@JoeLeydon I regard it as a civic obligation to run reviews of every film opening in the Austin market. Only exceptions are if the studio doesn't provide screeners/screenings, or if they don't announce what's coming until after press time.

@JoeLeydon It also couldn't hurt if the art houses ran more entertaining movies and fewer Holocaust documentaries, Alzheimer's tearjerkers and movies about starving/beaten/raped/murdered women and children in countries so small even Angelina Jolie couldn't find them on the map.

@JoeLeydon Ease of streaming. Endless content at home. Expectations of short theatrical windows. Rising cost of tickets and snacks in a country with less disposable income. Worse theatrical experience with phones. More diverse country with less shared culture/canon.

@JoeLeydon @myrnasIoy But also, I know A LOT of people who are very excited to watch Tár in a cinema but it just hasn't been released in our countries yet.

@JoeLeydon Right. I used to see "Special screenings" (mostly Alamo Drafthouse) listed in the Austin Chronicle and go see those; I rarely proactively seek out film info. Same principle applies to other arts (live music, galleries) and advertising in alt-weekly newspapers.

@JoeLeydon I told a friend that I saw del Toro’s Pinocchio, Fabelmans, Babylon, and Tár recently and he hadn’t heard of any of them

@JoeLeydon A big factor is “going to the movies” as a destination isn’t really a thing anymore. When’s the last time you showed up to the theater without an online ticket or made sure your movie wasn’t sold out beforehand? There’s no “my movie’s sold out but I’m here so let’s try this.”

@JoeLeydon Obviously I need to start writing again

@JoeLeydon I couldn’t tell you a time in my life where I wasn’t at least aware of what was playing theatrically. I’ve driven by so many marquees lately and said “What that?”

@JoeLeydon @yacobg42 I get most of my movies from the trailers when I go to see a movie. I'm given very little film advertisement anywhere else

@JoeLeydon I agree. Those big newspaper ads put the local features in front of you every day

@JoeLeydon And I think a lot of theatre owners aren't realizing how little advertising there is for most movies and instead of just assuming the movies will have an audience, they need to start advertising the movies for their audience and they need to reach their audience in any way.

@JoeLeydon What little of these movies are out there are playing at bargain theaters, not in those single screen places where you have to pay for parking. They won’t save the movie theater business. Like it or not, big budget flicks that play for months will.