We (my partner and I) rarely even go to the "regular" theater any longer. The prices are just too high for what you get.
To us, it seemed better to put money into a good home theater, pay for a Blue-ray HD version of the film, and own it permanently. We get to avoid the screaming babies, the teenagers texting on their cellphones, the neanderthal right behind who has a loud comment for every scene, the conflict between being forbidden by house rules to bring snacks, and the house snacks themselves, which are generally priced somewhere between lobster and the finest steak on a per-ounce basis.
On Blueray, you can view the film any time (and as many times) as you you like, pause it as needed, enjoy it with your entire family, you get bloopers and deleted scenes and previews and director's commentaries, you get access to your own kitchen, popcorn at about one hundred times less cost per ounce (and with real butter instead being drenched with the blood of a murdered palm tree), as well as all kinds of snacks you can't get at the theater, you can replay scenes if you miss dialog, that one film can play in as many rooms and entertainment systems as you own - at your convenience and on your own schedule...
No, the theater just isn't all that any longer. Not for us.
When it was a buck to get in and there was nowhere else to see the film, that was something else entirely. Today, it seems to me to be an obsolete institution altogether. If you don't have HD at home, that might seem harsh, but those of you with good setups know just what I'm talking about.
We like to go out and be social too, but you can do that over an ice cream cone, a walk by the river, or an evening listening to local talent over a bottle or two of your favorite beverage. We just spent several hours listening to a bunch of local musicians; didn't even come to a third of what a theater would charge, and that was live entertainment. I can't help but feel that Hollywood's hunger for cash has outstripped its common sense perception of its own worth. Habits will carry the public only so far - especially in the face of an economy driven to extremes by oil and credit problems.
The only thing that theaters have going for them is they get the new releases first. What we have going for us, however, is patience. And once the whole "see the new film" habit is dropped, about six months later, you're treated to a stream of movies that are totally new to you that once begun, never stops. Money's not all that easy to come by. But the experience of seeing a movie for the first time is the same now, or six months later. Perhaps even better - as the old saw goes, "anticipation makes the heart grow fonder."
Just a little browsing at a pawn shop can put the cost of a great movie in perfect condition at about five bucks, even for a full HD version... and you all know what a night at the theater for two or more costs. The comparison is brutal. We just can't see it any longer.
YMMV, of course.
