Movies & Cinema during the Pandemic? Catch-all Discussion (1 Viewer)

[Malcolm R]

That could be, I wasn't going back anytime soon anyway, but I have about $300 worth of gift cards that are now worthless.

Are any of their other theaters in reasonable distance? Their web site says they're honoring the gift cards of the former company:

https://www.gqtmovies.com/gift-cards

 

[jcroy]

By the MPAA's own demographic studies, teenagers are one of the smallest groups of frequent moviegoers. So I'm not sure why so much programming seems geared toward them. The sweet spot for moviegoing is ages 25-39, followed by 40-49, then 60+.

I strongly suspect the primary reason for emphasizing film programming to teenagers, is the same reasons advertisers aim for that same demographic (whether officially or unofficially).

The intention is to create longer term "steady" customers for the future, for both the film experience and non-film products. Essentially "buying" a part of your brain, for future memory recall.

If the kids/teenagers of today have very little or no experiences with attending theater films, I suspect these same folks will not be suddenly going to the theater regularly once they are middle aged adults.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Are any of their other theaters in reasonable distance? Their web site says they're honoring the gift cards of the former company:

https://www.gqtmovies.com/gift-cards

Yes, I’m going to go to one of them and buy a bunch of their overpriced concessions as I don’t feel comfortable sitting in any movie theater.

 

[Malcolm R]

Well, they don't mention any time limit on the GC's, so you can probably wait. And other articles about this new company claim they're reducing prices on concessions, so you might actually get more for your GC dollars than you used to.

“One thing that you can expect right away is a reduction in concession prices, and in most cases, ticket prices. We have built our other theater operations on the promise of value and will continue to make that a hallmark of the New GQT operations,” VP of Theater Operations, Jake McSparin shared.

The New GQT will honor GQT gift cards and the GQT Rewards program, subject to applicable law.

https://www.gqtmovies.com/goodrich-...n-dates-slated-for-late-july-and-early-august

 

[jcroy]

View attachment 80297

Looking more closely at this graph, the 25-39 bracket might be slightly misleading. It covers a 15 years age span demographic.

In contrast, the 40-49 bracket covers a 10 years age span category, while the 18-24 bracket only covers a 7 year age span. If I had to guess, these age bracket categories were probably "cherry picked" to make the graph look the "best" without any outright fabrication.

The question is how exactly does the 25-39 bracket numbers look like, if the bracket was broken up into two (such as 25-31 and 32-39).

 

[Malcolm R]

I think they're set to cover common demographic groups. Elementary school, middle/high school, college age, young adults/couples, older adults settling into careers and families, and retirees.

 

[jcroy]

In the special case of the year 2020, the two age categories of 25-31 and 32-39 might possibly reflect something else significant.

The case of ages 25-31 in 2020, were likely folks who grew up with social media either at its dawn (ie. myspace, twitter, etc ...) or already ubiquitous (ie. facebook, etc ...).

The case of ages 32-39 in 2020, are likely to reflect folks who grew up with the internet being ubiquitous but not social media. (ie. The days of aol, geocities websites, etc ... ).

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Man, I just found out that my local theater is now closed for good because Goodrich Quality theaters filed for bankruptcy back in February. The company found new owners, but my local theater which was built in 2014, is not among the theaters that are now part of the new company which opened their theaters this month. It's amazing that a theater complex just six years old was not part of the new ownership agreement.

I can't say for sure if it's the same situation....but a similar thing happened here with Goodrich. The largest, nicest, highest volume GQT never reopened after the shutdown. I spoke with an acquaintance who worked there. The story I got is that the new owners of GQT would not buy any theater where a deal could not be worked out on the rent. The owners of the building would not budge on getting full back rent therefore it wasn't included in the sale.

 

[jcroy]

The story I got is that the new owners of GQT would not buy any theater where a deal could not be worked out on the rent. The owners of the building would not budge on getting full back rent therefore it wasn't included in the sale.

This sounds like typical negotiations in a chapter11 bankruptcy reorganization. There's no immediate penalty for breaking any previously signed legal agreements.

In some scenarios, I wouldn't be surprised if chapter11 is used to get out of any and all previous rental/leasing agreements.

 

[jcroy]

This is very interesting. It appears the new owners of Goodrich Quality has dumped each individual theater into its own individual LLC (limited liabiliity company) shell.

