This is topic Where are the film projectors going? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-25-2010, 09:24 PM:
 
Just went to a theater I worked at for 9 years and where I first learned how to project film. 4 out of the 6 screens are now using digital projection, and the other 2 are scheduled to get digital in a few months. I asked someone there what happened to the film projectors, and she said they melted them down. I sort of doubt that, but if they aren't keeping them at the theaters then where are they going? I'd like to buy one someday, and if regular theaters are going to stop using them there should be a bunch looking for new homes.
 

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Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 12-25-2010, 10:47 PM:
 
She's probably right. Many of them are just being sold for scrap metal.
 

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 12-26-2010, 01:10 AM:
 
So how much are they going for? Can I get one?
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-26-2010, 06:24 AM:
 
Many are being put into corners. Kept for spares.

A few are being reinstalled at lesser theatres.

A few, previously removed, are being reinstalled back where they started. (Digital removed or side-by-side.) Louis
 

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Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 12-26-2010, 03:49 PM:
 
Besides going to dealers backrooms there is the overseas market where digital will take longer to catch on.
 

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Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 12-26-2010, 04:06 PM:
 
When my theatre recently closed, all the projectors and sound equipment were purchased by other (mostly independent) exhibitors, for spare parts. They moved them in to storage for when those parts were needed.
 

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Posted by Michael Riley (Member # 5693) on 12-26-2010, 09:08 PM:
 
Regal and AMC are (were?) selling their old 35MM equipment to buyers from Central and South America
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 12-27-2010, 01:29 PM:
 
I'd also guess that a lot of those decommissioned projectors are outbound to South America and The Caribbean. When I worked in The Bahamas, all of our projectors were refurbished, taken out of American theatres, screening rooms, etc.
 

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Posted by Jonathan Althaus (Member # 5042) on 12-27-2010, 05:28 PM:
 
For us, certain models are going to other sites or down south, but my models are not. Simplex 1050's apparently aren't wanted
 

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Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 12-27-2010, 07:06 PM:
 
There aren't enough screens in Latin America to absorb all the 35mm projectors coming out.

Regal is paying Strong Technical to haul off the film equipment. A lot of this is going to landfill, particularly consoles and platters.

AMC has been putting some directly in the dumpster under a watchful eye of a guard.

As far as other companies, I not be knowing.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 12-27-2010, 07:26 PM:
 
Sam.

That is really cruel. I would kill for a Century DAW setup!
 

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Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-27-2010, 07:33 PM:
 
Ian get a good machine a GK21 or a CW
Century's i have found are a pain to maintain
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 12-27-2010, 10:29 PM:
 
Gordon.

I like the GK21's apart from 2 things, the double speed shutter and that ridiculous aperture change. Why did they design it like that???
Otherwise, they are a brilliantly well built machine and I wouldn't say no to one. I wonder what the parts situation is?

C&W's? I already have a pair of P6's and feel it's almost time to upgrade to a more 'heavy metal' style of machine.
...an Christmas has just past. Oh well, maybe next year.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-27-2010, 11:37 PM:
 
Worst example of projector waste I heard of is when Pacific was converting the Cinemra Dome in Hollywood to the Arclight Cinemas...during the demolition, they opened the booth wall up, set a dumpster in the auditorium, and shoved the Norelco AAII's over the edge.

I chewed out their main man, told him I would have arranged to remove them on my dime. Buttmunch.
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-28-2010, 08:25 AM:
 

quote: Tony Bandiera Jr

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they opened the booth wall up, set a dumpster in the auditorium, and shoved the Norelco AAII's over the edge.

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Tony, When was the last time you was in the Dome's booth? Ralph sent me to the Dome many times. I never saw any Norelco AAII's sitting there in any part of the booth. During that time Carl had installed a pair of Century JJ's. with two Christie AW-3's, but that's 1991. Arclight Hollywood opened March of 2002. During the early 1990's Carl had to reinstall projectors back into the Pantages Theatre. He took the two Norelco's from the Paramount (aka ElCapitan) and two from the Hastings in Pasadena for the job. He took parts of my sound system for theirs and updated mine at the Hollywood Pacific Theatre. Yes, he dumpped alot of booth equipment from the basement warehouse at the Pacific. Just like Mann Theatres did from the old Fox Theatre on Hollywood Blvd., they used it as an equipment warehouse for the chain.
A friend got a few full booth setups from AMC Century City for around $1000 per booth.

Just like the old Crazy Eddie commercials. The Prices Are Insane !
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-29-2010, 03:07 PM:
 
Bill, my story of what projectors were junked came from the late Conrad Button....so his memory as to what was in the booth could have been wrong. If you ever met him you'd know how good he was at, well pushing people's buttons. It is entirely possible he deliberately told me they were AAII's because he knew I was lusting after a pair of them for years.

