I hinted in my last blog entry about the future of movie theaters - this was a result of my listening to a radio show in LA last Tuesday. Some of the things that the host said really got me thinking. He read a good part of an article from the LA Times called "In a losing race with the zeitgeist." There is sooooo much truth to this that I had to write a blog entry.

The short of it is that technology and the internet are driving change just about everywhere - even with movies. People are not going to the movies like they have in the past. Yes, there are still theaters being built, but we are at a tipping point for this industry. The cost of a movie has gotten too high. A family of four with some food can easily run you $75. Seventy five bucks!! There are advertisements now before the movie starts. The quality of the movies is often not what you would expect (film rather than digital in general). The environment is not the best, often times messy and with noisy people around you.

Some theaters have recognized this problem and are doing everything that they can to improve the experience. A good example is Regal theaters, who are installing digital. The cost is really high, but they recognize how important it is to grow (or maintain) their business.

But the bottom line is that the whole industry is going to change. Simply moving to digital will not solve this. There are a number of drivers behind this.

• Movies are coming out on DVD faster than they have in the past. In a growing number of cases, this is only three months.
• The cost of home theater has dropped dramatically. A large flat panel monitor that cost $15,000 a couple of years ago can now be purchased for closer to $2000!. And surround sound has also dropped to the point where it is affordable for a much larger segment of the customer base.
• New deliver / distribution mechanisms such as Netflix, Pay Per View, Tivo, and downloads (to many devices)

Together these signal the demise of the movie theaters. People want to see what they want, when they want it. I may still go to the theater for a "date night," but I doubt that this will be enough to keep the bit theaters in business ...

This leads me to my next thought. What will happen to the content creation industry around movies??? A good topic for an upcoming blog!