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Movie theaters were riding high as the 2010s began. Avatar began the decade by overtaking the worldwide gross of Titanic, whose record that stood strong for 13 years, and made an absolutely insane amount of money. Blockbusters were bigger than ever and the Marvel Cinematic Universe was on the precipice of their total domination of the box office. Meanwhile, Netflix had already taken Blockbuster's spine and as they entered the business of actually making programming rather than just streaming things that already existed, no one knew just how much the future of movies and TV would change. 10 years later, movie theaters are bruised, beaten, and almost broken. Streaming services from both new media players like Amazon and Netflix as well as traditional Hollywood powers like Disney, Universal and Warner already signaled a major change in how we watch movies before the massive pandemic that closed almost every theater in the country for months and is still keeping most moviegoers away from the cinema. The Department of Justice under Donald Trump has signaled that they're ready to end the Paramount Decrees that forbid production studios from owning theater chains, which took the power away from the studios and gave it to independent theater chains, who were still beholden to the studios but created a fairer landscape for film exhibition. The largest theater chain in America, AMC, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and may not last through the end of 2022 without a buyout or merger of some sort. With theaters closed, the door has opened for studios to skip the theaters altogether and simply release brand new movies to the consumer directly through their own streaming service or through other internet-based options, something that in the past movie theaters had banded together to prevent. I've worked in movie theaters for most of the last 7 years, and the 6 month anniversary of the day my theater shut down because of the pandemic is this week. As the smaller of two theaters in the market owned by the same chain, there's no real rush to reopen, especially given the terrible results from Mulan and Tenet's releases. I love movie theaters, but it would be silly to say that they're not on the verge of going away soon or having a massive change in how they operate. So here is a thread to discuss what might happen next. Will the Drive-in resurgence hold strong as we continue to actively gently caress up disease management? Who will buy AMC, Disney or Amazon? Will we see the death of the multiplex and the rise of independent, non-profit theaters? You can also feel free to discuss what might have to happen for you to go and see a movie in a theater again, safety-wise, or the box office results of the next few months, because they're sure to be interesting. edit: Here's a list of movies that have been delayed from their original release dates due to COVID. I don't know if it's exhaustive (and doesn't include stuff that got a digital release like The Witches or has already come out like Tenet/Mulan) but it's pretty much everything that was scheduled for this year, plus plenty of stuff from next year. Obviously this is all still in flux, especially those last few major 2020 movies like Wonder Woman and... Death on the Nile? Free Guy? It's getting pretty rough. edit2: Latest update on 10/25/20, big moves are Soul going to Disney+, Candyman dropping in August 2021, Ghostbusters: Afterlife moving back another 3 months and Legally Blonde 3 getting slotted into 2022. Currently Scheduled for 2020: Let Him Go: 8/21/20 to 11/6/20 The Last Vermeer: 5/22/20 to 12/4/20 Free Guy: 7/3/20 to 12/11/20 The Comeback Trail: 11/13/20 to 12/18/20 Death on the Nile: 10/9/20 to 12/18/20 Promising Young Woman: 4/17/20 to 12/25/20 Wonder Woman 1984: 10/2/20 to 12/25/20 Currently Scheduled for 2021: Escape Room 2: 4/17/20 to 1/1/21 Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway: 4/3/20 to 1/15/21 Respect: 8/14/20 to 1/15/21 Antlers: 4/17/20 to 2/19/21 Nobody: 8/14/20 to 2/19/21 Everybody’s Talking About Jamie: 10/23/20 to 2/26/21 Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse: 10/2/20 to 2/26/21 The King’s Man: 9/18/20 to 2/26/21 Tom and Jerry: 12/23/20 to 3/5/21 Raya and the Last Dragon: 11/25/20 to 3/12/21 The Many Saints of Newark: 9/25/20 to 3/12/21 Morbius: 7/31/20 to 3/19/21 James Bond: 11/20/20 to 4/2/21 Fatherhood: 4/3/20 to 4/2/21 Bob’s Burgers The Movie: 7/17/20 to 4/9/21 BIOS: 10/2/20 to 4/16/21 Last Night in Soho: 9/25/20 to 4/23/21 A Quiet Place Part II: 3/20/20 to 4/23/21 Monster Hunter: 9/4/20 to 4/23/21 Black Widow: 5/1/20 to 5/7/21 Spiral: 5/15/20 to 5/21/21 Godzilla vs. Kong: 11/20/20 to 5/21/21 F9: 5/22/20 to 5/28/21 Infinite: 8/7/20 to 5/28/21 Samaritan: 10/20/20 to 6/4/21 Ghostbusters: Afterlife: 7/10/20 to 6/11/21 In the Heights: 6/26/20 to 6/18/21 Venom: Let There