Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What Does Your Mulitplex Look Like?

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Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 12-23-2000, 01:01 PM:

I was just Wondering What Your Theatres look like. Are they themed? Do they have big blimps and light shows above the concession stand? Famous Player's has big screens, big sound and a big difference. The lobbies are themed with light shows, blimps flying over the concession stand, arcades, And all sorts of familiar fast food restaurants. What are yours like? Do they have them like this in the USA? Or some like this?

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Andrew McCrea
Merry McChristmas, Happy Holidays And Happy Hanukah!

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-23-2000, 03:15 PM:

To see what the exteriors and lobby areas of our locations look like you can visit our web site: http://www.cinema-west.com and click on the individual theatres...

Most of them arent very elaborate, seeing we dont have the budget of some of the majors, but they are nice theatres just the same!

Aaron

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-23-2000, 03:17 PM:

grrr... it seems that the picture links now just go to a showtimes listing rather than pics of the theatres..

Aaron

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-23-2000, 09:35 PM:

There are several Cinema West theaters in the picture warehouse here on Film Tech.

Scott sent me a bunch for my website, too. www.cinematour.com

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 12-27-2000, 06:13 PM:

This is the experience you get! The screens are great, the seats are soooo comfortable, your rear doesn't scream at you during the show! It costs $24 million to build a 14 plex, so Famous Players keeps telling us!

This is one of the concession stands from an theatre. Some have a blimp flying over the concession stand. Others have light shows on top! it's really cool!

Aren't these cinemas cool? I LOVE THEM!

What do you think of them?

Andrew McCrea
I'll Be Back, Forums!

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-27-2000, 08:33 PM:

>> the seats are soooo comfortable, your rear doesn't scream at you during the show!<<

but judging by the closeness of the front row to that huge screen, your NECK will be screaming pretty loudly!

Aaron

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 12-27-2000, 10:37 PM:

The concession stand looks too "busy". I can see customers standing there for 20 minutes just trying to figure out what is being sold. It's got to be a management nightmare.

But it does get the customers' attention, tho.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 12-27-2000, 11:03 PM:

I did something about 4 years or so ago that turned out to be a real hit! I put an old Brenkert BX-100 with a 1050 soundhead in the lobby, used 6000 foot reels, and projected previews on a white hunk of cardboard pinned to the wall. I modified an old Peerless lamphouse and used a RV High intensity lamp powered by a battery charger. The exciter lamp was powered by a video game power supply, and the amplifier was an old Altec vacuum tube type used commonly in outdoor theater applications. I had an old Radio Shack speaker that I used with it. The customers LOVED it, and there was absolutely no comments that were unfavorable. We were all very proud of that. Questions from the customers about motion picture projection were always answered, and many times I took people on tours of the projection booth itself, which I was extremely proud of, since I was the one who built it. But when Regal bought us, they made me take that old Brenkert out. The district manager didn't like it. So much for another Mamma and Papa Theater which was always community orientated.

Posted by Erik Schill (Member # 675) on 12-27-2000, 11:33 PM:

our theatre is boring, just ugly carpet, lights that are always going out, some standees here and there, a few banners, a pathetic arcade. It just looks old, old and not kept up, even though it's only 3 years old, pretty sad huh?

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 12-28-2000, 12:14 AM:

quote:
but judging by the closeness of the front row to that huge screen, your NECK will be screaming pretty loudly!

Shortly after it was obvious that Talkies were here to stay, LOTS of theaters filled in the orchestra pits & added more rows of seating down front to increase capacity.

Yes, we're talking just inches in front of the screen. So assuming the screen to be behind a proscenium about as deep as that apron-like platform in Andrew's photo, there'd be a row starting right behind that platfrom. And the bottom of the screen would be higher, too; maybe 4 or more feet above eye level.

Folks wouldn't *usually* sit down there, of course, but if the movie's a big hit, you've got a ticket, & all the good seats are filled..where do you sit? It seems like usually if the front rows were filled, it was kids; usually the parents split up & sent the kids down front when seat selection got poor.

"And we can keep an eye on them, if they're where we can see them down there."

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William Hooper
Junk drawer: http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/theater/3622
Theatre Empire: http://members.xoom.com/saenger.1

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 12-28-2000, 08:06 AM:

Paul: That would've been a really cool setup,
the lucky folks would be the ones there when it came time to thread.

I think most of the Famous plexes look like this, a video arcade. I wish they were building them like the Granada Movie Grill Prestonwood (pix available here on Film-Tech). It evokes the glamour theatres should have. Also, those "down front" rows are obviously to pad the house allowance, no? One thing I find at the local Famous plex, is that even halfway back, screens too big, you have to move your head like a tennis match to see the movie. They are clean, picture is good, just doesn't have that theatre feel......

Suggested reading:

The Last Remaining Seats - BERGER & CONSER
The American Drive-In Movie Theater - SANDERS
Ticket To Paradise (American Movie Theatres and How We Had Fun) - MARGOLIES
Drive-In Movie Memories - SANDERS
The Show Starts On The Sidewalk - VALENTINE

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-28-2000, 08:55 AM:

Andrew: The pixels, "jaggies", and lack of true resolution in current digital cinema projectors would make those seats close to the screen intolerable. Digital Cinema looks pretty good, IF you can sit further from the screen.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 12-28-2000, 12:23 PM:

John... I didn't take those pictures!

