Remember when you first walked in, and you instantly began to breathe in the smell of popcorn? You stood impaitiently waiting for the next available ticket seller because you didn't want to miss the previews. And although you knew you were running out of time, you still purchased the jumbo tub of popcorn, a large drink, and Sno Caps. Hands full, and the ticket between your index and middle fingers which are wrapped around the Diet Coke, the ticket taker retrieves it, and tells you it's to the left, number 5. The room is dimly lit, and you can barely see the steps in front of you because of your food. You manage to find the middle seat of the middle row. You set down your popcorn, Coke, and Sno Caps, and recline in the new chairs the theatre had installed last month. Leather, well fitted for those of the bigger size, and enough room to lean back and put your feet up on the seat in front you. You don't put your feet up, because this is the most anticipated movie of the summer, and the media expects it to smash box office and attendance records. People are filling up the seats all around you, chatting excitedly about the premiere. Then it seemed as though there were no more seats left in the entire theatre. Just as you empty your box of Sno Caps, the theatre goes dark. For the next 20 minutes, you watch five movie trailers, three of them which look interesting. Finally the movie you've been waiting for months to arrive is at last here. You are about to watch the summer's biggest blockbuster with more than 200 other eager patrons. Remember?
I had a love affair with movie theatres. I hated popcorn (and still do), yet I loved the aroma that swept the front entrance of the theatre. I skipped the concession stands because I was hiding food I brought from home in my pockets or purse. When I was a freshman in college, I had my driver's license, yet not a car, so the city bus would drop me off at the stop site where my mom parked her car in front of the grocery store in order to catch the bus for work. Every Friday I would go to the movies, matinee of course, and just sit back with no worries, and wait for the movie to play. It didn't matter to me that I went alone. I found it better that way. But times have changed within the last several years that places a distance between the theatre and I. The average price of a movie ticket was $7.89 last year. In 1948, it was $.36. And with the rise of the comeback of 3D, tickets are even more expensive. I found going to the theatre was a time to sit back and enjoy myself. A place to cool off during those extremely hot summers. A place to with family members after all of the Christmas presents have been opened and the turkey is all gone. The same expression I have on my face when I fill up my gas tank is now the same expression I have when purchasing a movie ticket.
Ticket prices aren't the only cause to the downfall of attending the theatre. The internet and television have ruined the suprise of what movies were to come out later that year, or even next year. Even now, there are countless of websites you can watch the full length movies that are currently in the theatres. Certain movies are played in a select number of theatres across the country, and if it's playing in one theatre in your city, many of you would have to fill up your gas tanks just to travel to get there. And people pretty much saw the movie before it ever came out due to various clips on late night talk shows, fan based websites, even Comic-Con. Why bother spend my money when tv and the internet have practically already played the movie?
For me, there was a special magic to movie theatres. People from every walk of life came together in the same movie theatre with the same film in mind to watch. Strangers laughed, cried, jumped, and gasped at the same time. We were at the edge of our seats, dying to know who the murderer was, or wondered if the woman was going to return her feelings to the man who confessed his loved for her after decades had passed.
Now, that magic is slowly vanishing. Every now and then I like to go to the movie theatre but only when there is a movie that I feel would be better enjoyed on a 30 foot screen, rather than a 17 inch screen in the comfort of my home. If I think back for a moment, I believe the last movie I saw in the theatre was True Grit. That was this past December. It's now June. Though there have been movies I wanted to see that was not bootleg, I still have the problem of mustering up the $7.89 to spend on a ticket. I already have to search between couch cushions for gas money. I don't believe going to the movie theatre will die, but it is severely damaged. Movie going has lost it's shine it once had. Commercials are brought from the television and put on the big screen. Three dimensional glasses places a dent in our wallets, though it makes certain films worth it. The recovery of our economy seems to go up and down every other week, and the hopes of Americans dreams of a better tomorrow is bleek. What used to ease our pain and relieves our stress is now a cause of our pain. Going to the movies were an escape to us, and with tv and websites already premiring movie trailers, where will we run to now?
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