Edward Norton: Theater chains are destroying the theatrical experience, not Netflix

[adamsappel]

My AMC just had a renovation, so it has comfortable recliners, which was my big complaint about sitting for 2 hours in a busted cramped seat. Of course, it's also too expensive; I have A-List, but I keep forgetting to go to multiple movies to offset the costs. Now I'm going to be checking out the light levels. I never eat or drink at the movies, but they do have Dine-In and alcohol, which is nice.

Back in 1982 I went to see If You Could See What I Hear, which is about a blind guy. In the middle of a scene, the projector bulb began to get very dim and eventually went out. It took the audience about 10 minutes to decide it wasn't some meta-commentary on blindness. Those were the days you could yell out "Lights!" or "Sound!" and there'd be someone up there to fix it. Now you have to leave and track someone down.

Xfinity On Demand always has "Now in Theaters" movies to rent. Usually not the blockbusters, and I think they're still too expensive, but it's available.

 

[Zoid]

I'm sure he's right. I only go to the theater for big movie releases and I have to see them in Dolby Atmos since the regular one is just too dark now. It's felt that way for me for a few years now. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason.

 

[Trike]

When theater experiences are subpar and your experience at home is great it is definitely a threat to the theatrical experience.

I also blame smartphones

 

[Cyanity]

Was gonna say that the extortionist prices for snacks and drinks was the real driving force behind the decline of theater chains, but sure, it's an aspect of the movie-going experience that none but the most diehard of fans would ever notice. Sure, Jan.

 

[Tbm24]

Damn he's spot on. The only time in recent memory I can say I didn't think the movie was too dim was seeing the matrix anniversary run in a Dolby theater. The whites hurt my eyes, it was glorious.

 

[Jack Frost]

I will never go back to a theater after putting one in my basement.

 

[VideogameVices]

I agree with this sentiment. I could never own a sound system that would make inception sound the way I heard it in theatres, and if i DID, I'd probably get kicked out of my apartment for noise complaints. I love me some good audio in a theater. I used to even go see transformers movies for the sound design.

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when you watch a DOLBY atmos movie in a good theatre with a big screen and the sound system is making all these different levels of audio and it's all multi directional.You'll never get that level of sound and immersion at home

 

[TylersProphecy]

when you watch a DOLBY atmos movie in a good theatre with a big screen and the sound system is making all these different levels of audio and it's all multi directional.You'll never get that level of sound and immersion at home

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Mmmmmmm, stop. You're gonna make me have to go watch a movie.

 

[Tbm24]

when you watch a DOLBY atmos movie in a good theatre with a big screen and the sound system is making all these different levels of audio and it's all multi directional.You'll never get that level of sound and immersion at home

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Even prior to Atmos. The most incredible movie theater experience is still and likely will always be seeing interstellar in 65mm imax with a speaker setup that shook my to my core. You can only do so much at home.

 

[Baron Von Beans]

When I'm able to afford a sound system at home that has bass that vibrates the seats, quite heavily mind you, I'll stop going to the theaters. Until then the audio is the best part, and pretty much the best part of recent movies

 

[Drain You]

Its a combination of a lot of things. Its expensive, not as comfortable as home, I now have a giant TV, I already have too much shit to watch anyways. I probably have on gone to the movies 3 times in the past 5 years. I used to go quite often.

 

[flyinj]

Personally I can't believe that there is a place that I have to pay $18 to sit in a large dark room filled with the general public for 2 hours and then am forced to watch television ads for 20 minutes.

That is something I wouldn't do unless I was paid $200 minimum.

And they want ME to pay to have to go through that? What the fuck.

 

[Deleted member 15948]

Personally I can't believe that there is a place that I have to pay $18 to sit in a large dark room filled with the general public for 2 hours and then am forced to watch television ads for 20 minutes.

That is something I wouldn't do unless I was paid $200 minimum.

And they want ME to pay to have to go through that? What the fuck.

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This is it for me. I've been to exactly 2 showings since 2007, when ads started to become popular in theaters around here. I grew up in days before that shit, and I'm not going to tolerate it when there's plenty of better entertainment without TV ads at home.

 

[MistaTwo]

I wonder if Japan does the same thing? I feel like the screens/sound systems are pretty nice here if you make sure you get a good theater screen.
Unfortunately, most theaters here only have 1 or 2 good screens so if you miss opening weekend, you may have to settle for a mediocre experience.

My go-to theater here in Osaka is the Screen 1 @ Toho Umeda. It has an extra large screen and Dolby Atmos.

https://www.tohotheater.jp/service/tcx_dolbyatmos/

If the movie I am interested in isn't on that screen, I will usually just wait and watch it at home recently.
The prices here are pretty high too which keeps me from going very often.

