Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Getting around Disney's BV'S 3 WEEK OPEN/WAIT POLICY

This is topic Getting around Disney's BV'S 3 WEEK OPEN/WAIT POLICY in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=002682

Posted by Christopher Lani (Member # 7952) on 05-12-2016, 02:19 AM:

I operate a single screen, 405 seat theater in Ely, Nevada. With less than 10K people in the whole County, and the closest other theater being 180 miles away, it is just ridiculous that we have to hold a movie on the break with no shows for 3 weeks. We have a dramatic dropoff after just the second week and we have never had any movie in the last 5 years that I have been operating this theater do squat in it's third week. We do have good 1st weekends and weeks, but that is is it. And if we don't get their wonderful movie on the break, they make us wait 3 weeks to get it and make us keep it for 2 weeks. I think they do this just to disrupt the openings of other blockbusters. But this ridiculous situation means that if I get 5 or 6 of their blockbusters, I know I'm gonna eat it for at least 6 weeks! It almost seems illegal. Is my booking agent just not capable or are there any ways around this behemoth and their ludicrous policies considering my location? Really? I have to just take 6 guaranteed bad weeks to get their blockbusters? I have 5 years of BORS to prove my point.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 05-12-2016, 06:22 AM:

Same for us and probably in most parts of the world.

Solution? Don't play Disney titles.

- Carsten

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-12-2016, 06:54 AM:

I don't think there is a way around those requirements. About the only option you have is to not play movies on the break. If you change up your business plan so you are playing 4-5 weeks off the break you will have much more flexibility on what you can play and how long you have to play it. Of course the downside is customers being upset you aren't playing the new movie the opening weekend. On the other hand, it would mean more first weeks every year. And if you are able to advertise ahead of time when you will have a specific movie, you can offset people being upset. The advantage for you is being several hours away from the nearest theatre. Many small theatres face the dilemma of losing business to the nearest multiplex if they don't play a movie on the break.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 05-12-2016, 09:24 AM:

You are not alone... It happens to most of us, which is why we added a second screen to our drive-in only two years after we built the first screen.

The way it's structured this summer, if you are a single screen you can either opt out and pass on the Disney stuff and play products from different studios or go with an ALL Disney ALL Summer line up.

Captain America - 3 week deal (May 6th) will trickle into Alice Through the Looking Glass on May 27th, which flows into Finding Dory 3 weeks later on the 17th of June, immediately followed by Big Friendly Giant on July 1st.

Definitely a hard decision for a single screen theatre.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-12-2016, 12:18 PM:

We played Jungle Book and now Captain America on the break with the 3-week policy. I hate it, but that's the way it is.

But, here's what we do. Anytime we have a long booking (two weeks or more) I put the dates of the booking on the marquee. This tends to spread out the crowds much more. Using that system we have a bunch of nice manageable crowds, vs a handful of uncomfortable-sized crowds followed by two weeks of crickets.

This idea works especially well if the movie has good word of mouth. Our 3rd week of Jungle Book was almost as good as the 2nd week. And Star Wars:TFA, although comparatively quiet in the 4th week was still fairly near our average.

Going ahead, I don't really know if we'll stay on the Disney track but I do think we'll do the 3-week deal on Finding Dory, since that's looking like a big hit. The BFG, I'm not so sure about.

My big fear is the other studios seeing Disney getting away with this and copycatting them. There really needs to be a separate set of considerations for smaller venues playing on the break, since the studios are so hell-bent on getting movies to home video so fast. The CBG arm of NATO has been working on this and it appeared progress was being made, until Star Wars gave Disney all the power in the universe that they didn't already have.

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 05-12-2016, 01:24 PM:

Things are a bit more relaxed in the UK than the US by the sounds of things.. We have to play 2 weeks as standard but never more than that, even on huge films unless we want to.

There is also flexibility on number of shows/split screens for smaller cinemas on certain films.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 05-12-2016, 03:29 PM:

We had run into this a few times before, mainly with Disney, IIRC. Barry brings up a good point about this year though. They have a lot of material and can gobble up your theatre for the better part of the Summer, if you let them.

As with Barry, we're a multiplex, so holding beyond 2 weeks has never been a problem for us. On the other hand, we had holdover problems at a single-screen drive-in we had back in '01. Even back that far, a 2-week booking at that place was one too many.

I wouldn't pretend to guess how Disney will handle future dates, but I wonder if this might cool off a bit, once the big Summertime releases play out. Overall, there seems to be a bit more room to work with the studios when the releases are more "average".

As for the Disney lineup this year... the double feature lineups are pretty good.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 05-12-2016, 04:51 PM:

Does Disney require exclusive use of the screen for the entire run? Maybe try doing split shows with some off the break movie that didn't make it to town.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-12-2016, 06:00 PM:

If you're talking indoor, Disney is very hard-line against splitting a screen, unless their movie in question is a big flop.

quote: Jack Ondracek
I wouldn't pretend to guess how Disney will handle future dates, but I wonder if this might cool off a bit, once the big Summertime releases play out.

Our booker told me that the Disney rep told him the 3-week policy is "through the end of the year."

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-12-2016, 06:20 PM:

They also have a policy where you can't take off their movie for the Thursday night screenings of another of their movies. We only heard about this when we tried to drop the Thursday night showing of Zootopia for the showing of Jungle Book. Apparently this applies to any instance where you are playing their title clean in a given week - even when the title you would drop shows from has been on screen for 3-4-5 weeks.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-12-2016, 06:22 PM:

Drive In in my area has been doing great with Disney Doubles!

