Cinema Detroit closing Midtown location, hoping to find a new site

[Kathleen]

Sorry to learn that Cinema Detroit will be moving from its Midtown location on Third, due to rising rents and decreasing theatregoers and competition from streaming services. We've enjoyed the experience there!

Cinema Detroit to close in huge blow to local arthouse scene — but it’s not ready to give up
https://www.metrotimes.com/news/cine...ve-up-33329388

Cinema Detroit prepares to close Midtown site while searching for new permanent home
https://www.freep.com/story/entertai...n/70301207007/

[Richard]

Again with the rising rents,in the entire country the city of Detroit has an 80% ratio of where it is cheaper to buy then it is to rent next in line is Pittsburgh at 54%,as a majority the rest of the country is in the teens.

I have seen independent movie houses thrive in populations much less then in Detroit but for the most part they have integrated theater groups with plays and such and are embedded within the local arts scene.

People travel from the burbs even to see them so it is not based on being operated as a neighborhood movie place.

There is a big difference in ordering a cult movie or obscure movie and sitting at home watching it verses in that atmosphere part of the ambiance is the experience of watching it with like minded others.

Its these little playhouses is what gets people involved in the arts and gives people a start.

I guess it is just like any other business,you have to kinda figure out what works but sense the wheel is not being reinvented because there are a lot of successful ones operating out there,maybe travel about and see what works everywhere else.

Our movie house that is located in a vintage theater was a collaboration of the city and organizers,but it was restored over time back to its original late 1800s - early 1900s condition over time and as a majority by donations and volunteers,it’s packed at every showing.

Something like this is not like a business where you just open the door and they will come,showing the actual movie is the easy part,getting people involved is 90% of the battle,but that is the whole purpose of it in the first place,getting the community involved in the arts.

[Hypestyles]

best of luck in finding a new place.

[Dan Wesson]

There is a spot opening in Traverse City.
Michael Moore is shutting his cinema emporium down too.

[Lowell]

Movie houses are a tough sell with everybody getting 70 inch home TV with 4K or better resolution and streaming services with thousands of shows and movies. They'll likely only function as get-out-of-house social gathering points.

For example, consider a high end Netflix Premium subscription at $20 a month. At a decent cinema, that's one ticket and a box of popcorn and a cup of pop for one person. Then you have to drive there, maybe listen to people talking over the movie, can't rewind if you miss a scene if you have to run out during the movie, and possibly get exposed by whoever is infected with whatever.

Mind you, nothing beats the big screen and Dolby surround sound many cinemas can offer but even that faces threats by things like Apple's Vision Pro.

[Richard]

^ the problem with that is society is becoming a bunch of people living within a cocoon and losing site of social skills,when they do get out they lose it over the most stupid things.

Look at kids buried in their devices 24/7 they lose touch with the real world and have a hard time mixing socially.

They need to be drug screaming to the theater,sporting events or even thrown in the river,it seems like anymore people live more in a virtual world then they do in the real world,it’s not good for society as a whole.

That could also be why they renamed sports bars to social clubs,people will not go to a bar,but they will go to a social club,which is a bar anyways.

But they seem to be drawn to the social aspect.

I think it more our culture though,I have a friend that engineered air extraction systems for a company that was building 25 screen movie multi-plex across Europe,after Covid they all rebounded pretty good.

Even here though,the theaters that are still around seem to be pretty busy.

Its kinda like any business though,you have to be able to adapt to survive.

[canuck]

Movie houses are a tough sell with everybody getting 70 inch home TV with 4K or better resolution and streaming services with thousands of shows and movies. They'll likely only function as get-out-of-house social gathering points.

For example, consider a high end Netflix Premium subscription at $20 a month. At a decent cinema, that's one ticket and a box of popcorn and a cup of pop for one person. Then you have to drive there, maybe listen to people talking over the movie, can't rewind if you miss a scene if you have to run out during the movie, and possibly get exposed by whoever is infected with whatever.

Mind you, nothing beats the big screen and Dolby surround sound many cinemas can offer but even that faces threats by things like Apple's Vision Pro.

All great points, Lowell!

But on the subject of sound, one thing that enraged me in the past 20 years in theatres is the unbearable volume, and the fact you have no control over that.

