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Author Topic: Flash Back Marathon Alex Grueneberg Expert Film Handler Posts: 125 From: Chicago, IL Registered: Aug 2004 posted 02-13-2007 04:51 PM                        The Music Box theater in Chicago runs some of those films for their Friday and Saturday midnight movies program. It doesn’t ever seem to sell out, but it does well enough that they keep doing it. For the passed few years I always get over there for Fight Club presented in a change over house... The turn out always surprises me.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 02-13-2007 05:10 PM                     Tony Ratcliff said: "We found out very early on that the only way people will come see the classics in this town is if it is FREE." How true! People don't want to pay for something that they can get at home, either. While we would all like to think that classics and revivals are cool- (see it on the big screen) the general public simply doesn't give a rat's ass, at least not in numbers that make it viable. Perhaps in other locations this might work to a degree, but in our metropolitan area (NY,NJ,CT) you could lose your shirt doing this. We tried kid's matinees of reruns several summers ago. It fell flat and was more bother than it was worth. Didn't even bring them in for free (so we could sell concessions)!  |  IP: Logged Thomas Dieter Expert Film Handler Posts: 234 From: Yakima, WA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 02-13-2007 08:07 PM                     quote: John Carpenter So what Regal is playing the marathon you mentioned? I didn't see any mention of it on fandango... I don't know if it's on Fandango or not. I got the email from being a Regal Crown ClubCard Member. Here some of what they are offering. Every Wednesday through April 4th $5 Admission - 4:35 & 7:35 pm Showings February 14 - Ghost (PG-13) February 21 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (PG) February 28 - The Princess Bride (PG) March 7 - Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (PG-13) March 14 - Top Gun (PG) March 21 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail (PG) March 28 - Spaceballs (PG) April 4 - Ferris Bueller's Day Off (PG-13)  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 03-11-2009 11:10 PM                 It has been 757 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-11-2009 11:10 PM                        I finally checked out a Flashback Feature at Regal 15 in Eugene tonight: The Lost Boys. Played in their largest house (somewhere north of 400 seats) and was basically sold out, very few empty seats. The theater manager and a promoter guy did an audience warmup right before the show, thanked everyone for coming and listed upcoming Flashback movies. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. And it seemed like concessions were doing good business too (just from observation). So at least here in Eugene this strategy seems to be a big success for Regal. Upcoming shows include Jaws and Beverly Hills Cop, which they ran original trailers for. It's smart of them to run these shows at the same time on the same day every week (Weds. @ 7:45PM) so the people interested in this kind of thing will have that "appointment" fixed in their minds. This Lost Boys print was in pretty good condition except for being a little greenish and the extreme ends of the reels being pretty thrashed. It started out playing in stereo and sounded good, but about a minute into it they switched it to mono.  |  IP: Logged Joe Tommassello Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 547 From: Coatesville, PA, USA Registered: Jan 2008 posted 03-13-2009 12:45 PM                  Back in my GCC days we had the "Summer Movie Camp" two mornings a week. The biggest title we EVER had? The Wizard of Oz.  |  IP: Logged Barry Floyd Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1079 From: Lebanon, Tennessee, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-13-2009 02:48 PM                        We ran Grease and Dirty Dancing last year in August, and the shipping cost us more than the film rental. We were very plased with the turnout though. Might do something like that again this year during the week of the county fair.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 03-13-2009 07:51 PM                     The Prince Charles Cinema in London has started doing classic double bills recently, went to King Kong and Godzilla which was cool, also saw Batman and Batman Returns which I think were one-off classics. These have been selling out. The ultimate flash back season was at the Empire Leicester Square, easily in the top ten cinemas in the world. I saw Pulp Fiction, Raiders and Taxi Driver on their massive screen and THX system. It was virtually empty in a 1330 seat auditorium.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-01-2009 12:34 PM                        The Regal 15 in Eugene has started publicizing its Fall 2009 Flashback Film Festival schedule: 9/9 Neverending Story 9/16 Real Genius 9/23 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure 9/30 The Goonies 10/7 Ghost 10/14 Beetlejuice 10/21 Psycho (1960) 10/28 The Shining 11/4 West Side Story 11/11 Easy Rider 11/18 Dirty Dancing 11/25 Titanic (!! This one surprises me) 12/23 The Bishop's Wife (1947)  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-01-2009 02:31 PM                        We ran an 80's Retro Week of Back To The Future, Breakfast Club and Beverly Hills Cop (3 shows each spread over a week). Didn't make enough to cover rental and shipping. But they did bring in people who don't usually attend (and scared away all of the regulars). May try some longer runs of similar stuff to see if they can at least break even.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 08-01-2009 06:09 PM                     Geeze guys! Do you think Edison invented the movie projector in the 70s? What about stuff from the 40s, 50s and 60s?  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 08-01-2009 07:30 PM                        The 99W Drive-In will be running "Grease" on September 11-12. Brian tried this last year, and it resulted in the first September sellout since they've kept records.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-01-2009 07:45 PM                        I don't know what voodoo it takes to make these work, but they've worked here for Regal. They started these in a small house, had sellouts; started interlocking 2 or more small houses, more sellouts; moved to large house. The shows I went to this spring were in a large house and were basically sold out (Lost Boys and Jaws) even if technically not every seat was sold. They have a radio station tie-in for promotion, and someone from the theater gets up and gives a short talk before the movie starts, including soliciting requests for future shows. All in all making for a fun non-standard moviegoing experience. Robert: They have run a few older movies, titles I can't recall now (possibly Singing in the Rain was one). They must not do as well as the more contemporary titles or there would be more oldies on the new schedule.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-01-2009 08:23 PM                        quote: Robert E. Allen Geeze guys! Do you think Edison invented the movie projector in the 70s? What about stuff from the 40s, 50s and 60s? Besides the whole supply and demand thing, there is the whole supply thing. The days of really great rep theatres are over, except in a few of the bigger cities. Video/DVD did to the Rep House pretty much what it did to the porno theatre. I went through High School going to Rep Houses in the DC area back in the 70's. There were as many as five, maybe more, operating full time. Mostly running junky prints, but we got to see all sorts of things. I remember the Dupont Circle running the complete (available) Buster Keaton collection. Now it is just the AFI Silver and their calendar is nowhere near as deep and adventurous as when in was in the Kennedy Center (or L'enfant plaza for that matter). Just looking at their August Calendar (I won't link because it will change in a month), they certainly aren't going into the 40's, and 50's, but some 60's. And outside of archival venues, are there quality prints available, or does every thing now have to be show on DVD? Don't get me wrong, I would love to run a Rep House and force my tastes on the unsuspecting public. But try getting anyone under 50 to show up for a B&W movie. Or a silent one. Rep programming is a dying art (like radio programming). I'm afraid I'm of the last generation to enjoy seeing the history of motion pictures in a movie theatre.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 08-01-2009 08:57 PM                     Martin is right. Most people are interested in seeing the rep movies that they saw when they were teenagers and in their 20s. By the time you start talking about 1940's movies, you are asking audiences of 90ish to come out to the theater and that just doesn't happen in reality. Don't get me wrong. I love the older stuff all the way back into the 20s. Silent and b/w never bothered me in the least and I would love to see some of that stuff projected from 35mm, but running anything older than the 80s is risky. There are only a few movies from the 70s that would be able to bring in any sort of reasonable crowd, and even less from the 60s (probably could count them with your fingers). Remember, very few people over 50 go out to the movies anymore. Its a matter of supply and demand. DVD and home video has almost entirely killed the rep stuff as it is, even for the biggest timeframe out right now, which would be the 80s stuff.  |  IP: Logged

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