¶ … Renting vs. Theatre As the price of a movie ticket rises, movie-watching often becomes a question of: "Is it a renter?" The questions of what makes a movie "a renter" may be only an expression of the viewer's opinion that the quality of the movie does not warrant the price of a movie ticket. Assuming that it is generally more expensive to go to the show than to watch a movie on VHS or DVD, and assuming that most people would rather spend less money than more, when a person says that a movie is "a renter," he or she is saying that the theater experience would not enhance the movie enough to make the extra cost worthwhile; however, the measure of the value of the theater experience is purely subjective, depending entirely on the viewer's move-watching preferences.

There are key differences between the movie theater experience and the experience of watching the movie on video. First, there is the smell of the popcorn. Even if the viewers do not intend to eat it, when they go to the movie theater, they are greeted instantly by the potent smell of butter-slathered popcorn. If a viewer is a movie theater muncher, he can buy some Milk Duds and a large wax cup filled with ice and Coke. Of course, he could also make popcorn, eat candy, and pour himself a glass of soda at home, but it would not be the same. Anyone who has gone to a movie theater knows that the taste and smell of movie theater popcorn cannot be recreated at home. Whether this is a good thing rests is a matter of a personal taste.

The second difference between the theater and the video is the size of the screen and the quality of the sound. There is clearly a disparity between the experience a viewer will get if he goes to the theater vs. staying at home to watch a video on a modest-sized television...

Even a big-screen television with surround-sound stereo may not be a match for the theater, with its massive screen and booming sound. As the curtain rises and the lights dim in the theater, the largeness of the screen coupled with the severity of the sound echoing in the vest room casts a serious drape over the waiting audience. The silence in that moment is solid, somehow tangible.
At this time, the viewer becomes slightly more aware of the people around him. Depending on the viewer's feelings about the general public, he or she may relish the camaraderie of watching a movie with a group. He may be amused by a wiseacre in the back of the theater yelling comments at the goofy advertisement for dancing candy bars. He may appreciate seeing a tear fall down the face of a fellow viewer during a poignant scene. On the other hand, the viewer may be agitated by the nearness of a stranger's elbow on the armrest of the seat next to her, or the sound of someone behind her chomping on popcorn and slurping at the bottom of a cup with a straw. As the movie progresses, all of these other people in the theater may affect the viewer's experience. They may talk too much or kick the back of her seat. They may yell at the screen. Their children may whine or their cell phones may ring.

Of course, all of these things may happen while the viewer is watching the movie on video; however, when a viewer is watching the movie at home, he can rewind parts that he missed or re-watch scenes that he likes over and over again. He can fast-forward through a cheesy love scene or heckle the characters without disturbing strangers.

He can also get up to go to the bathroom, answer the door to pay the pizza delivery guy, or he can rewind the movie to try to hear a…