I bet we will still have to deal with garbage [Insert Movie Genre Here] Movie.

no blame on file-sharers?

There has not been that many great movies in, I'd say the past 10 years. Just ok - good ones, and plenty of junk.

I doubt people will see that big of a difference.

Oh my goodness, you mean charging people $20 each to go to a crowded stinky place with no or less-than-no social interaction and do something they could much more comfortably at home isn't profitable?

My faith in capitalism is shaken, truly.

Yes... so we're going to see a remake of Evil Dead? They should get Brad Pitt to play the role of Ashley Williams.

@EricLecarde: I resemble that remark

This is the silliest comment ever. The movie going experience has not noticeably changed much in the past 60 years. The model obviously works. People don't go to the movies for social interaction. And there's not a theater in the country that charges $20 unless it's some special premium theater. Even the most expensive theater in NYC is $13.@Mary Marsala with Fries:

@johnfrombrooklyn: He didn't say the experience has changed. The difference is that there are now better alternatives, and we can stop romanticizing the fundamentally awful experience of the theatre.

Wait! How is this different to the last few of years of film releases?

@EricLecarde: Have you ever encountered Bruce Campbell fans? They would eat you alive for suggesting someone other than Bruce Campbell should play Ash. And they'd be right.

I blame CGI. It appears to have completely displaced writing and acting. Look at Golden Compass and Prince Caspian - both books had the potential to make really intriguing films, but ended up as glitz-fests. Such a shame.

I think I'll retreat to my bookshelf.

@Mary Marsala with Fries:
My friends think I'm crazy that I won't spend $10+ to sit in a place where snacks are $7, my feet stick to the floor, and people are talking on the cell phones.

I can wait for the home version.

I'm swearing off seeing movies in the theater. I haven't seen a damn thing that was any good lately. The ticket price is up to $11 now and AMC eliminated the student discount except for thursdays. $11? seriously?

@johnfrombrooklyn: Add in refreshment(s). It's just like tickets to a baseball game are only $40.00 but once you add in the other costs, the "price" of going to a game increases.

@Skipweasel: what what? how does that follow? Neither of those films did well. how does bad writing follow from using CGI?

Hmm. I have to disagree about movie quality. We've seen a lot of amazing acting, directing, scripts, cinemetography, production in the last five years or so. Blockbusters tend to only have the latter, but if you look at some of the films that brought in decent but not spectacular box-office, you can find some real gems*. And the best thing is that they're in the $5 bin at your favorite -mart store.

*I'm not going to name any movies in particular. I don't want to start a "this movie [sucks/rules] because [insert reason here]" wars.

Maybe if they put more commercials before the film they could become profitable. Wait, what do you mean people won't pay $13 to sit through commercials?

@Skipweasel: Or movies where they have a "virtual" stage. If I want to see a fake movie, I'll watch an animated movie. At least then the CGI doesn't look out of place.

Seriously, the actor's comments make little sense: if Hollywood knew exactly what movies would make $200M and what movies would make only $20M, don't you think that half the crap we see being released would never see the light of day? Besides, how many low-budget movies have gone on to make obscene profits regardless?

I'd say we're going to probably see LESS $200M movies because the capital that previously funded them has all but dried up.

@HarcourtArmstrong: Hear! Hear!

I would gladly pay $12 (CDN) for a movie if they stopped showing damned commercials before hand. Grrrrr!

Or, better yet, sit through "infomercials" that treat me like a thief and assume I smuggled a camcorder into the theatre!

(Although I also agree with the comment regarding CGI. At what point should it just be an animated release...honestly!)

Probably not good timing for this then...

[www.ft.com]

There is a huge divide between hollywood blockbusters and actual good films. There are some very good films being made (both here and abroad) but unfortunately they are being shoveled unceremoniously direct to DVD, given a tiny theatrical release, or as in the case of foreign films, get re-made into a watered down version lacking what made the original great. Unless you are a film nerd checking 10 blogs daily you would have no idea.

Some movies are terrible, most are middling, and a few are excellent. Just like it's always been.

@johnfrombrooklyn: As I'm sure others have said, add in refreshments. If you buy a drink for yourself, its almost a given that your total will be over $15 - $20.

If I take my gf out, its almost always $45 to see a movie (in the evening, two cokes, & one popcorn). And good lord, if I take my little sisters to a movie, it's anywhere from $40 - $80.

Take that versus waiting a few months, grabbing a Blu-Ray, laying on the couch with said gf, a couple of cokes, and a popcorn, for just a little more than the cost of the Blu-Ray, and we're much more comfortable, and I enjoy the solitude with that company MUCH more...

Yea and SAG decided to strike over the weekend. Jeeze I hate unions.

I guess Movie theatres will start to have to re-showing the classics like Red Dawn, Cannonball Run and NL's Vacation movies.

I love movies, but I'm not really into theaters. I like the atmosphere of going to a theater, but the excitement dies quickly when it's filled with dumbass highschool kids who can't stop texting or making dumbass comments at every scene. I also love the people taking their small children/babies to theaters after 7:00 at night and letting them cry and scream.

