Meanwhile, in Taipei, you have to line up half an hour/book online and sit packed as eggs in a crate.
Believe it or not, that has its own charm. To be in a packed theater watching a movie is very different from being in a theater with only a handful of people. Has more of that “going to a movie” ambiance.
There’s been many times when it was even only myself and my wife in the audience !
And most other times there’s been less then two dozen people. Deadpool was a relative huge hit apparently as there was about 100 people ! And that was certainly an exception.
That’s why our theaters are all multiplexes now. You can’t survive as a single screen theater anymore because there just wont be the numbers.
Our multiplexes have about 20 to 40 theaters inside (each seating between 100 to 200 people).
Its easy to watch more then one movie if you really wanted to. And can time the showings (and not worry about parking).
I rarely do , but sometimes.
You should go to the movies in Latin America. People react stringly to the action on the screen. It is really lots of fun. From heckling to wolf-whistling to advice of all kinds, loud and clear.
So going to a theater wher everyone is just staring at the scren, maybe an ocassional laugh… oh well, it has it’s adavantages.
I remember the days on the rock where you picked or were given seats at the box office.
Here we sit wherever we want. There’s plenty of empty seats.
The times when it was just me and my wife and the whole theater was empty. Certainly was a private showing.
But I would have preferred a packed house. More fun.
[quote=“tommy525”]I remember the days on the rock where you picked or were given seats at the box office.
[/quote]
I remember the days in the states where you arrived an 40mins to an hour early and spent that time staring at horrible local commercials or advertisements on the screen or even worse, a blank screen!
[quote=“ranlee”][quote=“tommy525”]I remember the days on the rock where you picked or were given seats at the box office.
[/quote]
I remember the days in the states where you arrived an 40mins to an hour early and spent that time staring at horrible local commercials or advertisements on the screen or even worse, a blank screen![/quote]
In Taiwan, some theaters still have like 10 minutes of PAs from the Executive Yuan.
I remember in the ol country they had the ol black and white news reels. Yes, Auntie Peng is that old.
[quote=“Icon”][quote=“ranlee”][quote=“tommy525”]I remember the days on the rock where you picked or were given seats at the box office.
[/quote]
I remember the days in the states where you arrived an 40mins to an hour early and spent that time staring at horrible local commercials or advertisements on the screen or even worse, a blank screen![/quote]
In Taiwan, some theaters still have like 10 minutes of PAs from the Executive Yuan.
I remember in the ol country they had the ol black and white news reels. Yes, Auntie Peng is that old.[/quote]
I remember when we used to stand for the KMT anthem before every movie, until so many people were refusing to stand they had to phase it out.
[quote=“tommy525”]I remember the days on the rock where you picked or were given seats at the box office.
Here we sit wherever we want. There’s plenty of empty seats.
The times when it was just me and my wife and the whole theater was empty. Certainly was a private showing.
But I would have preferred a packed house. More fun.[/quote]
Where are you watching your movies? Friendly tip for ya: Even regal offers selective reserved seating now. For as long as I can remember the pacific theaters also have had reserved seating. Arclight has pretty much been this way from day one. The only major chain I can think of that doesn’t offer the option is amc.
And generally speaking, unless you go during a third week matinee showing of a non-tentpole film, you rarely see a theater with less than 5% occupancy.
Anywho, though at times I also enjoy that private showing vibe for like a second viewing of a movie, nothing beats that full house, communal experience of cinema.
Speaking of, I just came home from Midnight Special (which had a packed house), starring Michael Shannon (Man of Steel), Kirsten Dunst (Spider-Man) and Adam Driver (Star Wars The Force Awakens). It’s an interesting film that reminds me of a blend between Tomorrowland and Super 8. The child actor was fantastic and the cinematography was beautiful. Check it out when you can 
:
I’m watching in Pleasant Hill, Concord, Walnut Creek. Generally W.Creek usually has a bit more people, but weeknights is when I go and its pretty empty. Seriously five pct full or less, is the norm. The theater in Concord is not as fancy as the ones in P.hill and W.creek but is about 1.50 less so that one gets even fewer people. But all three theaters I have been the ONLY person watching many a times (before I was married).
