This is a tale of two movies.
The first is Zootopia 2. Zootopia is one of my favorite animated films from the past two decades, and I couldn’t wait to watch the sequel. As a surprise my wife got us tickets for a Sunday evening showing (when kids are at home preparing for school the next day). While the movie was absolutely spectacular, what should have been a delightful presentation was instead a frustrating one that I could barely see or hear.
One issue with it was that the projection was out of focus. Everything was slightly blurry, but only just enough to drive you mad, not enough to completely make it unwatchable.
The second issue was that the audio was not configured properly, and almost all the sound was playing out of the front left speaker.
The thing issue, and the most annoying of all, was that there was a group of teenagers behind us who would not shut up the entire movie. They spoke at full volume the entire time, and at one point one of them even turned on their iPhone flashlight to check their nails. In the middle of the freaking movie!
It was a lovely gift, it was a fantastic movie, but it was a lousy viewing experience.
The second movie is Wake Up Dead Man, the newest entry in the Knives Out universe. It came out on Netflix on December 12th. That evening I was able to sit down and watch it, in perfect 4k resolution and crisp audio pouring through my noise cancelling headphones. If I had wanted to put it on my TV I could have, but I enjoyed it on my laptop - my personal favorite method for watching new movies and TV shows.
It was a spectacular film, but even more, the presentation was immaculate. Flawless picture and sound, and I was even able to control it so I could pause it if I needed to run to the bathroom or grab a snack.
And even better, it didn’t cost me $36 to watch it.
I get that some people still enjoy going to the movies. I wouldn’t want to take that away from them. But by and large, I am not one of them. And seeing the news about Netflix potentially purchasing Warner Brothers, and shortening the window between a theatrical release and an at-home viewing? Sign me up immediately.
I don’t like the continued march of media consolidation, or ever expanding monopolies, or anything like that. But making movies accessible to more people in more environments at lower costs? I have a hard time seeing the downsides there.