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Crown Theatres' take on moviegoing trends
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
August 2, 2006 at 5:10 am
TRUMBULL, CT — With all the reports being released about how people are staying home more instead of going out to the theaters, the Director of Marketing for the Crown Theatres chain gives his opinions on the future of moviegoing:
Zvi Cole, director of marketing for Crown Theatres, takes a seat on the bench in the lobby of the Crown Marquis Theatres in Trumbull. Although it’s just before 9:30 a.m. last Tuesday, Cole watches as the lobby fills with families and camp groups taking advantage of the movie chain’s free Summer Kids Film Festival.
Not only do the moviegoers get to see “Madagascar,” but they also have the opportunity for some coloring or face painting.
For more information, read the full story in the Connecticut Post.
Comments (18)
God i cant take it……Every 10 years the boxoffice hits a DOWN TURN ……..This summer numbers are UP ……….Do not sell sky !All will be well with the movie bsns …PRODUCT , PRODUCT , THATS WHAT THE BSNS IS BASED ON ………I can only imagine how others will now attack ….GO
Now that longisland I agree with you on.
I am thankful that the CROWN THEATERS offer these free films, as many of the individuals in my agency (which services developmentally-disabled adults)look forward to these free screening each summer. Most of them are juvenile offerings, but that’s okay, it kinda reminds me f the summer kiddy matinees I enjoyed when I was young.The downside is: You better get there early, because there is nary a space in the parking lot, and, if you leave in the middle of the movie for any reason, your seat is in peril, despite the fact that there are usually several packed auditoriums. My personal feeling is people will jump at the chance to get anything for free!
“So today we’re interviewing the President of the local chapter of the Buggywhip Makers Association, who has some fantastic news…”
Thanks for the chuckle. I needed that!
What on earth would you expect him to say?!? That it’s all gloom and doom?
Once again, I wish this site had an actual discussion forum…
There is no gloom and doom so why woould he say so?
grabs his sides
Stop it! You’re killin' me here! Enough with the jokes!
Seriously, diggin' your sense of humour, LIM! Always look forward to your comments on this topic.
schmadrian have you ever worked a day in a theater ???
A bsns industry is in trouble when they get the good product and they still dont do the bsns….Such is not the case in the movie bsns ………Product good revenue is good ….Products bad revenue is bad………….Very easy really……..
Let me get this straight: in order to comment intelligently about White House politics, you’re suggesting I have to have worked there?
That in order to comment with any degree of alacrity about Major League Baseball, the National Football League, or the NBA, I have to have worked in those places?
Lovely, piercing logic ya got there.
You know, the idea that transformative change is approaching in the film distribution business is not something I’ve drummed up all on my lonesome. But then your ‘I know you are, but what am I?’ comebacks don’t actually address the facts I’ve presented on this site of late.
The reason i ask is not to be mean ……You remind me of some coustomers that come in and tell you about your bsns and they have no clue …
I will keep on topic-please explain to me ..How is it the last 4 months we are once again having record boxoffice numbers if the bsns plan no longer works..Slumps have been in the industry for 75 years….The movie theater bsns is changing ..YES… but its future looks bright…
You know, you’re right. If all you’re really looking at is current box office numbers, then yes, everything is fine. One could certainly go to bed at night feeling comfy about the status quo.
To the same extent that taking a person’s pulse provides a comprehensive bead on their health. “Heart-rate is good…steady…strong… Looks fine to me.”
Of course, when you pull back on this person and take a look at the ‘bigger picture’–
No. I know you don’t want to hear this analogy.
In ANY BSNS YOU MUST LOOK AT TRENDS OFTEN YOU CAN LOOK AT THE PAST TO SEE THE FUTURE…….Digital projection will be the next major change for theaters ….
Actually, the next ‘major change’ for theatres will be simultaneous release. Which, for the initiated, is not a textbook ‘technological’ change as we’ve had in the past, it’s what they call a ‘sea change’; it’ll be the first time ever that a ticket-buyer will have a choice other than at the cinema (not including pirated copies) of how they can view a new release, either by download rental/purchase or DVD rental/purchase.
But of course, you probably don’t recognize this as being a factor on the horizon, do you…?
I dont believe simultaneous release will ever be a major factor ,it has been tried a few times with little results.Let me tell you why…………..Any good film that can ring up decent box office numbers will not take chance of hurting an opening gross….
I do think the points you make are valid they are just missplaced on the wrong industry.The BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO of the world are done, finished ,for most of the reasons you stated.
stares at screen
As you prefaced a previous post with the comment of who I remind you of, I have to confess that you remind me of the 55 year old man who’s still living with his mom… I’m staggered by how much of this information is actually out there…but you seem attached to a mindset that’s at the very least, luddite-ish.
stares some more at your last comment
I’m staggered. Congrats; that doesn’t happen very often.
The following is a response to the Mark Cuban blog concerning how to ‘turn around the cinema-going business’ as noted elsewhere on Cinema Treasures. I don’t align myself with some of the writer’s conclusions about the future of cinemas…but I’m offering this up because what he suggests is the ‘change’ I’m talking about: simultaneous releases. When the percentage of the current movie-going public that’s disgruntled with the cost and overall negatives associated with going to the cinema (whatever this percentage is, 10, 15, 25%…) starts getting its new release viewing away from the cinemas, this will be the sea change I referred to. Once this ‘thin edge of the wedge’ has been applied, nothing will ever be the same again. (No, I’m not saying cinemas are doomed. I’m saying that the reference paradigm for peoples’ viewing will inexorably and forever be changed. Cinemas will continue to exist. But more and more of the industry’s revenues will come from non-theatrical distribution, and if you can’t see how THAT will change things… Then I really don’t know how to explain it to you.)
“The theatre experience will never beat sitting in your own living room. Why do you think we spend so much on home theatre systems with pimped-out surround sound and big screen HDTV’s? The future of the movie industry is in the home and traditional movie theatres are dinosaurs facing extinction. We need iTunes for movies, and Mark, you have the money to pull it off.

Give us opening-day, brand new releases in our home, at a reasonable price, and you’ll see boom times again in the movie biz. (Not 8 weeks after it was released in the theatres, opening day.) I’ll spend $19.99 on a new release that I can download to my DVR, watch, and later burn off to DVD for safe keeping. (Twenty bucks may sound steep to some, but actually I’m saving big time compared to the $50 I usually drop in a traditional theatre.) The cost savings for film companies would be huge: no packaging costs on DVDs, no splitting profits with theatres, etc.
Of course, this would officially mark the death of theatres as the distribution channel for movies, but their demise is already evident and unavoidable. The film companies should embrace and ride the waves of change instead of swimming against them.â€
you love the nasty little remarks …just the kind of guy you are as i look up your other posts……
Not to change the subject but…. speaking of the Crown Theatres… the chain is historically linked to the Schine Theater chain of old – Dan Crown being the grandson of Myer Schine. So i would expect superior showmanship and attention to patron needs to be the hallmark of the Crown Theatres as they were of the Schine Theaters.
Crown Theatres aren’t bad, and the Crown Marquis 16 in Trumbull certainly gets a good amount of traffic. It’s fairly well kept compared to the other theaters around the area with the exception of the floors below the seats (Sticky! Always!) Though I think that’s due to the amount of traffic they get. I miss the old early 90’s Crown Theatres computer animation they used to play at the beginning before movies… it was cheesy but the new one with movie clips is bland. Overall through I rate it higher than Showcase Cinemas or Entertainment Cinemas.