I saw Fight Club in theaters for AMC’s remastered release on April 24. I’ve seen the movie before, many times in fact, and it’s even in my Letterboxd top four. Safe to say, I have a lot of love for the film. It’s a movie that gets better with every rewatch, as you can start to dissect it and analyze details you didn’t notice the first time. But I don’t think anything will ever rival my experience watching it in theaters, which sucks because it’s not always playing on the big screen.
I may be biased, but I’m a movie theater lover. I’ve been a member of multiple theaters in my lifetime (my AMC A-List is currently going strong). I’d call myself a cinephile, so I’ve watched a lot of movies. If it’s been a while for you, I can set the scene: You walk in with a group of friends, buy a bucket of overpriced popcorn and soda for you all to share —because there’s a certain charm in that — and sit down in those sometimes reclining, sometimes crappy seats, as you wait for the trailers to pass.
Then, you are ready to embark on the journey of your movie on a 50-foot-wide screen. This experience, in my opinion, is the biggest draw to the theaters. Nothing will ever be better than watching that new movie you’ve been dying to see on opening night in a room packed with people. There are no distractions, nothing else to focus on while watching the movie. For the next two hours, all that matters is the story unfolding in front of you.
And here is the biggest drawback when it comes to streaming: the distractions. I yearn for a cozy night every so often, so I’ll turn on Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Tubi or another of the hundreds of streaming options available. I’ll pick a movie that has been sitting on my ‘To watch’ list for the longest time and find myself unable to completely focus on it for one reason or another. I’ll see that someone liked my Instagram story, my friend texted me about drama or my Teams work chat asked for someone to pick up a shift. Granted, you can just turn on DND and try to enjoy it the same, but in the theater there’s this public pressure present, stopping you from actually checking your phone. In today’s age of constant phone use, a setting that discourages that is necessary.
There is also the issue that the TV in your home is literally not built to show movies in the same quality as a theater. Your TV tries to smooth the image and add more frames per second because that looks better for programs like live sports. But as a consequence, your TV adds frames to a 24 frames per second movie, making it closer to 30 or 60 fps, so you are not even watching the movie the way it was originally shot. There are also the issues of compression and theaters’ digital copies being higher quality than streaming, so you end up watching the film in an overall worse quality. While this might not matter to some viewers, the filmmakers that spent so much time and money invested in making the project often must see their product butchered to fit onto the digital media scene.
However, streaming does have its pros. Depending on how many streaming services you have, you’re paying $10 to $50 a month to have almost anything you’d ever want to watch at your disposal. As the price of a theater ticket can reach almost $20, $10-50 is not a bad deal. Streaming also often allows more niche or lesser-known media to gain a fandom on their platforms.
Since streaming has become so popular, countless shows and movies have also gained a second life from people discovering them years later. Think of shows like Friends or The Office, which were already popular in their time but found immense success and a new audience on Netflix. I’d argue that becoming a cinephile has become easier in recent years, since people can watch the most influential movies of all time while sitting on their couch or during their commute to work.
I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and I even have Criterion Collection, so I am not anti-streaming. But if you are seeking an experience or the best way to watch movies, you should be going to the theaters. For anyone trying to get back into going to the theater, I suggest finding some local independent theaters. They are often playing new releases in conjunction with older movies, so you can choose your experience.
The tickets are often also cheaper than going to an AMC or Regal, making it more affordable for anyone trying to justify the price of a theater outing. My favorite in the city is the Music Box (for anyone looking for recommendations). And for anyone living close to an AMC, I’d recommend looking into becoming an A-List member because you can see four movies a week for only $27 a month, which effectively pays for itself in two movies.
Although movie theaters have been struggling a bit since COVID, I have faith in their ability to continue. Gen Z goes to the movies more than any other age group, according to Variety, proving that movies are still something that people are passionate about. So whether you’re watching the newest blockbuster at AMC Evanston 12 or from your couch, I encourage you to actually pay attention and engage, because that will end up creating the most enriching experience.
