Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Quality theater (like Northpark 1) in the Dallas, TX area?

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Posted by Jeff Wirz (Member # 1762) on 05-08-2006, 01:51 PM:

Hello everyone,

I "lurk" a lot on this site but after seeing MI:3 this weekend, I just have to find a quality theater.

I grew up going to the Northpark 1 theater in Dallas, TX. It was perfection. Everything about it was always great. The film was always in focus and the sound was INCREDIBLE.

I hated the day it closed and have never been happy with any other theater since. The Regal Gateway in Austin, TX was pretty good but I am in Dallas again so that's not an option.

No matter where I go now, I almost always end up walking out of the theater. The focus is usually off or the sound is no where near the level where it should be. WHERE IS THE BASS?!??

Northpark is what really got me into home theater too. I have spent over $20,000 to be able to watch movies the right way, like Northpark presented them.

My set up is now a 119" screen, 720p projector, and 7.1 with Buttkicker transducers. I had to have that "Northpark" bass. [Smile]

If anyone around the Dallas area knows of a quality theater, I will be there. The Galaxy was always lacking, as is the DLP at the Legacy.

People just do not seem to care these days about presenting movies the way they should be heard and seen.

Thanks!

You can email me too: DELETED - READ THE RULES

I apologize if this is in the wrong forum area.

[ 05-08-2006, 07:04 PM: Message edited by: Brad Miller ]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-08-2006, 05:50 PM:

The area you posted in is OK, but you need to edit-out the email address you put in your post. That's TOTALLY against the rules (it's to protect you from spambots, I think).

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 05-08-2006, 06:53 PM:

Since you already have all the equipment at home, just wait three weeks for the DVD.... [Razz]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-08-2006, 07:05 PM:

Such a theater does not exist in the Dallas area. There isn't even a close second. Sorry.

Posted by Jeff Wirz (Member # 1762) on 05-09-2006, 09:37 AM:

Sorry about the email address.

Hey Brad, that is what I thought. Oh well, I was hoping you may know someone in the area that actually cares about a good presentation.

I do wait for DVDs most of the time but with the big blockbusters I really want to see it in the theater on opening day or even a sneak preview.

I guess the glory days of seeing movies in the theater are indeed gone now.

What a shame.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-09-2006, 01:19 PM:

quote: Jeff Wirz
I guess the glory days of seeing movies in the theater are indeed gone now.

Well, in Dallas at least.

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-09-2006, 03:40 PM:

It's gone probably everywhere Mike. I have yet to find another theater anywhere which reached that sort of quality level. There have been some good seconds scattered here and there, but nothing as good as what he is wanting.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-09-2006, 05:47 PM:

I guess the problem is that those of us that desire to open a theatre like that don't have the money to build one.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 05-09-2006, 07:21 PM:

I feel very lucky to work for a guy who understands the true meaning of showmanship. After our re-model and upgrade, our theatre will be a true 'premiere' theatre. I just get to manage it and run it. I don't know if I would want to have all the headaches of owning it. Not to mention the financial risk of owning your own business.

My goal is to build a theatre in my house. Why? Because even when the theatre I manage is the best theatre on the Eastern Shore of Maryland - why would I want to watch a movie with a bunch of idiots? And yes, I will screen some movies late at night or early in the morning when no one else is in the building - but it is still work. Everyone needs their time away from their job.

Someday, I will have that private screening room in my house. In the meantime - if there are no good moviehouses left to see a film in - then maybe we are at the end of our rope in the theatre business.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-09-2006, 07:31 PM:

The problem isn't the money it takes to build such a theater, like the Northpark 1-2.

The problem has more to do with the exhibition industry's lack of desire to maintain a high standards level of presentation quality.

Granted, it isn't really cheap to build one auditorium with over 1000 seats and have expert audio engineers custom-engineer the theater's sound system.

