Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Yet another theater makes national news for showing wrong movie

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Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 06-29-2016, 04:41 PM:

This happened fairly close to me in Concord, at a Brendan theater (I only went to one of their theaters once and was unimpressed as it was top-masked.) Headlines are now saying they showed the R-rated "Sausage Party" trailer prior to "Finding Dory", which being an animated movie would be a likely mistake, but the manager says they had actually started to play the wrong feature which had that trailer programmed with it. I guess with digital it's even easier to make this mistake than it was with film, though at least it also seems easier to fix once it happens.

Hopefully I'm following the right format here- url for the story is: http://bayareanewstalk.com/concord-movie-theatre-apologizes-for-showing-sausage-party-trailer-for-finding-dory-crowd/

And full text of the article follows:

They were expecting to see Finding Dory, but instead saw the horrific trailer for a Rated-R animated film.

The mistake led to the viewing of the “Sausage Party” trailer for the PG crowd in mid-June at Brenden Theatre in Concord.

“Sausage Party” is a movie about one sausage leading a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they become chosen to leave the grocery store.

“Playing that trailer was a one-time honest mistake by a theater manager moving screens around in effort to accommodate several large last minute groups wanting to see Dory, the wrong movie was started by mistake,” said Walter Eichinger, Vice-President of Operations for Brenden Theatre Corporation.

“Our movies are now started and stopped by computer and a click of a mouse. We moved a couple of screens to larger houses to accommodate some walk-up groups over a very, very busy Dory weekend. In the rush one hardworking manager clicked the wrong movie. It was caught soon but not until that trailer was played. We regret it, apologize for it and we are not happy that it happened. We fully realize that this trailer is not appropriate for Dory and we would never schedule something like that,” according to Eichinger.

“The trailer for Sausage Party is not and has never been scheduled with Dory,” Eichinger added. They were expecting to see Finding Dory, but instead saw the horrific trailer for a Rated-R animated film. The mistake led to the viewing of the “Sausage Party” trailer for the PG crowd in mid-June at Brenden Theatre in Concord. “Sausage Party” is a movie about one sausage leading a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they become chosen to leave the grocery store. sausage_party “Playing that trailer was a one-time honest mistake by a theater manager moving screens around in effort to accommodate several large last minute groups wanting to see Dory, the wrong movie was started by mistake,” said Walter Eichinger, Vice-President of Operations for Brenden Theatre Corporation. “Our movies are now started and stopped by computer and a click of a mouse. We moved a couple of screens to larger houses to accommodate some walk-up groups over a very, very busy Dory weekend. In the rush one hardworking manager clicked the wrong movie. It was caught soon but not until that trailer was played. We regret it, apologize for it and we are not happy that it happened. We fully realize that this trailer is not appropriate for Dory and we would never schedule something like that,” according to Eichinger. “The trailer for Sausage Party is not and has never been scheduled with Dory,” Eichinger added.

I just think it's funny that every time this sort of thing happens, it makes the national news. Makes me glad I never did this myself, closest I came was some trailer adjustments the night prior which led to someone else starting "Battlefield Earth" the next day rather than the much better movie it was split with on that screen.

I've also noticed green band trailers now say that they are either approved for "APPROPRIATE audiences", rather than the former "ALL Audiences", and sometimes instead say that they're approved "To accompany this feature"- a couple trailers I've seen with that message have had profanity and such that would've previously only been allowed in a red band trailer.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-29-2016, 06:05 PM:

quote: Jesse Skeen
I just think it's funny that every time this sort of thing happens, it makes the national news.

Especially as it must be happening more and more in the digital world than in the 35mm era. With film you actually had to make quite a physical effort to play the wrong movie: even if you had a three deck platter with two prints on it, one for 2pm and 6pm, the other for 4 and 8, you at least had a 50% chance of getting it right. With digital, if you have one TMS driving 20 screens and you're setting up the playlists in a hurry, I'd have thought that it would be far, far easier to play The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at the kids' matinee than when you're jockeying 35mm prints around.

The only time I ever did something like this was in a house that ran ads and trailers from a 2,000 reel, then the feature was threaded from a platter during a brief intermission. Screen 1 and 2 each had an ad and trailer reel, one of which was G-rated and the other R (actually, their British equivalents, U and 18). At 9am one Saturday morning a co-worker phoned in sick. So I staggered in, grabbed the wrong reel from the bench, and the audience for The Lion King saw a bunch of ads for cigarettes, alcohol and condoms (and not much else), followed by a trailer for Pulp Fiction.

