The Movie Business

After the Oscars last week, I was thinking about movies. Movie theaters are seeing declining attendance. I think it was down 8% last year from the year before. Why is that?

First, home theaters are pretty nice these days. I often mention the long lines at Best Buy every weekend. Folks are setting up their plasma TVs and big screens, and wiring in surround sound. Instead of fighting traffic, parking, paying nearly $10 a ticket, another $10 for a soda and popcorn, sitting behind someone with big hair and in front of someone who kicks your chair and talks through the movie, the alternative is sitting on your sofa munching on corn chips and watching a DVD on your big screen.

Getting movies to your house is easier than ever. You don't have to drive anywhere anymore. Most cable and satellite companies have video on demand these days. Netflix will let you shop online and send you the movies. A new service n some areas gives you a box with 200 movies on it, and every week automatically replaces 10 movies with new releases. You pay for what you watch. There are other services coming that will let you download movies for a fee.

And lets face it, the Oscars championed movies that weren't even the most popular movies. Many of the movies dealt with controversial topics that don't sit well with a lot of folks. I read that the best an Oscar movie could do with the public, is rank 27th. The movie industry is making a lot of movies we don't want to see. If the theater isn't showing something people want to watch, why not just Netflix something you do want to see? That's what people are doing. I recently watched a few TV series I had missed, and Netflixed some movies from a few years back that I didn't have time to see at the theater.

I think that's what's going on with the movie business. This is why the Oscars wasn't watched by many folks. This is why the home theater business and the stores that sell the gear are doing well.

Just some Saturday thoughts. I Netflixed March of the Penguins and the Enron movie this week. I watched every feature on that March of the Penguins DVD. What a fantastic job those folks did.