Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Question for all you cinema/drive-in operators

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Posted by Peter Berrett (Member # 672) on 07-17-2011, 07:22 AM:

Hi all

A question just occurred to me and I would be grateful if someone could provide an answer.

Every time I go to the Lunar drive-in they have these lifesize cardboard displays promoting upcoming movies. They look like they come packaged flat and then are assembled by staff.

My question is - what happens to these displays once the cinema or drive-in is finished with them? They look like they could be quite a collectors item. Imagine for example, having a Mary Poppins or Dirty Harry cardboard display stored away somewhere. It would be quite valuable I imagine.

Mind you I could easily see these displays piling up in a collectors home and soon outstripping the size of the home over time...

cheers Peter

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-17-2011, 11:14 AM:

I don't know about everyone else but the standees we get are trampled flat by me after use and then stuffed into the trash. I can't really think of any that I've regretted not saving (plus we'd have no place to put'em anyway).

We had one kid who just had to have the Jurassic Park III standee which was a wall about 8' high and 12' wide. According to his mom, the thing is still in their basement.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-17-2011, 03:21 PM:

Usually they get dismantled and thrown away or recycled. If the standee has any non-cardboard parts like light fixtures or motors, I usually grab them before it goes away. Sometimes the staff will cut out parts of them and take them home...

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-17-2011, 03:43 PM:

Most go in the recycling or home to a staff member to be thrown out when they realize what the hell they've brought home. Occasionally they are bought by patrons. Even less often they are given a home here...

Sandra scares the crap out of people when they turn the corner into this corridor. [evil]

Posted by Joe Elliott (Member # 4006) on 07-30-2011, 04:46 PM:

As for collecting, I've tried to save a few, but unless you break them back down, and pack them away, they don't last long. The cardboard tends to absorb moisture, and bows or weakens, and the printing fades quickly. And as others have stated, they do take up a lot of room.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 08-04-2011, 12:03 AM:

Most of ours get trampled flat and then picked up by some
some guy who recycles the cardboard. I usually try to save
some of the metal bolts & wing-nuts that hold them together
since sometimes they come in handy.

I have a friend who is an interior deorator (no San Francisco
Jokes, plesase!) & last year I saved a bunch of them for him
to use when he was "staging" a luxury apartment for rent.
He had Robert Downey (Sherlock Holmes), Adam Sandler, etc
posing in various rooms. When he was through they probably
got trashed.

I'm not exactly what you'd call a "tree hugger" but even
< I > have to admit some of these standees & displays use
a LOT of cardboard & paper. We try our best to recycle.

These thing probably cost a lot to produce too, when you
think of all the designing, printing, die cutting, shipping,
etc that goes into making them.

Posted by Peter Howard (Member # 3491) on 08-04-2011, 01:36 PM:

Just like posters and banners, we have a 'request book' for these things. When we've finished with the standee, we check the book and see if someone's got their name down for it and make a phone call.

On most stuff which is used, we simply give it to the requester. They turn up with a van or a trailer, break it down themselves, and take it away. Hey, it saves me filling up the bulk bin and paying for someone else to take it to the dump!

Occasionally, on high demand items, we can sell them. People were more than happy to pay $20 for the 'Cars 2' standee, and I look at it as me offsetting the freight cost of getting it here in the first place when i'm able to do that.

And in a few cases, we've got a standee that's still boxed that we were never able to display because we either didnt have enough room at the time, or we never booked the title and it got sent to us anyway. We have a TON of Green Lantern stuff we couldnt use. So in that case i'll wait a few months and then ebay it. Fanboys will bid big bucks for unopened stuff like that, and again it offsets the freight cost of getting it here.

And very occasionally i'll keep something. The life-sized cardboard cutouts of Amanda Seyfried & Lacey Chabert from 'Mean Girls' are right outside my office. [thumbsup]

quote: Aaron Sisemore
If the standee has any non-cardboard parts like light fixtures or motors, I usually grab them before it goes away.

ditto.