Movies Movie theaters are dead: Spidey opens with $50 million in Thursday previews

[Kamusha]

5 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Joe Russo is concerned about a certain budget range of movie playing well in theaters. He isn't too concerned about "the future of cinema" considering his and his brother's deal with Netflix 

 

Study film history and you'll see that Movie Theaters have been "dying" since the television was invented. Theater owners are have cried wolf everytime a new technology came out that they saw as a threat, yet theaters still survived. They just changed. Multi-plexes killed the drive-in and the big, single screen movies houses. The industry evolves but it isn't going anywhere, I promise you.

We’re allowed to disagree on this but please don’t assume my position is ever based on some kind of ignorance, especially when it comes to film. I’m well aware of prior and current trends. I’m a life long movie fan just like you. I live and breathe cinema. I’m confused when anyone tells me to study film history because that’s literally all I do 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, Komusha said:

We’re allowed to disagree on this but please don’t assume my position is ever based on some kind of ignorance, especially when it comes to film. I’m well aware of prior and current trends. I’m a life long movie fan just like you. I live and breathe cinema. I’m confused when anyone tells me to study film history because that’s literally all I do 

Didn't mean to offend you... I'm not aware of what anyone knows or doesn't know on here. To me anyone who has studied film history wouldsn't be worried about cinema being threatened because it has survived this type of change before. That's just my opinion. I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm discussing but if its going to become an adversarial conversation, I'll just leave it here. My apologies.

[SimpleG]

11 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Big things we need to get rid of are policies on minimum engagements (often 3 weeks, even if a film flips) and having to run a screen “clean” which means you can only play that one film on that screen all day, which is dumb given that things like PG cartoons do no business after 8pm and R rated horror does no business before 5pm. Schedule optimization will allow even small theaters to play much more content than current license agreements allow.

I am super ignorant on this so I apologize but is there anything to stop you from not following these rules ? Does someone check all the theaters that say are supposed to do a "clean" run to see if they are following the rules?

[Mercury33]

2 minutes ago, Komusha said:

We’re allowed to disagree on this but please don’t assume my position is ever based on some kind of ignorance, especially when it comes to film. I’m well aware of prior and current trends. I’m a life long movie fan just like you. I live and breathe cinema. I’m confused when anyone tells me to study film history because that’s literally all I do 

Well Skillz had a bit of a leg up in that he actually works in field haha. 
 

@sblfilms would you assume that places like Alamo skew older vs younger because of the difference in disposable income? I assume you don’t have to order food/beer at Alamo but maybe feels weird if you don’t so people in their 20’s don’t go as often because it’s more of a big event type experience for them?

 

Im kinda assuming we’ll get a shift more and more towards those event type theaters(we have a local chain in Maine called Smittys that has table service inside the theater and big arcades/bowling attached) but combine it with some kind of monthly pass that would make the experience cheaper for those who go more often. Again me just assuming people in their 20’s go more often because of dating/free time etc…

[Reputator]

43 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Being very directly connected particularly to the cinema market in Texas, which has been really leading the way in enhanced experiences for movie theaters like dine-in concepts (Studio Movie Grill and Alamo Drafthouse) or family entertainment centers (Cinergy, Santikos) and even drive ins, I’ve been very vocal that creating experiences that people actually want is the way forward.

 

For most of the last 20 years the majors have been solely focused on enhancing the A/V presentation, and the truth is that most people don’t actually care about the particulars there. They don’t notice a difference between 2k and 4K, between Xenon lamps vs laser phosphor vs 3P laser vs 6P laser, and they definitely don’t notice 5.1 vs 7.1 vs Atmos. Big screen + loud sound is all the average person thinks of when they go to a movie theater on the A/V side.

 

The interesting thing though is looking at the demographics. The enhanced dining concepts like SMG and Alamo are some of the very few theater chains that skew older. The 3 major chains all have an average age of customer in their early 20s, while those dine in concepts are north of 30. There certainly are things that can be done to encourage people in the 30-50 demo to keep coming, but even that group largely wants spectacle.

