The Cost of Entertainment

My first blog entry will, surprisingly, not be exclusively about the video game industry. Instead, I feel compelled to write about a long discussion I recently had between my two roommates. I myself am a student of video game design; my one roommate is a theater student and the other is in film. Together, they're teaming up for a very talented theatrical duo. I consider myself a faithful follower of film, and even was a screenwriting major for all of four months. So the discussion at hand was of the increasingly ludicrous price of a ticket to the movies. Without any grounds for doing so, I am going to say that "I am old enough to remember" when ticket prices seemed high at $6.00. Nowadays, you have to pay $9.50 just to get in, and somewhere upwards of a college tuition if you want popcorn and a drink.

Well, the discussion (I guess it was more of an argument/debate) was in regards to the reasoning for these ticket prices. They both felt that if theaters decreased ticket prices, it would increase the amount of people that go to see a movie on any given day. I personally felt (feel) that, looking at it from the perspective of a film studio, the increase in movie-goers would not be significant enough to make up for the decrease in ticket prices. A film that breaks even at the box office would essentially lose money, even though the number of people in attendance increases. They both argued that prices only need to be that high to make up for the expensive crap that Hollywood distributes on a weekly basis, whereas I personally feel the experience of going to see a film is simply dieing the slow death of traditional theater. Four out of five movies lose money in the box office, and therefore most studios expect to profit from a film through DVD sales, promotions, other forms of distribution, etc. instead of through box office attendance.

After our discussion finally ended at 3:45 in the morning, I decided to read a bit on the interwebs. From there, I found several articles that got me thinking of the reason for the decrease in attendance at a movie theater not simply due to content, but due to the changing experience. I feel old and crotchety enough sometimes to be just downright pissed off when I hear annoying punks talk or laugh during every other line of dialog or listening to some jackass pick up his cell phone amidst a moment of tension. Don't even get me started on parents who bring their bastard children with to see The Omen, all irony aside. Going to a movie just ain't the same thing it used to be. Yes, that is partly because a film is $9.50 and who wants to pay that much to deal with those other people in attendance? But if the price was to decrease to $7.00 or even less, would those same annoyances remain or possibly even increase? I personally will still go see a movie I really want to see regardless of those things because it is, after all, an experience you can't have sitting in your living room with a DVD. But I'll tell you what, those DVDs sound awfully tempting when I have to think about Johnny, Jenny, Jason and Jessica talking about how hot Dane Cook and Jessica Alba are. Alright, bad example. Who would want to see Good Luck Chuck anyways?

Thanks to my masterful writing, that last sentence was a perfect transition into the discussion on the quality of the films being made. Yes, the quality of films have decreased over the years, which leads to less people paying $9.50 to go to the theaters. However, at the same time, not only am I fairly certain there was ever a time when every movie playing at a theater was good, but even if they were, how many people would go see each of those movies while they were still in the theaters when they could just wait for the DVD? One blogger proposed a genius idea that all films should be priced on a rating system. Therefore, a bad movie costs less, and even a good movie decreases in cost more and more the longer it is in theaters. This will keep bad, low-selling movies in theaters for less time, and it will also keep people coming back to see the good movies multiple times. It's really quite brilliant.

When it comes down to it, though, my personal belief is that going out to the movies is simply becoming less and less popular, regardless of content. People don't go to the theater or listen to the radio less because there isn't high quality content in each medium, but rather that there are just newer forms of entertainment. We still go to the theater because it's a one-of-a-kind experience that you can't find anywhere else, but it's not what it used to be. And I think that's a product of technology. Movie theaters decreased the popularity of traditional theater; television decreased the popularity of the radio; MP3 decreased the popularity of CDs. Technology is ever changing, and as we are able to watch a film in what is ultimately better quality (HDTV) than the projector of a movie theater, from the comfort of our own couch, for only $4 and with whatever food we choose to eat, the popularity of going out to a movie will fade. There will always be a place for the movie theater, just like there will always be a place for traditional theater, but it will no longer be the money-making giant it is now. Who knows, we might see the day when it costs us $75 for great seats to the newest Steven Spielberg film. Or, as my roommate suggested, the movie theater may just disappear altogether...

I just wanted to say thanks for reading this blog, and I hope to be writing in it more and more, hopefully with more concise thoughts and not what is essentially many paragraphs of rambling. Also, sorry if I offended your children.