Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Stupid Showtimes (AKA You Suck: Outing bad showtime schedulers)

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Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 08-10-2005, 02:54 PM:

I called the REG/UA Berkeley 7 on Tuesday to inquire about showtimes for Skeleton Key on Friday, since a group of us are going to see it and the showtimes weren't on Fandango yet. I was told 5:00, 7:40, 10:20. Sounds great, right.

Fandango (and other websites) now have showtimes for the weekend up and here's the 'new' schedule:

Deuce Bigalow 12:30pm |1:30pm |2:40pm |3:40pm |4:50pm |5:50pm |7:00pm |8:00pm |9:40pm |10:10pm
Ok, so showing on two screens, but with over an hour intermission between the 7 and the 9:40?

Four Brothers 2:30pm |5:00pm |7:45pm |10:20pm
Empty useless wasted auditorium until 2:30

Wedding Crashers 2:00pm |4:40pm |7:40pm |10:30pm
Ok.

Dukes Of Hazzard 2:10pm |3:15pm |5:45pm |7:30pm |8:15pm |10:45pm
Sharing one screen with Batman, but the other screen is empty and wasted until 3:15..

Batman 4:30pm |10:00pm
Sharing one screen with Dukes

and finally...
Skeleton Key 1:10pm |4:10pm |7:10pm |10:40pm
No mid evening show scheduled with almost an hour and forty minutes with the auditorium just sitting there empty and wasted from about 9pm until 10:40pm. Also, hello, people want to go to dinner first sometimes. They've effectively made their showtimes so unattractive to attend, and they're also wasting the whole auditorium during prime time with it just sitting there empty.

Who makes up these schedules? What a bunch of idiots. Crack kills.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-10-2005, 05:26 PM:

Eric,

it is quite possible that they don't open up until say noon, which would make it hard to have an early showtime then say 2:30 for Four brothers as it is a 2 hour movie, unless they wanted to start it right at noon. Why do you say its ok for Wedding Crashers to start at 2 but its not ok for Four Brothers to start at 2:30? Just curious.
An example of another theater in the area that dosn't open until 12:20
Take a look at the Bad News Bears and Sky High, while they are before 2 still pretty darn close.

Once the winter starts it is common for some of our movies not to start till 2 something, the doors open at 12:30 and the first show starts at 1 or after. This is common practice around my area and with the company.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 08-10-2005, 06:09 PM:

My issue isn't really with what time the theatre opens, if you'll go back and read my entire post.

But since you brought it up, the absurdity in the afternoon shows, as I mentioned above, is that

Example Aud #1
Deuce shows at 12:30 and 2:40

Example Aud #2
Dukes first show is not until 3:15. Why not have a 12:45 show also, since the theatre IS open?

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 08-10-2005, 06:31 PM:

Who really knows, every bodys diffrent. And from what I understand most of the big 3 or 4 showtimes are done by there home office. This is one place where Goodrich is great at, we do the showclock at theater level. A very nice thing.

As far as reading your entire post I did, several times just to make sure I wasn't going to make and ass out of myself. [Wink]

Who really knows why there isn't a show scheduled in that time, only way your going to find out is to call and ask the manager. Because he/she is the only one that will know for sure.

Posted by Jason Whyte (Member # 1433) on 08-10-2005, 10:45 PM:

Eric,

Yeah that 7:10 to 10:40 split for Skeleton Key is baffling. It's about a 105 minute movie so why not set the second one for 9:50 or even 10?

What I find incredibly irritating is theaters that schedule so much dead space in their afternoon shows, sometimes so much so that an entire showtime can be fit in the middle of it! Years ago, a cinema in Vancouver had a 88 minute movie with the following showtimes:

12:20-4:50-7:30-9:50

The 12:20 show ended around 2:00 and there was no sharing product, so there was TWO HOURS and FIFTY minutes inbetween shows! There could have easily been a 2:30 scheduled show. I think the reason being was that they had longer movies starting around noon or so, but still...

Another oddity I saw a few years back:

A mutliplex here in Victoria had 2 Fast 2 Furious scheduled at the following times:

12:30, 1:50, 3:45, 4:45, 7:00, 7:40, 9:50 and 10:30

No problemo, right? Here's how the screens were assigned when I got to the cinema (EDIT: I should mention here that I was seeing another film):

Screen #5 - 1:50, 4:45, 7:00 and 9:50
Screen #8 - 12:30, 3:45, 7:40 and 10:30

Rather odd that the first set of showtimes run into the second, and vice versa, and only about a 15 minute break between the 4:45 and 7:00 show and a TWO hour break for the other one! I double-checked this with the box office and it was confirmed as correct!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-10-2005, 11:59 PM:

Okey - try this one out for size and see what you think on this one:

Opening 12:00 set for a six-plex are: 12:00, 12:05,12:10,12:20,12:25 and 12:30. = people in, people out. A mad rush to the snakbar (and they wonder why their percap is low...)

Using the same scheduling format for the 4:00 sets are: 4:25, 4:30, 4:35,4:40, 4:45, 4:50 and 4:55 <-which this one is the most "gay-assed" showtime to use. Why not go to 5:00???

Then the most "ballsy" one is for the 9:00pm set:

9:30, 9:35:,9:40,9:45,9:50 and the "gay-assed" one at 9:55pm. The six-plex doesn't believe in 10pm showtimes, so the 9:55 one pops up.

Like-a...Where's the time for snakbar sales to happen? "Hey people! your percap sucks with these crammed in showtimes!"

It's hell to start shows like this - being 5 minutes apart. You screw up one house, the others are going to be behind.

-Monte

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 08-11-2005, 12:02 AM:

Hi Folks:

Last week the UA Stonestown shows "November" (73 minutes) at 1:30, 4:00, 7:15, 9:35. The 4:00 show, with previews, gets out at 5:30 and the aud sits empty for 1 hour and 45 minutes?

Both screen are always scheduled this way. What could the employees possibly be doing during the down time?

Mike

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-11-2005, 12:06 AM:

quote: Mike Croaro
What could the employees possibly be doing during the down time?

"....a seat cleaning/repairing party!" "...plenty of time for a good thorough machine maintenance party!"

(if they do these things....)

-Monte

Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 08-11-2005, 02:25 PM:

Well since none of us work at any of those theaters its a little absurd to start slamming them for their scheduling practices.

I know that personally at my theater if there is ever a gap between scheduled showtimes large enough for another movie to have played, its because their is another movie playing in that gap that is not scheduled (like a press/promo/private screening). Or if there is a larger than average gap between showtimes (say an hour or so) than the auditorium is being "reserved" for internal use, being it a hiring session or employee classroom training...or Theater maintainence.

And there are those fringe "econcomic" factors that I imagine get frequently overlooked by most of you.

Posted by Robert Burtcher (Member # 3227) on 08-12-2005, 03:40 AM:

quote: Chase Hanson
And there are those fringe "econcomic" factors that I imagine get frequently overlooked by most of you.

By that statement, I assume you mean situations where the draw for a particular show is so low that it'd actually cost the theatre more in electricity to play the show than to let the theatre sit dormant for 2 hours?

Posted by James Bjarnason (Member # 3237) on 08-12-2005, 04:39 AM:

My favorite is trying to fit in a screening of a 2.75 hour movie on a Mon, Wed or Thu at 7:00 when most of the shows you have are 1.5 to 2 hours. Now that's when you get the crazy showtimes.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-12-2005, 05:45 AM:

quote: James Bjarnason
to fit in a screening of a 2.75 hour movie ...