 

I understand people who love both the theatrical experience AND things outside of the tent poles being sad that those sorts of films are struggling more and more each year, but there really is no better time in history to being a fan of good movies. More content that is more easily access today than at literally any point in history.

 

I do think there will be a coming explosion in micro-cinemas though. Think brewpubs and the like that will have one or two small auditoriums that seat 15-20 people and will play a variety of smaller titles. The price of the cinema tech to do it is dropping rapidly. GDC, one of the companies that makes a very popular DCP server, released an all-in-one DCI compliant laser projector for micro-cinemas that is the projector, server, and DTS-X audio processor all in one box. All you need is a screen, speakers, and amps, and you have all the tech to play encrypted studio content. Unit lists for $25k, but will soon be under $20k street.

 

Look all the theater industry needs to do is put on a full song-and-dance performance ala Annie before every single screening. That's not asking much!

[skillzdadirecta]

1 minute ago, Reputator said:

 

Look all the theater industry needs to do is put on a full song-and-dance performance ala Annie before every single screening. That's not asking much!

Shit they need to go back to the gimmicks from the 50's like smellovision. That will pack the seats!

[skillzdadirecta]

12 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

Well Skillz had a bit of a leg up in that he actually works in field haha. 
 

@sblfilms would you assume that places like Alamo skew older vs younger because of the difference in disposable income? I assume you don’t have to order food/beer at Alamo but maybe feels weird if you don’t so people in their 20’s don’t go as often because it’s more of a big event type experience for them?

 

Im kinda assuming we’ll get a shift more and more towards those event type theaters(we have a local chain in Maine called Smittys that has table service inside the theater and big arcades/bowling attached) but combine it with some kind of monthly pass that would make the experience cheaper for those who go more often. Again me just assuming people in their 20’s go more often because of dating/free time etc…

I've always thought alamo skewed more towards the college age, young professional crowd. That's who seems to go the Alamo in downtown LA. Specialty theaters like the Landmark skew older, to like senior citzens, at least the one near me does. They offer a different experience though. I guess it depends on the city and region?

 

And I don't claim any extra knowledge about this aspect of the business because I've never worked in distribution/ exhibition. @sblfilms would know far more about this stuff than me. All of my opinions are based on seeing how the industry has evolved in the last 100 years  I could be totally wrong..

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

I do think there will be a coming explosion in micro-cinemas though. Think brewpubs and the like that will have one or two small auditoriums that seat 15-20 people and will play a variety of smaller titles. The price of the cinema tech to do it is dropping rapidly. GDC, one of the companies that makes a very popular DCP server, released an all-in-one DCI compliant laser projector for micro-cinemas that is the projector, server, and DTS-X audio processor all in one box. All you need is a screen, speakers, and amps, and you have all the tech to play encrypted studio content. Unit lists for $25k, but will soon be under $20k street.

THIS is exciting and something I myself would be interested in getting into in some locations. Once the pandemic is not as severe of course.

[Mercury33]

That sounds like that would be a wonderful business to get into if you can find the right spot 

[Guest]

Yeah, micro-cinema is something I’m reallllly bullish on and am actively looking for opportunities to partner with the right folks to do fun stuff with it. China may be the market you see figure it out first though.

 

 

1 hour ago, SimpleG said:

I am super ignorant on this so I apologize but is there anything to stop you from not following these rules ? Does someone check all the theaters that say are supposed to do a "clean" run to see if they are following the rules?

They check your showtimes. There are also paid “theater checkers” who go on the weekends and randomly check different theaters for the studios. In our licensing agreements, we are required to allow them into the auditoriums to count and compare them to our reported sales.

 

1 hour ago, Mercury33 said:

Well Skillz had a bit of a leg up in that he actually works in field haha. 
 

@sblfilms would you assume that places like Alamo skew older vs younger because of the difference in disposable income? I assume you don’t have to order food/beer at Alamo but maybe feels weird if you don’t so people in their 20’s don’t go as often because it’s more of a big event type experience for them?

