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- Going to the Theater Sucks
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Going to the Theater Sucks
Big and depressing movie theater news in the form of AMC’s report that theater attendance has been significantly down:
On Monday, the debt-laden parent of AMC Theatres reported overall revenues at $1.28 billion, down 1.4 percent against a year-earlier $1.3 billion. That came as total attendance at its domestic and international theaters fell nearly 10 percent to 56.3 million patrons during the latest quarter.
Regular readers (initially I wrote Steve-ophiles and immediately deleted it. Wait, I’ve just written it again!!) are familiar with my love of the theatrical experience and my plan to fix theatergoing:
Extend theatrical windows to 30/45/90 days over time
Reduce theatrical pre-shows to 15 minutes
Expand matinee-pricing hours
Increase repertory screenings
Build more large format venues
Budget for cheaper films that can take bigger swings
That established, a reader recently emailed and sent me a Hollywood Reporter interview with Danny McBride from last year with an additional perspective that - due to my living and working in the Los Angeles metropolitan area for the past 20 years - hadn’t even crossed my mind!
In some regard, it’s not about finding what the audience wants to see. It’s about reestablishing why it’s important to go to movies in the first place. In L.A. or New York, you still have these badass movie theaters that have state-of-the-art sound and screens. I’ll buy a ticket to a theater around [Charleston, SC], and it feels like you’re in a halfway house. There’ll be movies where I’ll go in, see what screen it’s on and walk right out because I know that the speaker hums or there’s a smell in there…
In these suburban towns, they built all these big 16-screen mega plexes in the late nineties, and now those places, feel like relics of a bygone era. There’s six movies playing in there. It feels like you’re in the fall of Rome. Even if what’s Hollywood is making is good, it’s hard to convince people to not watch it in the comfort of their home and their massive TV set when they might go and spend all this money for 30 minutes of commercials and the projectionist to forget to turn the lights off.
McBride is right: I’m within driving distance of multiple IMAX screens with 70mm projection, and even my local multiplexes are clean, with crystal clear projection and sound. If your choice is between paying modern movie prices at a 90s-era relic with squeaky seats and bad smells or staying home and watching something on Netflix via your 50” TV, the choice is obvious. I’m adding it to the plan!
Asking for AI Bare Minimum Functionality
This weekend I had a few hours to spare and wanted to watch something that didn’t require the use of my brain, so I turned on Amazon Prime Video and streamed the 2014 film 22 Jump Street.
When I paused the film to use the restroom, I noticed that prominent placed onscreen as part of Amazon’s X-Ray functionality was an “AI Recap,” which would remind you of what had happened earlier in the film.
Given Amazon’s past failures with AI-generated video recaps, I was curious if this more humble feature would be more accurate, so I loaded it up and took some screenshots. You be the judge!
It may surprise you to know that this recap does not accurately describe the plot of the film 22 Jump Street, which does star Channing Tatum but does not star Rachel McAdams and is also not about a married couple dealing with memory loss. If you don’t believe me, you can view the trailer below:
This recap does accurately convey the plot of the 2012 film The Vow, which is also available on Amazon Prime. If anyone wants to check The Vow’s AI recap I’d be curious to see what it says!
Now, obviously this is not the first mistake ever made regarding a film or TV show’s appearance on a streaming service. These things happen!
That said, I think it’s emblematic of how alienating and bizarre some of these AI features are coming off to the casual consumer when their regular interaction with these products is that they rarely work as intended. If it can’t do the very basic task of describing the events of a 12 year old comedy, what good is it? Why is it here? What is it for? Who wants it?
Kernels (3 links worth making popcorn for)
Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:
What’s going on with Microsoft and Xbox? (link)
Winners of the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition. (link)
Microdrama budgets are 90% marketing. (link)