Movies have been in heavy competition with television for decades. With the advent of large-screen televisions with surround sound, movie theaters need something extra in order to attract the consumer. With the high prices of movie theater entry (between $5 and $12 per person) and the expensive snack bar food and drink, the movies in theaters must be really special in a way that makes them best seen in a theater in order to attract audiences.
Today’s audience wants fast action, fantastic special effects, and even shock. Sadly, this means that the days of thoughtfully done artistically directed films with solid content are quickly vanishing off-screen. Will this mean that there will be two types of movies in the future: theater movies and home movies? Perhaps, since Hollywood makes movies for the large screen and it will fall to the independents to make movies for home consumption.
In order to stay open, movie theaters know that they must show movies that simply cannot be shown as well on home theater screens. This is because people can buy or rent movies everywhere and order them delivered via cable or satellite on a subscription basis. There are even online stores that will rent movies via mail to consumers with no late fees. The member pays a monthly fee and can have their movies delivered to their door.
The home system can use VCR (though this is becoming obsolete), DVD, and now BlueRay disk. These media can include many extras that people never see in the theaters, so there is a possibility that the audience will see the movie in a theater, then buy, rent, or download a second copy to see the extras.
The cost of producing massive special effects is huge, so these movies must make money. In addition, the stars get a larger piece of this pie than in the past. With all the time used for special effects, there is little time for slowly developing character studies as in past films, and the audience in theaters really does not come to see this. They are much happier seeing these kinds of films at home on their own systems, watching with close friends or family. These “artsy” films are something between the big action blockbuster and a book. However, these kinds of films do not require a big budget, so independent filmmakers can afford to make them.
In the future, it makes sense that there will actually be two types of films made. The big blockbusters will be released with huge fanfare and will show in movie theaters around the country simultaneously. The audience might enjoy a second showing at home after the theater’s first run, but the difference in viewing at home or in a theater will be very obvious for most home viewers since most cannot afford a real home theater with a huge screen.
Seventy inches is about as large as most people in the middle-income class can afford. However, many of these movies really benefit from the full movie house screen. Still, there won’t be much veg with the meat and potatoes. The stories will be a formula, and the dialogue will be restricted to humor and conversation. Really meaningful philosophical movies will be relegated to independent films.
One disturbing thought on all of this is the question of talent. Will talented directors go back to independent films so they can have the right to free expression? Will the most talented actors and actresses seek work with independent studios in order to have the kinds of roles which will help them develop their skills? This is entirely possible. In fact, while independent films cannot afford huge budgets for massive special effects, they do have access to excellent film and sound equipment, so the quality of these films is no longer an issue.
So it is entirely conceivable that a two-tier system of filmmaking will develop: large-format movie theater spectaculars with spectacular effects and maybe not as much story, and less fantastic independent art films aimed at home viewers. This would be no different from television today, which has quite a large variety of shows to please any consumer. Just as the movies did not kill books, the new blockbuster special effects films will not kill the art of film. There will simply develop two different types of films to supply the two markets with some crossover in both directions.
This was actually inevitable since films have become enormously expensive to produce, and movie theaters have had to raise prices due to inflation. So the industry has begun to adjust and make two types of films for the two distinctly different markets. We will still have our Hitchcocks and other marvelously engrossing films like “Beautiful Mind” and “The Collector,” and real artists will seek out these filmmakers as they have the live stage in the past. In fact, this will probably result in more films being made than ever before.