Let's talk going to the movies

Last night we watched pirates of the Caribbean just for fun. It brought back a lot of feelings. I was new to the theater biz when the first pirates came out and going to movies was exciting or at least it felt like that. It was busy all the time, there were lines and lines of people all excited to see the movie. We'd sell out all the way through the 8-9 hours around 1pm. Working at the theater was fun. The people made it fun, the team members made it fun. Somewhere that changed. I blame a few things, but I'm curious is it just me, because I worked in theaters and the last 3 years were kind of miserable for me? Or is it really different? Those of you who haven't worked theaters what do you think? Is there still an excitement in movie going? Here's a few reasons I personally feel like it's not as great as it used to be:

1. Reserved seating: don't get me wrong I love reserved seating at the theaters. But my reason for loving it is I can look online and if it's too busy I can say eh we'll go another night. It used to be you'd have to go to the theater to buy tickets and find out how full the theater was. If it was sold out most people decided to go to a later show or something else. And even though waiting in line for a great seat for hours seems lame there was a weird excitement in waiting with other people excited to see the movie. 

2. Fewer midnight releases:  I loved when the film companies started doing 8pm or 10pm premiers because staying at work until 3 or 4 am SUCKED. But it felt like it killed some of the excitement. Less people dressed up, came hopped up on red bull and got excited about seeing it first. Going to an 8pm on a Thursday just doesn't feel as special. 

3. Ticket prices/food prices: EVERYONE and their dogs complained about prices and I mean EVERYONE! I didn't pay for movies for something like 14 years but I can tell you it defers me now. We only have one income and 2 tiny humans to take care of. It's just not a priority to go see a movie one night that we can buy in a few months for less than the price of 2 tickets. Which brings me to my next point..

4.  Quicker dvd/digital releases: you used to have to wait for a year or so to buy the movie so you could watch it at home now it's sometimes not even 6 months before it's released from theater to dvd. Why pay to watch it only once when you could pay less to own it and watch it whenever you want.

5. Why so serious. This one might come from working at a theater but it used to feel like theater employees had so much more fun at work. We used to dress up for movies and goof around with work friends. In my personal experience it wasn't fun to work theaters anymore in the end. Managers were discouraged from befriending team members, which when I was a team member we used to hang out with our managers. And as a movie goer it feels like everyone is under such restrictions and hates their jobs. 

Is it just me? Or do you remember going to the movies as more fun than it is now? What differences do you see?