quote:

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Trailers are supposed to hit theaters on 9-26-2003.

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Trailers will be hitting the theaters sooner than that in North Carolina when Isabel hits!

HAHAHAHAHA!

Okay, I'll go do something else now.
 

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 09-25-2003, 07:24 PM:
 
Yes, the trailer has arrived! New Line wants it on Second Hand Lions. They say they are advertising it, too!

I say they are an inconsiderate bunch of *##!!!*&&*!!! We had no advanced warning whatsoever! I want to know why studios think that everything can be done at the last minute? Well, as the old saying goes "YOUR LACK OF PLANNING DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN EMERGENCY FOR ME".

When our owner found out about it, he had to rearrainge the theater schedule, figuring that people might actually show up just to see the trailer. Old schedules had to be discarded and new ones printed because of the change in theater order. That put additional pressure on the booth staff. Show change sheets had to be redone, as prints were no longer going to move to the theaters previously scheduled for them.

The Hollywood suits have not a clue as to what a multiplex goes through when last minute switches have to be done, nor, I'm sure, do they care. There is no reason why theaters could not have been informed ahead of time instead of at the last minute.

When we get inconsiderate requests like this, we should all bury them in the garbage can.
 

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-25-2003, 07:55 PM:
 
Movie trailers should only be attached when the print is initially built up. Not any time else. Screw this 2-weeks later phoney-baloney. I agree the studios should have better foresight and planning. This especially holds true in case of "Return of the King." Much of this trailer's contents have been viewable on DVD for nearly a month. Get on the stick, New Line!
 

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Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 09-26-2003, 08:01 AM:
 
We got the final trailers from New Line Post-Productions about 1 month and a half ago .
 

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Posted by Patrick McDonough (Member # 1363) on 09-26-2003, 08:24 AM:
 
we still dont have our's
 

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Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 09-26-2003, 11:13 AM:
 
We got advance warning last week. There was a note in the film can (2nd Hand Lions) that stated that the trailer was going to be sent to us a week later to put on the movie. Did some of you guys ignore the note thinking that it was another one of those "Your Booking department has approved the following 16 trailers to go on this print" notes that are in every can?
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-26-2003, 11:53 AM:
 
Today's newspaper display ad for Secondhand Lions prominently mentions the Return of the King trailer. The theatre would basically have no choice but to show it.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-26-2003, 03:37 PM:
 
They put it in newspaper ads, eh? Oh well. Mine is on Duplex. That's what happens when they send a trailer in a week after the print shows up. I have better things to do than play jack-around with unnecessary trailer changes. The box office staff knows and I believe there is a sign up too.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-26-2003, 05:49 PM:
 
OMG OMG has n-e 1 seen the return of the king trailer yet?????!?!???!??? OMG OMG OMG itz lord of da ringz so ut has to be ghoodd!! OMG OMG OMG hgi ergvrej vrgg
 

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Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 09-26-2003, 06:29 PM:
 
The stack ads in the NYC area confirm it: "Be The First To See The Trailer . . . Starting Today At Selected Theatres". New Line included that last phrase to fend off any possible lawsuits.

Then again, Reading/City Cinemas is still off service with Universal and is not opening The Rundown.
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-26-2003, 07:11 PM:
 

Oh, come on guys.
It's not that hard to change a trailer, and believe me this one is worth it.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-26-2003, 07:42 PM:
 
I think you are missing the point Mike.
 

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Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 09-26-2003, 07:47 PM:
 
No Mike, it's not a big deal to change out one trailer. But you should consider what goes on at the multiplexes on a Thursday. We are building prints, breaking others down, moving prints from larger to smaller theaters, building trailer cores, changing out old trailers, and during this time we are threading and starting the regular Thursday night shows.

There is also paper work to do. We have program data sheets on each console, listing the starting times of features and the running times of each trailer. Once these sheets are done, you have to do them all over again if you are going to make last minute changes.

Then there is Friday's projection schedule, entered into the main computer and printed out. We then "annotate" the schedules to show changes of films in theaters where we are double or triple booked, and format changes as well. Last minute changes create extra work: print a new schedule and annotate it, times four copies.

It's not simply a matter of "changing a trailer". You may think this one is worth it, but I don't. I also noticed that we were not exactly packing them in today for Second Hand Lions, either.

