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Author Topic: Report says moviegoers don't mind ads Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 05-18-2003 01:23 PM                     Well, I just checked Century website and saw their big circle and red x through the TV commercial phrase. "Come experience your movies commercial free." Here is the actual press release from Century: With over 900 screens in 11 states, Century remains true to the adage: "It's all about the movies!" Recently, moviegoers have taken their "Anger" to the courts by suing a number of movie theater chains for showing commercials after the advertised start of the show. "We've been showing movies, and only movies, to the public since 1941 when our father started the business", said Raymond W. Syufy, CEO of Century Theatres and CinéArts, the company's circuit dedicated to showing art and independent fare. "We feel that movie going is unique - an exciting experience that should have no relationship to sitting at home watching television. We want you to sit back, relax and enjoy the show". Joseph Syufy, the company President stated, "Movie going has always been a magical experience. Our guests come to escape and be entertained. Hollywood provides the movies and our job is to provide a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere". Century and CinéArts continues the tradition of offering first run motion pictures to the public with the finest presentation possible. The state-of-the art locations offer stadium seating, love seats and rockers, all digital stereo, Lucasfilm THX Certification and Café Cinemas, featuring gourmet desserts and coffees in a café setting that invites the moviegoer to relax and enjoy the distinctive environment. Century (http://www.centurytheatres.com) is a successful and strong motion picture exhibitor, in the midst of a major expansion program adding 250 screens over the next three years. Century Theatres/CinéArts owns and operates over 900 movie screens in 11 states, including 25 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Century Theatres' patrons purchase advance tickets through Fandango's web site, www.fandango.com and through Fandango's voice-recognition service at 1-800-555-TELL and simply saying "movies" which enables moviegoers to buy their tickets and print them at home, eliminating the need to wait in line at the theater box office. Will this be a competitive factor in increasing audience size? (Regal has other ideas, I guess. The back marquee of the Edwards in Bakersfield has only ONE thing listed. "Don't forget to ask about our free cookie dough". YEP! That's going to pull ME in! At least it's no longer free sour patch kids!  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 05-18-2003 04:26 PM                     Well it is a little ironic there's a link to the left of that article for "on-screen advertising"! Century was the first company I saw introduce slide ads, which I've always thought are ugly and insulting. Still, this is a good move on their part though.  |  IP: Logged Matt Close Expert Film Handler Posts: 226 From: Hervey Bay, QLD, Australia Registered: Sep 2001 posted 05-21-2003 02:22 AM                        I'm all for whatever makes the theatre money ... both as A) A patron who would 'like' to believe that the money they make from selling ad time helps to keep ticket prices and food costs from going up just that little bit more.... And as B) A projectionist who wants his theatre to do well enough in these tough times to pay a decent rate and offer long term, secure employment. IMHO I can't understand why some projectionists would actually be against something that helps them keep their jobs .... and as for the "I'll just wait for the DVD" argument.... people still like the big screen experience the cinema offers, and I think people also like to 'go out'. You can't 'have a night out' in your own loungroom ......  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-21-2003 09:08 PM                     Because the ads are a very short sighted way of keeping one's job. If the theatre is only solvent due to the ads, then it isn't far from death anyway. Theatre people never think long-term nowadays. The perception of going out is not one of actually paying to see ads. For the most part, the ads take away from the show (you've heard about how curtains have been lost for slides and other advertisement). As theatre's chip away at the actual show, they are chipping away at their long-term success. If you theatre doesn't have/use curtains, then your show isn't worth paying for. Steve  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 05-22-2003 09:22 AM                        quote: If you theatre doesn't have/use curtains, then your show isn't worth paying for. I wouldn't go that far. Most of the theatre audiences now have never seen a movie theatre that has used curtains that open when the show starts and close when it is finished. Back in 2000, when the Gateway 4 (a second run theatre run by Regal) closed, I was talking to the manager and she told me about many occasions when customers would come out before the show started and ask about the curtains being closed. The curtains confused many customers who have never seen anything but theatres with none. The Gateway was the last theatre in the area to use curtains. I guarantee if pre/post-show screen-covering curtains were installed in any modern multiplex, a lot of customers would be confused by them and come out and ask things like (real life examples): (1) CUSTOMER: "You are going to show a movie in there, right?" MANAGER: "Yes." CUSTOMER: "Well, the curtains are closed." MANAGER: "Yes, when the show starts, the curtains will OPEN." (2) CUSTOMER: "There's no screen in there." (3) CUSTOMER: "Am I in the right one? How are you going to show a movie without a screen?" I'm not kidding. Customers nowadays are used to going into the auditorium and seeing the exposed screen. Some customers actually prefer the slides and music because it gives them something to look at and listen to while they're waiting for the show to start. I'm not saying any of this is good, but it's just the way it is. Do something a certain way long enough and people will consider it part of the "normal experience". Remember, the average moviegoer is very young. The youngsters aren't old enough to remember how things "used to be". No multiplex in Huntsville built since 1980 (or maybe several years before!) have not had curtains. A 15-year old in 1980 would be 38 now. A 25-year old now would have been 2 then! Slide projectors have been used before shows since at least 1997 or before here. A 25-year old now was 19 then, so most of the moviegoers now haven't seen anything but the current no curtain with pre-show slides configuration.