25 Movies, Many Stars, 0 Hits: Hollywood Falls to New Lows

[Coventina]

Some were heavily marketed. Many were championed by critics. Most had star power.

But not one of the 25 dramas and comedies that movie companies released in North American theaters over the past three months has become a hit, certainly not in the way that Hollywood has historically kept score. Some have played to near-empty auditoriums, including “After the Hunt,” starring Julia Roberts; “Christy,” with Sydney Sweeney; and “Die My Love,” featuring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.

“To succeed in theaters today, dramas and comedies must have event status — something truly elevated and special,” said Kevin Goetz, an author of the new book “How to Score in Hollywood,” which looks at film bankability.

“It’s not a phase,” he added. “It’s an evolution you can’t reverse.”

The dearth has added to what has already been a troubled year for Hollywood. The summer season — filled with fantasies and science-fiction sequels — was the least attended since 1981, after adjusting for inflation and excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years.

While success at the box office is always correlated to how much it costs to make a film, Hollywood has historically used $50 million in ticket sales (over an entire run) as a benchmark for a “widely seen” drama or comedy.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/business/media/box-office-collapse-hollywood.html?

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There's been nothing released lately that has interested me, really.
Plus, I'm just too busy working to keep food on my family.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Haven't been to a movie theater in years...

Many years actually.

[ananda]

30. Me neither.

Everything I want to see I can stream.

[Give Peace A Chance]

44. We went to see Nuremberg last week

The cineplex showed a half hour of advertisements before the show started. G-R-R-R!
The week before we saw Orwell 2+2=5 at an independent theater. I will highly rec that one.

Also, The Lost Bus was very well done.

[nikatnyte]

53. The ads kill it for me

You only had a half hour of ads? I went to see the Bruce Springsteen biopic last week and was subjected to ONE HOUR of advertisements (including movie trailers), played at maximum volume. It was sheer torture. Never again. (The local "art" houses like Landmark and Laemmle are better, but not much.)

[Dulcinea]

56. I enjoyed "Spinal Tap: The End Continues."

I saw that in a theater, at a matinee where my friends & I were the only people there. I would have liked to see the Springsteen movie, but it's gone from the theaters. Oh well, it'll be on a streaming service or HBO soon enough. Other than that, there's not much that's worth spending money on, IMHO.

[Intractable]

2. The last movie I saw in theaters was Ad Astra. So long ago, I can't tell how long.

I have a large 4K TV, and access to streaming services and cheap popcorn.

Movie theaters? What's that?

[NewHendoLib]

3. We've gone to see 2 movies in the last 6 years

Last edited Mon Nov 17, 2025, 12:06 PM - Edit history (1)

The Little Women remake ( which we disliked), and a very recent one about formation of and making of first album by Led Zeppelin, which we enjoyed. Nothing has really seemed worthy of going to the movies for outside of those 2.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

17. Never heard of Les... I'll have to look him up!!

[NewHendoLib]

18. Good catch. Fixed!

[Prairie Gates]

4. We saw a lot of movies at the theater this year

One Battle after Another with a packed house
Weapons with a packed house
The Long Walk with a packed house

And that's only the last few months. I feel like we saw a bunch at the beginning of the year as well, maybe Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning?

I wanted to hate watch After the Hunt at a theater but I guess I'll do it at home.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

89. I really liked Weapons and One Battle. Predator Badlands was very good too. WICKED THIS WEEK

[Happy Hoosier]

5. Cinema is in its death thros.

Theaters kinda suck. The snacks are too expensive. The tickets are too expensive. I can't pause a film when I have to pee.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Lots of great movies out in the past few years

The problem is, nobody wants to go to theatres anymore when they can stream it a few weeks later (or in the case of us hardcore cinephiles, by the DVD)

[Happy Hoosier]

10. Yup. We just wait till they're streaming. NT

Last edited Mon Nov 17, 2025, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

[Ray Bruns]

38. That's the issue. Why go to a theater when I can just watch it at home?

[aggiesal]

41. Streaming kind of kills Date Night. For nothing else Date Night should include movie theaters. ...

Where are kids going these days, on dates?
Dinner & a Movie!

[Fiendish Thingy]

47. Netflix & Chill. Nt

[aggiesal]

54. Are you saying I should just get Netflix and not worry about movie theaters? ...

But, what would you do on Date Night if there are no movie theaters?

[Fiendish Thingy]

58. You've never heard that phrase?

Netflix & Chill is Millennial/Gen Z speak for date night.