However, a lot of theaters would have much better presentation quality if they just had some regular maintenance. I think a lot of theaters go at least a year or two between re-tunings, if not longer than that. The sound systems at Northpark 1-2 were retuned all the time. Repairs for things like blown speakers were carried out quickly. Things weren't simply left broken like they are in so many other theaters.

I don't think you necessarily have to have a 1000+ seat auditorium in order to have a great theater. Although, there is a kind of cool rush you get when you walk into a really big screening room. Great projection and sound quality can occur even in the smallest of auditoriums if the theater owners would bother to invest in better presentation quality.

With that issue being stated, I don't think "D-Cinema" as its called will greatly improve matters. Viewers are still going to encounter screens with dim and blurry projection quality and sound that is way out of tune, wimpy on dynamic range and lacking on the bass. I think the problems will persist because routine maintenance is more a policy issue rather than a "digital versus analog" issue.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-09-2006, 07:57 PM:

It's not the cost of building one screen or even two. No theatre is going to be very viable with less than 8 screens. Any smaller and you have huge problems with one "dud" that you booked and is taking up screens that you need to bring in something that does business.

Even if you can find an existing empty theatre to re-open, the sound systems will probably run $40,000 - $60,000 per auditorium depending on size. Figure 2000 seats at $150 a pop that's $300,000. So far we're at around $700,000 without a picture. Maybe you can do the screens, projectors, cosmetic stuff and concession stand for $300,000. So, if you found an empty 8 plex, it would take around $1,000,000 to get it up an running at a level like the description of northpark I & II.

If you had to build the building, you're probably looking at $4,000,000 plus land for an 8 plex.

If everybody is ready to chip in and create "Film-Tech Theatres" maybe we can do it!

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 05-09-2006, 08:34 PM:

Cinema World 8 here in Eugene has a big "For Lease" sign on it. Hey, these 8 screens were renovated in 1995 and they were all THX-certified. It's a start. [Cool]

(I'm not suggesting it was ever in the Northpark's league, but in the right hands...)

Of course, since owner Regal is replacing it with a new 15-plex across the street, they might have other ideas. [Wink]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-10-2006, 02:04 AM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
The sound systems at Northpark 1-2 were retuned all the time. Repairs for things like blown speakers were carried out quickly. Things weren't simply left broken like they are in so many other theaters.

Ummmm, we tuned the sound systems for every single film that ran in at Northpark. Even when the print moved houses, a full tuning would be performed. Also, whenever something was noticed that was wrong (blown speaker/dead amp), it was repaired that day as we had replacement EVERYTHING in the booth. This was a special situation however where all of the projectionists were competent though. Nowadays a theater is lucky if there is one person in the building with enough knowledge to even change out a blown driver.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 05-10-2006, 02:33 AM:

so at the end of the day... was the northpark losing money?

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 05-10-2006, 05:59 AM:

quote: Jeff Wirz
People just do not seem to care these days about presenting movies the way they should be heard and seen.

It's almost like theaters don't want to hire those of us with actual booth experience. It seems like they want the greenest people they can find.

Sure, I could start all over again, cleaning piss of toliet seats, but is it worth it?

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-10-2006, 07:09 PM:

quote: Carl Martin
so at the end of the day... was the northpark losing money?

Not with people like me driving 200 miles each way to watch movies there.

Some of the knuckleheads running the movie industry need to realize this very simple truth: What matters isn't having the MOST movie theaters. What gets viewers coming back is by having the BEST QUALITY theaters.

Last time I checked, I can only manage watching one movie at a time in one auditorium at a time. I couldn't even begin to give the first dry popcorn fart's worth of amazement from an exhibition company having so and such many thousand movie theaters. I will not be made to care about that. Is that declarative enough of a statement? The only thing that matters to me is that the one movie theater in which I am sitting has really good projection and really good quality sound. If that cannot be managed then I'll certainly make the choice of settling to watch the show via my DVD player and my home 5.1 surround sound system. I know it's not the greatest, but it does deliver a dependable level of quality I find pretty sufficient.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 05-10-2006, 08:24 PM:

Are there any current theatres with presentation equal to the Northpark? I'd drive awhile to go to one.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-10-2006, 08:34 PM:

Equal to Northpark? I don't know about that. If there are any such theaters there are very few of them.

