Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Midnight for Return of the King.

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Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 12-16-2003, 10:56 AM:

Since most theaters are having a midnight showing, just wondering how everyone is doing on it. How many screens do you have it on? Is it sold out ahead of time? Is it sold out at the running time? It's a school night so that will bring down some attendance that we would have...

We're running it on 2 screens but haven't even started selling it to the second yet, I think as of now we only have about half of the first theater sold out - about 200 tickets. We'll get alot of pre-sales tonight though I'm sure.

Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 12-16-2003, 11:25 AM:

We are showing it on 9 screens tonight. We are already sold out of most of it, and will be sold out of everything by tonight.

[ 12-16-2003, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: John Scott ]

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 12-16-2003, 11:46 AM:

Yeah yeah, we're small! [Big Grin]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-16-2003, 11:52 AM:

I just checked the local theaters. Cinemark 17 has 4 midnight shows. The first is sold out as of now. The early morning and the evening shows Weds. are sold out. Regal Cinema World 8 has 2 prints, 2 midnight shows. No sellouts there yet.

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 12-16-2003, 11:54 AM:

3 prints for midnight. Already sold out.

Most first shows of each print (5) are gone.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-16-2003, 12:39 PM:

I have another question. Since you probably will have some additional screens free at midnight, are any of you interlocking this?

=TMP=

Posted by Chris Markiewicz (Member # 1415) on 12-16-2003, 01:12 PM:

I'm back at Keauhou for now (see Pictures). We'll be running it on ONE screen tonight.

Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 12-16-2003, 01:14 PM:

Yes Tom, that is how we are getting 9 screens off of 3 prints.

[ 12-16-2003, 03:08 PM: Message edited by: John Scott ]

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 12-16-2003, 01:43 PM:

We were thinking about interlocking if needed but we haven't even sold out one theater yet so thats not going to happen! [Big Grin]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-16-2003, 01:59 PM:

What is New Line's "official" policy on interlocking LOTR3-ROTK? Obviously they have been willing to supply multiple prints per site.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 12-16-2003, 02:02 PM:

It's gonna be The Matrix Reloaded all over again -- open huge, fall off huge. You're gonna be glad you have those Xmas Day releases when Return of the King has a big 2nd-weekend drop!

The AMC Bridgewater Commons has only 1 print and Reading in Manville has only 2. Both theaters correctly took product flow into consideration in their bookings.

Posted by Kelsey Black (Member # 126) on 12-16-2003, 02:17 PM:

No midnight showing here, so I'm pretty sure it won't be sold out....
Is anyone forced to do an intermission because they're running on towers?

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted on here.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 12-16-2003, 02:46 PM:

I don't think this is Matrix Reloaded at all. It IS going to open big and have legs for awhile. This film is so good, people are going to come back and watch it. I cannot wait to experience it again. Matrix Reloaded was fun, but nothing even close to this. This IS the film of the year, and THE films of the decade.

AJG

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-16-2003, 02:56 PM:

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm betting that this one has legs. The first two LOTR films were both great, and I'd be amazed and disappointed if this one wasn't at least as successful. Agreed that this is the "event" movie of the year.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-16-2003, 03:07 PM:

Legs? The first 2 "Rings" installments ran continuously here right up until the DVDs were released. This is going to be big. REALLY big. [Wink]

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-16-2003, 04:44 PM:

4 houses... 80% sold by 5:00pm. Yeah, it will sell out all seats tonight.

I just hope those folks are hungry when they get here.. [Smile]

E-D-I-T-E-D

All four houses did sell out. Screening of the film makes me wonder why anyone would have shown up for either of the previous two.. [Confused]

I'm not much into sci-fi, so it makes sense that I wouldn't find this all that much enjoyable. I also noticed that it seemed to D-R-A-G on forever... [Frown]

[ 12-17-2003, 12:03 AM: Message edited by: Jason Black ]

Posted by Bill Carter (Member # 156) on 12-16-2003, 05:36 PM:

We will be sold out several hours before showtime. Sales have been steady yesterday and today. We'll start seating at 10pm (crazy, huh?), so folks have plenty of time to find a seat, and stand in the concession line!

