Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: from multi to mega

This is topic from multi to mega in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=002680

Posted by Carl King (Member # 398) on 11-09-2003, 09:20 AM:

Okay, guys and gals. Question. What differentiates a multiplex from a megaplex? Is it screen count? If so, when oes it start? 10 screens, or 12, or 20? Who has an opinion on this or is there an official industry standard?

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 11-09-2003, 09:51 AM:

AMC definitely had 14-screen locations long before they started referring to them as megaplexes.

Cineplex Odeon also had a 16-screen location before "megaplex" came into use.

Not sure where the cutoff is but the first time I ever heard the term "megaplex" was in connection with a 20-screen AMC site. This would be the one in Norwalk, California which opened in the late-1990s.

I would imagine that Adam Martin or Paul Linfesty ought to have enormous files on just this sort of thing.

Guys?

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 11-09-2003, 06:49 PM:

Well, from what I understand, Disney gives out better standees to theatres with 18 or more screens because they are "Megaplexes"

eg- Haunted Mansion standee:
<18 = 2 pannel standee
>18 = 4 pannel standee

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 11-09-2003, 07:18 PM:

I wish I ran an 18 screen theatre that didn't get standees. [Smile]

Moving to Yak.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 11-12-2003, 04:29 PM:

Variety considers a megaplex as any theater with 16 or more screens. That's the standard that I go by and EDI has adopted.

The AMC Grand 24 in Dallas is generally thought of as the first megaplex. It opened around 1994.

The Loews New Brunswick (18 screens) opened 7 years ago this month as New Jersey's first megaplex -- and the first in the New York metropolitan area.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 11-12-2003, 05:22 PM:

The AMC Grand in Dallas opened in May of 1995

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 11-12-2003, 05:47 PM:

Yep, "Die Hard With A Vengeance" was one of the first "big summer movies" to play at the AMC Grand 24. I saw the show there in one of the four largest houses (all in echo-ey glory). Also, I recall it was one of the very few times I ever saw an SDDS sound format trailer played on the front of any movie.

At the time "Crimson Tide" over at Northpark #1 put on a better show.

As far as the "multi" and "mega" standards go, I personally find it all to be a very relative thing. Screen count may seem impressive when looking at a theater directory ad in a newspaper. But it is another thing when you visit a site like the AMC Odyssey 30 in Grapevine Mills. You can be amazed how they crammed something like 16 screens into a space smaller than what a modest 8-plex requires. I swear the room where I watched "Amistad" could not have had any more than 50 seats. Brad Miller's screening room was probably larger!

In general, I would consider the cut-off limit for a "megaplex" to be 24 screens. However, a site with as little as two screens (but each boasting near or over 1,000 seats each) like the gone-and-mourned Northpark 1-2 can qualify for "mega" status in my book anyday. After all, you can only watch a movie on ONE screen at a time. So having the most screens really doesn't mean s**t. Having the BEST screens is what counts.

Posted by Jason Burroughs (Member # 68) on 11-12-2003, 07:53 PM:

The AMC Grand opened with 4 Prints of Die Hard, Interlocked to 8, and eventually a few rounds of 10 screens. 2 Prints of Crimson Tide, only one had the Dobly Digital Track on it, the other was just Dolby SR. We only had 2 Dolby DA-20's on roll around carts. but readers on 10 projectors. 2 DTS's and only 2 readers.

The guys at ASC and Mike (The AMC tech) did an awesome job working with what they had. That theater could have easily turned out much worse than it acutally did.