The Moviegoing Experience

Hunter Walk: “But why? Instead of driving people like me away from the theater, why not just segregate us into environments which meet our needs. Iâ€ d love to watch Pacific Rim in a theater with a bit more light, wifi, electricity outlets and a second screen experience. Donâ€ t tell me Iâ€ d miss major plot points while scrolling on my ipad – itâ€ s a movie about robots vs monsters. I can follow along just fine.”

I love movies. I have since I was a boy. I remember seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey with my parents and thinking “why are these monkey’s freaking out over that black thing.” I was into it even though I was a little boy. The theater was dark and quiet. It was awesome. My parents were on either side of me, but I was alone, immersed in the film.

That’s the experience I love.

The experience you’re talking about is definitely not something I’d ever choose to participate in. It’s just not my thing.

But, and there’s always a but, I would be fine with a theater setting aside one, or two, screens for just such an experience as long as they don’t allow it to bleed into the other screens. Having a strict no talking, no text messaging, no annoying, policy in the others would be fantastic.

My wife and I love to visit a theater that caters to adults. They have two screens set aside for people over 21. They serve wine and beer and the theater seats are larger and more comfortable than a “normal” theater seat. I love it. It was clearly built for the kind of movie going experience I appreciate.

Hunter’s idea doesn’t appeal to me. I want to escape for a couple hours and enjoy a movie.