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-16-2003, 06:46 PM:

Last year's LOTR actually did better for us on the 2nd week than the first. Probably due to college kids coming home for Christmas. I'm looking for the same this year.

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 12-16-2003, 07:14 PM:

As of 7pm, we have sold out 1 out of 2 auditoriums.
220 seats each. We should be sold out by 10pm.

Posted by David L Parlier (Member # 1944) on 12-16-2003, 08:30 PM:

We will be showing ROTK on only one screen (225 seats) for the midnight showing. However we did sell out about a day or so ago, and at about 50% for the shows on Wednesday and Thursday.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-16-2003, 11:18 PM:

we sold out hte midnight shows tonight two screens. Close to 500 people.

Posted by Paul Rich (Member # 243) on 12-16-2003, 11:49 PM:

We sold out our 3 midnight shows. 500 seats each. 1500 people total. The other 500 seat theater was sold out with the Trilogy Tuesday showings.

Posted by Richard Cieplechowicz (Member # 1275) on 12-17-2003, 12:02 AM:

We sold out four auditoriums and our Giant Screen light enhanced print. Most of Wednesday and Thursday also are sold out.

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 12-17-2003, 12:39 AM:

we are running it in 5 houses tonight (or we ran, I just got off work) with 3 prints. One house is single, the other four are interlocked. We are also getting one more print tomorrow so it will probably be in 7 houses. We sold out all 16,114 seats by 7pm today and considered a tripple-sync; but we decided not to b/c our big snyc is hard to do and requires someone to monitor it...

Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 12-17-2003, 12:50 AM:

We sold out our midnight at 10:30P.M. 1 screen 200 seats. Small Town.

Posted by Bill Carter (Member # 156) on 12-17-2003, 01:34 AM:

We sold out all 277 seats by 10pm.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-17-2003, 02:54 AM:

quote:
What is New Line's "official" policy on interlocking LOTR3-ROTK? Obviously they have been willing to supply multiple prints per site.

That's a good question, John. I've never seen mention of interlocking in any of the master licenses I have.

My hunch is that, compared to how a print normally "owns" a screen through its first-run, the studios probably could care less if you're adding capacity to a show by interlocking, so long as you aren't cancelling some other presentation. I could probably haul in a cart full of folding chairs, if I needed them. Why would the studio care? That's extra capacity for a given print.

The risk in getting extra prints is that (as far as I know) they'll tie up a screen for 2 weeks. If the initial edge wears off before that, you've got a lot of "starts" for the number of people you're bringing in.

It suprised me a little that none of the theatres in our area brought in multiple prints. It's pretty common. Regal even has a quad that's run 2 prints of the same show before.

What's interesting to me is the marketing side of running a 3+ hour movie. You're only able to run around half the show starts you could with a "normal" show. Considering there's no intermission, and people are hurrying just to make bathroom trips, it'll be very interesting to see if the concession takes it in the shorts because of the lower daily audience turnover.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 12-17-2003, 04:12 AM:

Charles, saying this will drop off like Reloaded without even seeing the movie is puzzling. Then again, you may not be that far off( even if unintentionally) as Reloaded actually didn't drop off as much as we think it did(considering it made nearly record breaking first week money, a second week dropoff was inevitable). The movie still made in the high 200s to my surprise. Revolutions was the one that really crashed. I am not a huge fan of this franchise. I didn't care for FOTR, but I liked TTT a lot and the general population also seemed to like TTT better even if the fanboys were divided between the two.

As far as ROTK, it's getting some of the best reviews of the three installments. What you are forgetting is that this movie will get a lot of repeat business and that christmas weekend is a good time for the families to attend this movie. You are also ignoring the fact that there is not that much competition this year. No Harry Potter, no other fantasy type movies out there. The christmas release Paycheck is supposed to be this huge dud.

Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 12-17-2003, 07:50 AM:

2 prints, 5 screens. Almost added a 6th screen. I would guess about 1200 people or so.

Edit: 873 people. It looked more crowded than that.

