I’m not a big fan of movie theater experience

I’ve been going to the movies more this summer than the past 6 years combined. I had some expiring monetary credits to spend in May so I dumped all of them to purchase 25 tickets to my local movie theater.

I now can go to movies with a very low threshold. I need to spend them all before they in turn expire by the end of this year so whenever there’s something even slightly watchable, I use one of those tickets and go see a movie.

A movie theater experience is supposed be a premium experience compared to watching at home — that’s why they cost so much. Bigger screen, better audio, comfier chairs and the Experience of going outside to watch a movie.

I’m not very convinced though. Here, the first 15 minutes is ads. And they don’t rotate very often so if you go see a movie a week, you see the same f’n ads every week. I’m not a fan of advertisements. I hate them with passion.

At home, I can sit down on my couch and start watching a movie.

Our local theater doesn’t allow snacks and drinks from outside so your options are smuggling them in or purchasing their ridiculously overpriced snacks and you can’t get alcohol other than a few special adult evening screenings.

At home, I can eat any snacks and drink any drinks (not to mention refills from kitchen if I run out) I want. And all of them will be at heavily discounted prices compared to what I’d pay in the movies.

I don’t have quite a movie theater experience for audio and visuals at home but I have a decently sized projector screen and decent speakers so I think the experience is comparable enough to me.

Paying 15-20 euros for a movie, then 10-15 euros for snacks and drinks to watch a movie without the option for bathroom breaks — or buying/renting a movie for 5 euros, buying snacks for 5 euros and enjoying a movie at home.

The only thing theaters are winning in at this moment is that you can see movies earlier than at home.

I do like the idea of movie theaters as an experience though so I would like to go there more but not like they currently operate.

This week, I went to see the excellent The Invite based on a recommendation from Gordon. I highly recommend checking it out.