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Topic: Harkins Southlake

Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-28-2006 09:21 AM

Monte, compare the two side by side. Your eyes will pick the Christie, and that's the tool your customers will be using to judge your presentation with too. [Wink]

Another variation of the color temperature argument is screen brightness. Many theaters strive to hit precisely 16fl. Well, 18fl looks a whole damned lot better than 16, and even though 14 may be within spec to some people...it sure as hell isn't in my book. Sometimes you just have to do what looks best and throw your meters away.

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Brian D. Whitish
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 103
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 05-28-2006 10:36 AM

Brad, Bobby, or anyone, on a 70 foot plus screen what is digital going to look like? Does it need more illumination that 35mm? And I agree with Bobby that anything 70 feet or more should be running 70mm. Sadly the last 70mm print I ran was in 1996, Hamlet. Both my auditoriums are 70mm equiped(Norelco AAIIs). And both auditoriums are in separate buildings with a Pizza place in between.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-28-2006 03:21 PM

This was pointed out to me in an email. Oh no!

link

quote:
Our Management Team is responsible for the overall operations of the theatre including operating movie projectors , cash handling, Team supervision and development, guest service, etc.

Come on, there has to be somebody from Harkins on the forums. Speak up...what are you packing behind those port windows? [Wink]

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Chris Hipp
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1462
From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas)
Registered: Jul 2003

posted 05-28-2006 03:38 PM

Why don't you setup a fake interview for a booth job there and find out?

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 05-28-2006 05:56 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
The "best run of Star Wars" claim in the article is really pretty odd.

I agree the claim is odd...and wrong!

First, there's the vague use of the word "best," which I would interpret to mean either longest-running or highest-grossing, of which the Cine Capri had neither.

The Cine Capri's 60-week run of "Star Wars" grossed about $3 million according to Variety. In its 61-week engagement, the Astor Plaza in New York City brought in closer to $4 million. The longest run was at the Westgate in Portland, Oregon, where the film ran 76 weeks.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

Posts: 8367
From: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Registered: Nov 2004

posted 05-28-2006 10:46 PM

quote: Brad Miller
the Cinemark opened with 7K lamps in CFS consoles.

.and course, those consoles uses that vertical bulb that fires the light straight up and bouncing the light from an angled mirror to head out thorugh the machine..losing brilliance in the process since light doesn't like to be bent.

quote:
Your eyes will pick the Christie,

True, when I saw a presentation on a huge screen with a Highlight (not the Highlite II's) using a 7k bulb and the corners were flickering and dim with hearing of readings of 5 to 8fls .. it was obvious that a better console is out there..

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 05-28-2006 10:53 PM

I bet the Cinemark Movies 12 in Springfield, built around 1990, has CFS consoles. Most of their screens look half as bright as they should be. There's no way in hell they're getting anywhere close to the necessary light. Even when the place was brand new, the two THX-certified screens were barely acceptable. The rest were awful, and still are. Besides being dim, they're fuzzy and not very steady. Don't get me started on their Peavey sound systems. [thumbsdown]

A horrible place to see a movie in my opinion. Their 17-screener on the other side of the mall, built in 1999, is 10 times better (all-Christie).

Well, maybe 7 times better. [beer]

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 05-28-2006 11:42 PM

If they have Peavey sound systems, I can guarantee you they are running Simplex projectors on CFS consoles (and SPECO platters). Sound has probably been updated over the years, but initially the THX houses got CP55s and the rest were USL.

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Jeffry L. Johnson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 809
From: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 05-29-2006 10:14 AM

quote: Brian D. Whitish
on a 70 foot plus screen what is digital going to look like?

70 feet = 840 inches

An image 2048 pixels wide will have pixel width of 0.41 inches.
An image 4096 pixels wide will have pixel width of 0.21 inches.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 05-29-2006 11:27 AM

They upgraded the 2 THX screens with DTS after they dropped the THX cert. There's a 3rd screen also with DTS. I'm pretty sure the rest of them are all-original. It's a $1.50 theatre now. Last time I was there (couple years ago) the presentation was abysmally bad.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 05-31-2006 08:41 PM

quote:
The "best run of Star Wars" claim in the article is really pretty odd. I would figure some of the original 70mm showings at premiere class theaters in Westwood and New York (not to mention Northpark #1 in Dallas) would have to be every bit as great, if not potentially even better.

Bobby,
To satisfy your curiosity, the Northpark run of "Star Wars" grossed $1.9 million. Its 54-week run (24 weeks in 70mm) was the ninth most-successful engagement in the country. In comparison, the Cine Capri grossed $2.2 million in 60 weeks; the seventh most-successful run of the movie.

By the way, I finally read the whole Harkins Southlake article from the thread's initial post. What a load of shit! I'm sure the complex is quite nice in many respects, but this Harkins dude is full of himself. He speaks of how great the original Cine Capri was and how much it meant to the residents of Phoenix. Well, if it was really that great, why the %#@* did they tear it down?!?

And does the guy really think that his charity screening of "Star Wars" was singularly responsible for the '97 re-issue? Come on...there were numerous charity screenings held over the years, not to mention the justification for the re-issue was (1) the multi-million dollar restoration and (2) the 20th anniversary.

I'll give Harkins (and any exhibitor) some credit for attempting to instill some showmanship into the moviegoing experience. But my biggest gripe with modern so-called showmanship remains: wall-to-wall screens with vertical masking. To boast about showmanship and then turn around and offer wall-to-wall screens to the moviegoer, to me, is an insult.

Has anyone actually been to this new Harkins complex and observed whether they utilize vertical masking on any of their screens? I'll give Harkins a "free pass" on this one if they went with horizontal masking at their new complex. But nonetheless, every exhibitor is guilty of this horrible practice in many if not most of their modern facilities.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 05-31-2006 09:10 PM

Oh come on Mike, just be happy if they get the aspect ratio more-or-less right. [Wink]

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Mike Heenan
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1896
From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 05-31-2006 11:03 PM

Harkins is usually full of shit. Not many out in these parts like doing business with him.

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 06-01-2006 02:14 AM

quote: Frank Angel
And to take Monte's point further, anyone know what Technilight does to make their lamphouse conversion produce what they claim and what Drive-In operators who have installed them say, increases light output by almost double while using the same lamp size.

Frank, you'll find that those comments are usually made right after the installation, when everything is new, and the owner can make a direct (memory) comparison with what he had the night before. Most of those same people are now swearing AT those installs. Reflector failure, lower hours on the bulb and lack of support are among the chief complaints...

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Andrew McCrea
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 645
From: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 06-01-2006 08:37 AM

I thought vertical masking was good. I thought common height was the "proper" way to go?

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