Will the next installment in the Harry Potter series debut in your den? The technology is there -- via pay-per-view -- to enable you to premiere a movie at home the same day it opens in movie theaters. But would you pay $30 to $40 for the privilege? Here's a story about the latest set in the match between the forces that want to make first-run movies available on your home screen on the same day and date they open at the multiplex and those who believe the current arrangement should be maintained. Me? I'm a big-screen girl for many reasons. 1) One of film's unique powers is that it is larger than life. 2) Directors compose on an epic canvas that loses something when it get shrunk to home-screen size. 3)Moviegoing is a group experience. My kids are what the experts call "plaftorm-neutral": They don't care whether the movie is in a theater, on the home screen or downloaded onto a handheld. My hunch is that if the technology is there, day-and-date release of movies to theaters and pay-for-view is inevitable, but that doesn't mean I'll be a subscriber. For me, to watch movies on the small screen is like looking at a slide of a painting rather than the original itself. What are you willing to pay to see a new film at home? Or do you prefer the premiere at the 'plex?
Comments (4)
Well, Ms. Rickey, you pose an interesting and meaningful question, as usual.
Seeing a movie in a theatrical setting is a very different experience than seeing it at home-- and the theater experience is far superior. To my mind, the most significant difference is not the larger size of images not the enormous price you must pay for newly released downloads.
Movies are special events. Good movies are extra special events. It's impossible to appreciate the art of film nor to feel a film's full emotional impact if you're in a home environment where you can be so easily distracted.
True, people sitting near you in movie theaters are sometimes exasperatingly inconsiderate. But, but at least in that darkened and quiet theater setting you stand a better chance of everyone's attention being focused on the screen.
When that happens, the impact of the film is very much enhanced-- remember, for example, when the entire house errupted into applause at the end of musical numbers in the film version of "Chicago," or when the audience gasped collectively during "Alien," or when one giggle in response to some on-screen silliness created a round of laughter that brought down the house?
Can these wonderful experiences ever be relicated in the familiar territory of your den? I think not. So, when you home-screen, you miss a lot.
Thanks for raising this issue, and stimulating more thought and discussion about it. As you say, the distribution model is changing rapidly. Ultimately, audiences will decide the future with how they choose to spend their movie money.
Posted by Jennifer Merin | May 17, 2007 2:54 PM
Posted on May 17, 2007 14:54
I love seeing a film at the movie theater. Your discussion of Harry Potter brought back many good memories of when I took my son (now 13) to see the 1st HP movie. He proudly wore his Gryffindor robes and brought his wand to the movie theater! There were many other children dressed up as movie characters too, and there was such a wonderful energy and excitement in the lobby as we waited to go in.
That kind of experience would be lost when seeing a new film at home through pay-per-view.
Posted by Dierdre McKee | May 17, 2007 4:08 PM
Posted on May 17, 2007 16:08
I used to argue strongly for the theater experience and for some movies that's the best way to do it. OTOH, it's very hard to argue against watching a movie with intimates in your own home or theirs particularly when you've already seen it in a theater, Plus there's the problem of films that you can't usually see in theaters ( and the problem of their resizing for TV ). Gotta see "Casablanca" and "Moulin Rouge", as examples, whther or not a theater is available for viewing. Sadder, too, Bergman's movies look lousy on TV and you can't read the subtitles. There's room for both. Hate ytalking in theaters, enjoy the byplay ( and replay power) of home viewing.
Posted by JDM | May 18, 2007 7:51 AM
Posted on May 18, 2007 07:51
Movies are meant to be seen larger than life! They need to be seen in a movie theater. People interested in helping to save Center City's last movie palace, the Boyd, can enter their contact info at www.FriendsOfTheBoyd.org
the Boyd is too huge for daily movies but a film series (film classics likes ones mentioned above, film festivals, and Hollywood style movie premieres) can be hosted at a restored, reopened Boyd.
Howard B. Haas, President, Friends of the Boyd, Inc.
Posted by Howard B Haas | May 18, 2007 9:53 PM
Posted on May 18, 2007 21:53