That's when you start that long one in later - around 7:45 or 8:00p at the most. Forget about having a 9pm set with a long one.

Let the others have their regular times, for you know that you're only going to get 3 showing a day (with full matinee scheduling)on these long ones (e.g. - 1:00, 4:00 and 7:45, or 8:00).

Lotsa fun doing show schedules... - Monte

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-12-2005, 10:18 AM:

For more fun with show scheduling ... read here ... Link

[ 08-13-2005, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-12-2005, 01:48 PM:

That is a goofy schedule you posted on that Carmike 10 plex. Now, I've seen seven, 7pm show starts, but at a 21 plex - which is more viable..but at a 10 screen?

Talk about "cramming and jamming" there with the patrons..

..wonder how their percap was doing with these times...

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-12-2005, 04:23 PM:

Carmike managers can change the mandatory showtimes after two weeks, they just need to run the changes by their district manager.

Posted by Will Wheatley Uhl (Member # 2103) on 08-12-2005, 05:52 PM:

I can outdo that, 10:40 showings for star wars. thats 10:40 PM and who stays and closes? ME.

We did that for return of the king too. I never got to go home...

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-12-2005, 06:12 PM:

A 10:40 show in and of itself it not bad, its only when there is no 9 hour or early 10 show between the 7 and the 10:40.

I manage a theatre in a market where late shows don't do very well at all. The 9 set is alwasy 50% or more slower than the 7 and shows after 10:00 do particularily poorly. However, some markets can do quite well with that post 10:00 set. That is no excuse for the original example that started this thread; having showtimes spread out that far is nothing but a waste of payroll.

[ 08-13-2005, 03:55 AM: Message edited by: Dustin Mitchell ]

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 08-13-2005, 03:37 AM:

so eric, which showtime did you end up going to... and how scratched was the print?

carl

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 08-13-2005, 02:14 PM:

I've been preaching the importance of proper show scheduling for many moons. It's always fallen on deaf ears however.
The argument is that if someone wants to see a movie they'll see it whenever they can.
Unfortunately with showtimes like 12:55 or 1:25 or 8:50, etc. you get the people who are used to times on every quarter of the hour, not necessarily for film.
When was the last time someone told you they'll meet you at 1:05? Not 1:00 not 1:15, but 1:05.
It doesn't make sense!

You schedule showtimes based on peak hours, when you can do the most business with them, and schedule them so they're easy to remember! You get less confused customers that way and it just looks better on paper.
It's easier to read too.

/rant.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-13-2005, 02:29 PM:

There's nothing wrong with a 12:55 or 1:05 showtime. Schedules loaded with bunches of movies at the same time (1:00, 1:15) are much more of an inconvenience to customers due to the long lines they create than 'hard to remember' showtimes. Even spreading out showtimes by 5 minutes can make a huge difference in lines.

While I agree that people aren't going to a movie if they don't like the showtime I don't think it applies to differences of 5 minutes or so. I'm talking about someone not wanting to go to a 10:40 showing because they'll be up to late where as they would have gone to one scheduled at 9:40.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 08-15-2005, 03:18 AM:

quote: Dustin Mitchell
Schedules loaded with bunches of movies at the same time (1:00, 1:15) are much more of an inconvenience to customers due to the long lines they create than 'hard to remember' showtimes. Even spreading out showtimes by 5 minutes can make a huge difference in lines.

I'm not suggesting that all features be starting on the same exact times. I believe in rotating the slower/older features to the oddball times.
Say you have a busy 12:00 then a lazy 12:10 and a busy 12:30 and so on.

Lines actually get shorter this way.

quote: Dustin Mitchell

While I agree that people aren't going to a movie if they don't like the showtime I don't think it applies to differences of 5 minutes or so. I'm talking about someone not wanting to go to a 10:40 showing because they'll be up to late where as they would have gone to one scheduled at 9:40.

I wouldn't say it's because they don't like the time (unless it's late or doesn't fit their schedule for some reason) I'm saying they get confused.
People generally think of things on every quarter of the hour and so a 1:05 showtime could be mistaken for a 1:50 or so on far too easily.
Honestly we get it all the time.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-15-2005, 08:58 AM:

Scheduling shows is a real art form at our theater, and none of the managers have really mastered it yet. First of all, our customer base doesn't like being out late, which is why during the non-peak seasons we drop the late round completely from our schedule. Secondly, for some reason, people bringing children always seem to be running late (imagine that!) so when playing two prints of Harry Potter, start the one in the smaller house first. That way IF it sells out, the crowd can overflow into the bigger house.

That's actually a good rule for almost any movie where you're running two prints. And whatever you do, don't start them more than 20 - 30 minutes apart. Our home office unwisely suggested that we do that with Star Wars, and our managers fell for it. One started at 7, and the next one started at 7:50. Then one started at 10, and the next one at 10:45. IDIOTS! So when 10:00 sold out - what were the customers to do? Wait till 10:45? Yeah, sure. They went home. Or they went to our competitor down the street and saw it at 10:20. Now, I don't want to make it sound like NO ONE showed up for 10:45. But I would suggest that had we run a 10:15 or 10:20 show instead, it would have sold out.

Maybe the 10:00 and 10:45 shows made sense for some other theater, but certainly not ours.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 08-15-2005, 02:41 PM:

quote: Carl Martin
so eric, which showtime did you end up going to... and how scratched was the print?

We went to the 7:10 obvoiusly, because the next show at 10:40 was too f*cking late and stupid.

Believe it or not, the presentation of the movie was flawless.

However, (and you know there's got to be a problem whenever you visit this theatre), the house lights remained on at 50% when the movie started. I had to go tell someone to turn them off. I think this is new automation they've installed, to have the house lights lower to 50% during the previews, because before it always used to be 100% on or dim.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-16-2005, 02:31 AM:

quote: Monte L Fullmer
Opening 12:00 set for a six-plex are: 12:00, 12:05,12:10,12:20,12:25 and 12:30. = people in, people out. A mad rush to the snakbar (and they wonder why their percap is low...)

Actually I have done similar showtimes for a 9 plex. The mistake in your reasoning is that although you may have a show starting every 5 minutes, the actual traffic for each film are going to be vastly different. So the schedule actually looks something like this...

6:45 - Print A of a new busy feature (possiable sellout in 2nd largest house ex. "Deuce Bigalow")

6:50 - Some film near the end of its run (small house hardly any business "The Island").

6:55 - Another somewhat slow feature "Batman Begins"

7:00 - Maybe a busier movie in its second week or so "Dukes (A)

7:05 - Another slow movie "Fantastic 4"

7:10 - So so film (Bad News Bears)

7:15 - Print B of busiest new feature (Largest house Sell out)

7:20 - Another slower film "Wedding Crashers"

7:30 - Dukes (B)

Just a quick example, it is pretty much all in the spacing. The trick is to keep a nice steady flow of customers into the theater in a set amount of time. You dont want to get too busy or too slow. This also works extreamly well as far as payroll goes too as you schedule overlaping shifts during your busiest sets. I also tried to keep at least 45 minutes to an hour between sets so that the staff have plenty of time to clean up, restock, and take breaks before the next set.

A quick tip for those of you who do their own schedules... Schedule your busiest set first (usually the 7:00 set sometimes the 4:00 set for a family movie like Harry Potter) and then you work backward to your opening and forward to your last set.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-16-2005, 02:54 AM:

Do you re-arrange your whole schedule every week?

