Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: STAR WARS EP III BOYCOTT IN QUEBEC

This is topic STAR WARS EP III BOYCOTT IN QUEBEC in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Tom Fermanian (Member # 1094) on 05-22-2005, 08:13 PM:

Hi all!, F Y I, 42 thatres have refused to play SW epIII, this is mostly the same Independant theatre owners that refused SW ep II when it came out. The usual, LUCASFILM [bs]

was again gouging, in reference, all of these owners got burnt on EP 1, most explaining that that was the WORST film deal that they had ever done. Lucas/fox kept telling the owners "Look how much popcorn your gonna sell! & not sell if you don't play it"
One of the guy's answered " We are in the film exhibition business first, we should be left with some $$ from film" It's just like a shoe store that's no longer making money of selling shoes, but having to depend exclusively on the sale of Shoe laces and polish" know of any other place where picture was refused??
BTW, the ones who refused are not just Mom & Pop Operations, everything from 12 plexes down! for some markets :customers must drive up to a 200 miles to catch [sex]

SW ep III.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-22-2005, 08:31 PM:

Stupid theatre owners.. While everyone down here is making a fortune on popcorn, soda, and candy... and having to order extra concession stock, etc...... Not that I really agree with those terms either but its the Canadian theatre owners that are the only loosers. I don't know of one of my customers that didn't play it even at the rediclous terms they get and thay are all doing very well with it overall. In todays exhibition world if one thinks he can make operating $$ off a film he'd better go see a shrink.... You are in reality in the concession buisness today when running ANY film! Oops, and don't forget the Hot Dogs!

Mark

Posted by Tom Fermanian (Member # 1094) on 05-22-2005, 08:42 PM:

Yeah? Money on the first week, loads of concession sales, But, an 8 week run in their biggest auditorium where these markets are 4-5 week playing time on a picture with legs!!!,What gives Lucas the right to dictate what screen to play the picture on,besides the first or second week, the normal course for any picture is to move it down and let the more performing one have the seats! for example: EP 1, 57% drop week 1, 47% Drop week 2,52% drop week 3, and the same for subsequent weeks (8 weeks total) Lucas would not budge on changing auditoriums this way penalising new pictures opening up, The Owners remember almost empty main halls whilst refusing people having to play newer more popular pictures in smaller house,Don't forget the "What's good for the goose is good for the Gander" factor, every distributor at that time tried to get on the bandwagon, insisting on similar non-livable deals with their pictures. Star Wars Mania outside major Canaddian towns is not at all comparable to the US phenomenon.

Posted by Frank Dubrois (Member # 3042) on 05-22-2005, 09:41 PM:

Although we havent had a lot of sell-outs with EPIII, The large crowds in 3 houses that we HAVE had...and will most likely have next week..IS selling a lot of concessions. Overall, I dont blame lucas for the deals he made..he's a business man. He has a product that people WANT. We are in the MOVIE business, not the concession business. People would come in to see a movie without a concession stand...but take the movies away, and I don't know of ANYONE who would stroll in to pay a fortune for popcorn and pop. The concession stand is there for us to make our money....Lucas is giving us a GREAT means to get butts in the door. His terms may not be best for theaters, but then if he walked into a theater, I dont think he'd get a discount on concessions either.. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-22-2005, 10:24 PM:

Nobody's being forced to take the deals. If a certain theatre doesn't want to play the film, don't play the film. We didn't play the EpII on the break because of the terms. This time the terms were a bit easier and we did play EpIII on the break. And it's doing just fine. The last week will probably suck, but that's show biz. (The last week of XXX2 sucked too!)

Also - FWIW - there are plenty of businesses where you "give away the shoes and make money on the shoe laces." Computer printers and cell phones come to mind.

Posted by Tom Fermanian (Member # 1094) on 05-23-2005, 08:34 AM:

Mike, if week 2 of XXX2 was so-so, I Can't wait to see the 8th week of SW epIII??? Unfortunatly here in Canada,outside of major cities loads of moviegoers are still moviegoers, health concious, so popcorn & soda sales are ok never spectacular, they still depend on film revenue, much more than concession sales, Vive la diférence!