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I can't emphasize enough how important Ebert's 6th point about "Lack of choice' is. I live in a very rural area in germany, the nearest cinemas are about 50 Kil

I can't emphasize enough how important Ebert's 6th point about "Lack of choice' is. I live in a very rural area in germany, the nearest cinemas are about 50 Kilometers and while I simply prefer watching movies on my admittedly better than average setup with decent 720p projector and very good A/V receiver and speakers, it's mostly the selection of movies those cinemas offer which keeps me away from them. I enjoy movie that are a little off the radar and those cinemas don't just have little to offer in those departments, there is simply nothing for people interested in documentaries, indie films or other movies that just don't fit into the whole blockbuster concept. Of course i guess this is a different situation in urban areas where some cinemas certainly cater to interests like mine. However if there's anything to 'the Long Tail' mainstream cinemas are of course still losing audiences. These cinemas serve the purpose of showing big films for a very short period of time before they rapidly become meaningless. With the growing the popularity of on demand services like Netflix, iTunes, amazon and so on this time frame doesn't matter any longer. People can dive into special interests, classics and films that once were only catered to a niche audience and see them immediatelly. So the limited selection and the instant availability from alternative sources hurts those mainstream cinemas twice. That said, the cinemas I know wouldn't see me even if I lived just across the street.

derleth 15y ago
> I live in a very rural area in germany, the nearest cinemas are about 50 Kilometers It's worse in America, which you would expect, given relative sizes and population densities: My nearest cinema is only about 8 km (5 miles), but that's a small four-screen place with very few interesting films. After that, it's 160 km (100 miles) to the next larger cinema, which still isn't that much larger. It's almost 600 km (350+ miles) to the nearest cinema that might be showing a film that isn't one of the week's designated 'blockbusters'. > I enjoy movie that are a little off the radar and those cinemas don't just have little to offer in those departments, there is simply nothing for people interested in documentaries, indie films or other movies that just don't fit into the whole blockbuster concept. Same here unless you're in a fairly major urban center. Out here we don't even get all the 'blockbuster' mainstream films. I am very happy to have the Internet, a good video rental place, and Turner Classic Movies on satellite TV.

derleth 15y ago

> I live in a very rural area in germany, the nearest cinemas are about 50 Kilometers It's worse in America, which you would expect, given relative sizes and population densities: My nearest cinema is only about 8 km (5 miles), but that's a small four-screen place with very few interesting films. After that, it's 160 km (100 miles) to the next larger cinema, which still isn't that much larger. It's almost 600 km (350+ miles) to the nearest cinema that might be showing a film that isn't one of the week's designated 'blockbusters'. > I enjoy movie that are a little off the radar and those cinemas don't just have little to offer in those departments, there is simply nothing for people interested in documentaries, indie films or other movies that just don't fit into the whole blockbuster concept. Same here unless you're in a fairly major urban center. Out here we don't even get all the 'blockbuster' mainstream films. I am very happy to have the Internet, a good video rental place, and Turner Classic Movies on satellite TV.