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Topic: Taking over a Theater options

Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 01-24-2014 08:15 PM

Mike, Frank has met with a number of directors many times and has a better handle on the situation than we do. So don't assume you know more about what is coming down the pike than he does. He's been in the business for many years. There are still about a thousand theatres running film. If I can afford to go digital sooner I will. But I'm not among those who panicked several years ago and jumped on the digital bandwagon.

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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 01-25-2014 12:34 AM

quote: Robert E. Allen
Mike, Frank has met with a number of directors many times and has a better handle on the situation than we do.

What the heck does that have to do with anything?

quote: Robert E. Allen
There are still about a thousand theatres running film.

And those thousand theaters equal maybe 5% of a film's gross. Such a small amount that Paramount chose to ignore them. Such a small amount that the rest are barely satisfying them.

Bob, what are you playing this week? How any choices of movies did you have this week? Most theaters running film that I know of are complaining about poor selection.

Why anyone would move halfway across the country and put time and resources to operate a theater without a plan to convert to digital is beyond me.

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 01-25-2014 01:37 PM

I got "Nut Job" on the break and I'm still playing it. I have brought in "A Madea Christmas" for my second screen. Both are doing well. The only picture that disappointed me was "Anchorman 2". There were 2 nights when no one showed up for that. Had I known it was just a piece of garbage I never would have booked it here in the Bible Belt.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-25-2014 05:43 PM

quote: Mike Frese
1) 189 miles!!! Who is going to drive 189 miles to see a movie 2-3 weeks sooner?

You would be amazed at how much people who live in "the sticks" are willing to drive. Here in Montana, people will literally drive 500 miles to see a BALL GAME that their kid "might" get to play in (no guarantees). So going 189 miles to see a long-awaited blockbuster would be seen as a fun road trip for some people.

quote: Mike Frese
2) Booking: Robert says Frank Rash is saying you have a year before you need to convert to digital.

If you're not picky about what you play, sure I'd believe you have a year or maybe more. So what's going to happen in a year? You might be down to one two or three film companies. And then, all of a sudden what if those last couple of companies decide to pull the 35mm plug? Remember, Paramount gave almost no advance notice...they waited until a couple of weeks before Anchorman and decided that was going to be it. Just pick any two studios at random and see how long you could survive playing ONLY their titles. It can take months to spec out, order and install a digital system. How many of us can afford to be closed, or playing crap movies during that waiting time? We sure can't.

quote: Mike Frese
4) Booking point #3: I have heard stories that booking the surprise hits after just 1 or 2 weeks is much easier to do being digital and NOT having a VPF.

This is true. We've had it happen several times....although the "after 1 week" thing is rare but it does happen.

quote: Mike Frese
You can get away with waiting 7 weeks to play a Disney title.

But doing what you can "get away with" is bad for business. I would rather get movies faster while people are hot to see them...it makes them excited to come to the movies. People around here are really vocal about their appreciation that we work hard to bring movies in FAST.

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Andrew Thomas
Master Film Handler

Posts: 273
From: Pearland, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted 01-25-2014 11:55 PM

Why book a big Disney movie any later than when you can first get it? They are full time sliding scale now, right? So booking week 1 vs. week 8 has nothing to do with your film rental percentage...

Also, we are digital with a VPF in a small town and haven't had any issue booking content on the break if we wanted it, or in the 2nd or 3rd week. Only studio that has shown any hesitation is Sony with Robocop. But that is one of the movies where we will just skip it if we can't get it on the break. Think that one is going to flop pretty hard after the opening weekend.

We also have been able to get several movies from Paramount on the break for only 2 week commitments. Our booker is pretty great.

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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 01-26-2014 08:18 AM

quote: Andrew Thomas
Why book a big Disney movie any later than when you can first get it? They are full time sliding scale now, right? So booking week 1 vs. week 8 has nothing to do with your film rental percentage

No. Disney charges the same film rental no matter when you play it on the initial break run. And the percent goes up the better the movie performs. For example, (I think these have gone up again) if a movie grosses $60 m over it's initial 7 weeks (or whatever time they decide to use), the film rental was 49%. If it did $160 m, the rental was 54%. Do over $300 m and the rental was 60% to a high of 63% if over $400.

