About the enforcement part. I remember as a kid in my local theater if someone was being disruptive, they would actually stop the movie, and the ushers/manager/owner of the theater would come down and escort the offender out of the theater with the audience clapping. You don’t see that anymore.
You might not see that anymore at most theaters-but Alamo Drafthouse definitely still does that. And it’s amazing. czcams.com/video/1L3eeC2lJZs/video.html
Yeah I bet nowadays someone would try to sue the theater. It's ridiculous how many lawsuits are filed for people getting their feelings hurt or not getting their way.
The hitch w/ enforcement is that it also interrupts my screening of the film no matter how they handle it. To me the only solution would seem to be that every seat is is Thunderball/Dr. Evil style trapdoor seat. They’d only need to be ejected from the theatre as the electrocution or flame pit would be noisy & some might end up only badly burnt & wind up disrupting the movie whining about it. Part of the difference of going to the theatre is that there’s no pause button. We tolerate (even enjoy?) lower quality @ home because of it. Whereas @ the theatre if something isn’t working it becomes much more apparent. Never mind the whole guns/‘merica/political situation means that enforcement just isn’t viable. What about the whole COVID experience suggests that enforcement would turn out well ?
Here in India they just crop off the top and bottom of any movie with a different aspect ratio. I legit couldn't read the subtitles in Jurassic World because they were cropped to fit into this wide screen. The 3D depth is WHACK because the background sometimes seems to pop more than the foreground. The 3D versions of Thor Love and Thunder are too dark during the night scenes. There are noticable marks on the screen which are really annoying. Multiverse of Madness was stuttering in theatres, the worst experience I have ever had. At this point, watching the 4K HDR Dolby Atmos version of Thor Love and Thunder on my 60 inch TV at home is better than any theatre in a 20 mile radius.
I agree. When I saw The Batman, which is very dark, the digital showing has numerous dead pixels (they look like green spots) you can’t tell in light shots, but in dark ones you sure can. Very distracting!! I (and several others) complained and they gave me a pass for another show.
You know something is wrong with theatres when I can arrive 25 minutes late to a screening, and know that trailers/adverts will defiantly still be playing
Trailers I can handle but the never ending ads that I don’t give a 💩about … 🤬🤯. Typically I can judge from the scheduled time what the actual start time for a film is & w/ reserved seating I just factor that in so I can skip most of it. Or if I show up early I just keep my AirPods in & catch a 10min U📺 or something. I will never complain about ppl on their phones for the pre-show even during the trailers cuz I get it. So long as they put it away & mute as soon as the movie starts.
One big change I would love to see would be intermissions for longer films. I avoid drinking anything before some films because I don’t want to have to run to the bathroom in the middle of the film, and sometimes it’s only once I’m a third of the way through a movie that I realize I want a snack. Having a brief intermission in longer films would solve both problems and would lead to increased concession stand revenue, which is the revenue that the theaters get the best margin on. The arrangement with studios could be that if intermissions are added to longer films, the studios get a higher percentage of ticket sales. That way filmmakers and studios who don’t want intermissions could easily opt out, but there would be financial incentives for the films that do offer the intermission. I know theaters like movies to be shorter so they can squeeze more showtimes into the schedule, but a short five-ish minute intermission wouldn’t be that much of a problem on that front.
Interesting to read this. Here in India, we're fighting to get rid of intermissions 😂 As they break the flow of the movie. Most Hollywood movies stop abruptly in the middle for us. And all Indian movies are forced to create two "high points" in their narrative. One before the interval to get viewers hooked as they leave for the concession stands & one for the climax. And post-jnterval there has to be a song in every movie to delay the story for a few minutes, as people are still walking into their seats.
That would be great for sure. I drink a lot of water during the day and during the movies, so like watching endgame and hoping to not getting the need to pee sucked a lot.
Intermissions are common in india , and most of the food and drinks is actually bought during the intermission.. and it also ofcourse helps with bathroom breaks
Same. If i'm walking into a movie pushing three hours i'm definitely not buying a drink. They probably still get plenty from me anyway; popcorn, hot dog and red vines almost every time.
Like the idea of "fun screenings." My mom is a big Queen fan, and she absolutely loved Bohemian Rhapsody. I think she saw it in theaters 7 times. One of them was a "sing-along" screening. Sounded like a pretty cool idea, and I had never heard of anything like that.
Hi Dan, my mall at the mall of America. The manager seeks out local cosplayers to come to opening nights and weekends to interact and take photos. And in return they get a free meal and get to watch the movie free! Now every marvel and DC opening I go there now cause my kids fricken love it!
Everything you mentioned seems 100% feasible to me. Nothing crazy there at all. What’s crazy is that the industry isn’t working together already to make everything on your list happen. The only reason something wouldn’t be possible is if it’s not financially viable, but nothing on your list fundamentally has this problem.
@@mageslime They don't need to stop showing Disney movies completely, but they shouldn't be obligated to keep showing movies to empty theatres. If Disney's take is from ticket sales it's not really benefitting them either so I wonder why they do it. If the movie is popular and people are buying tickets the theatre will continue to show it and both parties benefit. There just doesn't need to be a contract for X number of screenings.
As a manger at an Alamo Drafthouse, it felt very good to watch this video! Thanks for your insight Dan, there’s no doubt that premiere experiences are the future of the industry.
Dan, you're spot on about limiting trailers. I was at a screening of "Elvis" in July and an old guy got up and stormed out cursing when the AMC Nicole Kidman ad started. He was ranting about "just start the f***ing movie already!" While hilarious in retrospect, he did have a point.
I work at a local theater in my area and luckily my workplace enforces a lot of the things that you mentioned in this video that the big chains don’t. Cosplaying is encouraged and I’ve done it multiple times, we do special screenings of films, this October for example we’re doing a special screening of a horror film (Shining, Lost Boys, etc.), for every week of the month till Halloween. While it’s not perfect, it certainly doesn’t feel like you’re part of a conglomerate machine. Been there three years and I’m glad to be there.
This video makes my heart so happy. As someone who helps run a movie theater and constantly is throwing ideas around to and with my owner I feel very seen and heard right now
There needs to be more midnight screenings of cult classics. Rocky Horror Picture show is a special showing with others in a theater. Honestly the best theater experience I’ve been to
Totally agree. Seeing Jaws, ET, and The Conversation in theaters are some of my favorite movie experiences. Not sure how much money those classic releases would bring in but it’d be pretty incredible just speaking as a movie fan. That said I think the Jaws and ET re-releases made some cash.
Our cinemas here (Western Australia) had to start screening whatever they could get their hands on during the pandemic because we were one of the few places in the world was fully open for business (thanks to be being the most isolated capital city on the planet and a closed border). So they started playing original Star Wars, Top Gun, concerts, even ballet performances all sorts of stuff. It was great!
Expanding up on this, in my youth I liked it when a new franchise movie comes out there would be a theater here (long since gone) that would have a movie marathon of prior movies in the series leading up to the premiere (sometimes a true marathon all the same day, other times one or two screenings a night for a week prior). Used to see this a lot with the Star Trek films.
I really like the idea of major theater chains like AMC playing more "legacy" movies. Recently, my wife and I watched 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' on HBO Max. It would have been fun to go to the movies and watch it like we were teenagers again.
There should be anniversary showing. LIke the recent Godfather Fathom event, many people have not seen the movie on the big screen before. I would love to see T2 or Star Wars trilogy in 3D. With 100 years of cinema, there should be 52 movies worth rewatching on the big screens. But I guess the theaters and studios need to work out who gets how much.
Love the idea of putting streaming stuff on the big screen. Some of it might need some slight modifications but then the quality of modern shows would really have a way to shine through. In your review of Andor for example you mentioned how the first three episodes are basically a full on movie and I absolutely agree. It would be trivial to cut them together and actually make it that movie for an event in cinemas.
Theater chains are rigid and uncreative. Any segment that acts this way suffers. Streaming movies have looked good for a while now, ever since they started doing stuff in 4K, that stuff could have been in theaters immediately.
I work in a movie theater and any day I’m working (or when a new show I’m interested in airs) I come in 3 hours early and watch shows with a ps4 hooked up to the projector ever sense the middle of Mandolorian s2 and it’s amazing. Just watching the first 3 episodes of Andor like a movie was just breathtaking. It would definitely be worth paying for if I couldn’t set it up myself.
Fun vid, good ideas. My addition would be to restore the midnight release. It was so cool when I was a kid/young adult to see the movie before it came out with people that cared enough about the movie to come at midnight. Now movies just come out a day earlier than they say they will and it feels like the least special thing ever.
I agree with you that the midnight releases were fun and special for people who really cared about those movies. I would love to see it return, but that being said, I don't think there's a major draw if 1 theater has a midnight release meanwhile, you can just see the film in another theater at 8pm. Also, a lot of theater employees may not be interested in working those late hours (not all are big movie buffs). That being said, I still hope it comes back someday.
Me too. Went and saw “See How They Run” earlier this week and the start time said 7:20. I showed up at 7:30 and still sat through 15 minutes of trailers. Can’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen the stupid “Smile” Trailer! If I have to watch that Nicole Kidman ad I’m gonna scream...
I loved the idea of having something like a Behind The Scenes after the movie is a super cool idea. I loved how there was something with Kevin Smith after the end of Clerks III. I absolutely loved it.
The problem is that, these days, BTS featurettes are glorified puff pieces that barely tell you anything about the film. With the exception of a handful of distributors (Criterion, 20th Century Fox pre-Disney, Anchor Bay, Vinegar Syndrome and a few others) that have extensive budgets set aside for bonus material and preservation, the whole Blu-Ray bonus trend has been that of a glorified marketing reel. It also (generally) cuts into the number of showings that can be made per day -- very few people (in my experience) stay to the end of the credits or want to sit through 20 minutes of bonus fluff at the beginning of a film.
