Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Harry Potter / Secret Chamber

This is topic Harry Potter / Secret Chamber - Runtime in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 10-15-2002, 10:56 PM:

With theatres in the UK already selling advanced tickets, its only a matter of time before the states follow. In doing a search, countingdown.com shows the running time at 178 minutes, nearly 25 minutes longer than the first.

Can kids sit through this show for that long?

Time will tell.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 10-16-2002, 09:41 AM:

I don't know about kids but I will. I will admit to being hooked on Harry Potter. On a whim I picked up the first book and less than a week later I had read all four.

My only question is what are they going to do for book 4? Sorceror's Stone and Chamber of Secrets were each 300-350 pages. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (book 4) is 731 pages!

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-16-2002, 10:57 AM:

Regal started selling advanced tickets here last week. Over the weekend they doubled the normal size of their stack ad in the newspaper and ran a Harry Potter graphic.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 10-16-2002, 03:04 PM:

Wow. And you know people will flock to see it, too. Longer running time usually means fewer showings, which usually means theaters will have more prints. I can see it now: "Harry Potter now showing on TEN SCREENS"

=TMP=

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 10-16-2002, 06:45 PM:

2:38 - intermission after 1:11 - and that's official (so far)

And just as for number one: NO - kids won't make it without the intermission. -But with the 15 min's break, everyone makes it - and loves it !!

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-16-2002, 06:57 PM:

Hmmmmmmm, I wonder if Warner will want intermissions in the US. As everyone knows, we in the USA automatically have larger bladders than the rest of the world.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-16-2002, 07:02 PM:

I believe the intermission is for theatres with TOwers only

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-16-2002, 11:35 PM:

BTW, it was still unmarried as of last week.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-17-2002, 08:32 AM:

Several US chains (AMC, Regal/UA/Edwards, National Amusements) began selling tickets for Harry Potter 2 last Friday. That's 5 weeks prior to release!

How greedy can you get?

Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 10-17-2002, 09:00 AM:

And do you think those exhibitors have paid the film companies? I bet they put that money in the bank and make some interest until they have too.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-17-2002, 10:14 AM:

Hey, they could open an in-lobby payday loan or cash-on-your-car-title place, lend the HP money at rates just this side of usury and really clean up!

Posted by Per Hauberg (Member # 529) on 10-17-2002, 11:50 AM:

OK - New FT civil war starts here....

Would the hard-core socialists amongst us please SIT !

Warner Denmark made the ads, Presale opening oct., 7th. - not the theatres (Who didn't complain, though)
-And IF this should result in a bit of intrest, it could maybe help after two months of empty seats during heatwave august/september.
Were any of You asked to run without sallery because of the missing audience..??

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-17-2002, 12:07 PM:

Why is heads-up marketing greed? Locally, by selling tickets this far in advance, Regal is a leg up on rival Cinemark (who may actually be selling advance tickets too but they aren't advertising it).

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 10-17-2002, 03:28 PM:

I don't think it's greedy. If you know you're going to play something and your system allows it then by all means sell in advance. Not just HP, but anything that you are certain of.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 10-17-2002, 05:05 PM:

You can purchase tickets for "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" for any Crown Theatre starting tomorrow morning. My 12 noon show will be getting out near 3 p.m. with trailers - holy crap. That is a long mudder fudder. (we won't be mentioning midnight shows around here).

:-)

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 10-17-2002, 11:58 PM:

Its hardly greed, just good business. The problem with any business is cashflow. When the balance sheet is totaled up at the end of the year you might have a few million in profits, but at any one time during that year you could find yourself in a very tight spot if you don't keep your cashflow up. What is better than to sell tickets in advance and get to use that money for a few weeks to pay bills or just plain turn interest?

Not like people are being forced to buy advance tickets.

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 10-21-2002, 05:41 PM:

Well we will start selling our advance tickets tomorrow. We have it at 3h 15min of total show time (which includes cleaning time) and NO intermission. It breaks out to about 4 shows per screen with the last daily show (9:55) getting out at about 1:10am (typically out last show gets out at midnight). Which means that we will have to keep the building open an extra hour and ten minutes every night as long as we have Harry Potter and probably later because most likly Two Towers will be about the same thing.

Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 10-21-2002, 09:29 PM:

How in the heck do you have 15 minutes in between shows? A sold out theatre should take longer than that to clean? What about the 37 trailers that will come with the film? That will add to the 178 minute run time for sure? Unless you have really small theatre I'd like some enlightment on how you achieve 15 minute breaks and actually have a clean theatre for the next showtime.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-21-2002, 10:55 PM:

According to our booker, HP is 168 minutes.

We got a letter from WB stating they will attach five minutes of trailers to the film. And, you are supposed to call in and get permission for any other trailers you want to add on.

How many of us will actually call in for permission?

Posted by Adam Fraser (Member # 1074) on 10-22-2002, 09:42 AM:

We arent a multiplex, but with 3-4 people cleaning an auditorium that have been doing it for years we can get a full house of 450 people theatre cleaned about 90% in fifteen minutes or less. But we all have been doing this every night in our one screen for many years. It just takes a well trained and compitent staff.

------------------
Adam Fraser
www.pinestheatre.com

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 10-22-2002, 03:16 PM:

Thank you Adam, I would have pretty much said the same thing. Once everyone is out of the theater, you send three people into the auditorium (starting from top to bottom). First all the big stuff is picked up than one person using a cordless leaf blower, blows all the garbage from behind the seats (stadium seating). Than all three sweep up the garbage in the aisles. Finally any and all pop spills are mopped up. Total cleaning time 8 - 15 minutes depending on spills. You also need a good usher to form lines and prevent people from trying to enter the auditorium before it is clean.

