Last week, I saw Creed 3 at a local movie theater. As an Italian American born and raised in south Philadelphia, I grew up as a big fan of the Rocky anthology. Where I come from, it was a cultural rite of passage. As I competed in combat sports growing up, the movie later became a source of inspiration I would watch before competitions.
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Later, I became a bona fide movie star (slight exaggeration) with my split-second of screen time as an extra in Creed. I thus became emotionally invested in the spinoff series. But after viewing the latest installment, I wondered if it was even worth it to go to movie theaters to see films anymore.
This isn’t a comment about the movie’s quality, which I thought was adequate. It’s reflective of the amount of money I spent on the cinematic excursion. Two tickets, two soft drinks, popcorn, and pretzel bites totaled nearly $60. I can’t imagine the cost of taking an entire family. One would probably need a second mortgage to afford such trips regularly.
The high price of going to the movies isn’t anything new. It’s been that way for quite some time. Yet the overall moviegoing experience for society drastically changed in recent years, as technology and the pandemic changed how viewers would watch cinema. It’s a substantial improvement.
For the amount I spent on just two tickets and snacks, I could have paid for about four months of Netflix or another streaming site. And, with this, access to a catalog of hundreds of films and documentaries. Honestly, I would have been just as content with watching Creed 3 on my couch, with my kitchen only a few feet away, as I was driving to the theater, finding parking, and paying for the tickets and snacks.
That doesn’t even take into consideration the quality of many of today’s films. An abundance of remakes and reboots, a lack of creativity, overuse of CGI, and a surplus of superhero films over the last decade have contributed to a decline in Hollywood productions. Additionally, the incorporation of left-wing social justice themes has damaged the product on the silver screen. Movies have become propaganda instead of entertainment — they just aren’t as intellectually stimulating as they used to be.
Society constantly evolves, and we’ve reached this point with cinema. Except for just a few movies in which, arguably, observing special effects on a large screen adds to the experience, staying home and watching movies is probably preferable. Streaming sites have evolved into the better option. People save a lot of money and can enjoy the latest hits in the comfort of their homes.
In 2023, going to the movies just isn’t worth it anymore.
