Dear AMC Theatres: Critiquing the Movie Experience and Why You Keep Losing Customers

So I hope everyone who was listening to this had a wonderful , if not very restful , holiday weekend , although I tend to think that the holidays are not very restful , but for me this year , beautiful . I had a beautiful , fantastic , very quiet holiday . I made the decision years ago not to travel anymore on the holidays .

There was a time when I was traveling and , look it , I'm grateful to have such friends who are my family , and I always am very blessed with the possibilities of going somewhere for Thanksgiving , and I made the decision years ago . After flying out to Pennsylvania every year , I was like I cannot do the stress of the holiday .

I have never been a fan of traveling anyways , like , if I'm going to travel , I'm very bougie about it , right , I'm first class , I'm , you know I don't like there to be a lot of people . I am the worst person in an airport , actually , because I get very quiet and I just anyways , I'm rambling on too much about traveling .

My point is I had a very restful Thanksgiving . I hope you did too , and if you didn't , then start rethinking that for next year . Because , I'm telling you , time is precious and , yes , spending time with your family is important , but you know what else is important . Your time with your family is important , but you know what else is important your sanity .

So find a different time to spend time with your family , and that's kind of what I'm trying to do . I try to spend time with my family and friends at different times of the year and not on the holidays , so that might be a weird thing , but okay , with that said , I did see Wicked .

Now I am not going to sit here and review this movie , because there are so many other places that you can hear much more profound , much better articulated reviews of this amazing musical . And yes , I know the minute I say musical , there are some people who are not going to watch it .

I'm talking to you , alden , but here's the thing that I do want to talk about regarding this movie specifically . One is do something for yourself , make sure you do something for yourself . For me , going to go see Wicked was a treat for myself .

I played hooky from work when I had to work and I went and saw it and I didn't tell anybody and it was just such a beautiful time and I went by myself and I went during a matinee during the day which , by the way , does not save you any money anymore and that was fantastic .

Now here's what I do want to talk about regarding that movie , though I did a whole TikTok about this , and this podcast really is geared towards AMC theaters .

I also would encourage that other theaters think about this as well , and I don't know where along the way , people who work in the theater world and I'm not talking about actors , I'm talking about actual movie theaters , right In that kind of corporate conglomerate where , along the way , you did not realize why people don't want to go to the movies .

It's so obvious to me I rarely go to the movies anymore . I used to go all the time when I first moved to Los Angeles . I would go two , three times a week , and that's when I had no money . I would find a way to go . I remember AMC had the cards . I think now they have a club thing as well , but used to have those like .

They looked like credit cards and you would get like a sticker or a punch on it or something , and then it would get a free movie .

And I was always getting free movies because I would go two , three times a week and I always went to a matinee , which back then , my God , I guess I , you know what we always end up to be like our parents , huh , because I'm like I remember back in the day when a matinee was $5 . But that's what I'm about to say . Because they were .

They were so much cheaper because nobody would go during the day , because they'd be working , and that's when I had first moved out here and I had like all these different part-time jobs and I was working as a bookkeeper at different places , and so I had a lot more freedom to go during the day and it was just amazing .

But going to a matinee now is not going to be any cheaper really . So that's my first complaint is , if people go to a matinee now is not going to be any cheaper really .

So that's my first complaint is , if people go to a matinee and when I say matinee I say I mean like 9.30 in the morning , you know , I think this movie was supposed to start at 10.45 AM , right , that's not even a matinee , because I think a matinee is supposed to be at like 12 or something . Anyway , it doesn't matter , it's early in the morning , right ?

So you're going to a movie and it's going to cost you the same amount of money now as you would go at night , like it doesn't matter , okay , so that kind of sucks , but whatever , that's not even what I'm upset about AMC . I think this podcast is really just for AMC , but I don't know . I hope people don't mind me sharing this information .

I already did a TikTok about it , but this is going to be a little bit more detailed . Look it , the reason why people aren't going to the movie theaters anymore . I honestly do not believe it has anything to do with quote unquote how bad the movies are . It's not . Are there a lot of sequels ? Sure .