 

[kIdMuScLe]

I remember when I was working the projectors it was a bitch to get bulb replacement because they cost a shit ton. We had 2 projectors that were not properly aligned so always had complains about out of focus/dim screen/not aligned to screen.

 

[BBboy20]

I thought it was Hollywood itself that was doing that.

 

[entrydenied]

He is not wrong about the brightness. I always feel like the theatres here are a bit too dimmed.

However, movie studios are also to blamed for not sharing more of the revenue.

 

[Lakeside]

The two local Cineplex(s) I visit are both bright and loud as fuck. Both either recently built or refurbed though. I can see Ed's complaints being a real issue in smaller markets/middle America.

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The volume level is one reason I don't go. It's too fucking loud.

 

[TheIlliterati]

I first noticed this with Solo at a particular theater. I know that movie is also darker than most. But it was incredibly dark. Then I started noticing further movies were darker than I would've expected. Thankfully I moved from there, and mainly go for Dolby screenings.

 

[in.]

Picture brightness is certainly not my first complaint about the movie going experience

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Yeah he said "nickel and diming" and thought he was about to tear into borderline ridiculous ticket prices, INSANE food and drink prices...

And he's talking about projector bulbs? I can't think of a time where I've ever noticed (or even conceived) that a movie theater screen was too dark. You're sitting in a pitch black room and literally the only source of light is the screen in front of you. If your eyes can't adjust to that, you have bigger problems than not being able to see movies.

Surround sound became ubiquitous.

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Did it? I've only been in two houses with surround sound, and both people sold the system off or unhooked it years ago. Surround sound is an overpriced niche doodad in my experience.

 

[flatearthpandas]

I used to work for Carmike in my late teens/early 20s and he definitely isn't wrong but there's a litany of reactionary events that cause problems such as this. Long wall of text for anyone interested, my apologies to those who aren't:

Theatres make most of their money off concessions because they make jack shit off of ticket sales. The percentage skewers over time to more (but still less) of the share going towards the chain the longer a movie is played in cinemas. This is why poorly performing movies are pulled not long after release and why theatres like having blockbusters in their cinemas for so long.

To compensate for lack of early profits, concessions are priced high and become even more expensive over time due to inflation and dropping theatre revenues altogether. It's a full circle type thing because costly concessions alone can drive people away and deter them from going to the movies, lowering profits altogether anyway.

I can't speak for all chains but I know Carmike paid very poorly. I made minimum wage for about a year even as a projectionist and shift leader, and when I did get a raise it was like a fucking quarter lol. Even the GM wasn't being compensated fairly for their work (which lead to high turnover rate). People are not going to want to bust their asses for no money which was always blamed on points A and B.

Also, Carmike was incredibly cheap when it came to maintaining auditorium conditions and projector maintenance. If the movie was visible and the speakers were working then it was always a go. I rarely ever changed bulbs because our corporate didn't want to spend the money on new bulbs until the old ones literally burnt out (usually during a screening). I honestly cannot tell you how many times I changed bulbs because it was so uncommon. You won't see roller scratches or brain wraps (film caught in the centerv component of the platters the film sits on) anymore unless you're watching a 35mm film now that digital is the prevailing format, but when digital came into play my job was practically obsolete so I left. They had the GM "build" the films for playback instead (drag and drop functionality like say a video editor). An already overworked GM isn't even going to notice dim picture quality and even if they did the higher ups wouldn't pay for replacement bulbs.

We had fucking ceiling tiles coming down in a few auditoriums and they didn't even want to spend money to repair those as we supposedly weren't making money. Pathetic considering (at that time) people were paying 8/9 bucks to get in to a movie with shitty picture quality and collapsing ceilings lol. And when people did have problems we were encouraged to give refund passes and not money refunds. The trick there is obviously with a pass you know they have to return to your theatre if they want to use them and buy your concessions at extreme costs if they so choose.

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This was the general experience working as a projectionist at Regal as well but we never had any issues getting bulb replacements and would never wait for bulbs to burn out. Before I left, I can say there was never any fuckery with bulbs of any sort. In all other respects the company was absolute trash, but man projectionist was a nice college job there for a while, outside the pay

 

[aznpxdd]

Did it? I've only been in two houses with surround sound, and both people sold the system off or unhooked it years ago. Surround sound is an overpriced niche doodad in my experience.

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5.1.4 surround soundbars are a big thing nowadays.

 

[in.]

5.1.4 surround soundbars are a big thing nowadays.

