(and the problem is consolidation. Too few producers, too few distributors. But that's the end stage of capitalism. Capitalism produces systems that consolidate. Eat the rich.)

But I miss movie theaters.

What good is it to run an independent theater in a world where no one is interested in going to the movies?

There's no independent distribution network that I'm aware of. ( #agfa maybe?)

What would we show? How could I justify it? How could I make anyone care?

Without movie theaters, we'll never have a cultural moment in which an independently produced film completely reshapes the direction of the industry.

We'll never have another Star Wars because we're too busy letting Disney Weekend-at-Bernie's the corpse of star wars around.

At least as long as UHD Blu-rays keep getting made (fucking death of physical media is a separate windmill for me to tilt against another day.)

The cultural moment in which 250 strangers would crowd into a single space, without a cellphone to distract them and everyone else, and watch a movie together is over.

Time marches forward, but I lament the cultural cohesion that was lost in the process.

But I miss movie theaters.

And like, ultimately it doesn't matter.

The experience of going to the movies with a group to see a movie for the first time is dead to us in the same way that the experience of going to the theater to see a play mostly died with our grandparents.

Time keeps marching, social cohesion rots.

What good is it to run an independent theater in a world where no one is interested in going to the movies?

There's no independent distribution network that I'm aware of. ( #agfa maybe?)

What would we show? How could I justify it? How could I make anyone care?

I could get a cinema grade projector and sound system for about $5k. It wouldn't have the cinema DRM, so I would be limited to independent and public domain releases that are distributed without cinema DRM.

But I could do it, and find a space and show movies. But it wouldn't work!

(and the problem is consolidation. Too few producers, too few distributors. But that's the end stage of capitalism. Capitalism produces systems that consolidate. Eat the rich.)

Without movie theaters, we'll never have a cultural moment in which an independently produced film completely reshapes the direction of the industry.

We'll never have another Star Wars because we're too busy letting Disney Weekend-at-Bernie's the corpse of star wars around.

What I'm saying is that a movie like prospect had no hope of being a runaway success without a robust network of independent theaters and/or video stores.

It was a minor hit, a cult classic, but it deserved to be Alien.

I loved Prospect. It's one of my top movies of the last 10 years.

I never got the chance to see it with an audience, which is a real shame. If it had been released during the era of independent theaters with 16mm projectors trading grey market copies of movies and doing screenings for $3...

Especially if that movie wasn't about a 75 year old super hero franchise or an adaptation of a better book I've already read or a reboot of a better film I've already seen.

But that's not the point! I would accept a much worse sound system and a slightly worse picture, even, if it meant that I could get several dozen friends and strangers together to experience a film, free of distractions, together and for the first time.

The end result is the same, except the theater is more expensive and sticky, and I might actually get some friends over at my house.

But my TV, on the other side of my living room, looks about the same as movie screen from a good seat. (Except the TV is brighter, and I have more balanced speakers)

At least as long as UHD Blu-rays keep getting made (fucking death of physical media is a separate windmill for me to tilt against another day.)