I and my staff have more than enough work to do as is. I resent having to do more just because some jackass out on the west coast thinks it would be great to throw on an extra trailer and run an add for it in the local paper, and then expect the multitudes to flock to the theaters. Typical Hollywood copycat thinking. It's already been done.

Guess what??? Ain't going to happen again at our theater. If you can't get the trailers and information to us in a timely fashion...YOU LOSE!!
 

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Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 09-26-2003, 07:54 PM:
 
We got our trailer on Wednesday. I watched it about 8 times before putting it on Secondhand Lions
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-26-2003, 08:08 PM:
 
Had no problem getting mine on. Put it right before the Elf trailer on secondhand Lions. I had two prints to build and changed out the add packs along with other needed trailer changes and ran the booth.

What's the differance between adding that trailer and taking off a trailer for a feature that just opened and adding one in it's place. If anything it is easier just to add one.
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-26-2003, 08:25 PM:
 
I think that Mike's not the only one missing the point here. If New Line wanted these trailers on whatever film they should have had them ready to be shipped out with whatever film. Not tagging along a week or even two days, or even a day later. Since they're not remunerating the theatre for this extra work, the least they can do is get their act together and ship everything out together. Now if they want to send along $2 to pay my wage for the 5 minutes it might take to make the change (let alone any paperwork) then I might consider doing it for them.

quote:

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. . . Starting Today At Selected Theatres". New Line included that last phrase to fend off any possible lawsuits.

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Yeah, like nobody else has ever put that on their advertising material. Hmmm... kind of hard to think of any that doesn't have that on it.
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-26-2003, 08:40 PM:
 
It doesn't matter when they sent the trailer it's just pointless to complain about adding a trailer when you have to do it anyway when changing traiklers out. It's no big deal to me.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-26-2003, 08:52 PM:
 
Frankly, I wouldn't put it past the studio to fabricate this 2nd weekend delay as a means of giving "Lions" a boost in its second week.

Don't you think it's a sad state-of-affairs when the industry considers a trailer to be an "attraction" moreso than the feature?
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-26-2003, 08:58 PM:
 
I thought the same thing too. I also think they delayed it for a week so that Secondhand lions would generate revenue based only on it's merrits not the fact that Return of the King was on it. THe film was our number one movie last week out of the five we opened.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-26-2003, 09:08 PM:
 
Manny, I guarantee that this was a ploy to boost the second week performance of Secondhand Lions. This will give the movie the appearance that it has more "legs" than it really does.
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-26-2003, 09:45 PM:
 
from the looks of the crowd today mostly middle age I don't think having that trailer on there is making much difference.
 

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Posted by Adam Budweg (Member # 1901) on 09-27-2003, 03:16 AM:
 
I had no clue that it was a delayed release of the trailer. If my GM hadn't personally told me it would of went to the pile of other trailers that i just dont use.

It was a good trailer, but IMO i like the Matrix Revolutions trailer better, and that came before the movie was put together
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-27-2003, 03:33 AM:
 
Perhaps I am just missing the point, but while i'm at it, allow me to dig my grave even deeper.

Yes, New Line sucks for making theatres deal with this. But your not doing this for them. Your doing this for your customers. The same people for which you practice "film done right". Because New Line is being so dumb and advertising it, the customers expect this trailer to be attatched. In my book it is bad customer service not to attatch this trailer.
When customers pay and expect to see the trailer and then dont, how does that reflect on your theatre?

If you dont play the trailer, It is importaint to have signs, as suggested earlier in the topic, that inform the customers before they purchase tickets.

Some of you guys may consider streamlining your paperwork involved in changing trailers. I don't understand why adding a trailer effects scheduling for films. The best way to sick it to new line, is to allow the film to move to the smaller house with fewer showtimes, just as you had originally planned to do before you knew about the trailer.

I guess my point is ths:
If you dont like it, complain to New Line. Don't take it out on your customers just because you want to prove a point to a distributer.
 

