Have the movies lost it?

As Los Angeles prepares for the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday evening, ask yourself this: Do you enjoy going to the movies these days? I mean, really enjoy it?

The answer is probably not, at least not as much as you used to. Americans are not going to many movies.

Last summer's headlines from Hollywood--"Box office slump in its 19th week"--was the latest trudge across a long desert of disappointments for movie attendance.

Of course, one reason for the drop-off is the degradation of the movie-going experience. There are the high ticket prices, sticky floors and ringing cell phones. Need I go on? Weil, there's the 10 minutes of commercials, the squalling babies and the four-star prices for one-star snacks.

Another reason for the drop-off: home theaters, which have civilized the movie-watching experience again. As movie-theater attendance has drooped, sales of home theaters have taken off. It's not rocket science to figure out what's going on.

I'd often wondered why Hollywood sat back and allowed its products to be delivered so shabbily.

But as it turns out, maybe the big movie studios don't care all that much about the movie-going experience.

Hollywood journalist Edward Jay Epstein wrote recently that, in essence, the movie studios aren't terribly concerned about the shorter lines at theaters because they no longer make much money from theater attendance.

Before television, Hollywood made close to 100 percent of its revenue from movie attendance. By 1980, when homes had televisions and VCRs, the studios still made 55 percent of their revenues from moviegoers. But by last year, that figure had been whittled down to less than 15 percent.

Instead, the studios now make most of their money from DVD sales. According to inside numbers that Epstein got, the numbers were startling. In the first quarter of last year, the studios got $5.67 billion from DVD sales, far more than the $870 million they took in from moviegoers.

As a result, the studios' main incentive these days is simple: get DVDs onto the shelves at Wal-Mart as soon as possible after a theatrical release. If they can get, say, a big pre-Thanksgiving movie onto DVD in time for Christmas, so much the better for sales.

But there are ramifications of this DVD-ization of Hollywood.

One is that the movie exhibitors' business will get even tougher.

The other problem is that it may dent, even more, the glitz and glam of Hollywood. That's because movies destined for quick release on DVD can be aimed at smaller, more specialized audiences. Instead of fewer, bigger movies, we're getting more and smaller movies. That's one of the reasons for the recent rise in independent films with lesser-known actors. (George Clooney is the only megastar vying for an Oscar this year.)

In other words, the need for big, glamorous stars who can pull in huge audiences is lessened.

For the Oscar kudofest on Sunday, that likely means lower ratings. They were down 5 percent last year. In fact, ratings for the show have been disappointing for years, save for the "Titanic"-buoyed 1998.

So if you miss the show on Sunday, don't fret. Chances are, you can get it on DVD in a couple months.

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at ccrumpley@labusiness journal.com