Granted, I'm quick to praise the Northpark 1-2 -especially for how great this theater was and not being located in New York or Los Angeles.

There are theaters that do rank at least in the ballpark, if not equal if their maintenance standards are currently as high as they were at Northpark.

I would put in a vote for the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C. -but it has been a long time since I've visited it. Recent accounts suggest quality standards have slipped a bit at the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan. I'm certain there's at least a couple theaters worth visiting in the Westwood section of Los Angeles. I'd love to visit the El Capitan Theater, but would probably spend more time looking at its really cool signs rather than enjoying a good quality presentation.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 05-11-2006, 09:30 AM:

quote:
I'm certain there's a least a couple theaters worth visting in the Westwood section of Los Angeles.

The Village Theatre may get all the gold medals in the area, but playing it loud does not mean that it's the best. Since working many of the theatres in that market. I would say that the El Capitan and the old Cineplex Century Plaza Theatres (before Loews trashed the house). Both of those houses had really good projectionists and maintained a good booth. All the really good union projectionists in Los Angeles have left the theatre business and moved over to the studio projectionist jobs. Here in NYC the only theatre that I like going to that I can give a good rating is the AMC/Loews Lincoln Square. The rest of the theatres here all have problems in presentation. I went to four different Loews Theatres in the city and found xenon flicker problems.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-11-2006, 12:43 PM:

The Lincoln Square theater in New York was built after I moved from the area. Isn't the largest auditorium pretty large (several hundred seats or more) and still THX certified?

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 05-11-2006, 03:46 PM:

THX aside, The Heights in north Minneapolis blows away any multiplex or single screen in town. They are usually open on weekday evenings & weekends for matinees & night shows. Tom Letness, Dave Holmgren, TJ Hopland & all of their great, friendly crew deserve endless thanks for ressurecting the most beautiful theater in the Twin Cities; booking 70mm roadshows, rarities & early technicolor & silent features; preserving a quaint lobby full of history & conveiniently located next to their very own Dairy Queen; and of course keeping a perfectly maintained & clean set of DP70's for flawless changeovers with rock steady projection.

I'm sure myself & several others on this forum could go on for days about all the great parts of the Heights, but the website does all the talking. I have the pleasure of working with Bill Carter & Rich Landry at St. Anthony Main. [thumbsup]

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 05-11-2006, 05:26 PM:

Yes, that auditorium at Lincoln Square is a large one. It looks like the only thing THX certified in NYC is the Tribeca Screening Room now. There was afew Loews houses that had certified auditoriums and the Regal Union Square had two at one time.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 05-16-2006, 09:12 PM:

Someone over at Cinema Treasures is asking about the Northpark.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 05-16-2006, 11:28 PM:

Cool, yet somewhat funny thread. I cringed at the various ways how a few writers misspelled Tomlinson Holman's name.

Northpark 1-2 didn't look like much from the outside (pretty conservative exterior design) but the theater really delivered the quality where it counted and it still makes me angry how this theater was stupidly closed.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 05-17-2006, 01:15 PM:

The Evil Sam might chime in on this, and I'd like to hear his insight, but my parents lived in Des Moines throughout their childhood & had fond memories of the River Hills Theatre, also a THX house & 70mm Cinerama. It was closed & demolished a few years ago to make way for the new civic center downtown. It had quite the reputation among my family & all were sad to hear of its demise. At least DSM still has the Merle Hay Mall Cinema, I saw the Empire Strikes Back Special Ed. there, it was the first movie experience I remember for being technically great.