I am super excited about this trend of releasing movies to online services at the same time as theaters.
I guess I am selfish, but even before the pandemic, I much preferred to watching a movie with my spouse at home on our big screen TV, in our comfortable chairs, with our preferred snacks, with the kids asleep in their bedroom, than having to go through the hassle of finding a babysitter, driving somewhere, paying crazy prices for food and drink, watching a ton of pre-roll ads, and being distracted by the jerk making running commentary next to you.
Sure the giant screen and sound system are really nice, and worth paying for once in a while. But I am happy that decision is separate from, when do I want to watch the movie.
So a long time ago, my wife broke her leg badly enough to need surgery. After she was up to it, I took her out to a movie. Got her out of the van, into a wheelchair, into the theater. We sat through the trailers, and were just about to get to the movie that we actually wanted to see...
... when our oldest called, saying that our youngest was throwing up, and we needed to come home now. All that work (way more work than usual), and we never got to see the movie. If we had been watching it at home, we would have just paused it.
On the other hand, if we had been watching it at home, we would have been watching it with the kids, not just with each other. That's fine, if that's what you want. But if you want some time together as adults, it doesn't work.
We stared counting interruptions during a movie. This is with kids have a separate floor To themselves; with clear instructions to give us 2 hours peace.
20+ interruptions was normal. Not including Loud crashes coming from gymnastics activities.
I guess I am selfish, but even before the pandemic, I much preferred to watching a movie with my spouse at home on our big screen TV, in our comfortable chairs, with our preferred snacks, with the kids asleep in their bedroom, than having to go through the hassle of finding a babysitter, driving somewhere, paying crazy prices for food and drink, watching a ton of pre-roll ads, and being distracted by the jerk making running commentary next to you.
Sure the giant screen and sound system are really nice, and worth paying for once in a while. But I am happy that decision is separate from, when do I want to watch the movie.