It is a grounding problem probably caused by a jaxlight (red light sound reader). Look for any nearby dimmers or flourescent light fixtures (usually cause a hum)
Tim,
Speaking as a classic theatre owner myself, I do not mind that the multiplexes are out there. I find that I can set myself apart very easily from their:
high price
impersonal service
commercial infested presentation
sticky floors
rude patrons
If I do my job right, people flock to my theatre weekly for the unique experience. Those multiplexex are, whether we like it or not, the financial backbone of the exhibition industry which keeps the flow of product coming.
Michael is right. My family operates a classic cinema in Illinois and once a year we travel to the west coast to visit theatres and get new ideas for our theatre. The Arclight is heads and tails above any other theatre complex in the country and proof of this is in their success. They are so popular now that they are going to open several more complexes with the same philosophy. Two weeks ago I was in L.A. and went to Cinema Deluxe The Bridge. They touted themselves as the future of moviegoing. It was a miserable experience. Dirty and impersonal…yet expensive. I wrote a letter detailing this experience to their corporate office and have yet to receive a response.
In a typical theatre you have a 30 minute window to sell concession items and you need to do this as efficiently as possible. Think about this as a customer would…You buy a ticket on a crowded night and go by the concession stand and see it is about 4 or 5 deep. You know that you will wait about 5to10 minutes to get your treats. You must make a decision, do I sacrifice good seat selection for concessions? You decide to get seats and then come back out. You find prime seats…right in the middle. You sit down and get settled and before you know it people have taken the empty seats to your left and right and you decide that you don’t want to stick your butt in their face getting in and out so you decide to not get concessions this time around. Who loses? Everybody. The patron can’t snack during the movie and the theatre loses a portion of the most profitable area of their business.
You need to study the work station patterns of your employees. Do employees cross paths getting popcorn? Is the popcorn machine more than three steps away? If your employees fill soda’s , are they multitasking by asking the customer for the next part of their order? Are your soda machines portion controlled so the employee can continue the order and not watch the drink fill up? I am a strong advocate of self-serve drinks. Yes, you do put your yield in jeapordy by allowing patrons to fill their own drinks, but I believe you are far better off sacrificing yield in favor of the increased volume and the potential savings on payroll. A well positioned drink station, along with adequate supervision, can be a very positive thing for a theatre. Over the past ten years Convenience stores and Fast food restaurants have trained people how to do their own drinks and I actually believe they prefer it that way. A well positioned and obvious security camera will help stop the unauthorized free refill. Yes, some will steal but I think you need to look at the overall big picture and not base your business decisions on a few who would steal from you.
Candy can be a problem. If you offer too large a selection, it can slow the decision time. Try only to offer the basics and make them big so it is worthwhile.
In our theatre, we will never play pre-show commercials or slides. I agree with Tommy. We never play more than 10 minutes of previews and we cut the green rating band off the front of trailers so it acts more like a directors cut with very little pause between. Previews are how we keep people coming back. In our pre-show announcements we actually announce when we are about to show a hot new preview…Harry Potter, Spiderman, shrek, etc. You can feel the audience react when we do this.
I love showbiz.
The short-term gain is not worth the long-term damage to the theatres “image”. Theatres need to be very careful with their programming. Customers hate screen ads, even before the posted showtime.
I worked for this chain in the 70s and 80s. They were headquartered in Lincoln Nebraska with a majority of their theatres in Iowa and Nebraska. Started by Irwin Dubinsky, he died and control went to his son Sarge. At one point they had over 200 screens with Des Moines Iowa as their main market. They eventually sold off all their theatres to Excellence Theatres and a few years later they sold out to Carmike. Irwin Dubinsky was tight with Stanley Durwood and they had a few early ventures together.
I am interested in your collection. I own a theatre just up the road from you and would like to talk to you about this.
