Quote Originally Posted by Devastatin Dave
So here's the question, will going to the movies go the way of the dinosaur or is it still the way to go for certain pictures?
Certain pictures should be seen in the theater. The past few years I've seen House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Alexander (DVD director's cut is better), The New World (twice), Star Wars (once film projection and once digital projection. I liked the film projection better.), War of the Worlds (twice), Kill Bill 1+2 (twice), 28 Days Later (3 times), Open Range, Chicago, Sin City, Godzilla (original Japanese version from 1954), Lord of the Rings 2+3, V for Vendetta and King Kong (some bad CGI is fixed in the DVD version). I'm glad I saw these movies in the theater since I don't have a home theater system with a huge LCD TV screen. I don't go to the theater to see movies I think will be edited for mainstream American audiences. For that type of movie, I wait for the unrated DVD release.

I went to see Godzilla recently because I saw it in 1956 sitting in the front row of the theater with my friend, but this time it was shown in the original unedited version which was too controversial for American audiences back then. I was disappointed though because the screen it was shown on was not very big. Nothing will ever recreate the experience of a kid sitting in the front row seeing that movie. I'm sorry I never got to see King Kong (1933 version) that way, but I did get to see almost every sci-fi movie released in the 1950's and 1960's in the theater. Some of them made a big impression on me such as The Creature from the Black Lagoon in polarized 3D, and the George Pal version of War of the Worlds. The presentation of 2001: A Space Odyssey in Cinerama with an Altec Voice of the Theater sound system was very impressive in 1968. I've only gone to see one theatrical movie at an IMAX theater, Star Wars 1 as I recall, but at $14 a ticket I'm not inclined to see another one there.

So I like going to the theater, but it is getting rather expensive now ($10 usd), and the DVD (costing $20) could be out in 3 months (King Kong for example). When you add in a poorly behaved audience, and sitting through commercials and endless previews, I can see why some people might give up on going to the theater altogether.

There is one movie theater left in Boston. It's a very nice Loews 16 screen theater with stadium seating, and I can get $6 (usd) tickets through work (can't use them in the first 10 days of a movie's release). I can get to the theater for no cost, and, if I time it right, I miss the commercials and epileptic inducing previews. Since I'm not about to pay the exhorbitant prices they charge for someting to eat or drink, getting there right when the movie starts works out fine. I depend on my body's capacity to survive 3 days without food to get me through the movie,and there is a free water fountain if I get thirsty. There is basically nobody in the theater when I go to a matinee showing. There are so few people at this theater when I go that I'm concerned it will close, but maybe their nightime business is good.