It’s kinda weird being the ONLY person watching a movie in a theater that seats 200.
I like going ten mins early as I like watching the previews (we don’t have commercials, unless you go 20 mins early).
I also usually love to watch the credits, but my wife jumps out of her seat the very second the movie ends and bolts out of the theater so that’s out for me now.
And in Taiwan, yes I remember having to stand for the anthem. But I liked watching the previews and actually the commercials made for the movies (in those days anyways) were pretty good. I actually liked watching those commercials.
Call me weird.
Nowadays , I probably won’t like not being able to find a good seat, so a full house may not be needed, but i do actually like having a good number of people in the audience. Otherwise, its not like going to the movies.
Having only single digits in the audience is not the experience like watching a movie on the rock, or in indonesia or any other asian place.
watching a movie in an empty house = strange.
One funny time at the super small, and slightly spooky Elmwood theater (this is a tiny theater with a small screen downstairs and an even smaller one upstairs) in Berkeley, I was upstairs watching a late show by myself. Something happened to the film and it went blank. I waited about 3 mins and nobody fixed it, so i went downstairs to find someone, went to the projection room, went everywhere and all the staff had left the theater ! There was not a single person left. I was the only person in the theater, just me, solamente uno . The staff had left when the last film started screening at 1030pm. It was spooky being the only person there. I could’ve been murdered or something, probably nobody would’ve been caught.
The next day I went back and I got two free tickets to see movies at a later time. I picked an earlier showing.
Zootopia was very good, well worth seeing. Wife saw Allegiant (DIvergent) . 5 people including herself in a theater seating 450 ! I saw Zootopia , about 10 people in an adjoining theater seating about 350 on a Tuesday night 9pm.
Honestly don’t know how American cinemas make a living !
Who’s got tickets for Superman? Oh yeah, gonna be good.
Tommy, maybe it is because in Taiwan we gotta hurry to watch the movies, as there are so many choices coming up, movies tend not to stay in theaters for a long time…
… unles sthey are an unusual hit, like 3 Idiots, which lasted more than a year in Taiwan theaters. Full house all the time.
Our films stay less then a month. Most Americans just don’t go to the movies much anymore. There’s stranger danger at the movies. Never know when some nutcase is going to open fire i guess.
[quote=“tommy525”]Zootopia was very good, well worth seeing. Wife saw Allegiant (DIvergent) . 5 people including herself in a theater seating 450 ! I saw Zootopia , about 10 people in an adjoining theater seating about 350 on a Tuesday night 9pm.
Honestly don’t know how American cinemas make a living ![/quote]
There ya go… it’s because you are going on a Tuesday night at 9pm. People have work the next morning. Especially when this is a family film, which means parents don’t take their children to a 9pm showing, much less on a weekday (it also helps if you catch it in the first couple of weeks).
Honestly it’s looking like your town is weird. If you really prefer the communal vibe, I suggest you catch a film in SF, or your nearest major city. Heck, come to LA, join the party.
Sure it’s generally not like it used to be ten years ago, but boy did we also just come out of a record breaking year, with nearly 30 films breaking $100 million domestically - that’s at least 2-3 movies a month hitting those numbers - and 10 of those even broke $200 million:
By the way, 3 months into 2016, we’ve had a movie each month that broke $100 million: Kungfu Panda in January, Deadpool in February (>$300 mil), Zootopia this month (>$200 mil). Batman v Superman’s going to dominate April, Civil War AKA Iron Man vs Captain America in May, X-men in June, Ghostbusters in July, Suicide Squad in August… After which we’d dive right into awards season with Oscar bait films, sprinkled with a little Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts, and Star Wars Rogue One in there.
And I’m sure I must have missed something.
@Icon Me! Seeing BvS today.
The towns that i regularly see movies in include Walnut Creek, Emeryville, Pleasant Hill, Concord. Antioch, Berkeley.
And its all been very sparsely seated, near every time I’ve been.
I will say that San Francisco itself the movie theaters are more full in general. Like 20 to 50 pct full and sometimes more.
But I don’t want to truck out to THE CITY no more , no more. Awful traffic over the bridge. Bad (expensive) parking.
