Jason Segel talks The Muppets and his inspiration

[frogboy4]

I have bought the incorrect ticket and swapped theaters at the last minute. Sometimes intentional, sometimes changing my mind. I movie hopped a bit as a kid too. But I'm one who has always actively supported the movies and so I don't think it's a big deal. I was a kid and even though that was technically incorrect behavior, that activity has fueled my love for films later in life and theaters and movies have benefited from my many dollars spent since! Bigger picture = let it go.

 

[Drtooth]

I once had the notion of having a movie buffet theater, where all you do is buy one ticket, and you have admittance to the whole theater for the entire day. Sure, you couldn't very well show first run movies, but if you see a movie you don't like, you can walk out and see another. You can continuously see movies all day long until closing if you wanted to.... you could stay in the same room and see the same film for all I'd care.

10 bucks or more is very steep for movies that are 2 hours long AT MOST... no cartoon before it, no short subject... you do get a nice half hour of TV commercials and trailers... but who wants that?

Personally, I'm proud I snuck into Dinosaur (well... actually, the person I was with snuck in, and I basically had to because he was my ride). I don't think ANYONE that worked on that one deserved any of my 7 bucks for boring me to death. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep. I also considered buying bootleg copies of Cat in the Hat and that Gnome thing... out of curiosity, and spite by NOT contributing to any of their paychecks. But I didn't even think they were worth the passive aggressiveness or money of buying them.

Above all, if I want to see a movie and I want it to do well, I WILL pay to see it in theaters. I haven't bothered sneaking into a movie for almost a decade (considered, yes... but never bothered).

 

[RedPiggy]

Isn't the "buffet" version how it used to work? My maternal grandfather said he would pay a quarter and could watch flicks all day.

 

[Slackbot]

Theaters make their money off if the snacks they sell, so a buffet theater wouldn't be unfeasible in the real world on that account. However, don't theaters report their figures based on the tickets they sell? And if they pay for their films based on a percentage of the ticket sales, that would really complicate matters.

 

[CensoredAlso]

However, don't theaters report their figures based on the tickets they sell? And if they pay for their films based on a percentage of the ticket sales, that would really complicate matters.

Plus if too many people buy tickets for the same movie, the theater would be overcrowded.

 

[Drtooth]

However, don't theaters report their figures based on the tickets they sell? And if they pay for their films based on a percentage of the ticket sales, that would really complicate matters.

That's why exactly they can't be first run movies. The theaters don't really care about who sees a movie a week before it comes to DVD...

 

[beaker]

I once had the notion of having a movie buffet theater, where all you do is buy one ticket, and you have admittance to the whole theater for the entire day. Sure, you couldn't very well show first run movies, but if you see a movie you don't like, you can walk out and see another. You can continuously see movies all day long until closing if you wanted to.... you could stay in the same room and see the same film for all I'd care.

10 bucks or more is very steep for movies that are 2 hours long AT MOST... no cartoon before it, no short subject... you do get a nice half hour of TV commercials and trailers... but who wants that?

Personally, I'm proud I snuck into Dinosaur (well... actually, the person I was with snuck in, and I basically had to because he was my ride). I don't think ANYONE that worked on that one deserved any of my 7 bucks for boring me to death. I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep. I also considered buying bootleg copies of Cat in the Hat and that Gnome thing... out of curiosity, and spite by NOT contributing to any of their paychecks. But I didn't even think they were worth the passive aggressiveness or money of buying them.

Above all, if I want to see a movie and I want it to do well, I WILL pay to see it in theaters. I haven't bothered sneaking into a movie for almost a decade (considered, yes... but never bothered).

Yeah let me be perfectly clear on here: I've never snuck into a movie theater without paying. I do believe that to be dishonest. And I like your idea of a movie buffet. I've gone to film fests where it's kind of like that.

As a kid, I sometimes would sit after seeing a film until the next showing happened(like when I saw Flight of the Navigator or Back to the Future) Back then they didn't always get you to leave during inbetween cleanups.

I think most people have either:

1. Paid for a movie and snuck into a second show
2. Realized they had a couple hours before their show starts, and watches at least part of another film
3. Been dissatisfied with a movie a few minutes or a half hour in and decided to go see another film.
4. Hated a film and decided to see another film to make up for it, even though they had seen the entire film they paid for initially

But they're now talking about all movies coming on VOD/streaming the day they come out in theaters; given your average family is going to be spending a ton(gas to go to the movie, food, high ticket prices, and extra for 3d glasses)
As it is, paying $11 for films in which no effort is made in storyline or quality entertainment value...it's a risk.

