I don’t get the movie industry at all. Springfield has 35 movie screens in town, counting the two outdoor ones at the Route 66 Drive-in. Today there are only 15 movie titles being shown on these screens.
Does that mean that there are only 15 movies “out” right now? What are all the other directors, actors, producers, et cetera doing? It has been said that the high cost of seeing a movie is the result of the high cost of making a movie. Tens of millions are spent on movies these days, and admission prices certainly reflect that as they approach $10 here in the rural mid-west.
But I think the cost of having more than twice the number of screens as movies is pushing the price up as well. The local movie chain just completed a year or so ago a new 12 screen multiplex that is only showing TWO movies today. Sure those two, “Shrek II” and “Harry Potter” are popular and will have people at each showing. But limiting yourself only to the audience for those two titles seems to be a poor way to run a profitable business to me.
I used to go see movies in the theater every week, sometimes more than once a week. I loved movies on the big screen. It seemed like there were always several good ones out that I wanted to see. Now during any given week there might be one that I would be willing to see in the theater. However the rudeness of audiences, and the upward spiral of the total cost to see a film, usually has me saying, “Let’s wait for the DVD.”
I just don’t get it.