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Author Topic: Multiple prints Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-29-2006 10:49 PM                     I believe that the cinema in the Swiss Centre on Leicester Square (recently closed) opened with the same film in all four screens. My guess would be via interlock though, think there was one booth with some of the screens reached using mirrors.  |  IP: Logged Jack Ondracek Film God Posts: 2348 From: Port Orchard, WA, USA Registered: Oct 2002 posted 06-29-2006 11:08 PM                        quote: if a print is interlocked, the film companies will charge an extra rate to the theatres for screening one print on two screens - Huh? I've never heard of such a thing. Why should the studios care if you multiply your seating capacity for one print... as long as as they get the appropriate percentage of the total gross (which they would). They'd no more care if I ran a print in a 600 seat house or interlocked it through 3 200-seaters. Seems to me if they were going to charge extra for anything, it would be for EXTRA prints in one location. In that case, assuming the theatre COULD interlock if it chose to, the studio is paying for extra prints for the convenience of timing on the part of the theatre.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 06-29-2006 11:47 PM                        Multiple prints is very common nowadays, in fact it's quite rare to interlock anymore, or at least around here. In fact, when my theatre, that I just started at, had to do it, no one knew how. They had to ask me, their FNG. Though I've worked at theatres for a few years, they still went through that FNG phase, for couple of days, till the manager that knew me was like "Do you know how to do an interlock?" I showed her, went off without a snag, everyone stop the FNG treament at that. Oddly enough, the shows during that weekend, which I'm not worked weekends due to another job, all had problems. Some of them they had to cut several feet out of the print because they didn't start the interlock right.  |  IP: Logged Ron Curran Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 504 From: Springwood NSW Australia Registered: Feb 2006 posted 06-30-2006 02:33 AM                        Sometimes we need a translator on this forum. I believe that Tom's question was: When did cinema complexes with several screens receive multiple prints so that they could show print A in cinema 34 and print B in cinema 69 in the same complex? This would allow the film distributor to get more screenings of the same movie so that they could get it out of cinemas and into home video faster. I have pobably misinterpreted this question.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 06-30-2006 01:20 PM                     Go back far enough, and it wasn't at all unusual for the major showcase theaters to be supplied with two prints just in case of damage. This would be to prevent missing a show, or exhibiting an inferior print. It was common with the Radio City Music Hall - NY, and Chinese, LA. I'm sure there must have been others when there were exclusive first runs in major cities, and the theaters seated 2000 or more people.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-30-2006 01:21 PM                        quote: Sometimes we need a translator on this forum. (snip) I have pobably misinterpreted this question. Hell, I understood it and I'm just a lowly single screen operator in eastern Montana. I think it's just a matter of reading carefully before replying. Lord knows, I've tripped over that ledge a time or two.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 06-30-2006 03:28 PM                    quote: Richard P. May Go back far enough, and it wasn't at all unusual for the major showcase theaters to be supplied with two prints just in case of damage. That's still relatively common. Even our lowly theater, while running a sneak screening of "The Village" received a total of six prints to run on four screens. I wanted to run the shows (all starting at the same time) with one or two prints, but the studio wouldn't have it. [ 07-02-2006, 01:06 AM: Message edited by: Mark J. Marshall ]  |  IP: Logged Thomas Dieter Expert Film Handler Posts: 234 From: Yakima, WA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 06-30-2006 04:22 PM                     Here's the link with Brads interlock with 40 min lag between starts. But I don't think that it's Pearl Harbor, if it is then these are the pics he was refering too. Interlock with 40 Minute lag. As you read, you'll see it's actually 20 min lag as it's threaded between 3 projectors with 20 min. start times.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 06-30-2006 05:26 PM                     Yup, that's a very old version of the system, and I never really did get good pictures of it. The system could be set up in 10 minute increments. As such you coiuld do 5 screens each 10 minutes apart, or 3 screens 20 minutes apart, or 2 screens 40 minutes apart, or any other combination such as 3 screens with a 10 and 30 minute difference.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 06-30-2006 09:33 PM                        Yeah, none of the plexes I worked at have ever received backup prints, at least during my reign. We rarely ever interlocked, so almsot always had the same number of prints as we had screens showing that movie. However, what I hate, is when you schedule multiple movies on the same sceen. You had to remember which print you had to thread. And it's real easy to go on autopilot, and just wrap the tail of the finished print, and then turn around and rethread it, like you normally would.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 07-01-2006 11:06 PM                     Multiple films in one screen is a pretty common occurence probably happens to us every other week. Had three in one screen once. Once had a film move booths which for the projectionist and myself wasn't fun.  |  IP: Logged Charles Greenlee Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 801 From: Savannah, Ga, U.S. Registered: Jun 2006 posted 07-02-2006 02:11 AM                        Yeah, I'm kinda glad we have a single consolidated booth. The old Tara had 3? Booths, each one you had to go downstairs to get to the stairs of the other. And they were spiral stairs fit into a room the size of my linen closet, 5x5 maybe. I'd hate to have had to move a built film between them, and they had platters, so it wasn't a pair 2k reels or changeover. I really feel for those guys that worked it. BTW, I think the projector in the large screen may have been carbon arc. I didn't open the lamphouse. But it was about the size of a 50gal drum on it's side. Cast iron with a door that bolted down. The projector/lamphouse was all that was on the stand, the automation and electronics were on a panel just below the booth window. I wanna say it was a century.  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-03-2006 03:54 PM                        Multiple prints? Interlock running a single print on two screens in the same theatre? That's wussy. How about "in the day" we BICYCLED prints between two THEATRES, two reels at a time! THAT'll put hair on your chest.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 07-03-2006 06:43 PM                     Just like Cinema Paradiso  |  IP: Logged Michael Coate Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1904 From: Los Angeles, California Registered: Feb 2001 posted 07-04-2006 12:53 AM                     Anyone familiar with the Juliet 1&2 in New York City, ca. early 1970s? Reel-to-reel or platters? Anyway, came across a New York Times ad from December 1970 touting Disney's "The Aristocats" on both of the Juliet's screens. That the film was showing on two screens was emphasized in the ads as if it was a unique or new method of exhibiting a film. Showtimes were every hour on the hour, so I suppose if the theater was running changeovers, it is conceivable that a single print could've been used. Of course, this begs the question: when did platters and automation start becoming common?  |  IP: Logged

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