Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri

May 12, 2006

So, as I was wondering before the overturned boat so rudely interrupted us, why do people still go to the movies?

Obviously, there are a number of reasons.

The Moviegoing Experience - This is where those of us of a high mind usually start… and ironically, this is one of the places where the argument that some make that going to the movies is a dying cultural conceit starts. Because if the experience is not as good as we remember it once being and if can have enormous TV screens in our homes (less than 5% of America has bought an HD set), why would we go to the movies?

People are talking. There are commercials. Popcorn is stale and expensive. And there are so many stairs in those stadium-seating theaters.

But the experience, however less than it once was - and if you ever went to see a movie at the State & Lake Theater in Chicago, you know that talking in the movies is not a new phenomenon - is still The Experience.

You walk into a large sensory depravation tank with a few hundred seats. You sit in the dark. If you have any restraint, your phone isn't bothering you. The image is many multiples of life size, which is not true of even the biggest TV (103" is the current size queen.). The sound is louder than anyone without an acre of space between their house and a neighbor can get away with. And you and a few dozen or a few hundred of your closest strangers experience a movie together.

People who see the same movie with multiple audiences know that every audience is different. They laugh at different things… and sometimes don't laugh (or cry or scream or gasp) at all. There is a group dynamic that is not available in any other way, including the experience of being a viewer whose feelings don't match those of the crowd.

But somehow, many people have the idea that any corruption of their idea of the ideal of the moviegoing experience means that there is no point to having the experience at all… for them and for everybody else. I would offer that the inconvenience factor gets greater as our lives become more complex and as we age into inflexibility.

Still, the experience is still something quite different than any home viewing experience, both in the quality of viewing and in the shared experience.

The Demanding Water Cooler - This is perhaps the area of the choice that is more legitimately fading, at the same time that the industry has obsessively emphasized the opening weekend and short theatrical windows into a necessity.

We are entering the era of Time Shifting, which will become the dominant cultural influencer of The Niche Universe. The more control people have of the content that is being thrown at them, the less important all but a few time designations will be. Opening weekend and the idea of standing around the water cooler on Monday discussion The Movie of the weekend is already less important to people than it used to be. And that reality will only get worse, particularly if windows get even shorter.

Still, there are some water cooler movies. The question is whether the hype machines have gotten so extreme and so loaded with content that fewer people feel they need to actually see the movies to have an opinion.

Relative Price Value - Movies remain the cheapest entertainment destination, even if ticket prices have gone up annually for too many years. Period.

Getting Out Of The House, Child - This would more accurately be the parents wanting to get the children out of the house. The longest-legged, strongest genre of the movie business is films for families, including or targeting young children. This is a group that continues to engage in appointment moviegoing. They will go to specific films on opening weekend with great purpose. But they will also go to the theater every weekend or every other weekend for as long as they aren't in school.

What is interesting about this group is that they aren't very discerning about quality. But they are very discerning about marketing. Will Garfield 2 really be a much better movie than Hoot (or even as good)? Maybe not. But it doesn't much matter. Garfield has kid traction. Hoot never got there.

This group, by the way, will also buy and rent large amounts of DVD as well, even after going to see movies multiple times in theaters. They are massive consumers and their parents really want to placate them for the sake of peace and quiet.

Getting Out Of The House, Teen - The group is the topic of endless speculation by the adults. And I would say that the adults, in media and out, miss the mark on this group more greatly than with any other.

Teens consume with a passion unrelenting. But they can still be weekly moviegoers while also buying videogames, also playing on the web, also next messaging one another, all while listening to their iPods. We adults get tired and if we watch a movie on DVD on Saturday afternoon, rushing to a crowded movie theater on Saturday night may not be as appealing.

But you know where your kids want to be… wherever you are not. And they can't afford sports tickets or to go to live music or theater and not many are going to museums or galleries. Movies are still the best, most inexpensive way to spend four hours away from home in an environment in which their parents will trust them to be on their own.

How can a teen date anywhere other a movie? Do you know many teen boys and girls that can sustain a conversation over a one-hour dinner?

