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Author Topic: Harkins Southlake Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-12-2006 11:29 AM                     Although there is a tyranny of top masking in many newer stadium seating builds, I know the Cine Capris screen in Oklahoma City uses side masking. Not top masking. My hunch is the new Southlake theater's Cine Capris screen is built the same way.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 06-12-2006 12:33 PM                     How big is this theater with a 70 ft. screen? The Goldwyn Theater at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a width of about 60 ft. for scope, and 1012 seats. A 70 ft. screen in most of today's multiplexes would overwhelm the audience unless the theater is extremely well-proportioned. With all the compliments in this thread, it probably is, but more details about the auditorium would be interesting. RPM  |  IP: Logged John-Layton Jenkins Film Handler Posts: 15 From: Carrollton, Tx, USA Registered: Dec 2003 posted 06-12-2006 02:05 PM                     I've been through the Cine Capri, and the auditorium isn't that big, maybe 400 something seats. The screen is big, but its not even nearly as big as the two @ Galaxy. The theatre is extremely nice though. They have their own projector setup playing trailers in the lobby on, estimating, a 40x20 something screen, 60+ plasmas in the concession stand, nice seats, etc etc. They had to pour money into it to make the rich folk in Southlake happy. I saw Over the Hedge there and was disappointed when the first trailer was framed too low. Hated that particular projectionist from then on, but the picture/sound quality was an A+.  |  IP: Logged Robert Burtcher Expert Film Handler Posts: 194 From: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Registered: Jun 2005 posted 06-12-2006 04:40 PM                     From an outsider's perspective, it seems that Harkins doesn't take as good care of the trailer projector as they do of the other projectors... The one in Oklahoma City projects a picture with a lot of jump. Granted, that projector isn't mission critical, showing actual movies... but still.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-12-2006 07:13 PM                     Yeah, the trailer projector over the box office is not mission critical. I think it's still a pretty cool thing to place in a lobby though. I've never seen any other movie theaters do that sort of thing. I haven't noticed the "jump" on my visits to the Bricktown 16. The much larger problem with the lobby trailer projector is sunlight coming in from those big windows into the lobby. That washes out that trailer screen pretty badly during daylight hours -and that's my observation during the colder, darker winter months. It has to be an especially bad problem during these summer months with the sun setting this far north of the equator (I haven't seen the problem during summer for myself yet, but I am planning to check out Superman Returns there pretty soon). Still, having visited many of the other Oklahoma City area theaters (on a somewhat regular basis), I still must contend Harkin's Cine Capris screen is currently the best place to watch a movie in OKC. It handily beats anything AMC has to offer in the area. It's been awhile since I have taken any chances on Cinemark lately after previous disappointments in OKC and Colorado Springs (still willing to check out an IMAX-3D show however). Dickinson's operation at Penn Square Mall? It's not the same as it was when General Cinemas was running that theater. Of course the "best theater in OKC" title may change when that huge Warren Theatres 20-plex in Moore gets finished. Don't know when that will be exactly. My understanding is they only finally broke ground on the site early in April. With all the work that has to be done, I'm not expecting anything earlier than a Spring 2007 open.  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 06-12-2006 08:12 PM                        Michael Coate said: “I'm surprised there hasn't been much if any outrage over this practice ("flat" movies being shown larger than "scope" due to wall-to-wall screens), particularly from the "Hip To Showmanship" and "Film Done Right" crowd here at film-tech.” It’s a matter of image area. Should we show 16mm images larger than 35mm images? Or show a movie from a data projector larger than an IMAX film? 1.85 has significantly less image area than Scope and is criminally wasteful of film so we should never blow it up larger than Scope. When a film maker decides to go Scope, he/she does not intend his image to be smaller than a cropped image. Some even give their excuse for 1.85 is that they wanted the intimacy. So why blow it up? However, the best arrangement I have seen ws in a 70mm house. 1.85 = top masking up a bit, side masking in a bit. Scope= top masking down a bit, side masking full out. 70mm= top and side masking full out.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-12-2006 10:43 PM                     I don't think top masking makes very much sense at all these days. It seems like more movies these days are being released with 'scope aspect ratio prints. The whole inspiration on doing top masking, at least to me, seems to be from the assumption there are a lot more 1.85:1 ratio movies than 'scope releases. That was certainly true back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But not now. These days we're even seeing 'scope aspect ratio being used a lot on video-recorded movies.  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 06-12-2006 10:51 PM                        Correct, Bobby. We are even getting more Scope trailers now, because the producers want to make more impact.  |  IP: Logged Robert Burtcher Expert Film Handler Posts: 194 From: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Registered: Jun 2005 posted 06-13-2006 03:34 PM                     quote: Bobby Henderson I think it's still a pretty cool thing to place in a lobby though. I've never seen any other movie theaters do that sort of thing. I agree. It's very cool and I wish more theatres did something along those lines. Even better would be to have the equipment a little lower where more people could see how the system works, but out of their reach. quote: Bobby Henderson Dickinson's operation at Penn Square Mall? It's not the same as it was when General Cinemas was running that theater I wish I didn't, but I have to agree with ya there, man. I do what I can from the booth, but that's only one part of the experience. Two of the managers are still there from the GCC days, but the company itself is different. I will say this, though. After getting rid of the previous GM last summer for allegedly doing some... unsavory stuff, we've been steadily improving. Still got some work to do, but we're better than we were. Sometime soon, I'm going to have to go see a movie down at Harkins Bricktown. I like the atmosphere there and I'd like to see what kind of show they put on.