AMC ain't gonna like this

[word_geek]

Here's a link to an interesting article I was pointed to this morning. In a nutshell, it seems that the major studios are looking to bring first-run movies to the home, through cable and satellite providers, so you'd be able to download a movie at the same time as it's in theaters. Obviously, this is bad for theaters. It's probably intended as

Comments

[_kent]

After picking popcorn skins out of my teeth for the n-hundredth time, I finally decided I don't need popcorn at movies. I also decided that given that I am going to a cinema sometimes more than once a week now, I can't really scarf down a big bag of sweets every time. Hence, having completely dispensed with the recieved wisdom of cinemas - i.e. must see films in a group, must see films with snacks, etc, I'm finding the whole thing a lot more economical. I've never been asked not to take in a sealed half litre bottle of soda, and that's all I feel I need.

I don't think I've ever experienced the same immersive quality in a home theatre that I have in a cinema, but it's not inconceivable. I'd need a digital projector, and I'd need a complete blackout. I'd need to be sitting at a distance from the screen that allowed the screen to fill my field of vision. If I had that, maybe it'd be enough. And I guess that if I had about £800, I could set my loft up as a cinema. I saw someone's set up in a home cinema mag once who'd done that, and it seemed like a fine idea. Better than using it to store a mound of rubbish that I'm not quite ready to throw out anyway. If I had a friend who'd made that investment, I'd be round there all the time.

My main objection to home cinema is that at home, people seem to think it's acceptable to walk in to a room where someone's watching a movie (and I could stop my rant right there, frankly), and start a conversation about (for example) what day the recycling bins go out. The home is not a temple to film. In the UK, the cinema more or less still is, and we more or less get the Orchestra Hall experience that Cap'n Squid craves. When I was in the US, many years ago, I caught a screening of Ronin, (so that'd be '98), and three guys sitting two rows ahead of me talked through the whole thing. If that's the norm in the US, then I'd have given up on it years ago and built my dream home cinema.

[redaly]

[_kent]

I suppose I have a few advantages.
1 - I live in Liverpool, and can thus get to the cinema, travel included, for under a tenner.
2 - We have a good, multiscreen arthouse cinema, which the kids seem to avoid even when the movie is mainstream.
3 - The way my life works, I can go to the cinema on Wednesdays at 2pm. Often, Iget a screen to myself.