Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Longest Booked Print

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Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 06-07-2002, 10:08 AM:

Well, just finished running Lord Of The Rings

Runtime: 25 weeks

This is a new record for the theatre. Longest before that was either Shrek or The Green Mile at around 16 weeks or so.

What is your longest running print?

Paul.

Posted by Brad Haven (Member # 954) on 06-07-2002, 10:50 AM:

We screened BARAKA for just over 6 months at the lumiere cinema in perth, unscratched!. i loved every screening i did of that film.
We ran a 35mm print, but i would love to see the 70mm version one day!.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 06-07-2002, 11:30 AM:

When I was still a staff projectionist, the longest running print was 'Titanic' at 18 weeks, 14 of them in the largest auditorium.

-Aaron

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 06-07-2002, 11:51 AM:

Paul,

How did your print of LotR look on it's last run? Be honest!

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-07-2002, 12:30 PM:

Beauty and the Beast 6 shows a day for 36 weeks, 1512 total runs plus the pre-screening for a grand total of 1513 passes. The print was flawless (no exaggeration). I screened it in it's entirity on the last day. FilmGuard was used in it's testing day before release.

Posted by Paul G. Thompson (Member # 655) on 06-07-2002, 12:44 PM:

Top Gun was our longest. We ran it for 26 weeks.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-07-2002, 01:38 PM:

I recall that the initial run of "ET" played first-run for almost a year in Rochester theatres. The 70mm release of "The Sound of Music" played for OVER a year in some cities.

Of course, that was before releases numbering many thousands of prints.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-07-2002, 02:49 PM:

I remember seeing a newspaper ad in 1978 trumpeting the one year anniversary of the original Star Wars playing at the Rimrock 4 theatres in Billings, Montana. The theatre was in the Rimrock Mall, eventually became a Carmike and is now gone (replaced with a 10-plex built in 1997 in the corner of the parking lot).

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 06-07-2002, 02:58 PM:

Since I've been at my theater I think that Amelie was the longest running film with 19 weeks.

When I was at the Gloucester theatre The Perfect Storm was our longest run, if I remember correctly...high 20 something weeks.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 06-07-2002, 03:53 PM:

The longest run I've personally seen was "Star Wars", in 70mm, at the Edwards Newport Cinema. I think it ran for very close to 1 year. Michael Coate probably has the exact figure... More recently it might be "Lord of the Rings", which ran at Cinemark 17 from opening day last year until Ep2 opened (and it was still doing 3 shows a day). On that day it immediately moved to Cinemark's Movies 12 bargain house, still playing 3 times a day, in DTS even.

Posted by Ray Faultless (Member # 903) on 06-07-2002, 05:06 PM:

Sound of Music at the Gaumont theatre Birmingham England. Two shows per day (except Christmas day)for five years. In 70mm on the largest screen in Europe, at that time.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 06-07-2002, 06:25 PM:

We played Back To The Future for well over a year at the Lacey Cinemas (Olympia, Wash.) in the mid 80's. We got signed posters and signed letters from the producers and director congratulating us. Universal even sent Tom Wilson (who played "Biff") to the theater for a personal appearance and newspaper coverage of the event marking over one year of continuous run.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 06-07-2002, 10:26 PM:

The Uptown I believe celebrated a 1-year birthday for STAR WARS. As one moves back into the 60s, where there were many singles, long engagements were pretty standard for roadshow films.

In the art house world, films like La Cage A Follies can have very long runs (over a year).

Steve

------------------
"Old projectionists never die, they just changeover!"

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 06-08-2002, 12:29 AM:

The Metro in Dunedin played "Waking Ned Devine for 52 weeks at least once a day while the Academy in Christchurch is still playing Gloomy Sunday after 60 weeks.
A point to note is they have now switched to A DVD screening.

Posted by Dan Spence (Member # 777) on 06-08-2002, 01:50 AM:

32 weeks, Dances With Wolfs
31 weeks, Home Alone
24 weeks, Forrest Gump

Posted by Paul Cassidy (Member # 951) on 06-08-2002, 08:28 AM:

The Longest run in Auckland was at the "Hollywood" Avondale with "The Rocky Horror Show" this ran for 10years every weekend .

------------------
A KIWI eats,roots & Leaves.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 06-08-2002, 08:33 AM:

Pretty Woman 14 weeks
It looked like hell when it left. When I built it up I noticed large dabs of what appeared to be grease applied to the edges at about 200 to 300 foot intervals. We were doing a four wall for Disney at that time and a call to BV indicated that it was film lube and not to remove it. At first it was very jittery in the gate but it cleared up in 3 or 4 runs. The stuff was a dirt magnet and couldn't be removed easily without damage so I left it alone.

