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Topic: Had many "Cars" walkouts?

Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 06-22-2006 11:41 PM

You would have to ban all tots period regardless as a point of policy. On G films, I couldn't see anyone getting banned from whatever show. Just sounds wrong.

Ciao

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Jesse Skeen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1517
From: Sacramento, CA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 06-23-2006 02:20 PM

Sounds like there's a shortage of condoms in Utah.

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Dennis Benjamin
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1445
From: Denton, MD
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 06-23-2006 02:25 PM

Jesse - there is a social reason for the large number of children in Utah. It has to do with a particular religion not believing in using condoms (or any sort of birth control).

This web page Will get you more info on their beliefs.

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Ron Curran
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 504
From: Springwood NSW Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 06-23-2006 08:06 PM

Pixar has created a difficulty for audiences going in, with those black screen segments at the start of the feature.

They are not the only ones to do this, of course.

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Aaron Haney
Master Film Handler

Posts: 265
From: Cupertino, CA, USA
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 06-23-2006 10:26 PM

At one screening I attended, there was a young child about 5 or 6 in the front row who was apparently traumatized when "The King" had his big wreck at the end. I could hear the kid say "Oh no!" when the wreck occurred. Then when the King's battered, smoking body was shown sitting on the infield, the kid began to cry uncontrollably and would not stop. Eventually the parents took their child out of the theater.

I have to admit I found it funny, even though I felt sorry for the kid at the same time.

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Dave Williams
Wet nipple scene

Posts: 1836
From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted 06-24-2006 12:09 AM

quote: Dennis Benjamin
there is a social reason for the large number of children in Utah. It has to do with a particular religion not believing in using condoms (or any sort of birth control).

This web page Will get you more info on their beliefs.

Ok so I checked out the LDS church website there. Hilarious stuff! I don't want to get into any religeous discussion, but it does say that (insert diety) has spoken against the use of "illegal drugs", which I guess means that I can continue to pill pop all the crap I can get prescribed by my drug dealing doctor. AWESOME!!!

No really, as a member of the church, which does have a large majority of the population, they believe in unmitigated procreation to "bring all the souls to the earth", regardless of social concerns. So we do have twice as many.

However because of the heavy religeous concern, we also have a large familial concern, and as a result, a very clean city and state. Really, come here and visit and you will be really surprised about how clean this place is. It is really nice to live here.

We just need a really good movie theater that caters only to adults and serves booze. We have one, but it isnt any good.

Ciao

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-24-2006 12:17 AM

quote: Ron Curran
Pixar has created a difficulty for audiences going in, with those black screen segments at the start of the feature.

What difficulty?

First, the black segment is only about 15 seconds long.

Second, anyone who comes to a movie late deserves to fumble around in the dark. (and to be told to shut the hell up if they insist on talking about how they can't see anything.)

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Ron Curran
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 504
From: Springwood NSW Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 06-24-2006 12:42 AM

No argument there, Mike. Trouble is, many people are multiplex trained to miss the beginning of the film so they miss the commercials we don't show.

The Cars audience comes out of a blinding sun into a darkened theatre. The evening audience in our part of the world is practically non-existant for this type of film.

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John Koutsoumis
Master Film Handler

Posts: 261
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-24-2006 01:38 AM

Ron, where are the ushers with the torches? Isn't that what they are there for [Roll Eyes]

If a Theatre does not show the amount of crap that Multi/Megaplexes do before the feature then in their advertising and times listing they should clearly state that films start promptly at advertised times. One (now closed) arthouse cinema here did just that so everyone knew and there was hardly latecomers at all because they all knew the drill compared to other Cinemas which add a pile of [bs]

before the features which most people don't want to sit through.

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Ron Curran
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 504
From: Springwood NSW Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 06-24-2006 01:55 AM

John, the ushers with the torches are inclined NOT to shine them over the seated audience, so it is difficult for them to see many vacant seats beyond the aisles. Latecomers can sit further down the front as far as we are concerned.