[BannonsLiver]

63. It's very dated at this point in the U.S. but not sure if that's the case where you live in Canada.

[aggiesal]

67. Never heard the phrase, sorry. Netflix & Chill is just every night. Why would that be date night? ...

Date night for me is getting out of the house and doing something special with someone.

But, that's just me.

[progressoid]

24. With the huge soda I get at the theater, I ususally dash out between the 2nd and 3rd acts

to pee. And then have to go one more time before we leave because I got my soda refilled.

I like the cinema but, yeah, it's dying. The last time we went it was 50 bucks for 2 tickets, popcorn, soda and a snack. I can get a large screen TV on Craigslist for free.

[Bettie]

37. I love seeing a movie in a theater

the collective experience, the big screen, big sound, it's more of an experience than watching something on TV with a pause every time someone has to pee or get something more to drink or whatever.

I go to a theater in Cedar Rapids that keeps prices reasonable.

We have a movie theater in our little town, but I found out that the new owner is a nutjob style of MAGAt, so we won't be going there anymore.

[tavernier]

66. Me too, Me too.

For me it has a lot to do with nostalgia. The smells and sounds, and even just getting my rear end off the couch and having a bit of an adventure. It was always a safe and happy place for me. And not to get too maudlin, after my hubby died, I would go to a movie by myself just to escape and laugh or cry in the dark with no required explanations. It was therapeutic.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

92. me three

[oregonjen]

69. Same!. Seeing the original Star Wars trilogy, the cheers from the packed audience, there was nothing like it!

[Coventina]

72. Batman 1989 was that for me!!!

So much fun!!!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

94. the collective experience of watching "weapons", "sinners", "predator badlands"! and others

We need community experiences

[buzzycrumbhunger]

81. ... and there's always someone to annoy you!

People talking, getting up and down to the restroom or for snacks, and for this we pay a premium price? Pffft.

Last movie I saw in a theatre was the last LOTR film. The Hollywood 10 theatre had been divided to make it the Hollywood 20, so it was a tiny theatre. Some jackass janitor kept opening the door—broom in hand—and repeatedly stood there with the door open as he watched for 10-15 minutes at a time, totally fucking up the lighting.

There are damned few movies I even care to see anymore, let alone pay for. I ditched satellite almost 12 years ago because DirecTV laughed at me for asking why we couldn’t pay a la carte for channels instead of paying for 1500 that we NEVER watched. Fine. I’ll just put on my eyepatch and scrounge if there’s something a actually want to see.

I much prefer to read anyway—an average of 250-350 books a year (nah, I don’t pay for those, either, thanks to freebie lists).

Hollywood really screwed themselves, IMHO. TV even more so.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. How many ways can you write a 3 act script?

For the same pool of actors? Creativity is thrashed out. Acting is a lost art. Money moves the product.

But, I'm one of Hollywood's most doubtful non-fans.

[haele]

42. I watched a film critic recently who said the problem with modern movies is that

the Cinematography is being shortchanged in post production CGI.
Movies are no longer "haptic"; backgrounds are out of focus and rather two dimensional. With few exceptions (like Cameron's Avatar movies), the viewer is not actually immersed in the movie, they do not get the feeling they can stand up and walk into the scene.
The human brain does recognize the difference between a narrow, fuzzy, dreamlike atmosphere and the scaled out perceptions of distance.
If it's a dream, the viewer can get nit-picking or bored. If it seems real, if you see pedestrians, vehicles and signage several blocks down on a city street, or can think you might make out the occasional squirrel or deer in the forest a hundred or so hundred yards in the distance, or in a distant plain background, see a hawk swooping and searching for rabbits, you're more likely to pay attention to the scene for a longer time.
You experience distance. You experience adventure.
You're not stuck sitting in front of a box, waiting for the scene in the box to end so you can go pee.

That's the benefit of going to a theater to see a movie where the Cinematography is on point.
Otherwise, just stream it.
On edit -James Cameron has proved CGI and green screen is not the problem with theatrical movies or digital filming. Poor post-production and filming short-cuts is the problem.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Bugonia and Rental Family look good

As does the one with George Clooney and Adam Sandler, Jay Kelly..

There are a bunch of Award Season movies coming out in the next few weeks that will only be in theatres briefly before coming to Netflix and other streamers in December/January.

I’m looking forward to them.

But until recently, none of the new films released has interested me.

