quote: Steve Guttag

---

One of my favorite screenings was one I did for Disney on The Princess and the Frog. It was in DCP format BUT it was so early, it was still partly in "Pencil Sketch" form and Storyboard. It was really cool to have the movie jumping between what was finished (or near finished) and what was still clearly not there yet.

---

Disney loves doing that. I remember they got such a good response when they did that on Beauty and the Beast that they actually released it on LaserDisc that way. For serious! They also released the finished version 6 months or so after that. Even now when I watch Beauty and the Beast on Blu-ray, I expect it to cut to pencil mode when Gaston says "...and don't I deserve the best?" near the beginning and many other parts as well.
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-21-2011, 03:56 PM:
 
We do those promotional "Sneak Previews," as Steve says, not the commercial cinema kind -- but ones that are arranged by the studio's publicty department with us because we can reach the demographic they want to capture. They rent out our theatre, usually a week or two before the official opening in the commercial plexes. Our show is mostly for college and even some students -- our theatre is adjacent to both a HS and a college campus. On a number of occasions we have even run sneaks weeks before they are "sneaked" commercially.

However, as noted, these sneaks have significantly slowed in the past year or two, and I don't know the reason, other than maybe what Steve said -- you don't want word-of-mouth to get out when the word-of-mouth is, "Damn, that picture was a dog turd."

As it turns out, even when they do sneak with us, rarely are they really "high-end" titles. The pattern of the genre we usually screened seemed pretty transparant to us -- films leveled at a certain demographic....you know, the half-witts. They were always, if not outright trash, then to use Randy's term (and a good one) "sit-through" titles -- some would reach "could-hardly-sit-through" status.

Perhaps the marketing people may feel that the GOOD pictures which are getting good press and hot buzz, don't really need to be sneaked.

I particularly liked doing them because it gave us bragging rights -- See it BEFORE it opens in any theatre in New York City.
 

---

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 02-21-2011, 04:37 PM:
 
Frank-You're thinking of "test screenings"...I am talking about a sneak preview of a final product.
 

---

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 02-21-2011, 05:18 PM:
 
Test screenings are done waaaaaay in advance of the movie's actual release, often without the final elements in place (usually the music being substituted). Press screenings (which I used to do a lot of as well) are usually done a week or two before the movie's release for invited guests only (ie: movie reviewers invited by the studio who rents out the auditorium for a couple of hours). Sneak Previews are shown to a paying audience (or those who won tickets), usually the general public.
 

---

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 02-21-2011, 06:13 PM:
 
The last sneak preview I attended was one for Chicago. Our Carmike location showed it (in 35mm, THX-DTS). The print went down the street and played its theatrical run at the Cache 8 theater in the glory of mono.

I'm pretty sure a number of Hollywood movies have been sneaked since then. Sometimes the sneak preview would be attached to another release, see the sneak preview of movie A and stay to watch movie B that's already been out for a couple or so weeks.

Didn't The Notebook have a sneak preview? I can't remember for sure. I do remember seeing it while on a date (she picked the movie).
 

---

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-21-2011, 07:10 PM:
 
...some companies are disallowing staff sneaks due to the unnecessary addition to payroll.

And when the industry took that 5% hit in the last quarter, this was a good reason to discontinue the preview sneak.

We might see some mainstream studio sneaks pop up this summer...
 

---

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 02-21-2011, 07:38 PM:
 
The trend is definitely less on the preview screening front. I have gone from 10 or more per year back in 2007/2008 to less than 3 per year now. I have run "advance screenings" of many films at UC Irvine back then, but now.....

The University has also cut back on all screenings in general....the main program I did for them is completely dead (used to do 10-12 screenings per quarter), one other festival program went all video last year, and the current organization has cut back from 8 screenings per quarter to no more than 4.

The overall trend may have a lot less to do with "if the film sucks" to simply budget cuts everywhere due to the economy.
 

---

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 02-22-2011, 03:12 AM:
 
Here in Arizona the "Press Screenings" with regular movie goers are alive and well. My old Location does at least two a week. These are ones where the press is on the list and have a section roped off for them. The rest of the seats are first come first serve if you have a screening pass.

We just ran an "Advance Showing" of a film this past year, can't remember for the life of me what the name was. You had to buy a ticket for it and the grosses went to its opening weekend run. It was usually the Saturday before it opened. There was also one for the Catherine Zeta-Jones film "No Reservations" back in 2007.

They still happen but you usually need to buy a ticket for it like any other film. You just get to see it before some friends of yours do.
 

---

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 02-22-2011, 06:08 AM:
 
Tom, no these aren't the same as test screenings. They are promotional screenings at specific locations that the studio publicity dept chooses, usually because of the concentrated demographic that a particular venue can provide and which the studio thinks would be good to get a buzz going with that crowd -- usually near colleges or actually on college campuses that have the facilities for a good looking screening. Sometimes they also team the screening with a product sponsor who also wants to hit that same demographic. A lot of the sponsers were cell providers going for the youth market. It am sure the sponsors foot a good portion of the cost of the screening. They get to run their commercial before the film.

These are the screenings where they send a security guard to carry the film to the booth and be there while I run it. Our boooth is six flights up....no elevator. I always offer to put the cans on the winch and hoist it up to the booth, but they all insist they must "stay with the print." OK, says I, suit yourself. Usuallyl at landing 4 they are huffing and puffing and we have to rest. I offered to winch it up for them, but I do not offer to help carry. My only worry is that one of these days we are going to have to call Emergency Medical for one of these guys and screw up the show. I wonder if the studio requires them to take the cans with them in the ambulance?
 

---

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 02-24-2011, 01:49 AM:
 

 

---

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 02-25-2011, 12:21 PM:
 
Whats the point of the picture Tom? We know what your talking about, and even some of us answered your question.
 

---

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 02-25-2011, 08:48 PM:
 
We had what I would call a sneak peak this week of the Adjustment Bureau. It was a free screening, aimed at the students, but it was a sneak nonetheless.

We also did a couple last year: Boondock Saints II and the Third Kind.

AJG
 

---

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 02-25-2011, 09:07 PM:
 
Kurt-The picture is something we never see anymore. I am sure some will have no idea what it is.
 

---

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 08-31-2011, 07:44 AM:
 
Sneak Preview this Sunday of "Warrior"

Haven't seen a sneak preview for a while.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-31-2011, 03:33 PM:
 
We saw a long clip of that at CinemaCon. I thought it looked awful, but it's not my kind of movie so "YMMV."
 

---

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 08-31-2011, 03:37 PM:
 
Looks just like The Fighter
 

---