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- Hacker News
- Movie theaters are reinventing themselves in various ways, and I’m unsure if it’s working, but some of it is creative.
Around here, films from Bollywood show in Telugu, Hindi, Gujarati languages. There are family films in Spanish (those aren’t bad dubs, but parallel scripts and A-list voice actors.) Want to watch a Studio Ghibli film? Here’s the timetable for dubbed; here’s a timetable for subtitles!
There are live video-game tournaments. There are premieres for live operas and symphony orchestra performances that are simulcast around a region.
There are Christian groups who go in to support a film, and they can turn those into fundraisers and evangelization activity.
The auditoriums can be rented out for special events. Big birthday, Kindergarten graduation, Quinceañeras, etc. They will support teleconferencing and businesses can hold seminars or all-hands meetings there.
I suppose that all of these schemes were harmed by the pandemic and lockdowns, but the advertising is still there, and the Hindus are still showing up on public transit.
- I think you are seeing a slice of the full picture. This app is not accurately showing all empty screens. While all of those are ideas that are increasing viewership there is still so much dead weight. Whether these things offset the dead weight I dont know. All I know is AMC is trading at $1.45 today so it does not look great.by nebula8804
- Makes me wonder -- does it make any economic sense for a theater to have screenings before 2pm on a Tuesday? I get that some people can afford the leisure, but I'm almost certain the theater loses money on thatby fg137
- How much extra does it cost to show an extra movie that nobody shows up to? It seems like the majority of the cost is rent of the building and salary. If employees are already working to operate the few movies that are expected to have people and the building is already being paid for then they may as well use up all their theaters just in case since the extra cost would be low.by izzydata
- For the first few weeks of a film's release, all of the ticket sales goes to the studio. Pretty much the only revenue for the theatre is popcorn, candy and soda.
Since most theatres have gone full digital, the "projector" won't show the film if there have been no tickets sold. That eliminated the game of buying one ticket and then sneaking in to see a few more movies.
by Tangurena2 - I used to frequent the brisbane regent cinema precisely because it was reliably empty. The franchise kept it running because having a really nice prestige theatre was good for their brand, but compared to their other sites it was revenue neutral at best.by protocolture
- May be I am in minority but I would hate to be alone in entire theater. I enjoy some vibe and people aroundby cryptozeus
- Yes this is what people get wrong about "home theater". Its not just the tech, its the experience of watching something with others, amplifying the emotions.
- In a previous life, I would go to a lot of art movies, often matinees or monday or etc. Sometimes there was one guy who was working the box-office, the snackbar, and the projection. I was glad he had a job.by flomo
- Are you American? US cinema culture seems very different to the UK (the only other place I’ve been). In the US it seems much more the norm to react to the film, in the UK generally folks sit in silence.by badgersnake
- There are times I would agree with you, and times I wouldn't.
If the theater is full of people talking during the movie or lighting the place up while they’re on their phone (in either case ignoring the movie), then I’d rather be alone.
It seems like more times than not, this is the case.
by jader201 - AMC should start showing Chinese and Korean dramas. That would help them a lot. I'm sure that they could work a deal with those studios that would let AMC set the ticket price. There hasn't been an American-made movie since Lord of the Rings that has compelled me to go see it in the theater. The movie studios seem to be pushing more extremes on immorality, violence, gore, etc, being completely disconnected from the average American's values. And then Disney and others make musicals with actors that can't sing -- mind-boggling. Hence, my wife and I watch Chinese dramas instead, a few episodes per week being my complete TV/Movie intake. They're paced better, develop characters, include a few kung fu moves, have nice visuals, aren't afraid of religious topics, etc.by BrannonKing
- AMC by me shows a surprisingly high number of Indian movies relative to the demographics. I wonder if they have some distribution deal to encourage that... I imagine they would do better with K-dramas.by Rebelgecko
- I go to the theater rarely, but recently watched Project Hail Mary in-theater and quite recommend it. There _have_ been some great films made in the last while, among a sea of derivatives.