I'd love to add to the special screenings idea by saying more theaters should offer them of top movies for certain groups of people, similar to your rowdy version. The family screening where little kids and babies are allowed to make noise and pace, sensory friendly with quiet noise and higher lights (these two ideas are often combined together now which inherently makes them not sensory friendly), a screening with English subtitles, a screening with subtitles or dubbed in a common local language, and a screening with Audio Descriptions for those with visual impairments. These are entire communities and their friends and families who choose to spend their money elsewhere because their loved one is otherwise not included.
My local theatre (Emagine) luckily does a lot of these. Automatic masking of the screen, only recliner chairs, decent rewards program, good discounts on off times, they bring your food to your seat, the embrace theme nights, multiple popcorn sizes and an adult can get a kid combo. They also rotate in a lot of old blockbusters weekly at discounted rates.
I agree with everything you've said here. As someone who has worked at a theater, I unfortunately know that much of the problems at big chains come from people who really don't care about Movies. As a movie lover it's hard to remember that a lot of people don't see going to the movies any differently than going bowling or to the bar or something. We need more places like the Alamo Drafthouse that are truly for movie lovers only
You immediately qualified your ideas as potentially being too "pie in the sky" - but I honestly don't know that any of them are. All really solid, and dare I say, necessary changes. I'd also love to see intermissions make a return! And more classics getting a re-release. 👍
5:23 I really thought that was exaggerated til I worked in a movie theater. It’s actually insane how much of a chokehold Disney has with these contracts keeping their movies on screens for a really large number of time
Honestly virtual events and live streams alone could revitalize theaters. Imagine if you could go to a theater to see the hall h panel, evo, or a super popular concert/fest live stream. Plus stuff like Super Bowl parties would be amazing. Also maybe do late night or weekday night showings of streaming movies. I would totally watch a Netflix movie on the big screen. Especially the good ones. Or a marathon of Wanda vision or some thing like that.
I definitely don't understand why there are not more sport events or conventions. I guess they don't want to share the money. If D23 or DC Fandom or Comic Con, were in theaters, they would be making more money.
Totally agree on "masking the screen". Glad to know I'm not the only person who noticed that. I'd love to see more movies theaters get into retro programming. I hate that Disney keeps their catalog including fox movies from being in theaters.
IMO if a filmmaker uses an unconventional ratio then they accept that it might not look as good in most theatres. But the least a theatre can do for these films is zoom in the projector to fit. Eg. Tenet is a 2.20:1 film that was printed on a 1.85:1 DCP. However when that was projected on my local widescreen, there was black space on all sides. Technically the DCP was filling the full height of the screen, but the theatre needed to zoom in so that the actual picture reached the edges. The DCP apparently even came with explicit instructions to do this, however they were largely ignored by big chains.
As a college student, I used to watch at least 5 movies in a week!!! Yes 5! minimum. This went on for a decade until it became financially impossible for me to afford this hobby. I never cared about what movies I'm watching. I saw anything & everything. I just loved the experience of being inside a cinema hall & forget everything else that's going around in the world. This habit forced me to watch movies from other languages, as I ran out of mainstream Hindi/Eng movies to watch every week. Discovered new Cinema from different regions along the way. Fought with managers & forced them to include prints with English subtitles. I was an addict by choice. Also, because I could afford to be one. Early morning show prices were anything between 40 to 70 INR (
Loved these ideas from Dan: -3 trailers cap before the screening - Themed food menu during the winter period of the year; Potato Stew ~ Lord of the Rings etc. - Adding more Indie films when the blockbusters has less capacity/viewers
Got some bad news for you Dan. The enforcement person already exists. At my place the job is called "Theatre Checks." They walk into the theatre, look at the crowd, walk across the screen, check the sheet, and then leave. If they see a problem, they can get a manager who can enforce the rule. The problem is that the person rarely ever will get into conflict, or even notice someone on their phone or someone talking. I am willing to approach and tell people to get off their phones or to stop talking, in the times where I can see it, but I am the only one at my place who does. As for food, I can tell you that changing portion sizes is not going to happen. I once suggested to a higher up to make a kids like combo designed for adults since so many of them buy kids combos for the size and it has never happened. Why this won't happen is, as someone who cleans theatres, I can tell you that most people don't even eat the food they buy. I can't tell you how many times I throw out nearly full large bags of popcorn, and large drinks where the person could not have taken more than a sip. The worst for this is nachos. Half the time people buy them and don't eat them. Like at all. I've often thought that we should just sell people a piece of paper saying they bought nachos, because at least it would save the food. If we offered better portions, people would pay less money for those and not buy the bigger sizes they know they are not going to eat. Losing money for the company. I love seeing trailers in theatres. Agree with #5 a lot. I feel like theatres are too much on autopilot and need to get out of that mindset. As someone who loved a lot of the smaller, more original films in August, I can tell you that people don't go to those movies. It's sad but it's true. There is a theatre in my downtown that shows a lot of those smaller films like MARCEL and EMILY THE CIRMINAL, and I can tell you that I saw the previous films I mentioned there in almost empty theatres. Not having these films wide is partly a studio problem, but I don't think smaller, niche films would get people into the theatre. I am going to be getting booth/projector training soon, so I will look into the masking thing. Wouldn't be surprised though to find out that our masking doesn't work anymore. Knowing how many introverted people I work with, I don't see #10 happening. I would do it, but I don't have time to get into conversations with people. Movie theatres are a very time sensitive job. More than you might realize. You're rushed to serve people, rushed to clean theatres. There is just not enough time. Some things I would add here is more rooms for functions. A newly renovated Landmark theatre in Calgary I went to had party rooms not just for kids, but for adult functions too. Another is comfortable seating for every theatre. Theatres are doing this now, but there is nothing better than sitting in a Lazy Boy type recliner with heated seats. Another idea I had, though it is really pie in the sky, why not show movies with a live band doing the soundtrack? I know that would be hard to coordinate, but it would be fun to see.
I work for a large chain and the lack of training for the projectors is aggravating. I know what to do if something goes wrong with a show, but calibration and mask changing? I don't think anyone in my theater knows how to do that. I'm not even sure the curtains move anymore if they ever moved, and my theater is over 20 years old and has never been updated. I honestly think they are strictly decorative. And don't get me started on the safety equipment for changing bulbs. I refuse to do it, because the only jacket we have is a size small, and I am not. Even worse, one of our main projector's color gradients went bad. There was a big yellow blob of color in the middle of the screen. The projector is so old, the manufacturer doesn't make the parts anymore. The repair staff for the company had to go to an old warehouse and pull parts of retired projectors until they found one that worked. It took weeks. I was actually glad we had Minions 2 for so long because we kept that movie showing only on that projector to hide the distorted color. Unfortunately, we now have another projector going bad in the same way and no expectation of a speedy fix. Every suggestion has its good points but the biggest problem is man power and money. The big chain I work for wants butts in seats but is unwilling to do any kind of outside-the-door advertising. They only care about ad sales and app sign-ups. My theater's main sign was rendered useless by a change in the entrance to the mall it is located in. I asked my regional if there was we could get flags to put out on the main road to remind people where we were. He said it wasn't necessary because people would find us online. It took a lot of restraint for me to not laugh in his face.
I worked at a landmark and the position dan mentioned certainly doesn't exist. I did theatre checks every 30 minutes but that's not what I believe Dan is advocating for. His version is more of a security guard that is actually trained to Escort people out and is constantly in the theatre watching and listening. Basically theatre checks but specialized.
You'll be pleased to know concert halls are already doing the last one. See e.g. Royal Albert Hall which has dont LOTR, Star Wars and Superman screenings with live orchestra
One thing I would like to see is the return of second-run movie theatres. I don't mind paying full price for highly-anticipated movies early in their run, but if there was a movie I had some interest in, but not enough to pay full price, it was nice to know I could always wait a few weeks and see it for less than five dollars. I used to go to the Vogue in Chula Vista. It was a single large screen and you could often see up to three movies for just one price.
As a manager at an Alamo Drafthouse I got some tickles of pride watching this video. Hoping that we can keep bringing in people for better experiences. The only thing I saw any sort of hiccups with was the streaming point. As I'm sure you're aware, licensing and acquiring licenses from studios (ESPECIALLY Disney/Fox) is nigh on impossible, at least in my market. My feeling is that if that were to become a thing that happens, the way theater chains and studios negotiate those licenses and contracts would have to change.
I understand your point, but this is win/win for the theaters and studios. They just have to work out a deal. They are just leaving money on the floor. Sad.
Here in Australia, some cinemas have memberships deals. The more often you buy movie tickets, the more loyalty points you get accumulated, which later can be exchange to purchase food or movie tickets in the future. In Japan, most cinemas have a great gift shop section, which also sells some movie related merchandise only available in the cinema. (I got a few Marvel / Disney medals.)
Really like this series and as someone that worked in a cinema for quite a few years a lot of what you said really isn't that unreasonable. Though I worked in a big chain cinema I was surprised just how much depended on the managerial team and importantly the culture. Cracking down on people that disturb the film has an impact, and frankly it tends to mean that less of those people come, or they just don't fool around (I mean there are the summer kid film matinees, but we are only human). Because you're right going to the cinema is expensive and and if someone has spent a chunk of change on tickets and are then out on the street having not seen the film they learn pretty fast.