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-22-2003 10:26 AM                     Nah, I don't buy it...I've worked too many theatres with curtains (even today) without EVER having one of those comments...not that I don't think people are so dumb that it could happen...certainly not the reason to nix curtains. As to curtains and ads...one does not eliminate the other. However, there is the misperception that ads prevent the use of curtains. If ads are tastefully done, and properly presented (masked, focused, leveled with enough light) then I have no problem with them prior to show time...I do have a problem with any advertising after the published showtime, with the exception of previews. I repeat and standby my statement that without a functioning grand drape (curtain) your theatre is, at best, 2nd rate. Steve  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-22-2003 01:33 PM                        We have curtain LIGHTS, does that qualify? They fade out very nicely when the movie begins. On the occasion when I have to change lenses on the fly, they come on during the lens change too. Actually I have always thought it was kind of dumb to have the image appear on the curtain, and then the curtain open. That's equivalent to having the actors in a play run out in front of the stage curtain before it opens. In my own perfect world, I'd have a curtain that was synchronized with a "coming attractions" trailer that started black and had its image "open" along with the curtains. Yes, when I win the lottery, that will be my first order of business.  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 05-22-2003 01:48 PM                     I actually didn't like curtains for a while, because a long time ago the theatre near me would usually close the curtains during the end credits, making them impossible to read! They're nice when used properly though.  |  IP: Logged Geoffrey Weiss Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 05-22-2003 02:03 PM                     I love curtains, and can't help but think of "Man on the Moon." "Show Business " Show Business " "Without the Business, there's no Show." However, I also think that the lack of showmanship in the chains, especially, is going to hurt the business. My sig.oth. and I went to see A Mighty Wind last night at our 1926-vintage art cinema and, having been tutored by me in the proper operation of curtains, she remarked upon it when the curtains opened precisely on time as the picture hit the screen. I won't go to a chain for a movie unless I absolutely cannot avoid it because of A: thoughtless yaboos with cell phones and loud voices B: commercials C: crappy presentation. I WANT the magic of cinema, Dammit!  |  IP: Logged Dave Williams Wet nipple scene Posts: 1836 From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA Registered: Jan 2000 posted 05-22-2003 02:46 PM                        Back in 1999, I had a second run house that had one auditorium with an operable curtain. I had it closed JUST ONCE, and a guy came out not ten minutes before showtime and said to me... "Yo, the screen is like, broken". People are stupid. Dave  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 05-22-2003 03:23 PM                        my main problem with not having curtains is simply that that normally implies slides and other ad bullshit. if there are no slides then i'd just as soon be able to see the blank screen so i can seat myself accordingly. that is, assuming there's no format change after trailers. on the other hand, if they help keep the screen clean, then curtains are good. what i don't like is curtains that open late or close early, obscuring the film image, and that includes "title curtains". really, we're not going to turn to stone if we glimpse a blank screen for 2 seconds. carl  |  IP: Logged William Leland III Master Film Handler Posts: 336 From: Charleston, SC, Registered: Aug 2002 posted 05-22-2003 03:45 PM                        That article is crap. Every time I watch a movie and commercials pop up on screen, people get outraged. My friend and I watched X-Men 2 and she was mad that they had 4 ads before the first trailer. Whoever wrote that article was lying. His statistics where off.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-22-2003 05:47 PM                     I can't stand seeing a naked screen. And yes, curtained theatres have their screens last longer and in better condition. As to where to sit...every seat should be a good seat, if the theatre is well designed. You'd hate my show...I'll run previews in 1.85:1...close the curtain as the last preview ends (open the masking behind the curtain) and go in to the scope feature with yet a larger picture, as if by magic! Steve  |  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 05-22-2003 07:27 PM                        Magic scares me! So do mimes! Ads suck... as do theatres that run them. And while I'm at it... anything in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio sucks!  |  IP: Logged Tom Wienholt Master Film Handler Posts: 371 From: Towson, MD, USA Registered: Dec 2002 posted 05-23-2003 01:26 AM                     I think that customers would rather have something to look at when waiting for the movie to start rather then look at a curtain. I don't think it is fair to say that theatres without a curtain are 2nd rate. Maybe a curtain was a fixure in all theatres 20 years ago but movie theatres are completely different now, and so are the movies. I think that music, slide shows, and advertisements before the movie ad to the overall entertainment factor of moviegoing. I think that looking at a curtain or blank screen waiting for a movie to start is extremely boring. I would much rather watch a slide show or other pre-show entertainment.  |  IP: Logged

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