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-16-2005, 03:20 AM:

Every movie keeps their same start times for at least two weeks (usually longer) and I always keep the times the same for any films with multiple prints. So in my example the following week, the times for Deuces would remain the same but since Dukes would most likly drop to a single print, thats opens up those times for any new opening so that a new feature will still be spaced apart from Deuces second week (though we all know that Deuce is going to drop like a stone next week).

I understand the point that you were getting at as far as possiably confusing customers by changing every week but I always try to keep the times as consistant as possiable and then make the changes after the film has dropped off.

In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that I have been out of the business for over a year (but looking to get back in real soon). But I was a General Manager for over 5 years and did the show scheduling virtually every week.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-16-2005, 05:25 AM:

My current show schedule looks like this: (# seats in aud.) *Stadium Seating
Four Brothers (270) - 1245 320 555 830 1105
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (143) - 210 455 740 1025
Hustle & Flow (113) - 155 435 715 955 1235
The Dukes Of Hazzard (173) - 1215 245 515 745 1015
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (285) - 1135 220 505 750 1035
Red Eye (285) - 100 310 520 730 940 1150
*Fantastic Four (154) - 1220 255 530 805 1040
*Stealth (99) - 130 420 710 1000
*Sky High (144) - 1150 215 440 705 930 1155
*Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (219) - 1230 240 450 700 910 1120
*The Devil's Rejects (75) - 1240 310 540 810 1040
*Dark Water (99) - 200 440 720 1000 1240
*Rebound (99) - 1250 305 520 735 950 1205
*War Of The Worlds (75) - 1135 220 505 750 1035

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-16-2005, 09:39 AM:

If you are restricted by certain things, such as not having anything start before 12:45 or 1:00 and required to have five shows for any movie 106 mins. or less. It is better and easier to start your schedule from the first showtime and fit your shows in to get the best times. This is also important when you have a theatre that decidedly decreases business with anything starting past 10:00 or 10:15.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 08-16-2005, 01:55 PM:

Interesting, Mike - your place must have added auditoriums with stadium seating to your 14 screener - being your smaller houses have stadium (interesting and unique: a 75 seat stadium house) where the larger ones are the conventional sloped floor design.

[ 08-17-2005, 05:22 AM: Message edited by: Monte L Fullmer ]

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-16-2005, 02:16 PM:

Regal added 4 auditoriums (#11-14) w/ stadium ... 2 75-seaters, 2 99-seaters, and started retrofitting the old auditoriums (#7-10) before pulling the plug on the project mid-way through ... leaving the original 10-screen slope building w/ 8 stadium & 6 sloped.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 08-16-2005, 05:25 PM:

quote: Mike Spaeth
Regal added 4 auditoriums (#11-14) w/ stadium ... 2 75-seaters, 2 99-seaters, and started retrofitting the old auditoriums (#7-10) before pulling the plug on the project mid-way through ... leaving the original 10-screen slope building w/ 8 stadium & 6 sloped.

This along with AMC only retrofitting one of the original 10 auditoriums when they expanded Pleasure Island at Disney to 24 (all 14 add ons were stadium) makes the argument that retrofitting stadium is not cost effective and doesn't bring return on investment.

quote: Mark J. Marshall
And whatever you do, don't start them more than 20 - 30 minutes apart

30 minutes OK but if you are going to start 2 prints within 20 minuts of eachother why not just interlock one print. This way, during the non-peak times you could save money by not having to run all the equipment in the second auditorium. The megaplexes do this all the time with 6 prints of big releases. They play like every 15 minutes. I understand that it spreads the concession lines out but I would think the savings of all the electricity during the week would more than offset the couple of extra minimum wage employees needed to handle more people at once.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-16-2005, 06:14 PM:

When you're running a megaplex, and you CAN start shows every fifteen minutes, that's great because each show overflows into the next pretty easily. But when you're a multiplex, and you don't start your movies close together, then when one sells out, the rest of the people who want to see that movie are forced to either see something else, or leave. Our problem is that too many of them leave and drive down the street to our competitor. Yes, I stand there and watch them come in one after one, look at the SOLD OUT sign, turn around, and walk out.

Perhaps our corp folks are hoping that the customers will instead choose to see something else that gives us a higher percentage or something. And undoubtedly, some of them probably do. But is it worth it to piss that many people off?

Again, every theater is different. I'm speaking about our theater in particular. Your experience on this may vary.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-16-2005, 07:02 PM:

quote: Mark J. Marshall
Yes, I stand there and watch them come in one after one, look at the SOLD OUT sign, turn around, and walk out.

Hmmmmm maybe if there is no sign and they ask someone if it is sold out a chance to intrest them in another time or suggest another movie could be made.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 08-16-2005, 10:33 PM:

Maybe true for the first person, but word travels quickly through the line anyway even without the sign, and folks tend to look at their watch, put their money back in their pocket and dash back to their cars.

Posted by Stephen LaPadula (Member # 3050) on 08-25-2005, 02:40 PM:

Anyone who works for a chain should have pretty strict guidelines from the film dept. regarding show times. For example my company *requires* with one print you have a start time between 7 and 8 pm.

7pm is the magic start time. The closer you are to 7, the faster you can show another set with out it getting too late (depending on trends in your area.) That’s probably a reason for all the Carmikes in the small towns to cram around 7pm. Check out fandango or movietickets.com and almost every theatre has a 7pm-ish start time for each movie. This is the busiest time of day for every theatre, despite cheaper prices during the day, more people come at night

Sometimes a studio requires a certain time. Disney mandates that if a house is split, the last time for its film cannot be before 7pm.

For multiple prints, rule of thumb is no less than 40 mins apart.

If your working with like 12 screens or less chances are you won't have too many multiple prints, and your lobby will be full at 7pm.

Higher yields come from concession, but a theatres box office share of gross is about 50% when all is said and done. And everyone needs a ticket; where as many don't stop at the concession stand...the big bucks still come from box office.

Posted by Rob Ferreira (Member # 3406) on 10-15-2005, 12:44 AM:

quote: Eric Hooper

Example Aud #2
Dukes first show is not until 3:15. Why not have a 12:45 show also, since the theatre IS open?

Perhaps the theatre is cutting its costs by not having unnecessary showings? I tend to think that Dukes did not need any extra showings, and that the 3 or 4 times a day was more than enough.

My theatre often has "random" times for films, but generally we have a show (around)4 and another (around)7. Weekends we throw in another one (around) 9, not usually later than 9:30. As it works out, the 4 o'clocks are very slow, as are the later 9ish shows on the weekends. The shows that start between 6:30 and 7:30 are most definately our busiest - whether the time be 6:30 or 6:50 or 7:20. Perhaps, though, it's just my area.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 10-16-2005, 11:11 PM:

Hi Folks:

Saw this one in the weekend paper. UA Emeryville Bay playing "Serenity" at 1:30, 5:00, 7:45, 10:40.

Why start the #2 show so late? I would have thought the #2 show would be between 4:00 and 4:30. No big deal but it sucks if you just miss the 1:30 show and have to wait till 5:00.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 10-20-2005, 02:33 PM:

Mike and others,

I can see the 1:30 and 5:00 thing as 'spreading out the daytime showtimes' both to keep the low attended shows to a minimum and to help crowd control by evenly spreading out the showtimes for 10 movies starting between 4:00 and 5:30-ish.

