I've heard people say more and more that with their home theater they don't go to the movies much anymore. Some people like their home theater experience better than the movie theater experience.

As much as I like my home theater with my flat screen and my digital 5.1 surround, if I really want to experience a movie I'll go to the theater and see it. For example, I intend to see the new Batman movie on the big screen. I just feel that they're are some movies where the home theater just can't capture the experience. Other movies, I don't feel like it's that big of a deal. I waited and saw Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell on DVD and don't feel like I missed that much by doing so (the quality of the movie itself not withstanding). The interesting thing is, is that I don't even get out to the movie theater that much anymore but it's still my preferred method for viewing movies, good movies.

Each has it's pros and cons. With home theater you don't have to worry about other rude patrons, cell phones, texting (but you're also more likely to answer your own phone) and can pause to get a snack or go to the bathroom. I am not a big pauser, though. My wife comes from a family of pausers who'll pause a movie for 10-20 minutes and all get snacks, pop popcorn, go to the bathroom etc. For me this just ruins the experience. When we were dating I rented Braveheart and at the climax of the movie the phone rings and her dad paused it for about 30 minutes while he talked on the phone making us wait. By the time he came back William Wallace's cry of FREEDOM! had little context or meaning because of the long pause.

Although the movie theater has it's draw backs, I still love the experience when it's a good movie. I like experiencing the movie with the audience. Plus it'll still be many years until your Blu-ray, ultraviolet ray, 4K can match the quality of film. Then again it may never match the quality of film. I remember sitting in the theater cheering with everyone else when Rocky and Apollo were in the final rounds of their bout, I remember everyone gasping when Luke let fly his photon torpedoes hoping his shot would be true and destroy the Death Star, I remember clapping along with the audience when Superman saved Lois Lane. It's just not the same in front of the TV.

What brought all this about is when I watch a movie I loved when I was a kid with my own children it often doesn't hold their attention. They like Superman and Star Wars but they get bored with it easily. I was enthralled in these movies at their age. And I know that the generation gap might have something to do with it, but still a good story and a good movie is still a good story and a good movie even decades later. I really don't think it's boring compared to what they watch now because my kids don't watch the new Spiderman movies and such so they don't really have a frame of reference. The only thing I could come up with that is the difference is the difference in viewing experience. I think that if they viewed the movies of my youth on the big screen they would hold the kids' attention much better and probably have near the same experience I did as a child.

Sorry for the long post. But what are your thoughts? Which do you like better - movie theater? Or Home Theater?

And this thread isn't to crown a de facto superior method for viewing movies, I just think it would make an interesting discussion.