Be Carnage: 10/2/20 to 6/25/21 Jackass: 3/5/21 to 7/2/21 Minions: The Rise of Gru: 7/3/20 to 7/2/21 Top Gun: Maverick: 12/23/20 to 7/2/21 Shang Chi: 2/12/21 to 7/9/21 The Forever Purge: 7/10/21 to 7/9/21 Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar: 7/31/20 to 7/16/21 The Tomorrow War: 12/25/20 to 7/23/21 Jungle Cruise: 7/24/20 to 7/30/21 Hotel Transylvania 4: 12/22/21 to 8/6/21 Deep Water: 11/13/20 to 8/13/21 The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard: 8/28/20 to 8/20/21 Candyman: 6/12/20 to 8/27/21 Jackass 4: 3/5/21 to 9/3/21 Dune: 12/25/20 to 10/1/21 Uncharted: 3/5/21 to 10/8/21 Halloween Kills: 10/16/20 to 10/15/21 The Last Duel: 12/25/20 to 10/15/21 Snake Eyes: 10/23/20 to 10/22/21 Clifford the Big Red Dog: 11/13/20 to 11/5/21 Spider-Man Home Something: 7/16/21 to 11/5/21 WB Elvis Movie: 10/1/21 to 11/5/21 King Richard: 11/25/20 to 11/19/21 Mission Impossible 7: 7/23/21 to 11/19/21 The Eternals: 11/6/20 to 11/5/21 West Side Story: 12/10/20 to 12/18/21 The Matrix 4: 3/5/21 to 12/21/21 Sing 2: 7/2/21 to 12/22/21 Currently Scheduled for 2022: Thor: Love and Thunder: 11/5/21 to 2/11/22 The Batman: 6/23/21 to 3/4/22 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: 11/5/21 to 3/25/22 Legally Blonde 3: 5/8/20 to 5/20/22 John Wick 4: 5/21/21 to 5/27/22 Jurassic World: Dominion: 6/11/21 to 6/10/22 Captain Marvel II: 7/8/21 to 7/8/22 New Old Indiana Jones: 7/9/21 to 7/29/22 Into the Spider-Verse 2: 4/8/22 to 10/7/22 Halloween Ends: 10/15/21 to 10/14/22 Mission Impossible 8: 8/5/22 to 11/4/22 The Flash: 7/1/22 to 11/4/22 Avatar 2: lololol to 12/17/22 Removed: The French Dispatch The Green Knight Judas and the Black Messiah Wicked Malignant Connected Black Adam Minecraft Voyagers Fatale Happiest Season Also the three remaining Avatar sequels and 3 new Star Wars movies, one made by Taika Waititi, all got pushed back a year, they were scheduled for mid-December dates, alternating between Avatar and Star Wars. DC Murderverse fucked around with this message at 11:27 on Oct 25, 2020 |
# ? Sep 15, 2020 00:18 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 17:30 |
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I feel like if theaters still continue to be a thing, they might be more in the style of the Alamo theaters. Basically dinner and a show places. However, I am going to remain hopeful that theaters can survive this, even if it is just the big chains that don't deserve it.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 00:44 |
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I don't care how much you love the theater, don't go to one until a vaccine has been out for some time. If your indie theater dies then that sucks but your anger should be directed at a government who refused to do anything for them during the biggest health and economic crisis of the century, not yourself or other people who wisely decided that human lives were more important than a projector at half the recommended brightness anyways.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 00:45 |
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Roth posted:I feel like if theaters still continue to be a thing, they might be more in the style of the Alamo theaters. Basically dinner and a show places. oh that's the other thing I should talk about Don't go to the Alamo Drafthouse they've continually let gross sexual harassers work with them (Harry Knowles, Devin Faraci) and many of their theaters have lots of labor issues that all have basically the same root: the guy in charge is a poo poo. this article is just about one location in Kansas City but there's been stories out of Texas, where they're based, that all sort of lead to the same conclusion, which is that you shouldn't give them your money. This is the worst story out of that article: quote:On a shift just after Thanksgiving one year, Pepper says he was working as the front-of-house manager when police arrived, looking for an employee, Frederik, who was due to start his shift. Pepper hadn’t seen Frederik, but knew he was arriving soon. He says he asked the general manager, Alan, what to do.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 00:58 |
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Jesus. I've never had the opportunity because the closest one to me is like 3 hours away, and I already get tired thinking of the hour drive to get to Disneyland. At least I can stop hoping for one to open near me.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 01:06 |
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I hope Alamo gets bought out or something because nothing has come close to that experience. It’s the only theater that I went too because people didn’t loving talk and I could get beer and stuff.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 01:43 |