[ 12-19-2003, 05:16 AM: Message edited by: Jim Leko ]

Posted by Marcial Feliciano Ramos (Member # 1989) on 12-17-2003, 11:00 AM:

We start today. 2 copies, 1 single screen, the other interlock. 250 people each and almost sold out.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-17-2003, 11:31 AM:

quote:
What's interesting to me is the marketing side of running a 3+ hour movie. You're only able to run around half the show starts you could with a "normal" show.

The best solution for a multiplex in this case would be to have your largest screens equipped for changeover. If you had 3 screens like this, you could have 3 showtimes starting a half hour or so apart. Just carry Reel 1 over to the next house when it's done!

Maybe that's why they decided against an intermission. They're afraid people would carry the first half over to the next screen? [Confused]

=TMP=

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-17-2003, 12:12 PM:

I have a feeling the ONLY thing that's going to hurt attendance on this movie in the coming weeks is that running time with no intermission. I've already talked to a couple of people who have heard that it's "four hours long" and they're going to wait for the video so they can take bathroom breaks.

Posted by David L Parlier (Member # 1944) on 12-17-2003, 12:45 PM:

quote:
I've already talked to a couple of people who have heard that it's "four hours long" and they're going to wait for the video so they can take bathroom breaks.

I am not sure if the running time alone is really going to hurt attendance in the upcoming weeks. I would thing the hard core fans of LOTR are going to be the patrons trying to avoid the bathroom at all costs. They are also the patrons that are not going to miss the movie on the big screen regardless of the length. Those just watching the movie should be able to miss 4 minutes of the movie to take a bathroom break and still be able to live with themselves. I think people just like to bitch no matter what it is. Besides I sure do see a lot of people going to bathroom even when the movie is only 90 minutes long. Then again I could be wrong.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-17-2003, 12:45 PM:

OK, here's what you do. Two auditoria interlocked with enough accumulators to put about 6-8 minutes between them. Sell only the first house. No intermission in the show but anyone who feels the need can take a break at any time and then reseat themselves in the 2nd house where they will pick up pretty much right where they left off. Actually you could do this with any movie. It would recreate the TIVO experience at the movies. Double the admission price of course.

</SILLYNESS MODE: OFF>

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 12-17-2003, 01:10 PM:

How about just putting in enough accumulators to stagger the start times by 30 minutes. [thumbsup]

Then you get two prints for the price of one!

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-17-2003, 01:20 PM:

12 of 14 shows today at Cinemark #235 are sold out as of now.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 12-17-2003, 01:26 PM:

quote:
How about just putting in enough accumulators to stagger the start
times by 30 minutes

It's been done. Of course it doesn't really do much for the exhibitor since many distributors will request a lower (why?) per centage of the boxoffice gross for the second print. At least, I believe that to be the case. At the 6-plex, we almost never get two prints of the same title and, of course, it doesn't happen at singles, either.

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 12-17-2003, 02:09 PM:

Jack Said:

quote:
I could probably haul in a cart full of folding chairs, if I needed them. Why would the studio care? That's extra capacity for a given print.

The studio might not care, but there's a chance the fire marshall might...

I'm sure you weren't serious about doing that, but I have had customers ask us for folding chairs, or they wanted to sit on the floor, or stand in the back. Not on my watch!

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 1016) on 12-17-2003, 02:44 PM:

We sold out 1 of the 2 screens we were showing it on last night. About 250 seats in the first theater, then sold about 150 seats in the second theater.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-17-2003, 03:33 PM:

You're making me want to go visit my theatres to see for myself how opening day is playing out.

Maybe I'll just phone them.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-17-2003, 03:38 PM:

Re: folding chairs...
from Travis

quote:
The studio might not care, but there's a chance the fire marshall might... I'm sure you weren't serious about doing that,

You're right... and I wasn't! [Smile]

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-17-2003, 04:11 PM:

Accumulators, Steve? I thought the correct solution for long delay was a loop cabinet or an endless loop platter [Smile]

.

Much better to delay by an hour or two...

--jhawk

Posted by Marc Jones (Member # 29) on 12-17-2003, 06:32 PM:

Wouldn't interlocking possibly hurt the theatre's overall grosses, since you only have a house allowance for only the one screen/print.
Any one believe this will have legs like Titanic did, the run times are similar.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-17-2003, 07:01 PM:

Well, I think the presumption is that non-ROTK screens are dark at midnight, if we're still talking about interlocking midnight shows.

