Opinion: Theaters Have No Future

Posted April 1, 1914 12:00:13pm

Later this month, the Mark Strand Theater will open in New York.  The so-called movie "palace" will seat 3,000 people accommodate a full orchestra and show its features up on a stage on a massive screen.

All of which I give a hearty "thanks, but no thanks" to.

So right now, I can walk to the corner of my street walk into the nickelodeon, plop in seven cents, and boom! there's my film.  Easy. No fuss. No muss.

Now, we are getting a supposed improvement that means traveling to the city and hoping I can get a ticket for the show I want to see. Assuming that goes well, what do I win? The chance to sit behind a gentleman who talks to his companion throughout the film? And what if I'm stuck in the front of the theater? What kind of experience is that?

Who pays for this? We all do. D.W. Griffith (whose work I have enjoyed) is supposedly prepping a three hour "epic" that is already being talked about as "needing" a $2.00 ticket price to make it work.  You read that right. Two. Dollars. Who wants to pay that kind of price to sit in a theater for THREE HOURS?

Obviously, this is a film experiment doomed to failure, but it's not my money.  If you are interested, you can prepurchase tickets here. People will not change their viewing habits to accommodate new technology and the film industry needs to get that message.