Posted by Joseph Pandolfi (Member # 223) on 06-08-2002, 08:39 AM:

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON -- 23 Weeks. We started running the print back in January 2001 when it was only on 50 screens across the country.

SHAKESPERE IN LOVE ran 25 weeks.

Posted by German Marin (Member # 918) on 06-08-2002, 01:21 PM:

Shrek: 16 weeks but the 2 last were weekends. It was the first print we've returned in excellent conditions after long time (the other ones doesn't keep on the theatre for 4 weeks or more)

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 06-10-2002, 09:03 AM:

Joe, I didn't see the print while it was running, but inspection during breakdown showed little to no damage.

Paul.

Posted by Mike Williams (Member # 1140) on 06-10-2002, 09:30 AM:

Lord of the Rings was showing at the Knoxville Center 10 here in Knoxville until last Thursday. Thats a pretty long run.

Posted by Bob Maar (Member # 763) on 06-10-2002, 09:37 AM:

1954 Gigi with Leslie Caron ran at the Trans-Lux 52nd St. Theatre for a continious 76 weeks on grind 12 to 12. Single screen with 544 seats.

I believe the The Rocky Horror Picture Show is still showing at the Villiage Theatre in Manhattan every Friday and Saturday night and has been there since the late 70's. I will check on this and come back and edit this post if I am wrong.

Correction: Rocky Horror Played at the 8th Street Playhouse from 1978 until they closed in the late Eighties. The Film was then moved to the Village East where it is still running, on the weekends.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 06-10-2002, 12:31 PM:

Current theater - Training Day - 15 weeks
Previous theater - What Lies Beneath - 14 weeks

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 06-12-2002, 07:56 PM:

The Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, NJ played The Sound Of Music for well over a year. It was shown in 35mm with mag sound installed for the run. The mag heads were used again for Patton when I got there in 1970.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 06-13-2002, 02:25 PM:

quote:
The longest run I've personally seen was "Star Wars", in 70mm, at the Edwards Newport Cinema. I think it ran for very close to 1 year. Michael Coate probably has the exact figure.

The Edwards Newport didn't get a print of "Star Wars" on its opening day. They began their run in July 1977 as more prints were put into release (the movie opened in May with a mere 43 engagements) and played it through July of the following year. It was pulled just prior to the nationwide re-release that summer. So, Dave Stambaugh's one-year recollection is correct.

And if you're still interested in "Star Wars"...
For the Southern California region, other long runs of "Star Wars" were held at Mann's Chinese, the Plitt Century Plaza, and the Plitt City Center. The Century Plaza began running the movie at the same time as Newport in July, and continued running it through the summer '78 re-release. (There was a one month period in spring '78 where they pulled it to run a film festival.) The City Center in Orange was one of the original opening day engagements (in 70mm, too) and ran for seven months. The film returned to the City Center (again in 70mm) in July of '78 for the seven-week re-release. Another opening day engagement, at the GCC Avco, ran for about six months.

Technically, I suppose "Star Wars" played two separate engagements at the Chinese as it played for about a month beginning on opening day but was pulled for "Sorcerer" (which apparently was booked long before "Star Wars" - there are some humorous quotes in the book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" from the producer regarding seeing their chintzy 35mm mono trailer playing at the Chinese in front of the 70mm six-track "Star Wars"!). "Star Wars" moved to another Mann single screen theatre a few blocks away (they installed 70mm projection and Dolby so they could continue running it in 70mm) but returned to the Chinese in early August (which is when they added the R2-D2, C-3PO and Darth Vader foot and droid prints in the courtyard). "The Force returns to the Chinese in 70mm-Dolby" was how it was trumpeted in the LA Times. The Chinese run was finally pulled in June '78 when "Heaven Can Wait" opened.

Other U.S. cities that I'm aware of that ran the movie from its first week up to the start of the re-release (59 weeks) included San Jose (Century 22), Sacramento (Century 25), Phoenix (Cine Capri), Seattle (UA 150), Houston (Galleria), and Dayton (Dayton Mall). The Astor Plaza in New York City ran the movie from opening day through the re-release (66 weeks). According to "The Movie Business Book" (and confirmed through a microfilm check), the longest North American run of "Star Wars" was in Portland, OR, which played the movie continuously (at the Westgate) from spring '77 through Christmas '78 (the original 59 weeks; the seven-week re-release; several additional weeks as an exclusive). Apparently, the Portland engagement was allowed to continue even after all other prints were retired at the conclusion of the summer '78 re-release due to a holdover clause in that theater's booking contract.

