I’ve been bearish on movie theaters for like ever…
That said, I’ve always been a big movie fan, pretty much from childhood. On top off which, for years while running the Pitch, writing for the Kansas City Star, KC Confidential and The Landmark I’ve been fortunate to attend any number of free-of-charge advance screenings.
So why my negativity?
Well for starters, the better part of the past decade, I’ve seen the handwriting on the wall.=
My thinking is far from unique; people in the entertainment biz have been making up imaginary movie theater obits since the early days of black and white television. And now, with the advent of inexpensive, high quality home theaters. the competition has been more more fierce than ever.
Still, through the years, Kansas City based AMC Theatres and other exhibitors have fought the good fight by implementing catchy gimmicks like Cinemascope, 3-D, multiplex theaters, far better seating and sound, gourmet food, booze and more.
But COVID’s been kicking AMC’s you-know-what since March 2020.
Because based on my experiences, I’m among the very few to still go to movie theaters the past year and a half. From AMC’s Ward Parkway to its Foothills 15 here in Tucson to theaters in markets like Des Moines, most theaters have resembled ghost towns.
The largest crowd I’ve seen at a movie is maybe a dozen.
My wife, daughters and friends I have even flown solo on more than one occasion.
The latest?
Do you like press releases? Believe them?
If so, maybe you might enjoy AMC’s latest:
“AMC Entertainment Sets Post Reopening Records.”
That’s right after warning everybody that they’re-staving off going out of business for more than a year, the local theater company set a single weekend, “global” record in “attendance, admission revenues and food & beverage sales.”
We’ll see if it lasts.
The reason: on the strength of just two movies, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and an aging, OO7 who goes by the name, Daniel Craig. On the strength of those two new movies, the future of movie theaters now appears to hang.
And yet, owing in no small part to our absent-minded president COVID is still aboil.
I don’t know about you guys, but out here in Arizona there’s been a noticeable uptick in mask wearing the past month or two. On top of which, I’ve yet to see an uptick in cars parked outside the Cinemark in Oro Valley.
Plus you know the drill, the bigger they are, the harder they fall…
While the Sears at Metcalf South has been missing in action for years, even the far nicer, more modern Sears at the Tucson Mall only closed its doors finally last year.
So sure, Winstead’s on the Country Club Plaza is alive and kicking – kinda – but Gunsmoke, Happy Days and The Office are no longer on TV other than in grainy reruns.
So time marches on.
I heard recently that like Tucson’s Arizona Daily Star, most of the Kansas City Star’s know-it-all writers are working out of their homes (or on Facebook). Former KU basketball coach Roy Williams is retired and that crazy Tony blogger dude is getting fewer r-rated comments these days than I have IQ points.
Cheap gas is history – Jimmy Carter is still alive (as is inflation) and the good, old days of when you could joke with friends or about your political leanings have the way of 8 track and cassette tapes.
So mark my words, the days of going out to movies on anything approaching a regular basis are likely numbered, so enjoy ’em while you can….before we all wake up and find the current 007 stuck playing some smarmy oldster making out with Meryl Streep.
Oh so still checking out Tony are ya? That must be you using the name of matterdaddy leaving all the hateful comments.
I’ll admit I have stopped doing the theaters myself. Cost is one factor not that I can’t afford it just like I can afford to lay out $200 plus on tickets to see my favorite musical group it’s just that I’m not going to do it. YouTube, cable TV and internet viewing have made forking over the dollars rather a silly waste. If it’s something I want to see that bad before it gets to television I just order the CD that costs just a few dollars more than some of the cinemas charge for a seat now. Yes I know many say you miss a lot not seeing it on the big screen and maybe in a tiny way I can see that, but I now have a big screen with a killer sound system in my living room of the likes I would have laughed for a week if 25 years ago you would have told me how great a picture would be seen on my 65″ flat panel in the living room.
I still think honestly the big screens will go the way of the drive-in movie, as in you’ll see fewer and fewer of them as time goes by.
STILL checking on Tony?
Never really much did to be blunt. I hardly ever even check in that much on the Star and at least there I can get some actual news. I was curious since I started writing again weekly for a local KC area publication and had been reading about a couple of topics, but when I looked at Tony, I was startled to see how few comments he was getting.
As you undoubtedly recall, one of the things we used to look at so closely were what stories drew the most comments.
That was practically everything to Craig Glazer, for example.
However I did recently hear that there were some restrictions introduced that limited the reach of certain websites. Hard to imagine his comments section drying up so fast. Then again since I’ve never really followed him, I don’t know how long those numbers have been down.
Maybe people are just getting bored by rumors, cheesecake and maybe blogs in general.
what ever happened to tony adamson? he was an exec at AMC for years. just curious.
You got me on that one…I’ll ask Jack!