In 2019 a friend and I got subscriptions to Regal and began going to a movie a week. Most days we'd plan something, but sometimes we'd just show up and pick something. (We blindly picked Underwater, and what a great surprise. Also decided to see the Tom Hanks Mr. Rogers film and proceed to ugly cry all over myself.)

Then COVID.

The last movie I saw in theaters as a subscriber was Bad Boys for Life. I tried to go see Dune 1. I drove 30m, bought popcorn and a slushee, and waited... But the video file was corrupted. They said they had to redownload it before the next show, so they canceled the showing and gave everyone a free ticket. I never bothered using it. I just went home and watched it for free on HBO Max.

I love theaters, both as nostalgia and just to have a huge screen. But man, "paying extra to go out of your way" is a difficult sell.

Tbf i thought wicked was pretty great-

We're in an age of huge screens and sound systems at home.

Plus it seems we're also in an age of paying a months worth of streaming service for one person to see one movie.

It's no wonder the cinema is on its arse.

Put the subtitles on the screen! Why would anyone go watch a movie they can't hear? Tell people what the actors are saying. Theatres won't bother to compete with the home video experience of watching a movie with subtitles.

This is the same problem as the videogame industry - a handful of the biggest players are pumping too much money into each movie to be profitable. They are counting on a blockbuster franchise to expand on with a string out series of sequels that never achieve the same level of success as the first one.

The only difference between movies and videogames is indie game devs are able to show the market is still there but no one wants the product of big hype. Movies don't have that. There was a time when a streaming service would buy some indie movie but now each one is making their own movies and the potential for new, original ideas is stagnating.

Boutique theaters would probably exist for a while. I mean, watching Avatar on a laptop is not the same. Stage show isn't dead.

I would very much prefer the theater experience but Hollywood hasn’t had a movie worth going.