Movies Online: From the Web, Straight to Your Living Room

Not too long ago, we would fall in line at the movie theater to watch the most highly anticipated summer blockbusters. Who can forget the Titanic experience? Seating used to be a problem; if a movie house was packed, then chances were less likely that we were going to be able to sit with our date, best friend, or classmate and enjoy the movie together. As in at-arm’s-length together. All that has changed with the rise of the Internet, online shopping, and promo codes.

The Web has become a virtual marketplace. And it has become the ultimate source for our movie viewing entertainment. For most of us, it has replaced the tradition of going to the cinemas, or of walking all the way to the video store to rent the titles we want (if they were at all available). The popularity of tickets has declined while online movies and rental stores have mushroomed. There are peer-to-peer programs and search engines all over the Internet that list torrents for movies of the surfer’s choice. Also, producers, media companies and movie stores are now catering to the needs of consumers in the digital age, and are offering –through the Internet– a wide, convenient, and affordable variety of movie entertainment.

Take, for example, A&E Television Networks. A venture of The Hearst Corporation, ABC, Inc., and NBC Universal, the company has a website in which they let consumers buy or rent DVDs. There are plenty of entertainment choices available, such as hard-to-find classics, current blockbusters, home videos, documentaries, TV shows, independent movies, music CDs, and even video games. Similar stores include Blockbuster Online and Blockbuster Total Access; like A&E, they have promo codes to make the shopping or rental deals even better. Transactions are no longer being made at the box office. Instead, they are being done at computer desks at home – and with a single mouse click, too.

The best and most convenient thing about this is that the power of choice is left to the viewer. We don’t have to worry about queues and seating arrangements and screening times and availability dates. We don’t have to worry about parking. These online movie and media companies can deliver the DVD edition of Batman Returns or a WideScreen edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone right to your doorstep – without charging you extra for shipping. They can give discounts and offer special promos, depending on the season or on the titles that we want to watch. We need only to enter their promo codes and they can give us two weeks of free trial. Oh, and they can process our membership forms without a clerk requiring our personal appearance at the store. Some stores don’t even charge late fees!

So are there still hoards of people going to the movie theaters? Not as much as before. Technology has made it possible to make film entertainment more convenient, personalized, and hassle-free. And it’s not that expensive either; promo codes exist so that we can cut down the price of our entertainment budget. All we have to do now is point, click, sit on the couch, enjoy the presentation – and of course remember the popcorn.