Adults Less Likely to Go to the Movies

Are more people going to the movies these days? Depends on whom you ask.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America last week released a glowing report about box office and admissions totals for 1998, citing 1.48 billion tickets sold--the largest number since the group began collecting box office data in 1946. But a new nationwide Times poll suggests that, for adults at least, moviegoing is an occasional experience at best.

In the Times Poll conducted late last month, 63% of those surveyed had not seen a movie in the previous month. People were much more likely to rent videos than to watch a film in theaters, but nearly four in 10 said they had not rented a film in the previous month.

So what’s going on? The fact that all 1,249 respondents were adults 18 and older may be the key. As the MPAA report and other studies suggest, it is largely the teenage audience that is pumping up the movie business these days, with kids far more likely to go to the cinema than their parents or grandparents.

Similarly, in the poll, which has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points, youth and moviegoing were tightly linked. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, 59% had seen at least one film in a theater during the previous month--the only group in which a majority could say that. Contrast that with 38% of 30- to 44-year-olds, 29% of 45- to 64-year-olds and just 16% of those 65 and older.

The results help explain respondents’ answers to related poll questions about the upcoming Academy Awards, which will be presented March 21. The poll found that only 1% of Americans have seen all five of this year’s best picture nominees, and 61% haven’t seen a single one. More than a third said they hadn’t heard or seen enough about the best picture nominees to pick among them.

The poll results also may explain why blockbuster films that appeal to all segments of the audience--such as “Titanic” or the upcoming “Star Wars” prequel--are so rare. That is why so many studio executives these days are largely forgoing projects that seek to lure infrequent moviegoers, focusing more on genre pictures that pull in solid niche audiences, particularly teenagers.

Why don’t adults go to the movies? Though content might seem a likely reason, the poll indicates that price may have more impact on moviegoing habits. Almost two-thirds of those polled said they thought tickets were expensive, compared to 23% who said theaters were charging about the right price and just 2% who called tickets inexpensive (9% said they didn’t know).

Rising prices can drive attendance down, the poll suggests, although not for the majority. A sizable 43% of people said they went to the movies less often than in the past because of ticket prices. Forty percent said their moviegoing habits had stayed the same, with 3% saying they went more often, 2% saying they didn’t know and 12% stating that they don’t go to movies.

Similarly, when those respondents who said they rented films more often than they went to the movies were asked why, 31% said they could not afford to go to the theater--more than any other answer. The next most common choice was convenience, which was cited by 20% of those respondents.

“I love watching movies. I don’t like paying $6 to $8 to go see one,” Rick Abath, 32, an unemployed warehousing inventory supervisor from Brattleboro, Vt., said in a follow-up interview. With three kids under the age of 10, he said, he sees most movies on video.

“I didn’t mind $4 to $5 so much,” he said. “But if you’ve got kids and you’re talking about $16 just to get [two of you] in, and then the popcorn and the snacks are all five times what they cost in the grocery store, you’re talking about $30 for two hours of sitting in the theater. It’s too much.”

Kevin Shaughnessy, a 48-year-old real estate broker in central New Jersey, said convenience and personal comfort are the reason he rents videos. Let teenagers flock to theaters on opening weekend, said Shaughnessy, a father of three. He would rather wait to see a movie while reclining on his couch.

“In my own house, I can go to the fridge and get whatever I want and push the pause button without missing any of it,” Shaughnessy said. But his major concern is crowds. “When you go to the movies oftentimes, especially with a first-run movie, you have to wait in line. I’m not antisocial. I just don’t find waiting in line to be very productive.”

The MPAA study released last week found that 28% of Americans go to the movies once a month and that they account for 83% of the tickets sold. The report also found that moviegoers ages 12 to 24 account for 37.4% of movie admissions, compared to 27.4% for the 25-to-39 age group and 35.3% for those 40 and older. But the over-40 crowd is the fastest-growing group of moviegoers, the MPAA said.

The Times Poll shows that younger people’s moviegoing dominance extends to the world of video as well. A substantial 36% of people ages 18 to 29 said they had rented five or more videos in the last month (compared to 33% who rented one to four, 26% who rented none and 5% who never rent them). By contrast, 63% of people 65 or older had rented no videos,with 13% renting between one and four, and 5% renting five or more. About a fifth of the older viewers said they either never rented, didn’t own a VCR or were unsure.

Emil Petersen, a retired Los Angeles roofing salesman who turns 70 today, said he rarely rents videos, and when he does, it is to see classics. Petersen expressed the sentiments of many older moviegoers when he said that he misses the feel-good movies of the old days.

