Why would I ever pay to go see a movie in a theater when I have a 75 inch screen television with great sound and a comfortable sofa to lie on? I’ve got the convenience of food directly behind me and I can hit the pause button whenever I want if I have to go to the bathroom. Plus nowadays featured movies come out on cable literally weeks after their release and the Blu-ray DVD’s are usually out shortly after. Does it make sense for me to pay $15-$20 just for a ticket and then fork over another $8 for a tiny tub of popcorn? Oh yeah, and that’s just me going by myself! Throw in the rest of the family and you’re talking $100 just for going to the movies. After reading what I just wrote I’m pretty sure I’ll never go to the theaters again….unless.
Unless theaters do what AMC has been doing. The last movie I went to in the theater was Trolls and I was in love with the experience. The seats were incredibly comfortable. They were a La-Z-Boy-style chair, upholstered in a glossy red leatherlike material. AMC Theaters, with more than 300 theaters nationwide, is wagering its future, and many millions of dollars, on ripping out the old, uncompetitive seats and replacing them with what it calls “plush power recliners.”
I personally think the gamble is going to pay off because after sitting in a chair like that, I’ll never go to another theater again unless I have the same experience. Not only that, many theaters have now implemented waiter and waitress services where you can order food and drink before and after a movie. Here’s the thing. If I’m going to have a movie experience at the theater, let it be an EXPERIENCE. To me this is the future of movies, and it’s the only way movie theaters are going to survive.
Going to the movies as a kid was one of the most fun things I ever did. Why? Because seeing a film on the big screen with amazing sound was so much different from watching a movie at home. In order to get that same inequality of experiences, movie theaters have to step up their game to make their experience 100 times better than the home one. Otherwise what’s the point of going?
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