Latecomers also insist on looking at the screen instead of in the torch path.

We do advertise that features commence right on start time. Latecomers do not read. Large signs saying "Please wait at the door for service" are ignored. Latecomers are impatient. While 2 ushers are showing people in, a family of latecomers will barge in.

When we show a film like Phantom of the Opera we clearly advertised that no one would be admitted after the start of the film. Most people took note. But you will always get the few who will abuse you with "Where does it say that?" We really should personally telephone everyone in the community and surrounding districts before we do such a thing.

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John Koutsoumis
Master Film Handler

Posts: 261
From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 06-24-2006 02:14 AM

quote: Ron Curran
John, the ushers with the torches are inclined NOT to shine them over the seated audience, so it is difficult for them to see many vacant seats beyond the aisles. Latecomers can sit further down the front as far as we are concerned.

Yeah That's true but shouldn't at least one usher be posted in the auditorium to know where the empty seats are or make a note of it before going back out. I've seen ushers do this to great effect. Of course if you have allocated seating (particularly if it's pre booked) than you can encounter problems. I personally don't go to Cinemas that have such a system, then again I don't even go at all nowadays.

quote: Ron Curran
While 2 ushers are showing people in, a family of latecomers will barge in.

Then if possible a third usher should be posted at the door and not allow anyone in before the previous persons are seated. Yeah you might piss them off but remember there are many more people seated already and you don't want any accidents.

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 593
From: London, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 06-24-2006 02:45 PM

If you advertised the actual start time then the value of the advertising space you are selling would go down as people wouldn't turn up for it. Maybe it's different in the USA but virtually every cinema in the UK has a 10 minute ad reel and a 10 minute trailer reel before the feature.

Where do you get all these ushers from? We have three people for seven screens usually. We haven't had ushers for years, got rid of them along with assigned seating. When 'The Omen' opened we had the two evening showings sell out and had to put one person on the door to check tickets, and me and another floor staff member in the screen seating.

Assigned seating is far better than free seating if the screen is going to be busy from a customer service point of view.

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Ron Curran
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 504
From: Springwood NSW Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 06-24-2006 07:49 PM

I never realised what a bad cinema we were running till cinema-going experts like John K pointed out the error of our ways.

We even have allocated pre-booked seating for busy sessions, which is obviously a turn-off. Worse, all seats are allocated if more than half the house is booked.

Our 200 seat single screen is badly under-staffed with only 4-5 on hand. And we should strap the families in so they don’t move when the lights go down. Although we have a stepped floor, a 2 year old has trouble seeing over a giant – who came in after that tot, so the family moves. I don’t blame them. This happens AFTER an usher does the seats-vacant check.

As a single screen, we can’t show all the films families want to see NOW, so they see some films at the nearby multi. Which is why several of them get the idea that 20 minutes of commercials, expensive concessions (so bring your own) and unallocated seating is the norm.

Let’s face it, we’re hopeless.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 06-24-2006 08:59 PM

quote:
I never realised what a bad cinema we were running till cinema-going experts like John K pointed out the error of our ways. ... Let’s face it, we’re hopeless.

Don't take it personally. Everyone tends to think their own theatre is the best. Even me....even though mine has plenty of flaws (some of which we eliminated this week), it's still my favorite place to watch a movie.

Excuse me...gotta go thread my platter array. [Wink]

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Ron Curran
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 504
From: Springwood NSW Australia
Registered: Feb 2006

posted 06-24-2006 10:43 PM

Thanks Mike, my skin is the only thing that isn’t getting thin. According to some of your posts, you have a reasonable idea of what showmanship is and the problems on the ground. I do think that Thumper’s mum in Bambi had the right idea, though.

Occasional customers tell us how we should run the cinema. Until they stage a military coup, we will keep running it the way our regulars like it. How much longer depends on our local government.

Back on topic, week 3 of Cars has dropped drastically here. We hope it is just pre-holiday hiatus, not word of mouth.

So the problem this week is not about walk-outs but a reduction of walk-ins.

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