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I haven't been to a theater since the beginning of March (the last movie I saw in theaters was Wendy), and I really miss it. As an AMC A-List subscriber, I had been going to the movies almost every week for a long time. I was a MoviePass subscriber before I got A-List, so this had been part of my weekly routine for some time. But I have no intention of going back to a theater anytime soon. The virus is still a very real threat, and even if theaters are implementing advanced cleaning techniques, it just doesn't seem worth it for the handful of movies or less that I'd want to see for the rest of the year. I have until December to renew my A-List subscription, at which point it'll auto-renew. But I doubt things will be better by December. Hell, who knows if the virus situation will be significantly better in 2021? Or if AMC will even still be around? I may just end up cancelling it altogether. Just gonna play things by ear. It would definitely upset me if theaters went away as a whole. I've been going to movies all 30 years that I've been on this Earth and I've always enjoyed going, even if the movie I saw sucked, and I've seen quite a few movies in theaters that have sucked. But when a movie's good, seeing it on a big screen with a nice sound system makes the experience so much better, and I've seen a lot of good movies in theaters too. I can watch them at home, though, and I have seen quite a few at home. I'm fortunate enough to currently have a 4K TV, floorstanding speakers and a subwoofer, so while it's not quite the same as going to a theater, it's not like I'm watching them on my phone either. And I've seen some of the recent VOD releases like The King Of Staten Island and Bill And Ted Face The Music at home. My hope is that upcoming movies like No Time To Die and Wonder Woman 1984 get simultaneous theatrical/VOD releases. If not, I'll wait 'til they hit VOD just like I'll wait 'til Tenet hits VOD. Anyway, this post is getting rambly and I'm not sure where else I'm going with this. Basically, I used to love going to the movies in theaters and it would really suck if they closed, but I'm not going back until it's safe and who knows when that will be.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 03:15 |
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My actual favorite theater is up for sale (for a cool three million) Which is really a shame. They'd been closed for months anyway because the roof was leaking. I'm always eager to keep these places going because I feel like people have an odd apathy or intolerance toward public art spaces, especially theaters now that Expensive TVs look so pretty, but the lack of space to gather for the purpose of positive intellectual exercise is so crucial to a society and I just, just don't get their feelings in better times. The movie I saw was a herzog doc with between 5 and 9 people above the age of 50 in the theater. It was a reflection on the premature death of his friend, an anthropologist, his work and his life, "song lines" and the spiritual underpinnings of nomadism. I've been feeling antsy this year as I am sure most everyone has, restricted in movement, and I begin to wonder how motion, or the lack of motion, malnourishes the soul. Ideally a theater should be as social as possible. I have a pipe dream to own or run a theater with an upstairs "cafe/casual commentary" area. Downstairs we show only the finest films (pre-edison comedies, Westerns with real deaths, the cut of 2001 with zlobork, the actual alien who lived on the moon...) And there is a big beautiful lobby with a grand colorful carpet, some sculptures of lions or other animals on the pillars and bulwarks, some tables and chairs, The finest marquee on this side of this mississip', with a thousand glittering lights, And night after night we sell out blockbuster show after blockbuster show. Eventually, in real life, I will buy a one screen theater in a town called "spuck," which is notorious for being the heat stroke capital of the world. Thank you.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 03:57 |
CelticPredator posted:I hope Alamo gets bought out or something because nothing has come close to that experience. I did the Alamo thing once, and I don't get how people talking is any more distracting than people moving in and out delivering that beer and stuff.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 04:00 |
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A couple of the smaller chains have started to convert their parking lots to drive-ins. Unfortunately the price is $30/car, no per-person ticketing available, so it's been hard for single me to find a movie I'd like to spend that much on. This is Michigan so I can only assume they'll only be around for a couple weeks/a month or so anyway. I miss going to the theater. On that note I just saw a trailer for a Dinesh D'Souza produced movie that claims it will be in theaters this Friday, it horrifies me to think someone might actually die because they went to go see that trash