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Do people think of that as surround sound? Sound bars don't do what surround sound does, I remember when the first ones came out, the reviews were pretty much universal that the promise of surround sound in a box was a lie. They give you the channels, but don't put it where it needs to go for surround sound. And really, they're a stopgap for people that want better sound than what modern flat TVs are capable of, but don't have the space or money to get a real stereo.

 

[Primal Sage]

Fun fact: One of the things people often criticize with 3D movies in theaters is that the image is quite dark/dim compared to the 2D version. This is absolutely true due to the glasses dimming the picture but the downgrade is multiplied by theaters skimping on the lamp brightness setting. When showing 3D movies they are supposed to compensate for the dimness caused by the 3D glasses by turning up the lamp brightness. It is supposed to look almost as bright as 2D movies.

I too have noticed for some years that my local multiplex are running all movies with a lower lamp brightness. Such a shame. When they opened they were clearly doing it correctly. I went to the cinema almost every week back then so I noticed immediately that the image was much worse than before. They used to have the best image in town. Now it's the worst.

 

[Jakke_Koala]

When the studios are squeezing theaters for every thin red cent they can, the theaters are bound to start nickle and diming to make a buck...

Quarters.

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Yeah, funny how the trickle down concept only works when saving

 

[Vidiot]

Crowds, expensive, my own laziness, and the fact I could own the movie in 2 or 3 months for the same price are the things that keep me from going.

 

[Nightbird]

I agree, here in Germany, picture quality and sound is partly terrible in theaters.

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Tell me about it.

UCI in my experience has terrible sound quality where you can't even understand what is being said sometimes

 

[dlauv]

I saw Ready or Not and the picture kept brightening and dimming at regular intervals. Went and complained and it didn't help. It was such a pain in the ass. This explains what's going on. AMC.

 

[BraXzy]

Until cinemas start to have staff in screenings actively dealing with idiots on phones / talking I am less and less inclined to visit. It's so god damn frustrating...

 

[Something Creative]

That could be a reason, but that isn't the main reason. The rise of viable alternatives.

- affordable HDTVs and surround systems
- 'movie-like' TV shows satiating that desire for stories that are large in scope
- the rise of video games as a gathering place

People just have tons of options to placate themselves these days so the 'it's Friday what do we do' and 'I'm bored what can I do' questions that use to drive people to movie theatres doesn't happen as much anymore.

There's also a perpetuating component with a) people talking about how people don't go to movies as much these days so it's no longer 'the thing to do' and b) the rising cost deterring people which then drives ticket prices up even more. It's really only in the last 10-15 years that prices have skyrocketed.

I also have an underdeveloped thought about society becoming increasingly individualistic and home-oriented that would impact movie-going as well.

 

[Skade]

Yeah, noticed the brigtness thing in France as well.

Went to see Solo in the theater, there was scenes where i could barely see anything. Then i saw the bluray at home on a decent screen and it was a completely different.

Sound is also often not that good.


But the main issue i have going to the cinema always has been other people. And now that everyone and it's dog has a smartphone, it's even worse because half of those idiots can't restrain themselves to look at their god damn phones. So, you try to watch a movie on a already relatively dim screen and every 5 minutes, there's a blinding bright light that pops up somewhere in your field of view, ruining your eyes light adaptation. Yeah. I'd rather stay at home rather than suffering that.

 

[lemmykoopah]

I'm not denying that there aren't cinemas who underlit their screens, HOWEVER keep in mind a properly film industry calibrated theatre screen will never 'pop'. The brightness will always be medium to lowish. It's how its supposed to be.

 

[Danielsan]

Not an issue for me. Biggest issue with the movie theater experience is that if I'm going with my girlfriend we're spending at least € 30 just to see a movie. If we get drinks or something to eat that can easily jump up to € 40.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

It's too fucking expensive, which is the main issue. It's a gamble what sort of audience are watching a movie as well. The cost of food/drinks in these cinemas is so damn expensive now too. And there's also the gamble of if the movie is bad too. I prefer the long form storytelling that TV shows provide in such quality nowadays, so there's less reason to go.

 

[Excuse me]

Never even tought about dims lights in theater. I think most theater goers are fairly casual, and don't care about the lights/sound/PQ. Price and other movie goers are probably larger issue for most.

But at end of the day, what kills theaters is convenience of streaming service. You don't have to go see every movie to theaters and spend all that money. Just watch the big movies at theater and rest netflix and chill.

 

[AlwaysSalty]

My theaters don't do this(I don't think) but I don't buy anything at the theater anymore. Bad enough the tickets went up, the food prices are just insane.