A humorous ad I came across while gathering material for my collection was with the Chicago engagement at the Oakbrook. For July 14-20, 1978, their ad stated "POSITIVELY LAST WEEK!" referring to the seemingly never-ending run. Of course, July 21 marked the start of the nationwide re-release and Chicago got MORE prints of the movie (though the Oakbrook did end its run on the 20th)!

"Star Wars" had long, successful engagements throughout the world. But those runs, even though they seem like an eternity compared to the engagements of today (where two months is an eternity), were nothing compared to many of the Reserved Seat Engagement/Roadshows of the '50s and '60s. Films like "Oklahoma!," "Around The World In Eighty Days," "The Sound Of Music," and many others had runs where it was common to last one or two years, or longer. Others have pointed this out in some of the other posts in this thread. The LA run of "The Sound Of Music," for instance, played for 21 months at the Fox Wilshire, then moved over to the Carthay Circle when "The Sand Pebbles" (also directed by Robert Wise) opened, where it played for several more months. In San Diego, the roadshow run of "The Sound Of Music" ran for 31 months at the Loma Theater. The five-year run of "The Sound Of Music" in Birmingham, England mentioned earlier is amazing. And what's also amazing when compared with today's exhibition is that many of these theaters were single screens at the time of those incredibly long runs.

[ 01-10-2003, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 06-13-2002, 02:42 PM:

quote:
I remember seeing a newspaper ad in 1978 trumpeting the one year anniversary of the original Star Wars

Fox prepared a special newspaper ad for the one-year anniversary that theaters still running "Star Wars" had the option of using. The ad stated "May The Force Be With You" at the top and featured "Star Wars" action figures surrounding a birthday cake. The bottom of the ad stated, "One year old today." They also printed one-sheets for this, which remain among the rarest and most sought after items among memorabilia collectors for "Star Wars."

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-13-2002, 02:48 PM:

The Eglniton THeatre int toronto (now closed) played sound of music for over a year on the same 70mm print on a pair of BauerU2's
That print is still the 70mm one kicking around almost 30years later in shades of red and white

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-13-2002, 03:56 PM:

Gordon said: "That print is still the 70mm one kicking around almost 30years later in shades of red and white"

Unfortunately, original 70mm prints of "The Sound of Music" were made about 15 years before Kodak developed and introduced the current family of print films having greatly improved image stability in the early 1980's. Maybe a few were kept in the recommended cool and dry storage conditions specified by SMPTE Recommended Practice RP131? At least more care is usually taken in properly storing the pre-print elements, so new prints and video transfers can be made. The color on the recent DVD release looks quite good, but just think how good a new 70mm release would look.

Kodak offers film preservation and restoration services through CineSite and the Pro-Tek vaults:
http://www.cinesite.com/la/presrest/protek.html
http://www.cinesite.com/la/presrest/rest.html
http://www.fpcfilm.com/US/en/motion/FPC/pro-tek/protek_main.html

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 06-13-2002, 04:11 PM:

quote:
Unfortunately, original 70mm prints of "The Sound of Music" were made about 15 years before Kodak developed and introduced the current family of print films having greatly improved image stability.

Some new 70mm prints were made (two, I think) for a 25th Anniversary limited market re-release in 1990.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 06-13-2002, 06:04 PM:

The film "ORGAZMO" played for about eight months or so here in salt lake city at the TOWER.

Dave

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-13-2002, 07:15 PM:

Surely you jest, Dave. Or you're talking about a completely different movie than the one I'm thinking of.

Posted by William T. Parr (Member # 677) on 06-14-2002, 08:26 AM:

Mann National Twin in Corpus Christi had Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark for a total of 63 weeks in thier 628 seat Auditorium.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 06-14-2002, 11:11 AM:

Adam -- Dave may be correct, as the Trey Parker/Matt Stone offbeat NC-17 film about a mormon-turned-porn-star was shot in Utah.

=TMP=

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 06-14-2002, 11:41 AM:

TITANIC

6 months sold out (300 seat)

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 06-14-2002, 12:26 PM:

Jest I do not!

The mormon turned porn star flick was such a rip on our culture here that it played ONLY at the tower, and for a very very long time.

In salt lake city itself, the mormon population is quite sparse, with most of our mormons living in the more rural areas.