Are there a lot of places where maybe , stories are just getting kind of done over and over and over again ? Sure , whatever . But moviemaking is still moviemaking and it's still entertainment . It doesn't matter how many times I go to a baseball field , right .

If I go and watch a baseball game , you're always hoping that something exciting and new happens , but it's still a baseball game . So it's the same thing with movies . This isn't about that . Movies have gotten worse .

Actually , I would say movies have actually gotten more detailed and there's so many more places to see streaming and stories in general that movies just have to up their game now . But the reason why people people like myself are not going to the movie theaters anymore when I used to go all the time has nothing to do with having my own home entertainment .

You know what I mean . That's like saying , oh , I have a backyard and a wiffle ball and bat . Why would I go see a baseball game when I could just play it in my backyard ? Right , that's stupid . The reason why people are not going to go see movies is because you make the experience so horrendous that nobody wants to go anymore .

So I went to a matinee to see Wicked and at the matinee it was packed as well and I got there on time . Okay , so I got there on time . You know I'm sitting there , people are piling in , whatever . Finally the lights go down and , quote unquote , the movie starts . Of course the movie doesn't start because it's commercial after commercial after commercial .

It is , and I timed it . I looked at my watch 33 minutes of previews before the movie even started , 33 minutes . So A couple of things about that ? Number one , let's just talk about all these previews and trailers . I understand that AMC and all of these theater chain want us to come back to the movies , so they want to promote the movies to us .

Here's what I'm going to tell you . This is not the way to promote movies anymore . Back in the day , there were three to five minutes of previews before you saw a movie . Okay , I just Googled that three to five minutes and then it grew to 10 minutes . But now it is standard that it's between 30 and 33 minutes or 35 minutes for previews to movies .

And here's the other part of this that is so mind boggling to me . Not only does that take up so much more time in the day for someone to watch a movie , because the movie already has a two-hour time frame .

Some movies even have more than that , but on top of it now it's like you don't want to run out of the movie theater to go to the bathroom or whatever . Right . It's like logistically ridiculous to make people sit there . But it's not even all that . What makes us even worse is that all of the movies that were shown in the Wicked movie theater right ?

So I went to go see Wicked . All of the movies were not tailored towards the group of people that were there to watch Wicked . I know that I am older and that you could care less , which is really stupid because we're the ones who have the money . But whatever , gen X are people who have money to spend on this crap .

But I understand you want a lower demographic or a younger age demographic . I should say that better , not lower , but the fact of the matter is it doesn't matter . Nothing that was being shown was geared towards people who were watching that movie , and all of the actual trailers are number one way too long and they're also too much information .

Like I can watch an entire trailer and I know from beginning to end what's going to happen , because you've included everything in the trailer . There used to be , I think , an art form to people who created trailers because it was more enticing . It enticed you to go see it .

It wasn't like here's the entire story , we hope you'll come , and what I said on my TikTok was also the same thing . The only movie trailer that I thought was at least a little bit clever I didn't say why I thought it was clever , but it made me at least laugh was Mission Impossible . Now here's the thing I'm not the demographic for Mission Impossible .

I've never seen Mission Impossible in a movie theater . I usually see it when I'm traveling somewhere on a plane or I catch it on TV or something some random . You know if I'm homesick or something , but I am not someone who is going to go to the movie theater to see Mission Impossible .

And yet the thing that was clever about that trailer was , after the long-winded bullshittery of the same crap that you know , mission Impossible is going to always be sorry for the fans who love that franchise , at the end of it Tom Cruise says something like just give me one more chance or something , and clearly it's a line from the film .

But they're using it as kind of a double whammy to the crowd , right To the people in the theater , to say please come and watch it one more time . I thought that was clever and funny and whatever . But I honestly don't remember or even care about any single other movie that was shown during that 33 minutes .

Maybe I remember Moana only because that's when they told us to put on our 3D glasses . But even still , I was going to go see Moana anyway because I think Lin-Manuel Miranda is attached to it .

