netflix buying warner would mean essentially the death of the theater business.
- they smell bad (stale junk food)
- they have oppressive lighting (mostly extremely dark but with garish turquoise and pink dazzle, accentuating the most confusing aspects of their architecture)
- the sound systems are thunderously loud (I'll be taking earplugs the next time I go to one)
- most of them are expensive
- most of them only programme big, loud, contemporary Hollywood offerings (which are simiarly horrible high contrast junk food only out to assault the audience); there's little appreciation for the art of cinema
They're like nightclubs, but without the dancing, social interaction, or resistance (a nebulous concept I'm not going into here).
You can say "this is what the market wants", but I wont't believe you. Such an argument is like saying social media (surveilled attention management) is what the market wants. The truth is much closer to "this is what the market can bear before it breaks".
My problem is other people. People can’t make it more than about 15 minutes before they check their phone and start scrolling. Or if they aren’t checking their phone they are still using the screen like a flashlight to see the menu or their food. Or they eat like a noisy animal. The worst is people with glasses of ice they chew on. Every time they raise their cup it’s basically an ice maraca followed by the sounds of them crushing ice cubes in their mouth.
Even in theaters where phones are banned (Alamo Drafthouse) they generally don’t do anything about it.
Basically renting a really kick ass home theater that happens to access to the latest releases.
Many theaters are still 1080p (and its very noticable on a large screen). Even in 4k the vast majority lack HDR.
The new Tron movie, for example, will look much better on a large home screen than it did in most theaters.
So why would I pay them to sit in a room full of jerks on their cellphones and watch it in worse quality?
Only something like 20-40% of theaters are 4k, and less than 1% do HDR. 4k is really important when the image is that large, and the missing HDR changes the entire vibe of some films.
I feel that these spaces should be celebrating cinema: specials, all-nighters, film discussion groups/clubs in their cafes, some kind of access for local film-makers... like to actually be a part of film-as-art, rather than a part of film-for-business. Some of this goes on (I've been to a few such events), but I have a hunch that there's appetite for much more. It's just a hunch though.
Most of the cinema experience at home (without the public).
The experience is better at home for many