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Topic: Is THX still relevant?
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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 02-14-2011 04:35 PM
I believe the Universal City 18 had Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade opening on several screens, and so I imagine the #1 gross that was reported was based on a collective figure from all the screens playing it in that complex. Collectively, I bet all the screens at Universal showing Indy III had more seats than did the single-screen National (1,100 seats) and Chinese (1,500 main auditorium seats), so landing in first place shouldn't be a surprise.
Boasting about the THX grosses seems like nothing but marketing. A better comparison, in my opinion, would've been to compare the grosses of Indy III's 70mm presentations (204, of which 50 were in a THX-certified house) to the 35mm presentations (2,123, of which 75 were in a THX house). Paramount did that very comparison five years earlier following Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's debut, where the studio reported the film's 70mm engagements (13% of the bookings) accounted for 30% of the first-week gross.
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Scott Jentsch
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1061
From: New Berlin, WI, USA
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 02-16-2011 01:51 PM
The cynical part of me places the responsibility upon the steady erosion of showmanship in the theatrical exhibition industry. Perhaps that erosion was a result of, or a result of the same forces of, the multiplex expansion. Theaters went from showplaces to virtual stockyards, interested primarily in getting as many bodies in and out as quickly and as cheaply as possible.
I do agree with the low-margin argument, though, as most theater managers that I talk to are always telling me that the elements of showmanship that I think are important are never going to happen unless they have a proven return on investment. Problem is, if you never try, you never know if the investment will bear fruit.
I know of one small chain in Michigan that is always trying new things to see what works for them and for their audiences. While some of their ideas are a little odd, I applaud them for always trying something to try to improve their business.
If there's anything that the ETX/RPX/XD/UltraScreen onslaught is showing us, is that people are willing to pay for an enhanced moviegoing experience. Whether it's the better seating, bigger screens, upgraded sound systems, food choices, alcohol choices, 21+ exclusivity, and/or seatside service that drawing them, it's hard to tell.
Mark's comment about theaters that installed only a couple of THX houses and finding that their audiences only wanted to see movies in the THX houses means that they made a mistake in not building every auditorium so that it could be THX-certified.
When you use the bathroom at WalMart, there's a sign that tells you when the last time was that anyone cleaned/inspected it. Too bad there wasn't something similar on the doors at movie theaters. The next time I see a movie, I'll have to ask the manager when the last time was that the screen I'm going into was checked and calibrated. I'll bet I get a blank stare.
If it was done right, THX certification did that. It gave people the confidence that, sometime in the past year, that theater was checked out and given the stamp of approval. I have yet to hear of any effort or program that provides that same assurance to the paying public.
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Brian Guckian
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 594
From: Dublin, Ireland
Registered: Apr 2003
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posted 02-17-2011 07:03 AM
quote: Scott Jentsch
Even though the THX brand isn't as powerful as it once was, it is still a differentiating factor that could be used to a competitive advantage. One would hope that the design principles and the specified equipment list still represents at least a minimum level of quality and performance, so following those requirements should result in a very good theater.
At a time when there are literally dozens of movie theaters with dozens of screens within 10-15 minutes of just about any densely populated area in the country, anything that can be done to differentiate your theater from the dozens of competitors gives a theater a leg up against the competition.
This is why it is still very relevant. "Market differentiation" has a value that can be quantified in terms of additional box office revenue, and a small ticket surcharge could cover the annual re-certification fee where that is perceived to be a deterrent. Such a charge would more than cover the cost of bringing in an outside, independent engineer / tech, so the integrity of the work isn't compromised.
![[dlp]](graemlins/dlp.gif) doesn't make THX Certification less relevant, because will not improve poor acoustics, background noise levels, bleed-thru, viewing and projection angles, etc. Granted, uncompressed sound gives even a bad theatre an improvement, but think of how much better that would be when the acoustics (and overall theatre design) are optimal too.
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![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
fit their favourite star's prints in the courtyard). I would expect them to prefer a show at the prestigious Chinese rather than at this cold megaplex which indeed had 2 big auditoria but with not-so-big screens...
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
).
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