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Posted by Chris Greenwell (Member # 1660) on 09-27-2003, 05:40 AM:
 
They never even sent a paper with my preview to tell me to put it on Second Hand Lions, so I just figured I would put it on something later on, then we recieved a bunch of complaints about the trailer not bieng on that movie, so I finally said hell with it and put it on before my sevens...
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-27-2003, 02:45 PM:
 
Mike, if you give a little, the studios will take a lot. It will then get progressively worse and worse up until the point where trailers are being advertised on all movies and you will find yourself spending the entire Thursday night changing out previews. Trust me, it will never end and it will get worse with every month. As it stands already Thursday nights are rushed to get prints assembled, so why should the studios even consider getting those mandatory trailers to the theaters on Wednesday? It won't happen and your Thursday nights will become even more of a panic situation to get everything done and theaters will incur more and more payroll costs to bring more people into the booth to get it all done. Jack Valenti is always yelling about how piracy is costing this industry billions of dollars. Well Mr. Jack, just how much is forcing theaters to bring on extra projection staff on Thursday nights costing this industry? Oh no wait, I keep forgetting the theaters themselves don't matter.

Remember 10 years ago when Technicolor started shipping prints to be received to the theaters on Thursdays? Back then, it was not uncommon at all to receive the weekend's prints on Monday or Tuesday. There was plenty of time to do full inspections at a comfortable pace and the films could be assembled over a few day's time with normal projection staffing. See what that one little acceptance of Thursday deliveries did to the theaters since no one took a stand against it?

No way in hell is that trailer ever going to play in front of Secondhand Lions at my theater and probably a whole lot of other theaters too based upon principle alone. If I only had one trailer in the cabinet and needed something for Secondhand Lions, I would play nothing.

On the other hand, any trailer that is requested by the studio for something along these lines, if enclosed in the can or received by Wednesday, I WILL put it on.

When this kind of crap happens, people like you who give into it are screwing us all in the long run.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-27-2003, 03:56 PM:
 
Do it for the customers, eh?

If there is really a demand for the trailer then why don't we just go ahead and play the trailer without the movie. We'd get more screenings in.
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-27-2003, 04:25 PM:
 
OK, I appologize. I did not understand that you did not recieve the trailer untill thursday. We had ours by tuesday if my memory serves me right. It was also enclosed with a note asking to have it put on Secondhand Lions, but not specifying a spacific date, so we attatched it immeadiately. I try to hop in and watch it each time i start it to guage crowd response, and there are allways a few who clap.

Oh, and Manny, read the post above Brad's. These trailers are importaint to the customers. Mabey you should just loop it over and over in your lobby. (just kidding)

But i still stand by my opinion that this trailer needs to be attatched, not necessarily on the thursday night, but just somepoint over the weekend, at your leasure.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-27-2003, 04:33 PM:
 
Read Darryl Spicer's assessment and you'll see that this trailer isn't making much difference where he is. It's also not making much difference at any of the theatres I know of (here and a few in Florida). So I guess the impact of the trailer will depend a lot on the demographics of your catchment area.

In fairness, I have to say that it doesn't pose too much trouble to add a trailer (in and of itself). I'm more upset at this half-baked method of promoting two movies at once. It's too manipulative.

Furthermore, it completely ignores the fact that there is a lot to do if you happen to be working in a large multiplex where you can very easily find yourself building multiple prints of several titles. Plus there's breakdowns and trailer changes. All happening on the same night.

These multiplexes here are small compared to some that I've worked in the USA and we get our prints quite far in advance in order to open day-and-date.

Note that I had said "IF" the trailer was popular...etc.

Note also the correct spelling of "Manny."
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-27-2003, 04:40 PM:
 
Yep, I know. Caught that spelling mistake and corrected it before you finished posting.

I also re-worded a few parts that I thought sounded less than friendly.

Funny, I always make last minute corrections after I post. It would be so much faster just to do it right the first time!

Wow. I was just thinking. I should really update that pic. It's two years old now!
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-27-2003, 04:44 PM:
 
It's just a ploy to take a movie that isn't doing all that well (Secondhand Lions) and boost it's business. Anyone remember when Fox had some kind of force attachment of the Episode I trailer on some lackluster bomb of a movie how business shot up for it? It's just like anything else, someone does it and whether it is a success or not, if it gives the illusion of being a success, then everyone else will copy the practice. (I swear this is why every trailer has to end with that last couple of second "stinger/joke" clip after it is already over.)

