Let's Go to the Movies!

A line from one of my favorite films. Can you name it?

Actually people are going to the movies less and less. Box office numbers are rising because of inflation, but bodies walking throught the door are decreasing by 1.1% annually. So by about 2036 we'll recall going to the movies fondly as we do things like smoking in bars and dancing cheek to cheek.

I've always enjoyed going to the cinema. Always. When VHS came out, I wasn't that into it. My mom rented a VCR to watch Mutiny on the Bounty. Which was cool, but the small screen really had to fight for my attention. The scale was lost. Televisions were often small with rounded screens, the images were cropped and dark. What many people saw as convenience, I saw as story interuptus. "Pause it while I go to the bathroom." That reminds me of students that tell me they read part of a script. Do you go see part of a play or a movie? Since televison and home video, I guess so.

Don't get me started on the creation of content to be viewed on iPods.

Theatrical release formerly counted for more than 50% of a film's revenue. Increasingly, the theatrical run is a form of advertising for domestic and foreign video sales. Foreign sales have grown exponentially in the past ten years. Further contributing to the move toward high-concept films.

Let's go to the movies! may soon become let's go to a film festival. While theatre attendance dives, film festivals continute to multiply and thrive. What I've often derided as money making schemes by the presenters and, or showcases of horrendous DIY films, may well be the preservationists of the sacred cultural act of going to the movies.

Viva la cinema!
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