10 Problems With The Modern Movie Industry Nobody Ever Admits

6. Cinemas Are Lazy Elsewhere Too

Cinemas make most of their income from popcorn, which has an insane mark-up and yadda yadda you know all of this. But that's not the only way they've been able to maximise profits. One of the biggest shake ups ever in cinema occurred over the past decade or so, with traditional film phased out and replaced by digital. Now, instead of complex machine that a skilled professional who needed years of training to operate to the highest standard, you have a massive digital box that is more simple to use than an iPad; a list of assets, a timeline, a big play button. And once you get past the outlay costs you can make a killing - projectionists are no longer needed, so regular cinema workers can simply have "Go into the booth and click play" added to their jobs. This is part of why things are poorly projected, and also how you get those regular news stories of horror movies played instead of a kids flick that's next in the alphabet. Working in a cinema now requires you to do a little bit of everything, to the point where there's not the time to do any of it all right. Projecting aside this leads to some irritating side effects, like chains' refusal to turn the ceiling lights down, meaning those sitting under them spend the entire movie in a strong glare, and ushers who are seemingly incapable of closing the auditorium doors, leading the light streaming in and obscuring half of the screen. But it's been such a gradual descent most punters seem to have just expected it.