HenrySugar said:
?Over my dead body will I introduce texting into the movie theater [...] I love the idea of playing around with a new concept. But that is the scourge of our industry. ? It?s our job to understand that this is a sacred space and we have to teach manners.?
If I ever meet this man, I need to buy him a beer. A theater chain owner who actually cares about the quality of exhibition, who understands how important presentation is? Where can I find one of his theaters? Because I'd love to see a film at a place where I know the staff cares, from the CEO on down.
OT: Honestly, as much as I hate the idea of explicitly allowing texting in the theater, it's not that big of a step down from the rest of the problems. These days, I only go to see the absolute biggest blockbusters in theaters, and then only in theaters that I know I can trust to have the picture in focus and the soundsystem switched on. I've had so many experiences with unfocused projectors and soundsystems inexplicably switched to mono that I generally have better presentation in my bedroom than I get in the local theaters. Which is really, really sad.
Edit: Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen a movie since
Avatar that wasn't in 3D, for two reasons: One, I don't have the money to get a 3D TV to reproduce that at home, and 2, 3D movies by their very nature have to be properly focused to work, and thanks to being relatively new technology, always play at the best screen in any multiplex they play at. That's the problem theater owners are really facing: their employees don't bother enough with the presentation to make the experience better than watching the movie at home with a cheap but properly set up home theater. I've got a low end system, any movie theater should be able to blow it away. But they don't; quite the opposite, in fact. Because the people running the local theaters don't care, the best seats in town are all in private homes, barring 3D movies, and that's just pathetic.