Besides that, I also notice watching movies and shows on Amazon, Netflix, et al; that dialogues in films now don’t need to be understood by the public. The sound takes are awful, the murmuring is incessant, and it seems like the producers who used to be watchful of how dialogue came across now are probably thinking that Joe Public can rewind, and listen attentively a number of times if need be… My two cents.

[Richard]

Netflix has become a PIA anymore,sub titles where you spend more time focusing on the words then enjoying the film,watched a Chinese action one the other day,after 30 minutes into it they switched from English to Chinese with no sub titles,wasted 30 minutes getting into a movie.

Most of the streaming services are low budget and if you want to see a blockbuster movie,even with Netflix you have to pay extra somewhere else because they do not have it.


Die Hard as an example,movie has been out 25 years but the only way to watch it is through paid Apple,Amazon’s etc $3.99 oops sorry $4.99 if you want to watch it in HD like it is the 1980s all over again.

So really the only thing you are paying subscription for is to not have commercials.

It cracks me up that they have to warn you that somebody in the movie may be smoking a cigarette,like that will traumatize somebody.

Its okay to show necked people boinking that a 5 year old can watch but they will be traumatized for life if they see somebody smoking a cigarette.

[Dan Wesson]

agreed
the sound editing leaves much to desired

too loud action scenes to muffled dialogue

remote in hand to compensate

up and down then down and up

[Jimaz]

... But on the subject of sound, one thing that enraged me in the past 20 years in theatres is the unbearable volume, and the fact you have no control over that....

That got me to wondering, with the recently relaxed regulations on over-the-counter hearing aids {in the states}, whether there are earplugs with adjustable volume. There are! I won't advertise a particular brand here but Google finds it.

That could be useful in a variety of situations.

[stasu1213]

Detroit Cinema only showed independence films not first run movies that the major theaters show.

[Lowell]

Besides that, I also notice watching movies and shows on Amazon, Netflix, et al; that dialogues in films now don’t need to be understood by the public. The sound takes are awful, the murmuring is incessant, and it seems like the producers who used to be watchful of how dialogue came across now are probably thinking that Joe Public can rewind, and listen attentively a number of times if need be… My two cents.

That reminds me of another disadvantage movie houses have. One does not have the option of switching on the CC subtitles--something I routinely use, even for movies in English, because directors think they have to play music behind dialogue or drown it out with background sound or fast-paced dialogue.

And then there movies like the celebrated The Banshees of Inisherin with its thick Irish brogue. Unless you were raised on the west coast of Ireland you would have no idea what they talking about.

I really want movie houses, independent ones like Cinema Detroit, the little Civic Theater near me, and the DIA's film series, to succeed. I just don't see how they can without being subsidized.

[Lowell]

Look at kids buried in their devices 24/7 they lose touch with the real world and have a hard time mixing socially.

They need to be drug screaming to the theater,sporting events or even thrown in the river,it seems like anymore people live more in a virtual world then they do in the real world,it’s not good for society as a whole.

Noooo. Leave them at home in their bedrooms and mom's basement. Otherwise their phones are lighting up throughout the movie as they exchange text messages, creating yet another annoyance along with their sneaking hits on their vape pens and thinking no one can smell it.

[preserve]

The Stratford Theater on W. Vernor is for sale!

[Honky Tonk]

Noooo. Leave them at home in their bedrooms and mom's basement. Otherwise their phones are lighting up throughout the movie as they exchange text messages, creating yet another annoyance along with their sneaking hits on their vape pens and thinking no one can smell it.

+5, PERSONALLY, I no longer go to "first run" movies. When I want to watch a film, I want to immerse myself in the presentation, and be transported to a world outside my own. Besides the above mentioned annoyances, most films today seem to follow a money making formula, and have little to offer as far as thought provoking entertainment. It's also gotten expensive for a night at the movies. I hope Cinema Detroit finds another home and continues to provide good alternative films. Both Cinema Detroit and the DFT are real gems in Detroit.

[Kathleen]

Both Cinema Detroit and the DFT are real gems in Detroit.

Couldn't agree more! Some of the most memorable movies I've seen have been at these two theatres!

[Zacha341]

Hah! Thought I was the only one noticing this at odd times and places. Saw a man hit his real fast during vow exchanges at a formal wedding!

Like can't you take a break, EVER, for anything. Any event?

Or maybe it's just the crowd I hang with... ....

...sneaking hits on their vape pens and thinking no one can smell it.