All excellent points/ideas. As someone who loves seeing movies on the big screen, I really do hope they go for the "experience" more. Remember when Friday openings used to actually happen on Friday at 12:01 AM? That was fun, now it's not special because you can catch a 7pm showing on Thursday. Dark Knight was sold out at midnight so we bought the 3am showing and it was a blast waiting with other Batman fans. Pre-pandemic (or pre-Disney buying Fox) Harkins and AMC here used to do movie classics one night a week for $5. My nephew got to see Jaws, Superman, and more for the first time on the big screen. Would love to see more classics available.
I think enforcement is number 1. Another idea I'd recommend is being open to letting customers reserve a private screening and advertise it more. Not just for current movies in theaters but a "Bring Your Own Blu-ray" type of idea where you can watch one of your favorite movies on the big screen. I did this about a year ago. Reserved a private screen of the animated movie Redline with about 20 friends and family and everyone loved the experience so much that most of them come to this specific movie theater more often now. Prior to this experience they didn't even know this theater existed.
That gets into a lot of legal questions. Does the studio have to get paid for what you are showing? And what if I charge people for these showings - my own "Fathom event"? Maybe they are not my friends or family, but customers? I can show the "not special edition" of Star Wars - I am sure there are people who want to see it on the big screen. Will Disney or George Lucas shut us down? Hahaha...
Enforcement would be key for me returning to theaters regularly. I used to go weekly, but had three movie showings in a row where I had to ask someone to put their phone away. I don't enjoy the conflict this causes and have stopped going to the movies except for rare instances.
Same for me. There's always someone either on their phone, talking etc. Due to this I only went to very late showings when there were fewer people, and then pretty much stopped going altogether even before Covid.
I'm not sure why my local movie theater started doing this, but they have several (I've counted 4 at times) employees just milling around the lobby and when you walk in the door they immediately come up to you and offer assistance. Keep in mind that, as of two months ago, the only employees around were the concessions people, an occasional manager, and the custodians. They only really got a consistent ticket-taker about a month ago (who stands at the entrance to the tunnels, not the lobby). So when you walked in, if you needed any assistance or had to buy a ticket from a person (because of a discount voucher, etc), you had to stand in the concession line to get help. Now, I'm not complaining about the fact they've hired customer service employees; it's just alarming that you have barely entered the lobby and your eyes are still adjusting to the light and you immediately have an employee in your face asking to help. Just the other day, I walked in and was pulling my tickets up on the phone and, before the door behind me had closed, an employee attempted to pull me over to the desk, saying something like "I can help you over here." I understand the need for customer service, but I want the option to seek it out myself if I need it, which I didn't. It is even stranger since these employees could be utilized elsewhere, in either concessions or custodial. In another instance, my movie ended and as I walked into the lobby I saw a custodian walking briskly to my screen by themselves while the 3 or 4 employees were hanging out in the lobby doing nothing. And I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 concessions employees, and there usually is just 2.
I used to be a manager at a modern independent theater. I vibe with everything you said. All of it. We loved having the staff dress up and we should've done more of it. Our concessions prices were noticeably lower than competitors (and still we could've made more money by selling portions like you said).
I love this video! Along with masking the screen, theatres need to be aware of what movies are playing next to each other for sound reasons. I saw "Mary Poppins Returns," which isn't a quiet movie by any means, in a theatre next to "Aquaman" with the latest Dolby surround sound technology. Our movie was completely drowned (sorry for the pun) out, and the walls were literally shaking it was so loud. It gave me a migraine!
Dan, you're genius. I support all your changes and improvements 100%. And if any of the Theatre execs out there have any sense, they'd listen to your recommendations and introduce your positive changes to improve and enhance the cinema going experience 👍
i work in a theater and totally agree with the enforcement thing. you hit the nail on the head though, usually during a shift there’s far too few of us to constantly be patrolling the theaters. we try our best but we can’t catch everything, and a lot of the time the disrupters will see us walking and patrolling and keep quiet until we leave. can’t tell you how many times people have left their theater after the movie was already over and then complain that someone was on their phone the entire time. we always try to tell them that if there’s a problem come and see us and we will happily kick them out but it can’t make up for the lost experience. totally a lose lose for everyone involved.
Love the comment on masking. My father used to be a projectionist in the 60/70s (days of actual multi-reel films) and their pre-roll ads/trailers all ran in a smaller horizontal size than the feature. The curtains started closed, and opened to the width of the ads/trailers, and then opened to the edge of the feature such that the curtains were always exactly at the edge of the projected picture for the first frame. They would be docked pay if the curtains opened prematurely, too wide, or any image (ads/trailers/feature) was projected onto the curtains. The owner used to frequently and randomly drop in outside his normal working hours to check on the quality of the projection and the rest of the operations.
I had a great experience on National Theater Day. I saw Jaws on IMAX, even though I own the Blu-ray. That’s what brought me to the theater again after avoiding a theater for months.
I love all your ideas. One thing that some theaters do need to do, and it a challenge based on their income, but some screens need to be updated. I watched The Batman at one of my local theaters and the night scenes were sometimes near impossible to see what happened. I went to a different theater to see it again and was able to see everything I had missed before. I understand it’s expensive, but unfortunately, since that experience, I don’t want to go back to that theater.
There's a theater chain called Harkins that has a thing called Tuesday Night Classics; every Tuesday at 7pm, you can see a different classic movie for $5
Great suggestions. I would add, and it was mentioned somewhere in this section, to add intermission for movies more than 2 hours long. Give them time to stretch, go to the bathroom, or get something from the concessions. Also, make like Alamo and expand your menu outside of just popcorn, chips, and soda. And make sure IMAX screenings are in fact IMAX screenings not Lie-Max if you will. Work with the IMAX company(?) to ensure compliance. If there's a movie that "must be seen in IMAX" I don't want to waste my money watching it in Lie-Max. I found out some AMC theatres in my area with IMAX screenings aren't really projected in IMAX so I had to cut down on the locations I visit. And recliner seats as well. Oh and maybe a place to charge phones without having to leave the room? Might be a hazard though.
After moving to Columbus, Ohio, I finally have a favorite movie theater chain: Marcus Cinema. It's a smaller, family owned, Midwestern theater chain. Things I love about it. 1) They have super comfy reclining leather seats. 2) They've had reserved seating since at least 2015, so you can plan ahead. 3) If you have their rewards card (which is free), you can order online with no extra charge. 4) On Tuesdays, every movie is $5. This is very effective. The whole parking lot fills up. 5) They run different series where they put older movies in theatres on special days. Every month is a different thing. 6) They have a wide variety of movies playing. Big ones in their knock-off IMaX, sure, but you can watch Indie films and Indian films and all kinds of things. I love this theater chain and the one particular theater so much. They have my sworn loyalty. I don't get out very much because of my kids, but when I go to the movies, it's always to the Marcus.
Went to a movie a few hours ago. Movie was supposed to start at 6:40pm. After ads and trailer it started at about 7:10pm. Usually it is 40 minutes, so not bad, still too long though. Then a family brought a baby, the largest baby carriage I have ever seen and a toddler. The carriage blocked the way in and out for that rows stadium seating. Then that baby and toddler yelled the entire movie. Since it was "The Color Purple" I am sure the kid was bored out of their mind. When a employee came in they just ignored the kids. I am an Unlimited member, but I am getting really tired of other people in the theater.
In response to the masking the screen point, I like the idea, but it's pretty astounding how many movies these days change between different aspect ratios almost constantly throughout the actual movie. In fact, I absolutely love Dan's rant about this in one of the Transformers movies on Honest Trailers Commentaries.
Things my local theater does to earn a bit more moolah: birthday parties for kids (never went, don't know exactly how they function) and partnerships with some of the restaurants in the shopping mall, where you buy a meal for two for an "X" amount of euros and in that price is also included 2 movie tickets (I also didn't try this, but I've seen the price and it's competitive, it's cheaper than buying two meals and two tickets separately).
A very thoughtful and with that, clever list you put together Dan! I agree with all of it. Theatres need to go back to making the moviegoing experience an experience!
Love your suggestions, Dan!! Just to add my 2 cents: One of the BEST times I ever had at a theater was just a few years ago when Fathom had a 60th Anniversary mini-marathon of Twilight Zone episodes. Make that an annual thing, say, around October and I’d def be in line. Anyway, more special events like that would, I think, certainly benefit.
Our local Picturehouse Cinema use to make going to the cinema an experience. We had quizzes and Parties before the midnight screening of Force Awakens or Endgame or themed screenings but sadly these events are becoming less and less since cineworld bought them. They still do things like decorate their lobby in line with the big cinemas release for that week or do themed cocktails/meals at their restaurant. They also do special screenings. Sadly they are now the most expensive cinema in the city, so people go to Vue or Odeon instead
I love the idea of having employees who love movies be encouraged to show that love. At the theater I go to, there is an employee who sings the directions to your screen when he takes your ticket. Makes my day every time.
16:40 masking. That drives me nuts sometimes. Very important point for me. The better contrast and less distraction you get, makes a huge difference. But one thing where it doesn't work is IMAX. More and more movies have changing aspect ratios.
I want them to start showing short films before features more too. It was so nice to experience a small short film before a feature. I would also like to see the return of intermissions. I can’t say how many times I’m dying to ho to the bathroom in a theater but have to wait till the end of the movie.
We really enjoy going to specialty theaters that serve real food and alcohol. For Crawdads, we traveled past probably 6 regular theaters to go to a foody theater (plus the nicer seats) and it was well worth the 1 hour drive
I work at Cinemark. We have a postion known as “Super Usher”, basically your concept of an enforcement officer. The job is patrolling every theater four times per showing; once during the previews to make sure the lights are off and the screen is working, two during the showtime, and once towards the end. We just pop our heads, look around the theater, and if there’s behavior that needs correcting, we’ll try and step in and do something. However, we have basically no training for this position. It’s just a shift one person gets assigned and are expected to do all day. There’s no specific requirements for it, and we’re just expected to be able to handle everything. Usually what happens when there’s a problem is we just radio a manager and have them take care of it. Ironically, the enforcement for the enforcement officers isn’t that strict. But we do try. There is an effort to make the experience as good for the audience as possible, and that’s a credit to the managers who run things. I work Super Usher a lot, and I try my best to make sure there’s as little disruption as possible, but when you’re dealing with a whole group of teenagers, things can get stressful.