 

[CloudWolf]

Stuff like this is why I almost always avoid big chain cinemas and go to independent/arthouse cinemas. They usually employ people who really care about how the movies are projected and put in the time to make everything as good as possible.

I had this colleague who works as a projectionist at arthouse cinemas and festivals and he had this story about when he was hired to do a job at a Pathé cinema and he went in to check the projection and his bosses at Pathé were telling him 'Nah, don't bother checking everything, you just have to put the projector on these standard settings and it's fine'. He quit the month after, because they clearly didn't give a shit about the quality of the projection.

He also told me though that filmmakers aren't the be-all end-all about theatre projection, though. He often had arguments with filmmakers who came to check the settings themselves because they usually want their movies to be played as loud as possible, despite sound levels having to be measured to the room size, audience size, etc. If you have a small room with a small audience, you don't need to play the movie as loud as, say, you playing the movie to a sold out multiplex.

 

[reminiscingLemon]

No people are getting tired of having to deal with other people in a movie theatre so they would much rather watch at home.

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yeah this is it for me, moved to the city much cheaper cinema tickets started going way more than i used to.

but now my fellow patrons are all city folks, rude af. watching infinity war and this woman who clearly didnt want to be there she was on her phone, even put her torch on. I wanted to yell at her ngl but i felt sorry for her kid, he was just sat trying to watch the movieI didnt want to spoil it for him but ive never gone back to that cinema inparticular.

 

[Stooge]

I worked at a theater in college back in the early 2000s and my theater manager (Regal) intentionally put too dim of bulbs in all of the projectors to save $$$. She got paid bonuses on profitability. The bulbs and the electricity price were much lower she said.

When we had a premier (Blade 2 during SXSW) or Robert Rodriguez would come in to do late-night work on editing movies (I got/had to watch Spy Kids 2 like 20 times in small snippets because an employee had to be there till 5 AM while he worked) we had to switch out to the "proper" bulbs and it was a MASSIVE difference in quality.

She also didn't run 100% of the speakers most of the time and ran the sound lower than it was supposed to be when designed.

 

[burnsy]

To be fair, some theatres are running extremely low margins. Maybe the movie companies need to stop taking such a large share allow some breathing room

 

[burnsy]

Also while it's a good point I have rarely heard this concern mentioned. So I doubt this could be the reason people aren't flocking to the cinema outside of big opening weekends.

 

[Fusionfrenzy]

Most cinemas actually are terrible. I went to one recently and it had the wrong aspect ratio screen (1.8:1 not 2.4:1) and so the film had black bars on the screen all the way through!

Luckily ginormous Cineworld IMAX is still very, very good and more than a match for my OLED.

 

[Primal Sage]

I used to go to the cinema a lot. Pretty much every weekend. Then I got a proper home cinema with better sound and image than my multiplexes. I only go to the cinema now if it's a movie I simply cannot wait for the Blu-ray. Which is rare.

At home, when I show people the battle scene from LOTR: Return of The King with the Elephants, they are absolutely convinced there is a subwoofer in the couch (there isn't). They can literally feel their asses trembling like it's an earthquake. I love it to bits.

Shameful boasting of setup commencing:

The center speaker and the subwoofer are the only visible speakers in the whole room. The grey walls are sound permeable fabric which cover the actual walls where the 6 speakers are mounted (2 fronts, 2 side, 2 back). In the ceiling behind the fabric I have 4 additional speakers. One room, 12 speakers. 2 visible. The wall speakers are the same kind which were used to mix the soundtracks for Jurassic Park and The Matrix.

Love my seating arrangements:

Projector is snug as a bug:

It's safe to say it takes a really, REALLY anticipated movie to convince me not to wait for the home version.

 

[NiallGGlynn]

He's in not wrong. Was in a UK theater the other day and the screen was really patchy and a speaker was clearly blown out. As an ex-projectionist I was mad as hell.

 

[SinkFla]

This was the general experience working as a projectionist at Regal as well but we never had any issues getting bulb replacements and would never wait for bulbs to burn out. Before I left, I can say there was never any fuckery with bulbs of any sort. In all other respects the company was absolute trash, but man projectionist was a nice college job there for a while, outside the pay

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Yeah honestly I fucking miss the job now lol. Pay was shit but overall it was a fun experience IMO. AMC is hiring here locally and I thought about applying but then I remembered just how I need to make more money not less haha.

 

[Deleted member 44371]

Picture brightness is certainly not my first complaint about the movie going experience

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it is mine. the movie theaters i went to are soo dim its hurting my eyes

 

[Falchion]

I was thinking he was going to talk about overpriced candy or something.