Would You Pay $50 to Watch New Movies at Home?

YeuEmMaiMai said:
nope, I go see movies at the first showing when the theatre is empty...
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^this, and I get the seniors price now. All I do is wear my dad's old fedora hat, his old glasses, limp a little, and use a cane. Cashiers never questioned me once.
 
nilepez said:
You're going to the wrong theaters. The ones I goto have recliners and 3-4' between rows and there's absolutely no way you can get the same experience with a 75 or 80" screen..or even a 100" screen. I've watched movies on all of the above.

That said, I don't consider being able to pause a movie an advantage. I go to movies for an experience and interrupting it to have dinner, get a glass of wine or go to the bathroom (multiple times if you're watching with a half dozen people) is precisely why I'd rather go to a theater....that and most of the time the sound and video are better (but that depends on your theater)
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You are right..at home I can't get the same experience of rude assholes on their phone, sticky floors, shitty overpriced snacks, badly tuned audio that is far too loud and distorted and no refunds when the horrifically over hyped movie ends up being complete shit. I mean, it just sucks so much to lose that experience.

Because having a screen that fully fills my field of vision so in reality you cannot visually tell the difference is so much inferior....Sorry to say but yes a setup like he had there is superior in every possible way. If you setup your room correctly so the screen fills your FOV then it doesn't matter if the TV is 60" or 75'. You can't visually fit anything more in. Perhaps you should try watching a movie in a proper setup some time. You will never waste your money at a theater again.
 
I went to a movie theater with my son. That was $18.00 for me and my son for a non-3D matinee movie. I then ordered 2 cokes, a large popcorn, and a hotdog. They wanted to charge me $28.00 (No joke...the cokes were $6/each The popcorn $7 and the hotdog $9) I told them to forget it. That's $46.00 right there.

I have a large screen at home and 5000+ watts through a 11.2 sound system. Is $50 worth it? Yep...as long as I owned it after that.
 
IMO, it's probably going to come down to how many people you typically bring with you to the theater (aka. is your family large) and what kinds of theaters you have.
I think a lot of the complaining about "theatergoers these days" comes across as a little bit of old man grumbling or your local theaters must be kind of lousy.
In my area (not exactly a rich area, but not poor either) we have several theaters with the option to order food and alcohol, no cellphone/talking rules, no very young children in R-rated movies, etc.
For a 2-person trip to the movies with dinner and drinks included, the cost is only in the ballpark of $50-75 depending on how nutty you go with the drinks.
However if you're talking about a 5-person family going to an old Carmike built into a dying mall and charging $7 for popcorn...different story.
 
HAIL No.

I would pay, at max, $15 to watch a new release at home.
 
$50 is way too much. Right now, I typically pay $6.50 for Sunday matinee's for 2D and $8.50 for 3D -- for two people, that works out to $17 even for 3D.

And even if we buy a drink and popcorn, that still only adds about another $20 for 2 people. And, a lot of the time, we just bring in canned drinks and a small bag of chips in jacket pockets/purses/etc.
 
raz-0 said:
How so. It isn't aimed at college students or 20 somethings with roomates to stream solo on their laptop. However lets say you are married with the national average of a wee bit over 2 kids.. we'll round down to two.

Disney squeezes out something the kids want to see. It's going to cost, with no concessions, 1 adult and 2 kids minimum. I take them right after lunch on a Saturday to the nearest run of the mill theater. That's $26.49 minimum. 2 adults and 2 kids? $36.54. At matinée prices. Do it after dinner, and it is $38.54. One large popcorn and a large drink for the kids to split, and you are over $50.

Lets say mom and dad want to go out. $22.10 for tickets. $40 for a babysitter for the evening minimum. $63 bucks and we have to deal with teenagers and work around a sitters schedule or pay WAY more. If you want to avoid the teenagers, you cna go to the one place in the area that serves booze and is 18+. You are talking over $70 total then.

This isn't 1% shit, these are a demographic who go to a LOT less movies than they used to and might go to more if they were made accessible in a different manner. The price isn't that far off what it costs to go now and in some cases is cheaper. The real PITA is the $150 set top box. Because that means the price to beat is more like $60 if you amortize it over say two years.

