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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Letter to Cinemark about Daly City Theatre
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Brad Miller
Administrator
Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 03-05-2007 01:49 PM
Bobby has a point, but sometimes the kids are making such a disturbance that opening up a cell phone for 30 seconds is FAR LESS ANNOYING than letting the brats continue.
Even with that being said, it is easy to simply get up out of your seat and open the phone up and put it to your ear just as you are about to exit the auditorium. The kiddies will think you are just being courteous and answering your phone outside the auditorium, when in fact you are simply pretending for a few seconds and when you get in the hallway you are actuallyly dialing the box office. You should only miss less than one minute of the movie too, and by the time a manager can come downstairs (since most like to hide upstairs) a few minutes will have passed and it won't seem like you told on them (meaning for those concerned, no potential for a beating or anything in the parking lot).
Of course the manager SHOULD have made sure his staff was walking the auditoriums every 15 minutes regardless, but that isn't a Cinemark-specific problem. It's everywhere in most large multiplexes where staffing has been cut to save operating costs.
I've seen a few movies at the Cinemark Denton recently and although I've not had a problem with other patrons there, that theater did not do one single walk-through on any presentation I have seen. Also the focus is so incredibly bad every visit I have to go alert them. I don't see how this can be since I know Cinemark outlaws start timers...so did the guy starting the projector not notice or not care??? (I think it was aud #2 that had a bad side to side focus issue he was simply unable to correct.) The last visit there I was surprised the xenon made the show without exploding. I tried to find someone to warn them to look at it before they lose a reflector, but since it was the 10:30 show there was nobody to be found anywhere on the floor. (I think it was auditorium #12 if anyone in Cinemarkland wants to pass along the warning.) They also are in dire need of film cleaners. I didn't know trailers COULD be that dirty. The sound (although the trailers were too loud and the feature was too soft) was tuned fairly well for a multiplex though, and the theater is always clean throughout.
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Geoff Jones
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 579
From: Broomfield, CO, USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 03-06-2007 12:54 AM
Thank you Gordon!
Based on a few of the comments I've gotten, I think some folks might have mis-conceptions about me, some of which are a little insulting. Here's a little more about me:
I have never talked on a cell phone during a movie. The only reason I would ever consider talking on a cell phone during a movie would be to report a problem so I wouldn't have to miss part of the movie. If I was thrown out for talking on a cell phone, I would probably be happy about it.
I make a point of buying concessions when I go to good theatres.
I always carry my trash out with me, and tell my friends to as well.
I write a silly little blog about movie theatres, with the hope that it might help people find and support good theatres, and therefore improve the overall movie-going experience. (I'd love for folks here to submit reviews!)
If the movie is unwatchably out of focus or one of the many other problems that I have encountered, I do get up and go complain about it.
If the problems are minor or periodic, I complain about them after the movie, because I'd rather suffer through them than risk missing something crucial, unless I've seen the movie before.
If I were to ask for my money back after a movie (which I haven't done in years), I would not be doing it because I'm a cheapskate; I would be doing it to cause a hassle for the manager, with the honest hope that he or she will try to fix the problem, to avoid that hassle in the future. And I would never ask for my money back because the movie was lame or I had a bad date.
I like to sit in the center, and sadly, most theatres I've been to lately do not have enough leg room for me simply get up out of my seat without literally climbing over folks. (And I'm not a particularly large person.)
When I go to the movies, I want a large, enveloping, immersive image. I haven't been to the Bridge theatre in some time, but from what I remember, the screen there wasn't much bigger than my home theatre. That's one reason I didn't consider going there. (If my memory is incorrect, I sincerely apologize.) Also, the Daly City 20 had been recommended for its large screens and good sound.
I think Film Tech is a great resource and have been visting the forums for years, long before I ever posted. And I sometimes think Joe is funny!
Cheers,
Geoff
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Frank Dubrois
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 896
From: Cleveland, OH
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted 03-06-2007 08:05 AM
quote: Gordon McLeod
That is the attitude that is distroying this industry from the inside. The theatre has an obligation to present to the paying customer an uninterupted flawless presentation that they can suspend there disbelief and enjoy
Gordon, I think you misunderstood me. I agree 100% with your statement. I was trying to tell him that if HE doesn't get up to alert staff to the problem, and since the staff obviously doesn't care enough to check, he should expect the problem to go away. That theater is apparently suffering from what you describe, and its sad. We have the same situation where I am at, I see, I try to work on it, but the kids and some management just dont care. The only way to get rid of a problem is to take care of it yourself. Unfortunately, most noise or projection problems are only solved when patrons complain. I like the point that someone made about bad focus. Would he sit there though the whole movie hoping someone will come in and check? nowadays, you just can't count on that...especially in the big megaplexes. I think his complaint is warranted, but sitting in his seat hoping for results simply doesn't work. The theater deserves bad marks for customer service.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 03-06-2007 11:48 AM
quote: John Joseph Fink
But what the industry needs to understand is that if these problems persist due to lack of compitant booth opperators people will stay home and make it a NetFlix night.
I believe the problem is greater than simply having competent booth personnel. I think it has a lot more to do with corporate culture/policy than anything else.
The corporate management of many theater chains simply does not believe in investing enough money into auditorium and booth designs to achieve very good or great levels of presentation quality. Most executives only seem interested in "good enough" standards.
Those same executives also feel that regular maintenance is a pretty optional thing as well. Regardless of theater chain, many booths have to fight to get replacement parts, bulbs, speaker drivers and other items. The projection systems and audio A/B chains rarely get seen by qualified technical people either.
Lots of the theater chain brass keep holding to the belief audiences will keep coming regardless of sub-par presentation quality. That's the marketing strategy of a loser who only hopes to keep holding onto what he has instead of gaining more customers.
Movie theaters could be fighting from a position of strength if they wanted to do so. It's feasible to build and maintain theater auditoriums that can blow away the quality anyone can get from home theater. Someone can spend $200,000 on a very high end home theater, but it's still going to be a tiny room compared to a house with a 70' wide screen and several hundred seats. When that same big house has bright, sharp projection and sound that pounds the air in your chest you're going to want to come back regardless of what equipment you may have in the home. The trouble is very few commercial movie theaters are offering anything like that.
And that's a shame. Because there's so many other negative reasons why a lot of potential customers are staying away from movie theaters. The advent of Blu-Ray, HD-DVD and new versions of Dolby and DTS audio just sweeten the deal for home viewing. The rude, selfish behavior of other audience members is at least to some level out of the control of theater staff. However, the presentation quality of the show itself is fully within the control of theater. So I see little excuse for that end of it to be sub-par.
I was willing to drive hundreds of miles to watch movies at high quality theaters like the long gone GCC Northpark 1-2 in Dallas. That sort of phenomenon appears not to matter much to theater chain executives.
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