Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Opening on Christmas Day

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Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 11-23-2015, 08:05 PM:

We have finally bit the bullet and are opening for business on Christmas day. Anyone done this in past. What were your numbers like?

We are also looking at 24 hour opening for Star Wars.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-23-2015, 09:33 PM:

We've always been open for Christmas Day and it's usually like a regular Saturday for us, of course depending on the movie. I remember one awful year we had "U2 Rattle and Hum" playing and only had 4 people show up on Christmas. But this year we'll have SW:TFA so I'm expecting a decent crowd.

We've always been closed Christmas Eve except occasionally when it falls on a Saturday we'll have a matinee. But never an evening show that night.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 11-23-2015, 10:26 PM:

One of the busiest days of the year here.

We close early on Xmas eve(no late shows), but are open all day on Christmas Day.

I'm a little worried about Star Wars business, especially on Christmas weekend. I don't think we have enough seats in the building. Or parking spots. Or square footage. Or bathroom stalls. Or staff. Or popcorn popping capacity.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 11-23-2015, 10:29 PM:

I opened on Christmas only once when I played one of the Hobbit movies and had to be open that day. Otherwise I am closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year. Those are the only two days that I'm ever closed, and it is my once-a-year opportunity to paint the auditorium floor and let the paint dry and the smell dissipate before the next show on December 26.

The floor didn't get painted the year that I played that Hobbit movie but it wasn't all that bad anyway. I usually just touch up the spots where people have chipped the paint away with their high heels or whatever using a paint brush, so it doesn't take very long to do.

And the one year that I was open on Christmas day I could have just as well stayed closed. There were a very few people who came that day, and I mean very few -- less than ten as I recall.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 11-23-2015, 10:41 PM:

In a smaller town it's just what people get used to. Here, everyone knows we're open Christmas Day so if we're playing a popular movie, it's always well worth being open for us.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 11-23-2015, 10:49 PM:

I've been in theatre almost 20 years, and the theatres I've worked in have always been open Christmas Day. Easily one of the 10 busiest days of the year, and maybe even top 5.

Posted by Philip Jones (Member # 6677) on 11-24-2015, 03:59 AM:

In the UK I can't see it being worth opening on Christmas Day.

Here (twin screen, rural location) we do our last shows at about 3.00pm on Christmas Eve, shut Christmas Day and just do 1 afternoon session on the 26th. Open as normal then until New Years Eve when we don't do evening shows, and then we start a little later than normal on New Years Day.

The only day I feel that we're really missing out on a lot of business is the 26th, but the hours we open that day are more dictated by staffing issues.

Posted by Mike Schulz (Member # 4297) on 11-24-2015, 05:03 AM:

I think it is a difference in cultures. Thanksgiving and Christmas (and Sundays, for that matter) were always days that almost all business would be closed decades ago. America being America, however, at some point in time decades ago some businessman decided to keep his department store open on a Sunday just to see what happened and maybe also run a big sale. Well it turned out that after going to church, many people didn't have much to do so they all went to the only store in town that was open. You know where I'm headed with this. Sure enough, not much further down the road, every other store in town had to be open on Sunday as well so their competition didn't make all of the money. This of course eventually extended into the major holidays as well and when you have department stores open, those people will be hungry too and since they are already out and about it makes sense they would want to eat at a restaurant. After dinner, maybe we can drive by the cinema and see what is playing...

It all kind of snowballed and now nearly every business is open on Sunday and every holiday as well. The movie business was making so much money on the holidays that they (smartly) predicted that opening a big movie on that day could also generate more profits. I don't know how long ago this all started but when I was growing up in the 80s, we kind of had a tradition of going to the movies on Christmas Eve with mom staying home to finish up wrapping presents and making sure Santa knew what loot to bring that night. When I was a teenager working at the local cinema it was the same thing. I had to work *every* flippin' holiday and I grew up in a small town but we were still very busy on those days.

Nowadays, opening big movies on a holiday is such an institution for Hollywood that I wouldn't be surprised if circuits were contractually obligated to be open in order to book the movie.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 11-24-2015, 05:51 AM:

Before I started working in movie theatres, I had no clue they were open on Christmas. And to this day I still find that those people who don't go to the movies on Christmas are still shocked to find out the theatre is open.

