Why do filmmakers choose to sell to Netflix instead of theaters?

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Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Yep, co-sign all that. I love the theater experience when people aren't ruining it...but they so often do.
Theaters really should throw people out more often. How come it's gotten worse than it seems to have been before. Have theaters become too lenient on the issue?



Probably, but it can't really be on the theaters anyway. It's asking a lot for them to clamp down on it unless people are already keeping it rare enough to be manageable. If it's happening constantly it's just not going to be plausible for them to contain it. The change, in other words, is the audiences.

Best theory I've heard is that the last few generations have grown up with home video, and are used to watching movies however they like. Throw in the ubiquity of connectivity with phones and it takes a fairly conscientious person not to contribute to the problem.



Ami-Scythe's Avatar
A bucket of anxiety
Theaters really should throw people out more often. How come it's gotten worse than it seems to have been before. Have theaters become too lenient on the issue?
I have never had a bad experience with people in theaters. Most of I've seen was a group of kids tampering with the cloth on the wall and they may have tried to break something else, but the movie wasn't on yet so
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Ami-Scythe



The trick is not minding
I don’t know where you get that Disney basically own most theatres.
They don’t own Regal nor AMC theatre chains which are pretty big.
I meant in terms of when their movies come out they dominate at the box office
Oh! My bad, I took it too literally. I’m sorry



Movie Forums Squirrel Jumper
Probably, but it can't really be on the theaters anyway. It's asking a lot for them to clamp down on it unless people are already keeping it rare enough to be manageable. If it's happening constantly it's just not going to be plausible for them to contain it. The change, in other words, is the audiences.

Best theory I've heard is that the last few generations have grown up with home video, and are used to watching movies however they like. Throw in the ubiquity of connectivity with phones and it takes a fairly conscientious person not to contribute to the problem.
Well it's just that places like bars and nightclubs have no problem throwing out anyone who is misbehaving at their own discretion, so could theaters learn to have that kind of confidence in doing so?



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Its not confidence in those cases. Night clubs and bars expect certain types. Even personslities that aren't normally aggressive can shift when alcohol is involved. They hire staff specifically to deal with such encounters.

A theater is catering to a more family-friendly audience and environment. Part-time high schoolers and night shift adults aren't there to intervene with altercations. So it's easier to just let things ride if it's just an annoyance. Or other people aren't willing to cause a scene in speaking out against disruptions. For whatever reasons.



Well it's just that places like bars and nightclubs have no problem throwing out anyone who is misbehaving at their own discretion, so could theaters learn to have that kind of confidence in doing so?
It's not confidence, it's incentive and economics. Many nightclubs need security/bouncers anyway, in case people get unruly. They also specifically profit from people staying there and drinking longer, whereas movie theater profit is binary with the ticket price and is only threatened if someone demands a refund, which is presumably very rare.

The threshold for misbehavior is different, too. You have to do way less to qualify as rude in a movie theater than you do to qualify as rude or unruly in a bar. They're two completely different businesses, two completely different social contexts, and they have two completely different behavioral standards. A better question is why you would expect them to follow similar rules, given all those obvious differences.



Then there's the weirdos. You just don't know what kind of wackadoo is sitting near you. And that was the case with watching Joker. Some weirdo, alone, just two seats from me would practically jump out of his seat laughing obnoxiously loud....at scenes that are not even intended to be funny. No one else was laughing. It was really distracting and pretty much ruined the movie experience.

I have my 75 inch Sony android TV, good sound system, Netflix, HBO Now, and Disney Plus. I'm guessing it will be at least another year before I'm inside a theater again.
It’s even worse for a woman alone at a movie theater vis-à-vis weirdos. Particularly when I lived in NYC, there was always some sick bunny feeling himself up sitting next to me. These days I would have his ass thrown out of the theater, but back in the day I was shy about this.

Like you, I have a nice theater set-up in my master bedroom. So comfy &, apart from my cats, no one disturbs me.
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



The trick is not minding
I miss going to the theatre. It’s an experience I have always enjoyed. From 2000-2005 I often went every week to see a new film between 3 different theatres.
When I lived outside of Lancaster 2006-2013, I went maybe once a month if I was lucky.*
In Pittsburgh between 2014-2019, it was even less.
Now in Maryland, it’s almost nonexistent. Going was something I always looked forward to, much like renting movies.
I can watch films at home, which is great for older films, but I wouldn’t ever trade the opportunity to see one on the big screen. Going to the theatre is like a timeline mapped out for my life.

*there is this great theatre located near Litiz, Pa, called Penn Cinema that showed classic films twice a week during the year that I often attended. They held quizzes (I won a few times, a coffee mug and a shirt were my prizes). I dragged my friend there to see films he wouldn’t have otherwise had seen such as Casablanca, The Exorcist, Rebecca, Shane and so on. Or I would just go alone.



What an excellent day for an exorcism
Nothing lasts forever. There were predictions of doom for theaters when television was introduced, but it survived. The same for the introduction of home video, many claiming it was the death of theaters, yet they still survived. It might be different this time with streaming combined with millennials, the theaters' majority customer, are declining in attendance significantly. Millennials have adapted their lifestyle to a 3 inch by 6 inch screen....or whatever size their smartphone is.

