The way I grabbed a Diet Coke before sitting down to read this😂 I love your writing and you can tell it’s so well-researched. Looking forward to part two!!
This is one of the best things I’ve ever read on Substack. Brilliant stuff. Your opening also brought back a ton of childhood memories of ‘event cinema’ for me.
I definitely think the theaters that are surviving are ones that have become social hubs, like The Metrograph in NYC, the Music Box here in Chicago, and the Film Scene in Iowa City. The chain theaters are really struggling. If it weren’t for A List I don’t think AMC would be doing as well as it is here in the US.
Metrograph is super interesting as well because they started as a theatre but now they also have a distribution company (Metrograph Pictures) that buys and releases films and a streaming platform to release them direct-to-consumer. Their merch and publishing game is also super strong (like the limited-edition book they put out by Sean Price Williams that sold out in a day).
Metrograph's current director of programming was a former Rotterdam programmer. For me, this exemplifies the sort of curators that are necessary partners for building a better theatrical experience and cinema ecosystem.
On an semi-related note: one thing AMC has going for it over most arthouse cinemas is POPCORN QUALITY. What is it about the popcorn at AMC that makes it so delicious, and why is it that arthouse cinema popcorn usually sucks in comparison?
Metrograph stepped in were Landmark Sunshine fell off. That’s where I saw Y Tu Mama Tambein and I don’t even know how I knew of it? Village Voice? Or most likely it was a trailer I saw when I was in that same theater watching some indie film. It’s true theaters like that make you want to go. And I was able to do this while a student in NYU!
Add Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (nationwide in the U.S.) to that list. Food and beverage service, arcade games, merch, campy vintage posters in the lobby: It's a complete experience you can't duplicate at home.
Anita Elberse's book on blockbusters did a good job of explaining the business "why" of this--it's incredibly depressing and dispiriting, though. I've come to blame the way entertainment has become more like Wall Street -- another great book on that (which is open source!) is Andrew DeWaard's "Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture"
Great article, all too true. Can’t wait for the next one. And as a film/tv marketer, you couldn’t be more right. There’s no desire for innovation or cultural relevance anymore outside of whatever social media trend happened last week.
Totally Glenn! Also hi fellow marketer ♥️ I don't know to what extent I'm going to get into this as it's such a niche issue to talk about but at least in the UK, the film marketing agency model (or more accurately, agencies that specialize in film marketing) also contribute to this. Media plans, marketing strategies are all rinse and repeat - with huge focus on short term "campaign" goals vs how does this contribute to the prosperity of the medium in the longer term
I agree. Or... in what way do u mean? I think in some cities it's now more difficult for especially families to drive into the cities, and therefor cinemas struggle. I think we need more small cinemas, located also outside the big cities, then also young peoples can get there easier...
Yes exactly that. It’s also a social/cultural mindset. Everything needs to be big - both the movie and returns - and appeal to mass audiences. Only megaplexes can achieve that, and spatially they’re only possible in the burbs. So, suburbanization “flattens” taste and experience.
This article articulates so many things I have been thinking lately, thank you!
What would make the theatre going experience much better for me: a beautiful space and good food options! It’s such an undertaking to plan a movie trip with friends - in a lot of places in the US you have to drive to dinner, find parking, then drive to the theatre, find parking. It’s an ordeal. And catching a 7 pm movie after getting off work at 5 or 6 pm makes that challenging. It would be so nice to be able to meet friends at the theatre an hour our so before, and have decent food options in the theatre. A restaurant, cafe, counter service - anything. Or a nice, chic bar that you actually want to sit and have a drink at before or after the movie - not a sad corporate bar. I remember hanging out with my friends for hours at the theatre when I was a teen because there was an arcade in our theatre lobby. There could be a bookstore or coffee shop. Anything! If I meet friends for a movie at the theatre now, I feel like I barely see them, and it gives so little value to the $30 ticket. Make my ticket cheaper but make me spend more money on food, drinks, video games when I’m in your space. I end up having to spend that money somewhere else, and still have to buy a $30 ticket.
This is great stuff, and articulates a lot of what has made this particular movie nerd all grumpy about going to the cinema. It isn't the movies - yeah, they're maybe not as consistently good, but mainstream releases have always been a bit hit and miss.
