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Author Topic: Where’s the innovation? Or, where’s the Steve Jobs of the exhibition business? Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-26-2006 09:19 AM                     Attendence at movie theatres in the US is not dropping (if you look at fairly long term like since 1970). In fact, attendence has grown faster then the population at large. The problem is that the number of screens has grown way faster then the population or number of tickets sold. Too many empty seats. - Matt  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 07-26-2006 09:25 AM                        A quality operation with friendly people running it will always win....if film is available. I am seeing this right now in Florence SC....and with competition being a Regal 15 screen theatre. The little theatre, with new ownership, is doing very well. Louis  |  IP: Logged Lyle Romer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1400 From: Davie, FL, USA Registered: May 2002 posted 07-26-2006 11:41 AM                     quote: Jack Ondracek I'm still trying to figure out how a company can make a profit when their theatre has 15 screens, yet only the top 5 films are drawing any significant numbers. Because they are only showing 6-8 movies and they are showing multiple prints of the top ones. Many of the 12-16 screen theatres today don't have any higher seating capacity than the 8-10 screeners from the early '90's. Instead of having a couple of 400 seat houses on down to 125 or so now they top out at 300 (to avoid elevators for additional handicapped seating) and go down to 70 or so in the small houses. I used to work at an 8 plex that had 2000 seats built in the early 90's. There's a 16 screen complex nearby that has maybe 2500 seats and was built a few years ago.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 07-27-2006 02:39 AM                        Yeah, I had a notebook full of ideas for enviromental effects to go along with movies, to sound ideas, amongst many others. It got wet and the paper became a solid peice. I'm getting it back little by little, some of the ideas are coming back better than before. I just wish I had someone to ping pong them back and forth with to fully refine them, and possibly provide better alternatives or even play devils advocate and point out places where I'm off. I'd try to post on here, but some ideas are hard to simply monologue and type out. That and some may even be patentable in the future and I don't want to destroy that. Though I did post a rough thought in running non-synch in full surround in one of the other threads.  |  IP: Logged Gary Crawford Expert Film Handler Posts: 200 From: Neptune NJ USA Registered: Nov 2003 posted 07-27-2006 01:20 PM                     Looking at this issue as an attendee rather than a projectionist, I see product that seems to be a waste of the money the producers scare up to make it. "Yours Mine And Ours" as a remake? And the recent remakes that can't hold a candle to the original? No one has any imagination anymore? The studios still have the same smugness they did in the 20s and 30s, the "We-Say-So" attitude where they won't listen to anyone else's ideas. That's why they shun "Greek Wedding" as an upstart indie, that makes LOTS of money anyway! Hurts their pride when that happens. My last point is the antiseptic and generic qualities the monsterplexes present. Great digital sound - that's WAY too loud - trailer audio that blasts the fillings in your teeth, house lights that don't go down when the feature starts, that little frame line that is visible at the bottom of the screen the whole show, and lobby atmosphere that has all the charm of an airport terminal. We older folks remember nice presentations in older houses, and that's what we miss. Maybe the bean counters and corporate brass have never been in any of their theatres, they just make their managers' lives miserable demanding more and more from them. Rant over. Thanks for letting me grumble.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 07-27-2006 07:33 PM                     You can have all the high-tech bell and whistles you want but if you don't put a good story on the screen with a courteous staff in your house and reasonable prices at the BO and counter you aren't going to succeed. D-cinema alone does not a good film make.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 07-27-2006 09:56 PM                        Well, seeing as I have no creative talent, and I don't make movies, the best thing I can do it make best out of what I get in the cans. So, I'd like to make the sound the best I can, and the picture. No framelines here. I have to ride the volumes to keep control over the trailers and ads, which are recorded like TV commercials, LOUD. The movies are recorded in a special way where they blister your ears on louder parts, so you should turn them down below (the studio recommended)7, but so quiet during soft speaking parts where you must keep them up around 7, or more. As far as the lobby and boulding? I wish I had more control over the facilities/building itself. So I'm pipedreaming of ways to make it more exciting, but my ideas, for now are just pipe dreams. If they come true, great, if not, oh well.