let's all go to the lobby

Film Threat put "watching movies at the theater" at number 10 on their list of Hollywood's Frigid 50. I thought theaters were getting better, not worse, thanks to more comfortable, stadium style seating and digital projectors. What is it about the moviegoing experience that is so bad? Is it ringing cell phones? Audience members who talk during the movie? My biggest complaint is the price of tickets and concessions. For many, it's the commercials they show before the trailers. The commercials don't bother me. I think they're more interesting than watching a blank screen or rotating slides of ads. A recent USA Today article points out that the reason many theaters are getting digital projectors is not to show movies but to make it easier to insert commercials before the movies. Now that the average DVD release window has shrunk to 129 days, Hollywood will have to adapt once again.

When money is tight, my family and I have to be more selective about which films are worth our box office dollars. We paid full price to go see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." The next movies I might pay full price for are "The Producers" and "King Kong." Of course, a discounted matinee would always be better. For most movies, it makes sense financially for us to wait for the DVD.

I'll be at the movie theater tomorrow because I was asked to read aloud from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." After I read the book's first chapter in the multiplex lobby, my family and I will stay to watch "The Chronicles of Narnia." If we time it right, we can see it on the screen with the digital projector.