I don't know why theaters chains wouldn't buy in if given a cut, I'm pretty sure the split in people who think it is viable vs. not in this thread falls down the divide of "I go out with my friends and it costs me $12" vs. "fuck it's a PITA to get a babysitter and/or I really hate the general public"
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You just proved how worthless money really is. All those services you mentioned, value-wise, have remained the same over 40 years (and more).
 
How much are those real nice theaters (that I don't have around me) with the nice chairs, good restaurant food, beer, not a lot of idiots, etc?

Because that's what I can have at home. Good beer, good food, good friends that aren't talking or using cell phones, good seating, good audio, video. Just a nice experience.

It's going to be a very niche product. A lot of people with good home theaters and dedicated home theater rooms will go for it. Those with a 55" TV using a soundbar probably won't (I'm sure a few will). Those with a 32" TV using internal speakers - most likely not.

I'm really hoping early adopters get in and make it a thing, and then the prices drop a bit. $50 is a bit much for more than a movie every couple months. $25 or so would be my sweet spot. A bit much for a rental, but it is a theater pay per view style service. I could watch PPV MMA fights, too, and they can cost more than $50. Those are available on the internet a day after it shows in nice HD.
 
nilepez said:
That's nice, but it's not a 75' screen. I'd use that for Blu Rays, but I'm still going to a theater.
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Visually, 10' from an 80" screen in my living room isn't that different from 50' from a 75' screen in a theater.

Of course, once everyone gets MS Hololens or Oculus Rift equivalents, you will be able to have the visual equivalent of a 3D IMAX while sitting on your couch....
 
Ur_Mom said:
Because that's what I can have at home. Good beer, good food, good friends that aren't talking or using cell phones, good seating, good audio, video. Just a nice experience.
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You apparently have better friends than most people do....:D
 
$50 is cheap....

Normally:
$10 a ticket with wife = $20
Popcorn + drink, shared = $15
Babysitter for 3 hours = $50+
Pizza for babysitter son for dinner = $15

That is $100 right there.

On the other hand, we typically just wait until they make it to redbox & grab it on the way home for $2.

I'm not a "MUST SEE JUST RELEASED FILM!!!!" type of person...but if you were & had a kid, that $50 is pretty cheap.
 
Hypergreatthing said:
I don't really understand this price point.
A movie costs what, at most 15$, or min maybe like 3-4$ special matinee price.
50$ is way overboard. What exact costs are they defraying? It should be cheaper for them because no theater, no cleaning, no employees, no projector.
For only internet bandwidth it's multiples of profit of what they normally rake in.
I bet they would have clauses where it can't be a performance, only a private viewing. Thus inviting all your friends over to watch something would be technically against the rules.
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Babysitting, parking, and overpriced concessions...
 
mdburkey said:
You apparently have better friends than most people do....:D
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Well, my wife wouldn't be invited. :D She's the worst at that.

My friends? They like movies. Unless they are on call, their phones don't come out. No talking (we all hate that).
 
/dev/null said:
Babysitter for 3 hours = $50+
Pizza for babysitter son for dinner = $15
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Damn, you pay well. Need a new babysitter? 3 hours is usually $25-30 for when my kids were younger and needed a sitter.

Wow. Now instead of complaining about the price of a movie, I'm talking about the price of a babysitter. :D Old people... Always bitching about high prices and back in my day it was only $x. :D
 
Ur_Mom said:
Damn, you pay well. Need a new babysitter? 3 hours is usually $25-30 for when my kids were younger and needed a sitter.

Wow. Now instead of complaining about the price of a movie, I'm talking about the price of a babysitter. :D Old people... Always bitching about high prices and back in my day it was only $x. :D
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Babysitters? Didn't they used to call those "grandparents"?
 
I am content walking down the road to my local theater and shelling out $7.00 for a ticket. I only usually watch movies once though.
 
How's the anti piracy work? If you can see and hear it, you can record it.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Do you ever go to the movie theater? Why? You're just sitting far away from the screen.