Dave

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 06-14-2002, 03:14 PM:

Wow.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 06-14-2002, 06:21 PM:

Raiders Of The Lost Ark ran for just over 2 years at the Villa Theatre in SLC, and Sound Of Music ran for almost two years at the Michael Todd Theatre in Chicago.
Mark @ GTS

Posted by Kyle Caudill (Member # 1252) on 06-14-2002, 11:59 PM:

Jerry Mcguire 35 weeks
We sold it out in a 120 seat auditorium when it was out on video

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-03-2003, 06:27 PM:

Then I guess the Tower theater would be pleased to present this one.

Large Quicktime video

Small Quicktime video

(By the way, don't even bother downloading this if you have not seen the movie "Orgazmo".)

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-03-2003, 07:02 PM:

An original 70mm Todd AO print of the full version of "THE ALAMO" was discovered in Canada many years ago and the color was still intact after all these years. I saw how well the print survived the ravages of time when MGM Home Video used some of the 70mm footage to fill in the missing parts in the heavely edited 35mm version on the laserdisc box set. In my opinion, the 70mm clips looked better than the 35mm as far as the color was concerned. I have about fifty feet of the 70mm version of "THE JAZZ SINGER" a friend gave me and the color is very heavy on the majenta side and if "THE ALAMO" can still look good with the original color still intact since it was released in the early sixties, I am wondering what had kept this print from fading like many others that were released years later.

-Claude

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 01-03-2003, 07:14 PM:

These are approximates
How The West Was Won*****over two years at the Seattle Cinerama
2001***** Well over a year at the same place
Gone With The Wind*****MANY YEARS at the Paramont in Seattle durring the 60s
(I've tried to track down the exact length of run for GWTW but haven't had any luck. I can't figure out who would have that info)

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-03-2003, 07:15 PM:

Claude

That print of "The Alamo", no longer has it's color. After it was transfered by MGM Home Video for the Laser Disc release. It was treated and cut into 1000 foot parts. And placed in warm [Eek!]

storage, by MGM Home Video. About a year after doing that they
went back to discover the film treatment had faded all it's color.

Now "The Alamo" is a faded masterpiece.

MGM has put very little money into saving this movie.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-03-2003, 07:18 PM:

quote:
Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark

Pleeeeease don't call it that!!! I hear fingernails running down a chalkboard when I hear that revised title.

Speaking of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and returning to the topic of discussion, I can add that it played continuously at Pacific's Cinema Grossmont in San Diego for 58 weeks. Producer Frank Marshall was on hand for a cake ceremony at the one-year anniversary point.

Raiders played even longer in L.A. (16 months), but theater-hopped quite a bit (including two return visits to the Chinese Theater). It played again in 1983 for another several months including three more return engagements to the Chinese!

quote:
Raiders Of The Lost Ark ran for just over 2 years at the Villa Theatre in SLC

Mark G.,
A friend from SLC tells me he believes Raiders played at the Villa for 53 weeks. That's a lot closer to one year than it is two!

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-03-2003, 07:23 PM:

quote:
Gone With The Wind*****MANY YEARS at the Paramont in Seattle durring the 60s

In Southern California, the '67 re-release engagement of GWTW played for many months at the Carthay Circle. Between 1969 and 1976 I'm aware of no less than 16(!) return engagements to L.A. area theaters.

quote:
(I've tried to track down the exact length of run for GWTW but haven't had any luck. I can't figure out who would have that info)

Why not look it up on Seattle Times microfilm?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-03-2003, 08:56 PM:

We're about to set the longest-running record here with "The Two Towers." It will end next Thursday, so we'll have had it three weeks and two days. We've had a couple of previous 3-week runs, but this will be the longest ever.

Probably seems like nothing to you guys, but in a town of 2000 people it's a pretty long run. (We're getting a lot of calls now asking when the hell the movie's going to change.)

Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 01-03-2003, 09:03 PM:

Ah hell!

I worked for a theatre that had The Rocky Horror Picture Show booked for 14 years solid. Hell, I only worked there for 5 years myself. They moved the print to another theatre and it is still playing.

Do I win?

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 01-03-2003, 09:56 PM:

Yeah, but I bet most of the time it only played weekends at midnight and maybe also on halloween.
Cheater. [Razz]

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 01-03-2003, 11:38 PM:

Brad..

I though I had forgotten abou 'Choda Boy'...

