On the feast of St. Valentine , I thought it appropriate to write of love. Like many love stories it has tragic overtones and like many love stories it can dwell on what once was. This is one of those stories.
When I am not trying to engage with the theatrical exhibitors, I make the occasional movie. I distribute movies into the theatres when I can, I am a child of the heady movie going days of the 80’s , when VHS ruled the day and wonderfully low budget movies could be seen on movie screens though-out the USA. I love movies, I love movie theatres, and I have watched movies in giant 1200 seat movie palaces with packed house and know well that experience.
The entertainment market is undergoing a huge paradigm shift. We are consuming a lot more entertainment stories today than we ever have in our past. The simple fact is that theatrical films are making up a shrinking piece of that viewing. Today our story viewing is taking place on mobile or at home where we control what we watch, when, and for how long. As consumers we are assuredly re-defining our viewing experience for stories , and what is happening is that we are a market defining a new format. The feature length movie, our per-eminent form of societal storytelling for the past 115 years, this form evolved from our movie going experience, looks like it is fading.
Not long ago, movie theaters were the only place for enjoying substantive story telling experiences. Movie going was an event. It was an event, a happening….we got dressed up, drove there, parked, had dinner, then settled in for an evening of entertainment. The format of movies evolved from the theatrical play experience designed to emulate the length of a standard theatrical dramatic plays. It was a convergence of commerce and the need for all of us to collective experience a story.
The once magical theatrical movie going experience has been in rapid decline. Since 2002, movie ticket sales per person are down 22.7%. While new digital technology are making filmed entertainment stories more convenient , while at the same time our home viewing technologies are making them more engrossing , the fact is that movie going has not really changed much. Yes, there is new digital delivery platforms for the theatre owners, but for the audience it is still a large screen and a chair. With the rise of easily accessible content on Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon, coupled with the rising cost of movie tickets the market is in trouble. Studios have further enhanced the decline by releasing a diminishing number of original films and going to the movies is no longer as compelling as it was in the past. Today there are just so many options.
With the rise of digital delivery, our movie consuming habits have changed. We are now in control of when and where we consume stories. There are many times where we find ourselves searching for shorter movie experiences. Something we can watch on the commute home or after dinner, just before bed without dedicating an entire night to the experience of going to the movies. The simple fact is that a 22 or 45 minute story fits better into our increasingly busy life. What is an interesting thought is the binge viewing habits of consumers. I myself fell victim to this when the much missed Lillyhammer was released on Netflix, I watched every episodes back to back, representing about 12 hours of viewing time in total.
What has happened has a lot to do with control the audiences can have over their own viewing experience. The new technology has allowed story telling to become more expanse and deeper. Even though Netflix, in a tragic mistake canceled Lillyhammer, it has each season over 600 minutes to tell a story. That’s five feature films. The Godfather trilogy has 530 minutes in comparison.
The cinematic worlds are richer, the characters more developed and we as viewers are more intertwined with the story.
For me this is a hard pill to swallow but the glory days of the movie going may behind us. Everyone with a family room, a living room, Kindle, iPad has the potential of owning their movie theatre with the ability for the consumer to have total control of the experience.,
Of course the cable television operator and Netflix smugly look at the troubles being faced by movie theatres, but their day is soon on the horizon as well. Technology has released a juggernaut and very little of what has been will be left standing. This is crushing to me because for me feature film-making has been an goal, an aspiration and a promise. I love sitting in a large dark space and watching a movie. When I was a young man, I watched three movies on the big screen a week. I was in heaven and I thought it would always be this way, but life is rarely what you expect,.
Movie going has changed, and I resent it deeply, but progress leaves many carcasses in its wake.
On this day dedicated to love and loves, I wanted to reflect on what was.
Video killed the radio star
Video killed the radio star
In my mind and in my car
We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far
Pictures came and broke your heart
Put the blame on VTR…
Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles
Let’s all remember what movie going used to be at it’s peak.
