But, so long as there are folks who feel differently from me then they should be all right. As long as it doesn’t get to the point where it’s released to other media as soon as it comes out in the theater.

No. They will live on!

Going to the movie theatre is an experience for me. I go to the movies several times a year and will be going again in a few weeks to see the new Harry Potter movie. The experience of seeing the movie on the big screen, getting the snacks and popcorn there, and just enjoying the time with whoever I’m with is totally different than sitting at home and watching a movie. I wouldn’t give it up and I hope I never have to.

There may not be as many movies theaters, but I doubt they will disappear completely. Going to the movies is a treat for us. We only go once or twice a year, but it is a big deal to our 6 year old daughter. It’s always a fun family excursion for us. And there’s nothing like taking your young child to see their very first movie. I’ll never forget the day we took her to see Shrek The Third. We had so much fun!

I would say no, the internet is not killing movie theaters. In my hometown a new theater just opened up this summer, and in light of the poor economy, I do not think they would have built one if they thought it would do poorly. I much prefer watching movies at the theater even though it is more expensive because it’s simply more fun. You get the big screen and movie theater popcorn and the jokes just seem a whole lot funnier when you’re sitting in the theater and 30 other people are laughing too. Plus when you go out to a movie you’re doing just that, going out which automatically makes it more fun than sitting at home.

Now, as for television, that’s another story…

I imagine movie theatres will continue to do okay. They make most of their profit on snacks and extras anyway.

The other thing that’‘s interesting is why popular shows get taken off of televsion. People start watching a particular show, decide they really like it, and wait until it comes out on DVD to watch a whole season without commercials. The viewership number for the show drop, the numbers make it less appealing to advertisers, and the show gets cancelled.