I have this idea and people are allowed to steal it, its called Interactive Movie Nights. Everyone acts as rowdy as they want during certain pre defined points. Not like violent or stupid but check it, there will be an applause sign above the screen. When the applause sign lights up at key moments people are allowed to go nuts with joy, screaming, cheering and crying if they want. It turns off there is a beep and it says QUIET PLEASE. Its going to be for fan favorite classic movies. Say when the Stay Puff goes down in Ghostbusters everyone cheers in unison, when the DeLorean goes back in time you can clap. Iron Man snaps his glove, go nuts. Its like giving people the experience of seeing a film for the first time, or like going back to the past where people would cheer at things instead of being like "hum drum I saw it before". It could bring a lot of fun and passion back to the cinemas back when movies were more fun community experiences and not soulless crap.
There is an incredibly simple solution to having too many trailers and other things before a movie. Just have something playing before the movie starts. If the movie starts at 6 you can have trailers start playing at 5:30 for the people who want to watch them. That way the people who enjoy the trailers get an extra experience for showing up early and those who don't know when the movie actually starts.
I'm with you on more theatres showing smaller movies, I didn't get to see Everything Everywhere all at Once at the cinemas because it wasn't showing in my town. I spoke to the manager and he was just as annoyed because a lot of the staff wanted to see it too but because it's a small 3 screen venue the higher level management didn't think it was worth showing.
Here, in Chile, there's a HUGE emphasis on Costumer Loyalty Programs. With each purchase you accumulate points to exchange for tickets or food, but the most important focus is pricing: Because I go once a week, I only paid around 3 USD per screening. If you want I could tell you more about it, but I think a strategy with flexible pricing is the way to go.
What I want to see movie theaters do is offer private rooms with a nice projector + sound system and let people pick their own films from a huge catalogue.
I love these ideas. The one question I have is how masking would work with movies by directors like Christopher Nolan where they will sometimes alternate between Imax and regular aspect ratios.
I was an usher for a Regal theater. I very rarely had to tell anyone to be quiet. I did have to kick someone out during a Harry Potter movie and a manager had to get involved and I thought the customer was going to fight.
I was an assistant manager at a movie theater for a long time and I have said LITERALLY ALL OF THESE THINGS. My gosh. *especially* the hosting live events-- sporting events, game nights, specialty screenings, clubs. Don't wait for people to make reservations with you, partner with some outreach groups to make events for your customers
Great ideas. Especially cutting back on trailers. It's not that I don't like them but we all have busy lives and adding 30 minutes to an already long film, plus arriving early, plus travel times adds up to a large time commitment. That 2.5 hour movie now takes up half my day.
On using theatre's to show different events: another benefit is there are many live events that take place in doldrum seasons for moviegoing. Super Bowl is usually in February when the main stuff playing is Oscarbait, many eSport events are in late summer-early fall. Plus it's easier to slot in a one-and-done experience. I know for a fact that when the Nationals were in the World Series a couple years ago, most all of my friends would've gone to a movie theatre to watch the series
as a theatre employee i really wish we could embrace dressing up for movies and doing special screenings. we’re halfway there but like we got a whole week of harry potter playing so let’s embrace this and have fun with it and let our staff wear hp stuff and actually let then know they can and are encouraged to do so. most of the time its maybe one or two people from management who even get excited. we’re a movie theater not a corporate office. let’s have some fun. theaters are suffering as it it so why not try something new. ive had so many customers compliment my wardrobe for screenings. we are doing a show of Mean Girls on Oct 3rd and id love to see us do SOMETHING for that with wearing pink
I worked as an employee and eventually assistant manager for a chain theater for several years. Enforcing no talking/ no phones is one of the hardest things to remedy unfortunately, and that is mostly cause it is not prioritized. First and foremost, 16-18 kids telling grown adults how to behave rarely ends well. The disruptive guests almost never own up to their mistakes, and often ignore any warnings or get super defensive. Kids weren't any better, as disruptive teenagers getting kicked out of a theater often led to angry parents bursting into the lobby insisting their kids could never have been the issue. The ushers (a title that just means cleaning crew now) technically had a set schedule of doing "theater checks" every so often. Theater checks consisted of pacing slowly down the walk way, checking on both the audio/visual quality & looking for guests on phones or talking. However, these checks were often ignored or reduced down to once a showtime. Sometimes because of lazy staff, but other times because these same employees were responsible for cleaning, and that was a larger priority. Especially when busy kids movies let out, they were a mess and all hands were needed. Even when the required 3 checks per show were done properly, it was very easy for them to be timed at moments when the guests happen to not be disruptive in that instance. I fully agree that having dedicated staff to monitor theaters would be the correct solution. However we would have killed for the budget to schedule extra regular staff as is. I would also have loved for the same type of anti talking marking that Alamo has. I know we shouldn't need it, but having guests notified that theyll get kicked out with no refund for being disruptive is actually really helpful. It gives them no leg to stand on when they get defensive.
I’m going to go a very simple route on the enforcement issue: Cell reception blockers install one in every auditorium and you cut out a huge amount of the nonsense right there. People would simply be unable to talk, text, check social media or play solitaire (I saw a 70 year old woman doing this during a movie just the other night) at all, removing the temptation to even pull out their phones and tablets. I think this eliminates the biggest issue we face in theaters now and would be a far cheaper solution that payroll increases that come with staffing for the same purpose. I don’t have an issue with theater ticket prices. I know we don’t all have the same options but my city has a second run theater where movies are $3.50 (somehow that theater is failing) and I have two local Cinemarks where I am a member of their cost-saving Movie Club. Add matinees and discount days to the mix and there are a lot of ways to save. Aside from possibly cutting down the number of trailers shown before a movie, I think a solution could be just to start them earlier instead of waiting until ten minutes *after* the movie should have already started. Trailers run so long now that audiences are beginning to trickle in up to 20 minutes after a showtime, without having missed a thing. Or...how about trailers for movies that aren’t releasing for a long time to come?? Openheimer. This trailer released a year before the film’s release date. Two months later I’ve seen this trailer probably fifteen times now. Seriously, do we even need to know what insignificant film is coming out next summer? I had no interest in it before I saw the trailer. Now I’m simply in open rebellion against it! Limited release films... Do theaters think they’re doing anyone any favors by delegating hear independent and/or foreign films to showtimes in the middle of the afternoon on weekdays, or late-night screenings? I missed out on seeing RRR and Brahmastra this year because of this. Both played locally enough for me to have access to but the showtimes made them impossible to see. Streaming? That I flat out refuse to embrace or support.
I like your points but as someone who worked in a cinema for 13 years and was running one up until earlier this year I can explain the counterpoints. 1. Cinemas are moving to a primarily kiosk experience. Roles that were filled by 3 - 4 staff 10 years ago are now being juggled ineffectively by 1. It would take months maybe even years for the word to get around about tougher management before the targeted audience would return to cinemas. On the other side of the coin you could alienate customers who prefer a more casual and flexible experience. 2. We tried lowering our price by about 25% and held on it for about 6 months. We saw no change to our admission trends and market share. Disney also calls the shots and any push back with them risked them limiting sessions or prevent us from putting advanced tickets on sale or them partnering up with a competitor and giving them free marketing. When it comes to concession prices, cinemas only increase prices when the supplier does. (Which happens about every 4 - 6 months). We had played around with smaller offerings and found that it neither hurt nor helped our SPA (sales per admission). 3. Ad revenue makes up another big slot of income for a cinema. The trailers are 100% political. Trailers that are picked and where they're placed before the feature is about "maintaining the relationship" with the distributor. Neglecting certain films can lead to the distributor withholding releases or being difficult. 5/6. All cinemas have their "bread and butter", some have a heavy family demographic and some have a heavy student demographic. Event screenings just don't work for every cinema. Our cinema would run revivals and event screenings often (at least monthly) and they would just be total flops (discounting a 4k session of 2001: Space Odessey). But other cinemas within the same chain would get decent success from them. Generally independent cinemas do better with revival screenings because multiplex brands attract more "mainstream" audiences. 9. Masking - totally agree but I guess the main problem is that the motor that runs the masking breaks down regularly and is costly to get a mechanic call out. Lots of new cinemas are now built without masking because money. Masking changes are automatic these days so I can guarantee if your masking is incorrect, the motor is either broken or doesn't exist. Most cinema staff wouldn't know how to manually open and close it either (there's usually some rope on the right hand side behind the curtain). In my experience the only people that care about the masking are the ones who remember how it "should" be. Younger people or staff that I worked with wouldn't even notice. So perhaps cinemas are just training people not to care (not just about masking but about a lot of things in the experience). Totally agree with everything you said and I feel some of it is doable. I do feel there's a much bigger shift happening that's beyond changes in management though. It will be interesting to see what the movie going experience is like in 10 years time. Love the discussion you've started though.
In the UK they could lower the price of concessions or ensure they're consistently good quality. I go to the cinema all the time and it's so rare that I'll buy anything from the food/drink counter because I never know how stale the popcorn is going to be. I'm not paying a tenner for a quids worth of questionable popcorn and a fountain drink, or buying sweets (candy if you prefer) that are twice as expensive as it is in the shop I pass on the way to the cinema when I can just sneak them in. I'd rather not sneak them in, because I know that's how they make a lot of their revenue, but I know a lot of people who buy nothing from cinemas ever because it's a rip off. I've worked in hospitality, so I know there are costs beyond the product itself, but you have to provide value for money.
