Moviegoers staying home

Link: With Popcorn, DVD's and TiVo, Moviegoers Are Staying Home - New York Times.

Interesting article on Nytimes.com about the impact of DVDs and Tivo on box-office attendance.  I love movies.  We own over 300 DVDs, have a home theater set up, ReplayTv, and Comcast's HD DVR.  Even with a great setup to watch movies, we still go to the movies a LOT.  During the summer, it's about 3-4 times a month and maybe 1-2 times a month outside the summer.  You really can't duplicate the moviegoing experience if you have a decent theater in your vicinity.

However, I do believe that DVDs have made a big impact on movies.  There have been many times where we've decided not to go see a movie simply because we were on the fence and knew it would be out on DVD in a couple of months anyway.  With the decreased amount of time between theatrical release and the DVD release, this will happen more and more with moviegoers.  I remember when it used to take a year or so for movies to come out and that was the deciding factor in going to go see an "on-the-fence" movie. 

Another factor is the price.  Ticket and food prices keep going up.  Right now, we pay $7.00 for a matinee showing (which is usually the only time we go, can't stand the teenagers at night!).  The food prices are ridiculous.  $9.25 for some nachos and soda!  Granted, it's enough nachos to feed the latest Menudo group, but still....almost ten bucks for nachos is crazy.  The prices to go see these movies keeps going up, but it seems the quality of the movies keeps going down. Go figure.

Has DVD or Tivo impacted your going to the movies?

Tags: DVD, Tivo, movies, home theater, film, movie theater, films, ReplayTv, DVR, box-office

Comments

[Dark Matt]

Hey - in the UK, I talked to some Cinema managers - basically the studios eat up over 90% of the admission price, so in order to stay in business the cinemas have to charge excessive food prices... which is sad but does make me less angry about paying it - if the alternative is no cinemas!!

[~Angel~]

90% of the admission price? That's amazing. I guess it does make one feel a little less upset about paying more for the food than the ticket.