Now, I just go to blockbuster and buy movies when they have those 3/$20 deals. I just saw Tropic Thunder - hilarious!

@illtron: My wife would kill me as well.

Oh alright, we'll get George Clooney to do it. Gosh, you guys are so sensitive.

@janetcarol: Tropic Thunder was pretty good.

@Mary Marsala with Fries:

Agreed. The last time I took the entire family (of 4) to the theater, it cost just shy of $70. $10 each for the tickets, and just over $25 for 2 popcorns and 4 drinks. For that price we could have bought 3 brand new movies on DVD and watched 'em on our 65" at home.

That was 2-3 years ago, and we've pretty much sworn off movies ever since.

@illtron: I second this. We would, in fact, eat you alive for it. And I don't mean that figuratively.

My wife and I get to the movies about 5 times a year, but we stopped going to mainstream theaters years ago. The ads prior to the film became more numerous and louder, the etiquette of the other patrons became poorer, and the prices went up.

I'm not going to pretend I'm brainy enough to get or even not be bored with all of the art house stuff i see, but it's a peaceful, grown-up, affordable date. And more often than not, the movie was well worth seeing.

If I want to see mainstream movies, and i often do, I'm no snob, I just get them from the library or netflix.

@Harrison-H: Pretty much. Those things cost almost nothing to make. Personally, I find them derivative and puerile, to paraphrase Wednesday Addams, but they found their target demographic and are milking it for all it's worth.

Seems like all they do is take an unfunny Mad TV sketch and stretch it out to an hour and a half. That's some sparkling screenwriting.

@techstar25: You have to either live in New York or Los Angeles too. Those seem to be the places where limited release films end up. If you don't, you're out of luck.

@Skipweasel: Perhaps a better and more recent example would be the just released "The day the earth stood still." Apparently Great effects byt horrible writting and acting.

Taking in to account the fact the original "The day the earth stood still" movie was so good, clearly the studio was more interested in having cgi effects than actual acting and script writing.

As an extra in the soon-to-be-considered-classic Jaws III 3D, I take offense to Ben's implication that every movie with a title that contains a sequence number and "3D" has to be awful.

Ok not really but they paid me $20/day.

@EricLecarde: Anyone other than Bruce Campbell playing Ash = box office fail. Actually, an Evil Dead remake overall would be a box office fail.

A new Evil Dead movie featuring an older Ash would still work, or they could make an animated flick and still have Campbell helm the role with his vocal talents.

But Pitt, Clooney, or anyone else assuming the role of Ash? Pure madness.

@downwithmonstercable: I for one welcome our new B Movie overlords.

Movie makers seem to be struggling for identity.

Instead of new creative IP, I see a cash-grab as people make knock-offs of famous books or remakes/sequals of previous movie hits.

@Southern: I wouldn't whine about money you willingly forked over for all that overpriced crap. You should have brought in your own concealed snacks, or just not eaten anything for those two hours.

Me, I wait until the good movies show up at my discount theater. It's about 2 bucks a movie there.

@downwithmonstercable: I haven't been out to see a movie in several years. I think the last time I saw a movie that I wanted to see in theaters was the 2nd Matrix movie, and even then it wasn't worth it.

I prefer to rent movies and watch them on my time, eating food and drinking beverages that wouldn't normally be allowed in the theater. I also don't like dealing with someone else's kids, high ticket prices, and poor film selection. Sure, I'd go to the theater if there were better films out - but the industry has to churn out better product AND make it affordable to distribute to theaters even in my neck of the woods.

@HarcourtArmstrong: Actually, I think they could be way more profitable if they did away with the commercials and the ridiculous prices and created the movie experience we all remember and loved. I'd like to see a theater try this and see what happens.

With HDTV and digital media becoming more and more mainstream, the allure of the theater is decreasing as the price is increasing. I think we'll start to see the same thing happening in sports.

@Froggmann: Don't worry, they are smoking crack if they think ANYONE will stand in solidarity with them. Supporting an actor on strike would be like supporting an oil sheik complaining because the price of yachts is fixed.

@Ninja007: What is this 'file sharing' you are speaking of? Never mind, I never asked that question...

I was going to write a long comment about this being the worst time for me to hear this since I just finished my finals for my first semester of my second film degree...

But I'm too tired to care to go into all the reasons why this is not really anything new, what the factors in it were, etc.

@DownfieldComa:
Tell girlfriend to bring one of her largest handbags, preferably a soft stretchy one. Bring in two bottles or cans of soda/water/whatever (obviously not paper cups!) and a couple bags of candy or trail mix or other snack food that you've purchased at the supermarket or chain drugstore. Voila -- cheap movie refreshments. We do this every time. I refuse to pay those inflated cinema food prices.

@batsy: The last movie I saw in the theater was King Kong, and before that the first Pirates of the Caribbean. That's 2 movies since 2003 I think. I used to go all the time but it's just not worth the $$ now.

@tmlfan81: I'm right there with you. I think I like the theater because it brings back memories when I was a kid going to see movies. But now, with all these crying babies and moron highschoolers, I'd much rather watch something at home with some friends and some good food and beer.

@Meiran: There will always be film. Just maybe not movie theaters as we know them.