Probably time for theatres to bring back matinee pricing. I see a fair number of movies in theatres--maybe 12 to 15 per year--and I’ve got the flexibility to go during weekday afternoons. But I haven’t been in a theatre that’s more than 10-15% full in a decade.
Does the risk of cannibalizing evening sales outweigh the cost of empty auditoriums? I don't know. Right now, they’re doing nothing to put butts in seats or otherwise attract people who've shunned theatres.
As a cranky old man IDGAF about pricing, enforce "stay off of your goddamn phone or catch a tire iron to the face" and I'll happily return to theatres
Yeah, I wish nothing but a ruptured appendix on a long-haul flight for those people. When they started putting in roomier reclining seats, I became a lot more tolerant of a-holes at the theatre. There was a ~15-year stretch where going to the movies was a hard pass.