Close Encounters Of The Third Kind Back In Theaters (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

The local independent is playing it on their premium T-Rex screen.

 

[questrider]

This surprisingly is getting showings in AMC Dolby Cinema, Regal RPX, and Marcus UltraScreen DLX. I guess I'm shocked that these theater chains are putting it in their premier auditoriums. I'm glad for it as I'm going to take in an RPX showing, but still surprised. However, Sony probably planned this as there are no new marquee films being released the week of September 1 so perhaps they were counting on getting exposure while giving fans a chance to see a classic in a theater chain's flagship format.

I've never seen a movie in a Dolby Cinema and thought about doing that but the RPX screens are bigger and I'd like my first theatrical experience of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to kick me in the head! The only drawback at the RPX I'm going to is that it has what they call Buttkicker Recliners and having a subwoofer embedded in the chair sounds like a horrible cinema experience. I'm hoping you can turn them off otherwise it'll be more than my head that gets kicked!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think part of the reason it has a chance at premium screens is because IMAX made itself unavailable - usually the "premium" screens show whatever IMAX has, but this week they have an exclusive of their "Inhumans" pilot which was co-produced with Marvel and ABC. IMAX took on that exclusive partly because there are rarely any blockbusters suitable for their screens at this time of year.

This leaves the other theaters with an absence of a premium title, and thus an opening. And I'm now considering seeing Close Encounters. The reason I normally avoid these brief mainstream re-releases is because they usually don't get shown on great screens, and they're usually from the exact same master I already have at home, so it's just like watching a Blu-ray on only a slightly larger screen. With the possibility of seeing a new 4K remaster (I'm still limited to standard BD at home) on a premium screen, this has the potential for a quality presentation that would treat the film as it deserved.

While I genuinely wonder if the premium screens of today are as large as the standard screens that this would have been shown on back in 1977, I know it'll be better than the standard re-releases of similar films these days. I'm tempted!

 

[Tino]

Seeing it in Dolby Cinema now.

 

[TravisR]

Saw it this afternoon and, somewhat depressingly, I was the only person in the theater. I hadn't seen the movie in probably at least 5 years so it was a little more fresh to me than Jaws or Raiders would have been. Still a great one.

 

[questrider]

Saw it this afternoon and, somewhat depressingly, I was the only person in the theater. I hadn't seen the movie in probably at least 5 years so it was a little more fresh to me than Jaws or Raiders would have been. Still a great one.

Great to hear it's still a great one but sad that you had the auditorium all to yourself! Although that might be expected at a Friday afternoon matinee. Did you see it in any of the theater chain's flagship formats? AMC Dolby Cinema, Regal RPX, Cinemark XD, Marcus UltraScreen DLX, or Goodrich GDX?

 

[Tino]

Hadn't seen this on the big screen since its original release 40 years ago.

It still retains it tremendous power and sense of awe. The effects still hold up. And the last act looked and sounded especially tremendous in Dolby Cinema.

 

[Tino]

Btw. 6 people including me in my 11:40 am showing.

 

[TravisR]

Great to hear it's still a great one but sad that you had the auditorium all to yourself! Although that might be expected at a Friday afternoon matinee. Did you see it in any of the theater chain's flagship formats? AMC Dolby Cinema, Regal RPX, Cinemark XD, or Marcus UltraScreen DLX?

I went to a Regal but my local Regal doesn't have RPX. I was reasonably impressed with the presentation though.

Btw. 6 people including me in my 11:40 am showing.

That's about what I expected to see at my screening but it is a holiday weekend and there was no real promotion so I guess it's not a total surprise that there was no one else in there. For what it's worth, judging by the parking lot, there might have literally been more people working at the theater than were customers seeing movies. It's probably the deadest I've seen the place since March or April.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I really like this film, but I'm not going to see it again in a movie theater as I have the 4K/UHD disc on pre-order. I've lost track how many times I've seen it in various movie theaters over the years.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Btw. 6 people including me in my 11:40 am showing.

I haven't committed to a date and time for seeing it, but it looks like pretty much every seat is available for the entire weekend of screenings at the Dolby Cinema auditorium at AMC's Times Square location (the most premium format that it's playing in, in my area).

I saw Terminator 2 at a 7:30pm showing on Monday night, in an auditorium that cold hold over 850 people, and there were less then ten.

