The future of film is on the net, not in the cinema

This is pretty silly. Just how is sitting in a dark room where no one is allowed to talk social? Watching a film at home with friends is FAR more social than going to the theater, at least where I am from. I have never met a single person or made any new friends of collegues at the movie theater. I interact all the time with other people on a daily basis. Anti-social? Dark Ages? Do you live in Antarctica? The flagging ticket sales don't have anything to do with people being anti-social. I would state they are lagging because:

- High ticket prices combined with stricter budgets in the wake of recession cause people to think twice about spending upwards of fifty dollars to take the family to see a movie.

- The quality of the content coming out of Hollywood isn't what it used to be

- Yes, pirating does affect general sales of ticket prices, butpeople being anti-social has nothing to do with pirating, and it never has.

__________________

I thought what he was saying was it's fun to go out with friends to see a movie. That way, you can go out somewhere afterwards and talk about it.

Of course, there's always the option of bringing the internet into the theater by using cell phones or something to talk back and forth to each other during the flick, but cell phone usage is of course discouraged in theaters. Although, maybe in some theaters they would allow this? I know movie theaters can get pretty strange... I've sat at a large office table and ate pizza (+ jalapeno poppers) and drank beer while watching "Kicking and Screaming" at a theater here in Virginia.

FIFTY DOLLARS?! I never considered that... (cause I'm smart and wouldn't do that) Jeez, just wait for the DVD! $15.99 at Wal-Mart! Always low prices!

It would be a very dark dismal world without the luxury of the cinema. For generations the cinema has been part of society, starting out before televisons where whole communities would meet to find out about worldy events to the multi million dollar movie that we cant wait to see and all flock to watch. I honestly cannot see that cinemas will fail. I think movie takings are down in Great Britain due to the economy turning to rott, no one has any money at the moment and people cant afford cinema prices, however things will pick up and I cannot see the end of the cinema. It would be a very very sad day if we lost something that brings us together as a community

BM

Valid point.

Removing Cinemas will add to the creation of ultimate laziness. Cinemas are great and in a way is a part of our social life. Some movies strive off the theaters, movies like Troy, sure you can watch it on your computer or your t.v, but it loses half the excitment then from seeing it on the big screen. Personally I enjoy going to the movies sometimes rather then sitting at home and watching it there.

__________________
"No, we don't have any needles here... Just a big f*cking gun"

You know, sometimes, I oddly wish that there were only movie theaters. I sometimes wish DVDs, videos, all those ways to bring movies into your home, didn't exist so that movie experiences could be limited to just the huge screens in the buildings we go to. A movie theater would be more like an art museum and you would have to go there to see a certain film. There would be theaters that rerun old stuff every so often and that would be the only time you could watch it.

This is just an odd fantasy that I sometimes ponder about...

I don't think the fun factor was ever in question. I also prefer to watch many films in the theater, but I still don't see how the evaporation of cinema culture will make people lazy. There are thousands of other activities that people enjoy, and the lessening of one pasttime activity won't change our entire culture into couch/computer chair sitting lazy asses. Mountain climbing, field hockey, baseball, karate, soccer, camping, hiking...the list goes on for ages. People will still do active things regardless of whether cinemas exist or not.

Now, if the point you are trying to get across is that our overall obsession with information and electronic information exchange, people who are "jacked in", is leading to a culture of people that go out less and less, I totally see where you are coming from. It is a true concern, and I am as guilty as the next guy. From Playstation, to iPod, Second Life, MovieForums, iTunes, Slashdot, and on and on and on... we are a society of insulated information addicts. That I can totally agree on...

thats what im getting at :P

oh yeah - I watched a film short on the net - a zombie animation flick - it was in two parts. Was fantastic. (looking now to find out what is was....)

AHA - FOund the site reviewing it - you'll have to find the shorts yourself http://www.undeadfilms.com/review.php?id=321

__________________
The Road Not Taken. Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Visit the Richard Wilson Archive
www.richardwilsonarchive.com

LET's MAKE A MOVIE!!! Interested? Click to find out more.

I tihnk that with all the advances in technology with plasma tv's and surround sound and lcd perjectors i think that Movie Theatres will b a thing of the past like the drive in

Maybe for a little longer, yes. But, once robots the size of G.I.Joes are affordable you'll be able to download any opera you want and have them perform it on any hard and level surface. Then only Richy-Rich and his rich friends will be able to afford the opera.