In the UK, we've seen countless accessible (and largely beautiful) cinemas closed since the '90s, leaving the multiplexes to pop up on trading estates. In some cases, those chains have explicitly prevented other cinemas from operating as a condition of setting up shop. Sure, there are smaller independents doing great work, but they're frequently city-based and underfunded.
As you rightly note, working class people are being priced out of what was originally seen as working class entertainment. It's difficult to justify the price at the best of times, even more so now the chain cinemas are horribly understaffed (just use this utterly unintuitive, manky touchscreen) and appear to exist solely to sell overpriced concessions or manage risk (I'm sure that's why they make you book a specific seat). It can be an exhausting experience, so I'm not surprised people would rather wait a month and then rent a streaming release.
Okay, now I need a nap. Thanks for writing this. Can't wait for the next part.
Thanks so much for articulating your thoughts so clearly, Ray. Gives me a lot to think about. And absolutely - it's a self-inflicted wound really. Which is sad.
This piece makes me want to go hug my daughter -- Gen Z'er (24) who subscribes to AMC and the American Cinematheque and is at the cinema multiple times per week seeing both new films and "classics" (that is, everything from Errol Morris and Kurosawa to "Corpse Grinders"). Of course, we're in Los Angeles, where Tarantino operates two cinemas, so perhaps we're outliers in this crisis. Anyway --- great piece, wonderful research and writing, thank you!
This is why I love the Irish Film Institute in Dublin. They have a café/restaurant and shop for DVDs and books. They don't screen mega blockbusters and instead screen indie films and foreign language films. Every month there are Q&As for new films and they screen films during film festivals. In March they had showings from the East Asia Film Festival Ireland. Prices can range from €8-€15 but you're actually getting an experience and the seating is soft and comfortable. They even have a 25 & Under card allowing people under 25 to get all tickets for only €5. When people talk about third spaces and community I think of the IFI. My only criticism is that their runs of new films and can quite short. However, their regular events, collabs with other cultural institutions (e.g Alliance Francaise, The Gate Theatre) and overall vibe give me the "cinematic experience" I'm looking for.
I just thought of something else, why not offer top tier subscribers merch from the film?
Do you know what I would’ve done to have Marty’s vest in BTTF? Yea best I keep that one under wraps, lol.
Also for subscribers offer something similar to how everything delivers to you, why not figure out a way to pick up top shelf subscribers via a ride share?
I know all of this requires a lot of work but as I mentioned with the pro sports teams it can’t be any easier for them logistically (and the revenue to run the team and stadium aren’t the same ticket sales and concession pays for the building. The tv contracts pays the players salaries for the most part).
But if you did this, boom parking is now not a problem. And it’s gives fans an incentive to show up. If you know you didn’t need to drive and find parking and then drive home doesn’t that change things just a little bit?
I got more, there’s a Museum of Sex in New York, there have been a few movies recently exploring sex through the women’s lens. I’d have a theater hook up women film goers with some kind of cross promotion with the museum. See the film and get half off the Museum of Sex.
I’ve long said the theaters need to look at pro sports teams venues. They aren’t stuck in the 80’s or 90’s.
They add a ton of things to attract fans. Including give away days. Yea we are paying 2/3 of the team $600 million but what will get more fans out to the ballpark? A bobble head doll. Simple.
The teams lean in to what their venues can offer. Big huge screens? Check. Dog day? Check. Fireworks no where near the 4th of July? Check. Let the kids hit the field/court/ice? Check.
Lean into the venues advantages.
Have mock up sets, play into people who come dressed as characters -like a contest best winner gets free tix.
As a writer I’d be blown away you’re so locked into something I made up and then worked like a mule to refine. And here you are dressed up and doing the lines? Put some respect on these peoples names!!!
And for God sakes do like the pro sports teams venues. The cheap seats and $20,000 seats behind home plate are squeaky clean. The teams make it easy to order food but it’s not done in a hurry up and get out fashion. Even in the bathroom the games radio feed is piped in.
The game is still paramount. But teams realize times have changed and they have installed features and designs to get people active. Get you to talk.
The standing room only sections are perfect. Lots of people will come out to a game and stand for 2 1/2-3 hours as long as there’s beer, burgers and a bathroom. All the while kicking to with mostly strangers.
Theaters can have luxury seating at a higher price. Also have one or two theaters all luxury. Offer more than those seats, with AMC A list, offer something like airline miles.
The more films I see in consecutive order, allow me to buy something exclusive at a discount or reward me with film merch.
