Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Stupid Showtimes (AKA You Suck: Outing bad showtime schedulers)

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Topic: Stupid Showtimes (AKA You Suck: Outing bad showtime schedulers)

Will Wheatley Uhl
Film Handler

Posts: 10
From: Manchester, NH
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 08-12-2005 05:52 PM

I can outdo that, 10:40 showings for star wars. thats 10:40 PM and who stays and closes? ME.

We did that for return of the king too. I never got to go home...

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-12-2005 06:12 PM

A 10:40 show in and of itself it not bad, its only when there is no 9 hour or early 10 show between the 7 and the 10:40.

I manage a theatre in a market where late shows don't do very well at all. The 9 set is alwasy 50% or more slower than the 7 and shows after 10:00 do particularily poorly. However, some markets can do quite well with that post 10:00 set. That is no excuse for the original example that started this thread; having showtimes spread out that far is nothing but a waste of payroll.

[ 08-13-2005, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: Dustin Mitchell ]

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Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-13-2005 03:37 AM

so eric, which showtime did you end up going to... and how scratched was the print?

carl

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Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: California, U.S.A.
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 08-13-2005 02:14 PM

I've been preaching the importance of proper show scheduling for many moons. It's always fallen on deaf ears however.
The argument is that if someone wants to see a movie they'll see it whenever they can.
Unfortunately with showtimes like 12:55 or 1:25 or 8:50, etc. you get the people who are used to times on every quarter of the hour, not necessarily for film.
When was the last time someone told you they'll meet you at 1:05? Not 1:00 not 1:15, but 1:05.
It doesn't make sense!

You schedule showtimes based on peak hours, when you can do the most business with them, and schedule them so they're easy to remember! You get less confused customers that way and it just looks better on paper.
It's easier to read too.

/rant.

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-13-2005 02:29 PM

There's nothing wrong with a 12:55 or 1:05 showtime. Schedules loaded with bunches of movies at the same time (1:00, 1:15) are much more of an inconvenience to customers due to the long lines they create than 'hard to remember' showtimes. Even spreading out showtimes by 5 minutes can make a huge difference in lines.

While I agree that people aren't going to a movie if they don't like the showtime I don't think it applies to differences of 5 minutes or so. I'm talking about someone not wanting to go to a 10:40 showing because they'll be up to late where as they would have gone to one scheduled at 9:40.

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Dominic Espinosa
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1172
From: California, U.S.A.
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 08-15-2005 03:18 AM

quote: Dustin Mitchell
Schedules loaded with bunches of movies at the same time (1:00, 1:15) are much more of an inconvenience to customers due to the long lines they create than 'hard to remember' showtimes. Even spreading out showtimes by 5 minutes can make a huge difference in lines.

I'm not suggesting that all features be starting on the same exact times. I believe in rotating the slower/older features to the oddball times.
Say you have a busy 12:00 then a lazy 12:10 and a busy 12:30 and so on.

Lines actually get shorter this way.

quote: Dustin Mitchell

While I agree that people aren't going to a movie if they don't like the showtime I don't think it applies to differences of 5 minutes or so. I'm talking about someone not wanting to go to a 10:40 showing because they'll be up to late where as they would have gone to one scheduled at 9:40.

I wouldn't say it's because they don't like the time (unless it's late or doesn't fit their schedule for some reason) I'm saying they get confused.
People generally think of things on every quarter of the hour and so a 1:05 showtime could be mistaken for a 1:50 or so on far too easily.
Honestly we get it all the time.

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Mark J. Marshall
Film God

Posts: 3188
From: New Castle, DE, USA
Registered: Aug 2002

posted 08-15-2005 08:58 AM

Scheduling shows is a real art form at our theater, and none of the managers have really mastered it yet. First of all, our customer base doesn't like being out late, which is why during the non-peak seasons we drop the late round completely from our schedule. Secondly, for some reason, people bringing children always seem to be running late (imagine that!) so when playing two prints of Harry Potter, start the one in the smaller house first. That way IF it sells out, the crowd can overflow into the bigger house.

That's actually a good rule for almost any movie where you're running two prints. And whatever you do, don't start them more than 20 - 30 minutes apart. Our home office unwisely suggested that we do that with Star Wars, and our managers fell for it. One started at 7, and the next one started at 7:50. Then one started at 10, and the next one at 10:45. IDIOTS! So when 10:00 sold out - what were the customers to do? Wait till 10:45? Yeah, sure. They went home. Or they went to our competitor down the street and saw it at 10:20. Now, I don't want to make it sound like NO ONE showed up for 10:45. But I would suggest that had we run a 10:15 or 10:20 show instead, it would have sold out.

Maybe the 10:00 and 10:45 shows made sense for some other theater, but certainly not ours.

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Eric Hooper
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 532
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: May 2003

posted 08-15-2005 02:41 PM

quote: Carl Martin
so eric, which showtime did you end up going to... and how scratched was the print?

We went to the 7:10 obvoiusly, because the next show at 10:40 was too f*cking late and stupid.

Believe it or not, the presentation of the movie was flawless.

However, (and you know there's got to be a problem whenever you visit this theatre), the house lights remained on at 50% when the movie started. I had to go tell someone to turn them off. I think this is new automation they've installed, to have the house lights lower to 50% during the previews, because before it always used to be 100% on or dim.

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Michael Gonzalez
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 790
From: Grand Island , NE USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 08-16-2005 02:31 AM

quote: Monte L Fullmer
Opening 12:00 set for a six-plex are: 12:00, 12:05,12:10,12:20,12:25 and 12:30. = people in, people out. A mad rush to the snakbar (and they wonder why their percap is low...)

Actually I have done similar showtimes for a 9 plex. The mistake in your reasoning is that although you may have a show starting every 5 minutes, the actual traffic for each film are going to be vastly different. So the schedule actually looks something like this...

6:45 - Print A of a new busy feature (possiable sellout in 2nd largest house ex. "Deuce Bigalow")

6:50 - Some film near the end of its run (small house hardly any business "The Island").

6:55 - Another somewhat slow feature "Batman Begins"

7:00 - Maybe a busier movie in its second week or so "Dukes (A)

7:05 - Another slow movie "Fantastic 4"

7:10 - So so film (Bad News Bears)

7:15 - Print B of busiest new feature (Largest house Sell out)

7:20 - Another slower film "Wedding Crashers"

7:30 - Dukes (B)

Just a quick example, it is pretty much all in the spacing. The trick is to keep a nice steady flow of customers into the theater in a set amount of time. You dont want to get too busy or too slow. This also works extreamly well as far as payroll goes too as you schedule overlaping shifts during your busiest sets. I also tried to keep at least 45 minutes to an hour between sets so that the staff have plenty of time to clean up, restock, and take breaks before the next set.

A quick tip for those of you who do their own schedules... Schedule your busiest set first (usually the 7:00 set sometimes the 4:00 set for a family movie like Harry Potter) and then you work backward to your opening and forward to your last set.

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Dustin Mitchell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1865
From: Mondovi, WI, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-16-2005 02:54 AM

Do you re-arrange your whole schedule every week?

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Michael Gonzalez
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 790
From: Grand Island , NE USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 08-16-2005 03:20 AM

Every movie keeps their same start times for at least two weeks (usually longer) and I always keep the times the same for any films with multiple prints. So in my example the following week, the times for Deuces would remain the same but since Dukes would most likly drop to a single print, thats opens up those times for any new opening so that a new feature will still be spaced apart from Deuces second week (though we all know that Deuce is going to drop like a stone next week).

I understand the point that you were getting at as far as possiably confusing customers by changing every week but I always try to keep the times as consistant as possiable and then make the changes after the film has dropped off.

In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that I have been out of the business for over a year (but looking to get back in real soon). But I was a General Manager for over 5 years and did the show scheduling virtually every week.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-16-2005 05:25 AM

My current show schedule looks like this: (# seats in aud.) *Stadium Seating
Four Brothers (270) - 1245 320 555 830 1105
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (143) - 210 455 740 1025
Hustle & Flow (113) - 155 435 715 955 1235
The Dukes Of Hazzard (173) - 1215 245 515 745 1015
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (285) - 1135 220 505 750 1035
Red Eye (285) - 100 310 520 730 940 1150
*Fantastic Four (154) - 1220 255 530 805 1040
*Stealth (99) - 130 420 710 1000
*Sky High (144) - 1150 215 440 705 930 1155
*Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (219) - 1230 240 450 700 910 1120
*The Devil's Rejects (75) - 1240 310 540 810 1040
*Dark Water (99) - 200 440 720 1000 1240
*Rebound (99) - 1250 305 520 735 950 1205
*War Of The Worlds (75) - 1135 220 505 750 1035

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 08-16-2005 09:39 AM

If you are restricted by certain things, such as not having anything start before 12:45 or 1:00 and required to have five shows for any movie 106 mins. or less. It is better and easier to start your schedule from the first showtime and fit your shows in to get the best times. This is also important when you have a theatre that decidedly decreases business with anything starting past 10:00 or 10:15.

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Monte L Fullmer
Film God

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

posted 08-16-2005 01:55 PM

Interesting, Mike - your place must have added auditoriums with stadium seating to your 14 screener - being your smaller houses have stadium (interesting and unique: a 75 seat stadium house) where the larger ones are the conventional sloped floor design.

[ 08-17-2005, 05:22 AM: Message edited by: Monte L Fullmer ]

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-16-2005 02:16 PM

Regal added 4 auditoriums (#11-14) w/ stadium ... 2 75-seaters, 2 99-seaters, and started retrofitting the old auditoriums (#7-10) before pulling the plug on the project mid-way through ... leaving the original 10-screen slope building w/ 8 stadium & 6 sloped.

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