Dr. DVD

It seems that so many movies are being released in/converted to that format that people being able to see them outside of a two week window might necessitate it. I remember back in the summer of 2008 when The Dark Knight Rises was pretty much the only IMAX movie of that season, then the next one came Star Trek, Night at the Museum 2, and Transformers 2 among others. I remember being fortunate to catch Trek in IMAX because it only ran for two weeks. I also think that Hunger Games only got a one week run , which I caught in "liemax" .

Do you think the day might come where we might see theaters with maybe two IMAX screens? For that matter, do you think with more movies using the format they might expand it to smaller cities (this would probably be the "liemax" format, which is sad, but the only way I see them doing it.)?

BambooLounge

I think there will be an expansion of liemax screens so they can get sell higher priced tickets. Eventually, if movies evolve the way discussed by Lucas and Spielberg then all theaters will be liemax or Imax and tricked out with 3D, D-box and other stuff to justify their high prices and make going to the movies more of an "experience" in the amusement park ride sense.

Dr. DVD

There is a potential problem there in that to give the movies an "amusement park ride" sensation, they need to be made such. That means everything will more or less have to be an event film or FX extravaganza.

BambooLounge

Exactly.

fitprod

I was going to mention the pending implosion that Lucas and Spielberg are talking about. - I think were are due for another correction in theater counts, with theater chain mergers and closings. At least in the US domestic market. (Unfortunately, this will mean less screens for smaller films.)

We had such a situation in the mid-90's when everyone went nuts with building multiplexes and over-saturating the market. Sure box office has been rising, but percentages that the theaters see is falling, and with the 3D cash cow dying in the US, much of that extra cash is drying up. - As attendance drops, as it has been for years, that mean less money from concessions, which is the key to theaters surviving.

Once the studios are bit hits and sequels only, which we're not far from in the summer season now, and the implosion occurs, it will be a blood bath. Not just for the studios, but the theater chains that are already having enough problems with the three month home video release window. (2 months at times if you count the digital copy releases.)

Sure, they could try and expand the amount of Imax/Liemax theaters, but there's only so much disposable income, and if tickets will be going for $15 - $20, the industry is done.

fitprod

BambooLounge

^I think the correction in theater counts would dovetail with theater expansion and turn it into a quality or quantity thing where you have less multiplexes, but the ones that remain will have all the bells and whistles and show big action/event films only.

Small art house theaters may actually benefit slightly as perhaps they would become the only places in town where people could see the latest Woody Allen or Noah Baumbach film. Such a move would cut out the 1 or 2 multiplex screens in the area that might have had them.

I think this whole thing is really going to hurt cinephiles in small towns/cities as there may not be an arthouse option available in such areas. So, those guys will always need to wait or try to pirate smaller films upon release.

Dr. DVD

See, I agree with this and I don't. Growing up in a small town/city, I never got to see a lot of the critically acclaimed films until they hit video. The only way to see a movie of that nature theatrically was if it got nominated for Best Picture or it's subject matter/setting might appeal to the locals (this actually did occur with the movie Sling Blade. I was stumped when it came to my small, mostly rural ,but still a college town city. When I saw it, I could understand how it would appeal to the local demographic. O' Brother Where Art Thou did the same a few years later.) .
The problem is, I actually did live in a major city for the better part of a year once and when the summer time hit, even the alleged "art house" multiplex that was part of a chain (Regal's Cinema Art program I think) did away with showing smaller movies in favor of blockbusters on multiple screens. I now live near another major city and am quite surprised at how few of the "art house" movies play there as well. I was hoping to take in a showing of "Much Ado About Nothing" while I was in town for the IMAX Man of Steel, but alas it is not playing anywhere. The "art house" is only playing "Before Sunset", mostly as a token indie movie than anything else I feel.
I think that the smaller movies, unless they are made by someone with a proven Oscar bait record, will soon all be straight to On-Demand. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the Oscar bait movies only play in New York, L.A., and Chicago before going On Demand themselves.

fitprod

It's getting damned close to that already.

None of these truly received a wide release, then again as Oscar bait, their appeal was going to be limited.

Anna Karenina (422 at max, 12/7/12... 16 opening weekend, 11/16/12)
Amour (333 at max, 3/1/12... 3 opening weekend, 12/19/12)
Beast of the Southern Wild (318 at max, 8/3/12... 4 opening weekend, 6/28/12, but released a little too early to be considered Oscar bait)
Moonrise Kingdom (924 at max, 6/13/12... 4 opening weekend, 5/25/12)
The Impossible (886 at max, 1/18/13... 15 opening weekend, 12/21/12)
The Master (864 at max, 10/5/12... 5 opening weekend, 9/14/12)
The Sessions (515 at max, 11/23/12... 4 opening weekend, 10/19/12)

Being in LA for about 10 years, you can see the landscape changing with the major chains.