Batman v Superman was… pretty. It had some isolated sequences that looked cool, but the story wasn’t really organic and neither were the characters. Knowing that Batman and Superman are DC’s greatest heroes (with one supposedly the World’s Greatest Detective), it felt forced that these two characters would actually throw hard punches intending to seriously harm each other, especially when justification was dangerously thin (unlike what I hope Iron Man v Captain America will be).
The placement of the other Justice League members was awkwardly presented, and was just in there because Warner Bros needed there to be setups for the franchise’s sake, not because those setups drive the narrative of the movie.
Lex Luthor’s motivations for all his evildoings are either quite muddled or ineffectively portrayed, which doesn’t do the story any favors. What was he going to do once havok wrecked Earth and defeated Batman and Superman? Was he acting on his own accord or was there someone else backseat driving - Because isn’t Lex supposed to be this uber-genius mastermind?
As an adult I can’t ignore the plot holes and underdeveloped characters. However, I have to be honest that I can easily imagine myself dazzled as a twelve year old - Especially when Batman battles Superman (okay, it did look pretty cool) roughly an hour and a half into the film (set ups overload?).
Also, I can’t fathom Warner Bros seriously thinking that any single audience member will buy the “cliffhanger” ending, especially with the endless marketing bombardment of future Justice League films.
Ultimately this sort of feels like one long beautiful extended trailer for Justice League The Movie.
What did everybody else think?
P.S. This version of Batman sure has a lot of nightmares/dreams.
P.P.S. People have been curious about Wonder Woman - Yes, she’s in it and that promised final battle at the end was delivered. Her big reveal is likely the only genuinely spectacular part of the whole film, since unlike Batman or Superman, WW had no chip on her shoulder, didn’t mope or brood around all grim and serious, and most of all she was the only hero who was actually allowed to have some fun throwing punches and whooping ass.
Batman vs Superman is the one movie I’m inclined to pay to see. Read the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel by Frank Miller and it puts it in better perspective. He’s the genius who set it up and a great artist. He’s the guy who made Daredevil and Wolverine cool. Which is amazing when you consider how much Marvel ruins. I wonder if he was paid/credited with this and the first Christian Bale Batman movie.
The Dark Knight Returns II explains why Lex Luthor did it and how he got Superman to go along with it.
[quote=“Okami”]Batman vs Superman is the one movie I’m inclined to pay to see. Read the Dark Knight Returns graphic novel by Frank Miller and it puts it in better perspective. He’s the genius who set it up and a great artist. He’s the guy who made Daredevil and Wolverine cool. Which is amazing when you consider how much Marvel ruins. I wonder if he was paid/credited with this and the first Christian Bale Batman movie.
The Dark Knight Returns II explains why Lex Luthor did it and how he got Superman to go along with it.[/quote]
Boy, if you were already a fan then you’ll need to curb your expectations so that you won’t get let down.
Batman is a really hard one to get right on screen, and very easy for a director and actors to screw up. I’m not expecting a lot.
Actually, save for one detail which I am only bothered slightly by, I sorta like this Batman. If they can also just increase the tactical genius aspect of the guy I’d like him better next time as well.
Let us know what you think when you watch it!
I liked it. But then I like the more pychological heroe approach, a la Ang Lee in Hulk.
That said, I think Ben Affleck’s Batman was just right. Considering he’s been on the avenging/justice his way mission 20 years when Superman finally shows up, there is detail thrown in the background that made me jump giddy (aside from seing Papa Winchester playing Papa Wayne):
Was that Jason’s torn and defaced suit in the Batcave? That means we are post Red Hood/Nightingale Batman. A beaten, bitter, guilt ridden, can’t protect your own Batman. That explains a lot.
But to be honest, talking about plot holes, I did not get Lex Luthor at all. Tiabo. Not a big fan of Superman as this savior/messiah figure -they did overplay that- but did like the more “human” characterization regarding him making mistakes, asumptions, fear, filial duty, etc.
My fears of a special effects feats were not confirmed. They were on point and not in excess, not even the explosions.
Will not be one oto watch again and again, but enjoyable, not a waste of money, and does what it is supposed to do: set the stage for more. As to what they do with that more… that is the question.