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The latest movie theater news and updates
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December 1, 2006
Old 35mm carbon arc movie projectors wanted
My name is Tom Wilson and I am an avid collector of vintage 35mm carbon arc movie projectors and old theater equipment. If you have any old projectors or equipment available for sale or for trade please give me a call at 937-477-9855. I will travel anywhere in the continental USA to pick up equipment that I purchase. Also looking for a free standing ticket booth, marquee signs, light fixtures and decorative poster cabinets etc. Don’t hesitate to give me a call if you have something.
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November 30, 2006
Hollywood’s comeback story
LOS ANGELES, CA — The cries of the death of the movie theater have subsided a bit this year with receipts coming in significantly higher.
Ending a three-year slump, attendance at movie theaters is up this year almost 4%. Box-office revenue is up too, by 5.5%. The results stand in sharp contrast to last year, when weekly ticket sales failed to beat the previous year’s results for 19 consecutive weeks, and total box-office revenue was down more than 5% from 2004. Attendance fell 8.7%.
Those results led some analysts to speculate that consumers had lost interest in moviegoing, rejecting inhospitable multiplexes and high ticket prices in favor of bigger-screen TVs and videogame consoles. The turnaround this year offers a simpler explanation: Last year’s movies just weren’t very good.
To read more, go to The L.A. Times.
So is the movie theater really back in the driver’s seat due to this evidence? Do you really think there will be less sequels produced in the future?
At least in my opinion, I think the numbers of 2004 were not going to be surpassed no matter what. Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 were such rare artistic/commercial successes for big budget sequels that nothing would touch them. Things are getting slightly better with art house films getting more press(Little Miss Sunshine) and indy directors getting the chance to make high-profile studio pictures(Batman Begins), but with the Pirates film doing so well this year, I don’t really buy that the industry is going to change that much.
That’s just me though. What do you think?
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Budget Theater Questions - Semi Urgent
I am trying to find out information to see if it is worthwhile to reopen a budget movie theater in my hometown. In this area we have about 100,000 people living in the city and we are a significant city in Louisiana. This theater is located on the main road of the city and is situated very close to a university.
About 2 weeks ago, this theater shut its door for business. It appears that the theater was being run into the ground and the person who was leasing the building(from out of state) didn’t really care. Now this theater is important because of where it’s located as well as its size. Compared to modern movie houses, the auditoriums are huge!
Now here are the cons of the place. Number one is the awful smell from when smoking was allowed in the building. Also the smell comes from poor upkeep of the carpet in all rooms. My goal will be to clean the curtains and replace carpet on the walls. The next problem is that the theater decided to stop working with the community on things. Bear in mind that they have been operating as a budget house for almost 15 years.
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Looking for cinema to manage or district manager position
Hi. I have over 30 years of experience in cinema management, supervision, and district management. I have done everything from promotions, group bookings, ordering, training, hiring, public relations, etc. I left the business to teach school, but would like to get back into the business some place in the Southwest, preferably in a small to mid size city. Please send me an email and I will send a resume. Thanks, JIM
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November 29, 2006
400 Seats for Sale IMMEDIATELY
We are renovating a theater for theatre/church use and MUST remove 400 seats this week. They’re from 6 Movie mulitplex behind Daytona Beach Mall.
Contact Pastor Steve at or call 386-255-0662
Must remove by Thursday November 30, 2006. -
Loew’s Kings giving tours to developers
BROOKLYN, NY — With many hoping for some positive progress, the Loew’s Kings is allowing potential investors to tour the building. No one has picked it up yet for reuse, but an effort to getting the word out is certainly a step in the right direction.
The Economic Development Corporation, hoping to raise interest in the 68,000-square-foot theater, issued what is called a Request for an Expression of Interest, with a Dec. 6 deadline. Possibilities include a performance hall with restaurants, shops and church activities. Even apartments can be part of the plan, if the appearance and character of the theater are preserved. The cost of renovating the place, which has severe water damage in one section and is shot through with mold and asbestos, is expected to run into the tens of millions of dollars.
“If anyone could do it, it would be this team,” he said. “The fantasy would be for it to be saved and brought back to its original glory, but any compromise would be better than the state it’s in now.”
For more on this story, go to The New York Times.
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National Amusements introduces CyGamZ
DETROIT, MI — In order to lure in more moviegoers, one Showcase Cinema is rolling out a large gaming center to attract more of the younger crowd along with their families.
Movie theaters have long had arcades where people waiting for a movie to begin could pump in a quarter or two and enjoy a few minutes of game-playing fun.
But the CyGamZ center, which informally opened Friday, is different.
Located in an unused lobby of the Showcase multiplex, it covers a huge corner of the complex larger than several theaters put together. It encompasses a large lounge with a concession stand and pods of 24 Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 video game consoles hooked up to flat screen TVs; party rooms that feature more consoles, more flat screens and the ability to run things like Powerpoint presentations; and a huge back room that houses 60 moodily lit Alienware PCs running a gamut of games from Sims 2 to Battlefield 2142.
To read more, go to The Detroit Free Press.
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November 28, 2006
Spielberg’s take on future of movie theaters
In an interview when trying to defend the difference in standards between television and film, Steven Spielberg mentioned where thinks the theater audience is going.
In a free-ranging hour of interview with former NBC News correspondent Garrick Utley and questions from the audience, Spielberg said iPod video may be all the rage but count his films out from tailoring his films to fit the small screen.
“That’s one medium where I have to draw the line,” he said. “We’ll shoot for television and the movies and let there be a wide gap” between that and the small 3-inch screen. He also said that he felt that people are social animals who will choose to go out to a movie rather than watch a show on widescreen.
“I don’t think movie theaters will ever go away,” Speilberg said.
To read more, go to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Baltimore’s Town Theatre gets a new lease on life
BALTIMORE, MD — The city of Baltimore is throwing more and more dollars at revitalizing old theaters; this time the Town Theatre taking centerstage.
In a development that could further the transformation of downtown Baltimore’s west side from a neglected shopping district into a vibrant arts center, Everyman Theatre, a thriving regional troupe, will move into a vacant vaudeville house across from the restored Hippodrome.
Civic leaders say the shift into the Town Theatre – to be announced today – will build on the Hippodrome’s momentum, reviving a once-grand theater district. The development comes in the midst of improvements to the west side, which has added restaurants and more than 750 apartments in the past two years, a turnaround after the shopping district’s long slide.
The Town – which once played host to such stars as Mae West and Joe E. Brown – is the final parcel in Bank of America’s Centerpoint project, a major mixed-use complex of retail and 392 apartments that wraps around the Town. Bank of America’s donation of the Town to Everyman will be made public at a celebration this afternoon of the completion of Centerpoint.
For more, go to the Baltimore Sun
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Drawings for sale
I have a number of original drawings of cinema and variety buildings. One in particular is the proposed cinema at Steelehouse Lane Birmingham dated 07/10/1929. They are very interesting and in full colour. The others are from around the country, i.e. Manchester. If this is of any use to anybody, please contact me.
Regards
Darren Cooper