I know I have been spending an awful amount of time on the election but every so often when something catches my eye to complain about I have to jump on it. The movie industry has been getting on my last nerve for years and something happened last week which reinforced exactly what is wrong with it.

For those of you who dont know I am a movie buff I love movies I watch them religiously (yes even the bad ones). Equally I am also a technology buff and I am watching just like the music business, movie industry dinosaurs reaching out from the tar pit with their last gasp doing everything to stop the inevitable. Every chance I get I shout from the roof tops pirates are not the only enemy, sure stealing is wrong but this has never been about pirates, thieves, scallywags or all types of evil doers. This is from the beginning and will be until its last dying breath about CONTROL! I know you have seen those pirates ruin America commercials at your favourite theatre and by golly they do contribute but not to the extent you think it does. No in actuality you can never stop pirates, but the least you could do is treat your paying customers with respect and dignity.

I kind of feel like Morpheus making the speech holding up the battery so bare with me, without the over dramatics, this is the real. We have been here before actually this is the 3rd or 4th time. The movie industry cried the sky was falling when Cable TV & VHS tapes were created and blockbuster video stores start popping up all across the nation. It happened again when DVDs came out and people assumed the super sharp quality will bankrupt everything ohh the humanity. It happened again when HDTVs were developed and people bought surround sound systems in droves. Today they have even stooped to blaming video games. After the second time it happened and Isaw the villagers were just fine and people were worried for nothing I started paying attention to the little boy yelling wolf.

Despite all the rhetoric movie sales and ticket buyers are directly controlled by (and I know this is going to come as a shock) the movies they want to see. That is right folks when Hollywood actually develops and promotes good movies people go to theatres and pay money, and if it is a really good movie they even buy it on DVD. Take a deep breath I know I just blew your mind. Like Hillary Clinton I dont listen to those Elitist Economists… oh wait wrong blog, well I dont listen to the ones trying to tell me movie sales are down in theatres because of pirates. Something is afoot but it doesnt yell arrr matey, again pirates are bad but the movie industry is run by idiots and buffoons thats right Isaid it. Ill happily repeat it, idiots and buffoons, if you think that is too harsh there is somebody walking the face of the earth who decided that the one thing missing from your life was another Rambo movie… I rest my case. Here is another shocker (Im on a roll here) every year the price of admission goes up what theatre heads dont tell you is that this isnt in direct response to lower attendance no no this is in response to them building a gazillion super mega insanely large theatres with a bowling alley and karaoke lounge. Nothing says hey watch a matinee here like a bowling alley. Naturally when you waste a ton of money on shit that has nothing to do with the movie experience and it doesnt pan out blame it on pirates.

While Im not naive I do know attendance has gone down from insanely high record times to just about average, I also know that ticket prices must stay in line with inflation but at the same time Im not stupid either popcorn shouldnt cost 20 dollars a bag, today a bag of popcorn and a drink cost more than two tickets to the actual movie. Am I missing something here? Umm I dont think so. We are watching wackamole business 101, grossly over estimate your business growth, when that fails blame somebody/thing else, raise the prices of things, ignore the future. Everything seems to be right on schedule. The collusion between the theatre and movie industry has been something akin to OPEC and the auto industry. While Im not going to get political I will tell you the future is coming and both of these industries have buried their head in the sand hoping it will go away. It will not.

The future the movie industry fears the most is the internet. Seeds of doubt about pirates were cast early to muddle and confuse the issues, while some of their fears were real, the extent was not. I totally understand where they are coming from but theatres and movie studios have less to worry about then say Best Buy and Blockbuster video but that is for another debate. Nothing will take away the experience of going to the theatre and watching Ironman on an enormous screen that will never change. Going to the movies is a social thing people have enjoyed for decades now. But not embracing the future will have horrible consequences for all the industries involved.