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 10-23-2002, 02:39 PM:

By my watch at yesterday's screening, the run time was 155 minutes (which included about 6 minutes of end credits)

Posted by Buck Kolkmeyer (Member # 1128) on 10-23-2002, 03:58 PM:

Official running time as of today is 161 minutes.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 10-23-2002, 10:47 PM:

Yes - you may be able to CLEAN a sold-out show in 15 minutes ... but how much time does that leave to properly seat the auditorium? I'd allow at least 30 minutes between shows ... 45 if in a larger house (400+) just so everyone gets properly seated and doesn't have to be milling around during previews.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 10-24-2002, 03:50 PM:

Depending on what company you work for - the break in between can vary. As a general manager I make adjustments in my computer to account for breaks on my show schedule. What I mean is - whatever the run time of the film is - I add an extra 5 to 10 minutes into my computer to compensate for cleaning time (in addition to trailer time). That way - no matter what - I always have an extra 'few' minutes to spare. With the new Harry Potter - my computer shows the first start time at 12 Noon ending at 3 p.m.(The next show not starting until 3:30 p.m.) We all know that is incorrect - however there is a cushion there.

------------------
"Running through life at 24 frames per second"

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 10-24-2002, 05:46 PM:

Also keep in mind that there are those of us who are required by our corprate offices to have X number of showings per day. Some of us don't have the option of scheduling 30 minutes between shows.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 10-25-2002, 08:12 AM:

Running time according to BBFC in UK 160min 40 secs rated PG
"Contains mild language and horror, and fantasy spiders"

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 10-25-2002, 01:11 PM:

12:10 - 3:35 - 7:00 - 10:25

4 shows of Harry Potter w/ 30 mins between shows. Does your corporate office dictate opening/closing times as well? I'm not criticizing ... just curious.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 10-25-2002, 07:15 PM:

This may eventually belong on the runtime forum, but...
We went to the screening on Tuesday.

Start @ 9:30
End @ 12:13

W/no trailers

163 min

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 10-26-2002, 01:31 AM:

Mike, Carmike dictates that the theatre should open half an hour before the first show begins (an hour in busy seasons) and close fifteen minutes after the last movie starts. Mininum intermission is fifteen minutes (was thirty until sometime last year). Most major releases have mandatory showtimes, since people in Colombus Georgia know then it is best to show movies in the Midwest.

Posted by Heyward Garner (Member # 722) on 10-28-2002, 01:19 AM:

Mike Spaeth, Dustin Mitchell...

Mike, you are correct that an auditorium *can* be cleaned in fifteen minutes, but that requires a competent and LARGE staff (which we are hardly EVER allowed, not even in the holiday season do we have suffcicient staff. By the book we are alloted "x" amount of concessionists and ushers, but by that same book, we get so busy that to keep with ratio, we would have something like 8 ushers and 16 concessionists, with only eight registers available, so of course Carmike does not allow it...) So we always run into the problem of not being able to run these major motion pictures ON TIME because Carmike is a bunch of greedy bitches who don't know how to spread out their showtimes.

Dustin -- I have never once heard policy about minimum "intermission", the simple fact is that Carmike is greedy. They sure as HELL aren't looking at the amount of time in between shows. Our DM designated showtimes for "Like Mike" leaving... Let's see... Oh yea, NO time in between shows, by the time the 9:00 came around, it was 25 minutes late. I also recall that there was a 7 minute turnaround on MIB II. Seven minutes! Seven minutes to *properly* clean and seat and start the show... Carmike doesn't give a damn, so long as they can play it 22 1/2 times a day, because should a customer complain, they will blame everything on improper management at the location level, send them passes, kiss them on the head and send them on their way. I don't know how long you've been around, but that's how Carmike works. Especially here in the south.

Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 10-28-2002, 02:00 AM:

I've been with Carmike for five years, the last three of those as an assistant manager. I am well aware of the state of Carmike operations in the South.

As for the intermissions, there are three possibilities:

1) Its just a district thing (I don't think so)
2) Its a division thing (much more likely)
3) Its a company wide policy (pretty sure it is) and your DM is just ignoring it.

Joe, the local independant in this area does the exact same thing, get em in and get em out is that manager's philosophy. And I thought independants were supposed to be automaticaly run better than chain theatres.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 10-28-2002, 07:03 PM:

Dustin, Heyward, et al..

As to Carmike setting/mandating showtimes across the board...

I've been around for 15 years and there have *always* been mandated times on *big* movies. These times most always originate from the same office in Columbus. While I in no way agree with this practice, I'm not really in a position to piss and moan about it either. After all, if the order comes from them, that's where I direct any comments/complaints. True, there are numerous times in the year where we have less than 15 minutes downtime, which SUCKS, but it's simply the way it is. I don't care for it but I abide by it. When the checker reports come in and the auditorium is noted as being dirty (luckily mine aren't most of the time) I like to point to the fact that we were checked at 9:xx on opening night of a sold out show (KIDS)while only given 10 minutes to turn the house around.

And I said I wouldn't complain when I started typing this...

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-31-2002, 04:35 PM:

I just started a related thread "Tight turnaround" in Ground Level. Care to continue the discussion there?