So it's not going to be because of that situation where I was sitting there , if anything , I was so annoyed because then I had to take off my 3D glasses , because then we had to watch and let me just tell you , amc this is definitely the podcast for you here Nicole Kidman , that whole Nicole Kidman crap thing that you guys do , where she I don't even know

what that's about . It's creepy as fuck , it's lame , it's old . It's time to change that shit up . I'm sorry , I didn't mean to swear . Yeah , I did , I did , I swore . I always swear . I don't know why . I'm apologizing for that , but here's my thing . It's just done .

I am exhausted already and we haven't even started the film yet , right , and I just paid like $27 to come see this movie , right , because of parking , and my ticket was like $21 for some reason . So I haven't even bought any popcorn or any soda or anything , because I don't want to spend all that money there . And so we are now 33 minutes in .

I'm already exhausted and pissed about having to watch this movie . You know , and here's the thing Wicked is amazing , but that's not always the case , the movies that we normally go see at the movie theater . For those of you who always go are not always going to be top tier like this , right ? Because movies have ebbs and flows .

They have , you know , some are great , some are not , but some need to be seen with other people or on a big screen . And yet I probably will not go see Wicked 2 in the movie theater , because I was so disenchanted by my experience at the theater Because , look , here's the thing there's a lot of people in the theater , you

know . People are talking or laughing . Clearly , there are people trying to explain what Wicked is , what the storyline is . You know , it's just human nature when you're in that environment . Now , I did shush the people next to me at one point because I was so sick and tired of the conversation , and they did . They were respectful and they stopped .

They realized they were being too loud , so that was fine . But those are all the normal things that happen in movie theaters that probably make some people not want to go , especially because everyone has such great televisions at home and streaming is such an option , right ?

So why not do everything you can to make the theater going experience something we really , really , really want to do ? It's kind of like the same thing with music Like . As much as I love listening to music , nothing is going to change .

Actually going to a concert and seeing someone perform live right Like it makes me want to see them live , even though I can listen to their music over and over and over again at my leisure at home . But my point is is it doesn't matter whether the movies are great or bad , or action or whatever I mean .

Of course people are going to gravitate towards a movie like Wicked , which is just an incredible movie , or something like Black Panther , because everybody went and saw it and it's word of mouth and whatever .

But every movie would have a better chance if you made the experience of going to the movie theater something we actually wanted to continue to do , because we enjoyed the crowd experience and we enjoyed being in a theater that had a different type of sound system that really catered towards the movie's technical beauty or whatever .

I don't even know what the right wording is . But as much as I love my little home system here , nothing compares to being in a theater when I can watch a movie , especially a movie like Wicked that really , really jumps off the screen with its absolute beauty and just everything that John Chu , the director was able to encapsulate in that movie .

It does not remind me of Barbie , but that same feeling of joy , right and just , it was so massive . Everything about it was so big and so massive , and so you want to enjoy that in a movie theater .

But how do you do that when you're so worried about trying to advertise to us every five seconds that you've now made it not a fun experience right at the beginning ?

You know and here's the thing about advertising to us the reason why I went to go see Wicked had nothing to do with me seeing it in a preview at a movie I had seen , because I haven't been to the movie theater for a long time now .

So the real change here is that content creation and social media platforms and word of mouth are always going to be the better way to go , and I bet you would get more people to go to the movies if you actually cut down all of these movie previews that are just way too long and they make a two and a half hour event into an almost three hour event and

that really is hard on people . I know it is for me and I can't imagine that I'm the only one . Actually , I know I'm not , because I've gotten a lot of feedback on TikTok already about it . So it's just something to think about .

And for those of us who do stay home and watch movies , we are missing a lot when we don't do it the way , we don't go and see it the way in which the artist has presented it to us , right , I mean , I think there's something to that too .

I want to see the art in the way in which the director wants us to see it , and sometimes on television it doesn't really translate in the same way , and you know , again , I get that , but I am no longer willing to sacrifice my time like that . 33 minutes is a long time , especially for a movie that's over two hours to sit and watch With .

That said , I really do encourage people to go see Wicked , and I know a lot of people dismiss Wicked .

I know a lot of Christian right , I'm just going to say crazy people are dismissing Wicked and it's because you don't know the story , unless you hate the Wizard of Oz , I don't know how you could not just absolutely be enthralled by the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch . Right Glenda , right Glenda . How ?

