The Movies

This article could not have been assigned for my reading at a more opportune time. For a while now I've been frustrated with the Art House cinemas I'm familiar with in the Raleigh/Cary/Chapel Hill arena. Over the past 5 years or so there has definitely been a shift in movies exhibited at independent movie theaters, from unknown films to popular indie films. I can remember in high school driving 30 minutes to Cary just to see a particular film that wasn't playing anywhere else in the triangle area. I used to love going to blind screenings, basically paying to see a film that I knew absolutely nothing about. On school holidays I g0 home to Raleigh and it's a treat to be able to go see different films that probably won't come to Wilmington. Last Christmas I was shocked because the Rialto, Colony, and Galaxy, my main independent theaters were playing movies I'd heard of, nothing was new to me. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but there has been a mainstream shift of exhibiting films that are more palatable to an average film audience. I used to pay the $7 admission willingly, since I was getting a unique experience, now I simply won't. I'd just as well pay $1.50 (at the $1.50 theatre in Raleigh) to see a movie that has been out for a few months.

Alvin's article was published in 2007, which was two years after I graduated high school which makes sense. She contributes this mainstreaming to financial circumstances of the theaters, advancing and affordable home-movie technology, and the art-house subculture disintegrating.

While I don't understand all the costs incurred through running a theatre, I think that as a public we've become too demanding as audience members. I'm perfectly content not having stadium seating, reclining chairs, popcorn, slushies, and other nonsense that only distracts while watching a movie. I don't think mega-theatre owners know this. They get away with murder in the cost of ticket prices nowadays. Even worse, they are taking away student discounts on Friday and Saturday nights. I refuse to pay $9.50 for a ticket, that's ridiculous. All I need is a big screen and a movie projected on it. I think we need to go back to our theater roots, when it was neat to see a movie because it was on a larger-than-life screen. I can eat popcorn, get a movie for $1 at RedBox, and have a fine time in my living room. The only thing a theatre has that I don't, and won't anytime soon have, is a huge-ass screen, but that's not worth $8-9.50 to me.

I totally disagree that the art-house subculture is disintegrating, I think we're just annoyed. I hadn't heard of micro-cinemas until reading this article, and I think it's what I've been looking for. An opportunity to attend a blind screening again. To pay a reasonable ticket price for a film I'll really get something out of. I haven't been to a mega or art theatre in months, a boycott of some sort. I'll have to keep my eyes open for micro-cinemas. In fact, I really should attend more Cinematique screenings at Thalian Hall and support a local theatre.