Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sold-out midnite shows for Harry Potter 6

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-14-2009, 05:30 PM:

Regal 15 in Eugene is interlocking midnite shows of HP6 on 14 screens. Cinemark 17 in Springfield has it on 5 screens (I don't think they know how to interlock).

Total of 19 screens, and all 19 of them are completely sold out as of now according to online ticketing.

How is that possible? Is there that much interest in this movie? Unbelievable.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 07-14-2009, 05:47 PM:

Harry is on 10 screens in Lubbock. I do not know about the Drive-In, but I can confirm 9 screens are sold out for the midnights.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 07-14-2009, 05:59 PM:

AMC Lennox 24, which is very close to THE Ohio State University, has sold out 24 screeens for the 12:01 show tonight. They have 1 screening at 3:25am that is available.

College students grew up on HARRY POTTER and this is still an important film for them, much as STAR WARS was for an earlier generation. POTTER fans don't seem to be into "lines" as much as the SW fans.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-14-2009, 06:27 PM:

I am surprised that Harry Potter fans can stay up until midnight (proper spelling). [Razz]

I'm going to have to watch one of these movies some day. Still haven't seen any.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-14-2009, 06:51 PM:

The Regal Fenway 13 (ex-GCC, ex-AMC) apparently has it on all 13 screens tonight, for some reason. Oddly, the AMC Boston Common 19 (ex-Loews), which is the larger and more popular house, only has it on six screens (five 35mm, one DLP). Online tickets appear to be available.

Sadly, we're getting it at the Embassy (which is supposed to be an art house...), but there is no midnight show.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 07-15-2009, 02:24 AM:

By far the busiest midnight show we've ever run *yawn*

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 07-15-2009, 02:49 AM:

Well ours did better then Dark Knight, Twilight or Transformers. Sold out two screens.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 07-15-2009, 04:02 AM:

We had it on 10 screens...all sold out. Have 3:15 shows, sold out our big house, running it in the second house. Can add more shows as needed. The movies going to be big..and its good to boot.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 07-15-2009, 04:25 AM:

Sold out all 10 screens we had available. Today was totally awesome, was at work at 8am for a marathon of the first five movies, left at 3:30am. Yay.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-15-2009, 01:03 PM:

We had a good crowd, not a sellout, but over 100 people which is pretty good for this little burg.

I've only watched the first HP film - and didn't really get it. I think I was tired or something. Haven't really had much interest in seeing the others -- I guess it's just not my kind of thing.

Word of mouth from a couple of fans was that it was "pretty good" but not through-the-roof great like I was hoping for considering the interest in this one.

Posted by Andy Bajew (Member # 5330) on 07-15-2009, 02:24 PM:

Sold out 3 screens. Was planning to interlock into 5 screens--didn't have the staff available to sell out 5 screen. My theater is a dinner and a movie theater in case anyone was wondering why the staff available would determine the number of theaters used.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-15-2009, 03:20 PM:

As usual, it appears Megaplex 17 sold every seat in the building (save for the IMAX, this time around.)

They also sold at least one 3:00am show.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-15-2009, 04:02 PM:

So who here interlocked all screens in their complex with a SINGLE print? A bunch of little simultaneous interlocks doesn't count. That's wimpy.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 07-15-2009, 04:07 PM:

We ran four screens. Best midnight attendance yet. Beat the figures for Dark Knight.

Posted by Chad Souder (Member # 343) on 07-15-2009, 04:41 PM:

The best thing about last night's midnight show is that people waited in line so long, by the time we opened the doors they were starving. It was by far the best per caps we've ever run for a midnight show and with huge crowds usually bringing lower per caps, I give credit to my popcorn slingers. It was a very profitable night indeed! (but like many of you I'm still yawning)

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 07-15-2009, 09:33 PM:

It did about the same as Dark Knight; came close to selling out 2 screens at 250 seats each. Still doing very strong today although we haven't come close to a sell out.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 07-15-2009, 10:12 PM:

A lot of people were standing in the parking lot of our local Carmike theater waiting for the midnight shows. The Carmike 8 sold out 6 of its 8 screens. Lawton's ABC affiliate covered the story. Text and video here.

I was NOT out there last night. Just forwarding along the news story. I thought geeky people only dressed up for Star Wars and Star Trek movies. Cool people, or rather people who think they're cool, dress up for Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-15-2009, 10:20 PM:

Depending on which news reports you believe, upwards of 4000 screens sold out last night. The 19 sellouts here made the front page of the local newspaper this morning. People started lining up at 6:30AM Tuesday.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-15-2009, 10:37 PM:

We sold out eight screens (around 1100 tickets sold) for the midnight show of HP.