ROFLMAO..... [Embarrassed]

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 01-04-2003, 04:23 PM:

star wars or grease i`m not sure,but it was 3 shows a day for 12 weeks

Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 01-05-2003, 11:17 PM:

Well, I'm not sure about the other two theaters I've worked at, and my current theater has been open for just shy of three years...

But I think out current record is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" - which we still have playing two shows a day ... and have been running since August 9th!

Posted by Robert Golding (Member # 746) on 01-06-2003, 01:00 AM:

When I went into the Army in 1966, the Crest Theatre in Sacramento was running "THE SOUND OF MUSIC". When I got out of the Army in 1969 they still were running it. I not sure how much longer it ran.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-06-2003, 09:30 AM:

Claude asked: "I am wondering what had kept this print from fading like many others that were released years later."

One possibility is cooler storage conditions in a northern climate like Canada. A print stored in an unconditioned film exchange in LA or Dallas was much more likely to encounter fade-producing heat or humidity.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-06-2003, 11:37 AM:

Michaels

quote:
In Southern California "GWTW" played many months during it's
1967 re-release at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

During 1967 re-release of "GWTW" in 70MM. It played the Carthay Circle
Theatre from Oct. 14, 1967 to mid Nov. of 1968. The next film in the
Carthay Circle Theatre was "The Shoes of the Fisherman". Following
the "Shoes of the Fisherman" engagement the theatre closed and was
torn down. Two of the DP70's went to the Bruin Theatre in 1978 for
the opening of "Capricorn One". Today the only original parts from
the Carthay machines are the bases and the head on the number one
machine, minus the intermittent. The number two machines head was
replaced in the late 80's.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-08-2003, 05:27 PM:

Bump.

I made some edits to my first post in the thread (Page 2). I had intended to add some San Diego roadshow info for The Sound Of Music since that film has been mentioned many times throughout this discussion, but ended up adding some additional bits of info for Star Wars as well.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 01-08-2003, 05:31 PM:

Longest I remember is Titanic at 26 weeks straight gone for 2 and back for another 12 straight.

I remember running tons of movies for 10-12 weeks straight, in a twin theatre.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-08-2003, 05:36 PM:

quote:
When I went into the Army in 1966, the Crest Theatre in Sacramento was running "THE SOUND OF MUSIC". When I got out of the Army in 1969 they still were running it. I not sure how much longer it ran.

In 1966, THE SOUND OPF MUSIC was on its roadshow engagement at the Alhambra in downtown Sacramento. In 1969, the crest was showing a mop-up release prior to Fox putting the film in storage (in the U.S. only) until its 1973 re-release.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-08-2003, 05:41 PM:

In Bakersfield, E.T. was the longest-running film for a continuous first-run engagement , making it to a full year at the UA Movies. During the single screen era, Deliverance held the record for first-run, playing 13 weeks at one location. However, movies had a HUGE theatre life after first-run engagements back through the 60's and 70's. When adding in all the second, third and drive-in runs locally, for example, The Graduate had about 5 months worth of engagements locally.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-08-2003, 07:01 PM:

Bill Gabel wrote:

quote:
The next film in the Carthay Circle Theatre was "The Shoes of the Fisherman".

In 70mm?

quote:
Two of the DP70's went to the Bruin Theatre in 1978 for the opening of "Capricorn One". Today the only original parts from the Carthay machines are the bases and the head on the number one machine, minus the intermittent. The number two machines head was replaced in the late 80's.

Do you happen to know when subwoofers were installed (if at all) at the Bruin for 70mm-Dolby presentations? I ask because I was recently told a humorous story by a former Bruin projectionist about the director of a very popular movie who attended a screening there in the early 1980s after the projection staff had installed subs (or something that could reproduce a similar effect) and the filmmaker flipped out having never heard his film in that manner before.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-08-2003, 07:41 PM:

Hi Michael

"Shoes" was a big feature from MGM, Carthay had a 70MM run of it.
On the Bruin, I think the subs came when they THX-ed the house
in the early 80's. Because all the Fox/Mann houses at that time
had Voice of the Theatres behind the screen.

Over at the Avco, they had a asst. manager that would bring his
girl friend back stage and sit [Eek!]

on the sub cabinets during
the THX Broadway logo. [Big Grin]

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-08-2003, 08:23 PM:

quote:
On the Bruin, I think the subs came when they THX-ed the house in the early 80's. Because all the Fox/Mann houses at that time had Voice of the Theatres behind the screen.