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 06-18-2006 08:25 PM                        I have not read every post in this thread, but I am betting the Harkins uses Cinemeccanica projectors. Not sure about what else is used. The speakers are for the whole complex (150 for all auditoriums combined) as is the wattage. We have a Harkins here in Colorado and most are still saying that the Continental looks like it has a bigger screen despite Harkin's advertising of "Biggest screen in the known universe" for their Cine-Capri auditorium.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-19-2006 08:33 PM                     I know the one in OKC uses a Kinoton. I looked at it through the port glass.  |  IP: Logged Gregory Brannon Film Handler Posts: 28 From: McKinney, TX, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 06-22-2006 05:00 PM                     I've been to the new Harkins Theatre Southlake and saw X-Men 3 in the Cine Capri Auditorium. A couple observations. It's a really nice theatre. A few things that I look for when going to a theatre are sound, picture quality and showmanship. Sound - It was excellent in the Cine Capri Auditorium. When I saw the new Superman Returns trailer and the bass was so smooth. I knew that the feature presentation of X-Men would be X-cellent (pun intended). It seems as if theatres now days do not crank up the subs and only have the surrounds on and in most cases they are very low. I'm assuming because they do not want the sound to bleed into the walls of neighboring auditoriums but that isn't the case here. Picture - As for the picture quality, I'm not an expert but it appeared to be good as far as sharpness, colors and brightness. Some of you had questions about masking. I think it has vertical masking or may not have masking at all because when I entered the auditorium the gold curtains that cover the screen were partically open and at first and they open and close on the sides. The top of the screen has stationary curtains drapped down and do not move. At first I wasn't impressed with the size but then prior to starting of trailers. They close the curtains and do some kinda trumpet music and search light montage and then the re-open the curtains completely to reveal the big screen which is literally wall to wall. Like Brad said it's big but it wasn't as big as Cinemark Webb Chapel and Tinsletown Grapevine and UA Galaxy's screens. I would go on to say that it may not be as big as Cinemark Legacy 24 Auditorium 12 and 13 screens. Speaking of screen size does anyone know the size of Auditorum 8 & 9 at the new AMC Northpark 15 theatres? AMC is advertising them as the largest screens in North Texas on the Northpark Center Mall website. However back to the Cine Capri as I said the sound was excellent and the auditorium reportedly seats 600. So I guess it makes it the larget auditorium in Dallas but not the largest screen. Showmanship - I like theatres with wide brightly lit lobbies and wide hallways that makes me feel like it's an event to go to the movies. This theatre has those qualities. Other theatres in the metroplex that fit this criteria for me are Cinemark Legacy and the new AMC Firewheel 18 in Garland. On a side note I hate the new Cinemark builds because they are just long retangular boxes with small lobbies and hallways. I'm starting to see them pop these up. I guess their new designs are cost efficient. Example of these are the new Cinemarks in Denton, Allen, Mansfield and Rockwall, Texas. I like the older Cinemark builds of Legacy and Tinsletown in Plano. Anyway I digress, as some one mentioned earlier they have flat LCD screens and projector screens through out the lobby and hallways showing trailers with the sound low. Again a nice touch but I would have to say the most interesting thing is it's the first theatre in the metroplex or of any chain that I'm aware of that has a childrens play area and child care at the site. Again I've only seen a movie in the Cine Capri auditorium so I need to see a movie in a regular auditorum to see if there's a huge drop in design and quality of presentation. One last thing the Cinemark Tinsletown in Grapevine which is 5 miles south of the new Harkins have dropped their prices to $4 matinee and $6 evening prices to compete. It should be interesting to see over time how each theatre fares.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Joseph Fredrickson Film Handler Posts: 3 From: Apache Junction, Arizona Registered: Jun 2006 posted 06-24-2006 02:45 AM                     I know I'm coming in on this a little late, but nevertheless, here is a bit of information to attempt to address some parts of this thread: I just happened to come across this thread online and saw that a projectionist from Harkins Theatres had yet to post anything. Working at Harkins Theatres in Mesa, Arizona, I cannot be entirely sure of what equipment is installed at the Southlake 14, but there were a few managers recently training at my theatre for a new Harkins in California and the Northfield 18 in Colorado. The reason they were training in projection at my theatre is because Harkins has started putting Cinemameccanic Victoria 5 (or some type of updated version of it) in all of its new theatres starting with the Northfield 18. My theatre is one of the only older Harkins that runs Cinemameccanica Vic 5's. In all of the theatres they built between about 2002 and 2004, the used Kinotons. From talking with one of the projectionists training, the new theatres (likely including Southlake) are running the new Vic 5's on Christie Lamphouses with Christie Platter systems. Also, I have seen the layouts for the "cookie cutter" Cine Capri's (they should have stopped at 1,) and there are indeed 595 seats. One thing to note is that the Scottsdale 101 and Bricktown 16's Cine Capri's both have 40,000 watts of digital sound while the Northfield 18 and Southlake 14's only have 28,000 or so, but the 2 latter are completely digital and have no loss of quality or sound. And yes- there really are 150 speakers alone in the Cine Capri- they are much smaller than found in the other auditoriums. You can find a picture on the Harkins Theatres website. That is about all I have for now. I'm new to the forums and i'm not the supreme expert on Harkins, but I'm always glad to help out and learn, etc...  |  IP: Logged Floyd Justin Newton Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 559 From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 06-24-2006 12:43 PM                     ....and where will you be working next?  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-24-2006 02:31 PM                     Hehe, yeah some theater circuits really dislike their employees sounding off on public forums. I guess they see it as either a sort of insubordination or giving away some kind of protected industry secret (as if many of the folks participating here don't already know all the details of operating a movie theater). I haven't seen any posts from a certain FT member in the Oklahoma City area for quite a long time. He posted once in awhile when he worked at the Cinemark Tinseltown theater at I-44 & MLK. When he got his job at Harkins Bricktown 16 his posts all but stopped.  |  IP: Logged

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