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 04:03 |
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Sirotan posted:On that note I just saw a trailer for a Dinesh D'Souza produced movie that claims it will be in theaters this Friday, it horrifies me to think someone might actually die because they went to go see that trash If you go see a Dinesh D'Souza movie in a theater during a pandemic, well, that's a 'you' problem.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 04:23 |
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GrandpaPants posted:I did the Alamo thing once, and I don't get how people talking is any more distracting than people moving in and out delivering that beer and stuff. Same why that I can tune out people getting up and eating food in a regular theater. I just hate conversations and cell phones.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 04:27 |
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Yeah, its not even noise for me. Like I can deal with a really loud crowd. Like laughing, cheering, hooting is all fine if it's on the same wavelength as the movie. But once someone starts having an actual conversation, my brain finds it hard to zone out. Cheering might be loud, but it's almost like white noise. I can tune it out. It's the same with the wait staff. They just fade into my peripheral vision. It depends where you go though. The OG NItehawk in Brooklyn is a smaller theater with a pretty tight staff. So, they could really invest in training them to be ninjas. The bigger the theater, the more often you'll have folks who aren't as stealthy.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 05:01 |
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The worst alamo moment i had via waitstaff was they gave me the wrong order during the film, and I called them over and whispered very quietly, "hey i think this is the wrong..." and the dude just angry shh'ed me. Uh. Super weird.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 06:03 |
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There's no fancy pants cinemas in my area and the video quality of my budget (1080p DLP, 120" screen) home theater isn't noticeably different to my local cinema which I presume is still using 2K digital projection (it's aging too, there's some stuck pixels in a couple of their projectors). Their screens are still bigger but 120" from a few meters away is pretty massive already. For the past decade I went to the movies only because of exclusivity, not the ~experience~. Not everyone has the room for a projector setup but even budget-level 55" LCD TVs look decent these days. Covid just expedited the inevitable.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 06:04 |
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Every single time I go to the movies there's some rear end in a top hat loving around with a 100% brightness phone or digging chips out of a rustling bag or chattering with their companion. It's miserable. Given the pandemic restrictions, I hope the antiquated model of "throw people in a dark room and pray for the best" is over. Prioritize hygiene. Enforce social etiquette. Make people do the right thing. Maintain some loving standards. Most likely things will remain exactly the same so I have zero sympathies for the emergent death of the movie theater. I'll miss laughing at comedies with a large audience but that's about it.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 08:21 |
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Our local Alamo burned the hell out of someone's mouth because they were storing cleaning fluid in an unmarked empty liquor bottle which is pretty yikes
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 09:08 |
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SCheeseman posted:There's no fancy pants cinemas in my area and the video quality of my budget (1080p DLP, 120" screen) home theater isn't noticeably different to my local cinema which I presume is still using 2K digital projection (it's aging too, there's some stuck pixels in a couple of their projectors). Their screens are still bigger but 120" from a few meters away is pretty massive already. For the past decade I went to the movies only because of exclusivity, not the ~experience~. Movie theater's probably still got way better sound, though, especially with a lot of people either unable or unwilling to do better than a dinky little soundbar.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 20:03 |
I just remembered that there was a 4D theater trying to open up around here and I'm sure those investors are real happy about putting that money down.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 20:14 |
