Why movie revenues are dropping

Critic Roger Ebert offers five reasons for the decline. The most important, in my experience, is his No. 3.

3. The theater experience. Moviegoers above 30 are weary of noisy fanboys and girls. The annoyance of talkers has been joined by the plague of cell-phone users, whose bright screens are a distraction. Worse, some texting addicts get mad when told they can't use their cell phones. A theater is reportedly opening which will allow and even bless cell phone usage, although that may be an apocryphal story.

There's more at the link.

I can't figure out why Hollywood hasn't realized this long ago. It's the main reason why I haven't been to a movie theater in years! I detest being treated like an idiot, forced to sit through what seems like hours of advertisements, previews, etc. before the feature film begins; expected to pay ridiculous prices for not only my ticket, but also for low-quality snacks and soft drinks once I get inside; the theater itself was (and, I'm told, still is) frequently dirty, smelly and sticky; and worst of all, the audiences (at least, up to the point where I gave up in disgust) were getting noisier, less polite, and more irritating every time I went to the movies. (Pagers were bad enough in my younger days, but I understand that the advent of cellphones has only made things worse.)

Eventually I simply gave up, and for the past twenty-odd years I've watched only videos and DVD's. Based on what Mr. Ebert has to say, I don't think I'll be returning to a movie theater anytime soon . . .

Peter