what would make movie theater experience better for you?
don't just say: no noisy people, cheaper tickets those are an obvious given....
what ELSE would make it better for you? bring in more audiences? make it better
Guaranteed seat in the centre back, more room in between the rows for people headed to the pissery so we don't have to move, bathrooms inside each room so we don't have to leave and head down a hallway.
shareThese are probably given too but wider screen (IMAX is too tall), better clarity, better colors, better surround sound and less annoying ads before the movie starts.
Oh, and maybe adjustable seats, like reclining and height adjustment, lumbar and thigh supports... basically like a car seat.
mehhhh I quite enjoy the ads. the trailers are fun. the cheesy ads. all part of the experience. im not there to get to the end. im there for an experience
shareThose features are all standard at my local Celebration Cinema in all tbeatets. They even have heated seats, but I don't use that. I know I'm lucky to have that.
shareMy local theater has the VIP class that provides reclining leather couches, but they are big, bulky and separated from each other by armrests and cupholders. I've tried those, but while it's very comfortable, I don't like it. It loses the social value of going into a theater with friends. May as well just watch the movie at home on MY sofa. Alone.
I think most moviegoers would prefer to be seated more closesly together with their date or friends so we can whisper a bit to comment about the movie without saying it out loud to disturb the audience, or maybe hold hands, or share pop corn while watching.
Lots of people don't take movies very seriously (as an art form, or cult, or whaterver.) People simply see movies as a silly entertainment product to amuse us for a few hours. We don't need plush leather couches, extra wide aisles, etc.
What I think theaters should do to maximise the audience's enjoyment is to provide better seats without making it luxurious. Like I said, just like a car seat is enough. If it's good enough for driving a car for hours, it's good enough for sitting throughout a movie.
I think most moviegoers would prefer to be seated more closesly together with their date or friends so we can whisper a bit to comment about the movie without saying it out loud to disturb the audience, or maybe hold hands, or share pop corn while watching.
I would go to my local theater if they had more retro showings.
shareYes! Especially the very wide screen films. Saw Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen many years ago and it was almost literally a different film.
shareI like those too. I think the Thing is playing in my neighborhood this week.
shareIt is, and I saw it on the big screen in mid May. It was so nice seeing it for the first time in a theater. If I could see good films like that I would be going to the theater weekly rather than once every few years. 😀
shareWe used to have The Hudson Horror Show up by me. All old slashers and horror films, they held it twice a year, it was a big event.
5 or 6 good 70s and 80s pictures for about 30 bucks plus there were comic book and vinyl dealers in the movie lobby.
I met some cool people there, a pretty good horror novelist and a Prop/SFX guy.
And everybody snuck booze in and the parking lot smelt like weed lol.
That was at least partly my fault😎.
Good times but that old theater got sold and Hudson Horror moved way ,way upstate…The Alamo in Yonkers still does the occasional horror double feature though.
Omg- I would love to live close to places like you have described. There aren’t any in my area or I’m just not aware of them.
shareMine used to do a 10pm retro movie on Saturdays, but they were never very full. It was cool to see a bunch of 80s classics on the big screen again. Fun while it lasted.
shareI would go to my local theater if they had more retro showings.
1) Stop playing the commercials louder than the film itself. I resent paying for a ticket to be told to buy things at an excruciating volume. Cinema etiquette means you can talk through commercials. I don't care if the advertisers don't like that.
2) Advertise the start time of the actual film, so we can take the guesswork out of it and I can skip the commercials all together.
yeah.... mine is usually 25 MINUTES of stall time, ads and previews before the actual movie starts. "Start time" is false advertising now I swear. I always do about 15 to 20 minutes late now - off times so there are seats left.
shareI hate pretty much everything about the multiplex-going experience up until the film starts.
I used to enjoy the previews/trailers, but since they all started getting put together in the exact same way by the exact same bloke about 15 years ago, who is probably wondering how much longer he can get away with it, I don't even enjoy those either any more.
