Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How to find theater closings/equipment sell outs...

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Posted by J. Isaac Reese (Member # 5124) on 02-07-2009, 05:14 PM:

And how to acquire some or all of the equipment in the theater after it closes... How does one find this information?

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 02-07-2009, 06:36 PM:

It has been my experience with independent theater closures the equipment is either warehoused or sold to the contracted service techs. Trade publications may sometimes print sale information in their classified section (Boxoffice used to have a classified section - not sure if it survived the changes). Of course, you can also find some good stuff here at Film-tech.

One more note - some service techs will resell the equipment, but the folks I'm familiar with want cash up front. They do not finance.

Posted by Tony L. Hernandez (Member # 3524) on 02-08-2009, 03:09 AM:

That kind of depends. If you found an old, mom and pop single screen or drive in that had older equipment, I would imagine you may have a better chance of talking to the property owner and just buying the equipment outright. If the stuff is newer and/or more valueble, forget it (especially if it is in a chain theater or a multiplex).

Like the above poster said, 9 times out of 10, it is sold to the tech who serviced the theater. Make a budy or two at your local theater supply company, it may go a long way.

Posted by Chris Iacofano (Member # 5074) on 02-11-2009, 05:07 PM:

Another thing to check out are colleges and universities. Most state schools have public auctions and you'd be shocked to see the kind of things they sell. Most universities have some sort of film equipment laying around gathering dust. I just picked up a nice Simplex XL and a Goldberg rewind table for $300 to go towards converting one of my screens back to changeover.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-11-2009, 05:23 PM:

Who would want to buy film projection equipment unless you're a collector... Film will be gone sooner then not.

Mark

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-11-2009, 07:01 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Film will be gone sooner then not.

Let us analyze this statement to see why this is absolutely impossible. The statement says that film will be gone sooner than it won't be gone. Well, the soonest possible moment is now. Film is still here! Even if we use the near future, say, 1 second into the future, film will still be there. Therefore the statement is false and should be omitted from all existence.

Posted by Chris Iacofano (Member # 5074) on 02-11-2009, 08:25 PM:

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm showing some titles on film that aren't available on DVD, let alone 4k digital. I'm glad that arthouses are more in the position at the moment to sit back and let the multiplexes pay the early-adapter tax on the various digital systems. No doubt it will be a consideration down the road, but for the time being we're quite well served by film [Smile]

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 02-12-2009, 02:02 PM:

Thank you, Joe. . . . . .no Koolaid here! Louis

Posted by Tony L. Hernandez (Member # 3524) on 02-21-2009, 01:59 AM:

Mark, with all due respect how can you make such a bold statement? Even if they stopped making 35mm prints right this very minute, there would still need to be 35mm equipment and trained projectionists and techs to run the hundreds of thousands of 35mm prints that are already in existence.

I would have thought that if anything I would have seen 16mm die by now with VHS being available for some 25 years and DVD being available for 11 years now yet still I find myself running a brand new 16mm print every month and a half or so.
That said, I'm not holding my breath for the death of 35mm. I think we'll be burrying 16mm first and even that has yet to happen.

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 02-21-2009, 12:01 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
Film will be gone sooner then not.

Mark will be gone long, long before film.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 02-21-2009, 12:01 PM:

It actually looks like in 2009 film projector sales are increasing.

With Mark, he hopes it is a self-fufilling prophacy. That is, if everyone puts in digital, then everything will indeed be digital. However the reverse is true...if exhibitors cease to put in digital, then digital will be forstalled for a very long time....sooner or later, digital will make its economic justification...it is no where near that now.

The fact remains, by going 100% digital, one's annual ticket sales will not be increased...therefore, the expense is not justified. With 3D, the arguement for buying Digital 3D is to ensure one does not lose business to a competitor that bought digital 3D...it doesn't, in the long term, increase sales at the theatre level for once most or every one has a digital 3D system, no one is in an advantage anymore...again the theatre pays a lot but no increase in sales. There is just this brief bubble where those that have, get a bigger piece of the pie than those that don't. Worldwide ticket sales though...the number is not digital or 3D dependant. If the movie is good, people come...if not, they don't.

Steve