I was in that booth only once, way back in the early 80's when I was with RCA service and I could not tell you what was there anymore (I can't remember last week anymore.)
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-29-2010, 03:20 PM:
 
Tony I knew Conrad. He was so funny. He would go over to the Pacific and see want Carl had for sale. You get Conrad & Bob Brooks & Autley & Lee Tucker in one booth, it was a laugh riot on those Studio Calls. Conrad would give you story on how he got some of the equipment, he always added to it. He told this story about this projectionist who needed 1.66 lens for his small screening room. Tom over at the Academy had a pair for sale. So Tom sold the lens to Al. Al was so pissed off about the lens he bought. Al's room had about a 30 foot throw and the Academy has a over a 100 foot throw. Tom and Conrad had a good laugh on Al.
A friend of Conrad's, Tim has about 20 of those Norelco AAII's now.
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-29-2010, 03:46 PM:
 
LOL glad to know you knew him as well. What a character and I miss him dearly. We had a tradition of going to dinner at Rene's in Temple City. He also loved to bug any friend I brought to meet him, always asking them if we were a couple or .

He also had all the connections, if you needed anything he could get it for you.

Are you referring to Tim Burke (Not the Technicolor Tim) who has a theatre in Illinois?

As for the current situation, yeah projection equipment is now pretty much worth nothing.

And to anyone who is disposing of Christie projectors, I am looking for the reverse scan analog reader kit and power supply board for the P-35 series projectors..PM me if you know where I can get one, it is going to be put on my personal projector.
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-29-2010, 04:42 PM:
 
Yes, Tim Burke he's at Paramount now.
 

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Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 12-31-2010, 02:47 PM:
 
Most of the post-1995 35mm hardware we had was sold off to other chains or to dealers. Some of it went to upgrade the three non-DLP locations we have. Other older hardware is sitting piled up in a corner of the booth.

About two or so years ago, they cherry-picked key parts (intermittents, LED readers, motors) from all the projectors in my shop and had all the rest of it hauled off as scrap metal. My projector shop is now stacked to the rafters with seat boxes, my sound rack shop was moved to the old main office after they moved to a new location.

-Aaron
 

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Posted by Andres Briano (Member # 4621) on 03-17-2011, 12:25 AM:
 

quote: Michael Riley

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Regal and AMC are (were?) selling their old 35MM equipment to buyers from Central and South America

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quote: Andres Briano

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I haven´t heard of a single case of this happening, and I work in the 3 countries in SA with most theatres per capita.

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quote: Jim Henk

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had rows of projector heads that all got bought up to go to South America. So, there's one right there.

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Sorry if I remain skeptic. Did they say what country they were shipped to? Any chance that they´d confuse South and Central America? I am not doubting your word, it is just that I believe I would have heard if that was the case. Unless they went to let´s say Venezuela, Colombia or the Guyanas and/or Central America.
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 03-23-2011, 04:46 PM:
 
Jim.

Can you recall the place you bought the Christie from?
 

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Posted by Jim Henk (Member # 3628) on 03-23-2011, 06:14 PM:
 
As I mentioned in an email to Ian, (YGM) I'm not sure how appropriate it is to name names on a public forum. Is this going to rain fire down on somebody? If so, then not. But I did give Ian some more info privately.
 

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Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 03-23-2011, 06:30 PM:
 
There is some confusion in the US as to where South America begins.

To many citizens, it starts with Mexico and points south, as in anywhere there are people with Latin blood. There is a vague awareness it is not all one country.
 

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Posted by Preston Drum (Member # 5903) on 03-23-2011, 07:04 PM:
 
An operation I have been working for bought 2 old Century SA's last year for some exterior film screenings. The project failed and was discontinued... So we simply pushed them aside in the booth. One stands as a partition for go-go dancers to get dressed behind...pretty funny, but sad.

There are people out there buying this stuff. Who ever is tossing projectors into dumpsters is just an idiot. "Scrap it" at the very least to help pay for that new digital set-up.
 

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Posted by Andres Briano (Member # 4621) on 03-24-2011, 08:07 PM:
 

quote: Sam D. Chavez

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There is some confusion in the US as to where South America begins.

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Don´t we know that, Sam? However I applaude your knowledge and I give you an A+ in geography!

I have found that many people from the US tend to think that the Panama Channel divides "America" from "South America" as if they were two different continents. My comeback for that is always the same: "Then I suppose that you don´t consider the UK to be part of Europe, huh?"

That is another reason why I don´t consider the citizens from the States to be the only Americans. Everyone that lives in the American continent is an American!
 

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Posted by Ian Parfrey (Member # 5122) on 03-24-2011, 09:20 PM:
 
I'd kill for a pair of Century's.
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-25-2011, 02:30 AM:
 

quote: Andres Briano

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I have found that many people from the US tend to think that the Panama Channel divides "America" from "South America" as if they were two different continents. My comeback for that is always the same: "Then I suppose that you don´t consider the UK to be part of Europe, huh?"