Season opened with Zootopia and Star Wars.

Then, Kept Zootopia and did a Fox with Kung Fu Panda 3

In came Jungle Book and kept Zootopia for two weeks.

Now, Civil War and Jungle Book.

This week, Civil War and dropping Jungle Book for 10 Clover Lane.

Heard that this location's booker is doing fantastic deals where Disney loves what is going on.

And this Drive-In is doing 7 days being first run.

They're getting the people out there.

Posted by Brian DeCiancio (Member # 1422) on 05-12-2016, 10:27 PM:

There's no "getting around" Disney or any other distributor legitimately.

But good luck Christopher. You're not going to change studio policy for your sole location. Some 100 of the 300 drive-ins left in the country held out against Disney's attempt to push up the cap on terms for Captain America. Disney didn't give in, even though they lost a lot of DIs and the extra percentage they wanted meant that they lost A LOT more than what they gained from higher percentage demanded from the others that felt the need to take the movie.

If they don't care that they lost hundreds of thousands in gross and thousands in film rental from those that held their ground, they certainly don't care about your theater--I'm sorry to say.

Book what you feel is best for your place with all things considered. Three weeks commitment is too much? Book something else. Don't be afraid to tell your customers that the commitment for <movie> was not was what you felt was best for your theater. No need to bash any particular distributor, but explaining helps.

Posted by Andrew Thomas (Member # 7000) on 05-13-2016, 11:08 AM:

quote: Brian DeCiancio
But good luck Christopher. You're not going to change studio policy for your sole location. Some 100 of the 300 drive-ins left in the country held out against Disney's attempt to push up the cap on terms for Captain America. Disney didn't give in, even though they lost a lot of DIs and the extra percentage they wanted meant that they lost A LOT more than what they gained from higher percentage demanded from the others that felt the need to take the movie.

We got our standard Disney terms at our DI on Cap 3, and it did quite well for us [Smile]

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 05-13-2016, 01:20 PM:

quote: Brian DeCiancio
they lost a lot of DIs and the extra percentage they wanted meant that they lost A LOT more than what they gained from higher percentage demanded from the others that felt the need to take the movie.

If they don't care that they lost hundreds of thousands in gross and thousands in film rental from those that held their ground, they certainly don't care about your theater--I'm sorry to say.

We thought about that, after reading the same opinion from a couple of additional owners. I know you and I don't see eye to eye on some issues, Brian, and while I respect your opinion on many matters, this is one area where I don't think the loss is as extreme as you suggest.

In an isolated area, it's possible that the percentages from a hold-out drive-in might be lost. In an area like mine however, many of the people who wanted to see the picture could just as easily have gone to one of the 6 indoor houses within my market area, and I believe they would have done exactly that. Here's where Disney wins either way. Those people would have paid somewhat higher admits than I charge (read: higher % back to the studio). The indoor houses pay slightly higher first-run percentages here, which would also translate to higher per-capita income for Disney.

I understand neither of us is likely to change our stance on this issue, and I can accept that. For me, I just don't believe the net effect on Disney would have been anywhere near as negative as it would have been for a lot of us, were we to have held out on Captain America. For that matter, I think 500 screens, indoor or out, could close tomorrow without it being a big-picture problem for any of the studios. I'm not sure I believe most of them would even notice.

I fully support making booking decisions, based on the strategic goals of one's business. However, using that tactic to send a collective message to Hollywood isn't something I think would ever work.

Posted by Timothy Eiler (Member # 383) on 05-13-2016, 02:58 PM:

quote: Jack Ondracek
For that matter, I think 500 screens, indoor or out, could close tomorrow without it being a big-picture problem for any of the studios. I'm not sure I believe most of them would even notice.

Nor would they care.

Posted by Rick Cohen (Member # 6140) on 05-13-2016, 04:10 PM:

It depends which 500 screens you're about. If you take away 500 screens from small, rural towns where a weekend gross rarely goes above $5,000, I doubt they'd notice. If you take away 500 screens which routinely average $30,000 per weekend, they might.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-13-2016, 04:49 PM:

Rick's point is right on the money and explains why small town theatres have to struggle to get first run content at times. The grosses we put up are insignificant in the big picture. What many small town theatres gross over a 3-4 week run (if they run that long) is less than what a theatre in a major metro area will gross in a weekend - or a day.

The studios pay lip service to how important all theatres are, but in the big picture they won't even notice if many small town theatres went away.

Posted by Michael Wilkinson (Member # 2389) on 05-13-2016, 04:58 PM:

I'm in the same boat, Christopher. I operate a single screen theater in Northern CA and I'm stuck with 3 week deals on all of the Disney titles. I've managed to squeeze in a 49 seat screening room to help circumvent the problem however I've been waiting on final approval to operate which, no doubt, be after the best part of summer.

Posted by Mark Campbell (Member # 4411) on 06-07-2016, 04:50 PM:

Our neighborhood 2 screener in West Seattle is replacing Alice Through the Looking Glass after 2 weeks (with The Nice Guys starting its 4th week no less). Is there a clause stating that a film can be booted earlier if it underperforms?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-07-2016, 06:44 PM:

Earlier, I was told that everything through the end of the year was going to be 3 weeks. Then they backtracked to a 2-week commitment on Alice -- probably because the tracking was lower than expected, or they weren't getting enough screens. We were only committed to 2 weeks and it's a good thing -- it dropped like a hot rock the 2nd weekend.

Finding Dory is still 3 weeks but I think they're going to go for 2 weeks on The BFG. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I'm glad they're being a little flexible.