Is the curtain closing?

agreed. theaters are threatened, as i have already stated, along with many other industries.

and maybe they were threatened before this, but i don't hink it was for a lack of customers.

just because a lot of old farts here think no one else goes out (in normal circumstances) because they haven't been to the movies in 150 years, or they can't hear the sound, or they have tinnitus, or the popcorn is too expensive, or people talk too much, doesn't make it true.

 

LOL....
On my first submarine...we used the last of the old 16mm film movies, complete with a "skinny-scope" adapter for Panorama.

Normally...crew members not qualified in submarines (NUBs) were expressly forbidden from watching movies with 2 exceptions:
One holding the skinny-scope adapter (and...sometimes the projector) in place if the boat was moving excessively and one acting as a not-so-automatic gain control for the volume.

One of these also acted as a bellhop for gedunk, popcorn, soda, coffee, ect...

Fun times.....

I actually remember when we switched over to the new-fangled Beta tapes...(never let dot.gov bet on a standard!!) that some of the old hands were actually nostalgic about a long ago time when "movie night" involved many people crammed into the mess decks throwing popcorn at each other, yelling at the NUBs to hold the projector steady and and experiencing a movie...together.

It IS more of a shared experience when you see a movie in a theater, but....sadly or not-so-sadly....we've evolved beyond that.

The human animal has an interesting relationship with its own memory.
VERY Few of us today would gladly be crammed elbow-to-bunghole into a space that would make an airliner's economy section look voluminous, watching a sputtering 16mm film movie that you've already seen a dozen times...... viewed through a not-quite aligned lens, with scratchy monaudio...that's either too loud or inaudible over the running commentary.

Well....

Maybe ONE MORE time....

 

and yet, planes were jammed just like that before cv. entertainment improved though

 

you gotta get out more then

 

LOL!

Wanna bet?
Airliners usually insist on only one person in a seat, and frown on people sitting crammed in the aisles.

 

i think posts 30 and 32 show that i am open to facts, more than opinions.

as i stated, amc stock didn't look great before covid, but that doesn't necessarily add up to no fannies in the seats

 

agreed. i don't think they are going away, and i'm not swayed by people who don't go to the movies.

they've already checked out, and won't influence the future of theater operations.

as i said, i could be convinced otherwise by facts. some of which support your opinion, that i wasn't aware of before.
i have always only looked at the crowds when i go.

 

I can imagine people having a very similar conversation when the first movie theatres popped up. It would be the death of the theatre. Yet, it wasn't. Today the live performance theatres thrive but it too has moved to high end. It is not longer a quarter for a show.

There will most likely be people who enjoy this form of entertainment long after anyone on here is dead. Just like people will enjoy movie theatres for a long time. The target audience is most likely the thing to change.

If you were a court jester 600 years ago, I don't think you'd imagine your audience would evolve from royals in the court to snotty 4 year olds at suburban birthday parties. Still exists, but evolved.

Streaming killed music too right? Well in 2015 it was reported that 50% of all music income was from live concerts. The other 50% was split between albums, royalties, streaming, and everything else. Yet all I hear is concerts are too expensive. Concerts aren't fun anymore. I haven't been to a concert in years. But it goes to show the same point. Less people, more revenue per butt, more total revenue. Bam.

This weekend I was supposed to see Michael Buble in Utah and then Die Antwoord in Colorado. I try to go to 2 or 3 concerts a month and they are always packed. True of oldies like Elton John who sells out stadiums, Blink-182 also sells out stadiums 20 years past their prime, and weird Mongolian throat singing groups sell out smaller venues. Those that go to concerts, really go to concerts. Those that go to theatres, really go to the theatre and will continue to do so (movie or live).

 

my 30 somethings still go to concerts, and i'm always up for a 60's performance

 

My area lost 5 theaters in the mid 2000’s
Only one is left for an area of 100,000

the gold standard is that a business should be able to weather 6 months,

as we are finding 90% + can’t weather a few months (some only lasted a few weeks)

In general it appears a large percentage of our businesses are run and managed poorly or were already stressed.

ive been noticing a couple local towns pre-emptively tearing down businesses that went out of business only a few weeks/months ago, I wonder if they know something I don’t?

 

See also:
Live sporting events.

I'd rather give my name, telephone number, email, and credit file to 100 automobile dealerships than go to a live concert.

 

right. well, there are a lot more people in the country than concert capacity, so that's a good thing

 

The bottom floor of the Globe was for commoners.
But I'm thinking you are conflating fancy, 'high class' theater for all of theater. There was common playhouses that did cater to audiences of less means. They were things like vaudeville was put on display. Being poor didn't mean you had no recourse for entertainment. The earliest movies were also displayed in such.

 

I don't think they felt threatened. They just became movie theaters.

 

And now some of the movie theaters are being turned back into performing theaters.......