Pacific Theaters uses Arclight (mainly Hollywood) when it comes to art house feature.

Regal? Outside of LA Live, not really.

AMC? When they have an extra theater they don't really worry about, like the Burbank Town Center 6. But when consolidation comes, this one is gone... They have 3 three theaters within three blocks.

fitprod

Dr. DVD

^ I noticed that you left Silver Linings Playbook out of the mix. That was something that I think was actually intended as a mass romantic comedy that turned into Oscar Bait that managed to become both when it finally went really wide in February, though it had been playing most small city markets already.

Giles

IMAX may have it's foot in the door, just because of it's tradename and the brightness levels are consistent... AND is generally less buggy than other similar 'specialty' large screens - but the industry is turning towards more speakers and specifically 7.1 at the minimum and matrixed sound fields such as Barco's system and (object based) Dolby Atmos (IMAX's 5.0 seems like old hat in this respect). The specialty screens are also not confined to releasing 'IMAX only' releases, every feature has the chance and opportunity to be shown on the ultra-large screens.

fitprod

Miramax was very vocal about sending Silver Linings Playbook into wide release once the Oscar nominations were announced, much like how Sony handled Zero Dark Thirty. - That's why I left it off the list. Plus, there was no way a film with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence wasn't going to get a wide release at this point.

fitprod

Matthew Chmiel

I think the "gimmicks" of 3D, D-Box, Dolby Atmos, IMAX, and the rest are not enough of a justification for people to want to go out and spend money at a theater. Look at 3D. 3D is drastically losing marketshare as each day progresses; not only in theaters, but in homes as well.

I'm surprised we haven't seen a theater have multiple IMAX screens. Hell, one of the Cinemark locations in town converted their two biggest auditoriums to XD. I'm sure we'll get to that point with IMAX sooner or later, especially with the sheer number of films that are now getting the DMR treatment each year.

However, if you want to bring people in, you have to provide them with excellent customer service. I've wrote about this theater before, but Galaxy took over an abandoned United Artists location and converted it into this. It's not the largest theater as the largest auditorium can only hold 191 people, but the experience alone is worth it. Reclining seats, reserved seating, beer and wine service, and superior customer service (like 86'ing people who pull out their cell phones during a film) are worth it alone. The best part? They don't charge more than any other theater does. I honestly wish more theaters would provide this Alamo Drafthouse-esque experience. I'm not concerned about the food and restaurant options of locations like the Alamo, but I really like the comfort.

Just looking at their showtimes right now, most of the showings for the rest of the night are close to sold out (if not already, like specific Man of Steel showings).

tanman

I really don't see IMAX expanding except for the liemax theaters. Which I absolutely hate with a passion. Most theaters around me just took their biggest theater and branded it an IMAX theater so they could sell the upcharge. I wonder how much of the population actually know what a true IMAX theater looks like and if they would be happy paying extra for a theater that was so much smaller. As long as IMAX has the general population douped on what an IMAX theater really is I don't see them expanding the true IMAX theaters.

Brack

My local AMC could put in another lieMAX. I'm pretty okay with the screen not being a true IMAX experience. The closest one that's a real IMAX screen is 100 miles away. It's nice, but not worth the gas money (unless I'm going to that city for another reason).

What they could do, though I know they won't, is reopen all the IMAX and other large format theaters that closed in the late 1990s/early 2000s that closed before IMAX became popular for delivering mainstream Hollywood flicks like they do now. Case in point, there's an IMAX screen literally hundreds of feet away from my local AMC that has a real IMAX. AMC could have easily reopened that. Would have it been that much more expensive to do some minor clean up of the theater? The most expensive part of these things are the projectors if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure it all came down to having to have another space they'd have to pay towards a lease.

There used to be a list of all the closed theaters in the US and other places, I can't find the site right now, but sure the number of theaters would be more than enough to supply the demand and not cut into other screens that would be used to show smaller films.

Brack

Just get a IMAX home theater system. Starting at only $2 million measly dollars, who can't afford that?

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blo...heatre-program

Matthew Chmiel

Cinema Treasures and Cinema Tour are what you're thinking of.

Brack

Found it. Bigmoviezone.com what was I was looking for in particular. They list all active AND inactive giant screens.

This focus on such theaters would get butts in seats if they deliver mainstream IMAX movies at the size originally intended. But it appears no one wants to look to this as the future of the theater experience. Maybe if Hollywood would have gotten behind the format sooner those defunct theaters would still be open. A pity.

Giles

I remember staying at a Chicago area hotel in the suburbs recently and there was Marcus cinema nearby, their "Ultra-Screen" looked like a converted IMAX screen, it was really tall.