--jhawk

Posted by Steve Anderson (Member # 364) on 12-17-2003, 08:42 PM:

Sold out the mid-night show, and we had a guy buy out the theater for the first two shows today.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-17-2003, 09:17 PM:

Much better to delay by an hour or two...

For TIVO mode? Who spends an hour in the bathroom? [Confused]

Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 12-17-2003, 09:46 PM:

Guilty [Big Grin]

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 12-17-2003, 09:54 PM:

No, no, not for that variant [Smile]

So you can sell tickets in both houses and treat the situation similar to having two prints -- different showtimes in different auditoria and all the benefits that brings (but with only one print).

--jhawk

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-18-2003, 12:28 PM:

I don't understand these people who have to piss or fart every 30 minutes. I sat through Titanic and both LOTR's with my 44oz soda, large popcorn, candy, and other nonsense and didn't have to go until the end of the show.

I also hate those people who sit for the trailers and then as soon as the Policy comes on, they get up to go to the bathroom. Then for the first 10 minutes of the movie, people are walking all about. [Mad]

Unless there's a medical reason, no one should PANIC as soon as they feel the slightest urge and then RACE for the "potty!" [Razz]

=TMP=

Posted by Dan Harris (Member # 1759) on 12-18-2003, 12:41 PM:

Well, we didn't have any midnight shows, but we have two prints playing across three screens (seating 372, 304 and 258), and all but two shows, both 11am shows, have been sell outs to date. With Intermissions, too!

Dan

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-18-2003, 12:56 PM:

quote:
I don't understand these people who have to piss or fart every 30 minutes. I sat through Titanic and both LOTR's with my 44oz soda, large popcorn, candy, and other nonsense and didn't have to go until the end of the show.

Maybe they are Diabetic or need to be checked for it. One of the symptoms of progressive or undiagnosed Diabeties is frequent urination.

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 12-18-2003, 01:05 PM:

quote:
I don't understand these people who have to piss or fart every 30 minutes. I sat through Titanic and both LOTR's with my 44oz soda, large popcorn, candy, and other nonsense and didn't have to go until the end of the show.

Ah, youth, I remember it well. [Smile]

I could go for days and days without pissing. I would grow confused that my mother had to stop the car every 100 miles for a potty break. I used to joke that my mother had an index of all the best pottys on I-70 between Denver and Aspen.

Now I am 41-years-old. I can't make it through a two hour film without a bathroom break. Those 44 oz diet sodas just blast right through me. I'm now beggining to question why I even bother to buy them. After an hour I start looking at the action on film for a built in break in order to run to the rest room. For Lord of the Rings, I might try an experiment and not drink during the film and see if I can sit through it.

I'd type more on this subject, but I have to go to the bathroom. [uhoh]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-18-2003, 01:36 PM:

I agree, Tom. Unless there is some underlying med reason, I don't get it either.

The only thing that affects me that way is beer. Then I gotta "go" with every beer. As they say... you only "rent" beer for an hour.

>>> Phil

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 12-18-2003, 02:45 PM:

quote:
As they say... you only "rent" beer for an hour.

And the parts that STAY with you go to either the basement ("beer-belly") or the attic (brain). [Wink]

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 12-18-2003, 03:11 PM:

John, Ummmm I have *both* [Smile]

>>> Phil

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 12-18-2003, 04:14 PM:

According to today's Variety, the Tuesday midnight shows in US/Canada grossed $8 million and Wednesday matinees "were doing superbly". That's the geek factor plus the excessive hype.

This paragraph, buried near the bottom, hints at my earlier post in this thread:

quote:
The rabid fan base for the fantasy franchise could burn off quickly, making it vital that the film sustain truly broader support and prompt return viewing by core constituents over future frames. Task is complicated by the crowded marketplace, with multiplexes chock-a-block with attractive pics this holiday season due to an accelerated Academy Award sked.

In other words, your more typical "Oscar Bait" is gonna sustain your theater in January, not an overhyped epic.