The movie theaters here in brazil many years ago tried to prohibit people from sneaking food but, thank god, people fought back, complained a lot to the customers thing, I forgot the name and the movies couldn't do that anymore, the cheapest combo is R$ 25, you can get so much more buy things and for more people at the supermarkets nearby the theaters. Going to the movies in brazil is for people with money to spare for sure.
As someone in the movie industry in the Netherlands, it's interesting to hear this from a different perspective. Here we do have a very succesful subscription model for 20 Euros for unlimited films, and the two biggest theatre chains both have one. It absolutely works and could work abroad as well. Furthermore, alternative content like concerts & other community activities are absolutely the future.
Make it easier to get help if you're experiencing a problem in the theatre. The way it is now, you have to get out of your theatre seat, walk around the theatre and try to get to someone who can help. Offer snack options that work for a variety of people, not just regular movie snacks. Special movie screenings with filmmakers or actors doings Q & A after the movie.
Also insane to me that my local theater refuses to put an imax style screen in when they have so much parking lot space to do so. Their closest competition is 25 min away, but even their own employees drive to that theater and pay for movies to go see films in imax
Great video and list as always Dan. I would add one more thing and that would be a merch shop. If a chain like AMC made deals with pop culture companies like Funko/Lounge Fly, McFarlane, etc., and sold merch related to the big movie(s) in theaters, and split the profits, then that could be beneficial for both companies. I’d even add AMC exclusives, to generate customers coming in specifically for that item, like they do with most Cons. Imagine if they sold T-Shirts, Backpacks, Notebooks, of a movie you just came out of. They already exist for chain retailers, so why not also sell in chain theaters?
One thing I'd tweak about your #1 is I think theaters with multiple screens should do a "Phones Allowed" screen and a "No Phones Allowed" screen. Some people like the "Be loud" and "Get involved" vibe, like a Marvel movie or a horror movie where people yell at the screen. Some people like the "Shhh, the movie's on and this is not your living room" vibe (me). Then the enforcement rule needs only to be enforced in the theaters where that is posted.
I would change the model to have more mid-size and "small" viewing screens. You could have more intimate viewing experiences i.e. leather couches and it would also let you show more movies.
Working in the industry, I can tell you most of these are sadly a pipe dream but yeah I think committing to a lot of this would help. The current way is obv not cutting it anymore
Great breakdown. In my local market, Boston, The Coolidge Corner is very popular. They have fun screenings, interesting and unique releases, themed screening and local food vendors. Bringing down the corporate vibe of the chains is key.
Your #1 is 100% correct. I don’t like spending top $$ ticket prices for a movie when the idiot in front of me is texting during the movie. It’s distracting, annoying and frankly…I can wait to stream the movie a few months later and have a better experience.
I am SO glad you mentioned all of these things. I just moved to Missouri to run a single screen theater on Route 66 and thankfully my boss is open to making a better experience. I've been doing exactly every single one of these steps you suggested and people are noticing.
My favorite theater (in the us) is my closest cinepolis. Ppl never ever talk everyone is always very mindful and polite, everything is always clean, recliners are actually comfortable and I can go in and out w/o a single communication w/ a staff member.
I miss Arclight so much. I've only been to theaters during the pandemic twice, and both times made me miss Arclight terribly. Your suggestions are really great! Masking the screen is such a good point, it's a little thing but it makes a huge difference to the feeling of it being a special event. Something I'd add is more foreign movies. We have years of surveys and data showing that even people in rural areas of America are watching foreign stuff on streamers, when the industry still pretends that all Americans are scared of subtitles and foreign media isn't profitable. More offerings beyond the typical Hollywood fare could expand to underserved audiences and draw people interested in foreign films.
I agree with all your points but I'm ESPECIALLY glad to hear you suggest masking. I feel like I'm screaming into the void when I say I hate unmasked screens! Some people just don't seem to care...
As someone who's been working in at the theater industry for two years now, I can say that all of this is the dream. Having all of these things would make it so much easier. The depressing part is none of this would never happen
Going to live events in theaters have been excellent. My Alamo drafthouse was showing the Oscars the year Parasite won. It was wonderfully watching and getting the reactions from movie fans during the awards, and there were local comedians hosting the event and talking smack during the commercial break.
The worst part about no enforcement is that in order to get people to shut up, I have to get up and miss parts of the movie to get the attention of an employee.
I used to be an usher for Cinemark, and we always had a "theater checker" every shift who was a part of the usher crew. The designated theater checker for that shift spends the whole shift checking each and every auditorium for cell phone usage, bootleggers, talkative people, seating issues, etc. They check the auditorium about 3 times per show, and can always call for a manager or security officer if there's any significant customer dispute. We took our policy enforcement very seriously, but I understand that not very many theaters put as much effort into it as we did.
20-25 minutes of ads/trailers?! You're lucky! We regularly get 28m here at Cineworld in the UK. It's so frustrating. Most people know this, so arrive later, but some invariably arrive *too* late and so you often still get people walking in after the actual film's started.
About the enforcement part. I remember as a kid in my local theater if someone was being disruptive, they would actually stop the movie, and the ushers/manager/owner of the theater would come down and escort the offender out of the theater with the audience clapping. You don’t see that anymore.
You might not see that anymore at most theaters-but Alamo Drafthouse definitely still does that. And it’s amazing. czcams.com/video/1L3eeC2lJZs/video.html
Yeah I bet nowadays someone would try to sue the theater. It's ridiculous how many lawsuits are filed for people getting their feelings hurt or not getting their way.
@@ADR69 Nowadays, people would probably be disruptive on purpose to cause a scene and film the ejection for their social media.
The hitch w/ enforcement is that it also interrupts my screening of the film no matter how they handle it. To me the only solution would seem to be that every seat is is Thunderball/Dr. Evil style trapdoor seat. They’d only need to be ejected from the theatre as the electrocution or flame pit would be noisy & some might end up only badly burnt & wind up disrupting the movie whining about it.
Part of the difference of going to the theatre is that there’s no pause button. We tolerate (even enjoy?) lower quality @ home because of it. Whereas @ the theatre if something isn’t working it becomes much more apparent.
Never mind the whole guns/‘merica/political situation means that enforcement just isn’t viable. What about the whole COVID experience suggests that enforcement would turn out well ?
@@thedarkemissary great point actually
I would like to add another point for the cinemas : GET YOUR PROJECTORS SERVICED/CALIBRATED REGULARLY !
Here in India they just crop off the top and bottom of any movie with a different aspect ratio. I legit couldn't read the subtitles in Jurassic World because they were cropped to fit into this wide screen. The 3D depth is WHACK because the background sometimes seems to pop more than the foreground. The 3D versions of Thor Love and Thunder are too dark during the night scenes. There are noticable marks on the screen which are really annoying. Multiverse of Madness was stuttering in theatres, the worst experience I have ever had.
At this point, watching the 4K HDR Dolby Atmos version of Thor Love and Thunder on my 60 inch TV at home is better than any theatre in a 20 mile radius.
I agree. When I saw The Batman, which is very dark, the digital showing has numerous dead pixels (they look like green spots) you can’t tell in light shots, but in dark ones you sure can. Very distracting!! I (and several others) complained and they gave me a pass for another show.
You know something is wrong with theatres when I can arrive 25 minutes late to a screening, and know that trailers/adverts will defiantly still be playing
Trailers I can handle but the never ending ads that I don’t give a 💩about … 🤬🤯. Typically I can judge from the scheduled time what the actual start time for a film is & w/ reserved seating I just factor that in so I can skip most of it. Or if I show up early I just keep my AirPods in & catch a 10min U📺 or something. I will never complain about ppl on their phones for the pre-show even during the trailers cuz I get it. So long as they put it away & mute as soon as the movie starts.
The worst i've ever seen was in York, England, where they stopped the movie at the halfway point for a 20 minute intermission, filled with tv adverts
@@gdelan1 You should come to India where the interval non Indian movies that don't have interval, sometimes during action.
I remember me and my dad arrived like 30 minutes after Captain America the winter soldier time was to play and they were still playing trailers
One big change I would love to see would be intermissions for longer films. I avoid drinking anything before some films because I don’t want to have to run to the bathroom in the middle of the film, and sometimes it’s only once I’m a third of the way through a movie that I realize I want a snack. Having a brief intermission in longer films would solve both problems and would lead to increased concession stand revenue, which is the revenue that the theaters get the best margin on. The arrangement with studios could be that if intermissions are added to longer films, the studios get a higher percentage of ticket sales. That way filmmakers and studios who don’t want intermissions could easily opt out, but there would be financial incentives for the films that do offer the intermission. I know theaters like movies to be shorter so they can squeeze more showtimes into the schedule, but a short five-ish minute intermission wouldn’t be that much of a problem on that front.
Interesting to read this. Here in India, we're fighting to get rid of intermissions 😂
As they break the flow of the movie. Most Hollywood movies stop abruptly in the middle for us. And all Indian movies are forced to create two "high points" in their narrative. One before the interval to get viewers hooked as they leave for the concession stands & one for the climax. And post-jnterval there has to be a song in every movie to delay the story for a few minutes, as people are still walking into their seats.
That would be great for sure. I drink a lot of water during the day and during the movies, so like watching endgame and hoping to not getting the need to pee sucked a lot.
Intermissions are common in india , and most of the food and drinks is actually bought during the intermission.. and it also ofcourse helps with bathroom breaks
@@amusingwordplay7298 RRR was perfect with interval
Same. If i'm walking into a movie pushing three hours i'm definitely not buying a drink. They probably still get plenty from me anyway; popcorn, hot dog and red vines almost every time.
