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Author Topic: Matrix starting on a Thursday Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-23-2003 05:45 PM                        How does #3 apply to interlocking? I assume that it wouldn't matter if the goal is to make sure that Matrix stays in the largest houses and as long as the print is interlocked between a big house and a smaller one. I assume that #4 doesn't really apply to single-screen theatres. How the hell are theatre owners supposed to follow #5? If Joe Blind Checker manages to sneak a Handycam into the theatre, does that mean that Warners can pull the print? Or does it just mean something like "don't let people carrying tripods and video cameras into the auditorium"? The only one of those terms that seems completely unreasonable to me is the one about concession containers. That is not to say that I advocate the use of concession containers as advertising material, but rather that I don't see why film distributors feel the need to dictate the type of concession containers used.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-23-2003 05:58 PM                        Seems like I often see popcorn bags being used that are promoting movies that tanked weeks or months earlier. If all you have are 50,000 bags promoting Pluto Nash", what the heck are you supposed to do?  |  IP: Logged Bill Gabel Film God Posts: 3873 From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-23-2003 06:01 PM                     If a movie is really bad Just a idea for a use of those bags.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Udovich Film Handler Posts: 71 From: Sheboygan, WI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 04-23-2003 07:22 PM                        Additional Terms ....... ????????? 1.) Minimum 4 shows per day for each screen 2.) Must exhibit certain WB trailers (T3 and one other I do not recall) with each show 3.) No moving to a different auditorium w/out WB approval 4.) Must post usher on door to prevent any persons without Matrix ticket from seeing show 5.) Must take precautions to prevent video taping both in the booth and from the auditorium 6.) May not sell containers at the concession stand which advertise or tie in any other movie than Matrix 2 [Roll Eyes] 7.) All additional terms are to apply through July 7th This is interesting... no one's told me anything about this YET!  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 04-23-2003 09:03 PM                        I've read every single post here in this thread very carefully and I think that maybe WB is a bit nervous about the quality of their movie. Why be so strict? If the movie kicks ass then it will make a ton of money on its own. If it makes money then the print will not be moved until it slows down.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 04-23-2003 11:39 PM                     Joe, your post made me go back and re-read everyone's posts, but I guess I got it all the first time. Generally when a studio does this, they know the final product is less than spectacular and managers will want to move the print down quickly. I am still looking forward to Matrix 2, but will now watch it knowing it may not be as good as it should. They probably also have a no interlocking policy to force people into getting more prints.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 04-24-2003 12:01 AM                        I read everyone's posts and wasn't sure I got this. So I took a cue from Joe and read it all again. I still wasn't sure so I took Brad's advice and read it again like Joe did, then I read it again like Brad did. I'm still not sure about this... specifically... 1. Warner Bros. wants you to run it in your largest house... I got that -- it makes sense. 2. Warner Bros. doesn't want you to let people in without a ticket -- I think I'll start implementing that for all of my movies. 3. Warner Bros. doesn't want me to bootleg the film with a video camera. I guess I'll have to scan each frame in with my feed through negative scanner. Sure it takes quite a while and I need to negatize each frame again but what the hell, I get a better quality result anyway. 4. They don't want you to advertise on your popcorn bags. Well most theatres that advertise on their popcorn bags have popcorn that sucks! I guess they want you to advertise their movie in conjunction with your sucky popcorn. So be it. 5. 4 Shows a day... no problem... I'll run it four times a day. In fact since it is about 140 minutes long I'll show it 1,612,800 times. Unless we are only open for half the day in which case I'll show it 806,400 times. Of course I'll do this on each screen that I have a print for. 6. Warner Bros. doesn't want me to move the print without their permission. But, again, they also want me to show it 4 times a day. I've already said I'm willing to show it upwards of 1,612,800 times a day, but what happens if the nylon gearbox blows up in one of me ol' Vic 5's at 9:00pm. If I can't get a hold of Warner Bros. before my 9:05pm start time am I not allowed to move it... of course not, I don't have their permission. But wait, I'm not allowed to not show it 4 times a day... so basically I'm never allowed to have an equipment failure. This sure doesn't sound reasonable to me. Luckily I've never lost a show and don't have to worry about this, but gee... what if! 7. Warner Bros. is sending out an army of blind checkers. Well in my neck of the woods, most of the blind people have their own seeing eye dog. This causes me even more confusion, does the dog now require a ticket? What if the checkers aren't really blind but are just the normal stupid &%#@#% idiots that usually get sent out. Am I supposed to tell them which theatre the Matrix is playing in, what a concession is, whether or not I am bootlegging the film and supply them with a calculator so they can count past the first eleven customers that they encounter?  |  IP: Logged Ray Bernardi Expert Film Handler Posts: 120 From: Antrim, NH, USA Registered: Feb 2003 posted 04-24-2003 08:29 AM                     I can't find anything that says I need to show it 4 times a day. There's no way that's going to happen in my sleepy little town. If I try to show during the day I wont get a soul. I can get maybe two shows in if I run the first about 4PM. It would do a lot better in this area if it didn't have an R rating I can tell you that.  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 04-24-2003 09:15 AM                    so far we have not gotten or heard about any of these requirements. I can handle the 4 shows a day that's what I was probably going to do. The concession thing is just plain idiotic. Who gives a crap. If thats the case on that one then I guess we will only be running two trailers on the prints that are only warner brothers and taking down everything in the lobby that does not have warner bros. listed on it. The payroll here is not going to allow an usher to waste his time checking ticket stubs as people go in to see this movie. That means you have an usher for each print. The problem with assinging auditoriums is that the bookers are going to do what ever they can do to keep those prints from dominating the larger auditoriums. Thus if the movie has huge crowds the smaller auditoriums will sell out quick losing money on the first week. I say let the theater have controle on that they will put it in the big ones for the opening week. It will suck all the money in and prints can be moved where needed for other incoming films. We will see in three weeks.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 04-24-2003 10:44 AM                        Ray, in most cases a distributor's demand for four show a day just means that they don't want you splitting the screen with something else. I forgot about the R rating you guys got for it down there. Just think, you won't have to put up with an auditorium full of noisy little 14 year olds like some of us here will. I don't think I'll be stepping out of the booth for the entire 14 hours each day.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan M. Crist Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 531 From: Hershey, PA, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 04-24-2003 10:48 AM                     From what I understand WB has been trolling for dates for Matrix 2 and seems willing to take almost any venue with a working projector and a screen. This is usually not a good sign. However in this case it may be due to the fact that AOL-Time Warner is desperate for the positive jolt to its stock price that a massive record setting weekend opening box gross will surely produce. (AOL Time Warner stock has dropped nearly an additional 37% since the beginning of this year and now trading at about $14.00 per share.)  |  IP: Logged Thomas Procyk Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1842 From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 04-24-2003 10:58 AM                     Yes, blind checkers was an intentional pun! I've seen trailer checkers who just ask us, "What's on this movie?" without watching it, I've seen perfect scores on secret shopper reports for places who clearly have problems... they might as well be blind. As for the terms, not allowing the print to move auditoriums is actually good in a way. You can stifle those crazy managers who just HAVE to move prints at least twice a week, whether they're going to the same sized house or not. They have their reasons, and they're always dumb, but they do it anyway. Most of the time, this requires changing or removing the digital sound snipes, too. =TMP=  |  IP: Logged Darryl Spicer Film God Posts: 3250 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: Dec 2000 posted 04-24-2003 11:00 AM                    In hollywoods eyes it all boils down to getting the bulk of the money within the first three weeks. In the summer they know that screen space will be limited. I have noticed that June looks to be a bit heftyer with released this year. Iwonder if that will stay the case as the weeks approach.  |  IP: Logged John Carpenter Film Handler Posts: 96 From: Fort Walton Beach, FL, USA Registered: Nov 2002 posted 04-24-2003 07:38 PM                     We found out tonight that we are starting our shows Wednesday night at 10pm. Of course now come all the people wanting refunds because that thought they had bought the first show time already... Has anyone actually gotten word from WB about the "rules"? I also heard one about theatre staff not being able to preview it - just one projectionist or manager can be in there to screen it?  |  IP: Logged Nicholas Roznovsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 156 From: College Station, TX, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 04-24-2003 09:12 PM                        There was a brief blurb in USA Today's Entertainment section (or the "Life" section as they prefer to call it) stating that The Matrix Reloaded will be shown in theaters starting at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14th. I guess this means WB has given the go ahead for Wednesday night shows. Or someone at USA Today has been trolling the internet for news. I wish our booker would read USA Today. We're still scheduled for a 12:01 a.m. show. I'm sure my managers would much rather get the whole thing rolling two hours earlier on a school night.  |  IP: Logged

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