Mike, it's not the labor of doing a trailer change elsewhere during the week (or on Wednesday nights, since that is "trailer change night".) If New Line would send me a stack of those trailers, I would be all too happy to put it on every single print for increased exposure...except the print of "Secondhand Lions" of course. New Line can take that and shove it right up their
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-27-2003, 04:48 PM:
 
Is this the new-and-improved chat room software!?

Wow! The replies are coming fast-and-furious!

IIRC we were instructed/requested to put the "Episode I" trailer at the end of "Meet Joe Black."
 

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Posted by Jim Leko (Member # 1287) on 09-27-2003, 05:48 PM:
 
I just don't see what the big deal is. They send you a trailer, you put it on. This is the forum where everybody does everything the right way (as opposed to the lazy way). I am really surprised that so many of you are complaining about putting on a trailer. Just do it, then it's done.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-27-2003, 07:46 PM:
 
Give it time. You must be new to this industry. History has proven what will happen to those who bend over for studio nonsense. It's not lazy, it's looking into the future at the consequences that this sort of thing will bring.
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-27-2003, 07:56 PM:
 
I am also compelled to point out that placement or non-placement of a trailer has absolutely ZERO IMPACT on technical excellence in a presentation.

Nobody's being lazy.

...and how can the rest of us do the thing ?
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-27-2003, 10:57 PM:
 
I've been following this thread with interest, feel the need to comment now. Nobody take offense at this please.

Refusing to play a trailer for what is arguably the most eagerly anticipated film of the year, on the grounds that "showing the studios they can't push me around" is more important than "doing the right thing" for your paying customers seems, well, silly. I can't imagine *not* playing this trailer if I had it. But hey, that's just me. Technical excellence is great, but this *is* part of showbiz after all.

I may not work in a theatre but hopefully it's OK for me to have an opinion on this. If not, well, LET THE FLAMES BEGIN!!
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-27-2003, 11:01 PM:
 
BTW, we nearly sold out both of the Secondhand Lions showings I ran tonight, In our 280 seat theatre.
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-27-2003, 11:11 PM:
 
If New Line was seriously interested in putting this trailer out they would just send you a bunch of them and ask you to program them. If they had orginally wanted it put on Secondhand Lions, they would have sent it attached on the break.

Clearly though (yeah, jhawk I know), that's not the case. New Line has seen that Secondhand Lions isn't living up to their 'wants' (which are likely higher than their expectations) and has decided to use a ploy to drag customers into the theatre to see their failing film. Personally, I don't think that's fair to customers (let alone the theatres).

Remember when people were walking out of the theatre after the Episode I trailer ended... what a waste of money.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-28-2003, 02:08 AM:
 
I remember playing the episode 1 trailer to a near-full audience. I come back 10 minutes later and all but two or three had left. Nobody wanted to watch "Meet Joe Black" (ugh). This is the same deal here, but New Line knew in advance that the second week of Secondhand Lions would drop off tremendously otherwise.

Daryl is right, though. If New Line was more interested in advertising the LotR movie than some extra income for Secondhand Lions, then they would have just sent a bunch to each theater and said "put it on everything you possibly can!"
 

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Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 09-28-2003, 03:18 AM:
 
This is what annoys me. It's just too manipulative.

We get manipulated into programming trailers at the studio's whim and fancy and the audience gets manipulated into buying tickets to a movie they aren't interested in.

I'm curious if LOTR and LIONS have the same target audience at least.
 

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Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-28-2003, 05:27 AM:
 

quote:

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New Line has seen that Secondhand Lions isn't living up to their 'wants' (which are likely higher than their expectations) and has decided to use a ploy to drag customers into the theatre to see their failing film.

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They made this decision long before first weekend numbers were in. Several threads in other sections of the forum note that.

It's definately a ploy to drive more people in, but it wasnt based on dissapointing sales. They knew long before.
 

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Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 09-28-2003, 09:31 AM:
 
The difference with the Meet Joe Black/Epiosode I trailer placement was that Fox sent us a whole box of them, and said to make sure one is on Meet Joe Black. So we programmed the rest of them on everything that was "appropriate" at the time. I think we put all but one of them on-screen at an 18 plex, even one on "The Out of Towners"

New Line should have done the same thing. "Here are six trailers, make sure one is on Secondhand Lions, have fun with the rest but dont sell them on eBay."

