No, but there needs to be.
The movie going experience is (mostly) terrible, for several reasons:
- Inconsiderate moviegoers (who text and talk during the film)
- More (and longer) trailers
- More (and longer) commercials
- Longer movies, with no intermissions (which is why the whole Runpee app was created)
- Higher ticket prices (the only reason that Hollywood has had record box office the last two years, because total ticket sales have declined over the past ten years)
- Stupider movies (because complex plots and dialogue is harder to sell internationally, which is where Hollywood makes most of their money these days)
Some attempts have been made to disrupt the moviegoing experience, primarily the “dinner and a movie” theatre model that has waiters and a full menu for patrons to choose from.This has met with some success, but it’s unlikely this model will ever be built out so that major theatre chains provide such a service at their multiplexes. Hollywood tried to change the moviegoing experience in two other ways over the past decade – IMAX and 3D – which met with limited success (though many analysts blame 3D for increasing ticket prices while reducing ticket sales).
There’s lots of things that CAN be done to make the movie going experience better, but until Hollywood and the theaters HAVE to change, they won’t. And why change? The money is still rolling in (even though the biggest chunk of it comes from expensive summer blockbusters), and international box office allows movies that don’t succeed in the US a chance to be successful (the most recent example is the new Robocop, which flopped in the states but is doing quite well in China, Brazil and Japan). If anything, Hollywood will look to change things for the WORSE for moviegoers in order to maximize profits (they are already doing this with home video releases – putting out multiple store exclusives of films instead of a single “loaded” blu-ray edition).
Not saying that disruption won’t ever happen, but it’s going to take a BIG drop-off in ticket sales for the business owners to look at ways they need to change to lure customers back.
Want to see the moviegoing experience get better? Stop going to see movies. Wait till Netflix and/or home video to see the big blockbusters. If enough people do this, then things might change.