Friday, October 9, 2015

My Dream Theater

If I had all the money in the world...

How many of us have started a journal entry like this? I have just returned from watching 'The Martian' in theaters and no I'm not going to give you a review (go see it). I always have the same thought when watching movies, especially now that I'm older and have seen multiple generations worth of movies.

Why aren't there theaters that show older, similar, versions of the new movie you're going to see? I'm going to cut out all the red tape and live in a world where movie studios have worked out an agreement to share revenue made off of this idea and the SAG have done likewise for all revenue generated to be split up to the actors.

Now that we have cleared that up, here is what I would like to see:

I want theaters to offer double features for $2-$3 more where I could have watched 'The Martian' and a combination of either 'Apollo 13' 'Red Planet' or 'Mission to Mars.' Provide a 5-10 minute intermission between films and in house food/drink and you're all set for a good time.

If you assume two movies would run about 4-5 hours total you could still have time slots of 11a-3:30p 4-8:30p and 9p-1:30a. Some of the losses of less showings will be made up in food costs (just stop offering free refills for large popcorn/soda) along with alcohol costs for the adults.

Most blockbuster movies are sequels/remakes anyways nowadays so there shouldn't be an issue finding a suitable pairing of movies. This could also revitalize the dwindling numbers of Drive-Ins. It's amazing that outdoor movies are so popular during the summer, but Drive-Ins are nearing extinction. The last time I went to a Drive-In was to see the low budget, but effective thriller 'Open Water.' Imagine if they had paired that up with 'Jaws?' (which I have also watched outdoors) Don't you think the allure of seeing Jaws again on the big screen would give a bump to Open Water and bring together generations of movie watchers?

Recently I took my wife to see the original 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' on the big screen. The theater brought two of the original cast members in to sign posters and do a Q&A. I love the thinking behind this. There were older people in the audience and obviously younger people attending and the theater charged extra, but guess what, it was sold out. Now take out the Q&A and add in a screening of Johnny Depp's version for the same cost or a bit less and who would have complained? Not me.

In my life I've tried to see re-releases in theaters or at outdoor film fests as much as possible. Especially for the movies I never had a chance to see during their original theatrical run.

If you look back at the top grossing movies of 2015 what would you have paired them up with?


Jurassic World (Sequel) Pick a Jurassic movie
Avengers: Age of Ultron (Sequel) Avengers
Inside Out - Anything Disney/Pixar
Furious 7 - (Sequel) Any Fast & Furious or go outside the box with Paul Walker's 'Into the Blue'
Minions - (Spin off) Despicable Me
Cinderella (2015) (Remake) A Cinderella Story or the original Disney animated version
Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (sequel) Stay in the franchise or older Tom Cruise with 'Top Gun'
Pitch Perfect 2 (sequel) Pitch Perfect since it gathered steam after it left theaters
Ant-Man (spin off) Lots of Marvel to choose from, I say the Edward Norton version of 'The Incredible Hulk'
Home (2015) Dreamworks' 'Antz'
Fifty Shades of Grey - Basic Instinct
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water - I'd go with The Rugrats Movie
Straight Outta Compton - 'Notorious' or 'Menace II Society'
San Andreas - Pick an end of the world movie like 1974's 'Earthquake' starring Charlton Heston
Mad Max: Fury Road - (Remake) Mad Max 2
The Divergent Series: Insurgent (Sequel) Divergent
Kingsman: The Secret Service - The Original Austin Powers
Spy - 'If Looks Could Kill' with Richard Greico (a guilty pleasure of mine)
Trainwreck - How about 'The 40 Year Old Virgin'
Hotel Transylvania 2 (Sequel) or 'Casper' with Christina Ricci
Tomorrowland - You could stay safe with Disney or go with 1973's 'Westworld'
Get Hard - Black/white buddy films...I'm going 'Money Talks'
Terminator: Genisys (Sequel/Prequel) 'The Terminator'
Taken 3 - (Sequel) Taken or a more classic good guy vs all the bad guys like 'Dirty Harry'
Ted 2 - (Sequel) Ted or the cult classic 'Meet the Feebles'
Pixels - 'Wreck-It Ralph' or 'The Wizard' with Fred Savage
Paddington - 1998's 'Madeline'
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (Sequel) Paul Blart
The Martian - 'Apollo 13' 'Red Planet' 'Mission To Mars'
Magic Mike XXL (Sequel) Magic Mike or 'The Full Monty'
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (Sequel) Maze Runner or 'Cube' because you probably missed it

 The options are really endless as Hollywood continues to regurgitate the same story lines, but updated with better special effects and higher budgets. Bringing back movies of your parents generation would help keep people going to the theaters for years to come.