Hmm... which reminds me, I'll go check eBay for these!

=TMP=
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-28-2003, 10:35 AM:
 
New Line can probably rightly be accused of "over-strategizing" the timing of the release of this trailer. That's typical marketing for you.

Nevertheless, if I had the trailer, I'd *want* to show it, regardless of New Line's motivations.
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-28-2003, 11:21 AM:
 
As far as using the excuse of boosting Secondhand Lions attendance on the second week after thinking about it is kind of pointless. New line decided before this film even opened that the trailer would go on the second week. If they wanted business to be strong for the film they would have just put the thing on there to begin with and let the word spread on the internet.

What New Line should have done is make a few scope trailers availabe and had them put on movies like the Rundown and Underworld were people of that demographic would see them and the trailer would have been produced the way the film was made in scope. Not the letterboxed flat edition
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-28-2003, 03:25 PM:
 

quote:

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They made this decision long before first weekend numbers were in. Several threads in other sections of the forum note that.

It's definately a ploy to drive more people in, but it wasnt based on dissapointing sales. They knew long before.

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I find it hard to believe that New Line would need to wait for opening week figures to know that the film wasn't going to live up to their wants. If this were the case, you'd never see studios advertising the heck out of crappy movies, prior to them opening, that they know aren't going to do well.

There's something wrong when trailers for another movie are used to get patrons into the theatre.

As it stands now, theatres customarily bend over backwards to do any trailer programming a studio wants when they first receive the print. Now they're asking for more and giving nothing in return. Sure, I'd like to think I'm a nice guy, but even nice guys have to charge their customers (or even suppliers) for the work they do for them. If New Line wants to reimburse my theatres for the extra work we are doing for them, then we'd happily do it for them.

Heck, if New Line would chip in for some newspaper adds in all of our markets we might even consider doing it.

A lot of you have said that it's not really any extra work and that you'd be adding extra trailers every week anyway. Well, in many, many theatres that is simply not the case. I know of hundreds of sceens that do not add trailers to a feature after it opens and only remove trailers from the print as the features advertised in the trailers open or leave the area.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I don't understand why individual theatres should foot the cost (beyond what we've regularily agreed to in the past -- no matter how minimal) of another company's (New Line's) marketing stategy.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-28-2003, 05:10 PM:
 
I see your point Daryl, and I'm not *necessarily* defending New Line. The whole "delay sending out the trailer for a week" strategy seems really dumb on the face of it -- marketing strategy gone haywire. Nevertheless, by running it, you're going to make some of your customers very happy. That seems like reason enough to me. But the film is months away so another 1 week delay is no big deal.

Am I to understand then that New Line is *not* promoting the trailer in their Lions ads nationwide? They are here, and it's very prominent in the ad...
 

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 09-28-2003, 05:20 PM:
 
I can't speak for American markets, but here in Canada, unless you're in a huge market you're almost always on your own when it comes to newspaper advertisments.

Of course it's not New Line here either, it's Alliance Atlantis.
 

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Posted by Robert D. LaValley (Member # 1867) on 09-28-2003, 05:26 PM:
 
I think that every multiplex should have just one auditorium that just plays rollingstock and trailers. You could sell tickets to it just like other movies. And that way the only trailer changes needed would be in that auditorium...

This is just a dream.. but a novel thought none the less..

*laughs*
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-28-2003, 07:14 PM:
 
THat's one thing I don't want to see a dedicated auditorium for trailers. THat's what the lobby displays are for if you have them.
 

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Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 09-29-2003, 07:53 PM:
 
The Return of the King Trailer is now online for those of you who may be interested.

http://www.lordoftherings.net/index_flat_video.html
 

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Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-29-2003, 09:55 PM:
 
no I will wait till next week for the hell of it.
 

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Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 09-29-2003, 09:59 PM:
 
But it is in HIGH RESOLUTION!!!
 

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Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 10-03-2003, 11:35 AM:
 
Good news! Today's stack ads for Secondhand Lions do not promote The Return of the King trailer.

Not-so-good news: New Line may push the trailer in every ad for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- the remake that opens 10/17.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 10-03-2003, 04:08 PM:
 

quote:

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Not-so-good news: New Line may push the trailer in every ad for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- the remake that opens 10/17.

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