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[Orrex]

78. Bugonia is terrific. Stellar performances from all involved.

[Mike Nelson]

9. SUPERMAN...

... was the only one I HAD to see... others, I wait to watch at home. I have no interest in “After the Hunt,” starring Julia Roberts; “Christy,” with Sydney Sweeney; and “Die My Love,” - but I would see SUPERMAN again!

[Hugin]

11. Yes, putting food on the table, dodging the forces actively trying to kill/disappear us, and the fact that...

Every corpuscle of the American media is laser focused on Mount Trumpsuvius’ latest foul gaseous emission has really cut into the diversions and simple pleasures of everyday life.

[Midnight Writer]

12. So much entertainment, so little time.

I can download tens of thousands of shows and movies right onto my living room TV, for the monthly cost of going to maybe a couple of theatrical movies.

I've got "watchlists" of hundreds of films. When will I find time to watch them?

It's like being locked overnight in a Baskins-Robbins. How many flavors can you try in a night? How much can you eat before you get sick?

I think entertainment consumers are being balkanized by so many choices. Each person can find scads of what they personally like. Why try something new and exotic when there is an endless supply of your favorite comfort foods already in your pantry?

Now for my oldtimer rant. The town I grew up in could get one TV station (CBS) and had one movie theater. You watched what was available, and what was available to everyone was the same thing. You watched a lot of diverse shows, because that was what was showing. Turn on the TV, you may get romance, comedy, action, soap opera, sports. You had no choice. Go to the movies, you see the one movie per week that came around. Everyone you talked to talked about the same show everyone saw on TV last night, the same movie everyone went to last weekend.

Now, everyone is traveling down their own personal entertainment tunnel. Of course, this pertains to news as well. Everyone can find their own news sources that cater to their personal interests and feeds their pre-existing bias.

Think of the shared cultures of the decades. The fashion, the music, the movies, the politics of the 60s. The 70s, the 80s, the 90s. And then what? What is the dominant culture of the Aughties? The Teens, the Twenties? That shared culture is hard to identify. It seems to be a chaotic hodge-podge of the past decades' cultures.

There isn't one. Everyone has their own limited entertainment and news bubble they occupy, stuffed with their own preferences and favorites. A tv show with a few million viewers is a ratings winner. Our shared culture is splintering.

Will this be a good thing or a bad thing? Hard to say. Of course, many people were left out of our "shared culture" all along. Now I reckon nearly everyone can find a comfort space.

[GreatGazoo]

32. Tougher to get big audiences for a theater release for all the reasons you mention

I think the "shared culture" of the past is kind of illusion. There were fewer choices and that meant that there was more of a sense of shared experience but from "Blackboard Jungle" (1955) onward producers learned how to make money servicing genre-preferences.

The culture of the 2000s to the present is fragmented as you point out. It is much more focused on individuals, more tribal. One of the more fascinating developments for me is to see kids pursuing health at all costs -- diet, gym-going, alcohol-free. That reverses some declines of the recent past. Cynicism is more embraced and I think, if not taken to excess, that is healthy also. Having that built-in BS detector will serve these kids well in the AI future.

Despite all the hand-wringing about how social media has given kids (and adults) the attention span of a gnat, we see a huge rise in long form interviews and podcasts. "60 Minutes" gave us 10 minutes with someone -- now podcasts give us 3 hours with the promise that by the third hour the guest will let their mask slip. They will run out of canned lines and facades and get real. That is big shift in media-driven culture.

[BannonsLiver]

13. Been a while since we've had an old fashioned fuddy duddy movie discussion.

10/10

[Aristus]

14. Hire some big bruisers with flashlights to patrol the theaters, shushing the talkers.

Otherwise, I'm not going back to the movie theaters. I'll just watch at home.

The number of inconsiderate assholes who think they are home when they burble their brainless bullshit throughout the movie I paid to see boggles the mind.

Get some 500lb guy named Tiny to throw their talkative carcasses out of the theater, and I'll start showing up again.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

31. I'm with you.

It seemed like every time I went to the theater I'd find myself a comfortable spot just to have some big doofus sneak in after the movie started and sit RIGHT in front of me! The aggravation is just not worth it.

[jmowreader]

71. That's why they invented stadium seating

Kinda hard for a big doofus sneaking in after the movie starts to block your view when his head is three feet below yours.

[babylonsister]

15. $6 for a cup of tap water!

We went to see a movie, Nuremberg, last week, first time in years.

Between the water price, the ear-shattering volume (I wear hearing aids, had to turn them down from the get-go), and the absolutely frigid air in there (and yes, I did bring a sweater-still frigid), I've pretty much sworn off the movie theater.

