The moviegoer experience these days

This is just survivorship bias. Nobody remembers the bad movies from the 80s but there sure were a lot of them. Think of all the movies you pass by in the thrift store. They’re trash. We still get good movies today. Think of Everything Everywhere All At Once, or Oppenheimer, as examples that will define this era in film.

Nobody remembers the bad movies from the 80s but there sure were a lot of them.
Bologna! There's a whole community practically dedicated to the terrible movies of the 80's over at B Movie Bonanza. :P
- That's where I get all my movie recommendations. I've seen most of them but once in a while I find a new one and get way too excited.
  I love garbage movies.
- Okayyy you have a point; I'm just referring to the general public.
Focusing solely on the movie-going experience, I would love to live in a city like LA or NYC where they have a few theaters with added technological features, like 70mm IMAX and/or 4K projectors and/or rumble seats (those must have been amazing with something like Mad Max: Fury Road).
There's at least one 60FPS theater in NYC, it must be wild to watch a film like that just by itself, or even WILDER, in 3D.
But I believe there are a few theaters in Asia - probably in places like Singapore and Shanghai, but don't quote me on that - that screened Ang Lee's "Gemini Man" in the incredible-sounding combination of 120FPS in 4K and 3D, they said it was like the screen dissolved and you were watching the action happening through a huge rectangular hole in the wall.
- I understand resolution improvements but I don't understand the push for higher framerate for film. In real life motion is blurred when things move, the higher the framerate the less of that you see.
  For me it's awful, the "soap opera" effect or whatever else they call it kills me, like I'm seeing a cgi picture even when I know everything was captured in camera.
  24-30fps is the sweet spot for film and TV imho, I have yet to see a good argument for watching regular real time footage at a higher frame rate.
  (To be clear - of course high speed footage for super slo mo and all of that has plenty of cool applications)
No, survivorship bias is real, but this is late stage capitalism. Disney owns it all, and the occasional worthwhile film sneaks under their writing by committee bullshit
There's plenty of good movies that future generations would happily watch... But proportionally? The number of movies made a year has exploded, the number that make an impression for even a year has dwindled
- This is true as well. I won’t disagree that there’s nuance here. But still, I think most people have cognitive distortions around the state of every media industry. With the huge rise of Disney and Netflix running the industry, we now see more independent films and new studios taking up the slack. Just like how we’ve had great indie games lately but the mainstream AAA stuff just isn’t impressing the same way. Think of the original couple of assassins creed games and compare them to the new ones. Sure there’s more content, but there’s not as much innovation going on.
I've seen one good movie in the last 10 years 😂
- Go watch better movies then
- Which one?
- Then you don't seek out movies that you would enjoy, not exactly a flex but I understand if it's just not your thing.

Exactly sometimes there's a lot of great movies coming out, other times there's none
- No, it's the kids these days that are wrong. Everything is crap nowadays. They have terrible movies, terrible music, terrible games ... They don't have great games like E.T. for Atari 2600. Also, get off my nursing home's lawn!

The Regal theater here is letting all their projectors go to shit 😡

I have a spreadsheet going of which theater numbers we need to avoid seeing a movie in because the projector is missing the color red and other such issues.

Whoa I thought you were exaggerating, but that's pretty bad. I would just show black and white movies in that theatre
- That would still look like shit if a colour channel is missing
Last Regal I went to had to replay the after-credits scene 4 times due to the projector restarting.
I have a spreadsheet
That's some dedication.
- I am quite upset about my lack of quality movie-going options
That’s surprising, the regal theater by me is by far the nicest and they do a good job of keeping it that way.
- The competing theater closed around 3 years ago, so the Regal got complacent and has been downhill since then.

The quality line shouldn’t be so straight! Lots of excellent new big budget sci fi this year (PotA, Mad Max, Dune, quiet place, Alien soon) and even some non sequel/prequel ones (Wild Robot, Megapolis, Slingshot). The PRICES to go and get a bucket of popcorn and a drink to share have started to approach undoable though.

I haven't been to a movie theater since 2009. What makes them so special nowadays? I've been tempted to go but it's hard to beat my setup at home.

Nothing makes them special. The picture quality is worse than my setup at home (I have a 65" HDR OLED TV.) You're sitting with like 100 people in a large room, half of whom are caughing nonstop and probably have covid. The food is disgusting and overpriced. The price of tickets are ridiculous now. The audio is WAY too loud. Like seriously, way too fucking loud. I had to cover my ears during the previews last time I went. Pretty sure the volume was legit hearing damage level. I see no good reason to go to a theater ever. They're trash.
The only benefit the theater has over my living room (5.1 setup) is the dolby atmos or whatever setup. But you can't even appreciate it because they blast the volume at ear drum shattering levels.
Not everyone has a good setup at home and people want to go out.
What makes them so special nowadays?
I guess they are much emptier these days which might make them somewhat bearable.
@Kit It's just a different experience to see the picture on a bigger screen.
- But why has the quality gone up over the years, as shown in the graph?
- I have a 65" oled tv. Pretty sure my tv has better picture quality than the movie theater. I'd much rather prefer to watch at home and not have to sit near 100 people coughing, thank you very much.
  Also the quality of food at the dine-in theaters is disgusting. I ordered a chicken sandwich from my local theater earlier this year (went to see dune 2) and immediately felt nauseous and had to shit.

"Back in my day" post, if I've ever seen one.

Jokes on you (meme) I only go to the theatres for old movies and indies these days

Really? I think it’s the opposite.

Lots of good content (possibly more improvements in shows than movies) and yet the theatres are shit. Expensive, bad projector quality, sticky floors and no arm rest room (got to share that).

All while my home theatre has improved to a whole new level.

I'd understand (not agree with but understand) why they would rather have more seats per row instead of more arm rest space in a constantly busy, close-to-full theatre. Maybe I'm just not visiting the "right ones" but it's been a while since I saw one above 70-80% capacity.

Most cities have torn down or sliced up the old movie palaces. They really were magnificent, especially when you realize that movies used to be cheap entertainment. Five cents would let you walk into a wonderland.

https://www.vulture.com/2015/01/loews-kings-theater-renovation-photos.html

It's the other way around

Cinemas are best for dates. They often provide a moment for a kiss to be shared. Sometimes I wouldn't even care about the movie.

Why would you need to pay for a cinema ticket, just to hide a kiss without being seen. Is this the 1950s!?
- No, that's not it. Movies with romantic moments ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I don't actually like those big recliners they have in movie theaters. They're too plush to be comfortable (if that makes sense) and the droning whine of the electric motor is annoying when someone adjusts their seat during a screening.

bro I hate movie theaters these days. assigned seating is fucked up

How so? I much prefer the order that brings having seats assigned.
You couldn't be more wrong.
Assigned seating is the best thing that could have ever happened to movie theaters!
It rewards the people who are on the ball and buy their tickets ASAP and enables the ushers to kick out the assholes (teenagers, mostly) who try to sit whereever they want. Win-win.
- it changes the classic theater going experience. if a movie isn't a blockbuster. people just won't go to a showing if they can't get good seats. and how does it let them kick disruptive people out? I think I've been to the theater three times since covid and every single time it had disruptive people in it.
  and, they never seem to be quite right about which seats are and aren't taken, cuz no matter how much you try to choose a seat that's away from anybody in a theater that's not crowded, you always end up with some asshole buying tickets in the seat right next to you.
Incorrect sir, assigned seating is the best!