When I was moving to the US this was one of the first things I thought about.The opportunity to watch and brag over the latest movie release. This week I have the opportunity to see ’ The Love Guru’ 3 months prior to the Premiere hitting London and the Bright lights of Leicester Square. The opportunity to annoy UK family members, work associates back in London and act like a ‘git’ (as we say in UK: translates to annoying prat!) is immense. You can cut the atmosphere with a knife when my sister tells me she is off to see ’PS I love you’ when I reply ‘That will be nice, I saw it 4 months ago ‘ Oh did you know he dies in the first few scenes ‘Oops, Sorry!’ Waiting for a movie in the UK is similar to the feeling you have when you watch a time / tape delayed soccer game (OK, none of you watch soccer) and undertake the pain staking event of locking yourself in a cocoon for 12 hours, avoiding all contact with colleagues, the TV or radio until you can get home from work to watch it. The only difference with watching new release movies in the UK is that you need to conduct this behaviour for around 3 months. Your allies across the pond get pissed off with this, believe me.
The US and Hollywood have always led the way in multi million dollar movies. There are a lot more produced and released in Hollywood than Pinewood Studies in the UK. In the day and age we live in Brits will either have watched the illegal download version or had someone tell them the beginning, middle and end. Quite often many wont even bother to go to the Movies (Cinema!) having read or heard varying levels of criticism of the ‘Blockbuster’.
So my advice to the British public wanting to watch the next Oscar Winning classic, arrange your next US vacation in accordance with the appropriate release date, give me a call (because I cannot keep a secret) or touch up on your acting skills and hope to land the big break.
For the Brits living or vacationing in the US – Enjoy the Movie!
I’ve been reading your blog for several weeks now. It’s refreshing and funny to read an “outsider’s” perspective on out wacky culture.
I, too, love movies. However, sometimes more than the movie itself, I love going to the movies. Putting my 3 kids in the car, finding a spot, walking across the sweltering asphalt of the parking lot to the smoked-glass doors. Pulling the immense portal open and feeling the meat-locker temperature air waft over my feet and up my legs. Walking down the velvet-roped pathway to the ticket counter and making my purchase, as the smell from the snack counter tickles my nose.
Standing in line at the snack counter, my kids and I discuss what to buy (the feed-bag of popcorn and a pail of Sprite? No, too old-fashioned: sour gummy worms, Junior Mints, and a Dr Pepper, please). We walk through the lobby to the semi-lit theatre, playing (inexplicably) the same elevator music from the early 1960’s. We find our seats (4-6 rows back from the front, as close to dead-center as possible) and wait for the lights to dim.
The whole theatre experience is magic for me…the anticipation of being entertained is as good as the movie itself.
Thanks again for your blog. I truly enjoy.
Okay, we do get the Hollywood movies first. But foreign films take longer to reach us. A Pedro Almodovar film is shown in the Ukraine months before it even reaches the USA. And then, foreign films are shown first on the east and west coasts before they finally reach the midwest. Alas!
Yeah, American movies really are the most fun, and the experience is incredibly fun and cheap. Foreign films, when we get them, are usually very serious, and are only up for Oscar contention. And when i say foreign films im excusing british films, because we get to see all your movies, serious and fun alike. I guess the reasons our movies are so fun and entertaining is because we put ALOT of money and effort into entertaining films. Considering that China is now filming there most expensive film in their history at a cost of $25 million, and a $25 million film in america is considered fairly low budget, when our biggest films can cost upwards of 400 million to make, I would say movies are huge business in america. American films also help to show the world what living in america is like, so our films have high standards because we have an image to uphold, and i mean that image of a wealthy, smart, advanced, free society (whether we stretch the truth or not).