I dunno--to me, there is still something that brings me back to my childhood when I go to a theatre, spend $300 on a popcorn and soda combination, and watch a movie.
"And, of course — because networks had to churn out 24 hours of programming a day — TV budgets were a far cry from movie budgets."
Not in the beginning. Into the 1980s, when I was a kid, the networks signed off between 12:30 and 1 am. (usually with the 'Star Spangled Banner' playing over stock footage and then a test pattern or just static). -NBC had programing that went to 2 am thanks to Tom Snyder's show.
It really wasn't until the early to mid-90s that networks started going 24/7. (I remember being up at 3 am in college and seeing ABC news running an overnight program that, in between covering the relevant stories of the day, had things such as weather segments that told you the current temperature in the White Press Room. The tag line for the overnight show was "More insomniacs get their news from ABC than any other network").
In my parents' childhood, the networks only scheduled about 4 hours of programming in the evening. (7pm-11pm Eastern Time). Games shows and soap operas seemed to come into existence as networks came to the realization that there were some people at home during the day and companies were willing to buy ads to sell products during those hours.
Great article Jeff. Somehow I missed this one in my email box.
Nowadays, you can count on one hand the number of movies per year that truly benefit from a giant screen and movie theater experience. Avatar: The Way of Water is definitely one of those, as was Top Gun: Maverick. Most other movies can be watched at home just as easily.
And the damn trailers. More than 20 minutes of them before each movie! Plus an annoying Nicole Kidman ad for AMC.
Like you, I ultimately welcome the freedom this will open up for storytellers.
Apocalypse Now (all versions) is still my favorite movie since I strayed into the wrong cinema as a kid, and then went back again and again once I’d robbed enough coins from my Mam’s purse and persuaded some adult to buy me an r-rated ticket. Whilst deconstructing the helicopter parts we risk forgetting the obvious wonder - that some things are just fucking amazing. That’s why we bother.
Classical Greek drama was around 1.5 to 2 hours, and that seems to be the format we settled on, even into the motion picture era. In antiquity the constraint wasn’t really attention span, because people would spend all day at the theater watching one play after another.
I dunno--to me, there is still something that brings me back to my childhood when I go to a theatre, spend $300 on a popcorn and soda combination, and watch a movie.
"And, of course — because networks had to churn out 24 hours of programming a day — TV budgets were a far cry from movie budgets."
Not in the beginning. Into the 1980s, when I was a kid, the networks signed off between 12:30 and 1 am. (usually with the 'Star Spangled Banner' playing over stock footage and then a test pattern or just static). -NBC had programing that went to 2 am thanks to Tom Snyder's show.
It really wasn't until the early to mid-90s that networks started going 24/7. (I remember being up at 3 am in college and seeing ABC news running an overnight program that, in between covering the relevant stories of the day, had things such as weather segments that told you the current temperature in the White Press Room. The tag line for the overnight show was "More insomniacs get their news from ABC than any other network").
In my parents' childhood, the networks only scheduled about 4 hours of programming in the evening. (7pm-11pm Eastern Time). Games shows and soap operas seemed to come into existence as networks came to the realization that there were some people at home during the day and companies were willing to buy ads to sell products during those hours.
I just really wish they had bathroom breaks during movies. This would absolutely increase concession sales as well.
Great article Jeff. Somehow I missed this one in my email box.
Nowadays, you can count on one hand the number of movies per year that truly benefit from a giant screen and movie theater experience. Avatar: The Way of Water is definitely one of those, as was Top Gun: Maverick. Most other movies can be watched at home just as easily.
And the damn trailers. More than 20 minutes of them before each movie! Plus an annoying Nicole Kidman ad for AMC.
Like you, I ultimately welcome the freedom this will open up for storytellers.
Apocalypse Now (all versions) is still my favorite movie since I strayed into the wrong cinema as a kid, and then went back again and again once I’d robbed enough coins from my Mam’s purse and persuaded some adult to buy me an r-rated ticket. Whilst deconstructing the helicopter parts we risk forgetting the obvious wonder - that some things are just fucking amazing. That’s why we bother.
It could be worse ... at least you don't have to stick to the 3 dramatic unities of Aristotle.
Classical Greek drama was around 1.5 to 2 hours, and that seems to be the format we settled on, even into the motion picture era. In antiquity the constraint wasn’t really attention span, because people would spend all day at the theater watching one play after another.