“I can recall going to a movie where you felt better coming out than you did going in. That’s basically why you went, and a lot of movies had morals to their plot,” said Petersen, who now lives in Sun City, Ariz. “I used to see Tom Mix and Hopalong Cassidy--those were role models. Today’s movies aren’t inspiring for younger generations.”

Today, he added, “I only take in those movies that have some redeeming moral value to them. And you have to search those out.”

Of the five best picture nominees, he has seen only “Saving Private Ryan.” “It was great,” he said. Petersen, a Korean War veteran, said he plans to see “The Thin Red Line,” another war film, as well.

Americans of all ages are generally unhappy about the amount of violence and sex in movies. Marian Rumola, 29, who does billing for a trucking company in central New York, said she worries that some movies even encourage violence in society by giving ideas to “some of the sickos out there in the world.”

“I can watch real-live operations on the Learning Channel. I can even be eating food, and it doesn’t bother me because I know they’re real and they’re saving somebody’slife,” Rumola, who has two children, ages 9 and 1, said in an interview. “But horror movies, from a mom’s point of view, they basically turn my stomach. I can’t even watch ‘Anaconda.’ ”

Rumola said she hasn’t been to a movie in a theater in two years. “The last time I went to the movies was in 1997, and I saw ‘Contact.’ ”

Less Concern Over Sex and Violence

And yet, compared to polls conducted even a few years ago, people’s ire about explicit content seems to be waning.

Asked whether the amount of violence in American movies is a serious problem for society, 72% said yes--down from 82% in a Times poll in 1995. Asked whether sex in the movies was a serious problem, the pattern was the same: 63% said yes, down from 70% in 1995. And although a vast majority of respondents said the film industry should be doing more to reduce sex and violence in movies (63% for sex, 70% for violence), those figures too were substantially lower than in 1995.

Most tellingly, sexual and violent content does not appear to be keeping many people away from the theaters. When asked if sex and violence made them see fewer movies than a few years ago, 41% said yes--down sharply from 1995, when 60% said yes to that question). Another 41% said they see the same number of movies today as they did a few years ago. Five percent said they see more.

Tiffany Shepherd, a 26-year-old commercial artist in Des Moines, Iowa, said explicit movie content doesn’t influence her moviegoing.

“As long as it’s relevant to the story line, it usually doesn’t bother me. Though some of those teenage exploitation films are really stupid--like bad porno with a story line,” she said. Even when she is offended, she said, “there’s nothing you can really do about it. You think, if I boycott one movie it’s not going to happen anymore? Yeah, right.”

Asked about the overall quality of American-made films, respondents were split almost evenly, with 47% saying they were satisfied, 42% saying they were dissatisfied and 11% saying they were neutral or didn’t know. But here again, age made all the difference. More than 7 in 10 respondents ages 18 to 29 were satisfied with film quality, compared to 57% of 30- to 44-year-olds, 34% of 45- to 64-year-olds and just 19% of those 65 and older.

Also, men were slightly more satisfied than women, with 52% declaring themselves satisfied with film quality, compared to 44% of women.

Asked how useful the MPAA’s rating system is in deciding what movies children should or should not see, 76% of those polled said very or fairly useful, up markedly from a poll in 1987, when 60% said so. Twelve percent in the latest survey said the rating system was not useful. But among parents of children under 17, 83% found the system useful.

Abath, the Vermont father of three, said he trusted the rating system but wished that theaters enforced it more aggressively.

“My daughter is 9, and she’s the only one in her class who doesn’t go to see R-rated movies regularly,” he said. “And it’s a Catholic school too. Go figure.”

* ACADEMY INFLUENCE: Times Poll indicates that Oscar nominations have little influence on the public. Calendar

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At the Box Office

A Times poll has found that going out to a movie is not a habit for most Americans.

How many movies have you seen in a movie theater within the last month:

None: 63%

1 or more: 36%

Don’t know: 1%

By gender and age:

*--*

None 1 or more Men 57% 42 Women 67% 32 18-29 40% 59 30-44 61% 38 45-64 70% 29 65+ 83% 16

*--*

“Don’t know “ answers were 1% for all groups

How Americans rate the current cost of tickets:

Expensive: 66%

Inexpensive: 2%

About right: 23%

Don’t know: 9%

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll taken nationwide, Feb. 27-28

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,249 adults nationwide by telephone Feb. 27 and 28. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the nation. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and region. The margin of error for the entire sample is plus or minus three percentage points. For certain subgroups, the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors, such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.