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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: What is the most moronic beef you have with this industry?
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Don Sneed
Master Film Handler
Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 03-16-2003 10:23 AM
Scott N.,Claude A.,& Jesse.....Thank you, you guys hit the nail on the head.....my beef is the people in charge of the projection booth, do not care about the equipment, only cleaning (sometime) & changing bulbs....I seen in many..Many booths where the simple repairs or fix could be perform without a service tech, you tried to teach the person how to do the simple things, it goes into 1-ear & out the other...Now I know this is my job to reair the equipment, but there are things booth people can do for themselves to (1.)save me a trip, (2.)save a show, (3)Just the satifaction of fixing the machine....so my beef is booth people in charge of equipment but don't want or have the time to learn about their craft & the equipment....
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Michael Cunningham
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 186
From: Anchorage, AK
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 03-16-2003 10:58 AM
My biggest beef has got to be with the "standardized" business model in use today between the studios and the theatre chains. What other industry in existence has its prices driven UP by competition?!?
To clarify : Multiplex #1 has tickets priced at $7.00 while Multiplex #2 (just down the road in the same competitive zone) has tickets for sale at $8.00. The studios, seeing this discrepency, realize that their 90% take of box office receipts will be larger on an $8.00 ticket than it will be on a $7.00 ticket. They proceed to send all of their "latest, greatest" films to M2 so that they can rake in the larger take. Because these two theatres are in the same zone they may not play the same product and this forces patrons to choose the more expensive theatre to see the movies they wish to. Further, once M1 sees that it is losing all its access to prime product and realizes why, it will boost its ticket prices to match those of M2 and restore a bit of balance in film distribution between the two. Of course, once M2 realizes that it is losing out on films it would have gotten, it will once again boost its own ticket prices to make it more "attractive" to the studios. I have seen this horrible cycle happen in a few places and there is no reasonable way out of the situation.
Secondly, what other industry realizes such negligible profit from its main product?!? The current standard of flooding the multiplexes with a given title and collecting all the sales within the first couple of weeks means that no title sticks around long enough for the ticket percentage to drop. Theatres can expect to take no more than 15% of box office receipts, at the very best. More often, they take something in the 5% to 10% range. No wonder film quality is ignored and the concessions is of utmost importance! Customers complain about the high ticket prices and we employees bemoan our low salaries while all the cash flowing through the box office goes somewhere else. This is just rediculous?!?
- Mike
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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 03-16-2003 11:14 AM
quote:
Stop builing megaplexes right next to each other!
YES!!! This has been a nightmare especially in Orlando, FL. Regal had a small, but nice little 7-screen across from the college. So they go and build a 22-screen inside of a new mall about 8 miles down the road. Fair enough. BUT NO! Then they go ahead and build ANOTHER 20-screen about 2 miles from the 7-screen. (Doing the math, that's about 10 miles from the just-built 22) And they keep the 7-screen a First-Run, with first-run prices, and wonder why they only sell FIVE tickets on a weekend!!! (The 7-screen has been closed for about a year now)
Not to mention, Regal also had an 11-screen in Winter Park, FL. It was decent, had 70mm capability, digital sound... so let's build ANOTHER 20-screen down the road! Uh-oh! No one is coming to the 11 anymore! (The 11-screen changed hands several times since then, turning into a move-over, then a dollar house, then briefly an art house only showing 8 or 9 movies on a shortened schedule. I think it's closed now.)
What a waste! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
=TMP=
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Scott Norwood
Film God
Posts: 8146
From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas)
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 03-16-2003 11:36 AM
This happened in the Hampton, VA. area in the mid-late '90s.
AMC had a 7-plex mall theatre in Newport News and a 4-plex and (I think) a 6-plex in Hampton, which is a few miles away. Circa 1996, Regal built a 14-plex in Newport News just down from the AMC mall theatre. In 1998 or so, AMC built a 24-plex in Hampton (again, just a few miles away) and closed their 4-plex and 6-plex at the same time. Then, Regal went and expanded their 14-plex to a 20-plex. So, for a while, there was a 20-plex, a 24-plex, and a 7-plex all within a few miles of each other. The 7-plex eventually became a discount house and closed. I believe that the AMC 24-plex and the Regal 20-plex are still around, however. Oh, and there was an indepedent 3-plex dollar house nearby that also closed.
