Making the movies nicer
Sharon Waxman has a story in today's NY Times about what theater owners are doing to try to lure patrons back to the movies. The answer seems to be "not much."
There are vague suggestions of hiring more ushers to shush obnoxious audience members, asking patrons to check their cell phones at the door, reducing the number of ads before the show (won't happen), putting a lid on ticket prices (ditto), or blocking cellphone reception in the auditorium. (The cell phone lobby will fight that to the death.)
"We have to attack rude behavior - fighting, bickering, talking too loud," John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theater Owners, says.
When was the last time you saw an usher come into a theater while a movie was showing, just to check in? When was the last time you saw an usher actually talk to a patron who was acting rudely, or throw him out of the theater?
And let me just ask one more question: was the movie in black and white?
1 Comments:
Its not just dealing with bad behaviour - dealing with the negative. Its also about creating the positive. If we have a position where cinemas compete head to head with DVDs then they need to actually create something. Not just click the 'start projector' button and run home with the box office takings!
Tim Clague
PROJECTOR FILMS
My Blog
By Tim Clague, at 3:08 PM
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