not long ago I can recall going to the movies in charlotte for
the matinee showing 5 dollars before 6 and being taken away
if only briefly mesmerized by supa large screens, HD sound
but now, just buzzin in my head now?
shows films release dates all cancelled
I dunno I'm just venting I miss those matinees man

m.r.

Streaming is here for good, given that Mulan and other major movies premiered on streaming platforms rather than in the theater. That trend is probably going to tick up as movie studios work out better deals with Netflix and the like or just start up their own platforms.

I don't visit theaters often but generally enjoy the experience more than watching at home. My home setup is pretty good, but there's just an almost mystical quality to sitting in a large room with a hundred or more people to be quiet and spellbound for a couple of hours.

But with the cost to attend a movie increasing so much over the last several years, home setups becoming more and more immersive and now moviegoers establishing the habit to watch new movies through streaming services, the movie theater may be under a legitimate threat.

For as much value I believe there is in shared group experiences, we're just a less social society in a traditional sense. Cinema has survived many existential threats before and will likely do the same now.

I also avoided going when it was crowded, but there's nothing like seeing movies in the theaters

it's a minor pleasure but I'm looking forward to when we can all go back

Granted, there've also been times I've kind of faded out in a theater seeing a movie a little too late after having one too many drinks before going in and not being super excited about what was going on, but it's still just way easier to not look at my phone and escape for two hours in a theater because it's so all-encompassing.

Plus nothing beats that 15-30 minutes after leaving the theater when the world just LOOKS different for a while, at least for me I see everything the way the director/cinematographer might try to.

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for me it was 1917.

I feel like this movie was a great example of why theaters must survive.

I don't get the same feeling of awe and oh shit, if i'm watching this on my couch. We have a 60 inch on the wall and speakers in the ceiling, but this is a different movie in the theaters.

>for me it was 1917.

went to see it after our anniversary dinner. the restaurant we ate at that night is now closed permanently due to covid :(

Fat white dude in the theater seemed like he was purposely coughing and hacking as hard as he could.

i think

coinciding with work from home beginning and theater shutdowns imminent (possibly the next day). i remember the audience being sparse, but there was someone a couple seats away, and this was before people wore masks.

i agree with everyone who posts about the theater experience just being different and more cinematic than watching on tv. that's why i risked it. had the theater stayed open another week, i probably would've watched Onward and/or The Hunt, which i still haven't seen.

beyond that, i just knew too much about covid. i'd love to see Tenet. theaters in my county never opened back up. if i could have seen that socially distanced in the local "liemax," i probably would've, in my mask. everything else i was really looking forward to got pushed back, rightly so. there are probably other movies that did get theatrically released i would've gone to had covid not happened, especially on a $6 ticket. (i actually have a gift card and vouchers/free passes for two chains - no tity boi - that have been burning a hole in my pocket all year. i'm concerned about AMC.) i'm a last priority group member for the vaccine, so it could still be a long time before i go back to the movies.

i haven't gotten into new releases from home or looked to what gets added to streaming as of equal importance to theatrical. i've just been watching the few shows i like that have new episodes and old movies and shows i haven't seen. eventually whatever came out this year will make its way to free viewing; probably not many would-be blockbusters in the bunch. next year's oscars are going to be quite strange.

It was pretty surreal. I thought I'd go see some other stuff but it wasn't fully worth the hassle getting to and from the theater that was open and neither theater within a 15-20 minute walk ever reopened so I haven't been back. And now it's been long enough and casual enough in the Midwest I feel like I know who'd be at a theater and I don't want to be anywhere near them.

It was awesome.

I was bored and had free passes.

I won't go back until daily infection rates in San Diego get REAL low.

Example from 11/21/2020: A record-high 1,478 new COVID-19 cases were reported Saturday.

So I'd go back when infections are like 10 a day.

Honestly can't remember the last movie at the theater (Skywalker, maybe? Everything just seems like a big blur at this point). But there are always going to be something to the cinema experience that you can't replicate at home, regardless of cost (either cost of home setup or movie ticket and concessions)

nm

Skywalker was the last theater experience for me as well and I agree, Endgame wouldn't have had much of an emotional impact watching on a computer while I'm simultaneously checking emails.