Like the idea of "fun screenings." My mom is a big Queen fan, and she absolutely loved Bohemian Rhapsody. I think she saw it in theaters 7 times. One of them was a "sing-along" screening. Sounded like a pretty cool idea, and I had never heard of anything like that.
Hi Dan, my mall at the mall of America. The manager seeks out local cosplayers to come to opening nights and weekends to interact and take photos. And in return they get a free meal and get to watch the movie free! Now every marvel and DC opening I go there now cause my kids fricken love it!
Everything you mentioned seems 100% feasible to me. Nothing crazy there at all. What’s crazy is that the industry isn’t working together already to make everything on your list happen. The only reason something wouldn’t be possible is if it’s not financially viable, but nothing on your list fundamentally has this problem.
The Disney issue requires a lot more theaters to refuse to bend the knee, and stop showing Disney movies.
@@mageslime They don't need to stop showing Disney movies completely, but they shouldn't be obligated to keep showing movies to empty theatres. If Disney's take is from ticket sales it's not really benefitting them either so I wonder why they do it. If the movie is popular and people are buying tickets the theatre will continue to show it and both parties benefit. There just doesn't need to be a contract for X number of screenings.
I’d go to your theater Dan. Absolute legend
@Maghavan Nah he is an absolute legend (at least on basis of his cinema administration)
As a manger at an Alamo Drafthouse, it felt very good to watch this video! Thanks for your insight Dan, there’s no doubt that premiere experiences are the future of the industry.
same here! Feels good to be slightly ahead of where I hope the industry is going
I went to the one in Austin and it was great, the movie was Dumbo, which was meh, but the comfort was great.
Dan, you're spot on about limiting trailers. I was at a screening of "Elvis" in July and an old guy got up and stormed out cursing when the AMC Nicole Kidman ad started. He was ranting about "just start the f***ing movie already!" While hilarious in retrospect, he did have a point.
There’s exactly 23 minutes of trailers/ads :(
He probably smashes the skip button like crazy and misses it in real life.
I work at a local theater in my area and luckily my workplace enforces a lot of the things that you mentioned in this video that the big chains don’t. Cosplaying is encouraged and I’ve done it multiple times, we do special screenings of films, this October for example we’re doing a special screening of a horror film (Shining, Lost Boys, etc.), for every week of the month till Halloween. While it’s not perfect, it certainly doesn’t feel like you’re part of a conglomerate machine. Been there three years and I’m glad to be there.
This video makes my heart so happy. As someone who helps run a movie theater and constantly is throwing ideas around to and with my owner I feel very seen and heard right now
Show the owner this video!
There needs to be more midnight screenings of cult classics.
Rocky Horror Picture show is a special showing with others in a theater. Honestly the best theater experience I’ve been to
Totally agree. Seeing Jaws, ET, and The Conversation in theaters are some of my favorite movie experiences. Not sure how much money those classic releases would bring in but it’d be pretty incredible just speaking as a movie fan. That said I think the Jaws and ET re-releases made some cash.
Before the pandemic my local theater did a 11:30pm show once a month and for only $5
Our cinemas here (Western Australia) had to start screening whatever they could get their hands on during the pandemic because we were one of the few places in the world was fully open for business (thanks to be being the most isolated capital city on the planet and a closed border). So they started playing original Star Wars, Top Gun, concerts, even ballet performances all sorts of stuff. It was great!
yup.
Expanding up on this, in my youth I liked it when a new franchise movie comes out there would be a theater here (long since gone) that would have a movie marathon of prior movies in the series leading up to the premiere (sometimes a true marathon all the same day, other times one or two screenings a night for a week prior). Used to see this a lot with the Star Trek films.
I really like the idea of major theater chains like AMC playing more "legacy" movies. Recently, my wife and I watched 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' on HBO Max. It would have been fun to go to the movies and watch it like we were teenagers again.
There should be anniversary showing. LIke the recent Godfather Fathom event, many people have not seen the movie on the big screen before.
I would love to see T2 or Star Wars trilogy in 3D.
With 100 years of cinema, there should be 52 movies worth rewatching on the big screens. But I guess the theaters and studios need to work out who gets how much.
Love the idea of putting streaming stuff on the big screen. Some of it might need some slight modifications but then the quality of modern shows would really have a way to shine through. In your review of Andor for example you mentioned how the first three episodes are basically a full on movie and I absolutely agree. It would be trivial to cut them together and actually make it that movie for an event in cinemas.
Yes! Even though I have Disney+, I would gladly pay up to $10 to watch the first three episodes of "Andor" on a big screen. And future episodes.
Theater chains are rigid and uncreative. Any segment that acts this way suffers. Streaming movies have looked good for a while now, ever since they started doing stuff in 4K, that stuff could have been in theaters immediately.
I would love to watch the Stranger Things series finale on the big screen.
I work in a movie theater and any day I’m working (or when a new show I’m interested in airs) I come in 3 hours early and watch shows with a ps4 hooked up to the projector ever sense the middle of Mandolorian s2 and it’s amazing. Just watching the first 3 episodes of Andor like a movie was just breathtaking. It would definitely be worth paying for if I couldn’t set it up myself.
@@jasonmaggard6674 I used to work in a movie theater and would often thread up our upcoming films and watch them by myself when we weren't open.
Fun vid, good ideas. My addition would be to restore the midnight release. It was so cool when I was a kid/young adult to see the movie before it came out with people that cared enough about the movie to come at midnight. Now movies just come out a day earlier than they say they will and it feels like the least special thing ever.
I agree with you that the midnight releases were fun and special for people who really cared about those movies. I would love to see it return, but that being said, I don't think there's a major draw if 1 theater has a midnight release meanwhile, you can just see the film in another theater at 8pm. Also, a lot of theater employees may not be interested in working those late hours (not all are big movie buffs). That being said, I still hope it comes back someday.
The pre show/trailer’s at my theater are 30-32 mins before every single movie. I go twice a week
Me too. Went and saw “See How They Run” earlier this week and the start time said 7:20. I showed up at 7:30 and still sat through 15 minutes of trailers. Can’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen the stupid “Smile” Trailer! If I have to watch that Nicole Kidman ad I’m gonna scream...
holy shit!!!
I loved the idea of having something like a Behind The Scenes after the movie is a super cool idea. I loved how there was something with Kevin Smith after the end of Clerks III. I absolutely loved it.
The problem is that, these days, BTS featurettes are glorified puff pieces that barely tell you anything about the film. With the exception of a handful of distributors (Criterion, 20th Century Fox pre-Disney, Anchor Bay, Vinegar Syndrome and a few others) that have extensive budgets set aside for bonus material and preservation, the whole Blu-Ray bonus trend has been that of a glorified marketing reel. It also (generally) cuts into the number of showings that can be made per day -- very few people (in my experience) stay to the end of the credits or want to sit through 20 minutes of bonus fluff at the beginning of a film.
I'd love to add to the special screenings idea by saying more theaters should offer them of top movies for certain groups of people, similar to your rowdy version. The family screening where little kids and babies are allowed to make noise and pace, sensory friendly with quiet noise and higher lights (these two ideas are often combined together now which inherently makes them not sensory friendly), a screening with English subtitles, a screening with subtitles or dubbed in a common local language, and a screening with Audio Descriptions for those with visual impairments. These are entire communities and their friends and families who choose to spend their money elsewhere because their loved one is otherwise not included.
My local theatre (Emagine) luckily does a lot of these. Automatic masking of the screen, only recliner chairs, decent rewards program, good discounts on off times, they bring your food to your seat, the embrace theme nights, multiple popcorn sizes and an adult can get a kid combo. They also rotate in a lot of old blockbusters weekly at discounted rates.
I agree with everything you've said here. As someone who has worked at a theater, I unfortunately know that much of the problems at big chains come from people who really don't care about Movies. As a movie lover it's hard to remember that a lot of people don't see going to the movies any differently than going bowling or to the bar or something. We need more places like the Alamo Drafthouse that are truly for movie lovers only
You immediately qualified your ideas as potentially being too "pie in the sky" - but I honestly don't know that any of them are. All really solid, and dare I say, necessary changes.
I'd also love to see intermissions make a return! And more classics getting a re-release. 👍
5:23 I really thought that was exaggerated til I worked in a movie theater. It’s actually insane how much of a chokehold Disney has with these contracts keeping their movies on screens for a really large number of time
Honestly virtual events and live streams alone could revitalize theaters. Imagine if you could go to a theater to see the hall h panel, evo, or a super popular concert/fest live stream. Plus stuff like Super Bowl parties would be amazing. Also maybe do late night or weekday night showings of streaming movies. I would totally watch a Netflix movie on the big screen. Especially the good ones. Or a marathon of Wanda vision or some thing like that.
I definitely don't understand why there are not more sport events or conventions. I guess they don't want to share the money. If D23 or DC Fandom or Comic Con, were in theaters, they would be making more money.
Totally agree on "masking the screen". Glad to know I'm not the only person who noticed that. I'd love to see more movies theaters get into retro programming. I hate that Disney keeps their catalog including fox movies from being in theaters.
The only issue with masking is the DCP’s can only be projected in flat or scope, so anything other is going to be masked regardless or not
IMO if a filmmaker uses an unconventional ratio then they accept that it might not look as good in most theatres. But the least a theatre can do for these films is zoom in the projector to fit.
Eg. Tenet is a 2.20:1 film that was printed on a 1.85:1 DCP. However when that was projected on my local widescreen, there was black space on all sides. Technically the DCP was filling the full height of the screen, but the theatre needed to zoom in so that the actual picture reached the edges. The DCP apparently even came with explicit instructions to do this, however they were largely ignored by big chains.
