But I like movie theaters.
And before you say anything: I go to movie theaters more often than one every six months. I also buy food there, because I know perfectly well that the theaters are struggling and I want to keep them afloat. I don’t mind the higher price, while at the same time realizing that it’s unsustainable.
Alas, I don’t have a good answer for any of this. Except, again, that I like movie theaters. And I wish that more people did these days.
I don’t think they will go *completely* away. As display technology advances, I suspect these things to evolve into essentially party hall rentals, where they have the Jumbo-tron and concessions, but you plug in your own streaming accounts.
Something like that, yeah.
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Theater as an event, theater as a place to see and be seen, not just a dark box with a big screen and a sticky floor…
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Fewer theaters will be needed, but that’s probably not a big loss, given the brutalist aesthetics of the average multiplex.
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Mew
Also not a big loss due to, as you noted, sanitation. There’s one joint here in town I’d be terrified to take a blacklight into. Not sure it’s been cleaned in years.
I used to go to the movie theater a lot, then it became much too expensive for the value received.
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I realise that’s the fault of the studio and distribution systems, and that the movie theater is a victim/hostage.
But I’m not going to pay a ransom for a videotaped show and a tub of popcorn.