Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Nova Cinemas

This is topic Nova Cinemas in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 11-19-2002, 12:56 AM:

Has anyone else heard of this company?

Nova Cinemas just reopened the Meyerland 8 here in Houston.
Meyerland 8 is an ex-GCC complex as well as an ex-EFW complex.
It was repened on Friday by Nova.

Their ticket prices are a bit lower than most places but check out their concession prices.
The dollar price is only for regular Pepsi and Regular popcorn, but I dont know yet how much everything else is.

I havent been there myself yet, but a friend of mine checked out Harry Potter there.
He said there were no Movie Tunes or anything similar.
Instead, they playes some orchestral soundtrack music before the show.
No slides either.
But curtains, yes, they did have curtains and the curtains opened up not to show commercials, but into 2 or 3 previews, and then the feature.

One thing that has me concerned though, it they still have the THX plaques up on the wall next to the main auditoriums, which led him to believe they were actually THX certified, but Im pretty skeptical, since the EFW had them up as well, and from what I was told, they were not certified.
They ran an SDDS digital logo before the film and I asked him if it sounded like it was digital, but all he could tell me was that it sounded good, but Im not sure how good of a judge on presentation he is.

As far as the rest of the presentation is concerned, He said there was one green scratch that lasted for only a part of a second during the film, but some of the previews and logos were a little more "rough."
The light, he said, seemed bright.

Im off on Wednesday, so I may go check this place out for myself.
Ill be checking out The Ring, since everything else there is something Ive already seen, or dont care to see.
If im lucky, maybe theyll let me have a look around in the booth.

Oh, I just realized that this may be more appropriate in Ground Level.

Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 11-19-2002, 02:30 AM:

I've heard of their theater in Naperville, Illinois. I understand Nova Cinemas has a lot of Brenkert projectors just sitting around that were recently pulled from service.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 11-19-2002, 04:35 AM:

Nova took over operation of (or are the same people with a different name) Sho-Pro, with the infamous "stealth" theater design discussed in a thread here about a year ago.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-19-2002, 09:07 AM:

Hey Buck Kolkmeyer, Are you out there? Whats up with the name change?
Mark @ CLACO

Posted by Greg Borr (Member # 386) on 11-19-2002, 09:12 AM:

Nova is the former Sho-Pro (they re-organized their corporate structure) The do theatre design and consultation through Theatre Service Network, They have a booking service, buy and sell used equipment, and run theatres. Buck Kolkmeyer runs the operation, Steve Felperin is the booker.

They have reopened or taken over operation of several theatres throughout the country over the past few years. Most recently the Meyerland 8 in Houston, Carmike 11 in Des Moines, IA, and the Carmike Cinema 8 in Montgomery, AL. In most cases they re-open with ticket prices a bit lower than the bigger plexes, competitive concession pricing and use one-stop selling stations for both tickets and concessions, thus increasing per-caps to cover the lower prices.

Posted by Kara J. McVay (Member # 1285) on 11-19-2002, 09:52 AM:

Steve Phelprein is my booker, and I couldn't be happier. He really fights for the small guy. We had our best October in 18 years thanks to his hard work.... And have LOTR, Wild Thornberrys and Gangs of New York lined up for our Christmas. I only have 3 screens, so it is a challange trying to compete, my competition has 5 screens. Small town, on the edge of Columbus, Ohio. So he has had to really work to show the distributors that the Strand can gross. Like I said before, I couldn't be happier.

I feel like "Field of Dreams" but it would be "Play it and they will come"

[beer]

To Nova

Posted by Greg Borr (Member # 386) on 11-19-2002, 10:39 AM:

Steve books the 4 theatres my business partners parents own in Southwestern, MI. He does a great job for them as well.

Posted by Chris Tyson (Member # 992) on 11-19-2002, 02:06 PM:

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-19-2002, 02:14 PM:

Ex-EFW? Uh-oh. Is it just me or does EFW seem to ruin almost every theater they get their hands on?