Didn't they put in subs at the Village for their so-called Megasound engagement of Altered States? That would have been a few years before THX came along.

quote:
Over at the Avco, they had a asst. manager that would bring his girl friend back stage and sit on the sub cabinets during the THX Broadway logo.

Sounds like fun! Are you sure "sitting" was the only thing the manager and his girlfriend were doing backstage??? [Smile]

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-08-2003, 08:37 PM:

quote:
Are you sure "sitting" was the only thing the manager and his girlfriend were doing backstage???

Well, if it was only for the THX logo, it would give even more new meaning to the word, "quickie." [Wink]

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-08-2003, 09:00 PM:

Yes, they put subs in over at the Village for the Megasound engagement
of "Altered States". The Village is another beast. The Village got
remodeled before the one week Academy engagement of the "Deer Hunter"
in 70MM. They got a new larger screen and a new water fall curtain.
Before that time the Village had a smaller screen and a different
curtain. After adding Megasound and THX and the last sound remodel. After all that the Village became the King of Westwood. No other
house had the power of the Village. The Village even wore out it's
CP200. That CP200 was a special tricked out unit by Dolby. A few
of the theatres around the city had CP200's that Dolby re-setup
special. The Bruin like some Mann houses got equipment moved over.
The two biggest things to happen to the Bruin was when they added
70MM in 1978 and the THXing in the early 80's.

Now over at camp AVCO, they were two Happy [Big Grin]

campers. The Avco
was the first THX in Westwood. The Avco had a problem for a while.
They would try to play with the big boys across Westwood. By turning
up the THX logo like the Village, National, Bruin Theatres. The
Avco was under powered, they damaged more surround speakers. Than
any other GCC house in the area.
Westwood had 8 THX houses at one time. Now the count is down to 6.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-08-2003, 09:12 PM:

quote:
The Village got
remodeled before the one week Academy engagement of the "Deer Hunter"
in 70MM.

The one-week oscar-qualifying run of THE DEER HUNTER was at the National Theatre (where I saw it). It was the regular run of the film that played at the Village.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-09-2003, 11:30 AM:

Paul

The Village Theatre had the Reserved Performance Engagement. They
used hard tickets for that show. Because I saw it at the Village,
but not as a regular engagement run. The National may have been a
special screening?

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-09-2003, 12:14 PM:

The Village run didn't start until February. I saw it at the National in December for the one-week Oscar qualifying run. (To me, a regular run would include either reserved seat, exclusive engagement, or first-time citywide release). The National's seats weren't reserved, but hard tickets were made for all showtimes that week. I bought my tickets Tuesday afternoon for the 8pm Wednesday performance. I saw it the Wednesday before SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE opened. (If memory serves me, the Village was running an Oscar-qualifying one weeker of THE BRINKS JOB at the time). This was my first experience at the National. My first show at the Village was in 1982: PINK FLOYD-THE WALL.

Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 01-09-2003, 04:44 PM:

Bill,

Re The Deer Hunter in Westwood.

Paul is correct. The Deer Hunter initially played for one week at the National (an Oscar-consideration engagement 12/08/78 - 12/14/78). The National opened Superman on 12/15.

Universal platformed The Deer Hunter throughout winter and spring 1979 with the L.A. engagements beginning 02/23/79 at the Village and a second engagement in Orange County (Edwards Newport). In the fall of '79 there was a return engagement at the Century Plaza.

Re subwoofers at Westwood theaters.

quote:
Yes, they put subs in over at the Village for the Megasound engagement
of "Altered States". The Village is another beast.

So did they pull out the subs after the Altered States run? What about the run of Superman II (also advertised as Megasound) a few months later?

quote:
The two biggest things to happen to the Bruin was when they added 70MM in 1978 and the THXing in the early 80's.

But what about that sub story I mentioned a few posts back? The timeframe of that event, if told to me correctly, was spring '83. And what about the spring '81 run of Outland at the Bruin (advertised as Megasound)? They would've used subs for that, wouldn't they?

quote:
The Avco was the first THX in Westwood.

Along with the Northpark in Dallas, they were the first THX houses anywhere in the world. (Tomlinson Holman told me a while ago that he thought there was also a THX house in Florida around that same time.)

