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This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Author
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Topic: Small theaters struggle as Hollywood goes digital
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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler
Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 09-28-2012 04:41 PM
I do not believe you guys realize how low grossing many theaters are and they are nice places. The problem is they do not have enough people in their community to support the cost to convert. Here is a case in point:
Higginsville, MO - Davis Theater (open for 14 years)
Posted August 29th on their Facebook page:
WE ARE SO VERY SORRY:
BUT DUE TO THE MOVIE INDUSTRY’S ON-GOING DIGITAL CONVERSIONS, THE PROCESSING/ AVAILABILITY OF 35MM PRINTS IS BEING FELT BY THEATRES LIKE “THE DAVIS“. IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY HARDER TO OPEN A NEW FILM AND THE WAIT TIME FOR MOVIES THAT WE HAVE NOT OPENED HAS STRETCHED
ON FOR SEVERAL MORE WEEKS THAN “NORMAL“ FOR US. THIS, UNFORTUNATELY, WILL BECOME MORE THE ‘NORM’ FOR SMALL TOWN THEATRES LIKE OURS UNTIL 35MM PRINTS WILL CEASE TO BE MADE.
WE ARE HOPING TO RE-OPEN SEPTEMBER 20TH BUT NOTHING IS A ‘FOR SURE’. WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE ALL HAVE CHOICES BUT PLEASE KNOW THAT WE WILL NEED ALL THE HELP THIS COMMUNITY CAN MUSTER TO KEEP THE ‘DAVIS’ FROM BEING ANOTHER CASUALTY OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION.
WE ARE SO VERY SAD, BUT WE WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, UNDERSTANDING AND, OF COURSE, YOUR PATRONAGE WHICH HAS SUSTAINED OUR COMMUNITY THEATRE FOR 14 YEARS. GEORGE, FRANI & STAFF
Posted Today on Facebook:
It breaks our hearts but as of 9/28/12, the Davis Theatre 4 is officially closed. We will be checking into other alternatives and will try to keep you posted. Thanks for your patronage and friendship over the last 14 years. We will miss all of you!! George & Fran
(Ticket prices are within $.25 of Mike B's.)
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 09-28-2012 06:50 PM
quote: Mike Frese
It breaks our hearts but as of 9/28/12, the Davis Theatre 4 is officially closed.
According to Wikipedia, the town of Higginsville has a population of 4682 people. Without knowing anything else about the place (and possible competition in the area), it's hard to judge why it closed. But, in a town of that size I would think they'd be able to make a go of it.
I mean, we have only 1900 people in this town and we're still here. We have another town of 2900 nearby that supports us well, but it's 37 miles away. The total population of the two towns is close, in total, to what Higginsville has right in the city limits.
Questions pop into my mind such as: Were they playing current product? Was the place well-run? Was the owner there daily (or at least frequently) or was the place run by teenagers? Was it clean, well-lit, friendly? Were they community-involved? Was the popcorn fresh and reasonably priced? What's the local economy like? Did they start thinking about digital ten years ago when it was first announced, or did they wait until last spring (or last week)? And, perhaps the most important question of all, is there a 24-screen monsterplex within a half-hour's drive?
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John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 10-03-2012 11:22 AM
It has been awhile since I have posted, and quite frankly, I have not visited Film-Tech for some time.
There is, of course, a reason for this. Back in May, the independent I worked for was no longer able to keep up with his lease and was forced out. The company that took over the theatre shall go unnamed. I knew I was toast when they came in and their management addressed our staff with two basic questions: "What do you do?" and "How much do you make?" At that point I knew that my position as a part-time projectionist/ tech/ booth overseer, and general advisor to the general manager was at an end.
I can truthfully say that the loss of the business was TOTALLY the owner's fault. He refused to accept good advice while at the same time taking far too much out of the business and putting practically nothing in.
Now that the dust has settled, I feel I can look back objectively on the 40 plus years I have been associated with the business. While my primary career was teaching high school, projection and theatre work was a part-time job and my second love. I have seen a lot over those years.
To me, it is not the digital revolution that has done in so many independents in the industry. It is the use of the digital conversion by the studios that has been one of the vehicles to administer the coup de grace to small theatres everywhere.
As Brad said, they just can't be bothered with small change. As I look back, there was a time when studios took about 45% of the gross on a film. Exhibitos were treated as partners. Now it is far greater than that, and I watched as fixed costs went up and profit margins decreased. Exhibitors are no longer "partners", they are subjects.
There is also the DVD revolution, as many on this forum have stated so often before. Just look at the overall trend of theatre attendance over the years- down, down,down. Then look at the DVD release window- shorter,shorter, shorter.
Basically, there no longer is much of a business model for owning and operating a small theatre, unless you are one of a lucky few who can stay open by not having to rely on your theatre as a principal source of income.