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GrandpaPants posted:I just remembered that there was a 4D theater trying to open up around here and I'm sure those investors are real happy about putting that money down. We had an indoor skydiving place open up late last year, I suspect that place will not make it.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 20:21 |
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The only time I'll ever miss sitting with an audience is during a really good horror movie. And that's maybe a once every 5 year thing. Otherwise the people are always the worst part of the theater going experience. Now that those people are spewing toxic spores with zero regard for anyone else's safety my chances of going back in the next 3 years is less than 0. I'll probably be a little sad since it was such a big part of my childhood but nothing lasts forever. If they do manage to survive they'll prob need to find a way of making a profit that doesnt involve price gouging on poo poo tier food.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 20:58 |
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I'm not worried about the concept of movie theaters going away - the fact blockbusters like Wonder Woman 1984 keep getting pushed back proves that the studios want to keep them around. It's unknowable what the cinema of the future looks like, but they're still going to exist in some form.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 22:07 |
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As a Torontonian, I'm hopeful indie theatres are still around in a few years. I rarely hit the big chains but venues like TIFF and The Royal play old classics and indie releases that are hard to find streaming. The last movie I saw was Portrait of a Lady on Fire. They also tend to attract people who love movies so this talk about people having full-on conversations and noise is baffling to me. Seeing things on the big screen is still an event for me, just tuning out the world and home theatre has never given me that. But a lot of those venues were already hanging on by a thread and were just hitting their stride as community venues. This may kill them and more will be turned into rock climbing gyms and other things. I mean the age gap was already bad at a lot of screenings already. They may turn out to more niche things like musicals or dance or theatre where they're still around, but are government-supported and not as part of the zeitgeist. Which, as a non-blockbuster person, I'm fine with and was already basically embracing. But as for musicals and theatre, oof, those are even more affected. It's a bad time for the arts.
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# ? Sep 15, 2020 22:39 |
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Iron Crowned posted:We had an indoor skydiving place open up late last year, I suspect that place will not make it. our local indie non-profit movie theater has had enough success in town that someone developing a new building downtown went to them and offered them some custom-built theater space instead of just operating out of a retrofitted downtown storefront. That building opened late last year and I think they got about 6 months in it before they had to close. They opened back up a month or so before the multiplex did and they've mostly been showing older movies so I don't think they've had a whole lot of people coming in, but since they're a non-profit I think their goals and operations are a little different and they'll probably be fine. On the other hand, the fancy new bowling alley in that same building that was set to open in April 2020 is almost definitely a dead entertainment venue walking
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# ? Sep 16, 2020 01:39 |
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Regal/Cineworld is shuttering all of their screens, no date on when they're expected to return but there's a good chance they're closed until 2021 https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1313157012914614272
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 00:51 |
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DC Murderverse posted:Regal/Cineworld is shuttering all of their screens, no date on when they're expected to return but there's a good chance they're closed until 2021 Oh no, I hope the workers are going to be taken care of! (she says, knowing they most likely won't be.)
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 10:22 |
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I’d like to see a Drive-in comeback due to COVID.
Screw movie theaters—they’re more trouble than they’re worth. And the food/drinks/beer are comically expensive at every one.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 19:09 |
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Malkina_ posted:I’d like to see a Drive-in comeback due to COVID. I don't have a car.