So basic improvement: cut out everything that isn't the film.
Stop playing commercials...PERIOD. If I want to watch stupid ads, I can do that at home.
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Ideally, yes. Agreed.
But if they have to play them and I have to be there to see some of them, turn the bloody volume down. Playing the commercials louder than the film kind of gives the priorities away:
YOU ARE A TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC -- WE WILL UNSTRAP YOU FROM YOUR CHAIRS AND ALLOW YOU TO ENJOY THE FILM YOU ACTUALLY PAID TO SEE ONCE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THESE IMPORTANT MESSAGES FROM OUR SPONSORS...
I sat through 30 minutes of movie previews the last time I went to the theater. They need to knock that off!
ETA: that’s not an exaggeration, it was 30 goddam minutes.
About 20 minutes of adverts and trailers in the UK.
shareThat’s still far too much.
It should be like 3 previews and for goodness sake if I’m seeing a horror or action movie why the hell do I need to see Romance and Family Drama and little kiddy movie trailers?
I wont be watching any of that.
20 minutes seems to be about the right amount of time for folks who came in with bags of noisy sweets to stuff themselves then settle down and I don't mind the trailers as long as I've not seen them before.
shareI find it way too much, we all have access to YouTube, nobody misses a trailer for a film they are interested in…20-30 minutes of trailers is just abuse man.
shareyup. 25 minutes here. I keep timing it to be sure.
sooo.... they get paid to play ads when people are in seats... I get it... but I don't have to show up and PAY to watch them get paid for ads
Never even mind the ridiculously high snack prices, all of these movies are too damn long. To tack on 20-30 minutes of trailers for stuff you don’t care about at the start of the show is abuse.
I pretty much just wait a few months and stream everything from home, the snacks are cheap, the bar is always full and the pisser is 20 feet away.
i hate this as well. just start the movie right away.
shareYou’re in there for 3 hours at least.
It’s ridiculous.
as if people don't know when movies are coming out. it's not the 1950s.
shareExactly. We all have or can borrow a smart phone, why put us trough 20 or 30 minutes of nonsense for the two trailers we are mildly interested in?!
I don’t want to feel like a hostage at the theater.
I stream pretty much everything now. Forget those theaters.
If people were forbidden to make any sounds except laughter and applause, that's what would improve it!
That, and an electronic damper field that would keep cell phones from working.
Laughter I can understand. But applause? To the screen? Or to the projector operator? I always found applause in a movie theater silly.
Oh, and electronic damper field that would keep cell phones from working is really unwise. What if there's an emergency at home and people are trying to call you? You're gonna blame yourself the rest of your life. There are things more important than movies.
I don't get it when people take entertainment products oh so seriously. Don't get me started on Star Wars nerds!
Occasionally, I've seen movie audiences applaud the movie because they liked it so much, so if I'm fantasizing about being World Dictator I'll allow that much noise. But if I'm Dictator whose word is law, there will be NO TALKING, once the commercials are over! And about those commercials...
And BTW, you're the one taking the question too seriously.
When I saw Spider-Man 3 in the theater, the audience gave an applause right after Spidey saved MJ from falling down.
I mean, people actually gave applause not to the movie, not to the filmmakers... but to Spider-fucking-Man!
Every once in a while an audience seems to have taken on a life of it's own, having inordinate enthusiasm for a film a different audience won't. Probably the group feeding off the energy of a small fraction. It's funny to be there when it happens.
shareIf the other audience members didn't give me dirty looks just for pissing in an empty water bottle because I don't want to miss a part of the movie. There should be a no shaming policy in all theaters
shareYeah! And enough with the starting position of the in-house Rape Golem being random! Give us a fighting chance!
sharesame when a hottie comes on screen and I decide to get a little half chub on and encourage it. fucing snowflakes around ruining everything
shareCheaper tickets.
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