However, there was absolutely no excuse for the Skeleton Key showtimes of 7:10pm and 10:40pm which was what started this thread in the first place.

Sidenote:
I think the showtime schedule that the UA Stonestown Twin has been running for a year now is really stupid. 1:30, 3:45, 7:15, 9:30. A later bargain show around 4:45 or 5:00pm is much more appealing IMO. And what are they paying the employees to do in between 5pm and 7pm except pick their nose and sit around while the theatres are just sitting empty and not in use???

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 10-21-2005, 04:36 PM:

Eric Hooper wrote:

"I think the showtime schedule that the UA Stonestown Twin has been running for a year now is really stupid. 1:30, 3:45, 7:15, 9:30. A later bargain show around 4:45 or 5:00pm is much more appealing IMO. And what are they paying the employees to do in between 5pm and 7pm except pick their......."

Hi Eric: Are you suggesting they should run a schedule such as 2:15, 4:45, 7:00, 9:30?

Mike

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 10-21-2005, 10:55 PM:

Personally, those showtimes of: 1,3,7,9 are what I'm use to here. Usually, employees are scheduled with split shifts, or they get just a matinee or evening shift.

While the first films have all gone in, employees are usually given their breaks.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 10-25-2005, 05:50 PM:

quote: Mike Croaro
Hi Eric: Are you suggesting they should run a schedule such as 2:15, 4:45, 7:00, 9:30?

Yes.

Posted by Andrew McCrea (Member # 674) on 10-25-2005, 07:16 PM:

Mike, a lot of theatres do that here.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 11-01-2005, 08:42 PM:

That's pretty much exactly how we are running our "Saw II" set of showings this week.

And then you can schedual another movie, eg we have 'Brothers Grim' going on at 1.45, 4.00, 6.15, 8.30
to go on inbetween.

Posted by Alexander Smith (Member # 1769) on 11-02-2005, 03:34 AM:

Opening weekend of Harry Potter 4; they've decided
they want shows at 09:45 Saturday and Sunday.

We're not a big enough centre of population to make
it worth doing really.

Alex.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 11-27-2005, 01:26 PM:

The UA Vogue theatre, a neighborhood theatre serving the upper class Marina districts (along with the UA Metro and the newly 4 screened Presido theatre) opened Harry Potter with only three shows daily: 1:30, 5:00, and 8:30. Can someone tell me what these showtime were good for? 8:30 was too late to take the kids, 5:00 if you could get there with the kids was sold out at a matinee price (regal loosing money again).

After a week of that it seems they wised up and changed the showtimes to four shows at 11:45, 3:00, 6:30, and 9:50, which is what the showtimes should have been opening week.

Further insult, is that the Vogue only has ~300 seats, whereas their (Regal) Metro theatre has 650 seats, and they decided to show Rent at the Metro. Not only is Rent at 6 other theatres in town, but the core demographic for Rent lives on the other side of town. So, I'm sure even with four showtimes, Harry Potter sold out all weekend, and Rent had mostly empty seats.

Seriously, who is doing Regal's booking and scheduling in SF? It is one mis-fire after another. They wonder why they had to close their Coronet and Alexandria theatres??? Looks like the Metro and Vogue will be gone soon too.

They should have opened Harry at the Metro, and Rent at the Vogue. I really hope someone was smart enough to book Narnia at the Metro. I really hope.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-27-2005, 07:58 PM:

Hi Eric:

Could the Metro be having trouble booking againt the Presidio? This could explain them NOT playing "Harry Potter" AND instead playing "Rent" (thus they moved Harry Potter to the Vogue).

Was the 5:00 at the Vogue really sold out? This theatre seems to be underperforming lately.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 11-27-2005, 09:04 PM:

quote: Eric Hooper
Seriously, who is doing Regal's booking and scheduling in SF? It is one mis-fire after another. They wonder why they had to close their Coronet and Alexandria theatres??? Looks like the Metro and Vogue will be gone soon too.

You may have answered your own question here. Regal is not in the single screen business, and I don't think they care anymore about these theatres. These single screens can only run properly with exclusive engagements, the way they used to.

I really miss the theatres in SF that I knew and attended back in the mid 70's (pre-triplexed Alexandria, Coronet, Metro, Regency I, Regency II, Northpoint, Royal. THe Vogue showed arthouse product back then and would never have booked a Harry Potter film first-run. Rent would possibly have played exclusively at either the Metro or Northpoint back then.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 11-27-2005, 09:13 PM:

Regal is sure as hell not interested in running a single-screen UNLESS it's performing very very well. One of the first things Regal did when they bought out Act III is close the McDonald Theatre in downtown Eugene. This despite the fact it was majorly renovated in the mid or late 90s by Act III and was a very nice place to see a movie, with modern technical ameneties. Downtown parking was always a problem though and the only time business seemed to be good was when the theatre had an "exclusive" on some popular movie. Even then it was probably underperforming due to people not wanting to fight for a parking spot downtown.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 11-28-2005, 05:30 PM:

quote: Mike Croaro
Could the Metro be having trouble booking againt the Presidio? This could explain them NOT playing "Harry Potter" AND instead playing "Rent" (thus they moved Harry Potter to the Vogue).

Both Regals (Metro and Vogue) split product with the Presidio. Either the Presido gets it or one of the Regals gets it.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-28-2005, 06:53 PM:

Hi Eric:

Thanks for the clarification. I was confussed. I thought Harry Potter was playing the Presidio.

Mike

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 08-22-2006, 08:57 PM:

Hi Folks:

Just checked out Fanmdango. "An Inconvenienet Truth" returns to the Stownstown Twin (SF) this Friday. Not an extreme example, but showtimes for the 94 minute film are:

12:30, 3:30, 7:30, 9:45.

With trailers there will roughly be a 75 minute intermission between the first and second show and a 120-135 minute intermission between the second and third show.? Go figure.

Mike

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-24-2006, 01:21 AM:

That makes absolutely no sense, as they could very easily run 12:30 2:50 5:10 7:30 9:45 without extending operating hours, yet increasing number of showtimes.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 08-24-2006, 06:35 AM:

Maybe they have a special showing or event during that ultra-long intermission?

As in 3:30 gets out at 5:03, special event at 5:30 or 5:45, ending at 6:45 or 7:00, next show at 7:30.

Without contacting them, we may never know, as it won't be listed on Fandango if it's a local special event or it's sold out to a radio station or something. It doesn't even have to involve "An Inconvenient Truth", it could be something completely off the wall.

Posted by William Clark (Member # 3938) on 08-28-2006, 03:33 AM:

Reading this thread opened my eyes as to why my theater's concession per capita is relatively low. Here's a typical evening set for us at our 14-plex:

| 6:40 | 6:45 | 6:50 | 7:05 | 7:10 | 7:15 | 7:25 | 7:30 | 7:35 | 7:40 | 7:45 | 8:15 | 8:25 | 8:30 |

With all those people rushing in for shows around 7:00 to 7:30 and our relatively small lobby, concession lines are to the ticket stand and sometimes to the door. I can't imagine how many people look at the lines and say "Hell with it, the lines are long and our show starts in 10 minutes."

That, and when I'm working as a projectionist, having so many shows starting in a row, with only 5 minutes to thread, start, and then get to the next projector is kind of stressful. Plus, of something goes wrong while starting the film, it can potentially take me several minutes to fix the problem, causing many shows down the line to be late.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 08-28-2006, 03:52 AM:

That doesn't look too bad actually, I suppose it depends what movies start when. If your two biggest movies start at 7 and 7:05 you might have a problem.

