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Author Topic: Boxoffice Magazine rant Peter Cane Film Handler Posts: 12 From: San Francisco, CA, USA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 10-10-2008 01:07 AM                     David - when did you send your letter? If you still have a copy, please send it to peter@boxoffice.com. Robert - no need to renew your subscription - we'll send you the magazine each month if you agree to continue commenting on it here. Deal? We've redesigned the release chart in response to some of the comments here. If it's possible to post the pdf here, I'd love to submit it for the thoughts of this board. Is that possible? Thanks, Peter  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-10-2008 01:14 AM                        Well now as long as we have Boxoffice people on here, I have a question. Supposedly a subscription to the magazine comes with NATO membership. I paid my NATO membership for 08/09 in July, but my B magazine label says I expire in December and I'm getting renewal notices. What's up with that - or was the NATO+subscription thing a one-time deal?  |  IP: Logged Peter Cane Film Handler Posts: 12 From: San Francisco, CA, USA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 10-10-2008 01:17 AM                     That's a mistake. We'll need the postal address for the current subscription to fix it. Please either post it here or send it to me at peter@boxoffice.com. Every NATO member in good standing is entitled to a free subscription to Boxoffice. If anyone else is having a problem like this, please email swebb@kable.com or call 800-877-5207. Thanks.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 10-17-2008 01:43 AM                     Perhaps someone has already said this but what I'd like to see is more info on the exhibition end of the business like it used to be: equipment articles (both booth and concessions), articles about a particular theatre (even classic single screeners), the death of or birth of theatres (even the big boy's multiplexes). It is, after all, "BOXOFFICE" not "Camera" or "Equipment Manufacturing" or "Actor's Journal". I don't see interviews with actors beneficial to the exhibition field.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-18-2008 06:42 AM                        Robert: you are correct. Other magazines do that better and all-of-the-time for those so interested. (American Cinematographer, etc.) Boxoffice should recommit to that which needs to be done for the individual cinema; not pander to studios and corporate; groups who do not need any amateur "help." Louis  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 10-20-2008 04:07 PM                        So, how would a print publication differentiate itself from resources that are already available online, including this fine web site? I'm curious what publications like Box Office can bring to the table that isn't already available elsewhere? One thing I can think of right away is the ability for such a publication to explore a topic in more depth and arrive at some conclusions on the issue at hand, all in the course of a single article. Many times, online communities are great for tapping disparate sources of information, but the loop is rarely closed where an issue is raised, explored, and then its resolution summarized.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 10-20-2008 06:01 PM                        Scott; Boxoffice once could offer immediacy, or at least a relative immediacy. It also once offered a sense of community. One of print media's "problems" is that some things are better, faster, cheaper on line. So, when timeliness could no longer be offered, Boxoffice ran from its roots. As it becomes more and more generic, it fails more and more in its original mission: ideas from one theatre to another. Louis  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-20-2008 07:36 PM                     One would think that equipment reviews would be useful...all kinds of equipment too. Projection, sound concession...seats...you name it. Articles on theatre design...how to improve sight-lines, lighting techniques...where the theatre can save yet have that glitzy feel....etc. Steve  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 10-23-2008 07:13 PM                     Amen Steve! If my old memory serves me right Boxoffice used to do that. I used to look forward to getting that magazine with the orange cover and I'd read it from cover to cover. I'm not so sure anymore. It's not easy to even find the classifieds anymore. Why not just make the the last page and leave them there?  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-23-2008 07:27 PM                     Also, kinda miss the theatre openings - the gala of it all. Plus, the reports of in-house promotions of certain films with awards given to staff members. I do believe, with all of this feedback that has been expressed in this topic, that Mr. Cane will take all of this into serious consideration and gradually return the magazine back to its glory days as the lot of us remember how it was.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 10-27-2008 09:57 AM                        Is it simply that a print publication is an anachronism? Given the lack of timeliness, the expense of print publication, and the tightening ad market, maybe the time for Box Office, the print magazine, has passed. I subscribe to just one print magazine, and that's largely because of habit. They have a online-only edition that would save paper and is a little cheaper, so I will go that route the next time my subscription is up. What was once a thick, technically-laden magazine with great information has become a much thinner shadow of its former self. I'm not even sure they're going to keep the magazine in print until my current subscription ends in Jan 2010. With the right combination of talent (on both the editorial and technical sides), I think that that Box Office, the online publication, could be successful. With The BigScreen Cinema Guide, I've managed to make what was a sideline hobby into a business that supports itself quite nicely. It took more than 10 years to get it to that point (but only about 4-5 years full-time), but print publications don't turn profits right away either.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-27-2008 10:07 AM                        I subscribe to several print magazines and would hate to see them go to online-only, but since Boxoffice deals with such time-intensive material, maybe they should think about doing a companion online-based subscription. You get the technical, less time-intensive info in the print edition, but the movie reviews and booking charts and all that go to the online edition. I'd frankly be surprised if they're NOT already considering this option -- the website already has a breaking news section and reviews are posted there before the magazine carries them.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 10-27-2008 07:32 PM                     Mike: I believe Boxoffice does have an on-line edition.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-27-2008 09:49 PM                        Yes, but a lot of the content on there duplicates the print edition. I was thinking of a separate set of content that isn't in the print edition. You would get both for one subscription price.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-27-2008 10:03 PM                        I think that Mike has the right idea. Print publications are useful because a) they are convenient to read when not near a computer and b) they can be stored to provide useful reference material in the future (which is something that web sites are notoriously bad about). Also, not everyone has a computer or likes to read off of a screen. I like the idea of putting the time-sensitive material online, and the non-time-sensitive material (product reviews, commentary, etc.) in the magazine. Maybe offer both for one price and have a slightly cheaper price just for the online material. Another possibility would be to make the release chart as a paper "insert" to the magazine, so that it could be made up with far less lead time than the rest of the publication. I don't know how this would affect postage rates and such, but it's an idea worthy of consideration.  |  IP: Logged

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