Return of the King also had a day-and-date release in most of the world -- just like X2, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 12-18-2003, 07:18 PM:

At the end of this feature (ROTK) we have these huge massive lines out of our restrooms.

These 3 hour-plus movies are great..................

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-18-2003, 07:42 PM:

Hmm...think of all the screens a single print could play on if you were running 20 minute reels.

Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 12-19-2003, 01:10 AM:

we open it in OZ on 26 Dec. We normally do a midnight show to open A big film. Roadshow (OZ Distributor) just told us no midnight shows allowed here. WTF we allready have it advertised as it was done successfully with LOTRTTT same time last year without a problem. We have a big chain theatre as our compeditor (BCC) they never do the midnight show. Roadshow tells us our competition theatre -down the road- will be holding our print to ensure we don't do the midnight show (competition at its best eh?)

Posted by Chris Greenwell (Member # 1660) on 12-19-2003, 01:26 AM:

We sold out are midnight show as of 9:00PM, 400 seats 1 Auditorium, but from what i hear a theatre here in Salt Lake sold out all 17 of there screens, and I believe they only had 5 or 6 prints.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-22-2003, 01:01 PM:

quote:
Roadshow tells us our competition theatre -down the road- will be holding our print to ensure we don't do the midnight show

WHOA! That's not right at all. What's to keep them from screening the print for themselves and screwing it up? Or deliberatley messing up the reels or mis-labeling them so that when you finally get your print at the last minute and build it up in time for your first show, you find that it's all screwed up.

Yeah. Competition is great. In fact, I would see if somehow the studio is in breach of contract. Why is your competitor holding YOUR product?? Absurd...

=TMP=

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 12-23-2003, 03:53 AM:

is there any particular reason they don't want a midnight show? are they worried about making too much money too fast?

they should just make sure the print is delivered at 1 am. what's to stop the competition from having a public midnight show if they have the print? sure, they'll get busted, but so would you.

carl

Posted by Kevin Baglow (Member # 721) on 12-23-2003, 10:53 PM:

I got bullied out of the midnight show and changed the midnight show to the following night, but the distributor still sent me & the competition theatre an email saying they were to hold my print and not give it to me untill the morning when their theatre opens for the first show. That gives me about 1/2 an our to make up check the print and fill up the pre sold session. Seems like business practice in still in the dark Lord of the Rings Age in Oz.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-26-2003, 08:16 AM:

quote:
Hmm...think of all the screens a single print could play on if you were running 20 minute reels.

The one problem with Thomas' idea is the projectionist manpower needed to implement it. For one or two special shows I was just about able to operate a 3-screen with 20-minute changeovers running in one auditorium and platters in the other two, but this needed very careful planning to allow for rewinding, relacing and making sure I wasn't somewhere else when a changeover was imminent. Trying to do that in a big multiplex environment would be nigh on impossible, I'd have thought, unless you have one person dedicated to looking after the changeover show. The cost of him or her over several weeks compared to the cost of striking an extra print probably doesn't add up.

In the days before long-play systems, splitting prints between venues and transporting reels between them while shows were in progress was a widespread practice. I've read British trade papers from WWII (when print stock was strictly rationed, as it all had to be imported from the US during the Battle of the Atlantic) which describe exactly what Thomas was talking about - only in this case reels were shuttled between theatres, often a mile or two apart. When reel 1 finished in theatre A, it would be taken by bicycle to theatre B and so on throughout the show. The next performance would then start in theatre B and the process would be reversed. 'Crossing over' was especially widespread with newsreels, where the high turnover of prints meant that stock was at a premium. At the end of 1943 it was estimated that 700 prints (across all five newsreels) for each bi-weekly release was enough to supply all 4,100 of Britain's cinemas.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 01-11-2004, 06:35 PM:

Charles, you said

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's gonna be The Matrix Reloaded all over again -- open huge, fall off huge. You're gonna be glad you have those Xmas Day releases when Return of the King has a big 2nd-weekend drop!

It's been #1 for only a month now. Nice prediction Charles. I pointed this lack of basis for this comment way back in the Oscar Jam is about to Slam thread. I am not a fan of the Weinstein Bros. But I think you let that color your analyses of some of their movies - Miramax or not.