Other ccauses of long lines can be inefficient or poorly trained staff or not enough staff on.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 08-28-2006, 10:37 PM:

Our programming this week was awful. We're finishing at 1.30am because a Tamil film that would sell out at any time (we're showing it along with two other cinemas in the UK as far as I know) is starting at 9.45pm, meaning the programmers can put a 4hr Bollywood film at 9.30pm in its second week, and Pirates at 9.50.

This just seems ridiculous as it won't make a positive impact on food spend (starting after dinner) or admissions (not sure if the car park stays open that long!). Intermissions mean we're starting films until 11.40pm every night.

As for programming to help projection, it just doesn't seem to happen in chains.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 08-29-2006, 07:12 AM:

We never schedule for projections, as all it takes to clean the film path and re-thread is about 5 minutes max. We schedule for customer flow and concessions sales (read: the less congestion, the better). We could start every show 5 minutes after the credits end on the previous showing, and have one starting every 10 minutes all day long and it wouldn't be a terrible pain for projections. Snack sales would drop horribly, however, and customer complaints would skyrocket. Granted, I wouldn't exactly enjoy the non-stop threading and starting, but it wouldn't be a huge burden.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 08-29-2006, 07:27 AM:

In the past I have noticed one particular problem with tight turn arounds on film schedules: the toll on xenon bulbs.

I was always instructed to give a xenon bulb at least 15 to 20 minutes to cool down before re-igniting after a two hour run. I never questioned it because I have had instances (like an electrical outage) in which I had trouble re-igniting the bulb after it was lit for a long period. I would think that since it takes more electricity for the ignition - that doing it more often would have a negative effect on the life of a bulb. Hence the reason IMAX theatres and Digital venues keep thier bulbs lit the entire day.

?

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 08-29-2006, 06:16 PM:

We don't turn the Xenon off unless the next show is more than an hour away.

Crazy show times often happen because film distributors demand specific times and numbers of screenings.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 08-29-2006, 07:59 PM:

quote: Anslem Rayburn
Granted, I wouldn't exactly enjoy the non-stop threading and starting, but it wouldn't be a huge burden.

We have a film starting almost every five minutes between 9 and 9.55pm this week. Similar situation around 4.00pm.

I don't mind constantly threading and starting films, but when the screens in question are all over the place it means I have to run around and go quicker than I like. This could potentially lead to errors, and it also means if certain screens have problems you end up with the other shows running late.

As for keeping the Xenons on, with the digital projectors striking the lamp can screw up the playing equpiment (Christie 2k and QuVis cinema player I think) so we leave it on all day. The manual for our Century 35mm projectors says the lamp shouldn't be on for more than 25 minutes if there is no film, the projector can overheat or something along those lines.

Another programming problem we have is we occasionaly show Indian films in two screens with one print, and the programmers don't allow for this, meaning we have to bicycle and lace up in ridiculously short periods of time to avoid massive overruns.

Posted by Brian Woods (Member # 3521) on 08-29-2006, 09:03 PM:

Well, in my opinion, it may just be that school has started back, and it's a film that they are bringing back, so it may not be as busy to run 5 shows a day? If it's a twin, they probably only have a box office person and a manager operating the booth and concession stand. It may be that they have enough time in between to clean, restock, and also to build a crowd of more than 2 people to watch each show time? I think it's weird to complain about showtimes? I always thought if a movie theater wasn't showing a movie around the time I wanted to see it, I would go watch something else, or kill time by grabbing something to eat, or something to keep me entertained until showtime. From what I have seen, alot of single screen and twin theaters are so slow during the day, that they only show a 5:00pm and 7:00pm show. Remember, Movie Theaters are not like cable companies....They aren't on Demand! [Moon]

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 08-30-2006, 12:59 PM:

My point was, simply, that if the goal were 4 shows, they could open for the 2:50 show, get the same number of shows in, and cut a bunch out of payroll. If you're open anyways at 12:30, you may as well have 5 shows. It seems like a waste to be open and not running shows.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 08-30-2006, 07:35 PM:

When I am not in charge of showtimes (as my current situation) I put forth the following rules:

All shows start times must be ten minutes apart. All shows must have at least twenty minutes in between showtimes (from one set to the next). And no wierd stuff! I have always used a formula:
Typical four screen schedule:

12, 12:10, 12:20, 12:30

2:30,2:40, 2:50, 3:00 (depending on run times)

4:40, 4:50, 5:00, 5:10

7:00, 7:10, 7:20, 7:30

9:30, 9:40, 9:50, 10:00

This same formula can apply to larger theatres, 6, 8 10, and 12. When you get to 14 and above - things get a little different. It is not only for the sake of the per cap - but it is for the sake of uniformity and CUSTOMER SERVICE. When you get one of those long films like Pirates or Superman, the formula will only change slightly - because you will only be running three shows. I always liked having actual SETS of shows - some of these theatres now are getting on my nerves with the whole constant revolving movie schedules - "let's see how many shows of something we can cram into a day!" - "screw our employees, our equipment, and our customers - let's run the place into the ground and see how much money we have at the end of the week!"

- Geeze this is what's killing our industry!

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 09-12-2006, 06:33 AM:

Somebody in our company got the run time of the latest Indian film we are showing wrong by 15 minutes. The last show is 10pm every evening. There was a five minute gap scheduled between shows. It takes me five minutes to lace up and start a film (I'm new). Started show at 10.20pm, film is meant to finish at 1.05am instead finishes at 1.40am. With my level of experience I'm not going to go in and cut out the ads and trailers or not run the intermission and risk making the show look bad.

Worst of all the company is taking the piss and wont pay us after 1am unless we go and fill out forms downstairs.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 09-12-2006, 06:51 AM:

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Worst of all the company is taking the piss and wont pay us after 1am unless we go and fill out forms downstairs.

Which you did, right? Even if it's a single minute, they owe you, and the only way of breaking them of the habit is to cash in on it. If everyone fills out the paperwork, then they will realize it costs them more to have someone check it all over than to just pay you, so make sure you make them do the extra work...

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 09-09-2008, 05:07 PM:

It has been 728 days since the last post.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 09-09-2008, 05:07 PM:

More Regal retardness!

Showtimes for Burn After Reading starting this Friday at the UA Stonestown Twin in San Francisco on both screens.

Keep in mind the movie is only 1:36 long. [Roll Eyes]

Screen #1: 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:15
Screen #2: 1:30, 4:45, 8:00, 10:45

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-09-2008, 05:42 PM:

I'm not really sure what the problem is. So they have an empty auditorium for awhile. So what? They still have plenty of start times. You also forgot to account for trailers.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-09-2008, 07:16 PM:

Well lets say they are running 20 minutes in previews, round off to make the show 2 hours long. They also have to leave enough time for the full preshow to play, say another 20 minutes. Plus cleaning time. Not so bad when you factor all that in.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 09-09-2008, 09:16 PM:

The start times don't seems to be spaced-out very well.

For example the first show is on at 13.00 then the next show is just half an hour later, but after that there is a massive 2 and a half hour gap untill the 16.00 show.

Would make more sense to have the shows more equally spaced.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 09-10-2008, 01:45 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
I'm not really sure what the problem is.

The movie is 1:36. There are usually four trailers shown at 2 minutes each for about 8-10 minutes. Let's call the total running time 1:45. (This is Regal and all the pre-show crap is before the actual advertised start time, so the four trailers start right on the advertised.)

