Entertainment

Is it worth going to the Cinema these days?

I know this should probably fall under the 'Weekly Question' category, but as I haven't posted for a few days, I thought I would put it here as a kind of bonus question.
Now I watched a pretty good film last night (V for Vendetta), which I thought was ideal for DVD, but not so much for the cinema.

So is it worth going to the cinema these days? I mean the new films are released to DVD within a few months of them being in the cinema's, it used to be over 12 months, now it's more like 3.
The TV's we have now are pretty reasonably priced for the big 36" - 42" screens, even the plasma hang on the wall TV's have come down in price, from the ridiculous £10, 000 of 5 years ago, to £1500 today.
Finally, add the dolby pro-logic systems to the package, and you have just about got your own cinema in your own front room. Assuming of course your front room has the space to hold it all!

Sit back in a nice relaxing chair, turn down the lights, get the popcorn from the micro-wave, and you can be forgiven to believing you are in the cinema, ask someone to start talking half way through the film, or have one of your kids get up and walk in front of you at a crucial moment in the film, and you are definitely there.


Yet the cinema's are still going, and we still go and watch the films, but it is becoming less and less of a night out. We are also as a nation watching less TV, probably because there is so much crap on. Which begs the question, if we aren't watching TV, or going to the cinema, what are we doing.........better not answer that.

But, how are you going to get people back in the cinema's? Well you have to have the right films for a start, as I said earlier "V for Vendetta" is a good film, but it is hardly cinema worthy. Blockbusters such as "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" were made for the big screen, so were oldies like "Indianna Jones", and King Kong. So should we just screen blockbusters on the big screen, and leave the more run of the mill films to be released on DVD? Probably yes, but in reality it wont happen.

Another consideration is cost, the last time I went to the cinema was to see "x-men2", a great film, but it cost for two of us 12 quid to get in, and then nearly as much on Popcorn, and drinks. If we hadn't smuggled in the chocolate it would have been that bit more.

Nowadays though you have the franchises taking over all the traditional movie theatres, and converting them into 10 screen multiplexes, more choice yes, but far less character. Which a lot of the older cinema goers went for.

So we come full circle and back to the DVD releases for the home and the short time they are released. I am not complaining, I think it's great and would rather wait to pay £15 (or much less these days) for a DVD of a blockbuster, that I can watch whenever and wherever I like as many times as I like, than go and see it once for the same price at the cinema. I can also pause the film should I need a pee! Or turn it off, have my tea and then pick up where I left off.

The first song on MTV was "Video killed the radio star" by the Buggles. I fully expect 10 years down the line for DVD or HDVD or whatever format is going, will have killed the cinema.