__________________

If movie fans are willing to wait about 3 days they can already download any movie that they want... How do people feel about that, the way I see it is if you are a true movie fan then u should be more then happy to pay the money to see the move then par for the dvd

That's not what yur' mom said.

Just wait till some robots drill under your fingernails and begin transmitting radio signals to the mother ship. Then you'll wish you didn't mess with the El' PimpDaShizzle V2.0.

I pray that movie theaters never vanish...I just love going to the movies. Seeing films on such gigantic screens with the Dolby digital surround sound...it's a beautiful thing. Human laziness will inevitably lead to the increase of the internet's usage of movies...but I don't think we'll lose the movie theaters any time soon. There's still a lot of business in that market.

__________________
I usually get kissed before I get f*cked.

LOS ANGELES - Warner Bros. will become the first major studio to distribute its films and TV shows over the Internet using peer-to-peer technology developed by BitTorrent Inc., the home of a popular tool for trading pirated copies of movies.

The companies did not specify a date but said the service will be offered starting this summer. Pricing is also undetermined, although individual TV shows could be priced as low as $1 and movies will be sold for about the price of buying a DVD, BitTorrent said.

Warner Bros., a division of Time Warner Inc., said it will use BitTorrent's ability to speed the downloading of large computer files to rent and sell its films the same day the movies become available on DVD.

...entire article is in the link.

__________________
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10

Just a quick thought: We have one remaining drive in in Denver, the Cinderella. Two years ago it announced it was going out of business at the end of the year, after that it had the best two business years in its history. It'll be staying open for at least a few more years. Funny how stuff works, eh?

And about the cinema- a person can stay home and watch a movie; and its considered 'lazy'. But if you go to the cinema, at least you're out and doing something. Thats usually my justification, at least...

I think as long as companies can figure out a way to use the technology correctly, the internet could be an interesting space to watch movies... look at Itunes' success with legal downloading, it's very encouraging and now it's a first stop for many people... and many prefer it to illegal downloading cuz it's just not as sketchy!

This is a good topic...

I will have to say that cinemas will eventually die, as everything else does. And when I say die, I mean soon. The world we live in today is a world of all work and no play, to basically say it. That is why a good percentage of products manufactured today in the United States are made for convenience and easy access. People don't have the time or the money to go the the movie theaters anymore, and if they do, it is much easier and cheaper just to rent, buy, or download a movie.

Although there is still a great handful of people that enjoy the movie theater experience, I think this handful will slowly dwindle. Like many have already said, there is not enough time, money, and patience to sit and watch a movie at a theater with 10-30 some other people that you don't know. Personally, I can't stand watching movies at the theaters. There are too many distractions, inconsiderate and immature kids, and the price is too much.

I like watching a movie either strictly by myself or with someone else who likes movies the same as me and/or has enough mature, strong, and intelligible knowledge of film. I don't watch movies with people who don't know movies and/or dont respect them. And simply put, that's what I get when I go the the theater; people who don't respect movies, know movies, or go there to actually watch the movie, instead they just go to sit and hang with friends.

__________________
"All the confusion of my life... has been a reflection of myself! Myself as I am, not as I'd like to be." - Guido, 8 1/2

I don't think theaters are in any immediate danger. I download movies constantly and so do most of the people I know, but we all still like going to the theater to see a new movie on the big screen. I have an lcd projector connected to my computer so i can watch downloaded movies on the wall in my basement, but its not the same. No matter how nice of a setup you have at home, it still tastes like diet coke compared to the real thing. I'm not going to download a crappy cam version of King Kong to watch at home when i can just as easily go to the theater and see the movie the way it was meant to be seen. I use the internet as a tool for getting movies I can't see such as 'Battle Royale' which was not released in north america or movies I have already seen in theaters and dont want to spend the money to own. Theaters are pretty safe I think, video stores on the other hand might be in trouble.

Yeah, the theatre experience is pretty important because the illegal downloads are such crap and most of the time screw up your computer with viruses and porn rather than a good quality anyway. Plus I am not a fan of the consequences, so I am a theatre viewer. But as I said, if the internet could be harnessed responsibly, it might be an interesting medium.