I am a theatre owner. In my area, a movie about homosexual cowboys would not be of interest to an overwhelming percentage of the population. Conversly, if I chose to be politically correct and show the film anyway…to prove a point, it has the potential to alienate a huge block of new moviegoers. Two of the highest grossing films in the past two years, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Passion of the Christ, were propelled to the top by the Christian community.
Hollywood is famous for changing the culture, slowly but surely, by creating movies which appeal to emotion rather than reason. The following link describes it well. View link
Finally, If you read the above posts you will note the extreme hostility shown towards “the right”. My brother happens to be Gay and I love him dearly but I must say he is an unabashed Bigot towards Christianity. Many of the people who are willing to bash Christians are the first to be offended when someone
has anything negative to say about Homosexuality.
I am a small operator. I do not have a “professional operator” in my booths. I do have enough common sense to operate and maintain my equipment and also do the easy repairs. I am experienced enough to know when a major component is going bad and hire a pro to come in.
In two years I have lost two shows, both because of power outage (which I do not control). I have never damaged a print.
My point is that even without a projectionist on staff, showmanship is alive and well at my theatre and I am pleased to say that in a down year industrywide, my ATTENDANCE was up 13%. Further, look at the innovators in the industry and check their numbers up,up,up.
I too have done it all in theatres. I agree that their are some greedy people in the business, but certainly not everyone. Like in every industry decisions are made to effect the bottom line and not every one of them I agree with. For example, on the whole, theatre chains have continued to set concession prices on an ever increasing profit margin to the detriment of volume. Thus fewer and fewer people purchase concessions and those who do not resent the theatre for trying to gouge them. Now we have a whole generation of patrons who no longer consider it necessary to have popcorn with their movie.
It is past time for changes in our industry whether it come from young people with new ideas, or veterans of the industry who remember where we came from. I believe both have valuable contributions and I am excited for the future of our industry.
As a veteran theatre owner and operator, I must disagree with much of what you say. In my experience, we now have fewer disruptions than ever because the new automated equipment reduces the human contact with any given print. It was not uncommon for the operator to miss a changeover or to have a carbon arc flicker etc. etc. It certainly is not corporate greed that prevents me from having a $35,000.00per year projectionist…it is basic survival. I agree that you can find anecdotal evidence of poor booth maintenence and improperly trained personnel. I believe as the market starts to rebel against quality presentations, exhibitors will respond with common sense maintenance guidelines and better training.
As for the experience of going to the theatre, this too will survive. People have a real need to be out in public socially where action is. How many first dates take place at the movies? Movies are a fundamental element of our culture. Sitting at home alone is not the first choice. I agree much needs to be done to improve the situation in theatres. The veterans of this industry know that the solution is as old as our Cinema Treasures…Showmanship.
I believe the argument ticket prices being a bargain should be evaluated on a case by case basis. The most I ever paid for a ticket was $11.00 at the Arclight Hollywood. It was a bargain for what we received. Reserved seating, outstanding presentation, and also top notch customer service. They even made a personal announcement prior to showtime asking to turn off cell phones etc. (Note to all theatre owners: buy a plane ticket to L.A., go to the Arclight and take your notepad, go back home and copy everything they do at your theatre(s), count your money). In reverse, I have been to Many, Many megaplexes where I had to sit through a commercial for the NBC television lineup along with 5 other commercials. One should not have to consult their banker prior to making a concession purchase. Also, I disagree that we should support high concession prices just because it is a classic cinema. We all need to work to offer a value and maybe sell a higher volume at a reasonable mark-up.
Jeff WWW.bestmoviedeal.com
My theatre is up this year by 10% over last year. Anybody who reads the book Cinema Treasures will understand that the way to beat the down trend is with value pricing, customer service, quality presentation and good old fashioned SHOWMANSHIP. The problem is that more and more screens are owned by the mega-chains who can surely build a multi-million complex, but they have yet to figure out a way to get a staff of teenagers to provide top-notch customer service on a consistant basis.
Jeff Eisentraut WWW.Bestmoviedeal.com
As a theatre owner I appreciate any effort to increase awareness of the importance of well run quality theatre. Much attention recently has gone to the 10% decline in ticket sales in 2005. My industry deserves this decline and it will continue unless we adjust out thinking and business plan. In my opinion (based on 35 years in the industry) here are the primary reasons for our decline. Fewer chains own a growing percentage of theatres. The larger the chain the harder it is to give personal service to patrons. Event pricing. We keep raising prices and now have driven the family out of regularly attending the theatre. Now they go out only for event movies such as Star Wars etc. Commercials. I saw an ad at a Regal Theatre advertising the ABC television lineup. It made me sick. Patrons hate screen ads. High concession prices. Concession prices are so outrageously high now it is almost a joke. People sneak food into the theatre in huge numbers and now we have lost a generation of popcorn eaters and the percentage of persons buying concessions at the theatre continues to decline. Patrons actually resent the theatre for charging so much.
*The art of showmanship is dying. When was th last time you were greeted at the door by the owner/manager? When was the last time you were ushered to your seat? When was the last time you were thanked by name for coming to the theatre? When was the last time a live person made announcements prior to the show starting?