It’s less that people in their 20s don’t go, and more so the teenagers who don’t. It shifts the whole range up by 10-12 years. I think cost is a big piece of the puzzle as the average per-per cost at dine in theaters is more than double traditional theaters. Another thing I think plays a role is the constant presence of staff discourages the dumb teenager behavior you often see in theaters 😂

[silentbob]

We never had a theatre count checker from studios in my 12-13 years at the theatre. We did have a Disney rep who would check all their films and make sure all the proper ads and trailers played before each feature and report that back. Other then that we only had opening weekend special requests from Sony for Spider-Man 3 and Fox for The Simpsons Movie. Their request was that an usher had to be monitoring each and every show for recording devices inside the theatre for the entire film run, opening weekend.

[Kal-El814]

14 hours ago, silentbob said:

We never had a theatre count checker from studios in my 12-13 years at the theatre. We did have a Disney rep who would check all their films and make sure all the proper ads and trailers played before each feature and report that back. Other then that we only had opening weekend special requests from Sony for Spider-Man 3 and Fox for The Simpsons Movie. Their request was that an usher had to be monitoring each and every show for recording devices inside the theatre for the entire film run, opening weekend.

I’ve often wondered if anyone has done / what the actuarial work is on having people monitor for recording devices and / or the labor to maintain the spoiler industrial complex. It seems like poorly spent money to me but I really have no idea. 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

I’ve often wondered if anyone has done / what the actuarial work is on having people monitor for recording devices and / or the labor to maintain the spoiler industrial complex. It seems like poorly spent money to me but I really have no idea. 

I am sure trying to keep exhibitors honest with checkers is far more meaningful to the bottom line than piracy prevention via looking for people recording in theaters. Literally none of the sources of bootleg recordings are made in screenings with paying customers anymore. They pay some theater employee $20 in Russia or a small SE Asian nation to run the film when they aren’t open.

 

15 hours ago, silentbob said:

We never had a theatre count checker from studios in my 12-13 years at the theatre. We did have a Disney rep who would check all their films and make sure all the proper ads and trailers played before each feature and report that back. Other then that we only had opening weekend special requests from Sony for Spider-Man 3 and Fox for The Simpsons Movie. Their request was that an usher had to be monitoring each and every show for recording devices inside the theatre for the entire film run, opening weekend.

 

Many checkers get paid off to not come by theater managers 😂 The lady who normally came to my theater (3-4 times a year) eventually just started asking me to email the ticket reports to her and wouldn’t bother driving down since she lived over an hour away.

[Gavin King]

Saw Spider-Man at a 1PM Monday show today. Theater was full, only a couple of tickets left when I bought them at 11 am.

 

Xmas holiday is here, Covid be damned, going to put some more big numbers up.

[Guest]

Ended up right at 260 million for the 3 day. Incredible.

[skillzdadirecta]

15 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Ended up right at 260 million for the 3 day. Incredible.

Do people think the Numbers would be even higher without Covid or are the numbers pretty much in line with expectations?

[Keyser_Soze]

3 hours ago, sblfilms said:

Many checkers get paid off to not come by theater managers 😂 The lady who normally came to my theater (3-4 times a year) eventually just started asking me to email the ticket reports to her and wouldn’t bother driving down since she lived over an hour away.

 

You should hire me as your theater checker.

[johnny]

4 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Do people think the Numbers would be even higher without Covid or are the numbers pretty much in line with expectations?

maybe a little but everything i’ve heard is theatres have been packed for most showings 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Do people think the Numbers would be even higher without Covid or are the numbers pretty much in line with expectations.

This was way beyond what anybody had anticipated. If there is anything that may have deflated the numbers, it’s actually Canada and their more restrictive policies and generally more cautious population. There are some markets like NYC/LA/SF that were slightly blunted relative to expectations on revenue share, but that seems to maybe account for a 10-15 million difference. It is also hard to Say how much of this is also pent up demand from 18 months of missing this sort of film.

[Brick]

If Omicron wasn't a thing, I might have been able to convince my girlfriend to go see it with me. 

[Ominous]

I'm sure the Bluray will be good to buy and maybe watch.