Why I Don't Go to the Movies Anymore

Back when I was a teenager, my friends and I would go to the movies on a regular basis. It’s one of the few things we could do for fun in the summer while getting out of the desert sun. These days, I see maybe two movies in the theater a year, and I’m not alone in reducing my theater visits. Something needs to change in the industry, or I’m sure movie theaters are soon going to be a thing of the past.

Right now, new movie tickets cost about $9 for an adult. If you hit the matinees before 5, you can usually get in for $7 (and this varies depending on the area). So for a family of 3, you are spending about $21 just for tickets, to view this movie ONCE on the big screen. Let’s say you didn’t smuggle in your own drinks and snacks in your purse and actually pay at the theater for drinks and popcorn. At about $5 each for drinks and $7 for the big popcorn to share, there’s another $22. Candy is another $3 to $4 if you want to add one of those boxes of chocolate covered something-or-others. So we’re looking at $42 to $50 or so for the three of us to see this movie. Once.

I will concede that some movies are really great to see on the big screen. If you’re going to see a big budget special effects monster/robot smackdown like Pacific Rim, sure you want to see it larger than life. But let’s do some comparisons: According to Amazon.com, I can buy a home theater/movie projector that I can plug into my laptop for about $70 (free shipping!). All I need is a big white wall, sheet, or garage door now. If I want a bigger screen, I can pay more, but we can top out at about $190 and be a fair size.

Once a movie is released on DVD, you can usually pick it up right away for about $20. If you’re willing to wait a little while, you can usually get the digital download cheaper, or just pick it up for $5 - $10 once the excitement and demand has died down. Circle K will sell me a ThirstBuster for .87 cents. I can pick up a variety of soda 12 packs at the grocery store for about $3.50 or so. Snacks – heck I see the same boxed candy going for $1 to $2 at the grocery store.

Now, keep in mind that I only have to buy that movie projector ONCE. So for that first movie I’m spending about $95 for the three of us. We’ll call it an even $100. That’s TWO movies at the theater a year. However, buying a new movie and snacks ever after will be about $30 for three people, assuming I don’t have to buy drinks and snacks, because hey! My fridge and cupboards aren’t bare!

For the price of 4 movies a year at the theater (for just three people, about $200), I would probably watch 8 at home – and the cost wouldn’t go up if more folks wanted to come over and watch with me. And I could pause the damn thing for bathroom breaks whenever I want and not miss a single minute that I’ve paid for, like I do if It’s mid-movie in the theater. I don’t have to park. I don’t have to rush to meet movie times. I don’t have to deal with other people’s screaming children, cell phones ringing or big head in my way. I can even rewatch the movies I already have on the big screen! Heck, someone else can buy the movie and bring it over to watch.

In the mad rush to make profits off DVD sales, many movies come out on DVD within only a few months of being released at the theater – and they certainly don’t stay in the theater for that long anymore, anyway. Why am I going to the theater at all anymore?

Home.

They say owning your own home is the American Dream.  It’s certainly one of mine. Maybe it’s because I moved around a lot growing up.  Maybe it’s a nesting thing.  Perhaps it’s one of those fantasies we grow up with, like meeting Prince Charming or being a Rock Star – an American fairy tale.  All I know is that for a long, long time, all I’ve really wanted is a place that was MINE.

Not just any house will do though. I have an obsession with restoring old homes.  I can spend hours on OldHouses.com and envision how I would paint and decorate and landscape the hell out of one of those Queen Annes (in fact, I’m doing it right now, while I write this blog). I just spent hours on youtube watching episodes of This Old House from 2007 where they restored and remodeled a house in Massachusetts that was built in 1897.  I have subscriptions to This Old House magazine and Better Homes and Gardens. I pick up the occasional copy of a variety of other home-related magazines, too.  I could watch HGTV all day long. It’s ridiculous.  Do I have any related carpentry skills? Hell, no. But I’m familiar with all the Do-it-Yourself instructional workshops available at the local Home Depot, and I have books. And the internet -oh, how I LOVE the internet!

I currently rent a 1200 square foot home that was built in 1986. It’s…a house. But it’s not MINE and it’s far too new to have any of the real character I enjoy in the old Victorians. I also have rocks in both the front and back yards, with limited desert landscaping. Meh. I think previous posts have covered exactly how I feel about the desert. I do have a limited amount of freedom with improvements I can make to the house if I want, but who wants to pump a bunch of money into someone else’s house?  

So I spend a lot of time looking at houses for sale on Zillow.com and other sites, hoping to someday make my dream a reality. And as I do, I think a lot about what home means to me. And I wonder what home means to others. I see a lot of investment homes. There are still a lot of houses that appear to have been bought just to renovate and flip to make a profit.  You can usually see their sales history on the websites. It’s crazy, you’ll see some houses that were owned by the same people for like 30 years, then flipped 3 times. Are they truly investor homes, or is there something seriously wrong with the place? Is it haunted? Or is there just a constant stream of people who have Goldilocks syndrome, still on the quest for the one that’s “Just Right”? (I’m looking at you, Mom)

I think of a home as an extension of yourself. You improve it and decorate it to your own tastes and lifestyle.  You decorate it for the holidays (or not) and invite all your friends and family to share time with you there. You raise your kids and your pets there. Maybe it’s even where you work.  I can’t imagine buying a place you didn’t love, and I certainly can’t imagine wanting to sell a place you love every couple years.  I look through these houses and it makes me sad that for some of these people, they surely feel as I do, but the economy and their financial situation is pushing them out of the place they love.  Pushing them out of themselves.

Maybe I’m just overly sentimental. For some folks, a house is just a place to store your stuff. But is it a home?