Movie theaters have done a masterful job of turning a visit to them into a bad experience. From the initial high ticket price, to the now mandatory "convenience fee" when buying a ticket, the 30+ minute of full volume commercials prior to the show so you can't even converse with your friends before the show, to the push for subscribing to a paid service to get slightly lower ticket prices or concession discounts.

All of this is before the problems about who you're sharing the theater with. At a minimum watching a movie today is one big screen in front of you and at least two small screens to the sides of other patrons txting or watching Tiktok during the show.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 46 points 6 days ago (2 children)

When my wife and I break down and go to an AMC theater we always plan to arrive 30 minutes after the “start time”. We still catch a trailer or two before the movie actually starts.

We just found an “art house” theater about 30 minutes away and saw Marty Supreme there last night. The theater probably seats about 80 people, the screen is maybe 15 feet wide. The sole guy working there (the owner maybe) was very welcoming, and concessions were reasonably priced. Two tickets & some snacks were still under $30. The guy also went up front to welcome everybody and point out the restrooms that were off to one side of the screen for those of us who had never been there before. Then he ran up to the booth to start the movie. Two trailers, no commercials, and the movie started. We’ll definitely be going back there.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago

When my wife and I break down and go to an AMC theater we always plan to arrive 30 minutes after the “start time”. We still catch a trailer or two before the movie actually starts.

The second most recent movie I saw was also at an AMC, and I discovered that AMC now no longer does: Commercials, Trailers, Feature

Now its: Commercial, Commercial, Commercial, Trailer , Commercial,Trailer, Commercial, Trailer, tease of Feature, Commercial, Commercial, Trailer, Commercial, Feature

For the past 15 years or so I've intentionally avoid trailers and find I enjoy the resulting movie more. This last AMC movie had the gall to include a trailer for the movie I was sitting in.

We just found an “art house” theater about 30 minutes away

There is are a couple theaters like this in town, but they are quite a drive and one has as problem of being located in a busy urban area with expensive pay-parking.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

where do you live?

art house cinmeas near me are more expensive than AMC. the only benefit they typically have is they serve beer/wine. they also have ads and trailers up the wazoo post pandemic, or some person who comes up with a microphone before the show and begs you for donations/subscriptions when you already spend $20 a ticket and $10 for a 8oz of popcorn.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

We’re in northeast MA. Here’s the theater we just found.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

They are showing only one movie? I never saw a cinema like this. I used to go a tiny cinema in Cracow that 2 screens sitting maybe 10 people each but they still had different movies at the same time. This is the one I go to now: https://cinealbeniz.com/ It has 4 screens, tickets are 6 euros, they never show any ads or trailers, I never saw anyone buy popcorn there. There's a whole network of cinemas like that: https://www.europa-cinemas.org/en/cinemas/map

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

oh, yeah i'm in Boston. everything is 2x your costs. you are in NH practically. cute little town you have, i have visited a few times never knew they had a indie theater.