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How will Theater owners feel about competing with Wal-Mart?

BloodyHell
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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/business/walmart-drive-in-theaters/index.html
 

160 drive-ins. We know what happens if this does well. Walmart won’t care about concessions either, because you just bought a bunch of junk food inside the store. 
 

Perhaps they’ll fund a pmc next. Or their own police force. Their own seat on the UN Security Council? 
 

But, I guess its the American way to not leave anything for anyone else. 

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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18 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/business/walmart-drive-in-theaters/index.html
 

160 drive-ins. We know what happens if this does well. Walmart won’t care about concessions either, because you just bought a bunch of junk food inside the store. 
 

Perhaps they’ll fund a pmc next. Or their own police force. Their own seat on the UN Security Council? 
 

But, I guess its the American way to not leave anything for anyone else. 

 

C'mon man that's REALLY hyperbolic... that said I wonder what @sblfilms has to say about this.

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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1 minute ago, BloodyHell said:

Oh, it was absolutely a joke. That wasn’t serious. But it really seems they want to make everything unfeasable for everyone but them.

I'm no fan of Walmart but big Theater chains have been very resistant to the changing landscape of movie watching and now they're forced to deal with a new reality. Of COURSE someone was gonna step in and fill the gap. I'm less concerned about the AMC'S of the world that will put you in a a screening room with a screen not much bigger than your TV than I am the Alamo Drafthouses, The Arclights and the Landmark Theaters of the world. 

 

That said, I don't think I've EVER been to a drive in before in my life. Maybe when I was a kid? I know we had a couple in Jersey.

 

Just now, Bloodporne said:

Seriously? I mean regarding the #1 thing, I do know he operates a theater. That's fucking cool

I think his was number one at one point because he has a drive-in in addition to his indoor theater. He's been able to adapt pretty well from what I've seen.

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Guest

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These pop-up drive ins mostly worry me because they suck really bad and I would hate people to associate that experience with a real drive in.

 

My OTHER issue is the movie studios. These pop ups are considered non-theatrical venues, so they are treated like your local parks and Rec department. This allows them access to things that are out of theatrical circulation, like the big 90s Disney cartoons, that we can’t play. It’s never been an issue before, but it really grinds my gears that this stupid pop-up in Houston playing movies on the side of some silos in a field can book Little Mermaid and I can’t.

 

But beyond those things, I’m not worried!

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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13 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

Yup! I CAN BE YOUR HERO, BABY!

Great job... that was my first time seeing the piece. This is the type of stuff I cut sometimes for different shows and companies.  I have a video nerd question though, was that video formatted for Instagram or something? Very odd Aspect-Ratio :nerd:

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18 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Great job... that was my first time seeing the piece. This is the type of stuff I cut sometimes for different shows and companies.  I have a video nerd question though, was that video formatted for Instagram or something? Very odd Aspect-Ratio :nerd:

Yeah, the entire segment in the episode is about 8 minutes. They shot on an Arri Amira with mostly Zeiss Supers. The actual show is normal 16x9, they just sent me social assets for Instagram to put up. 

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sexy_shapiro

sexy_shapiro

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53 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

These pop-up drive ins mostly worry me because they suck really bad and I would hate people to associate that experience with a real drive in.

 

My OTHER issue is the movie studios. These pop ups are considered non-theatrical venues, so they are treated like your local parks and Rec department. This allows them access to things that are out of theatrical circulation, like the big 90s Disney cartoons, that we can’t play. It’s never been an issue before, but it really grinds my gears that this stupid pop-up in Houston playing movies on the side of some silos in a field can book Little Mermaid and I can’t.

 

But beyond those things, I’m not worried!


I tend to be picky when it comes to what theaters I frequent because too many chains don’t care about video or sound quality. I can’t even imagine how shitty a Wal-Mart drive-in will be.

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BloodyHell

BloodyHell

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5 minutes ago, sexy_shapiro said:


I tend to be picky when it comes to what theaters I frequent because too many chains don’t care about video or sound quality. I can’t even imagine how shitty a Wal-Mart drive-in will be.

Thats fine if you have choice. When I grew up the “theater” was a 32 inch with a dial in a dark room at the band hall. We’d have been fine with a walmart drive-in.

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Jason

Jason

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4 hours ago, sexy_shapiro said:


I tend to be picky when it comes to what theaters I frequent because too many chains don’t care about video or sound quality. I can’t even imagine how shitty a Wal-Mart drive-in will be.

 

Sound issues I'm not as sure about, but I can't remember the last time I was in a theater and had a projector that was out of focus or misaligned or whatever. Whereas I feel like that used to be such a crapshoot up until around 10-15 years ago. Maybe the switch to digital made that harder to fuck up?

