Abob Teff

Back when I was in the business, there was typically a transportation cost to get the film. Then the studio typically received 80% of the ticket. The theater received the other 20% and covered any taxes out of that. The second or third week would see the split drop to 70/30; fourth week plus would go to 60/40.

When Godzilla came out Sony tried to push a 90/10 split and saw severe backlash from theater owners when the movie tanked (compared to expectations).

From what I hear now, a 90/10 split is not uncommon for the first few weeks of blockbusters.

So in reality, concessions are the only place a theater makes money. 20% or even 30% of a ticket is not even going to cover the cost of electricity let alone overhead, staff, etc. Theaters have very few other avenues to make money ... such as showing commercials before the movie.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Yeah I definately remember the weekly changing of the advertisement slides and breaking down a whole film to add a 30 second ad to the front a a movie.

Draven

They are at the prices they are now because that's one of the only ways the theater makes any money at all. Lowering them won't necessarily make people by more to make up the difference. I don't think theaters are a great money making business anyway, and I have a lot of sympathy for the issues they face.

My solution is fewer screens and fewer theaters for major cities - actually make going to the movies a bit more of an "event". There are at least 30 screens with a few miles of my home in the suburbs and I've never seen any of them close to capacity.

Alan Smithee

Breaking down a whole film to add a 30-second trailer/ad? You must've had the wrong people teach you. My last year in the business was at a Regal and I knew more than anyone else there. (I remember wowing the so-called 'manager' during a long power outage that stopped every film in the middle and having them ready to start from the beginning on time for the next scheduled show when the power came back on- she thought we'd have to run them all the way to the end before they could start again!) I quit for a number of reasons, but importantly I knew film was on its way out anyways. I've never seen a digital presentation look as good as a good film presentation, but it still beats a bad one. I'm still liking movies at home more all the time. The people who run Regal Cinemas are so greedy that they deserve to become homeless and starve to death.

Hadrian7

Sorry Abob, but not in Springpatch. In Vegas maybe, but those horseshoe fed girls be scary.

Hadrian7

On topic, but my showing of TDKR was one of the best experiences I've ever had at a theatre. Not only was the IMAX amazing, but there were no young kids there, or if there were the did not make a peep. I didn't notice any phone calls or texting and everyone behaved exactly as they should: responding to the movie at appropriate times and no obnoxious troll in the audience. If only it was like that all of the time. Alas...

WeylandYutani

What city/state was this in?

WeylandYutani

Same here, this film was made to be seen in true IMAX. I saw it at the Air and Space Museum in D.C.

Mission Impossible: GP was cool because of that scaling-the-building scene. That sequence was massive. But TDKR uses the 15/70 format to truly interesting effect. During Alfred's first monologue about wanting to see Wayne sitting with a wife and children someday, it kept switching back and forth between the two formats/ratios. Alfred's talking-to-Wayne shots are regular size while his "dream" scenes, sitting at that cafe, are IMAX full-screen The scene switches ratios back and forth throughout that conversation. It's very cool to see, Nolan understands and has truly mastered the IMAX format and what it's capable of. I only hope he makes another film sometime soon that could utilize it, but I think now he might probably want to work on smaller projects, scale-wise.

Abob Teff

"Spacers" man ... "spacers" ... assuming you were running on a platter and not reels ...

These were simply strips of foam an inch or so thick. You drop these into the film as the splice you need hits the platter. The film then wraps around the foam spacer just as it normally wrap around itself. Once the movie is done, you pull out the spacers and it leaves you with plenty of room to get in and remove or add trailers.

Matthew Chmiel

Sony also happens to be ran by a bunch of assholes. When it comes to independent chains, Sony films are not meant to be used for any sort of promotions like $5 Tuesday, $4 Senior Wednesday or 2 for $20 Thursday.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

Yep, platters. Old 1970's Christie models. Our stuff was so outdated it wasnt even funny. Complaining to the owner about the build tables that had burrs on the pulleys that would put beautiful scratches into brand new prints never got through. Tried to sand em down as much as possible but it was a near impossible job.

Rex Power Colt-Robot Man

To be fair though, I was a god when the brain got stuck and the film got stuck and burned. I could excise that shit quick

orangecrush

That is actually a great idea. My wife and I would love that. We almost never go to the movies because our 6 month old doesn't do well away from my wife for more than an hour or so.

Michael Corvin

That reminds me of a time that happened to me. We were watching Chain Reaction and the film clearly burned, you could see it melting on the screen. There was maybe 20 minutes left of the movie when this happened.

Theater managers idea of compensation? Giving everyone free passes... "free" passes only good for Chain Reaction, so we could come back catch the last 20 minutes.

I still have never seen the end of that movie.

Mr. Cinema

Many years ago, one of the local theaters was doing 2/1 double features. It was when Die Another Day was just released. They had paired it with something, and was doing that with a few other films during that time. I don't think I've seen that done anywhere since I moved to NC.

bunkaroo

Last double feature I remember seeing was Secret Admirer and Rambo II at a drive-in. Of course they played Secret Admirer first and I fell asleep for Rambo.

StatMan79

Great list.

Funny story: Bought advanced tickets for a midnight showing of TDKR. Girl selling tickets asked if all the tickets I was buying were for adults or if I needed any children's tickets. I said, "If I'm bringing any kids to a midnight showing of this, I should get punched in the head."

The smile on her face disappeared and she looked almost mortified I said it that way. Well... OK then. But honestly, kids at a midnight showing? C'mon now.