As the theater business dried up to only include big-budget tent poles, the talented writers and actors went to television. All those formulaic hack writers that used to churn out police procedurals and laugh track sitcoms went by the wayside. You also have the cost of production going down with the advent of digital. It allows talented people to make a movie or even TV show where they wouldn't have ever gotten a chance to get a foot in the door. You can break into the biz living somewhere else now (to start, still kind of have to move to LA after your initial break). It used to be: pack up all your belongings - move to So Cal - work tedious studio jobs if you can get them and bartend in your spare time - somehow befriend a powerful person - perform favors for said person (pray they aren't sexual in nature) - get tiny break - string together a few tiny breaks- get a big break. Now you get a few people together, shoot a movie in a week, edit it over a month, and self promote the crap out of it. If enough people like it, you will get a call.
Apparently the past couple weeks, box office numbers have been awful. One of the worst summers since 2001 I think was said.
I recently watched 2 award winners. Fences: dialog movie. Great acting. Mildly entertained. Would never watch it again. La La Land: I tried watching this several months ago and stopped 10 minutes in because it wasn't for me. A friend told me it gets much better after 10 minutes so I gave it another shot. Lasted an hour this time.
Not sure if you have heard about this. MoviePass.com is now selling subscriptions for $10 a month. It's owned by the same guy that owns Netflix. You get a card you can use at 91% of movie theaters. It allows you to see one movie per DAY for that $10 a month. I have it. Amazing deal that will only last as long as he can afford to sustain the initial loss.
interesting concept. Recurring revenue model is smart, but the bottom dropped out of the price on that one. Hard to think that's sustainable.
What did the envelope look like? Was it clearly marked with some sort of Moviepass logo? I always worry I am going to throw something away in the mail that's actually important since I only get like 1 or 2 things a month that I actually care about. I'm paperless on all my bills.
There are some restrictions. If I'm not mistaken, you are limited to one movie a day and you can't watch the same movie twice. So in most months, there may only be one movie you want to see. So you will only use it one time.
Theaters don't make money off movies. It's the popcorn and snacks. So the goal is always to get you in.
They will still have to fork over the cash to the studios though for the ticket that was sold. That's a lot of snacks. If this continues to be a thing, I could see theater chains hiking up concessions.
In the Philippines, where I was the price for movies was about $3-4 depending on the movie, and snacks were standard prices. You can even bring your own food in, but they ask you don't bring in stinky or smelly foods. I thought that was pretty cool.
I was living in Colorado for a while. Tickets were around $6-7 for a pretty nice theatre, so cheap prices do still exist in the US, but yeah, the consession prices are ridiculous.
Is that even possible? They'll need a loan officer positioned next to the popcorn stand. There is a rundown theater near me that costs $4 to get in. A large soda is $6. And we have a Warren Theater near me that is amazing. Ticket prices range from $8 to $40. (no typo)
taking a family of 6 to the movies was no joke, and yes, I was all about smuggling candy and sodas in lol
I saw Mother! over the weekend. Bad. Like, really bad. This is 3 in a row of Aronofsky's I did not enjoy (Black Swan and Noah being the last two). I still think he is a talented filmmaker, but I think all the praise he got has gone to his head and he's trying to shock audiences and be provocative, but the movie didn't really make me think. It was just sort of like, "That was f---ed up. I'm just going to finish Bojack Horseman to wash that out of my brain. And Bojack will make me think about and ponder life FAR more than that movie." (If it wasn't obvious, I am a huge Bojack Horseman fan and I recommend it to anyone.) And Lawrence has got to be the most overrated actress in Hollywood. She's OK, but why she gets the praise she does is beyond me. I get she's charming in real life apparently, and she has a "girl next door" vibe/sense of humor, but she's sort of "whatever" here. I really like Pi and Requiem, and I absolutely LOVED The Wrestler. But I think Aronofsky has let his own praise go to his head. He needs to go back to being a filmmaker (he's good at that) and stop trying to be a provocateur.
I went and saw IT today. It was a true remake in that I can't think of anything they did in this one that wasn't the same in the first. The biggest difference was how gory one scenes in particular was, and the special effects and makeup were on point. Think Stranger Things, but not quite as good and a bit scarier. Overall, I give IT a solid B