Like Frogboy, I'm a lifelong cinematic lover...it doesn't matter if it's kids movies, experimental, cult classics, offbeat indie comedies, foreign, animation, anime, big summer action films, psychological thrillers, big dumb comedies...if I like it, I like it and I'll support it.

Everyone seems to like the Shrek films, but I have a very hard time trying to enjoy that or most other Dreamworks films. Its not just Cars I cant get into, but the Ice Age series and countless other talking animal ones. But just as many cgi films hold my imagination, that I cant praise enough: Toy Story 2, Up, Monsters Inc, Monsters vs Aliens, Chicken Little, Finding Nemo, Rattatouie, Toy Story, Robots, etc.

 

[beaker]

Theaters make their money off if the snacks they sell

Is that true? Eesh, I don't know a soul gullible enough to pay high dollar for absolutely unhealthy garbage. I once got a free popcorn as points a few years ago, and wanted to vomit afterwards. See, there is a kind of Pavlovian response we as humans initiate when it comes to the psychological aspect of trance eating. That is to say, eating during a tv show or film. It's not out of hunger, and I almost would say it may not entirely be out of pleasure...more like the anxious automatic need for smokers to "have" to have a cigarette.

I think a large portion of people sneak food in anyways, and the theaters know this. I just never got the idea of eating while watching a movie in a theater

 

[Drtooth]

But they're now talking about all movies coming on VOD/streaming the day they come out in theaters; given your average family is going to be spending a ton(gas to go to the movie, food, high ticket prices, and extra for 3d glasses)
As it is, paying $11 for films in which no effort is made in storyline or quality entertainment value...it's a risk.

That's the problem in a nutshell. It's both sides faults. The movie industry is trying very hard to price itself out of the business, and every time they have a good year, they get so much hubris, they raise the ticket prices, then they have a REALLY bad year after. The insane amount of greed they got after Avatar was a surprise hit, and jumped prices up another 2-3 bucks was BULL!

The studios and chains have a very specific detailed thing worked out between them, keeping movies short enough so they can cram as many showings as possible. I swear they do. Would it kill either of them to bend and put short subjects BEFORE the dang thing instead of just Pepsi and car adverts? Give away free movie posters... do SOMETHING to make me want to go in.

Movies are hurting because the ticket prices are too high, causing the films to do worse than they should, leading up to DVD releases and streaming. Not even DVD sales, which often make up the movie's budget, even if the movie flopped in theaters. And that's going to mean smaller movie budgets, less risk, and more films exactly the same as each other.

Both sides NEED to move on the issue. People need to go see films in theaters, theaters need people to WANT to go see films in theaters. A price cut is one thing, a discounted family package is another... I don't see the business model of continuously raising prices to make up for money lost raising prices the first time.

 

[frogboy4]

That's the problem in a nutshell. It's both sides faults. The movie industry is trying very hard to price itself out of the business, and every time they have a good year, they get so much hubris, they raise the ticket prices, then they have a REALLY bad year after. The insane amount of greed they got after Avatar was a surprise hit, and jumped prices up another 2-3 bucks was BULL!

The studios and chains have a very specific detailed thing worked out between them, keeping movies short enough so they can cram as many showings as possible. I swear they do. Would it kill either of them to bend and put short subjects BEFORE the dang thing instead of just Pepsi and car adverts? Give away free movie posters... do SOMETHING to make me want to go in.

Movies are hurting because the ticket prices are too high, causing the films to do worse than they should, leading up to DVD releases and streaming. Not even DVD sales, which often make up the movie's budget, even if the movie flopped in theaters. And that's going to mean smaller movie budgets, less risk, and more films exactly the same as each other.

Both sides NEED to move on the issue. People need to go see films in theaters, theaters need people to WANT to go see films in theaters. A price cut is one thing, a discounted family package is another... I don't see the business model of continuously raising prices to make up for money lost raising prices the first time.

Who gets the bulk of that ticket money? The overpaid stars. Certainly not the writers or even most of the directors. If you find ticket prices are too high and you have a choice between Jim Carrey in some big budget monstrosity and a smaller, more thoughtfully crafted film without and A-list celebrity headliner; pic the second film. Audiences vote with their dollars. That's why Zemekis' ImageMovers went belly-up.