Comparing box office [0] is hard due to COVID and there’s still money to be made. But it’s not the same.
I think we’ll find that the box office peaked a few years ago.
People still buy records and CDs so there will always likely some theaters. Just not like it was.
And yeah, the self-congratulatory nonsense that is the Oscars is out of touch with audiences, but there are lots of studios that are doing great things--they're just not trying for Oscars, so they're not winning them.
I think theaters can be fairly cheap to run and my city already has a few “hobby” theaters that don’t make money but are kept open by someone who really likes movies.
I think the word you are looking for is dying. Dead vs dying is not the same thing. Dead is dead, unless it's a zombie. Dying a slow death is what you're describing, but miracles can happen that prevent the actual death.
Also, peaking doesn't mean dead. I'm just really confused by your definitions
I think they might want our brains, actually.
So sort of like in the fashion sense. I mean bellbottoms still exist, but they are rare .
Or similar to the expression “jump the shark” in that it is still popular, but less so over time. And its inevitable demise is known so it speeds up its demise.
I would love to see it become a golden era of the niche matinee where smaller theaters can flourish that show older films, art films, foreign films etc.
I would love to see distributors offer up high-quality digital copies of their films for small theaters to screen. Might be another source of cash flow to the rights-holders. It would be nice to see, just as an example, "Andrei Rublyov", on the big screen in 8K or whatever quality.
While I lament the number of bookstores and music shops that have gone away, and that boom times are unlikely to come again (and birth wide variety) … what remains are generally purposeful, well-cared-for, well-appreciated places.
It's not what I'd wish, but it's where I hope things go for the theatrical experience as well.
You should love the reality we live in, then, because that's exactly what's been happening and it's in some sense part of the problem.
My spouse and I go to the theaters as often as we ever have, but it's very noticeable that the lion's share of the movies we now watch in theater are special showings of older movie classics or "cinema of country X" type festival events, which than often select from the last ten years or so. This has held for the past half-decade across two countries.
When we lived in Seoul, there was a few years when it was a popular couple date option to go to open air rooftop cinemas showing modern classics like "Her" or "Before Sunrise", or to go to the Silver Cinemas originally subsidized for seniors where you'd watch old Hollywood classics from the 40s to 60s (we managed to watch a 70mm projection of all the 4 hours of "Lawrence of Arabia" that way). Now in Berlin, there's a large selection of small cinemas showing random movies from all eras. Our favorite is situated in an old DVD store and specializes in a combo of movies and serving specialty whisky ... it's as hipster as it sounds. I think the last movies we went to see there were "First Blood" and "Persona" and "Leon", I guess.
And it's fun, but at the same time it's kind of sad your only two options are watching the latest Marvel flick or All Time Top 250 movies from the 1970s. That still means so much that movies used to be is gone. The second-tier smaller blockbusters you had in the 80s and 90s for example, non-franchise original IP, or the even the lesser known movies from decades past. If you're not on top of the food order, you're just gone.
I'm not too doom-y and gloom-y overall on the state of movies, there's still more interesting movies each year than I can keep up with if I aggregate all the possible venues. But the selection in cinemas is, well, very two-note.
I isolate because it's the safest way to live in terms of avoiding Covid.
It works just fine for me: everything I need can be ordered/delivered to my front door/mailbox.
I live alone (with my cat so, far from alone... but I digress) and am not immunocompromised or otherwise ill.
In fact, the opposite is true: I won the Richmond Half-Marathon in 2018 in a time of 1:55 [sub-9-minutes/mile] (Men 70-75); finished 3rd in 2019 in 1:57; and am determined to win this year's race (Men 75-80; I turn 75 on June 8 and the race is on November 11, 2023).
People I know keep getting Covid; some 525 people/day in the U.S. die of Covid; long Covid basically destroys lives and is doing so to millions of Americans.
It's as if by declaring an emergency over, by some magical spell it becomes true to many; not to me.
I already know EXACTLY how long I will continue to live this way and have told this to my family (daughter/son-in-law/6-year-old grandson who live in Pittsburgh, whom I last saw in person in November 2019).
When the U.S. death rate from Covid equals that from car crashes (45,000 in 2022; 120 people/day), that is when I will toss my 3M N95 masks in the trash and live like everyone else.
What with the current figure of 525 deaths/day — up from around 300, the lowest it's ever been, in October 2022, since when it's risen steadily — I project around 2027-2030.
I'm glad to see you are still active despite being isolated.
You are obviously a smart person and likely more familiar with the medical aspects of this than me due to your background. Do you feel at all that you are staying this path due to the initial justified fear of the disease and now it's simply a part of your mindset or do you think you are able to frequently reassess your isolation from a new unbiased point of view? Again this is not an attack, you are obviously making many sacrifices to live this way and sometimes it's hard to take a step back and see the whole picture. Pros vs cons.
Were you an introvert before (as that may have eased the transition)?
What are your thoughts on those that no longer isolate, especially people with kids?
Feel free to ignore some or all of my questions:)
Again, no judgement, just interested in the mindset and perspective of those that have made this decision.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/2021-2022.htm
If I use that metric I'm never ever gonna feel safe from Covid! Best I stick to car crashes, no?
No, I don't think for a second I'd continue my lifestyle unless the evidence justified it.
I'm always looking for evidence making it safe to abandon my extreme approach but so far I haven't found it.
The thing is, I don't feel like I'm making any sacrifices to live how I'm living — with the exception of not seeing my family in person (FaceTime isn't a substitute).
You called it: I'm basically an introvert, happiest sitting quietly with my cat on my lap reading.
This has always been the case my entire life, for many decades before Covid.
I'm totally fine with others who don't isolate, whether or not they have kids.
I find no fault with anyone's approach/behavior, but I must say every time I see a picture of an crowded airport, as happened with the Southwest Airlines debacle, I marvel at the way almost all people don't give any thought to Covid.
All the best and I hope we hit your metric sooner than later. Good luck at your race!
Box office numbers for blockbusters still shows plenty of people like going to the movies. You just don't hear about much outside of the blockbusters anymore.
Comedy and romantic comedy seems to have largely died out for some reason.
Used to be that if you wanted to see a new movie you had to see it in theaters. Now you have a lot more options, so going to the theater is more of a planned, special event.
I think the analogy to music fits. Before recorded music there were tons of music venues because if you wanted to hear music (and not your own), you had to get out of the house. Live concerts and performances most definitely didn't die, but they became more of a special-event type of thing.
recorded music has been around for many many decades, predating everyone alive.
I also love paper comic books, but they are basically dead as far as a popular art form in and of themselves.