My theatre has bucked the trend this year and is enjoying a record year for attendance. Here is a link to a feature story which ran last year and kind of gives you an idea of what we try to accomplish. http://www.thejournal-news.net/orpheum.htm Also you can see our website for a feel of our theatre http://www.bestmoviedeal.com
Jeff
I am a theatre owner. In my area, a movie about homosexual cowboys would not be of interest to an overwhelming percentage of the population. Conversly, if I chose to be politically correct and show the film anyway…to prove a point, it has the potential to alienate a huge block of new moviegoers. Two of the highest grossing films in the past two years, The Chronicles of Narnia and The Passion of the Christ, were propelled to the top by the Christian community.
Hollywood is famous for changing the culture, slowly but surely, by creating movies which appeal to emotion rather than reason. The following link describes it well. View link
Finally, If you read the above posts you will note the extreme hostility shown towards “the right”. My brother happens to be Gay and I love him dearly but I must say he is an unabashed Bigot towards Christianity. Many of the people who are willing to bash Christians are the first to be offended when someone
has anything negative to say about Homosexuality.
I am a small operator. I do not have a “professional operator” in my booths. I do have enough common sense to operate and maintain my equipment and also do the easy repairs. I am experienced enough to know when a major component is going bad and hire a pro to come in.
In two years I have lost two shows, both because of power outage (which I do not control). I have never damaged a print.
My point is that even without a projectionist on staff, showmanship is alive and well at my theatre and I am pleased to say that in a down year industrywide, my ATTENDANCE was up 13%. Further, look at the innovators in the industry and check their numbers up,up,up.
I too have done it all in theatres. I agree that their are some greedy people in the business, but certainly not everyone. Like in every industry decisions are made to effect the bottom line and not every one of them I agree with. For example, on the whole, theatre chains have continued to set concession prices on an ever increasing profit margin to the detriment of volume. Thus fewer and fewer people purchase concessions and those who do not resent the theatre for trying to gouge them. Now we have a whole generation of patrons who no longer consider it necessary to have popcorn with their movie.
It is past time for changes in our industry whether it come from young people with new ideas, or veterans of the industry who remember where we came from. I believe both have valuable contributions and I am excited for the future of our industry.
As a veteran theatre owner and operator, I must disagree with much of what you say. In my experience, we now have fewer disruptions than ever because the new automated equipment reduces the human contact with any given print. It was not uncommon for the operator to miss a changeover or to have a carbon arc flicker etc. etc. It certainly is not corporate greed that prevents me from having a $35,000.00per year projectionist…it is basic survival. I agree that you can find anecdotal evidence of poor booth maintenence and improperly trained personnel. I believe as the market starts to rebel against quality presentations, exhibitors will respond with common sense maintenance guidelines and better training.
As for the experience of going to the theatre, this too will survive. People have a real need to be out in public socially where action is. How many first dates take place at the movies? Movies are a fundamental element of our culture. Sitting at home alone is not the first choice. I agree much needs to be done to improve the situation in theatres. The veterans of this industry know that the solution is as old as our Cinema Treasures…Showmanship.
I believe the argument ticket prices being a bargain should be evaluated on a case by case basis. The most I ever paid for a ticket was $11.00 at the Arclight Hollywood. It was a bargain for what we received. Reserved seating, outstanding presentation, and also top notch customer service. They even made a personal announcement prior to showtime asking to turn off cell phones etc. (Note to all theatre owners: buy a plane ticket to L.A., go to the Arclight and take your notepad, go back home and copy everything they do at your theatre(s), count your money). In reverse, I have been to Many, Many megaplexes where I had to sit through a commercial for the NBC television lineup along with 5 other commercials. One should not have to consult their banker prior to making a concession purchase. Also, I disagree that we should support high concession prices just because it is a classic cinema. We all need to work to offer a value and maybe sell a higher volume at a reasonable mark-up.
Jeff
WWW.bestmoviedeal.com
My theatre is up this year by 10% over last year. Anybody who reads the book Cinema Treasures will understand that the way to beat the down trend is with value pricing, customer service, quality presentation and good old fashioned SHOWMANSHIP. The problem is that more and more screens are owned by the mega-chains who can surely build a multi-million complex, but they have yet to figure out a way to get a staff of teenagers to provide top-notch customer service on a consistant basis.
Jeff Eisentraut
WWW.Bestmoviedeal.com
As a theatre owner I appreciate any effort to increase awareness of the importance of well run quality theatre. Much attention recently has gone to the 10% decline in ticket sales in 2005. My industry deserves this decline and it will continue unless we adjust out thinking and business plan. In my opinion (based on 35 years in the industry) here are the primary reasons for our decline.
Fewer chains own a growing percentage of theatres. The larger the chain the harder it is to give personal service to patrons.
Event pricing. We keep raising prices and now have driven the family out of regularly attending the theatre. Now they go out only for event movies such as Star Wars etc.
Commercials. I saw an ad at a Regal Theatre advertising the ABC television lineup. It made me sick. Patrons hate screen ads.
High concession prices. Concession prices are so outrageously high now it is almost a joke. People sneak food into the theatre in huge numbers and now we have lost a generation of popcorn eaters and the percentage of persons buying concessions at the theatre continues to decline. Patrons actually resent the theatre for charging so much.
*The art of showmanship is dying. When was th last time you were greeted at the door by the owner/manager? When was the last time you were ushered to your seat? When was the last time you were thanked by name for coming to the theatre? When was the last time a live person made announcements prior to the show starting?
My theatre has bucked the trend this year and is enjoying a record year for attendance. Here is a link to a feature story which ran last year and kind of gives you an idea of what we try to accomplish.
http://www.thejournal-news.net/orpheum.htm Also you can see our website for a feel of our theatre http://www.bestmoviedeal.com
Jeff