I don't always agree with everything Spike Lee says but I think I'd have to side with him on this case; the director spoke at Variety’s Entertainment and Technology conference in New York where he said that he'd rather watch a movie in a big theater than on a mobile-phone screen. Well…yea, most of us would, but it got me thinking about the state of theaters and how we choose to view our entertainment now that we have so many options available to us. We can view movies on our computers, on our phones, even our watches now; that sort of accessibility won't be going away anytime soon, it will only grow and evolve to the point where theaters are simply one option among many.
Spike Lee on viewing films on a mobile device:
I know I’m a dinosaur, but there’s something still for me actually being in a movie theater. I know it’s not a popular view, but as a filmmaker — we kill ourselves with editing. With lighting. With sound, it’s heartbreaking.
When all is said and done, I believe that films are made for the big-screen; we're meant to see them larger than life in a building specifically built for the purpose of viewing them. However, in recent years, I've noticed my trips to the theater have dropped significantly. It's not that there aren't films I want to see, it's that the theater experience is not what it used to be. In a lot of cases theaters have become a place for idiots to hang out and get drunk while shouting at the screen or for parents to dump their kids without any supervision. To be fair, this isn't a regular occurrence but it's happened enough times for me to be somewhat leery each time I head to the theater. I do agree with Spike, in a perfect world I'd want to see each and every film in a theater with like-minded cinema lovers, but unfortunately we don't all have that luxury.
Spike Lee is currently casting his next film, known as CHIRAQ, with Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Piven, Common, and Kanye West possibly starring in the project. It's been a while since I was excited by one of Spike's films but I'm always holding out hope that he'll pull another great one out of the bag.
I'm curious to hear your take on this topic, so let me know where you choose to watch movies for the first time, and while you're at it feel free to share some terrible theater stories so I won't feel like such a grumpy old man.
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