This past weekend was the now infamous Barbenheimer weekend at the cinema. As I'm sure you've read, Barbie broke multiple box office records, raking in an incredible $162 million in its opening weekend. Globally, it's done $337 million. Oppenheimer, a movie that couldn't be more different, brought in $82.4 million, exceeding all expectations. Combined, it's the fourth largest weekend box office.
We saw both and they were both packed. In fact, we saw Oppenheimer at an 8:45 AM showing (in 70MM) and it was almost sold out. The audiences we were with loved both movies and showed the absolute power of the group, movie experience. Check out some my thoughts on what needs to happen to create a better movie theater experience at A Tale of Two Theaters.
UPDATE
Was back at an actual movie theater this past weekend to see In the Heights. While the theater wasn't packed, it had a good crowd and we were certainly an enthusiastic audience. We had started to watch it at home on HBO Max and quite frankly, it wasn't at all the same experience as watching it in the cinema. It's not just the size of the screen, it's the entire experience. From the minute we walked in the door and got the aroma of the popcorn, to the seats and the screen/sound combination, everything is different. And the audience is far more focused on screen and the story in the cinema than certainly I am at home. It's why I am still bullish on the in-cinema experience!
Original Post
This has been a hard year for movie theaters, possibly their hardest ever. In October, Variety Had a dialogue on the future of theaters. Earlier this month, Warner Bros made news (and a few enemies) when it announced that it would release movies simultaneously on HBO Max and in-cinema on the same today. That effort kicked off yesterday with the launch of WW84.
As a little background on us as a movie family, we love movies! We went to the movies a lot, every week in the summer. I had the AMC Stubs A List and usually I made out pretty well with it. My wife & I did many a date night at the movies and my daughter and I made sure we were in the theater for every super hero movie that came out. You just have to watch those movies on a big screen!
Watching a movie in a movie theater is a completely different experience than watching something at home. At least it is for me. There’s a ritual to seeing a movie in a cinema. I only eat Sno-Caps in a movie theater, despite the fact that I can buy them other places. They get sprinkled into the popcorn to create a melted mess that’s awesome!
Seeing a movie in a theater with an audience also creates a group catharsis that almost never happens for me when watching at home. Part of the issue is the many distractions that I have at home that don’t happen in the theater. I’m constantly looking up trivia or checking emails or doing something completely unrelated at home. In the theater, I’m focused on the screen and the story. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been totally engrossed in a movie in the theater and sometimes even questioned how I thought I liked the movie when watching it at home. Or thought a movie was really funny when surrounded by other people laughing and then sat bored while watching it at home.
At some point today, I will admit that we will be watching WW84 and Soul here at home with the family. But honestly, only because it’s our only way to watch it right now. The smart move would be for these companies to bring them back to the theaters when they reopen later this year. I’d certainly pay to see them on a large screen in a darkened movie theater with my popcorn and Sno-Caps, surrounded by an audience all sharing the same experience.
Plus, I can assure you that my wife will never count it as a date night if we watch a movie at home.