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Author Topic: Sub-Runs/Dollar Houses Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 07-04-2007 02:44 PM                     quote: but do people want to see a film after the national break has passed the five or six week window? Hey Tom: Do you really believe most people think the films lose quality of content after this time? A film is just as good five weeks or five years after its release. When I was back in Iowa I ran a .99 cent house and had many regular customers who could have seen the films at the break in another nearby town but chose to wait for that period to watch it for .99 cents. Obviously I made my money at concessions. For example, if I took in $400. at the box I made $1200. at concessions in one night.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-04-2007 09:25 PM                        quote: Robert E. Allen Do you really believe most people think the films lose quality of content after this time? A film is just as good five weeks or five years after its release. The film is just as good, but it's a lot closer to video. In some cases, the availability has already been announced and the posters are up in the video stores after 6 weeks. (Sony is the fastest to go to video, on average.) Plus with a lot of today's movies, the "bloom is off the rose" after a couple of weeks of bad word-of-mouth.  |  IP: Logged Kenneth Wuepper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1026 From: Saginaw, MI, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 07-04-2007 10:05 PM                     Playing a film just before the video release can have some advantage. Every TV set pictured in the catalogue inserts of the week end paper has a color photo of the movie title. That repetitive image does a lot to stir interest in seeing the film and you don't have to pay for it. Sometimes there is a rare gem that sells big in second run. I am thinking of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". It even did well for us after the video came out. KEN  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-05-2007 05:10 AM                     To show another advantage with discounts over first run movies is that if the movie is a stinker (like "White Chicks", for example) and a person feels that they've wasted 8 bucks for such a movie and then dies. THEN, that same movie will make big bank in the discounts since losing 2 bucks ain't gonna kill them and the danged movie can play, and play .... (I'm just relating to this movie since it only played 3 wks in a first run, then our discount house picked it up two weeks after it left first run. Then we held on to the stupid thing for a record 14 weeks...and was still doing pretty good - two shows a day - when we HAD to get rid of it..and it was already released on DVD 3 wks prior..). I do believe that people STILL want to see a movie on the big screen - to enjoy the "magic" of the cinema.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 07-05-2007 12:09 PM                     In Lubbock, we have the Showplace 6, operated by R.A."Skeet" Noret. He opened the theatre in 1972 as a first run 4 screen. He added 2 screens in 1978. He's been subrun since 1984, with an occasional first run now and then (as when Cinemark and Dreamworks were having their spats.) Sub-run has been very lucrative for the operator, and DVD releases does not impact the business much if at all. Kid films do very well there. He almost didn't get the lease renewed though. A local church bought out the shopping center Showplace is located in and planned to use the theatre as lecture halls or some such thing. Then the church ran into financial hardship and needed Skeet's lease money, so they renewed. Rudy, the manager of Showplace, mentioned that Buena Vista is the hardest company for them to deal with booking-wise. A movie has to be off the first run screens for a longer window before they allow Showplace to have a movie. (They recently just had Bridge To Terabithia.) Skeet's grandson, Ryan Smith, owns the Stars and Stripes drive-In near the city limits on NW Highway 84.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-05-2007 09:02 PM                        I sometimes forget that a lot of you guys are in big cities where there are lots of people wanting to patronize the dollar houses. Here, if we were to turn this place into a dollar house and play movies 6 weeks or more after the break, we'd probably have about 12 people a night. (At least until people got used to it, I guess!)  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-06-2007 03:20 AM                     quote: James Westbrook ...that Buena Vista is the hardest company for them to deal with booking-wise. A movie has to be off the first run screens for a longer window before they allow Showplace to have a movie. Basically called, a "28 day window" from BV. But once in a while BV will release earlier than the 28 day to discounts if the product was really bad to allow an early release to discounts. With Sub-runs, it's much sooner since the percentages are in the higher (min. 50 percent) bracket than the discount percentages being lower and more affordable for these "mom and pop" owners. Easiest company is SONY - discounts love SONY since they are so easy to work with. LIONSGATE..good luck! Gee Mike, that could be the golden ticket for you up there in Forsyth MONT. - and that is to find a empty hole downtown and convert it to a small discount house for two reasons: One, to have more variety for your town, and two keep the competition out by dominating that market area. And by having a discount house, your conc revenue would increase since tix prices would be nothing to pay for. Yet, Mike I know exactly were you're coming from since I started in this field working for small "indies" like you that had no competition around. Thus, whatever you played, either on the break or weeks down the road of that same movie, you were "it" in the town and they fully depended on you for the community's entertainment - and you had to make it the best one can do.