-Aaron

Posted by Jeremy Weigel (Member # 4208) on 07-15-2009, 10:39 PM:

quote: Bobby Henderson
I thought geeky people only dressed up for Star Wars and Star Trek movies. Cool people, or rather people who think they're cool, dress up for Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Yeah, we had some HOT witches here last night.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-15-2009, 10:55 PM:

We didn't sell out, but we about 85% capacity on two screens. That's pretty damn good for us.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 07-15-2009, 11:51 PM:

Who watches a movie at a movie theatre at a 3:30am start time? I mean really. And there'll be nothing but empty houses in two or three weeks from now....

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-16-2009, 01:27 AM:

Personally I think midnight shows are crazy. Why would you want to watch a movie while fighting sleep? But hey, if they're willing to pay the ticket price, I'm willing to stay up and be open.

Posted by Jake Spell (Member # 5294) on 07-16-2009, 01:36 AM:

The converted IMAX theater (now 35mm 426 seats) sold out HP6 over a week before the release so they added a 2:45am showing. Had close to 200 the day before.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 07-16-2009, 05:17 AM:

Well...let's see. It's 3:15AM now and I'm not fighting sleep. Although insomnia the last few nights is probably more to do with it.

The excitement surrounding this movie has been so big.

All 3 of our locations showing HP6 were sold out long before showtime. In fact we sold out every additional show we added and still had to turn folks away.

At any rate I'm glad to see this kind of turn-out. It's these blockbusters that make it worth it for me...that is when I peek into the theater and see smiling faces or the crowd cheers when it starts (happens quite a bit for some reason).

Though when sh*t goes wrong during these shows it's another story altogether isn't it...

Ah well. Back to reading the asterisk* manual and trying to sleep!

Posted by Sean Kapp (Member # 4839) on 07-16-2009, 04:10 PM:

We didn't sell out but filled to 88% which is a new record for us on a movie.

Not bad seeing how we have only been open since May of 08 and are trying to get people to come back. The former owners ran the place into the ground prior to our buyout and major renovation between Feb 2007 and May 2008.

We seat 440, single screen.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-16-2009, 08:47 PM:

And to think...it wasn't even in 3D!!!!

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-16-2009, 09:23 PM:

Isn't part of it in 3D in IMAX?

Posted by John Koutsoumis (Member # 1855) on 07-16-2009, 09:46 PM:

The ads in the paper have "Experience the explosive opening in IMAX 3D!' down the bottom.

You can see it here in both 15/70mm and Digital IMAX.
The Hoyts ads say "select scenes exclusively in 3D".
I wonder if they charge more for 3D Digital IMAX than 2D.
2D is $22.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 07-16-2009, 11:31 PM:

"Who watches a movie at a movie theatre at a 3:30am start time? I mean really. And there'll be nothing but empty houses in two or three weeks from now...."

I can't explain why but this comment reallly had me laughing! [Big Grin]

Thanks Eric.

Mike

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-16-2009, 11:40 PM:

quote:
I can't explain why but this comment reallly had me laughing!

Perhaps someone was tickling you while you were reading it.

Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 07-17-2009, 03:37 PM:

We had 2 screens, added another, and ended up selling all out, total of 640 b/w the 3. Considered interlocking, but not necessary. But a 15-screen interlock sounds like a good fall project.

Posted by Luke Anderson (Member # 5316) on 07-17-2009, 10:03 PM:

3 Prints on 12 screens sold out.

-Luke

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 07-21-2009, 05:19 PM:

quote: Joe Redifer
So who here interlocked all screens in their complex with a SINGLE print? A bunch of little simultaneous interlocks doesn't count. That's wimpy.

I actually managed a theater that "theoretically" had the ability to interlock 5 out of the 9 houses though I never had the use or even bothered to test if it actually worked (was never that bored).

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-21-2009, 05:49 PM:

It's not a matter of boredom, it's a matter of achievement!

So those of you who interlocked, how many screens did you do per print? Did Luke beat all of you with 4 screens on a single print?

Posted by Tristan Lane (Member # 1169) on 07-24-2009, 11:57 PM:

quote: Luke Anderson
3 Prints on 12 screens sold out.

Back in Spokane Eh?!

I was somewhat inspired by the video on here showing the 14 screener, that I set up 14 screen install for the same capability. I never had a chance to test it out, but the needed rollers and equipment are there.

We sold out every seat in our 8 screener, but with digital, it's much less of a challenge from a technical standpoint.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 07-25-2009, 07:46 AM:

quote: Michael Gonzalez
I actually managed a theater that "theoretically" had the ability to interlock 5 out of the 9 houses though I never had the use or even bothered to test if it actually worked (was never that bored).

I ran a booth with 9 theaters which were wired to interlock in pairs only with one odd projector out. They're wired like this:

#1 --- #7

#2 --- #3

#4 --- #5

#6

#8 --- #9

I ran a test there with a manual interlock (all projectors started from timers) like this:

4 --> 7 --> 1 --> 8 --> 9

...with a single acetate stock print... twice. No problems.

Shame I wasn't there for the Harry Potter midnight show. All they could muster with two prints was four houses, and they all sold out. I could have done five with one, and two more with the other. There's probably not enough rollers in the building to get the other three even with the MUTs.