Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Still running Shrek 2?

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 08-26-2004, 08:28 PM:

We just ended our run of Shrek 2- 100 days since the opening. I watched several minutes of it and was glad to see that the print was in terrific shape and I passed around the compliments to the booth staff for a job well done.

How many of you are still running it?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-26-2004, 08:46 PM:

"Film Done Right" [Cool]

Congratulations are in order. [thumbsup]

Would you estimate the number of runs at about 400?

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 08-26-2004, 10:41 PM:

we still have it for at least another week or two....and it still looks nice. Probably over 450 runs....

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-27-2004, 01:27 AM:

We lost ours a couple weeks ago and the print was in good shape too. We started with four, and I know two of them were damaged slightly (not by me of course [Smile]

)but the remaining was looking pretty good. We still have Spidey and that print has held up remarkably well.

AJG

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 08-27-2004, 01:17 PM:

We're bringing it back for the first film in our "Labor Day Weekend - Triple Feature".

First time around we did REALLY good with it, we're hoping for the same results next weekend.

Pairing it up with PRINCESS DIARIES 2 and SPIDERMAN 2, for a "family friendly" triple which usually brings in the kids, their parents, and their parent's $$$$$$$$.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 08-28-2004, 02:44 AM:

That does sound like pretty good usage... except I think Brad says he can get 47,724.3 runs out of his prints.... (?)

Back when the first Star Wars came out, we wore out 2 acetate prints over 6 months (3 months each). I figure we got something like 324 runs out of a print before the sprockets went brittle & started giving out.

Any of you old-timers recall what kind of life was average for a print, back when it was all changeover, arcs & acetate?

Ours was a turnkey XL booth.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-28-2004, 02:58 AM:

1500 passes for acetate is about the most I ever ran a print (Beauty and the Beast). It left better than brand new and was flawless in every way. It's really not that hard to do. Nowadays I suppose 400 passes is considered impressive for a movie that does good business. Gotta love the oversaturation of prints on opening weekend!

My Shrek 2 prints left flawless, of course. [Cool]

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-28-2004, 12:00 PM:

I ran a accetate print of Fatal Attraction for 8 months. We lost it one week before it came out on video. No sprocket damage at all. I was amazed.

Posted by Jannette McQueen (Member # 1885) on 08-29-2004, 03:38 PM:

We still have one print of our original three. It's down to just one showing a day now, early afternoon, so once school goes back in, it'll be toast for sure (if this tuesday isn't it's last day). I haven't been working the matinee that much lately, but as far as I'm aware, it's still in pretty good shape.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 08-30-2004, 07:11 PM:

In response to John Pytlak's question about an esitmated 400 runs, I back tracked this print and found that we played it 394 times. It played on 8 of our 13 screens during its run. Lots of moves in multiple venues.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 08-30-2004, 08:27 PM:

quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr
In response to John Pytlak's question about an esitmated 400 runs, I back tracked this print and found that we played it 394 times.

I'm a good guesser. [Cool]

The cost of that print was probably well under the price of one ticket per showing. [Smile]

Again, congratulations on "Film Done Right". [beer]

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 08-31-2004, 09:33 AM:

We finished our run of Shrek 2 last Thursday. I took great pride in sending it back without a scratch, speck of dirt, or SRD error block. And with the DTS dics too [thumbsup]

Posted by Peter Mork (Member # 1336) on 08-31-2004, 04:02 PM:

quote: John T. Hendrickson, Jr
It played on 8 of our 13 screens during its run. Lots of moves in multiple venues.

My favorite is the seldom-achieved "Tour de Cinema", where a single print plays on each screen in a multiplex for at least a week. Obviously, the more screens you have, the less likely this will ever happen. At the West Newton, a mere six-screener, it's only happened twice in my tenure. Better than watching your odometer roll over. (Trying to influence the scheduler is considered cheating.)

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-31-2004, 04:20 PM:

Yeah, still running it, expect to keep it for at least two more weeks. Still looks new. Wonder why noone is posting about their print being scratched...

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 08-31-2004, 07:32 PM:

Chris-

Filmtechers don't normally scratch prints. [Wink]

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 08-31-2004, 08:10 PM:

True, but a lot of film techers have stated that they work with people that dont give a flip, doesnt mean they themselves damaged it. [Smile]

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-01-2004, 02:26 AM:

Film-Tech Forum member or not, whoever the SOB was that shipped a print of Shrek 2 to me two weeks ago did a great job at scratching the hell out of it.

There, does that satisfy your print scratching interest Chris? [Smile]

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 09-01-2004, 02:39 PM:

The Court Theatre print I made up for these two weeks has two sets of scratches. The base side is rutted throughout the analog soundtrack and on the opposite edge into the picture area. On screen it looks like black strings dangling from the top masking on the right side. YUK!

I have received several other prints that were damaged in this very same way. I suspect that the previous theatre has some roller problems or a defective bearing in one of the added on readers. Or perhaps this is a failsafe scratching the film.

The question from the exchange usually is, "How many customers have complained about it?" That is a very poor way to do quality control.

KEN

Posted by Bill Langfield (Member # 818) on 09-01-2004, 03:00 PM:

Yes we are still running it, was 10am and 12pm all week, until Sept 2, dropped to sat/sun only now.

I to have confess (the last remaining print of 3) Shrek 2 has light base scratches for about the first 30mins.

It's very annoying to find a scratch on a film that has been running for months, that only lasts for say 10,20,30,40 mins, then clears up. Clearly the projectionist has discovered the fault, fixed it and shut the hell up. Would be nice if he/she would confess and say 'Here is where I stuffed up / the roller I missed'.

But hey, we are talking about $2000 of film and possibly being fired if you admit you missed a roller.
I too would be temtped to shut up too, but I need to say YUP I stuffed/ruined the print, BUT, here's what happened, don't let it happen to YOU.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 09-01-2004, 06:53 PM:

A couple of webcams at each position, with software snapping images only when movement is noted (it can be programmed to ignore certain parts of the picture when looking for motion) would provide a record of everything. And instill a nice feeling of Big Brother is Watching.