I don't go to the movies as often as I would like, I do usually enjoy it. I did however go yesterday. The movie going experience I had yesterday made me never want to go to the movies again.
I saw Wallace and Gromit I actually liked the movie despite Dreamworks attempts to "Americanize" it, or dumb it down is more like it. But it doesn't matter what movie I saw it had nothing to do with the horrible experience I had at Century Theaters in Evanston, IL.
Of course the tickets are overpriced and the concessions are over priced. I have learned this and half accepted if, I at least expect it. The price really isn't an issue if you have a good movie going experience. I by no means had a good movie going experience.
First of all, the theater I was at normally has self serve concessions, this weekend the drink machines weren't working. So I had to go up to the counter and get a drink from one of the concessions stand attendents. I use the term attendent loosely because they seemed to just stand back there and complain about being there. At one point while I was waiting for one of these morons to get me a drink a gentleman wearing a dressier uniform looked directly at me and walked right through the door into the back. I'm assuming he was the lazy bastard in charge of the other idiots milling about. If I haven't mentioned the place wasn't busy at all. If fact we were the only ones in line.
When I finally get the attention of one of the girls who looked liked she had just been beaten senseless. I come to find out she was about as alert as someone who was beaten senseless. My order was for a medium diet coke and a large lemonade. I thought I would never have to explain this concept, but there are 3 sizes of drinks: small, medium, and large. That is how they are identified on the menu. She pours a medium diet coke, everything is going fine. Then she pours a small lemonade and I'm thinking that she's pouring one for herself or something. She begins handing that wrong order to us. I repeat my order. She then pours a small diet coke and a medium lemonade. By now a line of around ten people has lined up behind me and is getting as impatient as I am. At this point I'm very frustrated and I'm ready to yell at this girl and make her feel as stupid as she is. The other thing I didn't mention is that the different size cups are different colors. I then hold back and leave her with as much dignity as I possibly can. I tell her very slowly and clearly that I need her to pour lemonade into a large red cup and give me the medium diet coke that was in the purple cup that she had poured in the first place. Surprisingly when I talked to her at her 2 year old intelligence level she got it right. Because of this girl my movie experience is already ruined and nothing can salvage it, I'm ready to just leave.
Then I get to play the "where are the straws" game. Of course they wouldn't put them anywhere near the drinks, that would just be too convenient. Then I was looking around for the other straws, all I saw was small straws. It turns out that is all they have. So now I have a large lemonade, a small straw, and a bitter taste in my mouth from the incompetence at the concession area.
As I'm walking into the theater where the movie is playing...*BANG**CRASH* right in front of me falls a plastic child seat. One of the guys still cleaning the theater had thrown in over with out looking, we almost got hit by it. Then we walk past 2 of the cleaning crew up to the seats in the back. The 3rd guy finally stops us and tells us to leave. We can't be in the theater yet is what he told us. Those were the words he used too, "You can't be in here yet." So we go wait outside the theater for the 5 minutes one guy told us it would take on the way out. Why I didn't find a manager and chew his head off I don't know. Everyone that I had encountered there the ticket taker, the cleaning crew, the concession staff, everyone except the guy I purchased the tickets from hated their job and wanted everyone to know it. They were all rude as hell.
Finally getting into the theater, I'm wondering exactly what was cleaned up by the 4 morons that were throwing chairs around. The floor is covered in popcorn and sticky and there is trash strewn about.
I expected screaming kids and rude indivduals commenting on the movie as it was still happening. I'll tell you what though, you'll never forget the first time you hear a mobile phone ring in a theater and the girl actually answers it. She's lucky I didn't take the phone out of her hands and shove it down her throat.
I practiced much restraint this weekend. Is there such a thing as too nice? How much can one person take? If you had gone through something like this would you ever want to pay to go see a movie again?
...Century Theaters, you are officially being boycotted, enjoy the show.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Going to the movies
Recently, the movie theater business is in a slump. Theaters really haven't been trying to do anything different, but they acknowledge that significantly less people are going to the movies. In a article I read earlier today, it was reported that young males especially haven't been going to theaters. Young males are considered a key demographic in the entertainment industry. Here are my thoughts and theories about that report.
Less young males (the key demographic here) leads to less young females and small children too. If less young single men enjoy the movie going experience, they are likely to stay away from it as a "date" option. Going to the movies on a date is so cliche anyway and it doesn't leave room to talk and get to know each other (**slap**...sorry that was repressed female side taking over, although it is true). On the other side of the coin, young males with families are less likely to take their children to the theater. Since young children typically belong to younger parents, their fathers would be the ones falling in this demographic and causing them to miss the theater experience.
This leaves young women and old people, which together don't make a good movie audience mix. Young women are the ones you see answering their phones at the theater. Also, in groups young women can be quite annoying, because you know they can't keep their mouths shut for and hour and a half straight. All of these qualities are sure to upset the older couples who just want to sit their and enjoy the movie like they have in the past.