Thanks
Jeff Eisentraut
The Orpheum Theatre of Hillsboro
Hillsboro Illinois www.bestmoviedeal.com
Do you book a theatre? Are you kidding me…“regardless of content”. The short term gain from playing some movies may not be worth the long term loss created by that decision. IN MY MARKET, it is not worth playing Brokeback, or Farenheit, or any other movie with a controversy attached because of the overall harm it could cause big movies like Narnia or Passion, or even smaller ones like “End of the Spear”. If money is the only criteria for playing a movie, we are all in serious trouble.
The casual reader is going to think I posted the above post(signed by stevenj) under an assumed name just to make myself look good. Please steven, try to come up with an original idea, the old rhetoric being repeated over and over again won’t make it true…it is still old rhetoric.
“Whats wrong with you people?”….and I’m the Bigot?
Hey, Ron
Thanks for being polite. I am not in favor of banning or censorship in regards to Brokeback. My reason for posting the above figures is to counter to spin from others who seem to think this is the next Titanic.
I knew Jack Foley from Focus when he worked for Columbia as a branch manager. I respect the outstanding job he did with Brokeback…First week only at a few theatres in heavily gay communities…generate good press for the high screen average, then a little wider and a little wider until the massive buzz causes hetero America to go. Brilliant. Also, it dosn’t hurt that it is a well made film by a world class director.
Do I want Brokeback to fail? I’m not sure. If the general public sees this movie and notices the destructive nature of this lifestyle, It serves a good purpose. If we listen to the spin we will hear how most of the problems in the homosexual community come from religious bigotry. To this I say, read the above posts with an objective mind and tell me who is behaving as a bigot with things like namecalling, false accusations, stereotyping etc.
Just watch the responses to this post. I really bring out the worst in out fellow theatre lovers.
Al, for the forth time, due to the fact I happen to live and own a theatre in an area that does not have a substantial gay community to support it, I will not play Brokeback. It is an old and worn out tactic to claim censorship when it is economics 101.
Al, My brother condemned himself with his decision to be an active participant in a lifestyle he himself knew better than most was extremely risky. As for hateful intolerance, please do not lump my brother in with you when you get out your wide brush and start painting. My brother discovered that it was his ignorance towards Christians that made HIM intolerant. I simply believe it is more compassionate to speak out against a behavior which prematurely takes the lives of some of our greatest men (and women),instead of sticking my head in the sand and denying that the behavior is the root cause. Finally, I never advocated banning this film. I repeat for the third time, I simply made a decision, as I must every week, that this film would not benefit my theatre in MY market.
It is interesting to watch everyone assign motives to me. Here is something to ponder (right now I wonder how many casual observers to this post are cringing because I’m going to get the boys fired up again after they finally settled down)…Is it possible that members of the Gay community have isolated themselves so much that they don’t really know the world outside of the homosexual culture and because of this they only assign bad motives to those of us who disagree with their lifestyle? This was the case with my brother. He is a talented, loving, caring, generous person who is gay. After our parents died in 1983, he moved and became active in the gay community and fell out of touch with the rest of the family. It wasn’t that we didn’t accept him…for years we couldn’t even find him. In 2003, thanks to the internet, we found him and arranged a family get together for Thanksgiving. Part of finding him was also discovering that he was a gay activist. This made for a couple of very interesting and memorable days. I think I can accurately say that the biggest shock came not from us coming face-to-face with his homosexuality, it came from the stereotype of Christians my brother brought with him. He was sure that he understood how all Christians viewed him and he was truly a Bigot in that respect. It was really fun to have him get to know and understand us and see us in a way he had never considered…kind, compassionate, loving, and understanding. It was easier for him to believe we were the kind of Christians his community made us out to be…Hypocritical, judgemental, self righteous and if I forgot anything you can refer to the above posts to find more.
I think ultimately this issue revolves around Homosexuality vs. Christianity. The Bible states clearly in five places that homosexual behavior is sin. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13, Romans 1:26,27
1 Corinthians 6:9,10 and 1 Timothy 1:9&10. Sexual lust and fantasy, both homosexual and heterosexual, are sinful according to God’s Word.
