Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: How do you advertise midnight shows?

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Posted by Sean Kapp (Member # 4839) on 05-02-2009, 04:55 PM:

Ok so either we live in an area with a ton of stupid people are or we arn't thinking on their level when we advertise for midnight shows...

We did a midnight show for X-men. Marquee and other signs at theater states May 1st special midnight showing. Our website and phone system stated Come out late Thursday (April 30) night for a midnight showing!

We have an attached cafe to our theater. This morning when our manager for it came in, she found a nasty letter written by someone who came last night for a midnight showing. We also received a message on the voicemail system claiming 45 people were here at midnight, May 2nd.

Not sure how much more clear we can make it when we do midnight runs. What do you guys do for clearly communicating midnight shows to your locals?

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 05-02-2009, 06:53 PM:

We (Cameo, Newberg, OR) promote the midnight show as "Thursday night/Friday morning" on the website and in the showtime e-mail. We then remove any mention of a midnight show by Friday morning from the website.

I'm sure that doesn't get through to everybody, but we tried.

Brian is opening Star Trek next weekend and has already set showtimes, but I won't put them on the site because I know if I do, people will show up THIS weekend demanding to see it.

Of course, a few people still show up at the drive-in thinking the drive-in lineup is the lineup actually playing at the Twin or the Cameo. We've taken steps in the site design over the years to better differentiate the properties because of this, but some people still think it's confusing...

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 05-02-2009, 08:17 PM:

We bill shows starting at the 12 o'clock between Saturday and Sunday as "Saturday Midnight", if a date is given it is the date of Saturday. There has never been any confusion.

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 05-02-2009, 08:45 PM:

I do the same as Bill. Current example: Wolverine Thursday Night April 30th at Midnight. I've been doing it this way for a few years and haven't had any problems.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-02-2009, 08:52 PM:

Our signs, website and ads say:

MIDNIGHT SHOW, Friday May 1 -
TICKETS GO ON SALE THURSDAY at 11:30

Then on Thursday, we put a sign in the front window - MIDNIGHT SHOW TONIGHT

We also have a general policy of not doing midnight shows unless school is out. About half the crowd for such shows is school kids and I'd rather have a few disgruntled kids than 100% disgruntled parents (who don't have the guts to say "NO, you can't go to a midnight movie on a school night.")

I think this topic has been covered somewhere around here before.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-02-2009, 09:45 PM:

I always say Thursday night at midnight. If I include Friday at all it will be "Thursday Night (Fri morning)"

For most people, the calendar doesn't really switch to Friday until they wake up in the morning. Unfortunately, many customers are idiots and it's falls on us to make everything as idiot proof as possible.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-02-2009, 11:16 PM:

You could put up - "12:01am, Friday Morning" This approach seems to work with these special midnight showing of these summer blockbusters in our megaplex area...

And since we show midnight shows at our local discount theatre on wknds, we do get the clowns showing up Thurs night thinking that it's Friday night since it's posted on our marquees for the full week duration -which is it clearly spelled out "Fri and Sat" midnight showings of all features.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-03-2009, 12:41 AM:

Film companies are not helping in this by plastering the "Opening date" all over their advertising but then allowing shows to begin at 7:00 the day before. No wonder people don't know what's going on.

Posted by Sean Kapp (Member # 4839) on 05-03-2009, 12:57 AM:

Thanks for all of the replies everyone! Keep all of them in mind the next time we do a midnight show. Chances are someone will still show up on the wrong night though. Silly public! [Cool]

Posted by Thomas Pitt (Member # 4322) on 05-03-2009, 03:52 PM:

Cinemas in the UK tend to advertise midnight showings as starting at 00:01 the following day. So for example, a showing at midnight on Thursday would be shown as starting at 00:01 on Friday.

I get the impression this is more to help the ticketing system than anything else, though (something might go wrong if the movie starts and finishes on different days!)

Regarding school kids, VUE cinemas at least has a policy regarding late showings. Any movie starting after 10pm is classed as a 'late show' and persons under 18 will not be admitted.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-03-2009, 05:24 PM:

I would think that "11:59pm Friday and Saturday" would be less potentially confusing than "12:01am Saturday and Sunday," personally. The extra minute could be filled with a policy trailer, if need be.

Posted by Sally Ann Burgess (Member # 4746) on 05-04-2009, 01:34 AM:

For our midnight of Wolverine (which showed Tues night Weds morning here in NZ)we put a small poster up in front of the Wolverine poster clearly stating Midnight Tuesday, and doors open at 23:50 Tuesday night. We also told people when they bought the tickets.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 05-04-2009, 07:56 PM:

As Thomas mentioned above the chain I work for doesn't let under 18s in to any film after 10:30pm. It is definitely the easiest way to avoid aggro from parents.

We advertise as (day) Late xx:xx on the flyer.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 05-05-2009, 02:19 AM:

I've never had any confusion on the issue...

Posted by Jeff Lacey (Member # 3217) on 05-05-2009, 03:08 AM:

quote: Sean Kapp
Ok so either we live in an area with a ton of stupid people

Well, you do live in Ohio, so..... [Smile]

But yeah, I've never had a problem either, but I'd just say late Thursday night....

In regards to X-Men, I'd say something like, "regular engagement starts, Friday, May 1st, be the first to see it in an advance showing late Thursday night, at 12:01 am"

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 05-05-2009, 05:53 AM:

quote: Mike Spaeth
I've never had any confusion on the issue...

I've had about as much confusion about midnight shows as we normally see from the time changes. There may be a small handful of people who get it wrong, but those are few and far between.

I really wish the studios would allow more of the 7:00pm or 10:00pm early openings, rather than the midnights.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 05-05-2009, 10:55 AM:

We get our showtimes data from CinemaSource (West World Media) and they do all their showtimes the same way in that all shows before 2am are listed on the previous day.

CinemaSource works hand-in-hand with movietickets.com, which does online ticketing for AMC, National Amusements, Marcus, and others.

A Thursday midnight show would be listed as Thursday 12:01am, for example.

By doing this consistently every time, I think people get used to the concept that a midnight show Thursday night will be listed on Thursday's showtimes, even though it is technically Friday morning.

Here are some examples of midnight shows coming up for Angels and Demons:

Milwaukee, WI

Chicago, IL

Hollywood, CA

I took a look at Fandango, which does ticketing for Regal, Kerasotes, etc. and they also do the Thursday appearance for midnight shows that night.

I think consistency is the key. Do it the same way every time and people will figure it out. I also think listing it on Thursday makes the most sense.

My recommendation for any theater is to follow the convention of the majority of theaters out there to reduce the confusion. Of course, there will always be a segment of the population that is eternally confused and nothing we do will change that.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-05-2009, 12:24 PM:

I personally can't understand why midnight shows are so popular.

1. They are usually on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night, so most people have to work (or go to school) the next day.

2. Why would you want to experience a movie in a state of being tired and having to fight to stay awake? Especially when it's a movie you've been anticipating and been anxious to see?

I know, I know, it's all about the "water cooler talk" the next day. But it sure proves how silly people can be.

Posted by Sam King (Member # 4029) on 05-13-2009, 11:28 PM:

My theatre is one of those listed on the Hollywood link and we typically get about 2-3% of people showing up 24 hours early for their show. We educate as well as we can, but it's a bell curve, half of that 2-3% are idiots who didn't think about it and half are very smart and over thought it.