A lot of trends are dying that Gen X and Boomers hold dear. Classic cars - when's the last time you seen a millennial driving a classic car or muscle car? And music. I don't know a single millennial who's picked up a guitar, playing in garage bands, or learning drums, etc. I mean, there are exceptions to these dying trends that a handful of millennials have taken interest, but overall, I've seen very few and far between. Quite possible theater going will be one of the casualties of the Millennial era.



Nothing lasts forever. There were predictions of doom for theaters when television was introduced, but it survived. The same for the introduction of home video, many claiming it was the death of theaters, yet they still survived. It might be different this time with streaming combined with millennials, the theaters' majority customer, are declining in attendance significantly. Millennials have adapted their lifestyle to a 3 inch by 6 inch screen....or whatever size their smartphone is.

A lot of trends are dying that Gen X and Boomers hold dear. Classic cars - when's the last time you seen a millennial driving a classic car or muscle car? And music. I don't know a single millennial who's picked up a guitar, playing in garage bands, or learning drums, etc. I mean, there are exceptions to these dying trends that a handful of millennials have taken interest, but overall, I've seen very few and far between. Quite possible theater going will be one of the casualties of the Millennial era.
That's kind of freaky. The sad thing is that I mostly agree. There are creative younger wave ppl out there depending on where you live, but things do tend to migrate more towards an insulated, tech-heavy aesthetic like combining hippie mentality with all of the "social" technology that's available. TV commercials are out of control with this. It's on us. Cameras at every stoplight. Every store inside and out. Drive thrus. In everyones pocket. Of course the theater will take a hit. Streaming is the future so far. NF despises the theaters. They castrated their own profits on the Irishman release as if to flick their front tooth at theater goers.

When I have to hear brain dead ppl accuse me of having a negative outlook on modern society...it's like..it isn't MY fault it sucks!

The good news (or bad news) is that there really aren't enough movies worth seeing in theaters now, anyway. So...yeah, sign me up to streaming. One hand on my balls and the other on a remote wrapped inside a bag of popcorn. Can't do that in a theater.

I mean you can ...



What an excellent day for an exorcism
I don't fault them for it. We had our time, our interests (I'm assuming the majority here are Gen X and Boomers). It's the Millennials turn.

A couple centuries ago, there was probably some older folk saying, "I don't understand today's generation. I thought sitting in a tea room watching a guy in a white powder wig playing a harpsichord would be an entertainment that would last forever, but kids today are fascinated with those new talking pictures. That's not real entertainment. What a shame."



The trick is not minding
I don’t think anyone realistically believes they’re going away. Sure there’s a decline, but not for the blockbusters. And let’s face it, as long as the Disney films and Marvel films and the Star Wars films make money in the theatre, it isn’t going anywhere.



The trick is not minding
I don't fault them for it. We had our time, our interests (I'm assuming the majority here are Gen X and Boomers). It's the Millennials turn.

A couple centuries ago, there was probably some older folk saying, "I don't understand today's generation. I thought sitting in a tea room watching a guy in a white powder wig playing a harpsichord would be an entertainment that would last forever, but kids today are fascinated with those new talking pictures. That's not real entertainment. What a shame."
Minor quibble, but talking pictures have only been around for less then a century.



...Classic cars - when's the last time you seen a millennial driving a classic car or muscle car?
They can't afford them! Hell the car I had in high school is worth a small fortune right now, I should've kept it!

...(I'm assuming the majority here are Gen X and Boomers). It's the Millennials turn.
I don't think there's many Boomers here. I'd guess most are Millennials. But really don't know for sure.



It's funny how television and movies can represent a generation only a fraction of it true. Millenials get a really bad rap and if you go by tv and movies you can see why. But there are so many people, young and old, who are textured, dynamic human beings, artists, humanitarians, etc, that it would be foolish to think that we're doomed from that perspective. That the millenials are ruining the world. That's a farce because everyone knows it's all kind of just coming down around itself due to the reliance on technology, which, I don't care what anyone says, is friggin SCARY.



I was queuing for DKN coffee Thursday a.m. & the 20-something nurse in front of me told me “not to come in her personal space”. I had a good laugh about this later with friends (hey, I’m British - I never stand close to anyone), but one friend immediately said “Millennials, that’s the kind of thing they say”. No clue if this is true or not.



What an excellent day for an exorcism
Minor quibble, but talking pictures have only been around for less then a century.
Yea I overshot the time frame in my analogy by a wide margin, lol, but hopefully you got the gist of it.



The trick is not minding
I was queuing for DKN coffee Thursday a.m. & the 20-something nurse in front of me told me “not to come in her personal space”. I had a good laugh about this later with friends (hey, I’m British - I never stand close to anyone), but one friend immediately said “Millennials, that’s the kind of thing they say”. No clue if this is true or not.
This is something I had heard when I was a teenager, regarding personal space. (I was sitting too close to a girl I liked, who was a year or two older, but alas, she didn’t reciprocate my affections)
This was over 20 years ago.
I’m a gen xer, as was the girl referenced.
People are too quick to lay the blame at Millenials feet I’ve noticed.
As a side note, I learned to respect personal space after that incident, so really it just came as an issue of respect