Marvel is releasing the first two episodes of their new show to IMAX theaters this weekend in advance of airing on TV, and those episodes were shot specifically with IMAX cameras. That kind of detail would normally result in big IMAX ticket sales. Last I checked, it looks like basically every seat for every showing is available. The IMAX theater holds about 600 people, and I think they sold 4 tickets for the opening last night.

Repertory is basically dead. People are unwilling to spend $15-27 a ticket on something they can watch at home for free. There's the occasional title that can break through that apathy, but it's really, really hard. The studios clearly have sensed this, because they don't put any effort into promoting these screenings, which then further diminishes audience turnout. The best way to do repertory seems to be screenings of older films tied to newer releases. When Disney did that "Episodes 1-6" marathon of Star Wars films before The Force Awakens opened, all of those screenings were sold out in advance. When Marvel has done similar for their superhero films, those sell out in advance too. But if they picked random dates to show those marathons with nothing to tie them to, I think the results would have been very different. Movies just don't really have legs anymore. I remember being surprised when Avatar came out and did huge business, it opened in December. The following August, it was re-released to theaters with added footage, and I was practically alone in theater when I went. There was a movie that eight months earlier was the hottest ticket in town, that had no commercial value for theaters less than a year later. It's brutal out there.

 

[TravisR]

Repertory is basically dead.

I think the key is promotion. Also, if you've built an audience for your theater, they'll take a chance on a movie that they may not have seen before. Once the chain theater near me started promoting those TCM Fathom screenings, they actually draw a crowd depending on how popular the movie is. The local art theaters near me periodically plays stuff from the 30's and 40's that must be totally unknown to the general public but they must do OK since they keep playing them.

Bringing it back around to Close Encounters, the problem is that they didn't do any promotion. And to be fair to Sony, this is just a way to make a little bit of money from the 4K transfer so putting more money out on TV ads, etc. probably doesn't make much financial sense.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Bringing it back around to Close Encounters, the problem is that they didn't do any promotion. And to be fair to Sony, this is just a way to make a little bit of money from the 4K transfer so putting more money out on TV ads, etc. probably doesn't make much financial sense.

On one hand, I agree that it makes sense not to have paid for TV ads and that sort of thing. On the other hand, the expensive of making film prints and trailers is now basically nonexistent. Sony could have sent out a trailer for this to be attached to different features in July and August. (If they did, I never saw it played before a screening.) The movie theaters I frequent have replaced a lot of their poster cases with digital screens that display posters - why couldn't Close Encounters be advertised on those? If I go to see this at my local theater, the regular ticket will be $16.50 and the Dolby Cinema will be $23.50. Since this is a 40 year old movie that's already made back its money, how about cutting those prices in half or by a third for these screenings? It just feels like they're not trying.

Meanwhile, Fathom is doing Wrath Of Khan the following weekend. It looks as if the 7pm Sunday showing is almost completely sold out by me. I saw the trailer for that play before several different things in August, and I even saw posters for it displayed at theaters that aren't getting it, pointing out at the bottom which location you can go to instead. I've gotten emails from Paramount alerting me to the screenings. It doesn't seem like any of those efforts would have cost a lot of money, but clearly they're doing a better job of getting the word out.

 

[Bryan^H]

Repertory is basically dead. People are unwilling to spend $15-27 a ticket on something they can watch at home for free.

Yes. Sad but true.

 

[Bryan^H]

I love this movie and would see it a couple times if it played anywhere near me.

I think it is Steven Spielberg's masterpiece. The only film he wrote, and directed and all at the height of his genius. He was also the author of the novel, which is a really good read.

EDIT: I just discovered It is playing a ton of times at my local theater. I plan on two screenings. One of my all tuime favorite films, and this will be the first time seeing it on the big screen

 

[Josh Steinberg]

He wrote the screenplay for A.I. too

 

[Bryan^H]

He wrote the screenplay for A.I. too

That's right, I forgot about that one.

 

[Tino]

He also wrote the story for Poltergeist.

 

[Todd H]

He also wrote the story for Poltergeist.

And directed it as well.

 

[Carabimero]

Many years ago I saw Spielberg intermittently. On one occasion I asked him which version of CE3K he considered the best. He didn't answer my question. To my great surprise he instead said, "Today I would never make a movie where the hero abandons his family. I can't believe I did that."