Just the extraordinary ability . For someone to have written that backstory after watching the Wizard of Oz is quite amazing , and he did a brilliant job . And Wicked has been out , I think , for a long , long time since like 2000 or so I don't even remember when it was , but the play and the musical were amazing .

But John Chu , the director , has really outdone it . I mean , I was completely impressed . So go see Wicked . Stop being nonsensical about it . There are plenty of beautiful stories out there that don't have anything to do with being demonic and blah , blah , blah . They're just stories . My goodness , people are crazy . I don't understand .

But the other thing that I want people to do something for themselves I was saying that earlier some gifts you can give yourself this year . One of them is Go See Wicked , if you can stand it , or wait for it to come out and then watch it . But it's great is also if you have not listened to Kendrick Lamar's latest album that just dropped . It is remarkable .

The name of the album is Gen X , but it actually stands for Grand National Experiment , which is a 1987 Buick or something . I think it was also the same year that Kendrick Lamar was born . But I have to say my favorite song on that album is Luther . I also like Dodger Blue , but Luther is just unbelievable .

And whether you like hip hop or not is kind of irrelevant as far as I'm concerned . Or if you're not a fan of rap , if you just listen to the first 45 seconds of Luther , you're going to understand why so many people are just loving it . It is so well done , so beautifully done , and the melody just incisors on on it . Look it , just check it out .

Just do something for yourself . Go see Wicked and go listen to Kendrick Lamar's latest album , at least the single song called Luther . It's really great . So during this holiday season , try to do something for yourself .

A lot of people do so much for their families , their children , their parents , and I really think this whole concept of you know , self-love and self-care we really need to hone in on it and actually do it , and one of the things you can do is buy yourself a little gift as well Make sure you take care of you .

I feel like you know , skipping work that day and just going to go see Wicked was so liberating and , you know , listening to Kendrick Lamar's album over Thanksgiving for myself was just such a joy to just sit and listen to that song and then listen to the music .

It was just like not caring about anything else , just being in that space , like when you were a teenager , where you know you thought the world revolved around you , but that was why you could , so be in the moment at times . You know , that's kind of what it reminded me of .

I just let go of work , I let go of everyone family , friends , whatever and just did something for myself , and it was amazing , it was brilliant and it was so much fun . So make sure you do that for yourself , especially right now , during this holiday season . This is where it gets really , really tough .

This is where a lot of stress comes in because of family , because of all the gift buying and all the money spending and all of the drama that goes with this holiday season . So be in front of that right . That's kind of where I'm at right now .

Be in front of it and do what you need to do to protect your space and protect your essence and your aura and prepare for 2025 . I cannot believe . It is so right around the corner . I'm so excited about it . So , again , we're going to have a show next week on Thursday .

We're also having a guest had I realized that we were going to have Thanksgiving I probably wouldn't have had the first show back with a guest , but we're going to have Christy Holt on the show and she is someone who talks a lot about relationships and does a lot of coaching on different types of relationships , so it should be interesting .

I've never met her , so it'll be the first time for all of us , but it'll be fun . I've never met her , Um , so it'll be the first time for all of us , but it'll be fun . And uh , of course , we'll have Rick and Cynthia on the show as well and we'll have a conversation about relationships .

So hopefully you'll be able to stop on by and , uh , give your two cents in in the chat . We really appreciate it . Uh , make sure the website All About the Joy and check out our store there . And if you could buy a t-shirt or a hat or actually the mug is the thing I have to buy it myself .

I have one of them , but the mug that says , at the end of the day , it really is All About the Joy is the cool mug to get , so see if you could stop by there . Also , if you're not following us on YouTube , we really could use some followers on YouTube .

So you know , like , share and subscribe , do what you can to help us out on that end , and I guess that's it . Just remember that at the end of the day , it really is all about the joy , and I'm so grateful to have this show and to have so many people listening and hanging out with us .

I really did say grace for all of you this past week , so , okay , until next week . Thank you , bye . Thanks for stopping by . All About the Joy . Be better and stay beautiful folks . Have a sweet day .