The dim state of the movie theater business
Animation and car buff that I am, I recently went to see Disney’s Cars 2 in 2D at a late showing at a local theater. The projected image looked awful… dim, flat, with dull color. I commented to a friend it looked like the theater had the projector at the lowest power setting. If this was the case I felt as if I had been ripped off as the visual splendor is one reason people go to see Pixar movies.
Two days later I saw a feature about director Michael Bay (Transformers) in the USA Today. The pertinent quote:
“For all the bravado, Bay still is covering his bets. Last week, he sent a letter to more than 2,000 theater projectionists, urging them to set bulbs at their highest setting. (Bay has accused theater owners of keeping bulbs too dim to save on energy costs.)”
Looks like my suspicions are confirmed. The past few years movie theater owners have complained about poor attendance. If they want attendance to improve a good first step would be to give people what they pay for when they buy a ticket. I won’t be going back to that theater again. If I see it everywhere I’ll start waiting for the Blu-ray 100% of the time.
How about you, dear readers? Have you seen evidence of this, and what theaters are the worst offenders?
Questions? Email Don
