For me it's a treat that I happen to enjoy. Are popcorn and snacks insanely expensive? Yes, I don't mind smuggling drinks or candy in if I'm feeling like it. But I enjoy the big screen, surround sound, recliner seats, and yes - even the trailers. Depending on the movie I even enjoy the crowded opening weekend showings and hearing audience reactions (particularly during a good horror movie.)

There are plenty of movies that are just fine to watch at home, but for me some are just a more enjoyable experience on the big screen.

[–] LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I guess I can see the appeal, though for me this seems mostly like an issue with the home setup.

For me, I don't really care about price, it's not that expensive.

But what kills it for me is I can't vape or pause the movie or rewind or flip on subtitles or control the volume, I can't take a break to take a piss and I can't comment on the movie with anyone I'm watching it with and I get to pay 20 bucks plus waste my day on travel so I could hear random strangers munch popcorn while I am forced to watch military recruitment ads and trailers for movies that somehow outslop actual AI slop that are always called some shit like "$80s_intellectual_property_name" or "shit world: dominator" and they always seem to have that one lady from the avengers in them.

At home I watch web-DLs (and BDRemuxes for special occasions) on a 24 inch computer monitor with somewhat dodgy 2.1 Logitech speakers (basically classroom ones but with a subwoofer unit) from over 6 feet away and I lounge on the chespest IKEA couch. It feels like paradise to me honestly. But thanks for the perspective.