Christians who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God simply cannot accept the sin which usually accompanies
homosexuality. This DOES NOT give them the right to mistreat the homosexual in any way. Unfortunately, people—Christians included— don’t always treat others the way they, themselves, would want to be treated… see above posts…
I hope the casual reader of these posts will go back, re-read the posts and notice which side on this issue is respectful and which side resorts to personal attacks. If I offended anyone, even by unintended inferences, than I sincerely apologize.
I added comment ot this thread only to say that I thought (and still do) playing Brokeback would be a mistake in MY market.
“I just don’t like to see misinformation spread by people with prejudice”
Statements like that force me to defend myself. I am truly sorry for continuing this thread but I will not allow a statement to attack my character without responding.
Below are the COMPLETE results to the poll question conducted by the Boston Globe on May 9, 2005.
Question: What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex?
41%-Always Wrong
35%-Never Wrong
15%-Don’t know
8%-only Sometimes
2%-Almost always wrong
I think it is safe to say that the Boston Globe is a Pro Gay,
Liberal newspaper. Even in the article accompanying the poll they
admit a similar poll conducted by another major show much different numbers but the questions were asked differently.
Just think what would have happened to me if I tried to use a “Focus on the Family” poll. It would have set off a firestorm if indignation. Look at those numbers and you can easily see that a majority of Americans believe same sex sexual relations are wrong.
Furthermore, anyone over 35 should be offended by your “skewing the numbers” comment. Is it possible that when this group was under 35 they held more liberal views and because they lived life and gained experience their views became more conservative. I happen to respect the views of those older than myself. When I need advice on important life issues I probably wont go to an enlightened 21 year old.
For being the “apex of American Stupidity”, Utah faired pretty well in the 2000 census. Compared to California, it has a much higher graduation rate, a much lower divorce rate and lower unemployment.
If I were looking to raise a family, which believe it or not really happens, looks like I choose stupid.
I am sorry if the numbers I cite go against your desire to have homosexuality considered an acceptable behavior. The General Public figures came from George Gallop. The Christian statistics came from The Barna Group.
Two men having sex is not normal. It is unbelievable that I even have to say that. Even the non-christian Darwinian view of evolution falls apart with homosexuality. Yes, I agree that a small percentage of humans were homosexuals throughout history, this does not make the behavior normal. It simply means they fell prey to their sinful temptations.
My brother is Gay and happens to be very active in the Gay community. He is 54 years old and has been HIV positive for three years. He is a lonely man who will never know the blessings of
children and family. He is surrounded by “friends” who have broken families and divorce. Many of his friends have already died prematurly. No, I will never accept homosexuality as normal when it is going to take the life of my brother. I also resent the efforts of Hollywood and apparently the British who want to make destroying lives normal, all in the name of love???
Roger, I would respectfully disagree with your statements. An overwhelming majority of Christians believe sodomy is a sin.(66%) Furthermore, there is much concern in the gay community over the recent trend in poll numbers which show 57% of the general population thinks sodomy is wrong and the number is climbing.
For decades Hollywood has slowly, but surely, pushed the envelope on the Horror/Slasher genre. Over time films had to become more and more titilating to hold an audiences attention. They throw in a little emotion and BAM…we’re hooked.
Now, Hollywood wants us to accept Homosexual behavior as normal. How about making a movie about gay cowboys and use that good old Hollywood magic and get us emotionally attached to them. What a nice and wonderful movie.
A majority of the general public believe that killing people and cutting up their bodies is bad behavior and wrong.
A majority of the general public believe that two men engaging in sodomy is bad behavior and wrong.
I would consider myself religious right. It seems like every time someone in the above posts describes me it is in a negative light.
Since so many writers seem to know me and my beliefs/positions, would someone who paints me with such a wide brush enlighten me on what stands I should take on various issues and what is your basis
for knowing so much about me?
How shall we contact you?
It is a grounding problem probably caused by a jaxlight (red light sound reader). Look for any nearby dimmers or flourescent light fixtures (usually cause a hum)
Please forward the appropriate information.
