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Author Topic: Will New Moon's midnight premier beat Half Blood Prince's? Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-20-2009 02:07 PM                    Well, I took my cousin to see it last night, and she was very excited to be the first person in her class to see it, and I was happy to be the one to help her out with that. We went to the Regal Brandywine in Delaware. I approached one of the managers on duty and asked how many theaters they were running it in... "TEN! - Fifteen hundred people!" Then I asked how many prints they were using... "Four. We have to interlock - you know what that is?" "Yep." And then he walked away to help someone. So... ten theaters, two are DLP I think. Which means four prints - eight theaters? Wimpy - as Joe Redifer would say. This show has been sold out for a while now. Bad planning. Maybe all of the theaters weren't empty at midnight - so interlock four houses on each of two prints and save the other two to start at 12:30 or 1:00. What a wasted opportunity. I don't get these places sometimes. I don't understand why theaters don't maximize everything they possibly can when presented with golden opportunities like this.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-20-2009 03:59 PM                        I haven't seen a number yet for the midnight show, but Twilight did $1.3 million, so I'm sure New Moon is probably much higher than that - maybe in the $3-$4 million range. BoxOfficeMojo Thursday chart EDIT Apparently Summit is saying $26.3 million for the midnight shows.  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-20-2009 05:24 PM                     From the-numbers.com New Moon Sets New Record for Midnight Screenings Everyone in the industry was expecting the opening of The Twilight Saga: New Moon to be big, but few would have predicted that it would top the performances of The Dark Knight and Harry Potter to record the biggest midnight opening in movie history. But that's exactly what it did, as it earned a massive $26.27 million in 3,514 theaters to beat the previous record of $22.2 million, held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Fans are already counting the number of times they've seen the movie on message boards around the web, and clearly a phenomenal weekend is in prospect. While The Dark Knight's $158 million all-time weekend mark seems unlikely to fall (not least because New Moon is playing in 300 fewer theaters), a place in the all-time top 10 looks increasingly likely. Even more remarkably, the midnight shows alone put the movie in the top 100 single days of all time, and a top 10 showing there is inevitable.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2009 06:52 PM                        Once again, the industry's smart people underestimate the female audience.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-20-2009 07:04 PM                        quote: Mark J. Marshall Which means four prints - eight theaters? Wimpy I agree wholeheartedly. It should be one print, all auditoriums. Nothing else is impressive. Even if I had four prints, I'd only run one for the midnight show.  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 11-20-2009 07:34 PM                     And once again (as it pertains to this being the second Twilight movie), the female audience, of this age group, underestimates the value of a good story and quality acting. I only saw pieces, some of them multiple times, as we had a 4-screen, 3-screen, and 2-screen interlock plus a DLP show last night, but there were far too many instances of male toplessness in this film. Sometimes three out of the four shows had it at once, despite the staggered start times Favorite part that I saw, thusfar, involved half-unbottoned female lead, apparantly not wearing any "support," running towards topless male character, in what I took to be a Hindu ritual of some type. Funny how many white hindu extras there were in the crowd. I don't get it. . . Obviously there is a marketing MASTER at work here, but this is akin to people coming back for more after already being fed a pile of shit in the first installment, and LIKING IT! As for the picture thing, and the CRAZY Twi-tards I saw last night, and the things they did, here's my list: I was watching one of our prints of "2012" as it was about to drop so I could move it in preparation for the Twilight interlock, and I saw someone (mind you while "2012" was still playing, not the credits, watching (I hope!) Twilight I on a fucking flat-screen TV IN THE THEATRE! Nothing beats paying $9.00 of Mommy & Daddy's money (except spending your own) to go to a movie you don't pay the least bit of attention to! As I was threading up an interlock, someone TOOK *MY* picture through the port glass! Too bad I didn't have my "full dress uniform:" my focusing binoculars, a pair of gloves, and a bottle of FilmGuard in hand. But seriously, WTF? I gave the Twi-Tard a look that said the same, and took at least thirty seconds to remember what I had been doing prior. Some girl, probably the same Twi-Tard that took the image of me, made one of the poor ushers take her picture, and proceeded to flirt with him whenever he came in to check her theatre before the show. ????? In any case the interlocks ran smoothly, despite any actual interlocking equipment. This was my first opportunity to see DLP and 35mm side-by-side. I liked the colors on the film print a lot better, but DLP was definitely a lot cleaner in terms of grain. I'd like to say the 35mm was sharper, but I don't know how that could be when both are coming from the same 2K file and the poor film version was duped at least twice after being burned back out to film. For as big a following as this series has, you'd think they'd shoot it in Scope instead of doing a S35 blowup; at least they shot it on film. Prints were all over the place color-wise too. One of our prints looks to have a distinctly green cast. I've almost never seen a print (except for intentinoally moody movies) that was timed on the cool side in a release print; guess they were up to their necks in print production at the labs though, especially if they churned out six THOUSAND of these things.