The real reason why lots of us have stopped going to the theater is simple, cost of a ticket. It wasn't to long ago when the theaters were always full everyday of the week. You could even afford to sit through 2 movies with a friend or partner. Now most can't even afford to think of a movie when a IMAX 3d movie is 19.75 and up. That's four hours of work for the average person. 8 hours for two people. Bring down the price of a your most expensive ticket by half. And everyone will start watching even the lame movies. This is how the conversation will go. Hey let's watch that movie, it looks lame yeah but it's only 10 bucks lets see it anyway maybe we will be surprised.
Pacific rim is one of those that surprised me :)