The first show at 1:00 ends at 2:45. The auditorium is then empty and not doing anything until 4:00pm!

The first show in the next auditorium is 1:30pm and will end at 3:15pm, which even leaves both auditoriums empty between 3:15pm and 4:00pm. This auditorium is empty and not doing anything for an hour and a half...from 3:15pm until the next show at 4:45pm!

And in the evening, we have shows at 7:00 and 8:00, which end at 8:45 and 9:45 respectively. The show that ends at 8:45 could have another show start at 9:15 if they wanted to, which is prime time right after dinner if you ask me. But no, they don't schedule the next show until 10:15pm, a whole hour later when they could have started it at 9:15pm. The auditorium is sitting there empty right at prime time not doing anything for an hour and a half (from 8:45pm to 10:15pm) except wasting electricity on the houselights...

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 09-10-2008, 02:15 AM:

Just a hunch...
Maybe that manager wants to open the building at 12:30 or 12:45 every day regardless of whatever the length of the movie(s) that are being played.
What about these times?
1:00 3:20 5:40 8:00 10:20
2:10 4:30 6:50 9:10

This is using the formula of 96 minutes plus 15 minutes of trailer plus 30 minutes Firstlook divided by 2 (2 prints). 70 minutes apart.

Personally, I'd want a 7 prime showing, then work forwards, then backwards. Either way, it's nine shows.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-10-2008, 04:19 AM:

Eric, maybe you should apply for a management position at this theater so they can no longer torture you with their showtimes.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 09-10-2008, 11:33 AM:

quote: Joe Redifer
Eric, maybe you should apply for a management position at this theater so they can no longer torture you with their showtimes.

See, now it's responses like this is why I haven't posted much on here. [fu]

Movie theatres are a dying business model, and it's because of stupid crap like this that they are shooting themselves in the foot. Pardon me for noticing that theatres could do better and wanting them to be successful.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 09-10-2008, 12:32 PM:

I manage a 5 plex and this time of the year, all my movies are on a 4 show schedule no matter the run time (unless they are too long).

The shows start at 1:30-2:00, 4:00-4:30, 6:45-7:15, and 9:15-9:30. By having everything on a 4 show schedule, I reduce the number of employees I need because we don't have people coming in at the same time we're trying to clean the auditoriums. And I can also reduce the length of the employee's shifts. And I reduce energy costs by opening 30-45 minutes later and closing 30-45 minutes earlier.

Besides, given the movies at this time of the year, is it really going to add business by having 5 showings of Disaster Movie or Bangkok Dangerous rather than just 4?

I'll grant that it seems strange to not start the last shows until 10:15 and 10:45, but they may have found that shows starting in the 10:00 hour tend to do better than those starting in the 9:00 hour. Or it could be a strategy to take advantage of expected sell-outs at the other theatres.

Looking at the times for the AMC Van Ness and the Balboa, it could very well be that they are trying to separate their times from the other theatres to take advantage of gaps in scheduling.

Here are all the showtimes for Burn After Reading in SF:
AMC (11:45am), 12:30, 2:00, 3:00, 4:15, 5:15, 6:50, 7:50, 9:20, 10:25

Balboa (12:30), 2:40, 4:50, 7:15, 9:20

Stowntown (1:00), (1:30), (4:00), (4:45), 7:00, 8:00, 10:15, 10:45

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-10-2008, 06:24 PM:

Sorry Eric, wasn't trying to offend. Maybe call their management as a concerned patron and tell them?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-11-2008, 12:53 AM:

quote: Eric Hooper
Movie theatres are a dying business model

Hmm, I don't know about everyone else but we're having a great year. I'm at the Rocky Mountain Theatre Convention right now and not one person I've talked to is complaining about grosses -- except the occasional end-of-summer blahs which are a feature of every fall season. But overall, people are upbeat. It's mostly the media which keeps declaring this a dying industry, only to be proved wrong time and again.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 09-11-2008, 04:44 AM:

Those showtimes are even MORE retarded when you know that the Stonestown was originally a single screen that was twinned. So they're showing the SAME movie in both halves, when they could have just played one print in the original large auditorium.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 09-11-2008, 09:36 PM:

For Burn After Reading, I think those Regal show times are fine. In order to fit 5 times, like James said, you'd have to either expand operating hours or miss the 7:00 prime. This time of year, condensing operating hours (including payroll, utilities, etc.) can be key on budgets. Burn After Reading is projected to barely pass $10 mil for the weekend anyway, so its not like you need to maximize shows, especially matinees. Having a nice long break between shows can allow fewer staff to pull double or triple duty instead of having to have someone extra. Guests interested in a Coen bros. movie will adjust their schedule to available show times anyway.

I'm with Joe; I'm not sure what the problem is.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 09-13-2008, 11:08 AM:

Jesse - you have the one week in perhaps two years that makes your point valid...the rest of the time the theater benefits from being able to show more than one movie.

Chad - your argument falls short on the late shows. If operating hours were the concern, then you would see a schedule like 700 730 925 955 on the back end, not extending out until 1045 for no apparent reason. There is no reason why opening at 100, and last show at 1045, you can't get 7 show times in for this film. 100 320 540 810 1040 & 210 430 655 925 would be a good schedule. There's plenty of room to vary with that schedule.

Justin - I'm not a believer in pre-defined "sets". I don't all of my customers hitting the box office and concession stand in a 30-minute window, then those employees having nothing to do for the rest of the time. You save more payroll by spreading out the show times. Example: 1 person could handle individual "rushes" of 20-30 people per film (during this time of year), but bunch 5 of them in 30 minutes, and now you need a second concession employee.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 09-14-2008, 11:15 AM:

Hi Eric:

Glad to see you back on the forum. I too noticed the weirdness of the UA Stonestown showtimes. They seem to show four shows regardless of movie length.

What is most unusal thought are the late nigh shows. The last shows of the evening are almost always at 9:30 & 9:45.

I suspect showstimes are being calculated by someone offsite who is unfamiliar with the theatres grossing capabilites.

Mike

Posted by Michael McGovern (Member # 4807) on 09-15-2008, 09:38 AM:

Just for reference, Regal showtimes are usually nopt the fault of the manager scheduling them. Corporate has a tendency to A. Mandate uniform showtimes company wide for major movies, and B. Micromanage your show schedule the rest of the time anywyas. There was a period where they had a policy of not allowing any film to start prior to 7:15pm, the logic being that 7:15 to 8:00 was the "Prime movie going time". It was quite ridiculous....

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 09-15-2008, 09:57 AM:

In an attempt to back up Jesse's point, here's a review of the Stonestown written by my brother, with a comment from his girlfriend:

(Saw Little Miss Sunshine in the right auditorium spring 2006.)

This theatre is terrible. I'll never go back to the Stonestown Twin.

Because the auditorium was twinned (large auditorium split into two smaller ones) the chairs aren't pointing toward the center of the screen. You'd have to sit far to the right side to have a chair aimed near the center of the screen. Similarly, the current auditoriums are way too long and narrow. Sitting in the back, you be watching a movie a quarter mile away.

This also makes the sound bad no matter where you sit. There is little to no bass, and the dialogue is inaudible.