Offer people who subscribe access to red carpet premieres. Tap in to those influencers who are if anything the modern version of Siskel and Ebert.
As I mentioned the game is still the thing but go to a modern stadium it’s a much more immersive experience than it was in the 90’s.
The rest of the theater should be regular seating and at maximum capacity. Nothing like 200-300 people laughing or being awed all at once you know like at a ballgame.
This is excellent! Weirdly I think I go to the movies MORE post-pandemic than I did before. Going to the movies is one of my favorite activities ever. I go to one art house theater here in Philly and almost every time when I'm queuing for the restroom after the screening, an older lady asks me my thoughts on the film we just saw, it's so sweet! I can't say I get the same experience at my local AMC theatre. Movie ticket prices are absolutely absurd now, and don't get me started on the price of PVOD which is just so egregious it's insulting.
Such great points - community experience, streaming windows, distribution dates - all of them. It's felt like there's been very few movies for a month or two and then suddenly in these past two weeks there's been such an onslaught it's almost overwhelming. I wonder if it also has anything to do with the festival/awards/distributor bid frenzies (maybe those are all the same thing, it's not super clear to me). I recently noticed that the local theaters near me are showing more smaller-release/non-blockbuster films (1-2 per theater), but it feels like there's such a short window for them because so many are coming in only for 1-2 weeks at a time.
"young audiences are after something else entirely: social connection. They want to be together, to laugh and gasp and process in real time with friends."
^^^^^^^^It's kind of absurd how much critics ignore both younger audiences and the movie theater aspect of watching a movie. Most of the marketing for theaters today I feel is very individualistic - "see it on the biggest screen possible." It's all about competing with a personal high-aspect home screen and not about the other possible people sitting in the theater with you. I prefer to go to movies alone, but I love the community aspect of the theater. There are some movies I waffle on buying a ticket for, but seeing a somewhat-full showing will influence me towards choosing to watch it in the theater. I want the experience. It's like a live studio audience, and you get to be part of it. I literally went to the Minecraft movie for the theater reaction, and I'm not even into Minecraft. FNAF was released the same day on streaming as it was in the theater, and so many people went to see it on screen because it was something you can do with other people and had references that you could fleetingly connect with strangers in the theater over. I think people rag on collective pop culture dying but I'm starting to think more that it is more that it is floating around on the internet and if it's able to be translated into a mainstream media like a film then it becomes evidence of a collective pop culture, though that kind of pop culture is also Gen-Z oriented, which I admit doesn't cross over into the older generations as well. This line of thinking got into a tangent. But you're 100000% right on the desire for social connection. I remember being so excited to watch Across the Spider-verse opening weekend that I went home to see it - full local theater, a bit older of a crowd, pretty quiet response. I watched it again with some friends at a full theater when I returned to college and the reaction was so insanely different. People were gasping, laughing, going "ohhh" when a disguised Miles tried to be cool with his dad. A big screen is nice, but you can't replace a community experience, and it's on brand but frustrating that studios will just not understand it's younger audience or (more likely) take the wrong lessons from things like the recent Gen-Z oriented video films. Minecraft/FNAF are the only two blockbuster studio movies I can think of that have tried to explicitly cater primarily to Gen-Z, and I can already imagine the incorrect lessons that will be drawn from them.
Anyways, I know I mentioned this a few posts ago, but I really enjoy your posts. It's both entertaining and informative, and I really enjoy how it's thoughtful and induces thoughts (based on other people commenting as well haha). I'm excited to read your next two "chapters" of this film-analysis trilogy.
I live on a small island in BC Canada. We have an old theatre called the Fritz where it is wonderful to go and watch films for CAD10. They also do old fashioned popcorn with real butter. Great except for the poor quality of films in 2025
The way I grabbed a Diet Coke before sitting down to read this😂 I love your writing and you can tell it’s so well-researched. Looking forward to part two!!
This is one of the best things I’ve ever read on Substack. Brilliant stuff. Your opening also brought back a ton of childhood memories of ‘event cinema’ for me.
Thank you 🥹🥹🥹
I definitely think the theaters that are surviving are ones that have become social hubs, like The Metrograph in NYC, the Music Box here in Chicago, and the Film Scene in Iowa City. The chain theaters are really struggling. If it weren’t for A List I don’t think AMC would be doing as well as it is here in the US.
