In Europe, cinemas are taking it a step farther by remaking themselves as entertainment destinations - with bowling alleys, karaoke bars, comedy clubs and children's play areas. Expect that in the United States too, as well as interior design schemes that appeal to the 18-to-24 set, and that might "dismay" the older crowd, says Toronto-based theater architect David Mesbur.
He says lobbies of the newer theaters in his city - ones he didn't design - are often mostly black with a few splashes of color, flashing lights and loud music. Video games, often tucked away in theaters of old, also are scattered around in plain view.
"Those are the theaters that I never go to," Mesbur says, chuckling.
Still, experts who track the movie industry say that, so far, all these kinds of efforts appear to be paying off, even in a recession.
Though domestic movie admissions had flattened or dipped slightly in the past couple of years, ticket sales this year are up, whether some of the most popular movies have been Academy Award material or not.
"A bad or poorly received film can go down a bit easier if one is sitting in a comfortable reclining seat and has the chance to occasionally stretch their legs. In this sense, cinema-going has as much to do today with the hospitality industry as it does with the film industry, per se," says Jeffrey Klenotic, associate professor of communication arts at the University of New Hampshire.
That's a disheartening view to Ron Leone, a film and media studies professor at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. He looks around the audiences at the "uncomfortable, but nice" independent movie theaters he regularly attends, and sees few young faces.
"Apparently, watching the cat flushing the toilet in an online video is more satisfying than going to a movie theater," he says, chuckling as he pokes fun at young people's growing appetite for online videos. Those videos include anything from kitschy amateur pieces to the growing array of short and full-length films found online.
That's why more theaters are focusing on movies with monster special effects that don't show well on a computer screen or in-home theater and that are all but impossible for movie pirates to steal - and why major film makers such as Jeffrey Katzenberg and James Cameron are banking on 3D and IMAX technology as the future of cinema. (Panasonic Corp also announced that they're going to start selling 3D televisions next year.)
So far, moviegoers have been more than willing to pay more to see movies in these special formats.
Earlier this month, IMAX Corp, maker of large-screen movie-theater technology, reported a second-quarter profit with revenues nearly doubled.
The company credited its growing cinema network, which includes about 250 theaters equipped to play Hollywood feature films in IMAX format, using digital technology to give what some call a notably richer visual experience, including 3D.
Those movies range from "Transformers," "Pirates of the Caribbean" to the "Harry Potter" films, all aimed at younger audiences. And when IMAX announced a special preview of the upcoming Cameron film "Avatar," "our Website got more traffic than you can imagine," says Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment.
Combining movie and video game themes is a savvy move, says Chris Haack, a Chicago-based senior analyst with Mintel International, a market research firm that regularly monitors the movie theater industry.
He says theaters also would be wise to offer young theatergoers more chance to interact, for instance, letting them vote on which previews are shown or which movies stay at a theater longer than another.
The goal is to keep the attention of the 18-to-24 age bracket - "the most important part of the market," Haack says - and the most likely to watch video online.
A recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 62 percent of Internet users, age 18 to 24, said they watch TV shows and movies online, compared with just over a third of all Internet users.
(Shanghai Daily September 8, 2009)