With the decline in ticket sales, movie theaters do need to push the movie-going experience. I've seen some places try it. I've seen theaters with cheap admission and elaborate menus, making their primary profit off of the dinner experience rather than charging $10 for a tub of popcorn. I've also seen movie theaters adapt a bar atmosphere, their primary profit is based off of the drinks rather than the ticket price. The problem I've seen with these types of places is that they are forced to show movies that are older. Most have never had a movie the first week it was released, actually most had never shown a movie that was still in (movie-only)theaters.
I don't know the little things about the theater business, but I can imagine that it comes from the Production companies. I imagine that the production companies wants the theater to charge a certain price per ticket when new films come out. Either that or the cost to have new movies at a theater is too expensive for these places who primary source of profit doesn't come from ticket sales. These theories lead me to think that the responsibility lies with the production companies. If they are going to require such high amounts to show a movie then they have to make movies that people want to see.
A good example of that is Project Greenlight. I watched it when it first appeared on basic cable earlier this year. I didn't make it past the first episode where the picked the script. The impressions I got from everyone involved is that it was between 2 scripts one was a good story and the other one was more profitable. Though everyone got to give their input, the production company got the final say in which movie got made, because they were paying for production costs. I haven't heard anything about the movie since. I have heard that other project greenlight movies failed....I wonder why?
Less young males (the key demographic here) leads to less young females and small children too. If less young single men enjoy the movie going experience, they are likely to stay away from it as a "date" option. Going to the movies on a date is so cliche anyway and it doesn't leave room to talk and get to know each other (**slap**...sorry that was repressed female side taking over, although it is true). On the other side of the coin, young males with families are less likely to take their children to the theater. Since young children typically belong to younger parents, their fathers would be the ones falling in this demographic and causing them to miss the theater experience.
This leaves young women and old people, which together don't make a good movie audience mix. Young women are the ones you see answering their phones at the theater. Also, in groups young women can be quite annoying, because you know they can't keep their mouths shut for and hour and a half straight. All of these qualities are sure to upset the older couples who just want to sit their and enjoy the movie like they have in the past.
With the decline in ticket sales, movie theaters do need to push the movie-going experience. I've seen some places try it. I've seen theaters with cheap admission and elaborate menus, making their primary profit off of the dinner experience rather than charging $10 for a tub of popcorn. I've also seen movie theaters adapt a bar atmosphere, their primary profit is based off of the drinks rather than the ticket price. The problem I've seen with these types of places is that they are forced to show movies that are older. Most have never had a movie the first week it was released, actually most had never shown a movie that was still in (movie-only)theaters.
I don't know the little things about the theater business, but I can imagine that it comes from the Production companies. I imagine that the production companies wants the theater to charge a certain price per ticket when new films come out. Either that or the cost to have new movies at a theater is too expensive for these places who primary source of profit doesn't come from ticket sales. These theories lead me to think that the responsibility lies with the production companies. If they are going to require such high amounts to show a movie then they have to make movies that people want to see.
A good example of that is Project Greenlight. I watched it when it first appeared on basic cable earlier this year. I didn't make it past the first episode where the picked the script. The impressions I got from everyone involved is that it was between 2 scripts one was a good story and the other one was more profitable. Though everyone got to give their input, the production company got the final say in which movie got made, because they were paying for production costs. I haven't heard anything about the movie since. I have heard that other project greenlight movies failed....I wonder why?
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
I have the secret....
I was reading an article online earlier today about the effectiveness of advertising in video games. Apparently it is one of the most effective forms of advertising and it scores high in 18-34 year old males, which is most advertisers coveted demographic. Now, advertisers want to get their ads to as many people as possible. Also, game developers want their games to do sell well, especially at launch. Well, I hold the secret to both of those.
If game developers would just use the money that advertisers give them to reduce the price of the game they would sell more copies. Consequently, more people would view these ads, which would cause more advertisers to be interested in using games as an ad medium. Cheaper games, means more higher sales of new video games. The gaming industry, especially with the announcement of the in process eb games/game stop merger, hates resale games. They only get paid once when someone buys a used copy. Now maybe this is one reason why they keep the game prices high on new games, but they could solve this problem themselves.
Until you heed my advice, I will continue to purchase used games at the smallest fraction of the retail price and ignore ad campaigns within games as much as possible. This I promise.
If game developers would just use the money that advertisers give them to reduce the price of the game they would sell more copies. Consequently, more people would view these ads, which would cause more advertisers to be interested in using games as an ad medium. Cheaper games, means more higher sales of new video games. The gaming industry, especially with the announcement of the in process eb games/game stop merger, hates resale games. They only get paid once when someone buys a used copy. Now maybe this is one reason why they keep the game prices high on new games, but they could solve this problem themselves.
Until you heed my advice, I will continue to purchase used games at the smallest fraction of the retail price and ignore ad campaigns within games as much as possible. This I promise.
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