Thanks so much for the specific NY cinema references - mega helpful for the upcoming instalments. And 100%
Metrograph is super interesting as well because they started as a theatre but now they also have a distribution company (Metrograph Pictures) that buys and releases films and a streaming platform to release them direct-to-consumer. Their merch and publishing game is also super strong (like the limited-edition book they put out by Sean Price Williams that sold out in a day).
Metrograph's current director of programming was a former Rotterdam programmer. For me, this exemplifies the sort of curators that are necessary partners for building a better theatrical experience and cinema ecosystem.
On an semi-related note: one thing AMC has going for it over most arthouse cinemas is POPCORN QUALITY. What is it about the popcorn at AMC that makes it so delicious, and why is it that arthouse cinema popcorn usually sucks in comparison?
Curation strategy can definitely be used as a USP - trying to find ways to incorporate that in my Solutions part.
Also...A TON OF BUTTER, that's the answer 🤣
When I ask the arthouse concession stand if they have butter for their popcorn and they say “no, but we have salt”… Talk about an inadequate solution.
Metrograph stepped in were Landmark Sunshine fell off. That’s where I saw Y Tu Mama Tambein and I don’t even know how I knew of it? Village Voice? Or most likely it was a trailer I saw when I was in that same theater watching some indie film. It’s true theaters like that make you want to go. And I was able to do this while a student in NYU!
Add Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (nationwide in the U.S.) to that list. Food and beverage service, arcade games, merch, campy vintage posters in the lobby: It's a complete experience you can't duplicate at home.
Anita Elberse's book on blockbusters did a good job of explaining the business "why" of this--it's incredibly depressing and dispiriting, though. I've come to blame the way entertainment has become more like Wall Street -- another great book on that (which is open source!) is Andrew DeWaard's "Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture"
Wonderful reference, Monia. Thank you for sharing!
I 100% agree. This is what happens when culture and art becomes a commodity.
Absolutely!
Great article, all too true. Can’t wait for the next one. And as a film/tv marketer, you couldn’t be more right. There’s no desire for innovation or cultural relevance anymore outside of whatever social media trend happened last week.
Totally Glenn! Also hi fellow marketer ♥️ I don't know to what extent I'm going to get into this as it's such a niche issue to talk about but at least in the UK, the film marketing agency model (or more accurately, agencies that specialize in film marketing) also contribute to this. Media plans, marketing strategies are all rinse and repeat - with huge focus on short term "campaign" goals vs how does this contribute to the prosperity of the medium in the longer term
Nice one. I have a theory that suburbanization plays a big part in the movie theater’s decline, especially in the US.
That's a GREAT one, Brendan!
I agree. Or... in what way do u mean? I think in some cities it's now more difficult for especially families to drive into the cities, and therefor cinemas struggle. I think we need more small cinemas, located also outside the big cities, then also young peoples can get there easier...
Yes exactly that. It’s also a social/cultural mindset. Everything needs to be big - both the movie and returns - and appeal to mass audiences. Only megaplexes can achieve that, and spatially they’re only possible in the burbs. So, suburbanization “flattens” taste and experience.
This article articulates so many things I have been thinking lately, thank you!
What would make the theatre going experience much better for me: a beautiful space and good food options! It’s such an undertaking to plan a movie trip with friends - in a lot of places in the US you have to drive to dinner, find parking, then drive to the theatre, find parking. It’s an ordeal. And catching a 7 pm movie after getting off work at 5 or 6 pm makes that challenging. It would be so nice to be able to meet friends at the theatre an hour our so before, and have decent food options in the theatre. A restaurant, cafe, counter service - anything. Or a nice, chic bar that you actually want to sit and have a drink at before or after the movie - not a sad corporate bar. I remember hanging out with my friends for hours at the theatre when I was a teen because there was an arcade in our theatre lobby. There could be a bookstore or coffee shop. Anything! If I meet friends for a movie at the theatre now, I feel like I barely see them, and it gives so little value to the $30 ticket. Make my ticket cheaper but make me spend more money on food, drinks, video games when I’m in your space. I end up having to spend that money somewhere else, and still have to buy a $30 ticket.
This is EXCELLENT, Brittany!!
This is great stuff, and articulates a lot of what has made this particular movie nerd all grumpy about going to the cinema. It isn't the movies - yeah, they're maybe not as consistently good, but mainstream releases have always been a bit hit and miss.
