While getting sucked into imdb the other day, I couldn't help but start taking a tally of how many movies I had seen in the theater in the past few years. When I got those numbers, I then compared that to the Hollywood fears of audiences turning their back on the theatrical experience. Was I one of those?

In 2003, I saw 34 movies in the theater. In 2004, I saw 29. So far in 2005, I've only seen 19. I somehow doubt I'm gonna see 10 or more movies in the next few months, so I will likely cap off the year around 22 or so.

So what changed?

Am I busier? Yeah, 2005 was extremely busy what with the launch of Episode III. But '03 had the launch of Hyperspace and '04 had the trilogy DVD/THX 1138/Battlefront trio that kept us up really late at nights. And I had crazily committed to doing daily webstrips on top of that. And, write a Chronicle book too. So, I don't know if just being busy is it.

Financially, my situation hasn't changed nor have movie prices. So I don't think that's it.

Gee... could it be that big screen HDTV sitting in my living room, with 5.1 surround sound, and an exhibition experience that is guaranteed not to have chatty teens, beeping cell phones, or crying babies?

That might have something to do with it.

I was surprised, to be honest, that my viewing pattern had changed so much. I could argue that there weren't enough good movies to go see, but that seems rather hollow, given the amount of crud I had willingly gone to check out in the years before.

Anyway, here was the list of movies I was able to recall, in a particular order...

Update: bonniegrrl makes a good point that I forgot. In addition to the big TV, I got an Xbox... and I'm sure Doom 3, KOTOR, and GTA ate up a lot of potential movie time....

2003
1. X2: X-Men United
2. A Mighty Wind
3. Casablanca
4. American Splendor
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
7. Finding Nemo
8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
10. Elf
11. The Triplets of Belleville
12. The School of Rock
13. Lost in Translation
14. Kill Bill, Vol. 1
15. Intolerable Cruelty
16. Bad Eggs
17. Bubba Ho-Tep
18. Returner
19. Identity
20. Willard
21. Lost in La Mancha
22. The Matrix Reloaded
23. Once Upon a Time in Mexico
24. Cypher
25. Old School
26. Hulk
27. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
28. Underworld
29. The Matrix Revolutions
30. Peter Pan
31. Starwoids
32. The Core
33. Bulletproof Monk
34. Dreamcatcher

2004
1. The Big Lebowski
2. The Incredibles
3. THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut
4. Life of Brian
5. Million Dollar Baby
6. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8. Spider-Man 2
9. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
10. Finding Neverland
11. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
12. The Aviator
13. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
14. Hellboy
15. Troy
16. Breakfast at Tiffany's
17. The Bourne Supremacy
18. Hidalgo
19. The Ladykillers
20. Fahrenheit 9/11
21. I, Robot
22. The Day After Tomorrow
23. The Polar Express
24. The Butterfly Effect
25. The Chronicles of Riddick
26. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
27. Torque
28. Van Helsing
29. The Phantom of the Opera

2005
1. Sin City
2. Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith
3. Serenity
4. Batman Begins
5. War of the Worlds
6. The Aristocrats
7. Kicking and Screaming
8. The 40 Year Old Virgin
9. Madagascar
10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
11. Howl's Moving Castle
12. Constantine
13. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
14. Robots
15. Kingdom of Heaven
16. The Island
17. Flightplan
18. Fantastic Four
19. Showgirls