Search "GOODRICH THEATER" - Michigan Company

Search Result for GOODRICH THEATER

michigan-company.com

The only obvious reason I can think of offhand for doing such an unwieldy multi-corporation structure, is to prevent one theater location from bringing down the entire chain. So in principle, one poorly performing location can go bankrupt on its own without dragging down the rest of the chain into a bankruptcy abyss.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I wonder:

WB wants Tenet to grow as more theaters open up, and New York has been one of their big goals

Does the opening of theaters in parts of New York next Friday incentivize them to push back the home release in hopes of a big bump in business? Or not?

Obviously, I hope not because I want to see the film and I'm not going to do that in a movie theater. But even taking my wishes out of it, I would think it will benefit Warner to have that on Blu-ray in time for holiday shopping. I suspect it will overperform at home in relation to other films of its gross range because people like me who can't be convinced to go to the theater at this point in time, bit want to see it, should still be interested if it is released for home viewing In a timely manner.

 

[jcroy]

For completeness, these are the individual LLC shells in Indiana which the new owners of Goodrich Quality has dumped each individual theater location into.

Search "GOODRICH THEATER" - Indiana Company

Search Result for GOODRICH THEATER

indiana-company.com

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I wonder:

WB wants Tenet to grow as more theaters open up, and New York has been one of their big goals

Does the opening of theaters in parts of New York next Friday incentivize them to push back the home release in hopes of a big bump in business? Or not?

Obviously, I hope not because I want to see the film and I'm not going to do that in a movie theater. But even taking my wishes out of it, I would think it will benefit Warner to have that on Blu-ray in time for holiday shopping. I suspect it will overperform at home in relation to other films of its gross range because people like me who can't be convinced to go to the theater at this point in time, bit want to see it, should still be interested if it is released for home viewing In a timely manner.

I doubt they’ll wait any longer. Whatever they gain in a partial NY is less than what holiday digital and disc sales could potentially bring in.

 

[jcroy]

I doubt they’ll wait any longer. Whatever they gain in a partial NY is less than what holiday digital and disc sales could potentially bring in.

AT&T's fiscal year ends on December 31, 2020. The bean counters at Warner and AT&T, are likely currently thinking about what they can do as a write off for tax purposes at the end of the year.

I'm guessing the Tenet dvd/bluray/4Kbluray release date, will be dictated by whether they want to take a write off on Tenet for this year.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I've heard rumors that it will be December 15, but can't vouch for that.

 

[Worth]

Interesting article that envisions a future without theatres...

In a World Without Movie Theaters … - The Bulwark

(Bulwark+ members can listen to an exclusive discussion of this topic between James Emanuel Shapiro and Culture Editor Sonny Bunch here. Sign up today!) There’s a great deal of concern about the state of the exhibition industry given the impact of COVID-19 on attendance figures and release...

thebulwark.com

 

[jcroy]

Interesting article that envisions a future without theatres...

To make a long story short, the world of movies will become a complete random wasteland similar to basic cable channels merged with youtube. (ie. No quality control whatsoever to stick out from the crowd).

 

[TonyD]

The lot in front of the bigly local Regal down here looks eerie.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

I wonder:

WB wants Tenet to grow as more theaters open up, and New York has been one of their big goals

Does the opening of theaters in parts of New York next Friday incentivize them to push back the home release in hopes of a big bump in business? Or not?

I don't think so. I feel like the only people who care about Tenet right now fall into two camps:

1) Hardcore film people who are willing to travel to see it.
2) People who aren't ready to go back into theaters yet.

For people who fall into #1, the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the state (where the bulk of the population lives) are relatively close to neighboring states (NJ, CT, or MA). I think a good amount of this group is willing to drive an hour or so to see it and have probably already seen it. The same thing is going on in Los Angeles with people driving an hour down to Anaheim.

The rest of the state has a few medium size markets (Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Ithaca) but I don't think it's enough to give WB any reason to delay a home release.

If we were in a situation where theaters were going gangbusters as they've reopened, it'd be a different story. However, we're not seeing that.

 

[JackieT]

They just need to pull off the band aid and put Tenant onto a streaming service and call it done. It isn't a must see so disc sales, if they even go that route, would not be cost effective since so few people have shown enough interest in it and producing a disc in any format would just be more wasted money.