It makes a big difference to me. At least for the home theater. I can watch TV fine with a 27" monitor. It works great. For a good movie experience, the home theater with big screen and nice audio setup makes a huge difference.

Different folks, different strokes.
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Audio is not a fair comparison, you can hear the difference. But sitting 5feet from an 50" creen vs sitting 10feet from a 100" screen seems kind of the same to me. And the picture quality will always be worse with a projected screen.

And no I don't ever go the movie theater. It doesn't move me. If anything it takes away from the experience if I have to look over other people's shoulders and heads to watch a movie. The only time I enjoyed movie theaters, is when I was still in school and was able to go on weekday mornings with my girlfriend and virtually the whole theater was empty most of the time, maybe 10 people in a 150 seat theater. But I no longer have that privilige.
 
mdburkey said:
Babysitters? Didn't they used to call those "grandparents"?
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Dude. Shhh. I'm trying to get some easy money here. :)

M76 said:
Audio is not a fair comparison, you can hear the difference. But sitting 5feet from an 50" creen vs sitting 10feet from a 100" screen seems kind of the same to me. And the picture quality will always be worse with a projected screen.

And no I don't ever go the movie theater. It doesn't move me. If anything it takes away from the experience if I have to look over other people's shoulders and heads to watch a movie. The only time I enjoyed movie theaters, is when I was still in school and was able to go on weekday mornings with my girlfriend and virtually the whole theater was empty most of the time, maybe 10 people in a 150 seat theater. But I no longer have that privilige.
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Audio can be much better at home. I know my simple set up can do better than a lot of theaters (save for the newer Atmos and high end theaters). Distance to the screen can be iffy. Eye strain is a one thing, too. I like a projected screen, picture quality is fine. Not as bright (I went cheap with my projector - next one will be brighter and 4K) as a standard TV, but it works great. Theaters are nice, but having that experience at home is excellent.
 
M76 said:
Audio is not a fair comparison, you can hear the difference. But sitting 5feet from an 50" creen vs sitting 10feet from a 100" screen seems kind of the same to me. And the picture quality will always be worse with a projected screen.

And no I don't ever go the movie theater. It doesn't move me. If anything it takes away from the experience if I have to look over other people's shoulders and heads to watch a movie. The only time I enjoyed movie theaters, is when I was still in school and was able to go on weekday mornings with my girlfriend and virtually the whole theater was empty most of the time, maybe 10 people in a 150 seat theater. But I no longer have that privilige.
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And see this is why some of us are saying "Nope, I'd rather go to the theater" - we have great theaters, some of you have crap theaters. In order for me to have to look over your head/shoulders to see a movie at my local theater you'd have to be like nine feet tall, maybe ten. My knees are generally above most people's heads that sit in front of me. Stadium seating has been the standard around here for easily a decade, ALL new theaters are set up that way. In the past 5-7 years they've started putting in much more comfortable seats, upgrading the sound, giving you more room between seats(the VIP theaters that are $12/ticket have seats set up in pairs with small tables separating each pair, and the armrest in-between each pair folds all the way up so you can sit closer to the person you're with if you want). The last time I heard someone talk during the movie was...okay, last weekend, but it was a kid during a 5pm showing of Zootopia - he shouted "WATCH OUT!" during a key scene, and it was adorable. Other than that I honestly can't remember the last time it's happened, same goes for phone use. The theaters are always clean, I can book my seats in advance and the seating is reserved, the audio and video are both excellent.

If someone doesn't have access to this kind of experience then I can understand being willing to spend more to get the movie at home. For my wife and I? It makes absolutely no sense given the stellar theater options we have close to home. If it works for you, by all means, buy it.
 
mathew7 said:
Well, I don't like theaters, some of the reasons being: fight for seats and scheduling, other people (well, strangers, not friends) and the small gap between seats (you may argue there are better theaters, but not in my 2nd-largest-in-the-country town).
Now, I don't know about 50$, but for 25$ I wouldn't even blink. And it's still about 4 times more expensive than the theater tickets.
PS: my theater movie list is Alien 4, MI-2, Avatar (3D experiment), Avengers 2, SW7. For the latter I had to go alone. And I'm still angry on some of my friends because they did not "invite" me to Deadpool.
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It depends where you live and what theaters you go to. Where I go, you essentially sit in a lazy boy and you can reserve your seat before you get there.
 
