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Comment by snowwrestler | Hacker News Reader

Maybe, maybe not.

> “Kids and preteens,” a recent National Research Group report concluded, “have been the driving force behind many of the biggest theatrical success stories of the past three years.”

> The kids and preteens in the youngest generation have grown up with the ability to watch any movie on any device anytime and anywhere they desire. As it turns out, the place they really want to watch movies is the theater.

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/wicked-zootopia-pg-movies...

It really is better seeing a movie in the theater. And I hope the next generation are coming back around to that.

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I'm a holder of the Alamo Drafthouse pass and attend, bare minimum, twice a month, often more. $20/seat per month to see one movie per day. Then it's just an alternative to going to a restaurant.

Properly controlled lighting, no ambient noises from your home or neighbors, everyone watching is required to not pull their damn phone out (on penalty of being banned), surround sound and sound treatment (the vast majority of home setups do no have adequate sound systems)...it's no contest. Watching movies at home is not comparable.

Okay, but would you concede that that is not an average theatre-going experience for most of us, most places in the world.

Most theaters don’t serve meals the way Alamo does, but the rest is still true: proper darkness, much better sound, huge bright screen, no distractions, no interruptions.

There was a time where people would go to the theater and then text, chat etc. In my experience that is rare now because those types of people just don’t go to the theater anymore. It’s expensive and less convenient than watching at home. Generally speaking, I have found that the people in a movie theater today really want to be there, and are well behaved.

Actually hate it that they turned movies into a restaurant experience.

I don't particularly enjoy hearing other people eat. Although I suppose most movies are not exactly cerebral enough that you have to concentrate.

Kids and preteens don't care about the experience being better in one environment vs another. That age group has less patience than older age groups, all they want to do is to see the movie NOW. They don't want to go to the theater, they want instant gratification. If a movie also released on streaming they'd be watching it before you could get them in the car for a trip to the theater.

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