[Johnny2X2X]

16. Entertainment choices have changed

There are so many shows and movies that go right to streaming. Endless things to watch.

And with movies that are at the theater, it's not longer several months to wait to rent them, they're usually available to stream within a month or so of screening. And yeah, new movies are like $19.99 to rent at home, but it's still cheaper than going to the theater and spending $25 for 2 tickets, plus another $20 on popcorn and soda. Plus, my TV is better picture quality than movies and the sound quality of my Dolby Atmos system isn't far off. So we're staying home, watching from the comfort of our couch with cheaper snacks and the ability to pause the movie to use the rest room when we like. That$19,99 makes sense, and if it's not a movie we really want to pay that much for, wait a few weeks and it will be $5.99.

[Initech]

20. And the theater to streaming pipeline is insane anymore.

It used to be like 8 months between a movie's theatrical release and the home video release. Now it's like 6 weeks. I was on a flight to Colorado a few weeks ago and it was shocking that Mission Impossible and Sinners were choices, both 2025 movies.

And as for the theater industry - there used to be 6 movie theaters in my area in a very short drive. 3 of them permanently closed, and the other 3 are barely hanging on by a thread. One converted to a Tesla dealership ( ) and the other one converted to becoming a church (a MAGA one, no less ). The ones that are still open are barely surviving.

It will be absolutely wild when the box office numbers are no longer relevant.

[Johnny2X2X]

25. Yeah, I think they struggled to modernize

They did move to offering all leather recliners in my area, and they're more comfortable, but it's sill tough to justify the expense. And they make next to nothing on the movies, so the snacks are their only real income. It's sad in a way, the movie theater was an American institution for 100 years.

When my wife and I have gone in recent years, it's not been pleasant. Smelly and crowded. Temperature control not correct, too hot too often. Last one we went to was during a heat wave and it was packed inside and just got way to warm. And we're more cognizant of people coughing and spreading their colds and flus since Covid.

It's just an idea whose time has gone. People have 65" or bigger crystal clear TVs in their home as a norm. Most households at least have a decent sound bar with a sub. Visually and sound quality, it's a very similar experience. So we'd rather have myself in my recliner, and my wife on our big leather couch with the dog curled up at her feet. Popcorn and treats are in the kitchen cupboard.

And I think the greed hurt Hollywood, pushing these movies out to stream so quickly is for short term profits, but is basically ending theaters long term.

[Initech]

61. Oh it's definitely a combination of excessive greed + industry consolidation + mega mergers.

The movie theater's end was definitely predictable.

[Initech]

19. No one is going to see movies anymore.

1. Going to theaters is really expensive.

2. COVID killed 1/2 of the movie theaters in the country.

3. Streaming is finishing the job.

[meadowlander]

22. My local theatres are responding by cutting matinees.

I was looking for a movie a few weeks ago to see midday on a work week while I got my car inspected and was surprised the local downtown multiplex only had showtimes after 6pm on a few weekdays and then something like noon to 9pm on the weekends. It has seven screens but was only showing three movies so half of the theatres must be empty even on the weekends.

[NoRethugFriends]

75. Yes they are going to theaters. Maybe you're not.

[Initech]

82. Where I live, we used to have six movie theaters in a short driving distance.

3 of them permanently closed. 1 of them converted to a Tesla dealership ( ) and the other converted to a MAGA church ( ). And the three that remain are barely hanging on by a thread. Industry consolidation and excessive greed killed the theater industry.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

90. Wicked 2 will be packed.

[Initech]

98. True, there are exceptions.

But for every Wicked and K Pop Demon Hunters, you get a million movies that don't make 1/3 of what they will bring in. Some of these headlines are so misleading.

[LeftinOH]

21. The multi-plex near me exclusively shows Marvel-type franchise movies..

..which attracts some kind of audience, apparently -- but it guarantees I won't be going. There is very little out there for grown-ups.