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 07-28-2006 01:11 AM                        quote: Robert E. Allen reasonable prices at the BO and counter Nice thought, but too subjective. What constitutes reasonable? I still have people show up here, expecting that I'll let them watch a first-run double feature for $5 a carload. Last time I took our family to the Cinerama, it cost us something like $9.75 each. I don't recall what I paid at the Boeing Imax (Seattle Center), but I never considered that it might not be reasonable. Market conditions... if it'll bear it, somebody'll charge it. quote: Charles Greenlee The movies are recorded in a special way where they blister your ears on louder parts, so you should turn them down below (the studio recommended)7, but so quiet during soft speaking parts where you must keep them up around 7, or more. That's a modern anomaly, called "Dynamic Range"... something most every film and radio station had lots of before discriminate audio processing and "distortion-cancelled clipping" arrived after the '70s. That you have to ride your levels sounds like you need your system checked. Poor equalization will do that to you. I don't think I've ever seen an operator ride levels in a modern theatre, so I wonder if you're doing your audience a favor. If the system is set up right, the sound is usually fine.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 07-28-2006 09:02 AM                        Well, here at my current theatre, it's not so bad. I still get about 2 complaints a shift (not set)on the volume. So I adjust it a touch. Not much, just barely. That usually suffices. At my old theatres, I'd get a complaint every 15min on sound. I even had a movie where several people came out and complained about the volume. Trick was that they were all seperate, and some were wanting it turned up, and some wanted it turned down. It's like where do I put it, up or down. So I went in, and listened and ajdusted so I could hear the talking at a decent level. One trick I've learned is if you have just one or 2 people complaining an it'd a packed auditorium, meaning no one else has complained about it. I wait till the person goes back in, then I (if the complaint was it's too loud)turn the volume up a notch, then back down to where it was at. It seems to satisfy that 1 complainer. I've even heard "thanks for turning it down", and they weren't being a smartass, but honest.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-28-2006 12:25 PM                        If you're getting 2 complaints every shift, something is seriously wrong with your sound. The idea of adjusting it so the dialog sounds right and leaving it that way is a good one. If you do that, complaints should be minimal IF your system is set up properly (and is a good system to start with).  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-02-2006 07:13 PM                     quote: Bobby Henderson I think Mike Todd cared a great deal about the long term health of the movie industry, including commercial theaters. Bobby, You need to do some real studing on Mike Todd. In real life he was a conneiving son of a bitch. By the time he was 21 years old he had made and lost several different million dollar fortunes in the construction buisness. If you study him closely he was part of the original Cinerama Group... was basiclly forced out of the group and took that money to American Optical in an attempt to create "Cinerama out of one hole" and basically out them out of buisness... which he actually for the most part did acomplish. We were lucky that he hired the right people and the by product of him leaving another company n the dust was Todd-AO. I would compare the grip that todays bean counters have on hollywood to what it would have been like had Hitler won the war... 100 years of evil! Mark  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 08-02-2006 07:49 PM                     Well Jack, I don't know about the "...too subjective...". I've left Washington, as you know, and I'm sorry I didn't get over to meet you personally. But I'm in Iowa now managing a "dollar house" in a small town and the house is very successful. .99 cent admission, candy from .25 cents to 2.00, drinks from 1.50 to 3.00, popcorn from 2.00 to 4.00. We have pretzels, Ice cream, water, tea, nachos and more all at "reasonable" prices and I double and triple my bo every night. People in this area have decided they will wait six weeks or more to see a movie for .99 cents and our concessions reflect their attitude. We frequently sell out, especially with kids flicks.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 08-03-2006 02:32 PM                        Sure, Robert... and I'd be the first to admit that you've got a great deal going over there. However, I'd bet that you didn't have sold out shows overnight. Any change takes time for word-of-mouth and personal habits to take effect... good or bad. Most owners don't have the patience, the time, or enough money in the bank to let a new business model develop. Like our customers, it's almost that immediate results are expected. Congrats on your new position. I also wish we'd had time to get together & trade war stories! Jack  |  IP: Logged Tom Petrov Five Guys Lover Posts: 1121 From: El Paso, TX Registered: Jan 2003 posted 08-03-2006 06:52 PM                    I think the key being competitive is downsizing your theatres. I used to work at two ten screen complexes at the same time. What I noticed was that only 3 or 4 screens were actually doing decent business but because you have 10 screens total you have staff the whole place and play movies that are not really worth your while. This summer we played two screens of Superman Returns when we could of got away with one screen. We really did not need to book a film like Clerks II, Ant Bully, Doogal etc that would not perform well. My ideal theatre would be 5 screens. Only play the films you know will perform well and let the megaplex down the road play everything.  |  IP: Logged

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