The Death of Cinema?

Are cinemas and out-dated and soon to die-out business model?

I recently went to see Avatar in 3D, a movie which many are hailing as ground-breaking, a revolution, and perhaps the technological saviour of cinema.

Whilst I agree it was a great movie and the technology was stunning, I still couldn’t help feeling that there are many aspects of the cinema business model that are at best dated, and at worse, a bit of a con.

So here are a few things I noticed when there, and feel free to add your own in the comments:

Price

I can stream a movie on my 50″ plasma in the comfort of my home, on-demand, and not surrounded by chattering idiots for 90 minutes for less than half the price of a cinema ticket.

Granted, some would argue that some movies just have to be seen at the cinema, and clearly Avatar is one of them… but for the most part, I can get a perfectly good alternative for less than half the cost.

I also had to pay extra for the 3D glasses, which, considering the movie required them, was a little strange. It would be like going to a nice restaurant and being charged for the plates.

Overpriced Upsells

I think upsells are a great idea, but the cost of snacks, drinks, popcorn etc at cinemas is verging on robbery. When you consider you can get the EXACT same thing from a local store for a fraction of the cost, it can be a hard pill to swallow.

Commercials and ads before the movie.

I personally am quite a fan of watching movie trailers before the movie starts, so I can forgive that form of advertising… but, to charge us to see a movie, and then show us commercials as well… what other industry would get away with that?

Generally, you have two main models in entertainment:

FREE (with ads)

PAID (without ads)

The cinemas seem to want to have their cake and eat it.

Imagine buying a music cd and track 5 being a commercial.

The way I see it, if you want to show commercials, heck, perhaps even ask us to fill out a little survey… we would be ok with that, but ONLY if you let us in for free (or heavily discounted).

Preaching to the converted

Have you ever been annoyed by renting a DVD or Video only to be confronted with an anti-piracy warning video?

Surely this is preaching to the converted… afterall, we are watching a REAL DVD that we paid for… so why treat us as possible criminals?

We had a 2 minute warning video in the cinema about recording the movie and pirating, and whilst I understand their concern, it once again seemed a little wrong to be showing to paying customers.

Mis-priced Recurring Income Stream

I noticed that the cinema had a recurring income stream in terms of a monthly membership with unlimited access to the cinema.

I didn’t read the small print, so there may have been time and day restrictions, but the cost was approx the cost per month of two movies.

Which sounds good when you hear the words “unlimited”, but let’s be honest, that is 24 movies per year just to break even on your investment.

Who watches that many movies per year at the cinema?

Throw in travel expenses, snacks, drinks etc… and it soon adds up.

I love that they have a recurring income model, but the numbers just don’t add up for me with this one.

Summary

Don’t get me wrong, the money is not an issue, and I do enjoy an occasional trip to the cinema, despite the above… but in today’s world, the entire business model seems dated, and I worry that unless they make some drastic changes, they won’t survive the onslaught.

I can stream high quality movies on demand on the web, my digital TV box, heck, even my XBox360 now does it… all at a fraction of the cost, less hassle, and on-demand… plus, there is the constant threat from piracy.

On a sidenote though, Avatar 3D was very impressive.