Sing Me Movie Techno

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 20, 2006 4:02PM

Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of items on the technological aspects of moviegoing. Does this happen to other art forms? Does Painters Monthly feature the latest innovations in canvases, for example?

Though he repeats the already discredited stat about the 2005 drop in movie ticket sales, the Trib’s Michael Phillips makes some excellent points in this article on how multiplatform movie releases and massive home theater systems might affect the industry. Exhibitors will lose and studios will win in this brave new world though a University of Chicago prof opines that the proliferation of small screens on cell phones and iPods might leave people hungry for the widescreen moviegoing experience, if not the $6 popcorn.

For those who’d rather cuddle up to their plasma screen instead of head to the multiplex, a company called Moviebeam is introducing a new movies-on-demand service to 29 initial markets, including Chicago. The service intends to provide “provide immediate access to 100 movies including "every new release and select popular favorites from virtually every major Hollywood studio.” So, crap.

There’s some irony in the fact that the Moviebeam’s service piggybacks onto your local PBS broadcasting station’s signal. “What’ll it be tonight, honey? Big Momma’s House 2 or Nova?”

While Chicagoist often has the patience of a toddler in poopy diapers, we can’t see how this product is worth the money unless your impatience is matched only by an intense desire to see every crappy new release that comes down the pike. The startup costs are at least $230, which would buy you a whole year of Netflix. After you factor in the “rental” fee for each movie, it hardly seems worth it unless you live in a remote village where no postal worker or Blockbuster employee dares to tread. If that’s the case, then you probably don’t get PBS either. In fact, you’re probably not even reading this post. Woah, way too much metaphysics for this early in the morning.