Submitted by: David Jones

Comment by Jennifer:
Attending a movie at UA Stonestown Twin was the worst movie going experience I have ever had. Aside from making no logical sense, having to crane my neck to see the screen was painful and uncomfortable. Apparently the theater used up all it's money dividing one theater into two and forgot about fixing the seats. Or they only care about selling more tickets to more movies rather than making their customers comfortable and able to actually enjoy the movie. I know that I will never under any circumstances attend another movie at that theater.

(From my blog.)

I myself have never been there... and I never will.

Cheers,
Geoff

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 09-15-2008, 03:12 PM:

Stonestown Twin at Cinematour [Big Grin]

I watched Bend it Like Beckham in that same auditorium ... out of the corner of my eye.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 09-15-2008, 07:02 PM:

Way back in the day I worked at the (Chain omitted) 8 Buena Park....It had four projection rooms, Screens 1,2,3 in one booth, 4,5 in another, both on the "balcony" level; screens 6 and 7 were on ground level, accessed through #6's entrance; and screen 8, a space barely big enough for the projector, console and platter (all Christie) and it shared the space with the sewage sump pump. [Smile]

The former manager, a nephew of a chain bigwig, was a smartass who wanted to see me fail, so he decided to schedule 7 of the 8 shows to start at 10:35pm. Company policy was to be written up for each show started more than 2 minutes early or three minutes late. Three write-ups in a shift or five in a week and you got the boot.

He figured that I operated like he did, i.e. threading each show at start time, so there was no way I could get all seven on screen on time. What he was too dumb to figure out was that I always rethreaded as soon as a show ended, so if something happened on one screen during a start time I wouldn't be down on any others.

So, as he stood in the center of the lobby at 10:30, staring at his watch, I casually went upstairs to booth 1, and at exactly 10:33 and 35 seconds, I ran from machine to machine slamming start buttons. (The seven machines were all but #7, it was back up at 10:15) So at precisely 10:35 and 45 seconds, all seven screens were on. After rechecking #6 for frame, focus, etc. I walked past the now-fuming manager standing in the middle of the lobby and told him "Next week schedule all 8 for 10:35, don't matter to me. " I continued on and checked the other screens.

He was so pissed off he wouldn't talk to me for a week. [Smile]

Oh, and the bigwig sided with me and told the manager to quit being such an ass. When I was hired they had over 10 show breakdowns per week. After I got there and was allowed to retrain and get rid of the slackers on the booth staff, we went down to one breakdown or less per MONTH. Talking entire complex.

Ahhh, the good old days. [Smile]

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 09-16-2008, 03:31 AM:

at the naz 8 in fremont, which i presume to be an 8-plex, there are 9 movies playing on 7 screens, with 2 screens doubled up. all shows start at 4 and/or 8pm.

someday i'll make it down there and check it out.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 09-16-2008, 07:42 PM:

PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN BY ERIC HOOPER IN THIS THREAD REF STONESTOWN TWIN...

More Regal retardness!

Showtimes for Burn After Reading starting this Friday at the UA Stonestown Twin in San Francisco on both screens.

Keep in mind the movie is only 1:36 long.

Screen #1: 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:15
Screen #2: 1:30, 4:45, 8:00, 10:45"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Update.....

Just checked Fandango and going into the second week showtimes completely change. They dropped "Burn After Reading" to one screen at 1:15, 4:30, 7:30, 10:00.

Now everybody who happens to look at Thursdays paper or the "sunday pink section"(thinking it runs Sunday to Sunday) arrives either early to the film or much worse late.

Had the showtimes been changed to 1:30, 4:45, 7:00, 10:15, they would have retained much of the crowd coming to both shows after having read an old paper. People showing up early could walk the mall for 30 - 40 minutes. Make sense?

Mike

[ 11-15-2008, 05:12 PM: Message edited by: Mike Croaro ]

Posted by Poon Limpapun (Member # 4551) on 09-17-2008, 07:09 PM:

If this isn't bad enough we have shows that goes like this today

====== Start Time:
CINEMA 1 : 18:45
CINEMA 2 : 18:55
CINEMA 3 : 19:00
CINEMA 4 : 19:05
CINEMA 5 : 18:30
CINEMA 6 : 18:00
CINEMA 7 : 17:45
CINEMA 8 : 19:20
CINEMA 9 : 19:00
CINEMA 10 : 19:45
CINEMA 11 : 20:10
CINEMA 12 : 20:00
CINEMA 13 : 18:10
CINEMA 14 : 19:20
CINEMA 15 : 18:25 (our 900 seat house)

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-11-2008, 07:11 PM:

Hi Folks:

Stange happenings in San Francisco at the Clay Theatre which is showing "I've Loved You So Much".

Week #1 2:00, 5:00, 8:00
Week #2 1:40, 4:20, 7:00, 9:40
Week #3 3:30, 6:00, 8:30
Week #4 3:00, 5:45, 8:30

Everyone who happens to accidently read Thursday's paper (on Friday), or the Sunday "Pink section" (thinking it runs Sunday to Sunday) arrives at the wrong time Friday & Saturday.

Mike

[ 11-19-2008, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: Mike Croaro ]

Posted by Brian Woods (Member # 3521) on 11-11-2008, 07:48 PM:

I agree with Joe, you should call the theater if you have a valid complaint.....I think its petty to complain about a theater's showtimes unless its 3am and its the only showing of Zack and Mira Make a Porno..... [sex]

I know with my theater chain, we make a the schedule that works for the amount of traffic that we get. If you back the movies back to back and you have no one watching or showing up, you are wasting money and wear and tear on the print/machines.

If this theater is such a crappy theater, why are you spending so much time and concern on it? If you don't like it, let the theater management know or send in a comment card...But to spout stuff on this site that makes little sense is just plain dumb. [sleep]

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-11-2008, 10:19 PM:

Brian Woods wrote:

".......If this theater is such a crappy theater, why are you spending so much time and concern on it? If you don't like it, let the theater management know or send in a comment card...But to spout stuff on this site that makes little sense is just plain dumb."

Mike Croaro responds:

The postings on this subject (at least for me) serve as a soruce of subtle amusement over what seems like strange or inconsistant showtimes.

If you feel the thread bores and dumbs you down so much why are you reading it?

Mike Croaro

Posted by Brian Woods (Member # 3521) on 11-11-2008, 11:21 PM:

Because like a bathroom stall, the writting on the wall is the same as the crap its written with. [bs]

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-12-2008, 06:36 PM:

Brian Woods wrote

"Because like a bathroom stall, the writting on the wall is the same as the crap its written with."

Mike Croaro responds:
[fu]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 11-12-2008, 06:56 PM:

Mike Croaro wittingly posts:
" [fu]

"

Joe Redifer tells it like it is:

OK, first there is no reason to quote a post directly above yours. We'll remember what was said, trust me. Secondly if you do need to quote somebody, use the friggin' QUOTE feature. It is not hard to use.

Joe Redifer

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-12-2008, 08:27 PM:

Hi Joe:

Do you own this webite? I didn't think so. I'm confident that the owner/moderator will inform me if there is a problem with my quotes.

Mike

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-12-2008, 10:09 PM:

Please use the quote function.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 11-12-2008, 10:17 PM:

[Eek!]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-13-2008, 01:07 AM:

Wow, if I didn't know better, I'd think Mike C. was that Frank dude under a different name.

No wait, if it was Frank he'd be fighting with me. [Big Grin]

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 11-13-2008, 01:46 AM:

No...if Frank was a small fraction as intelligent as he thought he was, you would be the LAST person he'd target, lest he'd blow his cover.
If Mike C IS Frank, would we call him "Frankenmike?"