[GreatGazoo]

23. A brief list of things that allegedly "killed the film business"

- Edison's patent trolling "Trust", 1907
- the introduction of Broadcast radio, 1922
- the Great Depression, 1932
- the Hays code, 1934
- the commandeering of studios during WW2
- the Paramount decision, 1948
- wide adoption of broadcast television, 1953/55
- collapse of the studio system, 1963
- death of big budget musicals, 1968
- death of the Western genre, 1970
- VHS tapes, 1977
- Laserdisc, 1978
- Movies on cable TV / Showtime / HBO 1980
- wide adoption of video games, Atari 1983
- AOL / internet, 1995
- TOR and peer-to-peer file sharing / digital piracy 1999
- the rise of MCU, 2008
- "Woke", 2013
- SARS-Cov2, 2020
- AI, 2024
- Rachel Zeigler's 'Snow White' remake

And yet here we are. Goetz says "no hits" yet ?? One Battle $200M, Demon Slayer $730-million and last weekend alone "Now You See Me Now You Don't" did $75M

Goetz better push the book hard and fast because the weekend before Thanksgiving is the always the beginning of real movie season. Movies released this week take prime position for box office $$ and Oscar noms:

"Wicked For Good" opens this Friday 11/21. How much will it do? Well, Exactly one year prior, "Wicked" opened on 11/22/24 and raked in $758-million.

Spielberg's Shakespeare biopic fantasy "Hamnet" likewise opens 11/21. Many others are cued up.

The box office failure of a Julia Roberts film that scored a "C-" from audiences and a 37% from critics is meaningless. Hardly "the end of Hollywood!!1!"

[BannonsLiver]

26. DU has had a weird bent against movies/theaters

Other things DU hates that most people enjoy: Eating out and leisure travel (of ANY KIND, but especially cruises).

[GreatGazoo]

28. that may be true but hopefully my comment is taken as intended eg a refutation of Goetz' argument

I used to work on film releases. CW holds that the theater business was (in the 1980/90s) disproportionally driven by males 14 to 24 YO who see on average 6+ film per year in a theater. The weakest demo was people 50YO or older who see just 1.4 films per year and have a mode average (most common answer) of zero films.

[BannonsLiver]

29. Interesting. Given that most posters here are 65+ that would track.

[GreatGazoo]

35. The older we get the more we experience the present through the filter of the past.

And the past is tough to complete with. Movies WERE better in the past.

[Chi67]

45. I'm 58

I couldn’t disagree with you more. While I do like many older films, there’s no way you can argue they were better. Filmmaking has vastly improved. So have storytelling methods. The difference today is simply over saturation. There are too many being made right now, so of course many are bad.

[GreatGazoo]

65. I love a challenge. Taste is subjective but here goes

Top Grossing films of 1985:

Back to the Future
Rocky IV
The Color Purple
Cocoon
Witness
Breakfast Club
PeeWee's Big Adventure

Top Grossing Films of 2024:

Inside Out 2
Deadpool & Wolverine
Moana 2
Despicable Me 4
Kung Fu Panda 4
Sonic the Hedgehog 3

[Celerity]

84. Here are the top grossing films in the US for 1985 and 2024

The 1985 US list of top grossing films:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_in_film

1 Back to the Future
2 Rambo: First Blood Part II
3 Rocky IV
4 The Color Purple
5 Out of Africa (top global box office, edging out Back To The Future, it was the only one on this 1985 list with a large amount of non US box office, 61.4 per cent of its take was from outside the US)
6 Cocoon
7 The Jewel of the Nile
8 Witness
9 The Goonies
10 Spies Like Us


The 2024 US list of top grossing films:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2024_box_office_number-one_films_in_the_United_States

1. Inside Out 2 (animated) it was the highest grossing animated movie ever (globally and US) until it was passed in 2025 by Ne Zha 2 (globally only, as Ne Zha 2 is Chinese, it is also the highest grossing Chinese movie of any type ever)
2. Deadpool & Wolverine
3. Wicked
4. Moana 2 (animated)
5. Despicable Me 4 (animated)
6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
7. Dune: Part Two
8. Twisters
9. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
10. Kung Fu Panda 4 (animated)

[Chi67]

43. Yep

Agreed. It’s called “laziness”, or “getting old”. I’m 58 and realized recently that all that streaming rots the brain. I canceled all of it. I go to movie theaters all the time! It’s awesome! I am a huge film fan and techy. I have a projector at home, but there’s nothing like the theater!

[BannonsLiver]

59. Yeah a lot of people think their home setup is better.

Spoiler alert: No, it’s not! lol

[Bettie]

79. Sometimes, I think I'd like to try a cruise

then, I remember being on a ferry between Wales and Dublin and how sick I got every time I went inside. We spent the entire time on the deck, because of my nausea. So, a cruise seems like a long shot for me!

But yeah, I've seen that...I still love seeing a big screen movie.

[BannonsLiver]

88. I've never been on the Irish Sea but my guess is it's a bit rougher than the Caribbean lol

[Bettie]

91. Probably....but

boy was that an unpleasant few hours....like early pregnancy except crackers didn't help!