The declining sliding scale was being used less and less.

If the VPF is not causing you any problem, that means you must be grossing pretty good (take that as a compliment please). Meaning that you historically gross at least $3000 on a movie on the break. There were many theaters in my area that would gross $1500 or less often when playing movies on the break.

Robert: I would be feeling pretty disappointed playing Madea's Christmas right now. Especially in a area with little minority population (yes I am aware that this movie is his most diverse regarding casting) and since we are month past Christmas. What was your other choices to play this week? If there was none, then I would say that your lack of digital is hurting you now. Just to be able to play something should not be your criteria of being able to delay digital conversion. Do you have your financing in place? Or what equipment you are going to use in place?

Robert #2: Are you saying that Anchorman 2 was garbage because ticket sales were bad? Or the content was bad? Knowing that you are against sexual content and bad language I am surprised your booker even booked it for you in the first place. There were no surprises in this movie with just a little homework. Did he not know your adversity towards sexual content and bad language?

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Andrew Thomas
Master Film Handler

Posts: 273
From: Pearland, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2012

posted 01-26-2014 04:07 PM

Yes, we are saying the same thing but defining the terms differently. Disney sets the percentage for first run movies not based on the week of play, but now by the aggregate national number. So the scale changes not over time, but over the trajectory of the sales of the film at the national level. So it doesn't make sense to wait until week 8 to book Frozen if you can book it week 1.

As for our box office numbers. I think we have had one movie not crack that $2000 mark over its 2 weeks (Saving Mr. Banks) here. Some, like Frozen and Nut Job will do 7-8k over two weeks, and 10-12 over the 4 weeks we run kids movies. We are a small town, but not micro (about 25k in the city proper, 35k in the surrounding 5 mile radius).

And we only charge $5.00 a ticket...

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

posted 01-26-2014 04:42 PM

quote: Andrew Thomas
So it doesn't make sense to wait until week 8 to book Frozen if you can book it week 1.

All depends on how you look at it, Frozen is not a good example as it was almost a sure hit as there was no competition. But some movies you really are not sure of how they are going to do so it is better to book in week 2, 3 or thereafter.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-26-2014 05:29 PM

For the studios using the sliding aggregate system, all their movies are on the system. It doesn't matter if a movie is a guaranteed hit or not, it will gross more when you get it faster -- which of course leads to better concession sales.

So in the case of Disney and other aggregate studios, it boils down to how long you think the movie will play. If you think it's only a one-week title, let it wait a while....but if it looks like a slam-dunk, there's no reason not to go on the break.

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Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 01-26-2014 08:06 PM

quote: Mike Blakesley
So in the case of Disney and other aggregate studios, it boils down to how long you think the movie will play. If you think it's only a one-week title, let it wait a while....but if it looks like a slam-dunk, there's no reason not to go on the break.

What if it is a firm 3 week run? (sometimes you can get them to agree to a hold over gross)

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-27-2014 08:55 PM

Well like I said, sometimes a title is worth 3 weeks and sometimes not. I've found that with a non-sequel or non-blockbuster or otherwise "unknown quantity" they will usually let us book for 2 weeks; but if it's something with gigantic pre-awareness, they want three but will sometimes back down to two if they don't get the numbers they're looking for.

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Ky Boyd
Hey I'm #23

Posts: 314
From: Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Registered: Jun 99

posted 01-30-2014 01:06 AM

Use a film buyer. I highly recommend Doug Endicott and Mark Schulte at Exhibitor Support Partnership: 323-951-0135. www.espfilmbuyers.com

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Jeff Eisentraut
Film Handler

Posts: 17
From: Hillsboro, Illinois USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 02-01-2014 05:08 PM

I have always done my own booking. My competitors use bookers and there have been many times where I scratch my head on the moves they make. Booking decisions are way too big to give to someone else...I must be a control-freak. BTW, I still book 2 theatres with 35mm and just received a letter last week from Paramount saying that they will indeed still offer 35mm on select films. I believe Wolf of Wall Street was a test of the Digital-only platform.

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