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-21-2009 01:07 AM                    All right, guys.... let's knock it off with the insults. Just because you don't get the appeal of the movie doesn't mean you get to cast arrogant insults at the thousands of patrons that are coming to your theater to watch a movie and not to mention pay your salary while they're at it. All of these people are there to have FUN, which is what going to a movie theater is supposed to be. But most of the time it's just not fun anymore. Now a movie comes along that gets millions of people to show up at midnight - some wearing costumes or otherwise acting silly because of how happy they are to be there, and you speak of them like they're somehow beneath you because their taste in movies is different than yours. Yes, some of them are silly. Yes, some of them dress up. I dressed up for Star Wars. Am I silly? You may think so. I don't care. It's fun. If you're a fan, you get into it. And they're into it. Remember that your job is to be a part of putting on the show that they are paying to see. What you do is part of the experience for them. And they have been waiting for over a YEAR to pay to have that experience. If you're going to make comments that the fans are retarded for showing up at your theater to see a movie that they want to see, and are doing things like dressing up like characters, or wearing home made t-shirts, or taking pictures of the projectionist threading the movie that they're dying to see, or whatever, then I submit that maybe you don't understand what this business is all about. And maybe you should consider staying home that day so your negative attitude doesn't drag down any of the people that are there to have a good time. Because that's one thing that will make people not come back to your theater. So instead of insulting them, do something REALLY cool... find a way to make their experience MORE FUN. You have a captive audience. It's pretty easy to get their attention and have fun with them instead of at their expense. And if you play your cards right, you can make it a night they'll never forget. Try having fun with your customers instead of insulting them. It's much more rewarding.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-21-2009 01:39 AM                        Mark, you're right on the money. And I thank you for the reminder. Sometimes it's easy to forget that what we see as routine work - or possibly an inconvenience, is meant to be about fun for our patrons. Although I have zero interest in the movie, I'm more than happy to create the experience for those who can't wait to see it. When we do midnight shows, I always try to do give aways. Last night I even went so far as to show off the poster for the next Twilight Saga movie which comes out next summer. This got a huge reaction from the crowd. The only negative thing I will say is that the fan obsession with Twilight has been rather overwhelming from an operations standpoint. Our phone has been ringing off the hook for the past two days with people asking if we are sold out for this show or that one. And tonight we wound up having a crowded lobby for much longer than we're used to because people were showing up earlier than normal to wait for the next show.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 11-21-2009 02:00 AM                     I don't understand the phenomenon with this particular movie. I can only guess it is a generational thing. Here locally, the Carmike 8 sold out at least 5 or more screens for the midnight show. Our local ABC affiliate covered the story and showed a line of customers spanning from the box office to a couple hundred yards back to the end of the parking lot. This movie isn't Star Wars.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 11-21-2009 09:56 AM                    But it is to them. It's partially a generational thing, it's also a gender thing. Star Wars is a guy's movie. Twilight is a girl's movie all the way. If in doubt, check the trailers in front of it! That's awesome, Justin, and what you did is great. Imagine all of the people that will remember being at your theater and seeing the poster. And yes, it is extra work and stress on the staff, so you need to make sure their expectations are set. You may need to provide extra incentive for them too. Because if they're not having fun, no one is! Schedule a staff show of the movie. Buy pizza if it's at night - or donuts if its in the morning. Make them feel good about working there. As for the customers, play some games, have some giveaways, tie in with other local businesses and barter some stuff back and forth, decorate your theater, get the staff involved... chances are you have some fans there somewhere. Then they will tell their friends, and they will tell their friends, etc... Then make sure your interlock is working!  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 11-21-2009 03:46 PM                        New Moon set a new single day and opening day record at $72.3 million. It should tie The Dark Knight's record for the fastest to $100 million at 2 days - although it will probably be there faster than Dark Knight. BoxOfficeMojo daily grosses  |  IP: Logged Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 11-21-2009 05:40 PM                        Great posts Mark. I could care less what gets people excited to see a movie, as long helps to pay my mortgage and keep me from having to work for someone else.  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 11-21-2009 05:46 PM                     Mark, you didn't criticize me for roasting the person watching Twilight in the middle of a print of 2012, despite our playing an actual print of the first Twilight that night. Weren't they having "fun" there too? Yeah, I am bitter about no-good movies killing sales for some of the better titles playing right now. I love the enthusiasm, but this isn't just a teen-aged girl's movie, it's a BAD teen-aged girl's movie. It's getting a rating of between 4- and 5- out of ten on IMDB and RottenTomatoes. The former may be biased towards a male perspective, but the latter certainly isn't. Have as much fun as you want, I am criticizing this whole-hearted support of poor work.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-21-2009 06:05 PM                        Mark is definitely right on this one. If I let every movie that bothers me get in the way of my job, I'd never be able to work at a movie theater because 99.9% of ALL movies are complete crap and definitely "poor work".  |  IP: Logged Karl Borowski Expert Film Handler Posts: 161 From: Sulking in GameFAQ Forum Registered: Sep 2009 posted 11-21-2009 06:25 PM                     How did I say it got in the way of my job, because I stopped what I was doing, bewildered for half a minute at having my picture taken, a half an hour before an interlock? My personal feelings and thoughts on certain movies don't discourage me from doing a thorough job in projecting them. And, there's crap, and then there's crap. 4.2 stars out of 10 is an F.  |  IP: Logged

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