Dave... I do like the new theatres, but a couple of things need to be adjusted! The projection window is really low at the back row! People standing up constantly block some part of the image! You do, though, get a clear view of the screen where ever you sit and it doesn't matter how small you are, or how tall the person in front of you is!

I always sit in the back row so it's not like a tennis match too! I hate sitting on the wide aisle, my mom always makes us sit there... That's why I usually go with friends now so I can sit in the back row!

Andrew

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-29-2000, 02:51 PM:

If the projector was raised higher there would be severe keystoning into the curved screens

Posted by Jeff Newman (Member # 752) on 01-29-2001, 01:34 PM:

Hi All,

I work at the Ronnies 20 Cinema (Wehrenberg theatre in St. Louis MO) which was previously the Ronnies 8, which was previously a Drive-in. Anyway, the theatre is relativly new, and inside the lobby, they decided to Re-create the drive-in expierience. Pictures of the theatre can be found here:
http://arri.dyndns.org/~jeff/ronindex2.html

The projector shown is the glass-encased projector that shows the lobby drive-in stuff. Mostly trailors, and the rare drive-in trailors (dancing hot dog etc..)

Some of the pictures are not the best, (sorry) but you can even see a picture of the wonderful bowlingo game!

Like I said, sorry for the quality of some of the pictures, Hope you like them!

-Jeff "Box office god" Newman :-)

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-29-2001, 02:27 PM:

Very cool lobby! I like it. Do you ever get people who just come and watch the drive-in stuff in the lobby and then leave?

Posted by Jeff Newman (Member # 752) on 01-29-2001, 02:30 PM:

Oh yes, and I forgot to mention, that yes, all of the drive-in speakers mounted on the poles beside the cars DO work and ARE used.

:-)

-Jeff "Box office God" Newman

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-29-2001, 02:32 PM:

Jeff:

Thanks for the neat photos of your indoor "drive-in". So this is in the lobby of your theatre? Do people fight over getting a seat in the "cars"? Do you run with the lights down? Do you think a full auditorium showing features with the drive-in themed seating would be popular? Is your theatre the only one with the "cars", or is this in several locations?

Say hello to Bill Menke!

Posted by Jeff Newman (Member # 752) on 01-29-2001, 03:08 PM:

John:
> Thanks for the neat photos of your
> indoor "drive-in".

No problem!

> So this is in the lobby of your theatre?

Yep! it runs non-stop until closing.

> Do people fight over getting a seat in
> the "cars"?

Not really. The have a concessiona area, but the "drive-in" is right next to the "food court" where they sell the pizza's and the more expensive food, so it is really an area for eating, so most people don't clambor for seats, although kids do hang out there :-)

> Do you run with the lights down?

No, but the area is "darker" than the rest of the lobby, probably for screen visability...

> Do you think a full auditorium showing
> features with the drive-in themed seating > would be popular?

Hmm Interesting thought! I'm really not sure. At our theatre, our draw is mostly kids/teenagers/college crowd, and I don't know that they would be in to it. Although, it would certainly be interesting!

> Is your theatre the only one with
>the "cars", or is this in several locations?

As far as I know, yes, as the Ronnies theatre was originally a drive-in, I think
they built it into the lobby for nostalgic reasons :-)

-Jeff

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-29-2001, 03:25 PM:

Jeff, that lobby is VERY COOL! I'd love to make a picture page of your entire theater if you can email me pics.

Posted by Jeff Newman (Member # 752) on 01-30-2001, 10:13 AM:

Brad,

I'll get Sean Weitzel (Another member of film-tech) to email you some better pictures than the ones on my web page. He just got back from visiting out here and probably has some better pictures. If he doesnt, we will put together some pics for you. Thanks!

-Jeff

Posted by Colin Wiseley (Member # 247) on 01-30-2001, 07:26 PM:

If you want to see some pictures of the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg VA, click the link below. It's a web tour of what the theater looked like both before and after it's 1998 renovation.
http://www.thelyric.com/webtour/start.php3

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Colin Wiseley
Lyric Theatre
Blacksburg, VA
www.thelyric.com

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 01-31-2001, 08:04 AM:

Very cool indoor drive-in setup indeed!!

I'd like to know more about the "seating". The cars (or portions of them)... are they the real things, or a fiberglass mock-up specialty type seating?

If a specialty type themed seat arrangement, who's the manufacturer?

These things would really make a great condiment stand for a drive-in , if re-worked properly.

------------------
Barry Floyd
Floyd Entertainment Group
Nashville, Tennessee
(Drive-In Theatre - Start-Up)

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 01-31-2001, 09:56 AM:

The cars are fiberglass mock-ups, I forget who made them, but have seen them in several non-D/I setups (50's retro-style diners, etc)and they had them in a very similar 'faux drive-in' setup years ago at the long-defunct 'Eddies Fabulous 50's' casino in Reno, the 'movies' were a video big screen, and the cars has the speakers built into them.

Aaron

Posted by Jeff Newman (Member # 752) on 01-31-2001, 12:56 PM:

Hi,

As Aaron said, I'm sure these cars are mock-ups, I will try and find out the manufacturer, and maybe get you some closer-up pictures of the dashboard and seats.

As for the movies, they are real 35mm films on a real screen (as seen in the pictures) and the speakers are drive-in speakers tied into the audio system and do work.

-Jeff