In the UK, we've seen countless accessible (and largely beautiful) cinemas closed since the '90s, leaving the multiplexes to pop up on trading estates. In some cases, those chains have explicitly prevented other cinemas from operating as a condition of setting up shop. Sure, there are smaller independents doing great work, but they're frequently city-based and underfunded.
As you rightly note, working class people are being priced out of what was originally seen as working class entertainment. It's difficult to justify the price at the best of times, even more so now the chain cinemas are horribly understaffed (just use this utterly unintuitive, manky touchscreen) and appear to exist solely to sell overpriced concessions or manage risk (I'm sure that's why they make you book a specific seat). It can be an exhausting experience, so I'm not surprised people would rather wait a month and then rent a streaming release.
Okay, now I need a nap. Thanks for writing this. Can't wait for the next part.
Thanks so much for articulating your thoughts so clearly, Ray. Gives me a lot to think about. And absolutely - it's a self-inflicted wound really. Which is sad.
This piece makes me want to go hug my daughter -- Gen Z'er (24) who subscribes to AMC and the American Cinematheque and is at the cinema multiple times per week seeing both new films and "classics" (that is, everything from Errol Morris and Kurosawa to "Corpse Grinders"). Of course, we're in Los Angeles, where Tarantino operates two cinemas, so perhaps we're outliers in this crisis. Anyway --- great piece, wonderful research and writing, thank you!
Richard, I appreciate you! Hug your daughter for me 🤗
An amazing post and one I wrestle with everyday
♥️♥️
This is why I love the Irish Film Institute in Dublin. They have a café/restaurant and shop for DVDs and books. They don't screen mega blockbusters and instead screen indie films and foreign language films. Every month there are Q&As for new films and they screen films during film festivals. In March they had showings from the East Asia Film Festival Ireland. Prices can range from €8-€15 but you're actually getting an experience and the seating is soft and comfortable. They even have a 25 & Under card allowing people under 25 to get all tickets for only €5. When people talk about third spaces and community I think of the IFI. My only criticism is that their runs of new films and can quite short. However, their regular events, collabs with other cultural institutions (e.g Alliance Francaise, The Gate Theatre) and overall vibe give me the "cinematic experience" I'm looking for.
Wow what a great example!
I just thought of something else, why not offer top tier subscribers merch from the film?
Do you know what I would’ve done to have Marty’s vest in BTTF? Yea best I keep that one under wraps, lol.
Also for subscribers offer something similar to how everything delivers to you, why not figure out a way to pick up top shelf subscribers via a ride share?
I know all of this requires a lot of work but as I mentioned with the pro sports teams it can’t be any easier for them logistically (and the revenue to run the team and stadium aren’t the same ticket sales and concession pays for the building. The tv contracts pays the players salaries for the most part).
But if you did this, boom parking is now not a problem. And it’s gives fans an incentive to show up. If you know you didn’t need to drive and find parking and then drive home doesn’t that change things just a little bit?
Love this ideas! A lot of this can be done on a local/indie level too.
I got more, there’s a Museum of Sex in New York, there have been a few movies recently exploring sex through the women’s lens. I’d have a theater hook up women film goers with some kind of cross promotion with the museum. See the film and get half off the Museum of Sex.
Gotta get real interactive in the 21st century.
I’ve long said the theaters need to look at pro sports teams venues. They aren’t stuck in the 80’s or 90’s.
They add a ton of things to attract fans. Including give away days. Yea we are paying 2/3 of the team $600 million but what will get more fans out to the ballpark? A bobble head doll. Simple.
The teams lean in to what their venues can offer. Big huge screens? Check. Dog day? Check. Fireworks no where near the 4th of July? Check. Let the kids hit the field/court/ice? Check.
Lean into the venues advantages.
Have mock up sets, play into people who come dressed as characters -like a contest best winner gets free tix.
As a writer I’d be blown away you’re so locked into something I made up and then worked like a mule to refine. And here you are dressed up and doing the lines? Put some respect on these peoples names!!!
And for God sakes do like the pro sports teams venues. The cheap seats and $20,000 seats behind home plate are squeaky clean. The teams make it easy to order food but it’s not done in a hurry up and get out fashion. Even in the bathroom the games radio feed is piped in.
The game is still paramount. But teams realize times have changed and they have installed features and designs to get people active. Get you to talk.
The standing room only sections are perfect. Lots of people will come out to a game and stand for 2 1/2-3 hours as long as there’s beer, burgers and a bathroom. All the while kicking to with mostly strangers.
