Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Movie standees, end caps, display cases

This is topic Movie standees, end caps, display cases in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Yesa Yu (Member # 8926) on 06-30-2015, 11:04 AM:

Hello everyone, looking for insight on how display cases, full size standees, end caps are shipped to movie theatres and what are some reliable installers, merchandisers that can install them. New to this industry thus would love your insight, advice, expertise. What shipping companies to use, avoid, consider. What merchandisers are known for quality installations. Please see image below for a sample standee that Im referring to. Thank you in advance!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-30-2015, 02:39 PM:

I guess there are people who go around putting those things together but I think the majority of movie theaters in this country use their staff to do it during off-times.

As for shipping, the studios usually ship these things out to the chains automatically (I think) and indies have to take the leftovers. In general, the bigger you are, the more stuff you can get. You can contact the exhibitor relations departments at the studios to get shipments. Exception to that rule, sort-of, are Fox and Sony which allow any exhibitor in good standing to order standees off their websites. (foxintheatre.com for Fox, or sonypicturesreleasing.com for Sony). Even there, if the chains snap up all the stock, you're out of luck. None of the studios charge for shipping of standees in my experience.

Your mileage will vary greatly. We are a small outfit, so we haven't ever had a standee from Disney, Universal, Paramount, Lionsgate or Warners, but we occasionally get one from Fox or Sony. The biggest issue we have is size -- our lobby is small and has a low ceiling so we occasionally have to skip putting one up due to space limits.

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 06-30-2015, 03:04 PM:

When I worked as "floor staff" in a cinema years ago, it was our duty to construct and deconstruct them. The amount of stuff you got varied greatly between releases. Sometimes just some dull movie posters, but sometimes also those bigger than life cardboard standees or I even remember getting T-shirts for the staff... Like Mike already mentioned, it depends on how big you are and how much money they spend on marketing. Those large standees are actually quite expensive to produce.

In some way I miss putting those together, those newer ones look like elaborate, complex LEGO puzzles. [Wink]

Posted by Yesa Yu (Member # 8926) on 07-01-2015, 12:47 PM:

Thank you so much for the input gentlemen. I didn't realize that this is how the cookie crumbles with promotional material.

Posted by William Kucharski (Member # 7246) on 07-02-2015, 05:51 AM:

What always amuses me is most of these POP displays have clear assembly instructions printed on the back which more often than not are summarily ignored.

My favorite was one elaborate stand up that had a clever system of inserting cut-out tabs into slots, but instead the people who had assembled it bent and forced things into a sad approximation and forced the pieces into place with what looked like about three rolls of cellophane tape (small office rolls, not even packing tape.)

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-02-2015, 03:28 PM:

I'm a scrupulous "direction follower" but quite often things don't fit properly, or they don't hold together the first time the thing gets jostled, so a roll of cellophane tape is definitely a good thing to have in the toolbox.

I hate the current "thing" now of instruction sheets that have crude drawings with arrows but no words. I like "insert Tab A into Slot B" type instructions a lot better, but they're getting less and less common on everything.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 07-02-2015, 04:07 PM:

The effort is to eliminate words and make everything "visual". The cost of translated and multi-language instructions is very high.

The visual artists can make everything clear without language barriers. In a multi-lingual world, pictures are worth their weight in Gold.

Of course there is always the you-tube video instruction where they can actually chow you where tab A is inserted into slot B.
Today it is how can you use the computer or other digital systems to get information. Reading is for librarians.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 07-02-2015, 04:07 PM:

I spend more time reading/deciphering the directions than putting the thing together. I am the resident standee builder because I can do it perfectly. And I tend not to destroy the things in frustration like everyone else I work with does. The key is to follow the directions to a tee, which includes realizing and identifying the two pieces that LOOK identical but have ever so slightly different slot spacing, etc. I never have to use tape, it always goes together correctly.

Posted by Yesa Yu (Member # 8926) on 07-06-2015, 11:52 AM:

Who normally delivers standees? What freight companies?
Can theatre choose shipping company or is it always the studio that's in charge of it?

Whom should I reach out to in the studio in order to inquire about standees? Marketing managers? Or do they have special titles?

When do they normally deliver standees? Night time, early morning? Or whenever they feel like it and you just have to fit their schedule?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-06-2015, 12:14 PM:

Since the studios don't charge for them, it's their choice of shipping. Ours always arrive by UPS or Fed Ex, although if you were a big multiplex and receiving a whole bunch of them, I could see where they might be delivered by a freight company.

As for who to talk to - what you want is the "Exhibitor Relations" department at each studio. Websites I know of are:

www.foxintheatre.com - FOX
www.exhibitorrelations.com - UNIVERSAL
www.sonypicturesreleasing.com - SONY
www.paramountprogress.com - PARAMOUNT

There are probably others, hopefully people in the know will chime in.

Note: Since these things have a way of changing with the wind, keep in mind that the information in this thread might eventually be outdated. Fox and Sony have both changed their website URLs at least once.

Posted by Martin Brooks (Member # 1269) on 07-20-2015, 04:16 PM:

quote: William Kucharski
What always amuses me is most of these POP displays have clear assembly instructions printed on the back which more often than not are summarily ignored.

Yes, when I used to write software user manuals, my cover page would always display in a very large font: "WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS"

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 07-21-2015, 04:17 AM:

quote: Kenneth Wuepper
The effort is to eliminate words and make everything "visual". The cost of translated and multi-language instructions is very high.

The visual artists can make everything clear without language barriers. In a multi-lingual world, pictures are worth their weight in Gold.

Many of those "instructions" are nothing more than some tweaked, auto-generated exploded AutoCAD view, not comparable to the mostly well designed, multi-step, multi-page instructions you get with e.g. a LEGO or IKEA kit. It's often hard enough to just identify the correct parts in many of those instructions.