Posted by Matt Russell (Member # 8989) on 06-29-2016, 06:47 PM:

That's quite an ironic situation. The premise of Sausage Party is meant to poke fun at animated films like Finding Dory.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-29-2016, 10:46 PM:

I wonder why it's always an R-rated movie (or in this case trailer) that gets played when a kids movie is scheduled. You never hear of something benign like "Central Intelligence" being played at a Finding Dory showing.

Wouldn't be as exciting, I guess.

Meanwhile, if I'm ever hungry for publicity, I guess I know how to get it...just play the Sausase Party redband trailer ahead of "The Secret Life of Pets" and call the papers.

Posted by Bill Brandenstein (Member # 7758) on 06-30-2016, 07:57 PM:

At least this place has the decency to politely eat crow.

I remember when my kids were quite little and had nearly missed the Wallace & Gromit "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" in 2005. So we headed to a 2nd-run local theater and were assaulted with several inappropriate trailers for R-rated art-house and general features. Now, back in that day there was of course only one type of green-band trailer, but still! If I recall correctly, the experience generated the privilege of explaining to a 6-year-old what a "hit man" is (guns ablazing and bikini-clad girls providing eye-candy). I'm sure most of it went over the kids' heads, but I was unhappy enough to speak with a manager afterwards - who was unconcerned and clueless.

Never been back.

Posted by Manny Montes (Member # 5639) on 07-03-2016, 03:04 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
I wonder why it's always an R-rated movie (or in this case trailer) that gets played when a kids movie is scheduled. You never hear of something benign like "Central Intelligence" being played at a Finding Dory showing.

Wouldn't be as exciting, I guess.

Meanwhile, if I'm ever hungry for publicity, I guess I know how to get it...just play the Sausase Party redband trailer ahead of "The Secret Life of Pets" and call the papers.

Usually places will schedule the kids movies in the bigger house during the matinee sets and then rated R movies in the big house during the evening sets so you maximize seats available for when you are busiest for each demographic.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-03-2016, 06:05 PM:

Part of the problem is the studios not including metadata which could be used to help prevent inappropriate trailers from playing on the wrong movie by using rules in our TMS system. When building a play list it is very easy to grab the wrong content if you're not paying close attention. But there is no reason the system couldn't be used to prevent placement of a trailer for an R rated movie on a kids movie.

I still think the MPAA should go to a yellow band for trailers intended for PG-13 or R movies, but which do not have Red Band content. I was in an MPAA ratings compliance meeting where this ideas was kicked around, but tabled because some theatres didn't want the liability of being responsible for getting it right. Seems like the "Appropriate Audiences" green band is just a watered down version of this same proposal.

Posted by Ron Funderburg (Member # 4561) on 07-03-2016, 06:19 PM:

They played the wrong movie not an just an one inappropriate preview. It is still a playlist with a title, I would think you have to make quite an effort to substitute a movie for Finding Dory with the another movie title. I'm sorry this reeks of incompetence.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-03-2016, 08:26 PM:

quote: Ron Funderburg
I would think you have to make quite an effort to substitute a movie for Finding Dory with the another movie title. I'm sorry this reeks of incompetence.

Actually, it's ridiculously easy to do. All you need is a playlist menu in your server with more than one list. Add in simple human inattention and a mistaken selection is almost assured... eventually.

Been there, done it once. Don't consider myself incompetent, nor do I reek... at least I don't think so.

Now, I make sure all playlists are off the servers except the one they're actually running that week.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 07-03-2016, 08:41 PM:

Ron, I realize they played the wrong movie. However, the ability to program an inappropriate trailer is just a different shade of the same problem - selecting the wrong thing from a menu.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 07-03-2016, 09:48 PM:

The only time that I run into this particular problem is on the relatively rare occasions when I'm playing two different shows during a week, i.e. a 7pm kids show and a 9pm blast-em movie.

After almost (but not quite) starting the wrong movie one time, I started putting a little piece of paper over the monitor screen such that I have to move it to get to the play button. This acts as a physical reminder to change the playlist before starting the next show.