[BannonsLiver]

95. Yeah it can't be fun

I seem to have some sort of immunity to motion sickness but I’ve been on a couple of cruises, most recently in Alaska last fall, where a lot of people were experiencing it. You can usually tell by seeing all the do not disturb signs on doors as you walk the hallways. Sometimes the crew puts sea sick bags in the landings on each deck as well.

[Happy Hoosier]

46. Numbers are down amd declining

https://www.the-numbers.com/market/

[GreatGazoo]

68. 2025 ain't over yet and some big ones are coming out this week

‘Wicked: For Good’ Is Fandango’s Biggest PG Pre-Seller Of All Time & Highest Overall For 2025
“Audiences are in for a true cinematic event as they return to Oz, experiencing it on the biggest screen possible as it was meant to be seen.”
https://deadline.com/2025/11/wicked-for-good-advance-sales-1236616664/

‘Now You See Me’ Makes Magic With $75.5M Global Debut, ‘One Battle’ Tops $200M & ‘Demon Slayer’ Storms China To Reach $730M WW – International Box Office
https://deadline.com/2025/11/now-you-see-me-running-man-one-battle-demon-slayer-box-office-1236619151/

[chowder66]

27. I stopped going when cell phones were becoming a nuisance and the sound was cranked to eleventy.

There was only one private theater here in Los Angeles that I could go to without issue until they started blasting the sound as well. Cell phones were never a problem there though.

I can't enjoy a movie that's making my ears bleed. I also need subtitles to understand the actors (mumblespeak) for most things anymore.

[maxsolomon]

33. Perhaps we're sick of watching fictional trauma

when MFer and his Media Minions have put us on a daily diet of real outrage, anxiety and stress.

[NoRethugFriends]

34. Can't imagine what might interest you. There were tons of good movies this year.

I've probably seen 30 or so good movies in theaters. Not sure what you consider a good movie.
Here's a partial list of mine

Left Handed Girl
Nuremberg
One Battle After Another
Sorry Baby
Sinners
Misericordia
Blue Moon
Urchin
The Naked Gun
She Rides Shotgun
East of Wall
Bugonia
The Life of Chuck
The Materialists
Roofman
Caught Stealing
Last Breath

[Coventina]

73. I wanted to see "The Naked Gun" but it was gone before I could see it.

Things seem to stay in theatres for only about 3 weeks, if that.

[LAS14]

100. Funny. But not nearly up to the original. nt

Last edited Tue Nov 18, 2025, 02:10 PM - Edit history (1)

[LAS14]

85. Thanks! I printed this out for home viewing. I trust you more than Manola Dargis (NYT).

Last edited Tue Nov 18, 2025, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)

She's taken to rave reviewing some real nothing burgers, like F1 The Movie.

[NoRethugFriends]

86. You're welcome

[AStern]

93. Check out 'Sovereign' if you haven't

An insanely underrated film that came on in the summer of 2025

[Halicarnassus]

36. Super Mario Bros!

Last movie I saw in the cinema. But that was… 2024? ‘23? I know since 2019, I’ve only seen JOKER, The Batman and Mario.

[CarolinaNC]

39. All you see if old actors, sorry but true! Where are the new young actors?

[NoRethugFriends]

76. What in the world are you talking about?

[aggiesal]

40. My daughter recommended seeing Nuremberg. I trust her recommendations, so I'll probably go Friday night. n/t

[Sympthsical]

48. Movies are just as good/bad as they always were

What's changed is home theater technology. Solid 4k tv, surround sound, and access to thousands of movies? It's a lot easier to stay in instead of spending money. And many young people have zero issue ahoying it up.

Expense. It's crazy expensive now. We only go when there's a perceived benefit to the big screen, some spectacle. "Event" movies. Superman was our last one. Going to see Wicked next week.

Watching a troubled couple trouble over their troubled marriage troublingly? That can wait six weeks for streaming so I can half watch it under a blanket on the couch while idly scrolling through Reddit reviews of the movie I am currently watching - just as Cecil B. DeMille intended!

I think one of the big problems is the compartmentalized marketing. A lot of these movies mentioned, After the Hunt, Christy, etc. I never even heard of until the fact they failed was in the news. (And Die My Love was marketed for maybe a week, because Pattinson/Lawrence were being vaguely amusing during the PR rounds). Glen Powell was on SNL promoting Running Man, and that was the first time I'd ever heard about it.

Our collective attention is splintered to bits, so studios have to decide where to spend their advertising dollars. I'm not sure who these marketing dollars target, but I legitimately have never heard of so many of them.