As for Westwood, the Avco got certified in spring 1983. The Egyptian (aka the Odeon and the Festival) got certified in the fall of '83 (the Coronet may have been certified around that time too; I don't remember; by the time Amadeus opened there in fall '84 it was certified). As for the three big Mann theaters (National, Village, Bruin), I don't remember when they became certified, but I imagine it may have been spring 1984 when Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Star Trek III, and Gremlins opened at each of those three theaters one week apart from one another. That's also the time when Lucasfilm's TAP program really started getting going. In checking ads for May-June '84, only the National (and the Chinese in Hollywood) show any THX indications, so maybe those other Mann theaters got certified later on. I didn't start going to the movies in Westwood regularly until 1985 and by then most of the area theaters were THX certified.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-09-2003, 05:05 PM:

When I saw PINK FLOYD-THE WALL at the Village in Westwood (August, 1982, I believe), the theatre had a whole row of Cerwin Vega sub-woofers (which i believe were from Megasound, but I could be wrong)in front of the screen (covered with black cloth). The surrounds being used were BOSE 901's. The theater's original Cinemascope speakers were still in place at the time, but I'm sure were disconected.

When I saw 2010 in December, 1984, the subs had disappeared from public view. The theatre had installed THX just a couple of months prior. When I saw STAR TREK IV in 1986, the Cerwin-Vegas were back in place in front of the screen (on the floor). Then when I caught the new edition of STAR WARS, the theatre had been remodeled, the subs were oncde again not in sight, and the surrounds were now JBL's. Also, the original (barely hidden) CinemaScope surrounds were gone.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 01-09-2003, 06:59 PM:

Time flies when your seeing and running movies.

The subs stayed in place at the Village for Superman II.
I got the Superman II print on the move-over to the
Picwood. Yes, they would have used the subs at the Bruin
for Outland. The Megasound systems were leased to the theatres
from Warner Bros.. I had a memo from Warner, saying they a
problem with delivering Megasound systems on time for
release. The Cineplex Odeon was certified only for
the first few years. During the last years Cineplex ran that
theatre, it was no longer a THX house. When Mann took over the
house they recerified it.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 01-09-2003, 08:49 PM:

June 2002 through November 2002 - "Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Back a few years ago I ran "Steel Magnolias" for 20 weeks or so.

Posted by Steven Pickles (Member # 785) on 01-09-2003, 10:13 PM:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding
June 19, 2002 - Present

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-09-2003, 10:29 PM:

Mike

The Coronet became THX certified (2 theatres) right off the bat with the remodeling (from the UA Cinema Center)at the end of 1983.

The Mann Village, Bruin, Chinese II, Chinese III were all certified in the fall of 1984 (around the time of the release of THE LITTLE DRUMMER GIRL).

Posted by Thomas Hauerslev (Member # 566) on 01-10-2003, 05:12 AM:

"Amadeus". We ran it for 16 months, 3 times a day 1984 - 86 at ABCinema+D in downtown Copenhagen. I must have seen it several dozen times and it remain one of my all-time favorites. I even ran it for myself in the middle of the night every once in a while.

Back in 1958 - 1962, "South Pacific" was shown in Todd-AO 72 weeks and then 112 weeks at the 3 Falke Bio (3 Falcons Cinema). In 1964-66, "My Fair Lady" ran 20 months in Super Panavision 70 at the same cinema. See list of all films shown at that cinema here.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-10-2003, 08:05 AM:

My Big Fat Greek Wedding -

Mid to late May 2002 - present

Still looks phiggidy! [Smile]

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-10-2003, 08:34 AM:

Showing a print five times a day results in about 150 runs per month. So extended runs can approach or even exceed 1000 showings of a print.

Of course that pales in comparison to some of the special venue theatres at theme parks that can get tens of thousands of "Film Done Right" showings from a print. I have a sample of a print that had 60,310 showings at a theme park! [Cool]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-10-2003, 10:40 AM:

And how did it look, John? According to the DLP folks, film NEVER looks as good after its' 100th run as it does on its' first. It's scratched, the colors are faded, it's dirty and the sound is bad (I actually have one of their conference presentations on my PC that says this).

You cannot argue with the DLP folks.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-10-2003, 11:15 AM:

Joe Redifer asked: "And how did it look, John?"

The 60,310-run short sample I have has some projector abrasion of the edges of the film (this venue has on-line cleaning of their prints, which keeps the image area spotless), but the image area is perfectly scratch-free. Fading depends upon the xenon lamp power and the effectiveness of the ultraviolet (UV) and heat filtration, but almost all of these prints have seen tens of thousands of runs before the are retired for fading.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 01-10-2003, 11:15 AM:

If we're talking about "longest run in this area" as opposed to at a single theatre [Wink]

, it could be Greek Wedding. It was down to a single evening show at Regal the last couple weeks. Now today Regal is back to 5 shows a day at regular first-run prices, while ironically, Cinemark's $1.50 theatre also has it, also 5 shows a day.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-10-2003, 11:17 AM:

How long will the DLP equipment survive when operated by the same morons who trash a print in 100 runs? I wish that they would compare film vs. DLP when both are run by competent professionals or, at least, when both are run by popcorn monkeys. Comparisons between DLP being run by a $100+/hour engineer and film being run by a poorly trained minimum-wage popcorn kid are just misleading.

