Are cinemas target audience now under-30s?

For me there's not a lot that seems aimed at me. The closest one to me is a Cineworld and they seem more bothered by gimmicky things like 270° screens, physical atmospherics and movement of the viewer etc.

I'd probably go to the cinema more if they showed older movies. No fancies, just a seat, the screen and popcorn.

Perhaps ones that I missed the original cinema for, for whatever reason.

Or even franchise marathons

They did it for the 3rd Ghostbuster's film although some found it expensive and too long but I thought it was. All three films, GB1, 2 & then Afterlife with a 45 minute intermission in between each one, unlimited popcorn and 2-4-1 on your drink (buy first one, get a free refill). Ticket was £40pp.
 
I went to see Karate kid film a couple of months ago, there was hardly anyone in the cinema



Go to adult films, you will find adults, go to other films you will probably get younger generation people
 
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Cinema is generally full of morons these days who are not capable of shutting up and not looking at a phone for an hour let alone 2 and half with ads and trailers. People who speak loudly during it as well. Why the heck would we pay for the privilege of sitting with these people? Or the jakeys bringing clearly 12 to 15 year olds into adult films. That and the Odeon lux seems to be letting itself go down hill. The projectors getting less bright, Speakers not working and its dirty. All while having the audacity to charge you 14 quid a ticket :p.

Cinemas need to just die off tbh.
 
Resident said:
I'd probably go to the cinema more if they showed older movies. No fancies, just a seat, the screen and popcorn.
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Some independent cinemas tend to show older films sometimes, though limited I think. Nice to have at least.

The last indie I've been to was The Odyssey Cinema in St Albans a few years ago to watch the 1976 Bugsy Malone film. Decent experience.
 
Nabinium said:
Some independent cinemas tend to show older films sometimes, though limited I think. Nice to have at least.

The last indie I've been to was The Odyssey Cinema in St Albans a few years ago to watch the 1976 Bugsy Malone film. Decent experience.
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Showcase always have classic movies (Flashback). This month is Jaws, Sense and Sensibility.
 
Nabinium said:
Some independent cinemas tend to show older films sometimes, though limited I think. Nice to have at least.

The last indie I've been to was The Odyssey Cinema in St Albans a few years ago to watch the 1976 Bugsy Malone film. Decent experience.
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I think a lot of the chains have realised older films can get more bums in seats than some newer ones, at least for a couple of showings if timed well. Unfortunately most of the big chains only really do that for a big film hitting an anniversary (the T2 showing I went to a while back, on a smaller screen was packed with more bums on seats than almost any other film I'd been to), or because a sequel or remaster is coming out.

Although indie cinema's will do them a lot more as they know that they may not be able to compete with say an Odeon for newer releases, but can arrange to show much more niche films as part of a weekly or monthly slot (and listen to, know what their customers really want to see). From what I've read it's often that ability to do the niche/older films as part of an ongoing season that keeps a lot of the smaller cinemas going, especially if they're willing to do things like rent out the screen for what might be one of the only big screen showings in the UK of a foreign film.



On an unrelated note, going back to the original post, I suspect the way the cinema's schedule their films doesn't help with getting people who are a bit older in, I've posted repeated about the fact my local Odeon keeps stating that a film has "finished" after a week or so, then on a Tuesday night/Wednesday it'll suddenly update it's listings for the Friday and go from having barely anything showing to the film it was saying had finished for another week.
It makes it really hard to actually plan ahead if you're trying to go with friends who might have their own work schedules.
 
darael said:
The last time I was in the cinema was 2021 and particular cinema I visited has closed now.

I find the volume to be too loud in cinemas, but I appreciate that this is probably to try and drown out the noise of brats distracting other viewers. I think I'd rather watch a film at home these days - far cheaper and convenient.
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I agree. Too loud and too shrill. Last time I went was to watch Oppenheimer in IMAX. The shrillness of the speakers was almost unbearable.
Also, I rarely hear or feel any bass at the cinema. My home setup is modest, and yet IMO it sounds better with better sounding bass.