I don't understand what you guys love about the theater so much.

If I never set foot in a theater ever again, I wouldn't be disappointed.

Ticket prices are WAY too expensive, the gouge people for concessions, they are usually dirty and gross, you have to deal with other people sitting in your way, crinkling snack bags or playing with their phones etc. etc.

I'm perfectly happy to wait 6 month and watch it at hope for a one time price of a Blu-ray on sale. I have no need to rush out and see something because it is new. Films aren't like milk. They don't spoil. If they were good when they were new, they will still be good, 6 month, a year, 5 years or even 10 years later.

I still haven't gotten around to watching Revenge of the Sith. I don't expect it to be any worse when I get around to watching it, than it was on release day.
 
MV75 said:
How's the anti piracy work? If you can see and hear it, you can record it.
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No, you actually can't. It is completely possible to have a camera phone, etc. or other recording device recognize a digital watermark like Cinavia or similar (which is already encoded into the audio track on many BluRay's).
In other words it's possible to put a digital watermark, either in video or audio, that a camera can detect and refuse to record the material.

I would put money that they plan to do something similar to this for first run movies shown at home.
 
thekipper said:
Oh that security device to help you view these movies is also a camera that that will count the number of people in the room and charge you $50 for each person. At least that's how I expect it might work lol
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Honestly, this wouldn't surprise me either.

Maybe not for counting the number of people, but they may have a camera or sensor that can detect the CCD of another camera attempting to record the screen -- so they can come sue your ass off.
 
Twisted Kidney said:
It's a really interesting idea. I can't stay awake through a one hour TV show, but I'm sure some people would go for it. After suffering through record profits year after year Hollywood has to do something.
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You couldn't stay awake during the two hour pilot of Vinyl? Try the Expanse.
 
mdburkey said:
No, you actually can't. It is completely possible to have a camera phone, etc. or other recording device recognize a digital watermark like Cinavia or similar (which is already encoded into the audio track on many BluRay's).
In other words it's possible to put a digital watermark, either in video or audio, that a camera can detect and refuse to record the material.

I would put money that they plan to do something similar to this for first run movies shown at home.
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What about tape cameras and audio recorders?
 
Ur_Mom said:
Damn, you pay well. Need a new babysitter? 3 hours is usually $25-30 for when my kids were younger and needed a sitter.

Wow. Now instead of complaining about the price of a movie, I'm talking about the price of a babysitter. :D Old people... Always bitching about high prices and back in my day it was only $x. :D
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My son is autistic & we usually hire adult sitters how have experience taking care of autistic children.
 
$50? You are insane to pay that to see a movie..then again, i see like 3 movies a year in the theatres and just watch bootlegs for free...so to each their own...
 
MV75 said:
What about tape cameras and audio recorders?
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An old tape camera or audio recorder could definitely record something off a screen -- unless they have another camera or other detection device WATCHING for a camera being used.
Of course, you may get a crappy old VHS copy of it, copy it onto a computer, post it online, but you will have recorded and posted that digital watermark which will still be detectable, and I can almost guarantee it will have a unique serial # or other id # per box.
In other words, if you do manage to record it and post it, they will know it was your viewing that was record and posted -- in which case you will be getting a very nice letter from the MPAA's legal department, followed by a bill for every copy of what you posted that was downloaded.
 
Regular tickets are 12ish and 3D Imax are 20 something a ticket, so my GF and I would be 22-40 already. Would I pay 50 for the convenience of being able to watch it home and my decent home theater setup (big screen LED TV + Sony 5.1)?

Heck yeah!

As much as I like Imax - theaters are 1) Dirty (No one knows how many crazy no-bath taking hippies have sat in the chairs before you. Have you ever seen them clean anything other than the floor? Yeah me neither) and 2) Annoying as hell kids /shakes oldman fist.