But Wicked? One Battle After Another? Yeah, I've heard about them. I'm actually ready to stop hearing about Wicked if we're being honest, lol.

[judy]

57. I disagree with the title, but I agree with everything else...

I think films are not as good as they used to be, and the reason might have a lot to do with the other reasons you mention. It is easier for a Hollywood distributor to release a mediocre movie on 10,000 screens after a huge promotion, than to promote and make a great film last in 500 screens nationwide. Plus, the longer a film plays in a theatre, the less money the distributor makes. So, who cares about the actual quality of the film, when the theatre chain makes more money with popcorn, and when on the first weekend of release, the distributor makes 90% of the intake!
Small film production companies come up with very good films every now and then, which play at Film Festivals, sometimes don't get distributed (so don't even stream...) and might play at very tiny independent theatres if we're lucky.

[Sympthsical]

60. I try not to nostalgia lens things

I'm middle-aged now (40s), and I hear a lot of my peers wax nostalgic about their growing up movies. Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller, Pretty in Pink, etc. Or action films from the era like Lethal Weapon or Rambo or whatever.

Those kinds of movies still exist just fine. The sensibility and style has simply changed. We don't have Arnold or Sylvester, but we've certainly got John Wick. Flow is probably one of the best animated films I've seen in the past 20 years - and animation has been pretty solid this whole time. You've got your blockbusters, etc. We're about to get another sword and sandals epic in the Odyssey (after an "only ok" Gladiator 2).

It depends what a "good" movie is to someone.

I try to go back and watch old movies when I can. Friends give me lists of "Classic, you have to see it!" Sometimes they're really good. Sometimes you can tell it worked at the time but wouldn't work now. Acting styles, writing, characterization, etc.

I think it's that cultural tastes are constantly changing, but ours do so only begrudgingly as we age. Which is fine. There's still a lot of new content to sink my teeth into and old content on streaming when there isn't.

I just saw the new Frankenstein last weekend. It was . . . fine.

[judy]

49. To succeed in theatres today, comedies or dramas must be GOOD!

First of all, nothing beats watching film in on a huge screen in a movie theatre...to be isolated in the dark with the film, with perfect sound and presentation, and a bunch of strangers immersed in the same experience, beats streaming at home any time for me.
Second, the films mentioned, like "After the Hunt", and "Die My Love", are from mediocre to awful (I haven't seen "Christy&quot . Where I live, there is a repertory movie palace that shows old films, and it is always packed.
So, my guess, is what makes a film good is not the amount of special effects, explosions, car chases, gun battles or sex scenes. What makes a film good is the story, the screenplay and the dialogue. Watch a film by Billy Wilder, and you will see what cinema can be...("Sunset Boulevard", "Double Indemnity", "Some Like it Hot&quot or by Alfred Hitchcock ("Rear Window", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Vertigo", etc.) and many more...
Why are films so uninteresting these days? I don't really know...I think special effects take too much importance for action films, that mostly end up in battles, with guns or space ships, and more intimate movies supposedly tackle important subjects, but a film is not a lecture, should "show" instead of "tell", and the story should matter most.
Just my 2 cents as a film and theatre maniac...

[flvegan]

50. What does it cost on average to go see one of these in a theater at release?

Serious question. Probably differs by location (more expensive in LA, cheaper in Jacksonville). I haven't gone to a movie in a theater in a decade at least.

[judy]

52. Very good point...

It costs a huge amount of $$ to go to a movie theatre, even more if you indulge in concessions, and on top, you have to sit through 1/2 hours of previews, and myriad of ads.

[Ponietz]

51. Social media has reduced the average attention span to 8 seconds

ADHD is endemic now.

[Charlie Chapulin]

55. The new Frankenstein

from Guillermo del Toro is a cinematic thing beauty. Totally worthy of a BIG SCREEN viewing.

[Redleg]

62. They should have made superhero movies instead....

That seems to be what people want. After all, who wouldn't want to see the 73rd installment of The Avengers?

[BlueTsunami2018]

64. Streaming has made theaters obsolete.

Interest in movies hasn’t waned, interest in going out to a theater to see them has. I’d much rather sit in my own home, with my own snacks/drinks and the ability to pause if necessary than go out to a theater and have people talking, phones ringing, $15 popcorn and so on and so forth.

The only time I go to a theater now is when Tarantino puts out a film. And there’s only one left now.

Streaming has taken the theater out of the picture.