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 07-06-2007 10:30 PM                     Sub-runs are almost a totally foreign concept here. We have maybe a couple in the inner city area. My question is, after the roll out for digital is complete for most first run theaters, what is the fate of the sub-run? I can't see it being cost effective to make prints for dollar houses alone.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-07-2007 02:50 PM                     quote: Damien Taylor My question is, after the roll out for digital is complete for most first run theaters, what is the fate of the sub-run? Probably the time every cinema has been converted to digial, we all probably won't be around to worry about it since we'll be pushing up dandelions by then. Digital is still very, very spendy to do the conversion and the tradeoff to digital against film is still way out in space to make the conversion practical and affordable-let alone in getting the digital systems as reliable as a film projector. Thus, film will probably be with us for at least a few more generations...  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-07-2007 06:21 PM                        Monte: my take exactly! Meanwhile, many. many new customers of mine are equipping with film equipment. When "spendy" is not so pronounced, you will have people spending their own money on Digital. Louis  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-07-2007 07:33 PM                        35mm FILM prints are still a very cost effective way of distributing movies. Prorated over a few months of screenings, film prints usually cost only a few dollars per show. With digital systems still close to six figures, and unproven lifetime before needing replacement, the ultimate average cost per showing is still unknown. There is also some cost in mastering and delivering the digital data.  |  IP: Logged Damien Taylor Master Film Handler Posts: 493 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2007 posted 07-07-2007 09:43 PM                     Thats really good to know, I'm barely in the industry, I was hoping I wasn't setting myself up for a dying job, but it looks like film's still got a fight.  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 07-10-2007 05:57 PM                     What a difference a few years makes! Back on page one, I was blasting the quality of some of my local theatres. My, how things have changed! I now work for one of the theatres that I griped about with their blue screen image. No blue screens now! And the only remaining single-screen with the 2nd theatre in the balcony? Seems to be doing good business. I'm happy for them. The big 800 seat twinned former Ultra-Vision house is slowly deteriorating. Its sad.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 07-13-2007 03:01 AM                  Sub runs are still doing quite well. I work for a company that currently runs the majority of it's chain as sub run and was actually founded on a discount oriented business model. Most of the theatres in this particular chain regularly see higher attendance levels, as sub run, than they ever did in their first run "prime". As for the future, baring any dramtaic shift in studio policy, there is no sign the discount house will be disapearing anytime soon. People like to go out, people like movies, and not everyone wants to/can pay full price (i.e. as long as these people are buying tickets, the studios aren't going to pass on a revenue source). Also, digital doesn't spell the end of discount; beyond film still having a long life ahead, there is nothing stopping discount from making the conversion down the road and I'm aware of some plans to do so.  |  IP: Logged Kevin Bradsher Film Handler Posts: 1 From: Warner Robins, GA, USA Registered: Jul 2007 posted 07-18-2007 10:31 PM                     Hi Everyone, This is my first post ever and while browsing the forums this subject caught my eye because I work at a so-called dollar house (just made head projectionist last week!) The theater is located in Warner Robins, GA, which is predominantly middle-class with a lot of the economy dependent on Robins Air Force Base. My theater has six screens ranging from 100 to 300 seats. We charge .99 for matinees and $1.99 evening. I've noticed that a high percentage of our customers are people who can't really afford the high prices of the mall cineplex. The lower-middle-class, the retired, teens who like to see movies more than their budget allows. As a result of this mix of customer's it's interesting to see what movies do the best business. "Spider-man 3" opened on July 13th in our largest house of around 300 seats. Not being a manager I don't know specifics but it looke like there were a little over 100 people in each of the evening showings. Over the spring time our most attended movie was "Night at the Museum", family movies always do quite well. Think about it; a family of five can spend $100 at the mall, or wait a month and come see it here for under $40! We had constant crowds that grew large when the DVD ads started showing on TV and we kept 'museum' until 2 days after it's release on DVD! My first .02!, Kevin Bradsher Parkway Cinemas Georgia Theater Company  |  IP: Logged

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