Moviegoers warn AMC that they're not going. I'm skeptical about
The Hollywood Reporter that its competitors “have fully participated for more
than five years without any direct impact to their attendance.”
since movie attendance has dropped like a rock in the last five years.
jzb•7mo ago
Some of that has a lot to do with COVID and streaming. Obviously people aren't staying away from theatres now because of COVID, but I think it had a big impact on habits. Once the habit of going to the movies was broken, enticing people back got harder.
Making the experience worse, though, is an awfully novel way to encourage people to return.
My wife and I tried to see a movie a few weeks ago. I say "tried" because we went to an AMC theatre that had, oddly, a nearly sold-out showing of a movie that had been out for weeks. We could only get seats in the front row, all the way to the right.
I've never loved front row seats, but this was ridiculous - I sit farther back from my television in my own living room. I don't think there was 10 feet distance from the screen to our seats, and we were at an angle to boot. It was unwatchable - we got a refund and left, after we'd already blown money on snacks, of course...
PaulHoule•7mo ago
Back in the pandemic I remember movie theaters being in a real hurry to get the food concessions running again.
I don't think I've ever been one to get disgusted quickly and I might even like insects and germs better than people, but when things were re-opening my sense of cleanliness was reset and the thought of dealing with a popcorn and Coke mess was just unbearable to me.
Since then I've only been out for Barbie and Join or Die, the latter because the showing was sponsored by my employer and some of my coworkers showed up in it.
bdangubic•7mo ago
they could do 3 hours of ads - most sane people currently show up 15 minutes after scheduled start time, if they run 3 hours of ads sane people will show up 3 hours after scheduled time :)
PaulHoule•7mo ago
jzb•7mo ago
Making the experience worse, though, is an awfully novel way to encourage people to return.
My wife and I tried to see a movie a few weeks ago. I say "tried" because we went to an AMC theatre that had, oddly, a nearly sold-out showing of a movie that had been out for weeks. We could only get seats in the front row, all the way to the right.
I've never loved front row seats, but this was ridiculous - I sit farther back from my television in my own living room. I don't think there was 10 feet distance from the screen to our seats, and we were at an angle to boot. It was unwatchable - we got a refund and left, after we'd already blown money on snacks, of course...
PaulHoule•7mo ago
I don't think I've ever been one to get disgusted quickly and I might even like insects and germs better than people, but when things were re-opening my sense of cleanliness was reset and the thought of dealing with a popcorn and Coke mess was just unbearable to me.
Since then I've only been out for Barbie and Join or Die, the latter because the showing was sponsored by my employer and some of my coworkers showed up in it.