[LudwigPastorius]

70. Related?

[Rhiagel]

74. About $20 using an app.

That's the cost of a MATINEE movie at my closest theatre if booking through the app with "convenience fees." Ridiculous.

[Scrivener7]

77. I find movies either are about superheroes (which has no interest for me), or they are often a bit silly.

[PCIntern]

80. "Oppenheimer" in IMAX at the Tropicana casino in AC.

[WarGamer]

83. Not the same Hollywood as 20 years ago... trash.

Very few notable movies lately.

Comic book crap and graphic horror... that's about all.

[NoRethugFriends]

87. Nope. Ther's tons of good stuff out there.

[WarGamer]

97. I'm a 3x per month cinema visitor... and 15-20 movies a month at home.

Today's films are trash, IMHO...

Writers and Directors think doing something "differently" is better than doing it the classical way... like Tom Cruise Mummy vs Brendan Frasier Mummy.

Just look at the Academy Award winning films the last few years... it's mostly unwatchable crap.

[NoRethugFriends]

99. Not sure why you'd watch so many trash movies every month then

[Florida Dem]

96. Movie Theaters - My Thoughts

There are good points on all sides made in this discussion. I consider myself to be one of the top moviegoers in the United States. I'll add a few of my thoughts to this discussion:

1. No home setup that I've ever seen compares with seeing a movie at a good quality theater with a huge screen. And I'm saying that as someone whose best friend has one of the best home theater setups I've ever seen. For me, it's that "larger than life" aspect that cannot be duplicated at home. Also, there are inevitable distractions which occur more frequently when watching a movie at home.

2. Cost: Thankfully I have two large AMC theaters located near me. With AMC A-List. I am able to see 4 movies every week for a monthly fee of $25.99. that includes all premium formats. That's approximately equivalent to the cost of two streaming services. And you would need more services than that to get a good cross-section of the movies that appear in the theaters every month. The streaming market is extremely segmented now.

Of course, the concessions are ridiculously overpriced. Thankfully, I don't feel the need to stuff my face while sitting in the theater for an hour and a half. I have also given up drinking soda. So in my case no real sacrifice there.

3. Temperature, volume, and talking are all valid concerns. But I much prefer to see a movie in the theater over watching one at home. To me, they are just not comparable experiences. But I have had occasional problems with all of the items mentioned. I look at most most things in life worth doing as taking a risk. So I choose to take the risk and go to the theater for the superior immersive experience. The overwhelming majority of the time it works out and sometimes it doesn't. That's life. Often, I will select a backup movie which starts shortly after my selected showtime and then change to that backup movie if I have any problems in the original theater. That doesn't happen very often, but it definitely does occur.

4. As for the multiple comments in this thread about there just isn't anything worth seeing in the theaters at all; I just find those thoughts to be absolutely absurd. Declarative statements like that about movies that someone has never seen. Don't make much sense to me. One issue is that every person has a different opinion about what is a great, good, or crappy movie. I personally believe that there have been some excellent movies in the theaters this year and every year for that matter. Some of the good ones from this year so far (my opinion):
- Warfare
- Black Bag
- F1
- One Battle After Another (my favorite so far)
- Weapons
- Bring Her Back
- Accountant 2
- Mission Impossible - Final Reckoning
- The Life of Chuck
- Materialists
- Eddington
- Caught Stealing
- Nuremberg
- Together
- Blue Moon

I real realize everyone's list will be different. My point is that there are excellent movies in the theater every single year.

5. I've been reading about the obituary of movie theaters for at least a decade now. And yet they are still hanging in there despite the onslaught of articles declaring moviegoing dead. Obviously, streaming has cut down on in-person attendance along with some of the issues mentioned in this thread (concessions prices, volume, rude behavior, etc.). In my opinion there will be fewer theaters but in person movie going is going to be around for the foreseeable future. Everybody has their own preferences. Mine is seeing movies in in a physical movie theater. But I understand that other people prefer to stream at home.

See you at the the movies! (Or maybe not, based on this thread. LOL).

[LAS14]

102. F1?

What did you like about it? If you like to watch fast cars going around a track, OK. Or if you just like to watch Brad Pitt do almost anything, OK. But there was almost no plot!

[MenloParque]

101. I love going to the movies. My daughters and their friends

Make fun of me for wanting to see films in a theater. They think theaters are gross and dirty and dislike shushing people to keep quiet. Even all the theaters here are very new or remodeled and offer full service that serve food and drinks right to their seats! The kids definitely prefer streaming at home from what I see.