This building frenzy was, of course, crazy, as there was no significant population increase during this time and I'm willing to bet that the total number of tickets sold per year hasn't changed significantly in response to the new construction. The end result of all of this spending on construction, of course, is that the same pie ends up getting split up among more screens.
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Darryl Spicer
Film God
Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000
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posted 03-16-2003 11:39 AM
quote:
To clarify : Multiplex #1 has tickets priced at $7.00 while Multiplex #2 (just down the road in the same competitive zone) has tickets for sale at $8.00. The studios, seeing this discrepency, realize that their 90% take of box office receipts will be larger on an $8.00 ticket than it will be on a $7.00 ticket. They proceed to send all of their "latest, greatest" films to M2 so that they can rake in the larger take. Because these two theatres are in the same zone they may not play the same product and this forces patrons to choose the more expensive theatre to see the movies they wish to. Further, once M1 sees that it is losing all its access to prime product and realizes why, it will boost its ticket prices to match those of M2 and restore a bit of balance in film distribution between the two. Of course, once M2 realizes that it is losing out on films it would have gotten, it will once again boost its own ticket prices to make it more "attractive" to the studios. I have seen this horrible cycle happen in a few places and there is no reasonable way out of the situation.
Secondly, what other industry realizes such negligible profit from its main product?!? The current standard of flooding the multiplexes with a given title and collecting all the sales within the first couple of weeks means that no title sticks around long enough for the ticket percentage to drop. Theatres can expect to take no more than 15% of box office receipts, at the very best. More often, they take something in the 5% to 10% range. No wonder film quality is ignored and the concessions is of utmost importance! Customers complain about the high ticket prices and we employees bemoan our low salaries while all the cash flowing through the box office goes somewhere else. This is just rediculous?!?
If there is this real problem with getting films based on ticket prices then the M1 theater needs to raise their prices to the same level as M2 and let the film companies know that the prices are the same. Does the M1 theater offer stadium seating? Does it offer the same things that the M2 theater does? Is the M2 theater a newer theater with stadium seating and all the glitz that is going to attract the young demographic?
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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man
Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 03-16-2003 12:45 PM
Oil first and then the corn? BAH!
1. Flash fire is definately possible.
2. Cold oil on a hot kettle can bust the kettle. (seen it)
3. Hot oil splash in the face is not a pleasent thing.
4. Thermal shock of cold oil in hot kettle will break down oil, just like if you poured motor oil on a hot manifold.
5. Airheads running the popcorn machine can't keep track of their own ass sometimes, let alone operate dangerous equipment.
5. The lid should never be open when the oil is injected. But most people are just too damned lazy to close the lid, inject the oil, raise the lid, dump in the corn, and close the lid again.
In the last 14 years, I have seen 5 major kettle fires that all but destroyed the popcorn machine. If a kettle fire happens, it appears that some people will open the lid and try to douse it with water. Luckly nobody was hurt, but one theatre we had to evacuate because the fire got a "little out of hand." Quick thinking of the manager is what saved that day - and the theatre.
So again:
Oil first and corn last eventually will catch you with your pants down. Some of the Gold Medal poppers say oil first and corn second. All Cretors I have seen say corn first, and then the oil.
I have to totally agree Darryl. Procedure change to corn first and then the oil was basically for safety reasons and oil breakdown when it hits the hot kettle. I think the Cretors manual points that out. Furthermore, if one of your kids was severly burned while not using the manufacturer's specific instructions, you could be held liable. Is it worth it? If you are safety concious of your workers, you would and should insist that instructions are followed to the letter. If your old Gold Medal machine has the "old way" of doing things, you better get an update from that company and post it on your machine.
Sorry about the ramble, but all of us know that most accidents happen because someone violated the operating instructions.
Edited because I said 4 years....it should have read 14 years.
[ 03-16-2003, 01:58 PM: Message edited by: Paul G. Thompson ]
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
But you are right, it IS assuming there is a competent operator in charge of the machine. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
I've only heard of one or two kettle fires in the theatres I've worked in, in nearly 30 years.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[thumbsup]](graemlins/thumbsup.gif)
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