Jeff Eisentraut
Eisentraut Theatres
www.bestmoviedeal.com
Tim,
Speaking as a classic theatre owner myself, I do not mind that the multiplexes are out there. I find that I can set myself apart very easily from their:
high price
impersonal service
commercial infested presentation
sticky floors
rude patrons
If I do my job right, people flock to my theatre weekly for the unique experience. Those multiplexex are, whether we like it or not, the financial backbone of the exhibition industry which keeps the flow of product coming.
Michael is right. My family operates a classic cinema in Illinois and once a year we travel to the west coast to visit theatres and get new ideas for our theatre. The Arclight is heads and tails above any other theatre complex in the country and proof of this is in their success. They are so popular now that they are going to open several more complexes with the same philosophy. Two weeks ago I was in L.A. and went to Cinema Deluxe The Bridge. They touted themselves as the future of moviegoing. It was a miserable experience. Dirty and impersonal…yet expensive. I wrote a letter detailing this experience to their corporate office and have yet to receive a response.
In a typical theatre you have a 30 minute window to sell concession items and you need to do this as efficiently as possible. Think about this as a customer would…You buy a ticket on a crowded night and go by the concession stand and see it is about 4 or 5 deep. You know that you will wait about 5to10 minutes to get your treats. You must make a decision, do I sacrifice good seat selection for concessions? You decide to get seats and then come back out. You find prime seats…right in the middle. You sit down and get settled and before you know it people have taken the empty seats to your left and right and you decide that you don’t want to stick your butt in their face getting in and out so you decide to not get concessions this time around. Who loses? Everybody. The patron can’t snack during the movie and the theatre loses a portion of the most profitable area of their business.
You need to study the work station patterns of your employees. Do employees cross paths getting popcorn? Is the popcorn machine more than three steps away? If your employees fill soda’s , are they multitasking by asking the customer for the next part of their order? Are your soda machines portion controlled so the employee can continue the order and not watch the drink fill up? I am a strong advocate of self-serve drinks. Yes, you do put your yield in jeapordy by allowing patrons to fill their own drinks, but I believe you are far better off sacrificing yield in favor of the increased volume and the potential savings on payroll. A well positioned drink station, along with adequate supervision, can be a very positive thing for a theatre. Over the past ten years Convenience stores and Fast food restaurants have trained people how to do their own drinks and I actually believe they prefer it that way. A well positioned and obvious security camera will help stop the unauthorized free refill. Yes, some will steal but I think you need to look at the overall big picture and not base your business decisions on a few who would steal from you.
Candy can be a problem. If you offer too large a selection, it can slow the decision time. Try only to offer the basics and make them big so it is worthwhile.
Amy:
Please send a list of what is available and prices. I am very interested
jeff
In our theatre, we will never play pre-show commercials or slides. I agree with Tommy. We never play more than 10 minutes of previews and we cut the green rating band off the front of trailers so it acts more like a directors cut with very little pause between. Previews are how we keep people coming back. In our pre-show announcements we actually announce when we are about to show a hot new preview…Harry Potter, Spiderman, shrek, etc. You can feel the audience react when we do this.
I love showbiz.
The short-term gain is not worth the long-term damage to the theatres “image”. Theatres need to be very careful with their programming. Customers hate screen ads, even before the posted showtime.
I worked for this chain in the 70s and 80s. They were headquartered in Lincoln Nebraska with a majority of their theatres in Iowa and Nebraska. Started by Irwin Dubinsky, he died and control went to his son Sarge. At one point they had over 200 screens with Des Moines Iowa as their main market. They eventually sold off all their theatres to Excellence Theatres and a few years later they sold out to Carmike. Irwin Dubinsky was tight with Stanley Durwood and they had a few early ventures together.
HELLO:
I am interested in your collection. I own a theatre just up the road from you and would like to talk to you about this.