Here on the Jersey shore, there are a number of small theatres in beach communities that plan on going dark at the end of the season. The investment in digital will not help their cash flow, and loans to small businesses in this area are non-existant.
I can not accept the argument that they are going dark because they failed to plan for digital. They are going dark because they don't produce enough cash. They are a microcosm of the industry in general.
I marvel at how the big chains in this area stay in business. They cut staff and services to the bone, offer poor concession fare, and put on a terrible presentation. How long can that last?
I fear a time is coming when the exhibition business will be almost non-existant. The studios want more and more of the pie while they keep cranking out inferior product. And I ask again, how long can that last?
I applaud folks like Mike Blakesley, who have been able to put up with this ![[bs]](graemlins/bs.gif) for so long and have been able to maintain their business. I applaud Richard Wolfe, who makes his operation of the Roxy in Northampton, PA such a unique experience. You guys deserve all the credit in the world as you shovel against the tide of the studios.
I feel bad for Paul and Susan Geissinger, owners of Shankweiler's Drive-In in Orefield PA. They may be going dark after this year, and the oldest drive-in theatre in America will be no more. Why? Digital conversion costs and studio rental terms.
Yes, there are cutthroat operators in the exhibition business that will get what they deserve, but there will also be a lot of good people who get what they don't.
Thanks to all you good people on this site who have put up with my posts over the years. I'll be around and stop by from time to time, but unfortunately I will not have too much to post about. In the meantime, I will keep in touch with a few close friends in the industry and enjoy being totally retired. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 10-03-2012 02:15 PM
quote: Dave Macaulay
Recently I've been hearing that single/dual screen cinemas that did go digital are having a hard time getting first run releases in the first week, even though they had expected that because delivering a DCP was so much cheaper it would become easier to book first run. The reason? They don't have high enough grosses (these are in smaller markets of course) so they would pull down the "per screen gross" number that's published for opening weekend.
This might be a regional thing. In this part of the country I can tell you that our bookings have barely changed since we went to digital. In some cases we've been able to get a print maybe a week sooner than we did before.
The cost of delivery is a moot point because the exhibitor pays the freight anyway. The studios certainly save money on print costs (or they will, once the VPF thing goes away).
I have heard cases where the studios would not book a print due to not wanting to pay the VPF, which that situation is being discussed this week at a meeting between the studios and NATO indie reps. But in our case here, nothing's really changed. There are some movies that will play just about any location that's willing to run it for two weeks, and others that you have to gross an average of $X per week to get the movie.
Remember when digital was first gaining steam, one big "selling point" was that a movie could open EVERYWHERE at once, not just in the big cities. Well, that didn't happen because studios are still deciding, just before release, on how many "prints" they will have out there and they're so worried about "screen count" and seem unable to make decisions on the fly. They're stuck with that finite number of "prints" throughout the run of the picture even though they could easily make thousands more copies in no time if they wanted to.
My theory is that their booking departments are operating with antiquated software. Once they've got the "print" count finalized, they can't go in and change it easily. They're stuck with that number. It's probably something to do with the way rentals and averages and flash grosses are tabulated....something like that.
Just a theory, but the way things often go in this business, I wouldn't be too surprised if something like this was going on and that's why a movie can't ever seem to "open everywhere."
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Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008
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posted 10-09-2012 02:42 AM
quote: Pravin Ratnam
You would think studios would have paid for small town operators to convert because with digital , they have the opportunity to make a single screen theater a virtual multiscreen since they could alternate showings of different movies.
I wouldn't think that, for that's not the business the studios are in anymore. Maybe this would have worked in the 1970s, when corporate synergy wasn't even a concept in some MBA's eyes, but in this day and age, the studios are in the business of making as much money as possible on each release as quickly as possible. It's why we are going to start seeing more Thursday 9pm and 10pm shows being allowed, becoming the new Friday 12:01am, and why we'll see more mid-week openers as time goes on. Start that clock as quickly as possible.
For me, the way small theatres should stand out from multiplexes down the road is by reviving the revival route. Move forward by going back to the past. Create that nostalgia for single screen theatres and the movies of their customers' youth back on the big screen, and get rights holders to go through the trouble of creating 2k or even 4k masters of their movies for the revival circuit. I own movies like Harold and Maude on Blu-Ray, but I'd get off my ass and see a 2k print in a theatre if it was less than an hour drive from home and the theatre charged a decent price, and I'm sure there are enough geeks in even the smallest towns who would support a double feature of The Dark Knight and Inception.
Small theatre owners are in the drivers' seat of their theatres, and have so many ways to connect with other small theatre owners to create that network of operators who could bring revival cinema back, for people will go see Superman at a theatre for the same reason they'll see Man of Steel at theatres next year. It's the freakin' experience, man.
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