Far better detail, clarity, and colour richness on a decent OLED at home too.
 
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montymint said:
Unpopular opinion here: I think the cinema has always been for the younger audience and that we're all just getting old.

And yeah, it feels bad no longer being the relevant demographic anymore, but this has happened to every generation before us and it'll keep on happening.
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I’m not so sure as the local screenings of No Time To Die and Top Gun : Maverick was full of 40-50 somethings.

We’ll turn out for something worthy of making a dinner and a movie evening of it since I’m driving 25 minutes each way to the cinema.
 
those 40-50 haven't learned "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

yes perhaps the cinema is like father christmas - hmmh, would probably go and see cinema paradiso, though.
 
slinxy said:
Waiting for the BFFC to rate a film at over 30s only just to prove the OP wrong.

It’s simple.. back in the days you either watched it at the cinema when it first came out.. or you have to wait months for it to come out on VHS/DVD to rent and then months again till you could buy the movie for your collection.

Now some films have a same day release as the cinema or just a few weeks before you can stream it.

TVs and sound systems are a lot better at home now than ever.. movie buffs will no doubt have a setup that’s better than most cinemas, unless your lucky enough to live near one of the 4D cinemas or true 4k ones.

Now kids and young adults who don’t have their own space will likely go to the cinemas as an “event”.. god knows how many dates I attended at the cinema. Once I got my “pad”, it was a case of “coming round mine for Netflix and chill? ;)”
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Back in the day you saw it at the cinema or waited months/years for it to appear on BBC or unlucky, ITV when it would be stuffed full of adverts and they probably cut the runtime short to to fit the schedule (the fact you had your grandma or auntie flo constantly talking when you wanted to hear the sountrack on the only telly in the house only added to the frustration)
 
how the hell can cinemas be targetting any particular age group? do you mean latest movie releases? which cinemas have zero control over?

i get the movie releases are pants lately, this year has seen so few original new movies it's shameful, but that is likely more the issue that historically those movies sell, while original ones dont.

movie creators follow the money.
 
tenofspades said:
Last time I went cinema was about 5 years ago:

I feel there's not good releases anymore

and cinemas are more orientated towards families and under 30s.
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I agree my local cinema almost exclusively shows kids movies now

I don't know why though
 
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Infidelus said:
Last film I saw at the cinema was Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Pile of Crap Ending in 2008. Not only were there all the idiots that couldn't stay off their phones but it wasn't cheap either, especially if you bought food. These days I just wait for the streaming release or Blu-ray and watch it on my projector or on a cinema screen in VR, the latter especially for any 3D films I have.

I don't think there's anything that would drag me back to a cinema these days.
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Smart phones were barely a thing then, so I’d hate to know how you’d find it these days!
 
better technology to neuter these inside cinemas ?... although phone filming was ubiquitous at Oasis concert (pity they are so rubbish at audio recording from what i searched on youtube),
hadn't realised they are banned at several band concerts to wit Kate Bush from a bbc article heard yesterday.
 
Star Wars films were the last of the films to drag me back to the cinema and given where we are now at with those, no, I doubt I’ll be going. Even then it was only imax. I’d rather stay home with my own cinema system with unlimited cheap snacks :D
 
Cinema has been a mix of super hero, animations and Oscar bait for around the last 15 years.

The quality of new films on streaming services is not great either, I would say on a par with what used to be straight to video films. So with cinema in the dumps there isn't really a true alternative for watching new films.

Filmmaking has lost its artistic quality and seems to be just a by the numbers exercise to churn out quantity.

A big part of this is the lack of talent. There aren't any directors who can make blockbusters like Tony Scott and James Cameron of the 80s and 90s. Fewer good actors too, with a 60 year old Tom Cruise the last true action star. Not to mention the nepotism in Hollywood with the likes of Will Smith's and Denzel Washington's sons.

A film like Falling Down by Joel Schumacher would be a low budget film by today's standards, in theory the type of film to easily be produced with the right idea. But I can't imagine something of that level being created today. There are many examples of films catering for ages 30+ around that era, but that doesn't seem to be case any more.
 
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