Thanks
Jeff Eisentraut
The Orpheum Theatre of Hillsboro
Hillsboro Illinois
www.bestmoviedeal.com
Do you book a theatre? Are you kidding me…“regardless of content”. The short term gain from playing some movies may not be worth the long term loss created by that decision. IN MY MARKET, it is not worth playing Brokeback, or Farenheit, or any other movie with a controversy attached because of the overall harm it could cause big movies like Narnia or Passion, or even smaller ones like “End of the Spear”. If money is the only criteria for playing a movie, we are all in serious trouble.
The casual reader is going to think I posted the above post(signed by stevenj) under an assumed name just to make myself look good. Please steven, try to come up with an original idea, the old rhetoric being repeated over and over again won’t make it true…it is still old rhetoric.
“Whats wrong with you people?”….and I’m the Bigot?
Hey, Ron
Thanks for being polite. I am not in favor of banning or censorship in regards to Brokeback. My reason for posting the above figures is to counter to spin from others who seem to think this is the next Titanic.
I knew Jack Foley from Focus when he worked for Columbia as a branch manager. I respect the outstanding job he did with Brokeback…First week only at a few theatres in heavily gay communities…generate good press for the high screen average, then a little wider and a little wider until the massive buzz causes hetero America to go. Brilliant. Also, it dosn’t hurt that it is a well made film by a world class director.
Do I want Brokeback to fail? I’m not sure. If the general public sees this movie and notices the destructive nature of this lifestyle, It serves a good purpose. If we listen to the spin we will hear how most of the problems in the homosexual community come from religious bigotry. To this I say, read the above posts with an objective mind and tell me who is behaving as a bigot with things like namecalling, false accusations, stereotyping etc.
Just watch the responses to this post. I really bring out the worst in out fellow theatre lovers.
I am so excited to watch this movie climb the list. I bet in a week or two it will surpass “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl”
Impressive…Now the 83rd highest grossing movie released in 2005.
Al, for the forth time, due to the fact I happen to live and own a theatre in an area that does not have a substantial gay community to support it, I will not play Brokeback. It is an old and worn out tactic to claim censorship when it is economics 101.
Al, My brother condemned himself with his decision to be an active participant in a lifestyle he himself knew better than most was extremely risky. As for hateful intolerance, please do not lump my brother in with you when you get out your wide brush and start painting. My brother discovered that it was his ignorance towards Christians that made HIM intolerant. I simply believe it is more compassionate to speak out against a behavior which prematurely takes the lives of some of our greatest men (and women),instead of sticking my head in the sand and denying that the behavior is the root cause. Finally, I never advocated banning this film. I repeat for the third time, I simply made a decision, as I must every week, that this film would not benefit my theatre in MY market.
It is interesting to watch everyone assign motives to me. Here is something to ponder (right now I wonder how many casual observers to this post are cringing because I’m going to get the boys fired up again after they finally settled down)…Is it possible that members of the Gay community have isolated themselves so much that they don’t really know the world outside of the homosexual culture and because of this they only assign bad motives to those of us who disagree with their lifestyle? This was the case with my brother. He is a talented, loving, caring, generous person who is gay. After our parents died in 1983, he moved and became active in the gay community and fell out of touch with the rest of the family. It wasn’t that we didn’t accept him…for years we couldn’t even find him. In 2003, thanks to the internet, we found him and arranged a family get together for Thanksgiving. Part of finding him was also discovering that he was a gay activist. This made for a couple of very interesting and memorable days. I think I can accurately say that the biggest shock came not from us coming face-to-face with his homosexuality, it came from the stereotype of Christians my brother brought with him. He was sure that he understood how all Christians viewed him and he was truly a Bigot in that respect. It was really fun to have him get to know and understand us and see us in a way he had never considered…kind, compassionate, loving, and understanding. It was easier for him to believe we were the kind of Christians his community made us out to be…Hypocritical, judgemental, self righteous and if I forgot anything you can refer to the above posts to find more.
I think ultimately this issue revolves around Homosexuality vs. Christianity. The Bible states clearly in five places that homosexual behavior is sin. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13, Romans 1:26,27
1 Corinthians 6:9,10 and 1 Timothy 1:9&10. Sexual lust and fantasy, both homosexual and heterosexual, are sinful according to God’s Word.