I view theatres being open on the holidays differently than many other businesses - especially department stores. Theatres are providing entertainment. They are providing a way for families to engage in what holidays are supposed to be about - being with family and friends.

I remember when I was a kid, you would be lucky to find a gas station with over priced milk open on Thanksgiving and Christmas. The roads would be completely dead except for the people traveling to and from relatives. In some ways, I kind of miss that. It's nice to have a grocery store open, but I don't need to shop for clothes or electronics.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-24-2015, 07:32 AM:

Every theater I've ever worked at was open on Christmas.
(and every other holiday) There was one period in my life where I wound up
working every Christmas for at least 10 years. But it wasn't all "bah bumbug"-
As a 'union' projectionist, I earned some double-overtime holiday pay rate,
which made missing the holiday a bit easier to take.

. . . and there's a good chance I'll wind up working this Christmas,
doing the 70mm Tarentino thing.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 11-24-2015, 09:24 AM:

Christmas eve and day have always had good attendance around the New York City metro area. While some of the smaller independent locations cancel their "late" show on Christmas eve, most theatres run their normal schedule.

While I expected a normal turnout from non-Christians, what surprised me was how many religious Christians came out on Christmas eve. I found out it was something to do to keep them up late before midnight services.

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 11-24-2015, 09:56 AM:

We closed early Christmas eve, around 5ish and opened sunday hours for boxing day, always a busy day, but I do remember one of our houses opened in London on Christmas day, and was very busy, guess some people are either bored or nothing on telly, I know if it had happened at my cinema I would have jumped at the chance of working, as not a huge lover of it.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 11-24-2015, 01:26 PM:

The reason some theaters have a huge Christmas surge is because the families are together and by Christmas afternoon they are tired of being cooped up in the same house."Let's go to the movies." "Okay."
The week between Christmas and New Years Eve night is busy as well, as people have gift cards and Christmas money.
Thanksgiving used to be busier until stores started opening in the afternoon.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 11-25-2015, 05:35 AM:

Christmas was always one of my favorite days to work, mostly because going to the movies was one thing that would never happen in a billion years during any of the boring family get-togethers I went to. Now I have no excuses to avoid the family on holidays.

Movies traditionally opened on Christmas Day too, no matter what day it fell on- Remember one year the movie "IQ" (with Meg Ryan and Walter Matthau) opened and one of the middle reels turned out to be for the WRONG movie- it was a reel from "Ready to Wear" and it wasn't caught because both movies were scope AND both had Tim Robbins in them! We couldn't even call for a replacement reel since the studios were closed, and the screen stayed dark for about 3 days until the right reel came in. Ever since then I always checked the title on EVERY reel.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 11-25-2015, 06:28 AM:

quote: Mike Schulz
Sure enough, not much further down the road, every other store in town had to be open on Sunday as well so their competition didn't make all of the money.

Because of this, I find it amazing that Chick-fil-a is still closed on Sundays and their locations do WAY more income per location on a yearly basis than other fast food chains.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-25-2015, 08:54 AM:

quote:
We couldn't even call for a replacement reel since the studios were closed,

Ah, yes- - one of the other joys of Holiday movie openings.

Several years ago, I recall the theater I was at opened "Gran Torino" (35mm)
several days before Christmas. But the lab work on one of the middle reels
really sucked. It had color shifts, edge-light flashes, and one section about
45 seconds long that was just solid green.

We ran the movie like that for two days(although I did cut out the worst
sections)and the earliest they could get me a replacement reel was on
Christmas friggin' morning. Wouldnt'cha know, that year I had decided I
wasn't working Christmas. But thanks to the lab screw-up, I had to go down
and sit at the theater EARLY Christmas morning, waiting for the courier, who
of course was several hours late, to deliver the reel. Ruined my entire day.

< insert sad violin solo here>

Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 11-25-2015, 01:25 PM:

Very busy late afternoon and evening on Christmas day at Grand Lake. Also black Friday is very busy if we have a kids movie like Good Dinosaur.

