This article talks about theater chains refusing to show “Bubble” because the producer is releasing it in all formats at once — DVD, cable, theater, etc.

CBC Arts: U.S. cinemas back out of Soderbergh’s ‘Bubble’

Soderbergh’s feeling is that all movies are available right away anyway, through piracy, and that this way he can control the release.

I think the theaters are reacting the way the music industry reacted to online distribution: completely opposite of what they should be doing.

They should act like the DVD, cable, etc is no threat to them whatsoever. Why would anyone watch a movie on DVD when they can have the full theater experience with huge screen, big sound, etc?

Well, two reasons. One is that DVD has ruined audiences — when was the last time you got to enjoy an entire movie without someone *talking* in the theater and bringing out out of the experience, ruining your immersion in the film? The other is the lazy factor … why drive all the way to the theater, why bother, I have a big TV and surround sound here, etc …

I think theaters need to start marketing themselves as the REAL movie experience, the way they are meant to be seen, larger than life. A movie theater offers no interruptions from daily life. You’re not in your usual environment with to-do list hanging over your head, dogs barking, kids running through, neighbor’s car alarm going off, etc.

The movies are a freelancer’s vacation — no one can reach you there, you can squeeze it into three or four hours and yet really feel like you got away. A total mental escape that leaves you refreshed and rejuvenated for work.

The real movie experience applies even on small movies. Of course you must see KING KONG and LOTR and the like on the big screen. But even romantic comedies are a different experience in the theater.

I used to LOVE going to the movies. I still do, except that I wish they’d give me a bat so I can bonk people on the head who are talking or playing their PSPs or on their cell phones or whatever (excuse me, why pay $10 for a seat if you’re just going to TXT? go sit outside for free).

But if everyone would just remember that this is not their living room and SHUT THE FUCK UP, a good movie offers a transcendant experience. It’s like reading only for most people it doesn’t take as long to get to the end.

That’s why I don’t think simultaneous release dates should threaten theaters. Watching it in a home theater, no matter how big, is not the same experience at all as going to the movies.

And if the theater experience really isn’t worth it for people, and we only go to the movies because we have no other format when the movie comes out, then maybe theaters have had their day anyway.

Cinemas do not have the *right* to stay in business — no business has a *right* to business. A business has the obligation to provide what its customers want, if it wants to earn its privilege to stay in business.

If movie theaters can’t make customers want to go to the movies, refusing the carry a movie because it’s also available on DVD/cable is only going to hasten the theater’s end.

This would have been a perfect opportunity for theaters to find out just how much attendance drops, if at all, with this type of model. Instead, they are forcing people who want to see the movie to either go to a competitor’s theater or to settle for seeing it on DVD/cable/download.

They are also implying that a theater experience is no different from DVD, which puts it in our heads that maybe it’s not worth it to go to the theater after all.

Why aren’t they reminding of us of all the wonderful things that make the theater so great? I’m not talking about 20 minutes of big-budget commercials and 20 minutes of trailers before the feature, either. Although I confess that I love trailers — I don’t watch TV so I never see trailers unless I make time on purpose to go to Apple’s trailer park, where, again, you don’t get the real movie experience.

I want to boycott the theater chains that are refusing to carry the movie, but CBC doesn’t identify them. I’ll have to find out more about it later when I have more time.

Maybe simultaneous release will improve the theater experience so much, cinemas would start having higher attendance. All the people who treat theaters like they’re watching DVDs at home would stop going to theaters and thus they’ll stop ruining movies for the rest of us. Then, those of us who STOP TALKING the moment the feature presentation begins, and who refuse to say ANYTHING until the ending credits start to roll — no matter how clever or pertinent — and whose only sound is to join in the group share of laughing/crying/gasping/whatever emotional response the film elicits — maybe we’ll all come out of our houses again and fill the theaters with moviegoers who are there because we truly, deeply love to go to the movies.