Christians who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God simply cannot accept the sin which usually accompanies
homosexuality. This DOES NOT give them the right to mistreat the homosexual in any way. Unfortunately, people—Christians included— don’t always treat others the way they, themselves, would want to be treated… see above posts…
I hope the casual reader of these posts will go back, re-read the posts and notice which side on this issue is respectful and which side resorts to personal attacks. If I offended anyone, even by unintended inferences, than I sincerely apologize.
I added comment ot this thread only to say that I thought (and still do) playing Brokeback would be a mistake in MY market.
“I just don’t like to see misinformation spread by people with prejudice”
Statements like that force me to defend myself. I am truly sorry for continuing this thread but I will not allow a statement to attack my character without responding.
Below are the COMPLETE results to the poll question conducted by the Boston Globe on May 9, 2005.
Question: What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex?
41%-Always Wrong
35%-Never Wrong
15%-Don’t know
8%-only Sometimes
2%-Almost always wrong
I think it is safe to say that the Boston Globe is a Pro Gay,
Liberal newspaper. Even in the article accompanying the poll they
admit a similar poll conducted by another major show much different numbers but the questions were asked differently.
Just think what would have happened to me if I tried to use a “Focus on the Family” poll. It would have set off a firestorm if indignation. Look at those numbers and you can easily see that a majority of Americans believe same sex sexual relations are wrong.
Furthermore, anyone over 35 should be offended by your “skewing the numbers” comment. Is it possible that when this group was under 35 they held more liberal views and because they lived life and gained experience their views became more conservative. I happen to respect the views of those older than myself. When I need advice on important life issues I probably wont go to an enlightened 21 year old.
For being the “apex of American Stupidity”, Utah faired pretty well in the 2000 census. Compared to California, it has a much higher graduation rate, a much lower divorce rate and lower unemployment.
If I were looking to raise a family, which believe it or not really happens, looks like I choose stupid.
I am sorry if the numbers I cite go against your desire to have homosexuality considered an acceptable behavior. The General Public figures came from George Gallop. The Christian statistics came from The Barna Group.
Two men having sex is not normal. It is unbelievable that I even have to say that. Even the non-christian Darwinian view of evolution falls apart with homosexuality. Yes, I agree that a small percentage of humans were homosexuals throughout history, this does not make the behavior normal. It simply means they fell prey to their sinful temptations.
My brother is Gay and happens to be very active in the Gay community. He is 54 years old and has been HIV positive for three years. He is a lonely man who will never know the blessings of
children and family. He is surrounded by “friends” who have broken families and divorce. Many of his friends have already died prematurly. No, I will never accept homosexuality as normal when it is going to take the life of my brother. I also resent the efforts of Hollywood and apparently the British who want to make destroying lives normal, all in the name of love???
Roger, I would respectfully disagree with your statements. An overwhelming majority of Christians believe sodomy is a sin.(66%) Furthermore, there is much concern in the gay community over the recent trend in poll numbers which show 57% of the general population thinks sodomy is wrong and the number is climbing.
For decades Hollywood has slowly, but surely, pushed the envelope on the Horror/Slasher genre. Over time films had to become more and more titilating to hold an audiences attention. They throw in a little emotion and BAM…we’re hooked.
Now, Hollywood wants us to accept Homosexual behavior as normal. How about making a movie about gay cowboys and use that good old Hollywood magic and get us emotionally attached to them. What a nice and wonderful movie.
A majority of the general public believe that killing people and cutting up their bodies is bad behavior and wrong.
A majority of the general public believe that two men engaging in sodomy is bad behavior and wrong.
I would consider myself religious right. It seems like every time someone in the above posts describes me it is in a negative light.
Since so many writers seem to know me and my beliefs/positions, would someone who paints me with such a wide brush enlighten me on what stands I should take on various issues and what is your basis
for knowing so much about me?