I've never understood why the DLP people bring up the "color fading" issue. Even the worst Eastmancolor prints would be good for several years. Modern prints, of course, will last for decades, at least, without noticeable color fading.

(I'm not anti-DLP. I am anti-misinformation.)

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-10-2003, 11:23 AM:

Scott Norwood wrote: "Comparisons between DLP being run by a $100+/hour engineer and film being run by a poorly trained minimum-wage popcorn kid are just misleading."

AFAIK, most of the current digital cinema installations are now RUN by the regular booth personnel, not engineers. However, it's likely much more attention is paid to maintenance than most film projectors, using service engineers.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-10-2003, 12:41 PM:

quote:
I've never understood why the DLP people bring up the "color fading" issue.

Well, the same thing that creates "color fading" at one of our multiplexes will still create "color fading" with DLP projection. Allowing for film to build up over the projection portal over months at a time will certainly make the image look worse and worse. Or not protecting lenses so they scratch (and badly) over time. Same for DLP. and on and on. (or changing out the lamphouses before the bulb starts to dim).

BTW, isn't DLP kind of dead right now, anyway? At least this version of it?

Even though the latest HARRY POTTER ran in DLP in some places, the Grumaun's Chinese ran it on film, even though they have had several DLP presentations earlier this year.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-10-2003, 02:49 PM:

quote:
Along with the Northpark in Dallas, they were the first THX houses anywhere in the world. (Tomlinson Holman told me a while ago that he thought there was also a THX house in Florida around that same time.)

According to a May 17, 1983 article in the Los Angeles Times, THX was in place at four commericial theatres: the Avco in Westwood (where it was also used to demo the sytem to the industry), two theatres in Dallas, Tx, and a theatre in Orlando, Florida.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-10-2003, 03:06 PM:

Paul Linfesty wrote: "Even though the latest HARRY POTTER ran in DLP in some places, the Grumaun's Chinese ran it on film, even though they have had several DLP presentations earlier this year."

If that's true, it's really news! Does anyone know why "Harry Potter" was not presented using the Digital Cinema system at the Hollywood Chinese theatre? (They are currenly playing "Gangs of New York").

I can think of several possible reasons:

1. The system was being upgraded, and was not available.

2. "Harry Potter" was not available in the digital file format (server) that the Chinese theatre uses.

3. The wanted a larger screen image that only film could provide.

4. Audiences preferred film presentation.

Does anyone know the real "scoop"?

[ 01-10-2003, 04:41 PM: Message edited by: John Pytlak ]

Posted by Robert Golding (Member # 746) on 01-11-2003, 12:57 AM:

Paul
at least I had sacramento right, a long time ago. Must be having one of those senior moments (brain fart). Where did you work or reside in sac during the 60's.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-11-2003, 02:30 AM:

The Southland 68 Drive-In, which was in Central KY, ran "Smokey and the Bandit" for almost a season and a half in '78-'79. The first year was aided by the theatre's promotion of giving away Coor's beer (featured in the movie, and not available in KY at the time) every night at intermission.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-11-2003, 09:51 AM:

quote:
Where did you work or reside in sac during the 60's.

I didn't, but I did some microfilm research of the 60's while in Sacramento a couple of years ago.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 01-27-2003, 12:44 AM:

quote:
at least I had sacramento right, a long time ago.

Robert, Actually, you had the theatre correct, too. I was wrong. Except about the length of the run. The Sound of Music began it's reserved-seat Engagement at the Crest (not the Alhambra) on September 22, 1965 and ended on November 8, 1966. It was replaced by the Reserved-Seat Engagement of The Blue Max. Roadshows at the Alhambra in this time frame included MY FAIR LADY and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. Apparently, the only roadhsow houses in Sacramento at this time were the Crest, Alhambra, and Esquire Cinerama. They were later joined when Syufy opened the Century 21 and 22 theatres, two single theatres next to each other (one which later got two smaller domes added and both of the larger ones split).

[ 01-27-2003, 01:48 AM: Message edited by: Paul Linfesty ]