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 11-13-2008, 02:59 PM:

Joe isn't the owner of this website? WOW!

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 11-14-2008, 03:23 PM:

Mike does make a valid point though, he IS discussing showtimes in a thread about discussing showtimes.

If I had to guess I would say that Brian actually works at the STONESTOWN, (or at least for the same company) that's why he has taken such offence at Mikes posts.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 11-14-2008, 05:03 PM:

But his complaint wasn't about the actual showtimes, per say but with the fact that they changed from week-to-week on Friday and that the newspaper from the previous day only showed the times for that day (which is the case for most newspapers).

And Brian pretty obviously doesn't work at the theater in question since it's in San Francisco and he's in Memphis.

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 11-14-2008, 06:32 PM:

Fair enough, but this doesn't explain why Brian is being so hostile to Mike or why this thread has turned into the "pick on Mike" thread.

Posted by Brian Woods (Member # 3521) on 11-15-2008, 10:40 AM:

I don't hate anyone, so please don't get your crumpets in a wad. I think it turned more hostile when the quote feature wasn't used.

quote:
Mike Croaro responds:

I don't know Mike/have anything against him, don't know the theater, and don't know why showtimes are such a

quote:
Strange happenings in San Francisco

Newspapers are horrible about keeping the correct showtimes listed. Some newspapers put their entertainment section on auto pilot and whatever the Super Computer in the back spits out must be the gospel. There have been many times a customer has brought it a newspaper from the prior day or even week and expects it to be the same. They don't take in account that when school is out or there is a holiday, we have more shows running, and when business is dead, we might not have a show until 2pm that day or in some cases 5pm. If the newspaper is right, the theater has to be wrong and its their fault. I don't hate anyone, but people who actually...

quote:
WORK AT A THEATER

Know this all too well that newspapers can list a wrong time, and we don't have anything to do with it. If a customer buys a paper 3 days ago, and comes in and thinks the times are going to be the same is valid? I wonder if you buy stocks that way too? How about the weather? Is it sunny where you are? Could it rain? Is the forecast the same on Monday that it will be on Friday? I think my overall point of this why do we care what the showtimes are? I don't have all day to sit around and ponder movie times. I check the newspaper if one is around and see what time the movie says it going to start, check the website, and if I am too suspicious I call the theater and ask them what the times are. If a theater doesn't fit into your schedule, maybe its not the one you go see the movie at? But to say a theater is at fault over this when you don't know their numbers or their reasoning behind it is... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 11-15-2008, 05:22 PM:

Hi Folks:

For the record I don't beleive I ever "complained" about the showtimes or "faulted" any particular theatre in this long thread.

I suppose in my postings I have indirectly suggested that showtimes at the few theatres mentioned could have been organized or chosen better.

I like the Stonestown Twin and visit it often. The staff is very friendly and there is a lot of free parking. I also rack up Regal points for free movies and food.

Finally, I always double check showtimes against newspapers, Fandango, AOL moviephone etc. I feel confident that the showtimes quoted in any of my postes are true and accurate.

Mike Croaro (no.....I'm not Frank)

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 11-16-2008, 11:07 AM:

The original idea of this thread was to point out silly showtime scheduling errors.

Anyone who thinks it was a good business decision to schedule Skeleton Key, a 1h:44m film with showtimes of 1:10pm, 4:10pm, 7:10pm, and then 10:40pm, or Burn Without Reading, a 1h:36m film with showtimes of 1:00pm, 4:00pm, 7:00pm, 10:15pm in my opinion would be an idiot, and deserves to be fired or have their theatre closed due to lack of customers.

With so many other entertainment options out there these days, and movie theatres struggling to attract customers away from these other entertainment options, scheduling inconvenient showtimes and having your auditorium sit there empty during prime time and paying staff to just sit there and then also have to pay them to work later is, in my opinon, not very good business decisions.

Maybe these theatres did this on purpose? Maybe they want to "close early" and "cancel" the later shows, hoping not many customers show up for them? Maybe they wanted to stretch the operating hours out longer so the hourly employees can get paid more by working longer hours?

And PS, I like the Stonestown Twin also. Would like to see them succeed and hate to see them shooting themselves in the foot with stupid showtimes. I think it's clear that Regal wants out of the lease when it expires. Hopefully the mall can find another operator for the theatre when Regal does exit. (Calling Landmark, Gary Meyer, or Frank Lee..) Maybe even remodel a bit and put in some new seats that don't face the wall.

Posted by Robert Harrison (Member # 3202) on 11-27-2008, 10:57 AM:

I run film projectors at four screens in two separate buildings. 1400 seats in Theatre 1. Screen 2 (200 seats) and screen 3 (100 seats) are on the ground floor of the other building (in a common booth), with screen 4 (280 seats) on the second floor.

Here is my weekend schedule:

#1) - Madagascar 2 - 1:00
Four Christmases - 2:45, 4:45, 7:00, 9:00

#2) - Quantum of Solace - 12:45
Madagascar 2 - 3:00, 5:00
Twilight - 7:00, 9:30

#3) - Twilight - 2:00
Quantum of Solace - 4:30, 7:00, 9:15

#4) - Bolt - 1:30, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00
Madagascar 2 - 9:45

WHY????!!!!

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 11-27-2008, 01:52 PM:

That is a lot of print moving there, Robert, with Madagascar running in 3 different houses.
We did some of that in the early 80s at UA, running 5 movies on 4 screens. Quite cumbersome.

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 11-27-2008, 05:40 PM:

I got Australia moving daily next week... down 2 flights of stairs, a lobby, two more flights of stairs, another lobby, through an auditorium [Roll Eyes]

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 11-28-2008, 02:00 PM:

Australia is the LAST movie currently playing I would want to move around on a daily basis.
Who decides when and where these prints get shifted around? The manager? The booking department? I suspect that SOMEONE isn't moving the prints themselves.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 11-28-2008, 02:32 PM:

We move prints between auditoriums every day. Sometimes between each show. [evil]

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 11-28-2008, 06:50 PM:

At least your system is designed properly for SMG to maximize attendance. This is far less fraught with peril than someone having to clamp Australia and fight the forces of gravity by hauling it downstairs and upstairs again.

Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 12-25-2012, 08:41 PM:

It has been 1488 days since the last post.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 12-25-2012, 08:41 PM:

3 Screen Theater:

Django Unchained at about 2:30 running time:
11:00am, 2:50pm, 6:45pm, 10:30pm

Jack Reacher at about 2:20 running time:
11:15am, 2:15pm, 7:00pm, 10:05pm

This is 40 at about 2:25 running time:
12:15pm, 4:15pm, 7:15pm, 10:20pm

I really don't understand........

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 12-26-2012, 12:53 AM:

Really not that bad. Django is actually 165 minutes without previews, so call it 3 hours even. If the theater has a pre-show, they may be contractually obligated to run it for a set time before the advertised start time-usually I think its between 15 and 30 minutes. And finally, you want to space out your shows-especially at a smaller theater with probably less staff/lobby capacity than a big multi-plex-to avoid having to many customers at once, thus increasing line sizes, thus decreasing your concession per cap, thus the 6:45, 7:00, and 7:15 spread.

Throw about 15 minutes of cleaning time in there, and you get your showtimes.

Or maybe this theater has no pre-show, is slower than average so lines/cleaning isn't that big of a deal, and is just wasting payroll. Who knows.