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Just so you know:
1) At least here in the States we call it the Panama Canal.
2) Most people I've been acquainted with from the UK actually do consider their country not entirely a part of Europe and in the UK they routinely refer to mainland Europe as "Europe."
 

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Posted by Andres Briano (Member # 4621) on 03-26-2011, 01:31 PM:
 

quote: Chris Slycord

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2) Most people I've been acquainted with from the UK actually do consider their country not entirely a part of Europe and in the UK they routinely refer to mainland Europe as "Europe."

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quote:

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That is another reason why I don´t consider the citizens from the States to be the only Americans. Everyone that lives in the American continent is an American!

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quote: Andres Briano

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...so, what you are saying, Chris, is that "America" and "South America" are two different continents?

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quote: Chris Slycord

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Even a cursory reading of the statement would show that I was responding to the claim that the UK can't be seen separately from Europe.

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How touchy...! Relax, dude, this is nothing more than a harmless exchange of opinions!
 

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Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 03-26-2011, 08:21 PM:
 
Realizing that we are way off topic here, just a couple of additional observations . . .

Most Americans cant even geographically place all the 50 states, let alone know where the "official" border is between the continents of North and South America. Now with that being said, I am curious to know as to why South Americans refer to themselves as "Americans", and is this commonplace among many in the population?

Here in the states there are several who will tell you your NOT AN AMERICAN unless you can prove at least one of the following:

• An ancestor came to America during the Colonial Period.
• An ancestor fought in the American Revolution (This may include British or Hessian service providing they stayed in America once the conflict ended).
• An ancestor believed in the concept of Manifest Destiny and survived the rigors of either the Oregon Trail or Santa Fe Trail.
• An ancestor fought at the Battle of the Alamo (a serious badge of honor for anybody from Texas).
• An ancestor answered Abraham Lincoln's call for 35,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion in the Southern states. (For our southern friends . . . an ancestor participated in the Gettysburg Campaign).
• An ancestor immediately realized the evils of labor unionization and fought their entire lives against such travesties.
• An ancestor started a family tradition of the oldest male from each generation attends a outrageously overpriced private institution of higher learning.
  And finally . . .
• Each night while sitting around the dinner table your father constantly reminds you that your generation is crap because they are not living up to these "values".

quote:

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How touchy...! Relax, dude, this is nothing more than a harmless exchange of opinions!

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It felt like your previous question was more than just being harmless. It felt like you were lumping me in with people who think America doesn't include South America.

Then again, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and had a stressful day so I guess I took it the wrong way.

And I really was just doing that as an FYI, since a lot of people who don't have British friends might not have a clue that Britain has often looked at itself as not European.
 

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Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 03-27-2011, 05:26 PM:
 
People in the USA refer to themselves as Americans because the USA is the only country in either North Or South America that has the word "America" in it's title. Most languages refer to the citizens of a given country as some variation of the countries name, not the continent it is located on. People here are well aware there are also Canadians and Mexicans in addition to Americans here in North America.

What is the point of this discussion?
 

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Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 03-27-2011, 06:04 PM:
 
I remember in Junior High when the geography teacher got really mad at one idiot in our class:

Teacher: Where is Canada with respect to the continental US?
Student: Up.
 

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Posted by Jamie Glossop (Member # 2180) on 04-25-2011, 05:02 PM:
 
Wow aint been on here in a long time,

been abit busy setting my own film club company

Most cinemas over here are going digital, The one i used to work at has gone digital,

But myself like the good ole 35mm
 

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Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 04-26-2011, 08:30 PM:
 
To elaborate on the situation in the UK the changeover to digital amongst the major circuits will be complete in late 2011/early 2012, although my guess is all the profitable sites/screens will be digital and 3D before the final Harry Potter in the summer.

I wish I knew where the 35mm projectors were going, but I do not.

Most people in the UK would refer to the rest of Europe as 'The Continent' or 'Europe'. I don't think anyone born in the UK to British parents would describe themselves as 'European'. We're only 20 miles from them but it seems a lot further away sometimes!
 

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Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 04-26-2011, 09:43 PM:
 
Ok, this thread has gotten waaaayyy off topic, so to get it back on track:

The main reason the big chains are not selling off their old projection gear is due to a few things:

• Most of the equipment, for tax purposes, is so old that it is declared as zero value;
• The paperwork necessary for such a sale is often very cumbersome for a large corporation;
• If they were to sell let's say a projector/console for $1,000.00, not only do they have to report that sale to the IRS but it now makes ALL such equipment in the entire chain (in the IRS' perspective) valued at the same or higher, so now the company may find themselves having to declare ALL remaining equipment at the same or higher value.