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06-05-2004, 01:48 AM
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#1 of 16 
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Are films screened too many times a day?
Here's something to ponder. Do you think that theatres schedule too many showings a day of hit films? For example, I live in a medium-sized city with a population of about 160,000 and maybe another 100,000 in the suburbs.We have four major multiplexes with a total of 48 screens. Right now, between them there are 57 showing a day of "Shrek II". While weekend business is great, a lot of the weekday shows are running to empty or almost empty houses.
My feeling is that running this many shows a day causes other films to delay opening because there isn't screen space available. If they didn't do well elsewhere, some never open here. Even when they do, they usually end up on the smaller screens. In peak movie seasons, it not unusual to find our biggest house, a 19-screener,showing as few as six films while there is a backlog of films waiting to come in.
Don't tell me we need more screens. In the last few years we lost about 12, mostly in older malls that have been torn down, and it isn't likely anyone is going to build more.
Any thoughts?
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06-05-2004, 02:15 AM
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#2 of 16
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It's because Hollywood just wants those huge opening weekends, and not too much else. It's really getting absurd. I work at a 14 plex and right now we have only 8 films. And those weekday shows don't do much at all. It's a total waste of resources on some days. Sure, it's convenient for the customer, but I think they'd rather see more variety. Art films and the like would be a great thing to see instead of 3 Days After Tomorrow or 4 Harry Potters (mind you I liked both films). Let's see some legs out of these films!
AJG
\"It\'s been my lifelong ambition to be a movie usher, and I have failed, as far as I am concerned\" - Bob Dylan
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06-05-2004, 02:28 AM
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#3 of 16
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Location: Rocky Mountains
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This used to be a problem at the UA 12 near me. A year and a half ago UA built a 16 plex theatre across the street from it. Now nearly every movie that is out, smaller movies as well, are shown. So in essense it turned it into a 28 plex since they won't show the same films in both theatres. When I lived and worked at Sony Lincoln Center they did the same thing with the theatre up on 84th street. Split the movies between the two theatres.
I don't mind the multiple show times, but I do hate seeing a movie on opening day on the smallest screen. I always ask what times the movie is showing on the main screens.
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06-05-2004, 08:39 AM
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#4 of 16
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A nearby 18-screen theater was only showing 9 different films. I found that a bit sad, but when you tie up half your screens with blockbusters, the smaller films do suffer from non-exposure, but the theaters are in it to make a profit, so having a blockbuster film on 3-4 screens opening week is going to be the norm for multiplexes given the "let's play nice" release schedule pattern of films nowadays among the different studios.
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06-05-2004, 02:13 PM
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#5 of 16
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Honestly I have to say I don't mind. Then again, I live in a city with about a million people and I also have lived in Los Angeles for a couple of years.
The thing is imagine trying to get tickets to a lot of these big openers (like Harry Potter or Spider-Man) if they were on even fewer screens.
You'd have to show up several hours earlier and wait in line. Even with Harry Potter for instance, we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes and got only so-so seats. If there were fewer showings, it'd be a virtual mad-house.
Maybe as digital projection becomes more and more commonplace though, theaters will have more flexibility in how they use their screens.
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06-05-2004, 09:57 PM
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#6 of 16
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Quote:
| Maybe as digital projection becomes more and more commonplace though, theaters will have more flexibility in how they use their screens. |
Screen counts and house size are usually tied up in the exhibitor contract.
I'd like to agree that theaters should use more screens for a greater variety of films, but Harry Potter was on a ridiculous amount of screens at the theater I saw it at today, and the two shows before, and the three after mine had sold out. So, I guess they're filling demand for the weekend.
However, I think that the second screen being used for Raising Helen could have been devoted to another film.
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06-06-2004, 02:10 AM
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#7 of 16
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06-06-2004, 12:12 PM
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#8 of 16
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Quote:
| I live in a medium-sized city with a population of about 160,000 and maybe another 100,000 in the suburbs.We have four major multiplexes with a total of 48 screens. |
48 screens? That's it?
The Burlington area, population about 35,000 in the City itself with a regional population of about 120,000, has 42 multiplex screens, plus a three screen drive-in, plus another 8-10 screen multiplex in the planning stages. That's approaching 55 screens for less than half the population of Syracuse.
I think you need more screens! 
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06-06-2004, 02:29 PM
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#9 of 16
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Quote:
| You'd have to show up several hours earlier and wait in line. Even with Harry Potter for instance, we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes and got only so-so seats. If there were fewer showings, it'd be a virtual mad-house. |
In the days of online ticketing there's really not much need for standing in line.
One side effect of showing the latest on so many screens is that if I miss a movie on opening weekend I'm likely to skip it altogether. At my local 18-screen plex, Harry Potter was playing in six of the major auditoriums and Shrek 2 had the other two. This meant that just a week a week after its release Day After Tomorrow is now playing exclusively in the smaller auditoriums. I really don't enjoy the smaller auditoriums so at this stage I'll just wait for the DVD release and likely get a better experience.
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06-06-2004, 03:43 PM
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#10 of 16
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I'm actually glad that theaters are using multiple screens to show the big movies. That way I can actually see the movie on opening day.
Brion
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