Now that I'm older and make a decent living, convenience is definitely something I've become more willing to pay for.

If we can save time at a reasonable cost, why not?
 
Ur_Mom said:
Damn. How far do you sit from the 110"? I have a 106" and am looking to upgrade to a 125" (and Dolby Atmos). I sit 14' from the screen. I have people come over to watch the big blockbusters when they are released. Nice screen, decent audio, great LFE, beer, snacks, popcorn. It's fun. I could easily spread out the cost of a $50 movie. I couldn't with my family...
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I sit ~10-12' from the screen. Because of that I don't think I'd go any bigger. I sometimes have people over but my wife doesn't think that having people over to watch a movie is a good activity since you can't really interact socially during the movie. I don't really care and I don't think anyone else does either. The fun is that you're watching a movie and that it's on a huge screen that most people don't have. This year I'm going to set it up outside for outdoor movies. That will be fun.

M76 said:
I don't understand this infatuation with screen size. I have an 51" TV 3 feet from me, yet 99% of the time I watch movies on my 26" monitor.

I mean why is a 100" projected screen better? You're just going to sit further away from it.
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If you have a room that's a particular size, then you choose a screen for the room. So, yeah, sitting at my desk I think I'd limit a monitor to 40", which would really be pushing it for me, because you're so close to it. But if you're in a room and you and 10 friends can all comfortably watch a movie on a screen 12-15' away that's 100"+. That's fun. So it's not that I'm infatuated with size, but with the right size for the room and experience I'm trying to create.
 
I'm perfectly capable of sitting through a 2-3 hour stretch of time without stuffing my face with food, so is my wife, so most a movie costs is $25 or so between the two of us, and if you're smart you'll get the $16 package at CostCo for tickets, then with that 3d scam the most you pay is $22 or so. Plenty of my family near by who would love to babysit, so that's free.
 
I would consider paying for the incalculable benefits of watching new releases at home rather than in a theatre full of bovine halfwits if there were more movies that were actually worth seeing in the first place. Marvel superhero movies need not apply.
 
Litfod said:
I would consider paying for the incalculable benefits of watching new releases at home rather than in a theatre full of bovine halfwits if there were more movies that were actually worth seeing in the first place. Marvel superhero movies need not apply.
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Just go on Sunday at Noon. It's cheap and everyone else is in Church or eating lunch. Most of the time when i go, the theater isn't very full. My main goal is to avoid being too close to people in their 70's. Too much talking during the movie.

Sometimes the kids are on there phone, which is really annoying, but it rarely happens, IME (probably cause they're in church or stuffing their faces ;) )
 
$50 plus two tickets which I know I can easily sell off in NYC? I'm in! Myself & my wife alone would knock that down to $25 each. Add a few friends & you're paying less than you would at a theater. Sounds like a pretty damn good deal to me. Can have a real meal at home with it! :) The $150 set top box would be a one time thing. Would hardly bit a hit to my pockets considering that I've purchased wallets that cost more than that lol.
 
mdburkey said:
An old tape camera or audio recorder could definitely record something off a screen -- unless they have another camera or other detection device WATCHING for a camera being used.
Of course, you may get a crappy old VHS copy of it, copy it onto a computer, post it online, but you will have recorded and posted that digital watermark which will still be detectable, and I can almost guarantee it will have a unique serial # or other id # per box.
In other words, if you do manage to record it and post it, they will know it was your viewing that was record and posted -- in which case you will be getting a very nice letter from the MPAA's legal department, followed by a bill for every copy of what you posted that was downloaded.
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Except the fact that DRM doesn't work. It never did. Just look at the utter faceplant MS's wmv DRM has had. Even the few companies that used id dumped it long ago, because it caused more problems than it solved. Anything that limits the customer or makes the customer uncomfortable is junk. Also there is the fair use policy.
If they assume every legitimate customer is a pirate, I won't buy their products. I won't pay for being assumed that I want to pirate the movie. I happily purchase Blurays without over the top copy protection and a region lock. I won't buy anything that has any of those things.
 
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