I miss theaters. My daughter was born October of last year, and we didn't go to any movies near her birth or in the months after when she was really little. Then Covid hit. I used to go to the movies at least once or twice a month, sometimes as often as weekly, and I haven't been to a movie in over a year :(

And I know, this is such a first world problem post. Sorry lol.

Moviegoing has sharply dropped here in Luxembourg too. However, they are also on the list of businesses that get helped out by the government, so their financial losses are pretty weak in the end.

At the same time, the concept of drive-in car cinemas had become a thing again last spring and summer, but the audio system was pretty meh for me. You got a code and a hastag on your ticket, and with those, you could go to a website and register, and through that, you got the audio for the movie. But if your car is too old to connect it to your phone to use the audio system of the car or you got a weak low-end car audio, you're stuck with a bad sound device for the movie...

There's a premium AMC by my place that I used to frequent. Only covid era movie I've seen so far is Tenet, but I might see Kid Detective this weekend if I have time (gives me Brick vibes). Definitely slower there but not to the extreme that you described. There were a handful of people in the seats when I saw Tenet. I may be the only one for such a smaller release, though. I don't think it's inherently bad that the film industry is going digital, but I will miss the theater experience if they become a permanently endangered species.

I traveled to New Jersey from New York just to watch Tenet. Worth it.

I love seeing movies in a theater. I hope they survive and come back stronger than ever.

Hell I am in film school right now.

Nah. I thought about it when Tenet but then they announced that it's gonna release on Bluray in December. I can wait a few months and not risk getting covid.

Last movie I saw in a theatre was Bombshell back in February.  My wife and I were celebrating Valentine's Day and our movie choices were basically Bombshell or Sonic the Hedgehog.  We chose Bombshell.

I haven't been to a theatre since.  I don't even think they are open in my area, but it's been a month or two since I've checked.  Even if they were open, I still wouldn't go.  I don't want the theatres to close down, but I don't want to get COVID either.  It's kind of a no win situation.

They’re re-running The Lord of the Rings, the Extended Editions even, in cinemas here in The Netherlands. So I figured I’d go. Been to Fellowship on tuesday, going to see The Two Towers tomorrow and will see Return of the King next week. Here, the maximum people allowed in any inside area is 30, given you can always be 1.5m apart, so the theatre which normally houses a couple hundred people feels quite barren. The upside is that I have plenty of empty chairs around me to dump my jacket and stuff on so that’s good. I think I’ll also go the James Bond next month or whenever it releases.

Last time I went to a theater was in August. I went to see Matthias & Maxime (which is not a particularly known film) two months after the release, so I was expecting to find the theater almost empty. Surprisingly, there was actually a decent amount of people. Not many, but yeah.

My experience, however, was pretty good. In fact, it was even better than in pre-covid times. I don't know if it's just my luck, but many times I'm sitting close to someone that is not interested in the film at all and only keeps talking with their friends or eating noisily. Or I'm sitting close to someone who is soooo interested in the film that they can't wait for it to finish before they start discussing every single detail that draws their attention.

When any of those situations (or similar) happens, I don't get to fully enjoy the film, because I'm sensitive to noise and I end up being distracted a lot. And that's something that really annoys me, because, if I spend my money, I want to be able to enjoy the experience, which I can't do if I get constantly out of the film.

Thus, being in a theater with just a few people around, all of them perfectly quiet and not making absurd noises, just watching and enjoying the film, was like being in some kind of paradise for me, to be honest. So, in my personal experience, I didn't feel any kind of sadness, but just the calm and the enjoyment of the movie. It was almost a deluxe experience.

That said, I understand this is not good or sustainable for the industry, and I wouldn't want theaters to go away anytime soon, despite my complaints.

Besides, my experience happened a couple of months after the big, first lockdown, when the anti-covid restrictions were loosened in my country. But there's a softer lockdown right now in an ever-growing number of places here, so I don't know what the theaters looks like at this moment. The situation is surely a lot worse, because, even if it's possible to go out and watch a movie, it is by no means easy or safe. Much less than when I went, at least.

Ain't no way I'm setting foot in a cinema again until I've been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

I miss it a lot, but not enough to risk my life.

My favorite theaters to go to by far are the Alamo Drafthouse ones in Austin, but those are hours away and also have yet to reopen since the statewide lockdown. There are multiple AMC and Cinemark theaters that are open and located somewhat closer though and I've consistently landed at a "nearby" AMC of late as a result.