As a college student, I used to watch at least 5 movies in a week!!! Yes 5! minimum. This went on for a decade until it became financially impossible for me to afford this hobby. I never cared about what movies I'm watching. I saw anything & everything. I just loved the experience of being inside a cinema hall & forget everything else that's going around in the world.
This habit forced me to watch movies from other languages, as I ran out of mainstream Hindi/Eng movies to watch every week. Discovered new Cinema from different regions along the way. Fought with managers & forced them to include prints with English subtitles. I was an addict by choice. Also, because I could afford to be one. Early morning show prices were anything between 40 to 70 INR (
Loved these ideas from Dan:
-3 trailers cap before the screening
- Themed food menu during the winter period of the year; Potato Stew ~ Lord of the Rings etc.
- Adding more Indie films when the blockbusters has less capacity/viewers
Got some bad news for you Dan. The enforcement person already exists. At my place the job is called "Theatre Checks." They walk into the theatre, look at the crowd, walk across the screen, check the sheet, and then leave. If they see a problem, they can get a manager who can enforce the rule. The problem is that the person rarely ever will get into conflict, or even notice someone on their phone or someone talking. I am willing to approach and tell people to get off their phones or to stop talking, in the times where I can see it, but I am the only one at my place who does.
As for food, I can tell you that changing portion sizes is not going to happen. I once suggested to a higher up to make a kids like combo designed for adults since so many of them buy kids combos for the size and it has never happened. Why this won't happen is, as someone who cleans theatres, I can tell you that most people don't even eat the food they buy. I can't tell you how many times I throw out nearly full large bags of popcorn, and large drinks where the person could not have taken more than a sip. The worst for this is nachos. Half the time people buy them and don't eat them. Like at all. I've often thought that we should just sell people a piece of paper saying they bought nachos, because at least it would save the food. If we offered better portions, people would pay less money for those and not buy the bigger sizes they know they are not going to eat. Losing money for the company.
I love seeing trailers in theatres.
Agree with #5 a lot. I feel like theatres are too much on autopilot and need to get out of that mindset.
As someone who loved a lot of the smaller, more original films in August, I can tell you that people don't go to those movies. It's sad but it's true. There is a theatre in my downtown that shows a lot of those smaller films like MARCEL and EMILY THE CIRMINAL, and I can tell you that I saw the previous films I mentioned there in almost empty theatres. Not having these films wide is partly a studio problem, but I don't think smaller, niche films would get people into the theatre.
I am going to be getting booth/projector training soon, so I will look into the masking thing. Wouldn't be surprised though to find out that our masking doesn't work anymore.
Knowing how many introverted people I work with, I don't see #10 happening. I would do it, but I don't have time to get into conversations with people. Movie theatres are a very time sensitive job. More than you might realize. You're rushed to serve people, rushed to clean theatres. There is just not enough time.
Some things I would add here is more rooms for functions. A newly renovated Landmark theatre in Calgary I went to had party rooms not just for kids, but for adult functions too. Another is comfortable seating for every theatre. Theatres are doing this now, but there is nothing better than sitting in a Lazy Boy type recliner with heated seats. Another idea I had, though it is really pie in the sky, why not show movies with a live band doing the soundtrack? I know that would be hard to coordinate, but it would be fun to see.
I work for a large chain and the lack of training for the projectors is aggravating. I know what to do if something goes wrong with a show, but calibration and mask changing? I don't think anyone in my theater knows how to do that. I'm not even sure the curtains move anymore if they ever moved, and my theater is over 20 years old and has never been updated. I honestly think they are strictly decorative. And don't get me started on the safety equipment for changing bulbs. I refuse to do it, because the only jacket we have is a size small, and I am not.
Even worse, one of our main projector's color gradients went bad. There was a big yellow blob of color in the middle of the screen. The projector is so old, the manufacturer doesn't make the parts anymore. The repair staff for the company had to go to an old warehouse and pull parts of retired projectors until they found one that worked. It took weeks. I was actually glad we had Minions 2 for so long because we kept that movie showing only on that projector to hide the distorted color.
Unfortunately, we now have another projector going bad in the same way and no expectation of a speedy fix.
Every suggestion has its good points but the biggest problem is man power and money. The big chain I work for wants butts in seats but is unwilling to do any kind of outside-the-door advertising. They only care about ad sales and app sign-ups. My theater's main sign was rendered useless by a change in the entrance to the mall it is located in. I asked my regional if there was we could get flags to put out on the main road to remind people where we were. He said it wasn't necessary because people would find us online. It took a lot of restraint for me to not laugh in his face.
I worked at a landmark and the position dan mentioned certainly doesn't exist. I did theatre checks every 30 minutes but that's not what I believe Dan is advocating for. His version is more of a security guard that is actually trained to Escort people out and is constantly in the theatre watching and listening. Basically theatre checks but specialized.
You'll be pleased to know concert halls are already doing the last one. See e.g. Royal Albert Hall which has dont LOTR, Star Wars and Superman screenings with live orchestra
One thing I would like to see is the return of second-run movie theatres. I don't mind paying full price for highly-anticipated movies early in their run, but if there was a movie I had some interest in, but not enough to pay full price, it was nice to know I could always wait a few weeks and see it for less than five dollars. I used to go to the Vogue in Chula Vista. It was a single large screen and you could often see up to three movies for just one price.
As a manager at an Alamo Drafthouse I got some tickles of pride watching this video. Hoping that we can keep bringing in people for better experiences. The only thing I saw any sort of hiccups with was the streaming point. As I'm sure you're aware, licensing and acquiring licenses from studios (ESPECIALLY Disney/Fox) is nigh on impossible, at least in my market. My feeling is that if that were to become a thing that happens, the way theater chains and studios negotiate those licenses and contracts would have to change.
I understand your point, but this is win/win for the theaters and studios. They just have to work out a deal. They are just leaving money on the floor. Sad.
Here in Australia, some cinemas have memberships deals. The more often you buy movie tickets, the more loyalty points you get accumulated, which later can be exchange to purchase food or movie tickets in the future.
In Japan, most cinemas have a great gift shop section, which also sells some movie related merchandise only available in the cinema. (I got a few Marvel / Disney medals.)
I just love how much Dan cares about this. I could have listened to his ideas for much longer because his passion was so compelling.
Really like this series and as someone that worked in a cinema for quite a few years a lot of what you said really isn't that unreasonable. Though I worked in a big chain cinema I was surprised just how much depended on the managerial team and importantly the culture. Cracking down on people that disturb the film has an impact, and frankly it tends to mean that less of those people come, or they just don't fool around (I mean there are the summer kid film matinees, but we are only human). Because you're right going to the cinema is expensive and and if someone has spent a chunk of change on tickets and are then out on the street having not seen the film they learn pretty fast.
All excellent points/ideas. As someone who loves seeing movies on the big screen, I really do hope they go for the "experience" more. Remember when Friday openings used to actually happen on Friday at 12:01 AM? That was fun, now it's not special because you can catch a 7pm showing on Thursday. Dark Knight was sold out at midnight so we bought the 3am showing and it was a blast waiting with other Batman fans. Pre-pandemic (or pre-Disney buying Fox) Harkins and AMC here used to do movie classics one night a week for $5. My nephew got to see Jaws, Superman, and more for the first time on the big screen. Would love to see more classics available.
I think enforcement is number 1. Another idea I'd recommend is being open to letting customers reserve a private screening and advertise it more. Not just for current movies in theaters but a "Bring Your Own Blu-ray" type of idea where you can watch one of your favorite movies on the big screen.
I did this about a year ago. Reserved a private screen of the animated movie Redline with about 20 friends and family and everyone loved the experience so much that most of them come to this specific movie theater more often now. Prior to this experience they didn't even know this theater existed.
That gets into a lot of legal questions. Does the studio have to get paid for what you are showing? And what if I charge people for these showings - my own "Fathom event"? Maybe they are not my friends or family, but customers? I can show the "not special edition" of Star Wars - I am sure there are people who want to see it on the big screen. Will Disney or George Lucas shut us down? Hahaha...
Being able to see episodes, most importantly finales, of shows like Stranger Things or The Boys on the big screen would be spectacular.
Enforcement would be key for me returning to theaters regularly. I used to go weekly, but had three movie showings in a row where I had to ask someone to put their phone away. I don't enjoy the conflict this causes and have stopped going to the movies except for rare instances.
That's unfortunate. I haven't had a single any interruption I can remember in the past 10 years. I'm surprised this is an issue for other people.
Same for me. There's always someone either on their phone, talking etc. Due to this I only went to very late showings when there were fewer people, and then pretty much stopped going altogether even before Covid.
I'm not sure why my local movie theater started doing this, but they have several (I've counted 4 at times) employees just milling around the lobby and when you walk in the door they immediately come up to you and offer assistance. Keep in mind that, as of two months ago, the only employees around were the concessions people, an occasional manager, and the custodians. They only really got a consistent ticket-taker about a month ago (who stands at the entrance to the tunnels, not the lobby). So when you walked in, if you needed any assistance or had to buy a ticket from a person (because of a discount voucher, etc), you had to stand in the concession line to get help.
Now, I'm not complaining about the fact they've hired customer service employees; it's just alarming that you have barely entered the lobby and your eyes are still adjusting to the light and you immediately have an employee in your face asking to help. Just the other day, I walked in and was pulling my tickets up on the phone and, before the door behind me had closed, an employee attempted to pull me over to the desk, saying something like "I can help you over here." I understand the need for customer service, but I want the option to seek it out myself if I need it, which I didn't. It is even stranger since these employees could be utilized elsewhere, in either concessions or custodial. In another instance, my movie ended and as I walked into the lobby I saw a custodian walking briskly to my screen by themselves while the 3 or 4 employees were hanging out in the lobby doing nothing. And I don't think I've ever seen more than 3 concessions employees, and there usually is just 2.
