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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

Whether or not this service displaces theaters in the mid term is anyone's guess. What's not that ambiguous is the fate of movie theaters as the main venue to receive new movies.

To me the only way they can remain viable is artificially by keeping a monopoly on distribution, otherwise there isn't a compelling reason for leaving the comfort of one's abode to go see a movie in a shared space next to strangers who might behave very annoyingly. Plus there is getting there, the grime on seats, the crowds, etc.

Once screens get big enough, the form factor will cease to be a deciding factor. Sure, they have some years before that happens but they'd better prepare.

On the upside, the theaters could be reused for other community purposes, either as rec centers, hack spaces, etc.

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Higher-end cinemas like Alamo Drafthouse are already adapting to this. Designated seating, tight controls on audience behaviour to create a more reliably pleasant experience, extra little perks like their great pre-movie content, plenty of showings of stuff other than current blockbusters, and much better food and beverages than the old overpriced popcorn and candy.

Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem.

The showings of non-mainstream media interests me, as a MST3K/RiffTrax fan.

>Is audience behavior a problem? In my limited experience, it has never been a problem.

I hate, deeply and profoundly, the sound of people eating. If it doesn't bother you then you might not have noticed this, but about 50% of popcorn eating cinema-goers cannot chew with their mouths closed.

No, it bothers me (a lot), but I have never noticed it. Usually I have to be in a bad mood to notice it, so that may be why I have never noticed in theaters.

Regardless, does the theater in question seriously notify loud eaters to quiet down or risk being removed from the theater? That is way too strict. Or maybe the theater uses sound-cancelling tech?

They space the seats farther apart, which helps a little, but the reality is that given a choice between home or cinema, I'll always pick home.

Misophonia. [1] I have it as well. Extremely loud popcorn eaters are nearly the bane of my existence. I've developed a system for where I prefer to sit in movie theaters, based on certain very common crowd behaviors I've noticed, after carefully studying them for the last 15 years.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06annoy.html

I went and saw a movie in SF last weekend.. The couple in front of us, took off their socks and shoes and were dangling their bare feet over the row of seats in front of them.. I was appalled.

Ah, the commotion :)

I sat through the (not so good) "White Noise" with some guy spending a good portion of the movie explaining loudly to his girlfriend why Michael Keaton would have been editing his audio files even faster if he was on a PC instead of a Mac.

The only time out of the past six or so theater trips that I did not encounter rudeness (excessive/loud talking, cellphone use, etc.) was when I saw the new Star Wars at a late night showing a month or so ago. And that was mainly because I was (literally) the only attendee.

Theater behavior was essentially churchlike before the advent of home video.

I don't know if it was home video. Mobile phones (texting, taking pics, yes, even taking calls) are all things I've experienced in a theater. It might be the fact that we all carry decides capable of distracting us and everyone around us - and many feel perfectly entitled to do what they want when they want.

I blame iPod - it appears that a lot of people have their hearing damaged (supposedly with prolonged listening to headphones) and talk very loudly because of this. I don't remember people yelling to each other during early 2000s movies (when home video had been already quite old but the iPod was not so popular and $200+ headphones were only for crazy audiophiles). For the past 5 or so years it's pretty bad. Especially children, who probably trained their voices to communicate with their half-deaf parents. It could be me getting older and experiencing the "get off my lawn" syndrome, however I'd imagine I should become less sensible to loud speech due to natural hearing loss with age.

When I went to see the Martian some parents thought bringing their young baby to see it would be fun.

The other big annoyance at the moment is people checking their phones. It's like getting flash lights out and shining them around.

This happened to me recently, I asked a man of probably the age of 40 if checking Facebook was really important right now.

He'd been scrolling through his timeline for a few minutes before I said anything, he put his phone away and started watching the movie but started checking every setting for iOS shortly after which I spoke louder so everyone could hear that he was being an annoying prick.

When I saw Furious 7, there was a large multi-family crowd in front of me who thought it would be a good idea to bring multiple (>3) 3-4 year old kids to watch the movie... and let them run around effectively unsupervised.

If you like MST3K, definitely check out the Master Pancake series at the Alamo Drafthouse - https://drafthouse.com/austin/series/master-pancake . To be honest, it's one of my favorite things about living in Austin. It's live comedians heckling bad films. I've seen a ton of movies this way. Some movies, this is the ONLY way I'd watch them (I saw their mock of the second Twilight film--even they couldn't make that movie compelling to watch.)

The only negative is that they are so popular that tickets often sell out nearly a week in advance. It's a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night in Austin.

Cinema screens at home might actually get bigger than those at your local cinema very soon. How's that even possible I hear you ask? Well anyone who has tried a virtual cinema in VR will know what I'm talking about.

It's pretty clear to me that this is the way a lot of people will want to watch movies in the future once resolution in VR is increased. This will either by higher pixel density or a move to retina projection based technologies. Both of these things are likely to hit the market with the required resolution within the next 2-5 years.

I go to the cinema a lot, but usually only if I can see the film I want on to on Screen 1 - i.e the biggest one.

VR will negate the need for me to do that so often, though I'm still sure I'll go with friends once in a while.

That's a very good point indeed. One way or another the value of their screens will become negligible. They can force deals to keep them in business a few more years, maybe a decade, maybe more on the outside, but time and technology are definitely not on their side. They'd better have a plan B for making money.

Personally, any tech that involves wearing a headset can just go die in a corner. DO NOT WANT.

Walkman?

Going to the movies is a social activity. Sometimes people just want to get out of the house.

Yes, I get that. Some people will still want what will be an old-fashioned experience --just as there are a few people who still go to drive-thru movies.

Still, as the interactive aspect ramps up (where you can "watch together" virtually (VR, or alternative), this will be less of a concern.

As for the part about "getting out of the house" there are lots of other things people can do for that, walk the dog, go to the caffe, "get some milk" at the grocer's, drop by the pub, etc.

This may shock you but people do enjoy things you may not enjoy. Your opinion is not universal truth.

In fact someone can even say "there isn't a compelling reason for leaving the comfort of one's abode to go get a beer in a shared space next to strangers who might behave very annoyingly. Plus there is getting there, the grime on seats, the crowds, etc." to your suggestion.

Going there is, but actually watching the film isn't.

Since VCRs it always been about a monopoly on distribution plug a difference in quality. The size of the screen hasn't been a big deal for a long time, it is the resolution. Now that the resolution is basically matched by blu-ray and 4k / higher frame rates haven't made it to theatres we are seeing an opening for internet distribution. This same situation has been played out multiple times but not with the internet as a distribution model.

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