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This topic comprises 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Author
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Topic: Longest Booked Print
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-10-2002 09:37 AM
1954 Gigi with Leslie Caron ran at the Trans-Lux 52nd St. Theatre for a continious 76 weeks on grind 12 to 12. Single screen with 544 seats.
I believe the The Rocky Horror Picture Show is still showing at the Villiage Theatre in Manhattan every Friday and Saturday night and has been there since the late 70's. I will check on this and come back and edit this post if I am wrong.
Correction: Rocky Horror Played at the 8th Street Playhouse from 1978 until they closed in the late Eighties. The Film was then moved to the Village East where it is still running, on the weekends.
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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-13-2002 02:25 PM
quote:
The longest run I've personally seen was "Star Wars", in 70mm, at the Edwards Newport Cinema. I think it ran for very close to 1 year. Michael Coate probably has the exact figure.
The Edwards Newport didn't get a print of "Star Wars" on its opening day. They began their run in July 1977 as more prints were put into release (the movie opened in May with a mere 43 engagements) and played it through July of the following year. It was pulled just prior to the nationwide re-release that summer. So, Dave Stambaugh's one-year recollection is correct.
And if you're still interested in "Star Wars"...
For the Southern California region, other long runs of "Star Wars" were held at Mann's Chinese, the Plitt Century Plaza, and the Plitt City Center. The Century Plaza began running the movie at the same time as Newport in July, and continued running it through the summer '78 re-release. (There was a one month period in spring '78 where they pulled it to run a film festival.) The City Center in Orange was one of the original opening day engagements (in 70mm, too) and ran for seven months. The film returned to the City Center (again in 70mm) in July of '78 for the seven-week re-release. Another opening day engagement, at the GCC Avco, ran for about six months.
Technically, I suppose "Star Wars" played two separate engagements at the Chinese as it played for about a month beginning on opening day but was pulled for "Sorcerer" (which apparently was booked long before "Star Wars" - there are some humorous quotes in the book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" from the producer regarding seeing their chintzy 35mm mono trailer playing at the Chinese in front of the 70mm six-track "Star Wars"!). "Star Wars" moved to another Mann single screen theatre a few blocks away (they installed 70mm projection and Dolby so they could continue running it in 70mm) but returned to the Chinese in early August (which is when they added the R2-D2, C-3PO and Darth Vader foot and droid prints in the courtyard). "The Force returns to the Chinese in 70mm-Dolby" was how it was trumpeted in the LA Times. The Chinese run was finally pulled in June '78 when "Heaven Can Wait" opened.
Other U.S. cities that I'm aware of that ran the movie from its first week up to the start of the re-release (59 weeks) included San Jose (Century 22), Sacramento (Century 25), Phoenix (Cine Capri), Seattle (UA 150), Houston (Galleria), and Dayton (Dayton Mall). The Astor Plaza in New York City ran the movie from opening day through the re-release (66 weeks). According to "The Movie Business Book" (and confirmed through a microfilm check), the longest North American run of "Star Wars" was in Portland, OR, which played the movie continuously (at the Westgate) from spring '77 through Christmas '78 (the original 59 weeks; the seven-week re-release; several additional weeks as an exclusive). Apparently, the Portland engagement was allowed to continue even after all other prints were retired at the conclusion of the summer '78 re-release due to a holdover clause in that theater's booking contract.
A humorous ad I came across while gathering material for my collection was with the Chicago engagement at the Oakbrook. For July 14-20, 1978, their ad stated "POSITIVELY LAST WEEK!" referring to the seemingly never-ending run. Of course, July 21 marked the start of the nationwide re-release and Chicago got MORE prints of the movie (though the Oakbrook did end its run on the 20th)!
"Star Wars" had long, successful engagements throughout the world. But those runs, even though they seem like an eternity compared to the engagements of today (where two months is an eternity), were nothing compared to many of the Reserved Seat Engagement/Roadshows of the '50s and '60s. Films like "Oklahoma!," "Around The World In Eighty Days," "The Sound Of Music," and many others had runs where it was common to last one or two years, or longer. Others have pointed this out in some of the other posts in this thread. The LA run of "The Sound Of Music," for instance, played for 21 months at the Fox Wilshire, then moved over to the Carthay Circle when "The Sand Pebbles" (also directed by Robert Wise) opened, where it played for several more months. In San Diego, the roadshow run of "The Sound Of Music" ran for 31 months at the Loma Theater. The five-year run of "The Sound Of Music" in Birmingham, England mentioned earlier is amazing. And what's also amazing when compared with today's exhibition is that many of these theaters were single screens at the time of those incredibly long runs.
[ 01-10-2003, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]
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John Pytlak
Film God
Posts: 9987
From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 06-13-2002 03:56 PM
Gordon said: "That print is still the 70mm one kicking around almost 30years later in shades of red and white"Unfortunately, original 70mm prints of "The Sound of Music" were made about 15 years before Kodak developed and introduced the current family of print films having greatly improved image stability in the early 1980's. Maybe a few were kept in the recommended cool and dry storage conditions specified by SMPTE Recommended Practice RP131? At least more care is usually taken in properly storing the pre-print elements, so new prints and video transfers can be made. The color on the recent DVD release looks quite good, but just think how good a new 70mm release would look.  Kodak offers film preservation and restoration services through CineSite and the Pro-Tek vaults:
http://www.cinesite.com/la/presrest/protek.html
http://www.cinesite.com/la/presrest/rest.html
http://www.fpcfilm.com/US/en/motion/FPC/pro-tek/protek_main.html
------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion
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