If you’re in that crowd of people who don’t go out to movies at the theater anymore, then you’re part of a growing trend. I know this because an actor, upon receiving an award at the Oscars last year, spent the better part of his acceptance speech telling the audience that they needed to get off their collective rear ends and get out to the movies.
Something tells me he was speaking to the wrong audience. If ever there was an audience who watches lots of movies, it’s got to be the actors and directors and cinematographers and the like seated in front of him on Oscar night. They are not the problem. He would have been better off talking to an HVAC salesmen or a proctologists convention. Those are the guys that need convincing.
Then again, maybe not. Like me, they could be firmly ensconced in this “no movies in theaters” trend, and there’s nothing anyone can say to budge them.
Last year, I saw one (1) movie on the big screen, “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic. My sense then was much the same as it is now. Namely, there’s nothing much worth seeing (“A Complete Unknown” notwithstanding). I know this because two days ago, I sat through the trailers that came on before “Marty Supreme.” Just like the trailers shown before “A Complete Unknown,” not one of them looked remotely appealing. Long ago, when going out to the movie theater was a weekly event, it seemed every preview enticed me to come back. Not so much these days.
Now I’m a trendsetter of the opposite. And I think I know the reason why: They’re not making movies for me anymore. Demographically speaking, I am past my due date, movie-wise. I get it, and I’m OK with it. I’m happy to stay home and stream my movies. One less old person being a menace on the roads.
That award-winning actor wasn’t talking to me; he was talking to the Gen Z audience. Apparently, based on the trailers I just watched, Gen Z likes horror-gothic-sci-fi-action adventure. And there looks to be a glut of them coming down the pike.
So if there is an abundance of movies to watch at a theater near you, why aren’t the younger generation filling the seats?
I think I know the answer to this one too. It’s the movie theaters and their rules that have created the problem. First, the disembodied voice tells you to turn off your phone. And second, there’s to be no talking. That way, the voice reminded us, everyone can enjoy the movie.
Now how are you going to get kids to sit for two hours plus without scrolling or texting or chatting on their phones? A few years ago, when I was at a concert, and all the millennials were scrolling and texting and talking and taking selfies, I asked one of them why they would spend all that money to see a show and then spend their time on their phone talking. I was told it was because the “experience” was the thing, and the millennial was the center of the experience, not the fellow up on the stage singing his heart out.
A movie would be the same thing. How can a Gen Zer experience the movie if they can’t make the experience happen on their phone? I fear the movies have met their match, and the theater is not going to win.
Today, Bob with Johnny Cash …