=TMP=

Posted by Jeff Leyland (Member # 1092) on 11-19-2002, 08:50 PM:

Nova bought the old Dickinson Table Rock Cinema in Branson, MO. Recent years it was owned by Goodrich and called the Branson 4. They bought it, I presume, to own two of the three theatres in Branson. It now shows second run product and charges $5 for the movie, small popcorn, and small drink. It is $4 for just the movie. Anyone know of another theatre that does this? It seems like it could produce great concession per caps.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 11-20-2002, 12:02 AM:

Ah...the Paradise of West Bend, WI, where each projection position was an offset jog in the booth wall not wide enough for the platter so they had to sit in the aisle part of the booth and feed via intermediate rollers in the corner of the jog. And one or two 5-deckers for added fun. Wow...Mark...do you believe that was almost 8 years ago?

Posted by Greg Borr (Member # 386) on 11-20-2002, 01:13 PM:

Jeff,
We do it at the Loma Theatre in Coloma, MI $5.50 includes medium pop and medium corn. This pricing structure saved the local 3 screen when a 14 plex was built 10 miles away.

The pop and the corn is self-serve. The popcorn is popped prior to the show and placed in a sealed bag in a warming unit at the end of the concession counter. There are two self serve soda fountains across the lobby from the counter.

Posted by Travis Turnbough (Member # 1389) on 11-23-2002, 12:38 AM:

Hello, Nova Projectionist here. Nova is a second run discount theatre that appeals to families. We offer Four dollar tickets and for one dollar more you get a 16 oz. pop and 46oz. popcorn. For just a couple bucks more you can also get unlimited refills. Feel free to ask any questions about Nova Cinemas.

Posted by Travis Turnbough (Member # 1389) on 11-23-2002, 12:39 AM:

Posted by Travis Turnbough (Member # 1389) on 11-23-2002, 01:32 AM:

Nova really is a great company that cares a great deal about their patrons. We just have a few minor projection equipment that I'm sure will soon be fixed.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-23-2002, 02:24 AM:

Don't reply to yourself... edit your posts.

quote:
Hello, Nova Projectionist here... They really don't seem to care too much about screen presentation (we have huge scratches in most of our films) but are still a decent company.

If you are the projectionist, and 'They' are the management (and not the projectionists) huge scratches, IMHO, aren't a result of 'They' not caring.

Posted by Chris Tyson (Member # 992) on 11-23-2002, 02:30 PM:

[thumbsup]

Posted by Travis Turnbough (Member # 1389) on 11-23-2002, 03:17 PM:

Daryl- thanks.
The equipment is very faulty. No matter how good of projectionists we have, we can only be as good as the equipment. There are two main projectionists that work in the booth at the theatre i work at. The other gentleman doesn't care anything about screen presentation. He's only kept to fill in the needed hours. Does anyone have any suggestions about what to do with such an uncaring projectionist?

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 11-23-2002, 04:17 PM:

If he's cutting frames (I guess that's what you meat when you said "splices") out of features that are still playing at your theater, I would keep an eye on things to catch him at it and then report him to management.

If management doesn't do anything about it, go to the next step. Inform the district or regional manager that you have brought it to your manager's attention that this guy is hacking apart prints for his own "frame collection" or amusement, that it's ruining the presentation for people who have paid to see the movie, and that nothing has been done about it.

People who cut footage from prints for any reason, especially to "steal" that footage out of the print should be fired, and made to pay for the print. Let's see how long it takes him to sell his "original film cells" on eBay to pay for it.

=TMP=

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-23-2002, 07:06 PM:

Steve said "Wow...Mark...do you believe that was almost 8 years ago?"
Thats hard to believe, and the old and better liked downtown West Bend Cinema is still cranking too. I don't miss that area much at all, except for a few really nice customers I had(and still have) in Northern Indiana. I much prefer to do service in Jackson Hole, Aspen, Or Sun Valley, ID.
Mark

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-23-2002, 11:28 PM:

If nobody at all in management seems to care about the prints, talk to your booker, they're usually pretty protective of them.