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 12-19-2015, 10:55 AM:

Don't think I'll ever forget Christmas Day 1970. I was working as a relief projectionist at the Lyric Theatre in Asbury Park, NJ, running "I Never Sand For My Father". The zipper changeovers had been burned out the previous week, so had to stand between the Century projectors and grip the dowser handles on the Peerless Magnarcs to make the changeovers.

What fun.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 12-19-2015, 11:09 AM:

I remember Christmas day about the same time. I was working the KB Apex where they were opening the revival of Chaplain's "Modern Times". I didn't expect to see a large crowd, however, the first show had about 3/4 house and the remaining 4 shows sold out (1026 seats).

Posted by Andrew Thomas (Member # 7000) on 12-21-2015, 12:44 AM:

We opened our theater on Christmas Day 2013. Christmas Day 2014 was indeed like a good Saturday. I think Christmas Day 2015, our second anniversary, will be an outstanding day.

Posted by Lance C. McFetridge (Member # 95) on 12-21-2015, 10:00 AM:

We have matinees on Christmas Eve only and evening shows on Christmas Day only. People are ready to get out of the house and have supported us well over the years on the holidays.
Lance

Posted by Ram Melegrito (Member # 8652) on 12-23-2015, 12:40 AM:

Christmas day is chaos here.

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 12-23-2015, 02:19 AM:

I have never gone to a Movie on Christmas Day. However if a Theater was showing "A Christmas Story"-1983 I'm pretty sure I would go just because I would like to experience it on a Full size screen. Since it was in and out of theaters so quickly in 83, I would bet most people have only seen it over the years on Ted Turner's TNT Channel, when they show it 24hrs non-stop starting on Christmas Eve through Christmas Day.

I would probably say it's my Favorite Christmas Time Film. Everyone seems to think "It's a Wonderful Life" was their favorite Holiday Film but when " A Christmas Story" came out, they decided this was their Favorite. It pretty much has a following much like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" I'm sure our Carmike's wouldn't show it because it probably wouldn't generate enough revenue for their Greedy Bank Account but I think there are a lot of people like me that have only seen it on the small screen and are curious what it would look and sound like in a Movie Theater [thumbsup]

Peter Billingsley- Ralphie 1983 and Today(44yrs old)

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-24-2015, 07:55 PM:

Definitely a British / American cultural difference. More or less the entire UK shuts down on Christmas Day, apart from emergency services. In some rural villages, the pub might open for a couple of hours after church gets out but before Christmas dinner, but that's really about it. A lot of the UK stays shut on Boxing Day (what the Brits call December 26), too, but that changed a lot during the first 40 years of my life living in Britain. When I was a child in the '70s and '80s, there was absolutely no public transport and almost no shops opening, apart from convenience stores. By the '00s, there were quite a few trains and buses running and the sales were like Black Friday here.

In 22 years of working in UK cinemas (on and off), I never worked in one or knew of one that opened for business on Christmas Day itself. Boxing Day was usually pretty busy, though, and often the regular program was replaced with more kid-friendly movies, especially in cinemas that only had a small number of screens (e.g. the high street picture palace conversions to 3-plexes).

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 12-24-2015, 08:32 PM:

As I pointed out years ago, tomorrow is of course All Good Jews Go to the Movies Day. Your professionalism on this most holiest of days is deeply appreciated. Also, you should thank your mothers for the chicken soup.

Posted by Manny Montes (Member # 5639) on 12-29-2015, 11:58 AM:

Michael,

Just curious on how you did opening for Christmas?

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 12-30-2015, 01:19 PM:

Pretty busy - but only really busy for Bollywood titles. In particular the Shah Rukh Khan blockbuster Diwale - which has been giving us strong numbers all week anyway and didn't decline any on Christmas Day.

If there is strong Bollywood product out then it would make sense to open on Christmas Day.

Posted by Manny Montes (Member # 5639) on 12-30-2015, 11:50 PM:

Yep, I also play bollywood product and it is always killer during the holidays. We have people drive 2 hours to come see it. Dilwale has continued to sell out.