Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Midnight Movies

This is topic Midnight Movies in forum Ground Level 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=5;t=000968

Posted by Timothy Ervin (Member # 733) on 11-11-2003, 03:51 PM:

Does anyone do any type of special midnight movies? What kind of films do you show? How is "Rocky Horror" holding up on the midnight circuit? I am thinking of doing a midnight movie line up and wanted some feedback.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 11-11-2003, 06:14 PM:

Book DONNIE DARKO, or MONTY PYTHONS HOLY GRAIL. They are both winners, and have donw well with us. GOONIES and WILLY WONKA are two that I will try for in the summer of 2004. Cult films like Halloween or Friday the 13th do well in October. Our midnights do a helluva better business in the summer months, than any other time of the year. Go figure, no school!

Posted by John McConnel (Member # 2000) on 11-15-2003, 09:33 PM:

ROCKY HORROR has to have a cast performing along with it to do business. And then it's moderate to slow, except for Halloween.

Posted by Micheal Turlock (Member # 1892) on 11-16-2003, 12:52 AM:

We has 5 Midnight Movie For the 5 Friday Nights in October... Some did Really good, other not so much...
"The Excorsict: The Version you've never seen" - 25 people,
"Freddy vs Jason" SOLD OUT - 250 people,
"Cabin Fever" - 100 people,
"The Lost Boys" - 75 people
and our Holloween Movie "House of 1000 Corpses - only 15 people...

The Cult-type movies will always have better turnouts, but i think a lot of it depends on location and the type of customers that you have.

Posted by Josh Jones (Member # 447) on 11-17-2003, 07:38 PM:

We ran Goonies a few years back and had somewhere between 300-400 people. Fight Club did well, MAtrix did well several years back. We are thinking of dropping them, however, as the crowds are dwindling. PINK FLOYD: THE WALL kicked ass as well.

Josh

Posted by Zach Zagar (Member # 379) on 11-18-2003, 12:19 AM:

Not sure if anyone else does it, but my chain (Goodrich Quality Theaters) runs late shows EVERY Friday and Saturday (current releases) between 11 pm and 12 AM.

Every time we try special series or films late at night, they usually don't do well because of our typical weekend late shows.

Posted by Brian Hogan (Member # 940) on 03-23-2004, 03:04 AM:

can anyone suggest some more winning titles for special midnight shows? i am trying to book GOONIES for the end of april because it has done well for us in the past.

trying to find a feature for may and then some for the slow fall season.

Posted by Chris Medley (Member # 2145) on 03-23-2004, 03:29 PM:

I don't know if you could get it...but if you promoted it you could fill the house for a couple of nights in a row with "Cannibal Holocaust"...I think only 12 prints in circuit now...but it's a cult classic. If you live in a huge church town I wouldn't try it because...well...it just wouldn't be a good idea [thumbsup]

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-23-2004, 03:36 PM:

In a college town, try Princess Bride. Also consider the recently released Lost Skeletons of Cadavra, which is funny as hell. If you can figure out how to license the music, you might also try Wizard of Oz with the Pink Floyd/Dark Side of the Moon soundtrack.

I second the recommendations for Donnie Darko and Holy Grail.

Posted by Bryan J Arseneau (Member # 1832) on 03-24-2004, 02:45 AM:

try Oz Dark Side, where you run Wizard of Oz to the Pink Floyd Dark Side CD.
Works , BUT you will have the audience from H*****

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 03-24-2004, 06:53 AM:

Columbus is a college town, & is large enough to be one that has occasional events on the order of big city-wide known events like parties, sports events, etc.

The best midnight movie programming I've seen is tied to looking ahead on the calendar to see what will be pulling lots of buzz & (not neccessarily) attendance on the weekend & programming a feature that ties into it. You get the build-up from the buzz, the slop-over from the crowd, & repeat buisness from the newbies after the show for the next one.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 03-24-2004, 09:15 AM:

If Brian is still at the Lennox 24, he is literally a "stones throw" from The Ohio State University. It would definitely be a college crowd in attendance.

Posted by Brian Hogan (Member # 940) on 03-25-2004, 03:38 PM:

yes, my theatre is right next to OSU. we have done the midnight movie thing many years ago and have had success. i wanted to get it rolling again, but i also wanna change up the product a bit. i want use some newer titles that will still do as well as the old ones. any thoughts for newer titles?

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 03-26-2004, 01:22 AM:

Donnie Darko. By far a great midnight flick. If you are in no hurry to book it, you can wait until the Directors Cut is released this summer.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 03-26-2004, 05:15 AM:

There's already at least one print of the "festival version" in circulation that I know at least one theatre received without actually asking for it.

Not sure if this was by intention or a TES screwup.