News broke yesterday that AMC theaters is probably not going to survive Covid. They are making essentially zero dollars during the pandemic, and they won't be able to open "business as usual" when all the green lights are go. And it also remains to be seen if even they were allowed to open "business as usual" if anyone would ever return to the theater in large enough numbers for them not to go extinct.
This is heartbreaking on many levels for me. I love movies, but I also know the realities of capitalism in America. It is difficult to make it in our country, because greed has continually increased rent and land values to a point that the only way a business can be successful is if they are churning money hand over fist. I am continually surprised at how expensive it is to live in the United States, but the "heat" has been turned up so much on just about everyone...that the only way anyone is fine is if things are firing at 100%. That's great if you can keep up the pace, day after day, week after week, year after year.
When you can't keep up that pace...it feels weird that you just go extinct. That things collapse so readily and handily that you just cannot survive. Why did the people that came before me think that this was okay to do? Why did our elders and people who are no longer around who laid the foundations of this country come to the conclusion that a one-bedroom apartment in a city should cost $2300 a month? Why do small businesses have to pay $40,000 a month for renting a space? Like...why is that a thing?
I look at headlines at the cost of things and have many WTF moments. To put California's power lines underground to help with wildfires would cost $243 billion dollars. Seriously? Why is it that expensive. Why does it cost $243 billion dollars to bury power lines? I don't get it. The scale of everything just seems out of control. Anything that breaks down in my house always costs at least $1,000.00 unless you do it yourself. My family pays the nurse who takes care of my father $1200 a week. He gets great care and he deserves it, but holy crap is that expensive. People seem to be completely out of touch with how much things cost.
A wheelchair ramp made of aluminum for my friend's house was $3,500.00 for ten feet with a rail. To fix the head gasket in my Ford Pickup and to correct broken seals around the transmission cost me $3,000.00. I paid it, but I was left thinking...why is everything so expensive?
Who are the people who can keep up with this kind of pace at how fast bills come at you fast and hard? People are going to fall off this treadmill. It isn't sustainable. The fact that we are losing art institutions like movie theaters is just a canary in the coal mine. In my opinion, we have raised the cost of living and doing business in the United States to toxic levels. I guess we shall see soon enough how it all turns out in a post-pandemic world.
It is nuts how much things cost. It does vary from state to state and town to town. (How anyone can live in California is beyond me.) And malpractice insurance has contributed to the cost of medical. But overall, it's just insane.
ReplyDeleteThat is really sad about AMC. Will people go back to the theaters? If they do open up next month, I will. I also miss them. We've had many pandemics in our past and people do slip back into normal. Of course, it's been a hundred years since we shut anything down for one, so it will take people time to forget.
I don't know how I manage to live in CA, honestly, except that I got here before the specific area I'm in boomed AND we bought a house at the bottom of the collapse.
DeleteI haven't liked going to movie theaters in a while. It's so much easier to just watch movies at home. Though you don't get as big of a screen and as good of sound it's nice to be able to watch it when I want and pause it when I need to. Let's face it, movie theaters were already dinosaurs, though ironically the kind of theater that works better in the COVID world are the drive-in theaters AMC and other multiplex chains put out of business.
ReplyDeleteBTW, people always complain about how much stuff costs. When the Yankees started paying Babe Ruth like $60,000 a year in the 20s people were flabbergasted because he was making more than the president. Who could ever need that much money? In the 50s paying $5000 for a car would get you like a top-of-the-line Rolls Royce or something. When I was a kid in the 80s small Transformers cost $4 and the bigger ones cost $10. Now the little ones cost $10 and the bigger ones cost $20. It's inflation. Not much you can do about it unless you can build a time machine to live in the past.
DeleteI don't think movie theaters were already dinosaurs. Why wouldn't you say the same thing about dine-in restaurants or live sporting events or concerts? I suppose...yeah...we could live in a world without ever leaving the house, but that doesn't sound fun to me at all.
DeleteTheaters were barely getting by thanks to the big first-run movies like Marvel, Star Wars, Fast & Furious, etc. 3D, recliner seats, bars, restaurants, and all those other things theaters added were to make them more attractive to people because home theaters have made them increasingly irrelevant, especially for the smaller more adult-oriented movies.
DeleteI haven't been inside anywhere except my apartment for 2 months and really don't miss it but I'm not one of those idiots protesting outside the Capitol with an AR-15 because I want a haircut or to go "up north" to my cabin. People like Alex there haven't been taking this seriously since the start, despite that over 100,000 people have died in less than 3 months. I really don't give a crap about movie theaters, dine-in restaurants, concerts, or sporting events if it means I'm risking death by plague. If people really want movie theaters, someone will reopen them after this is all over. If they don't, people will adapt.
If wages kept up with inflation, this wouldn't be so bad. But relatively, wages have fallen with respect to how much things cost. The money hoarders have made it hard for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI don't think movie theaters will completely die. But their model sucks. Did you know (I'm sure you did) that movie theaters make almost no money the first weekend a movie plays? The majority of the box office goes to the studios. The longer a movie plays, the better a theater does. Each week, the studio's cut goes down while the theater's cut goes up. So, with so many movies premiering and then dying the next week or so, the theaters don't get such a great cut. (They make their money on concessions.)
It's time to rethink so many current business models. At some point, we'll give up trying to keep up, and it'll hurt those in power. (The Millennials have given up a lot because they can't afford it, and the media keeps saying they're "killing" industries. They're just doing what they have to do to survive.)
I agree. Every time a retail chain (JC Penney being the latest) goes bankrupt the media blames Amazon, but the reason people shop at Amazon isn't just convenience; it's that they can't afford department store prices anymore.
DeleteLike gas stations they make their money on the side business. They make their money at the concession stand. In recent years this has become almost its own business. It's like a restaurant. In fact some theaters make this a selling point. I expect some of those to be the ones that have less to worry about. I hope if AMC does go away it's replaced. Movie studios could literally not exist without movie theaters. Netflix has consistently proved that its model cannot cope with ordinary expectations; it caters to a niche audience and even when creating content it thinks is perfect for this audience only gets it right, what, half the time?
DeleteAnyway, it would be a ridiculous shame to lose theaters if not for the simple reason that we are going to need shared experiences more than ever. I hope we don't become a nation, a world of recluses! I don't want everyone to be me! I've got that gig! And I need the occasional exception! This has proven that to me all the more!
I have an MJR near me, and that parking lot was always packed. People around here love the movie theaters. They put in all these reclining chairs and a bar. It's nice. As for the ramp, from the price it sounds like it was set up by a company. I know of people who have built ramps themselves because those prices are just too much. Those numbers you've mention make me grateful I live in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteI have one word for you: Boomers.
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