Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

During the pandemic a few movies that were supposed to be in theaters launched as expensive paid streams (mostly Disney, but also stuff like Bill and Ted).

I gladly paid for every one of them.

My wife and I used to go to the movies every weekend, sometimes twice, before we had kids. After we had kids we went to theater maybe three times. I was perfectly happy to pay $30 to watch a movie in my house, where I can watch it after I put the kids to bed but don't have to hire a sitter, can pause if I need to pee, can rewind, turn on subtitles, or watch it again.

The only advantages the theaters provide is a bigger screen, louder speakers, and the psychological effect of knowing that I will be watching a movie for two hours and doing nothing else (which I can replicate at home after everyone is asleep if I want to). And participation in the cultural zeitgeist.

I used to love going to see movies in a theater, and will still do it occasionally (we watched Top Gun 2 in a theater, but we brought the kids because it's cheaper than a sitter!), but I much prefer to watch at home.

Hell is other people.

Last time I went to the cinema there was an annoying gang of teenagers having fun in the row two ahead of me. I'm not angry at them; we were all teenagers once. But they were annoying. And the guy to my right thought so too, and let them know. The "movie-going experience" was the drama that this confrontation generated.

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll watch it on my inferior screen, with my inferior sound system, but my massively superior solitude.

you're not alone. i think the pandemic has made people more solitary, to the point of being anxious and/or annoyed around other humans.

a noisy theater was just something that happened in normal life before, it happened, and then we had a little story to gripe to our friends about. but now it seems an intolerable ordeal. the same goes for restaurants vs. take out, visiting friend's/family's house vs. just staying home, etc.

i'm noticing the trend more and more. i'm not sure where it will end up. it doesn't seem as if theaters will ever hold their old place in the cultural zeitgeist again, and maybe the same goes for all other "third places" where other humans will be a bother. that seems kind of sad.

it will keep the behavioral scientists busy for a few decades though.

To an extent, but it may be a bubble thing. I was just in Vegas for a conference and it was as busy as ever. I attended a music festival with 20,000 people while I was there. I was annoyed, especially at the lack of masks (I was one of the few), but I still enjoyed it.

And frankly it was good to be back at an in person work conference. It was so much better than the virtual crap we've had the last few years.

Meanwhile, I haven't spent thousands of dollars on a home cinema, because I have neither the room, time, or spare cash to buy a giant 4k TV, really good internet, 37 independent streaming services at their max tier, $14 a pop to buy a movie on a streaming service, etc etc etc.

$20 to see a movie on a local 50ft IMAX screen is such an incomparable experience.

Sure that's true if you never use TV otherwise. But most people are already getting all those things anyway. And I also I very clearly said that having kids is what made home streaming worth it. Because for me to go to a movie, I have to pay a babysitter $25/hr for 4 hours (to cover driving, waiting in line, previews, etc), and my wife likes popcorn so I have to pay $10 for that instead of popping an instant one at home for 20 cents. And I have to pay for two seats. So now a movie trip costs me $150.

And I already have all the streaming services because kids.

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