LET'S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY: Interesting enough article in the front of this week's Entertainment Weekly (not online) about the declining fate of movie theaters -- 10 straight weeks with lower box office than the previous week, sales down 6% overall from last year, and DVD sales/rentals now outgross theatrical runs, $24 billion to $9 billion.

Part of the blame, the article suggests, is that there's nothing special about going to the movies these days -- no new innovations since stadium seating and digital sound, both a decade old. In so many ways, the home experience is superior: no commercials, the ability to pause/rewind/fast forward, no screaming kids, availability of commentary tracks, etc. Want to see a trailer? No need to leave the house. And thanks to Netflix, there's no movie so obscure that it can't arrive at your door in a few days.

Which leads me to ask: what can movie theaters do to bring you back? About a decade ago, a dying multiplex near my home tries pairing second-run flics with unlimited popcorn and soda. I liked it, but the business model didn't last.

One thing I'll suggest is to focus on that which is unique to the movie theater: the ability to laugh in public with a large group of people. If I ran a multiplex, I'd reserve a screen or two on weekend nights (and not just at midnight) for the classic comedies of the past few decades -- Animal House, Caddyshack, Revenge of the Nerds, The Big Lebowski . . . you get the idea. Because laughing as a group -- and quoting a movie aloud as a group -- isn't something you can do by yourself. Even with first-run movies, why not have showings where talking back to the screen is encouraged?

One of my favorite places in Chicago was the Brew and View at the Vic -- an old-time theater that let you get drunk while watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with a couple hundred of your instantly closest friends.

Bottom line: to bring the masses back to the movies, make the movies a place where it's more fun to be part of that mass than watching alone at home.

Obvs, I'm quite interested in your take on this.

WHAT YOU NEED: Variety covers CBS's summer reality tv plans, including Tommy Hilfiger's Project Runway ripoff; a remake of the Beeb's Sack Race, in which people somehow comically compete to be fired; and Rock Star, Mark Burnett's take on the AmIdol genre, where singers compete to replace Terrence Trent D'Arby as the permanent new lead singer of INXS.

Yeah, it's looking like it's time to load up the Netflix queue.

NERF HERDING FOR FUN (AND PROFIT): The Hollywood Reporter -- a trade journal which does often discuss the commercial prospects for films -- has a lot to say about Star Wars III on the merits:

The first two episodes of Lucas' second trilogy -- "The Phantom Menace" (1999) and "Attack of the Clones" (2002) -- caused more than a few fans of the original trilogy to wonder whether this prequel was worth it. The answer is a qualified yes. It did take a lot of weighty expositions, stiffly played scenes and less-than-magical creatures to get to "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." But what a ride Lucas and Co. have in store! . . .

What seems like the biggest drawback to "Episode III" turns out to be its strongest element. Even casual moviegoers know what is in store for the characters, who will wind up at the point where the original "Star Wars" -- now dubbed "Episode IV -- A New Hope" -- began the whole saga nearly 30 years ago. We know how Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker will turn to the dark side of the Force, how his twin children will be separated at birth and how his former master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the tiny Jedi Master Yoda will turn into mortal enemies. Yet watching these fates unfold with such tragic inevitability, watching each piece fall into place, is genuinely thrilling. In fact, knowing that these strong characters cannot and will not escape their fate is what moves us.

All this, and a Tom Stoppard-doctored script?

BEYOND EMILY & JACOB: The 2004 Baby Name rankings are out, courtesy of your friendly Social Security Agency. The Little Earthling, Owen, had the 66th most popular boy's name.

Adam, as Adam will be happy to note, has stopped its 15 year slide and moved back to 58th place.

JUST $100 SHORT OF THE LONG-SLEEVED T: First of all, thank you to Adam, Matt, Bob, and Jenn for your generous donations yesterday. As for the rest of you, I wanted to give you one more chance to toss a few bucks toward a worthwhile cause by sponsoring me in this Sunday's Y-ME RACE Against Breast Cancer.

THERE'S A DARK ROAST ON THE EDGE OF TOWN: Starbucks is more than willing to posthumously revive the career of a smack addict, but you can't pick up Bruce Springsteen's Devils and Dust with your doppio because the coffee giant objected to some of the CD's lyrics.

"The song in question, 'Reno,' depicts an encounter at a Nevada Dunkin' Donuts, including a reference to its coffee and the line: 'Two dollars straight, two-fifty iced.' "

I FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH UNNERVING: I stopped reading this review of Epsiode III when I read this sentence:

"Indeed, "Sith" looks likely to follow the commercial pattern of the initial trilogy, wherein the second edition, "Empire," dipped considerably from the first, only to see the third, "Return of the Jedi," bounce back closer to the level of "Star Wars.""

Uhmmm, what? Empire the weakest of the three? Weaker than Jedi? Let us instead talk about how the Wehrmacht was the weakest of the armies at Sedan, France.