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DarkStar189

DarkStar189

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6 hours ago, skillzdadirecta said:

 

C'mon man that's REALLY hyperbolic... that said I wonder what @sblfilms has to say about this.

The Walmart by my house literally needs their own police force. The police are there all the time. We live right by the police station and just had an officer come to our house for my son's birthday party. I asked how often do you get called to Walmart because I see a cop car there almost everytime I pass by. She said on a good week it's once per day, but it's almost always multiple calls per day.  

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sexy_shapiro

sexy_shapiro

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1 hour ago, Jason said:

 

Sound issues I'm not as sure about, but I can't remember the last time I was in a theater and had a projector that was out of focus or misaligned or whatever. Whereas I feel like that used to be such a crapshoot up until around 10-15 years ago. Maybe the switch to digital made that harder to fuck up?

 

It’s real hit and miss, and a lot of it depends on the management of the theater. Theater projectionist used to be a union protected job where you had to be trained to do it and now some theaters will just stick the popcorn guy back there or something. AMC apparently is notorious for having untrained people run projectors (outside of their premium IMAX and DOLBY screens that is), and from my experience that is true.

 

A common issue is that so many projectors are under lit and the picture isn’t bright enough. In some cases it’s because they forget leave the 3D lense on the projectors, which makes the image darker for non 3D films. I think sometimes that’s the case, but in other cases it involves a dirty projector. I’ve had so many experiences hampered, and some downright ruined, because the picture was so dimly lit.

 

And for a recent example non-brightness related, when I saw Hereditary the projector wasn’t properly aligned and I ended up missing a fourth or third of movie frame. In DC I found it to be a varied issue but since moving back here it’s even worse. Like I said, it really depends on the theater. From experience I know what theaters here to trust, which ones are iffy, and which ones to avoid like the plague.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/movie-theaters-ruining-masking-curtains-projector-bulb-brightness-2018-7

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Emblazon

Emblazon

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2 hours ago, Jason said:

 

Sound issues I'm not as sure about, but I can't remember the last time I was in a theater and had a projector that was out of focus or misaligned or whatever. Whereas I feel like that used to be such a crapshoot up until around 10-15 years ago. Maybe the switch to digital made that harder to fuck up?

Yeah, sound would most likely go through AM/FM, so it would depend on the strength of the signal and quality of sound system in your vehicle. Of course... it would still only be in stereo.

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29 minutes ago, Emblazon said:

@sblfilms Is there a way drive-ins could enhance the audio experience?

We have tested HD Audio and unfortunately the current systems introduce notable delay which throws of sync. This wouldn’t be an issue if everybody was tuned to the HD audio station as we could do a video delay to compensate, but we would be doing a mixture of HD and standard FM for at least a few more years.

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silentbob

silentbob

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3 hours ago, sexy_shapiro said:

 

It’s real hit and miss, and a lot of it depends on the management of the theater. Theater projectionist used to be a union protected job where you had to be trained to do it and now some theaters will just stick the popcorn guy back there or something. AMC apparently is notorious for having untrained people run projectors (outside of their premium IMAX and DOLBY screens that is), and from my experience that is true.

 

A common issue is that so many projectors are under lit and the picture isn’t bright enough. In some cases it’s because they forget leave the 3D lense on the projectors, which makes the image darker for non 3D films. I think sometimes that’s the case, but in other cases it involves a dirty projector. I’ve had so many experiences hampered, and some downright ruined, because the picture was so dimly lit.

 

And for a recent example non-brightness related, when I saw Hereditary the projector wasn’t properly aligned and I ended up missing a fourth or third of movie frame. In DC I found it to be a varied issue but since moving back here it’s even worse. Like I said, it really depends on the theater. From experience I know what theaters here to trust, which ones are iffy, and which ones to avoid like the plague.

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/movie-theaters-ruining-masking-curtains-projector-bulb-brightness-2018-7


well if it weren’t for my union projectionist at my theatre, I would never of gotten my projectionist job in the first place. They got greedy on booth control and other issues and my company severed ties with them. Although I am completely with you on lack of attention to projectors and especially the windows they project out of. Had this huge soda mark on the window when I saw MI: Fallout that was annoying as hell. When my theatre was inching towards all digital I got the boot from the booth. They barely had any training and I saved their ass several times from ruining a print or ripping the gears out of the projector.  We changed out the bulbs between 1250-1500hrs (glass reflectors expensive if destroyed) but again, company said to let them go until absolutely necessary. 

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johnny

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Seeing 1917 in theatres was awesome except the screen had black smudges in a few spots. I never go to that place and only went there because it was the only local one showing the movie in January. Never had a problem with sound or the actual picture at the movies. 

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