(E.g., you may find the new Dune films too violent, but they were great. And the moral is not very subtle in them. :)
by dgacmu - This is not just an awesome concept, but blazingly fast. Well done! I would love to see an article about the tech stack.by dec0dedab0de
- The Fandango app has an option to check the seats at all the showings at a theater, so I assume AMC has something like that. There are ~600 AMC theaters in the US. Throw in some caching and you can maintain a fast, fairly fresh copy of their seating numbers. Clever!by pchristensen
- To me this suggests that theater’s are at least partially incorrectly pricing things which explains why they are struggling.by vlovich123
- Movie theaters are insanely cheap. People just prefer to sit at home and scroll on their phones. Amc a list is 20$, that's 16 movies a month. Cheaper than 4k Netflix. Amc is already bleeding money. Sadly consumer choices just changed to second screen bullshitby osiris970
- But aren't they pricing based on how much it costs to show the film?
Which in turn is how much the studios and distributors pay to make/market the film?
Which is in turn driven by costs...
Which are basically large bets on if a piece of art will have mass appeal.
by ap99 - I don’t think pricing is the only problem with theaters. Especially over the last 15 years or so they’ve been increasingly competing with alternative ways of watching movies, and for a lot of people watching at home wins at any price.
Fancier theaters like the Alamo draft house seem to be trying to complete with watching at home in some ways, but for the most part theaters seem to just be doubling down on the parts if the experience that were already decisive- namely getting louder and adding bigger screens. That might tempt the people who already like what theaters have to offer into going slightly more often, but I think it’s made even more people stop going at all.
- I think Hollywood has been churning out derivative content for a while, and catering for "modern audiences" (as opposed to the silent majority) too much.
One or two exceptions - Project Hail Mary, for example.
But the decline of Marvel, Star Trek and Star Wars franchises has been stark.
https://www.youtube.com/@TheCriticalDrinker has some great commentary on the problem.
Also, a number of other factors:
* massive TVs are cheap now * people behave disrespectfully in cinemas * cinema tickets are now unaffordable for the low end of the market * the experience hasn't modernised and become luxy enough to retain the high end of the market * streaming services have high budgets nowby cbeach - I was the only person in the theater when I saw Phenomenon, 30 years ago. I’m sure the movie business isn’t a healthy ecosystem right now, but the existence of empty showings isn’t new.by macintux
- I gotta dig up an old college economics paper I wrote on movie theatre ticket pricing. Movies are priced wrong but that’s complicated by the way the major studios want things run. It’s a whole messby Aboutplants
- > To me this suggests that theater’s are at least partially incorrectly pricing things which explains why they are struggling.
Theaters are struggling because they need the working class to attend, and the working class has no money. This is true for any non-essential business that depends on 90% of the people.
To find new ways of extract money may help a little, but in the end the basic economics do not add up.
by Frieren - I remember I went to a small showing once as a kid. It was just our group and 1 lady in the theater.
We got to small talk and the lady mentioned she had once been the only customer for a showing and told the projectionist that she didn’t want to be a bother and could come back and another day.
The projectionist had apparently replied that it was no bother - they would roll the movie even if no one showed up!
by wodenokoto - Nowadays there are no projectionists in most cinemas. It would actually be more effort for them to not play the film than just let it play on schedule.
- Film projectors (at least when I did the job in the mid-90s) can't rewind or fast forward, so if for any reason someone buys a late ticket and walks in, the movie has to be running already in order to be on time for the next showing.by bdcravens
- That must vary by theater, or perhaps practices change from time to time. My brother worked at a movie theater in high school (20 years ago), and the theater he worked would not play movies if nobody had bought a ticket. He told me they would occasionally catch people trying to sneak free movies that way - the projectionist would notice someone in the theater for a time which was going to be canceled, call the box office to confirm if they had sold a ticket, and if not they would get a manager to escort the person out.by bigstrat2003
- When I was a kid I wanted to go see The Avengers (the o.g. one, from 1998).
I had to go to the cinema 3 times, because they would not do a projection for less than 5 people.
by yoz-y - Im assuming (though rare) it’s the same with flights. They keep the schedule for movies in case someone joins half hour late. Plenty of people visit my the cinema for all kinds of reasons other than the content (like sleeping in the AC among other things that come to your mind). Keeping the movie going rather than waiting for someone to show up and make it awkward would probably be better for customer service too.