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# ? Oct 6, 2020 19:18 |
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Malkina_ posted:I’d like to see a Drive-in comeback due to COVID. this has literally happened. There's a bunch of old drive-ins that are experiencing booms and the bigger chains (and some other people) are making temporary drive-ins in big parking lots. If you look at the box office information between April and Tenet, pretty much all of that is coming from drive-ins. Empire Strikes Back, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park and the Beauty and the Beast remake have all been #1 at the box office this year. edit: also, another delay. Jurassic World: Dominion is moving back a year https://twitter.com/JurassicWorld/status/1313601673256792064 DC Murderverse fucked around with this message at 00:20 on Oct 7, 2020 |
# ? Oct 7, 2020 00:17 |
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I'd like drive-in theaters to make a comeback, but there's only six total in washington state. Building more takes time and we're probably going to have a vaccine widely available by the end of 2022 anyway. Realistically, streaming would have to fill the gap. Also, I googled the secret for movie popcorn butter. I'm ready to ditch the crowd.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 01:32 |
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Well, what's the secret?
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 05:07 |
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The big thing with drive-ins, and what I'm convinced killed them off the first time though nobody talks about this, is light pollution. Cities have been emitting more and more light over the decades, and even with digital projections drive-ins need darkness for contrast. Inevitably the picture's always going to be a bit darker than if you saw it in a theater or on TV.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 09:04 |
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Detective No. 27 posted:Well, what's the secret? poo poo, what thread did I post the secret in? It's Flavacol
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 14:02 |
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Maxwell Lord posted:I don't have a car. Yeah just what the US needs: more infrastructure that requires you to own a car to function
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 16:38 |
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Drive-ins were making a comeback even before the whole covid thing happened.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 17:04 |
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I've personally never been to a drive-in, and while I'm not opposed to the idea, in the summer it doesn't get dark here until 9pm+, and in the winter I cannot imagine wanting to go and sit in my idling vehicle for 2 or more hours. There were a couple movies I had considered going to this summer just to have something to do, but local theaters that turned their parking lots into temporary drive-ins were charging $30/car and I'd be the only one in the vehicle. I don't want the theater chains to die but I also don't see myself actually going to one for....many months.
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# ? Oct 7, 2020 17:21 |
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Sirotan posted:I've personally never been to a drive-in, and while I'm not opposed to the idea, in the summer it doesn't get dark here until 9pm+, and in the winter I cannot imagine wanting to go and sit in my idling vehicle for 2 or more hours. There were a couple movies I had considered going to this summer just to have something to do, but local theaters that turned their parking lots into temporary drive-ins were charging $30/car and I'd be the only one in the vehicle. I don't want the theater chains to die but I also don't see myself actually going to one for....many months. At least around me (northeast ohio has three for some reason) they close at the end of October. So right around the time you would need to start turning the car on. Pricing tends to vary? The Lynn charges $7 cash/person while Magic City charges by the car and I think it's $20 flat rate. We usually go to the lynn because with just two of us it's cheaper and 90% of the time they're showing the same things
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# ? Oct 8, 2020 01:56 |
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Len posted:poo poo, what thread did I post the secret in? It's Flavacol Well, I guess I'll be giving it a whirl tonight. Or tomorrow night.
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# ? Oct 8, 2020 19:58 |
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Detective No. 27 posted:Well, I guess I'll be giving it a whirl tonight. Or tomorrow night. Movie theaters use yellow died coconut oil, not peanut oil, you imbicile, you loving moron.
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# ? Oct 8, 2020 20:06 |
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# ? May 9, 2024 17:30 |
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Soul’s moving to Disney+, and they’re not gonna charge you $30 to watch it. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/pixar-soul-disney-plus-1234773525/ Since it’s coming out Christmas, this is probably their way of driving renewals, given they handed out free years like candy when the service started. You have to wonder if they would’ve done this is Regal hadn’t shuttered.
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# ? Oct 8, 2020 23:39 |