Theaters can have luxury seating at a higher price. Also have one or two theaters all luxury. Offer more than those seats, with AMC A list, offer something like airline miles.
The more films I see in consecutive order, allow me to buy something exclusive at a discount or reward me with film merch.
Offer people who subscribe access to red carpet premieres. Tap in to those influencers who are if anything the modern version of Siskel and Ebert.
As I mentioned the game is still the thing but go to a modern stadium it’s a much more immersive experience than it was in the 90’s.
The rest of the theater should be regular seating and at maximum capacity. Nothing like 200-300 people laughing or being awed all at once you know like at a ballgame.
This is excellent! Weirdly I think I go to the movies MORE post-pandemic than I did before. Going to the movies is one of my favorite activities ever. I go to one art house theater here in Philly and almost every time when I'm queuing for the restroom after the screening, an older lady asks me my thoughts on the film we just saw, it's so sweet! I can't say I get the same experience at my local AMC theatre. Movie ticket prices are absolutely absurd now, and don't get me started on the price of PVOD which is just so egregious it's insulting.
GIRL, same!! I love it so much even though the industry has turned it messy 😭
Such great points - community experience, streaming windows, distribution dates - all of them. It's felt like there's been very few movies for a month or two and then suddenly in these past two weeks there's been such an onslaught it's almost overwhelming. I wonder if it also has anything to do with the festival/awards/distributor bid frenzies (maybe those are all the same thing, it's not super clear to me). I recently noticed that the local theaters near me are showing more smaller-release/non-blockbuster films (1-2 per theater), but it feels like there's such a short window for them because so many are coming in only for 1-2 weeks at a time.
"young audiences are after something else entirely: social connection. They want to be together, to laugh and gasp and process in real time with friends."
^^^^^^^^It's kind of absurd how much critics ignore both younger audiences and the movie theater aspect of watching a movie. Most of the marketing for theaters today I feel is very individualistic - "see it on the biggest screen possible." It's all about competing with a personal high-aspect home screen and not about the other possible people sitting in the theater with you. I prefer to go to movies alone, but I love the community aspect of the theater. There are some movies I waffle on buying a ticket for, but seeing a somewhat-full showing will influence me towards choosing to watch it in the theater. I want the experience. It's like a live studio audience, and you get to be part of it. I literally went to the Minecraft movie for the theater reaction, and I'm not even into Minecraft. FNAF was released the same day on streaming as it was in the theater, and so many people went to see it on screen because it was something you can do with other people and had references that you could fleetingly connect with strangers in the theater over. I think people rag on collective pop culture dying but I'm starting to think more that it is more that it is floating around on the internet and if it's able to be translated into a mainstream media like a film then it becomes evidence of a collective pop culture, though that kind of pop culture is also Gen-Z oriented, which I admit doesn't cross over into the older generations as well. This line of thinking got into a tangent. But you're 100000% right on the desire for social connection. I remember being so excited to watch Across the Spider-verse opening weekend that I went home to see it - full local theater, a bit older of a crowd, pretty quiet response. I watched it again with some friends at a full theater when I returned to college and the reaction was so insanely different. People were gasping, laughing, going "ohhh" when a disguised Miles tried to be cool with his dad. A big screen is nice, but you can't replace a community experience, and it's on brand but frustrating that studios will just not understand it's younger audience or (more likely) take the wrong lessons from things like the recent Gen-Z oriented video films. Minecraft/FNAF are the only two blockbuster studio movies I can think of that have tried to explicitly cater primarily to Gen-Z, and I can already imagine the incorrect lessons that will be drawn from them.
Anyways, I know I mentioned this a few posts ago, but I really enjoy your posts. It's both entertaining and informative, and I really enjoy how it's thoughtful and induces thoughts (based on other people commenting as well haha). I'm excited to read your next two "chapters" of this film-analysis trilogy.
SUCH great points!!! And absolutely - marketing has failed younger audiences completely.
And thank you so much ❤️❤️
I live on a small island in BC Canada. We have an old theatre called the Fritz where it is wonderful to go and watch films for CAD10. They also do old fashioned popcorn with real butter. Great except for the poor quality of films in 2025
Ugh that's nice. They don't have their own programming/curation strategy, I assume?
They do to the extent they can. More art house and indie. But they are small with limited bargaining power