Movies = independence.

And as consumers, teens make choices. When they WANT to see something, they really want to see it. And when they like something, they will go back as many times as their parents will indulge.

One interesting phenomenon in recent years is that teen boys and teen girls have really differentiated their preferences. And the idea that teen boys are where all the money is has become old thinking. The strong-woman-in-trouble horror genre is teen girl generated. Boys go see the hardcore violence. Comedies with which girls identify can regularly turn a profit. And the gross out comedy has waned as it's tried to map the territory of teen boys. Studios really need to go back to Stripes.

Getting Out Of The House, Adult - This is really where the greatest current resistance is. And it doesn't help that most journalists are in this group. People still want to get to of the house. But for a lot of busy people, the choice to just stay home and try to relax there is both physiologically and financially enticing.

And this is why more movies are not made for adults. Because they want the option, but they don't support it when it is available, with some exceptions.

The senior equation is a little different, as many seniors make a weekly pilgrimage to the multiplex, buy one ticket and often either float from parts of films to parts of films, or actually see multiple films. The income, at senior prices, is very important to the health of the industry, though the purchasing targets seem to be more vague than for others.

The adults over 25 and under 55 are probably the most discerning group. And therefore, the least reliable. They pay more attention to reviews and even word of mouth about the actual films. They are more easily deterred from going to - and paying for - the movies. And they have more financial wherewithal to pay for higher priced events than people in other demographics.

Still, when these adults do decide to go, they often decide at the last minute, as there are so many other responsibilities forever getting in their way. Thus scheduling is another unique opportunity afforded by movies, unlike anything other out-of-home entertainment other than dining.

Something we must all keep in mind, however, is that moviegoers are a relatively small group. A large percentage of people will - and have - wait(ed) for video or DVD or pay television or broadcast television. And more than any of those, the majority of people will never see the vast majority of films released by the studios, much less independents.

A $300 million gross represents an audience of roughly 30 million people, figuring that about 20% is repeat business. That's a lot of people. But it only represents two or three films a year. And only 10% of the population.

This is a niche medium. And the future, as the past, will be determined by the people who want to say, Yes," and not by the people who want to say, "no." The industry needs to focus on the myriad reasons to say "yes" and not to obsess on the "no." There is not future in that.

READER OF THE DAY: PO.G writes: "People are treating Tom Cruise like he's kidnapped Katie Holmes, and I just don't get it. She's old enough to make her own decisions and while I think silent birth is an unfair idea, I strongly disagree with him about his stance on prescription medication, and scientology is a load of hooey (I know, I'm alone on that one, aren't I?), it's not like he's made Katie stay in the home handcuffed to the washer and dryer. Did Nicole Kidman suddenly stop making her own life decisions when she married Cruise? As far as I'm concerned, things like the Oprah couch incident are ridiculous - Tom Cruise should be able to jump up and down on Oprah's couch if he's excited. It's like the Howard Dean scream - it's a little weird throwaway incident until the 24-hour news channels pick it up and make it into a big deal because they can sell that much more easily during daytime television than they can genocide in Darfur or the lack of Congressional gift reform or CEOs getting their golden parachute on.

I can disagree with Cruise, but I still like him. I wouldn't want him to be our president (although I'm sure he could do a better job than what we've got) but he's an actor and he's not doing anything that bad. People who flock to go see Mel Gibson's latest Mel-gasm shouldn't be talking about crazy. I'm fine with going to see the work of either, myself. There are a few actors or directors whose work I won't pay money to go see or rent - Roman Polanski being perhaps the primary. He raped a thirteen year old and then fled to Europe to avoid being tried by the law. But people went to see The Pianist and he won best director from the Academy for the film, and then these people, some of the same people in Hollywood and in the entertainment media who voiced their support for Polanski's Oscar bid, turn around in the media and say Tom Cruise has gone too far. These people need to get a license on reality. I don't agree with Cruise or his religion and the perspectives it holds, but at worst he's voicing viewpoints that differ from my own - he's not doing anything evil or that I think he should be reprimanded for."

E Me: What will your weekend look like?

Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri