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Author Topic: Stupid Showtimes (AKA You Suck: Outing bad showtime schedulers) Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 11-27-2005 07:58 PM                     Hi Eric: Could the Metro be having trouble booking againt the Presidio? This could explain them NOT playing "Harry Potter" AND instead playing "Rent" (thus they moved Harry Potter to the Vogue). Was the 5:00 at the Vogue really sold out? This theatre seems to be underperforming lately.  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 11-27-2005 09:04 PM                     quote: Eric Hooper Seriously, who is doing Regal's booking and scheduling in SF? It is one mis-fire after another. They wonder why they had to close their Coronet and Alexandria theatres??? Looks like the Metro and Vogue will be gone soon too. You may have answered your own question here. Regal is not in the single screen business, and I don't think they care anymore about these theatres. These single screens can only run properly with exclusive engagements, the way they used to. I really miss the theatres in SF that I knew and attended back in the mid 70's (pre-triplexed Alexandria, Coronet, Metro, Regency I, Regency II, Northpoint, Royal. THe Vogue showed arthouse product back then and would never have booked a Harry Potter film first-run. Rent would possibly have played exclusively at either the Metro or Northpoint back then.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-27-2005 09:13 PM                        Regal is sure as hell not interested in running a single-screen UNLESS it's performing very very well. One of the first things Regal did when they bought out Act III is close the McDonald Theatre in downtown Eugene. This despite the fact it was majorly renovated in the mid or late 90s by Act III and was a very nice place to see a movie, with modern technical ameneties. Downtown parking was always a problem though and the only time business seemed to be good was when the theatre had an "exclusive" on some popular movie. Even then it was probably underperforming due to people not wanting to fight for a parking spot downtown.  |  IP: Logged Eric Hooper Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 532 From: Fort Worth, TX, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 11-28-2005 05:30 PM                     quote: Mike Croaro Could the Metro be having trouble booking againt the Presidio? This could explain them NOT playing "Harry Potter" AND instead playing "Rent" (thus they moved Harry Potter to the Vogue). Both Regals (Metro and Vogue) split product with the Presidio. Either the Presido gets it or one of the Regals gets it.  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 11-28-2005 06:53 PM                     Hi Eric: Thanks for the clarification. I was confussed. I thought Harry Potter was playing the Presidio. Mike  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 08-22-2006 08:57 PM                     Hi Folks: Just checked out Fanmdango. "An Inconvenienet Truth" returns to the Stownstown Twin (SF) this Friday. Not an extreme example, but showtimes for the 94 minute film are: 12:30, 3:30, 7:30, 9:45. With trailers there will roughly be a 75 minute intermission between the first and second show and a 120-135 minute intermission between the second and third show.? Go figure. Mike  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-24-2006 01:21 AM                        That makes absolutely no sense, as they could very easily run 12:30 2:50 5:10 7:30 9:45 without extending operating hours, yet increasing number of showtimes.  |  IP: Logged Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 08-24-2006 06:35 AM                     Maybe they have a special showing or event during that ultra-long intermission? As in 3:30 gets out at 5:03, special event at 5:30 or 5:45, ending at 6:45 or 7:00, next show at 7:30. Without contacting them, we may never know, as it won't be listed on Fandango if it's a local special event or it's sold out to a radio station or something. It doesn't even have to involve "An Inconvenient Truth", it could be something completely off the wall.  |  IP: Logged William Clark Film Handler Posts: 19 From: Mililani, HI, United States Registered: Aug 2006 posted 08-28-2006 03:33 AM                     Reading this thread opened my eyes as to why my theater's concession per capita is relatively low. Here's a typical evening set for us at our 14-plex: | 6:40 | 6:45 | 6:50 | 7:05 | 7:10 | 7:15 | 7:25 | 7:30 | 7:35 | 7:40 | 7:45 | 8:15 | 8:25 | 8:30 | With all those people rushing in for shows around 7:00 to 7:30 and our relatively small lobby, concession lines are to the ticket stand and sometimes to the door. I can't imagine how many people look at the lines and say "Hell with it, the lines are long and our show starts in 10 minutes." That, and when I'm working as a projectionist, having so many shows starting in a row, with only 5 minutes to thread, start, and then get to the next projector is kind of stressful. Plus, of something goes wrong while starting the film, it can potentially take me several minutes to fix the problem, causing many shows down the line to be late.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-28-2006 03:52 AM                     That doesn't look too bad actually, I suppose it depends what movies start when. If your two biggest movies start at 7 and 7:05 you might have a problem. Other ccauses of long lines can be inefficient or poorly trained staff or not enough staff on.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 08-28-2006 10:37 PM                     Our programming this week was awful. We're finishing at 1.30am because a Tamil film that would sell out at any time (we're showing it along with two other cinemas in the UK as far as I know) is starting at 9.45pm, meaning the programmers can put a 4hr Bollywood film at 9.30pm in its second week, and Pirates at 9.50. This just seems ridiculous as it won't make a positive impact on food spend (starting after dinner) or admissions (not sure if the car park stays open that long!). Intermissions mean we're starting films until 11.40pm every night. As for programming to help projection, it just doesn't seem to happen in chains.  |  IP: Logged Anslem Rayburn Master Film Handler Posts: 476 From: Yuma, AZ, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 08-29-2006 07:12 AM                     We never schedule for projections, as all it takes to clean the film path and re-thread is about 5 minutes max. We schedule for customer flow and concessions sales (read: the less congestion, the better). We could start every show 5 minutes after the credits end on the previous showing, and have one starting every 10 minutes all day long and it wouldn't be a terrible pain for projections. Snack sales would drop horribly, however, and customer complaints would skyrocket. Granted, I wouldn't exactly enjoy the non-stop threading and starting, but it wouldn't be a huge burden.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 08-29-2006 07:27 AM                        In the past I have noticed one particular problem with tight turn arounds on film schedules: the toll on xenon bulbs. I was always instructed to give a xenon bulb at least 15 to 20 minutes to cool down before re-igniting after a two hour run. I never questioned it because I have had instances (like an electrical outage) in which I had trouble re-igniting the bulb after it was lit for a long period. I would think that since it takes more electricity for the ignition - that doing it more often would have a negative effect on the life of a bulb. Hence the reason IMAX theatres and Digital venues keep thier bulbs lit the entire day. ?  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 08-29-2006 06:16 PM                        We don't turn the Xenon off unless the next show is more than an hour away. Crazy show times often happen because film distributors demand specific times and numbers of screenings.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 08-29-2006 07:59 PM                     quote: Anslem Rayburn Granted, I wouldn't exactly enjoy the non-stop threading and starting, but it wouldn't be a huge burden. We have a film starting almost every five minutes between 9 and 9.55pm this week. Similar situation around 4.00pm. I don't mind constantly threading and starting films, but when the screens in question are all over the place it means I have to run around and go quicker than I like. This could potentially lead to errors, and it also means if certain screens have problems you end up with the other shows running late. As for keeping the Xenons on, with the digital projectors striking the lamp can screw up the playing equpiment (Christie 2k and QuVis cinema player I think) so we leave it on all day. The manual for our Century 35mm projectors says the lamp shouldn't be on for more than 25 minutes if there is no film, the projector can overheat or something along those lines. Another programming problem we have is we occasionaly show Indian films in two screens with one print, and the programmers don't allow for this, meaning we have to bicycle and lace up in ridiculously short periods of time to avoid massive overruns.  |  IP: Logged

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