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Tuesday, July 19, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves
OT: I'm Paying To Be Entertained, Not Annoyed, Dammit
A demand for quality in-theater experience
Despite numerous published commentaries of late about how movie theater ads are driving away patrons, exhibitors maintain that they have received few complaints from the public about them and that many moviegoers actually like them. Pam Blase, a spokeswoman for AMC Entertainment, which operates the country's second-largest movie chain, told the Houston Chronicle that the chain receives one complaint for every 600,000 guests. Terrell Falk of Cinemark USA, the nation's third-largest chain, added that recent research concluded that filmgoers regard ads as "just part of the experience." His remarks were echoed by Jim Kozak, editor-in-chief of In Focus, the magazine of the National Association of Theater Owners. "When [patrons] get there early to get a really good seat, they like to have something to keep them busy, something to do besides talk to the person they came with."Really? Did you bother to, you know, ask anyone? Did you hear, by the way, that there's a decline in per-theater revenues that might be affected by one or more of the following?
1) Social factors eroding theater environment (talking, cell phones, babies crying, etc.);Somebody needs to whack these self-important blowhards and remind them that we're paying customers. Swiping a line from Paddy Chayefski's great Network, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
2) Sacrificing long term relationships with theater-goers for the increase in short term profitability (commercials, no ushers, etc.);
3) Higher quality experience elsewhere (Home theater);
4) Declining quality of mainstream movies;
5) Easily available Long Tail content alternatives (Netflix, Amazon).
Yahoos And The Yahoo (Sports) That Encourages Them
Do these guys even read the box scores? (Hat tip: FJT.)Gardenhire Apologizes
Oh, sure, Gardenhire apologizes for ripping on an ump, but his Batgirl-published explanation doesn't differ all that much from the original (MP3). Tommy Lasorda, you've got your competition set out for you.Roster Moves
- Confirmed: Percy is done for the year, and maybe his career. Kyle "Gascan" Farnsworth will take over for him, his 1.85 ERA merely a doppelgänger for his real, craptacular self. Farnsworth could be due for a suspension after another spectacular WWE-style smackdown during Sunday's game against their blood enemy, the Royals.
- Bowden wants Barry Larkin to come out of retirement? You simply do not hand out multi-year, multi-million dollar deals to light-hitting middle infielders. If there were any question of Bowden being fired before this fiasco, that pretty much seals the deal after new ownership shows up... I hear Rickey Henderson's still looking for a job in the majors...
- Erubiel Durazo will have season-ending elbow surgery that will likely end his association with the A's.
- The Padres activated 2B Mark Loretta and 1B Phil Nevin, and called up RHP Clay Hensley. Reliever Dennys Reyes (3-2, 5.15 ERA) and AAA reliever Miguel Ascenscio were placed on unconditional release waivers to make room on the 40-man roster.
- The Red Sox acquired outfielder Adam Hydzu from the Padres, in exchange for RHP Scott Cassidy. The Sox simultaneously DFA'd Alan Embree.
The Sox also acquired Tony Graffanino from the Royals, to shore up a second base position that former Dodger Alex Cora has failed to perform in. Starter Mark Bellhorn sprained his thumb over the weekend.
- Another Quality WTF? Trade By Jim Hendry: I so don't get the Jody Gerut for Jason DuBois trade, but Al seems to think Gerut will hit well in the Friendly Confines. Scary: the Cubs are committed to a year and a half of Gerut. Yeep.
Comments:
"I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"
Or how about: "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE PUTS IN FRONT OF ME!"
I've never understood why this bothers people. Ignore them for Christ’s sake. You don’t have to pay attention to everything they try to force feed you, right?
The theaters are just trying to make a buck, any way they make that buck without charging me a buck more is a-ok with me (if you want to see attendance really plummet, get rid of all the advertising at watch what happens to ticket prices).
And this crap about “we paid to see the movie!” is just that – crap. The product you’re paying for is the movie theater experience, and they decide what that experience includes. As a consumer, if you don’t like the product they provide you can decide not to pay for it. They’d eventually get the clue if it were in fact the cause of the industry’s woes (which it isn’t).
Besides - you pay a fee for cable TV. You pay to get into a sporting event. You pay for your morning newspaper. Why is it acceptable for these ventures to seek out revenue from advertising, but not theater chains?
Or how about: "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE PUTS IN FRONT OF ME!"
I've never understood why this bothers people. Ignore them for Christ’s sake. You don’t have to pay attention to everything they try to force feed you, right?
The theaters are just trying to make a buck, any way they make that buck without charging me a buck more is a-ok with me (if you want to see attendance really plummet, get rid of all the advertising at watch what happens to ticket prices).
And this crap about “we paid to see the movie!” is just that – crap. The product you’re paying for is the movie theater experience, and they decide what that experience includes. As a consumer, if you don’t like the product they provide you can decide not to pay for it. They’d eventually get the clue if it were in fact the cause of the industry’s woes (which it isn’t).
Besides - you pay a fee for cable TV. You pay to get into a sporting event. You pay for your morning newspaper. Why is it acceptable for these ventures to seek out revenue from advertising, but not theater chains?
No, Richard, it's not crap. I paid for it. Period. If I don't like it, it's my choice not to even enter the damn theater again, a choice I've been repeatedly making now for months. But more, the fact that the theater owners are too damn stupid to make the connection between aggressive, annoying advertising (among other problems) just indicates their total disconnect; it's not unlike the problem nonsmokers had prior to the passage of anti-smoking laws: sure, there was a theoretical choice as to whether to go to smoking or non-smoking bars, but the reality was that due to custom no such thing as a non-smoking bar existed. You may wish they would understand that attendance is down because of their obnoxious ad campaigns, but the point is that they don't and are being willfully obtuse on the subject.
To answer your point about other venues subjecting you to ads -- they don't force me to sit in a semi-darkened room with the volume up so loud I can't have a normal conversation with my friends while awaiting the main event. There's something profoundly insulting about "The 2wenty", pretending advertisements (i.e., selling me) are entertainment. Sporting events make no such pretense.
I go to the movies all the time. The "2wenty" has never stopped me (nor anyone else) from having a conversation with the person in the next seat.
I don't mind the advertisements and all that, and if you go to your local indie theatre, it's not really a problem. Gives me less need to be there on time. Besides movies a long, long time ago ran commercials too.
But I do think the lengthy pre-time encourages young audiences to be more "informal" or "casual" in regular theaters, which contributes to greater overall crowd noise. At least, it creates more restlessness, which could ruin the beginning of a movie.
I personally think excessive crowd noise and cell phones are really hurting the movie-going experience. There's certain kind of PG-13 movies I won't see at my local theatre, because I know my experience may be ruined by the obnoxious crowd. I never had this problem 5 years ago.
But I do think the lengthy pre-time encourages young audiences to be more "informal" or "casual" in regular theaters, which contributes to greater overall crowd noise. At least, it creates more restlessness, which could ruin the beginning of a movie.
I personally think excessive crowd noise and cell phones are really hurting the movie-going experience. There's certain kind of PG-13 movies I won't see at my local theatre, because I know my experience may be ruined by the obnoxious crowd. I never had this problem 5 years ago.
# posted by 
: 7/20/2005 10:26:00 AM
: 7/20/2005 10:26:00 AMNewer› ‹Older
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