I used to be a manager at a modern independent theater. I vibe with everything you said. All of it. We loved having the staff dress up and we should've done more of it. Our concessions prices were noticeably lower than competitors (and still we could've made more money by selling portions like you said).
I love this video! Along with masking the screen, theatres need to be aware of what movies are playing next to each other for sound reasons. I saw "Mary Poppins Returns," which isn't a quiet movie by any means, in a theatre next to "Aquaman" with the latest Dolby surround sound technology. Our movie was completely drowned (sorry for the pun) out, and the walls were literally shaking it was so loud. It gave me a migraine!
Why I don't go anymore. Audio is almost always too loud.
Dan, you're genius. I support all your changes and improvements 100%. And if any of the Theatre execs out there have any sense, they'd listen to your recommendations and introduce your positive changes to improve and enhance the cinema going experience 👍
i work in a theater and totally agree with the enforcement thing. you hit the nail on the head though, usually during a shift there’s far too few of us to constantly be patrolling the theaters. we try our best but we can’t catch everything, and a lot of the time the disrupters will see us walking and patrolling and keep quiet until we leave. can’t tell you how many times people have left their theater after the movie was already over and then complain that someone was on their phone the entire time. we always try to tell them that if there’s a problem come and see us and we will happily kick them out but it can’t make up for the lost experience. totally a lose lose for everyone involved.
great ideas! Especially the event idea. I remember the sing-along version of The Greatest Showman....more of that would be so fun!
Love the comment on masking. My father used to be a projectionist in the 60/70s (days of actual multi-reel films) and their pre-roll ads/trailers all ran in a smaller horizontal size than the feature. The curtains started closed, and opened to the width of the ads/trailers, and then opened to the edge of the feature such that the curtains were always exactly at the edge of the projected picture for the first frame. They would be docked pay if the curtains opened prematurely, too wide, or any image (ads/trailers/feature) was projected onto the curtains. The owner used to frequently and randomly drop in outside his normal working hours to check on the quality of the projection and the rest of the operations.
I had a great experience on National Theater Day. I saw Jaws on IMAX, even though I own the Blu-ray. That’s what brought me to the theater again after avoiding a theater for months.
I love all your ideas. One thing that some theaters do need to do, and it a challenge based on their income, but some screens need to be updated. I watched The Batman at one of my local theaters and the night scenes were sometimes near impossible to see what happened. I went to a different theater to see it again and was able to see everything I had missed before. I understand it’s expensive, but unfortunately, since that experience, I don’t want to go back to that theater.
There's a theater chain called Harkins that has a thing called Tuesday Night Classics; every Tuesday at 7pm, you can see a different classic movie for $5
Great suggestions. I would add, and it was mentioned somewhere in this section, to add intermission for movies more than 2 hours long. Give them time to stretch, go to the bathroom, or get something from the concessions. Also, make like Alamo and expand your menu outside of just popcorn, chips, and soda. And make sure IMAX screenings are in fact IMAX screenings not Lie-Max if you will. Work with the IMAX company(?) to ensure compliance. If there's a movie that "must be seen in IMAX" I don't want to waste my money watching it in Lie-Max. I found out some AMC theatres in my area with IMAX screenings aren't really projected in IMAX so I had to cut down on the locations I visit. And recliner seats as well. Oh and maybe a place to charge phones without having to leave the room? Might be a hazard though.
After moving to Columbus, Ohio, I finally have a favorite movie theater chain: Marcus Cinema. It's a smaller, family owned, Midwestern theater chain. Things I love about it. 1) They have super comfy reclining leather seats. 2) They've had reserved seating since at least 2015, so you can plan ahead. 3) If you have their rewards card (which is free), you can order online with no extra charge. 4) On Tuesdays, every movie is $5. This is very effective. The whole parking lot fills up. 5) They run different series where they put older movies in theatres on special days. Every month is a different thing. 6) They have a wide variety of movies playing. Big ones in their knock-off IMaX, sure, but you can watch Indie films and Indian films and all kinds of things.
I love this theater chain and the one particular theater so much. They have my sworn loyalty. I don't get out very much because of my kids, but when I go to the movies, it's always to the Marcus.
Went to a movie a few hours ago. Movie was supposed to start at 6:40pm. After ads and trailer it started at about 7:10pm. Usually it is 40 minutes, so not bad, still too long though. Then a family brought a baby, the largest baby carriage I have ever seen and a toddler. The carriage blocked the way in and out for that rows stadium seating. Then that baby and toddler yelled the entire movie. Since it was "The Color Purple" I am sure the kid was bored out of their mind. When a employee came in they just ignored the kids.
I am an Unlimited member, but I am getting really tired of other people in the theater.
In response to the masking the screen point, I like the idea, but it's pretty astounding how many movies these days change between different aspect ratios almost constantly throughout the actual movie. In fact, I absolutely love Dan's rant about this in one of the Transformers movies on Honest Trailers Commentaries.
Things my local theater does to earn a bit more moolah: birthday parties for kids (never went, don't know exactly how they function) and partnerships with some of the restaurants in the shopping mall, where you buy a meal for two for an "X" amount of euros and in that price is also included 2 movie tickets (I also didn't try this, but I've seen the price and it's competitive, it's cheaper than buying two meals and two tickets separately).
My theatres offer this too. If there are restaurants around where the theatre, there is usually at least 1 offering a movie deal.
A very thoughtful and with that, clever list you put together Dan! I agree with all of it. Theatres need to go back to making the moviegoing experience an experience!
Love your suggestions, Dan!! Just to add my 2 cents: One of the BEST times I ever had at a theater was just a few years ago when Fathom had a 60th Anniversary mini-marathon of Twilight Zone episodes. Make that an annual thing, say, around October and I’d def be in line. Anyway, more special events like that would, I think, certainly benefit.
Our local Picturehouse Cinema use to make going to the cinema an experience. We had quizzes and Parties before the midnight screening of Force Awakens or Endgame or themed screenings but sadly these events are becoming less and less since cineworld bought them. They still do things like decorate their lobby in line with the big cinemas release for that week or do themed cocktails/meals at their restaurant. They also do special screenings. Sadly they are now the most expensive cinema in the city, so people go to Vue or Odeon instead
I love the idea of having employees who love movies be encouraged to show that love. At the theater I go to, there is an employee who sings the directions to your screen when he takes your ticket. Makes my day every time.
16:40 masking. That drives me nuts sometimes. Very important point for me.
The better contrast and less distraction you get, makes a huge difference.
But one thing where it doesn't work is IMAX. More and more movies have changing aspect ratios.
I want them to start showing short films before features more too. It was so nice to experience a small short film before a feature. I would also like to see the return of intermissions. I can’t say how many times I’m dying to ho to the bathroom in a theater but have to wait till the end of the movie.
We really enjoy going to specialty theaters that serve real food and alcohol. For Crawdads, we traveled past probably 6 regular theaters to go to a foody theater (plus the nicer seats) and it was well worth the 1 hour drive
I work at Cinemark. We have a postion known as “Super Usher”, basically your concept of an enforcement officer. The job is patrolling every theater four times per showing; once during the previews to make sure the lights are off and the screen is working, two during the showtime, and once towards the end. We just pop our heads, look around the theater, and if there’s behavior that needs correcting, we’ll try and step in and do something. However, we have basically no training for this position. It’s just a shift one person gets assigned and are expected to do all day. There’s no specific requirements for it, and we’re just expected to be able to handle everything. Usually what happens when there’s a problem is we just radio a manager and have them take care of it. Ironically, the enforcement for the enforcement officers isn’t that strict. But we do try. There is an effort to make the experience as good for the audience as possible, and that’s a credit to the managers who run things. I work Super Usher a lot, and I try my best to make sure there’s as little disruption as possible, but when you’re dealing with a whole group of teenagers, things can get stressful.
I have this idea and people are allowed to steal it, its called Interactive Movie Nights. Everyone acts as rowdy as they want during certain pre defined points. Not like violent or stupid but check it, there will be an applause sign above the screen. When the applause sign lights up at key moments people are allowed to go nuts with joy, screaming, cheering and crying if they want. It turns off there is a beep and it says QUIET PLEASE. Its going to be for fan favorite classic movies. Say when the Stay Puff goes down in Ghostbusters everyone cheers in unison, when the DeLorean goes back in time you can clap. Iron Man snaps his glove, go nuts. Its like giving people the experience of seeing a film for the first time, or like going back to the past where people would cheer at things instead of being like "hum drum I saw it before". It could bring a lot of fun and passion back to the cinemas back when movies were more fun community experiences and not soulless crap.
CLEANLINESS CLEANLINESS CLEANLINESS (surprised it wasn’t mentioned)
There is an incredibly simple solution to having too many trailers and other things before a movie. Just have something playing before the movie starts. If the movie starts at 6 you can have trailers start playing at 5:30 for the people who want to watch them. That way the people who enjoy the trailers get an extra experience for showing up early and those who don't know when the movie actually starts.
I'm with you on more theatres showing smaller movies, I didn't get to see Everything Everywhere all at Once at the cinemas because it wasn't showing in my town. I spoke to the manager and he was just as annoyed because a lot of the staff wanted to see it too but because it's a small 3 screen venue the higher level management didn't think it was worth showing.
Here, in Chile, there's a HUGE emphasis on Costumer Loyalty Programs. With each purchase you accumulate points to exchange for tickets or food, but the most important focus is pricing: Because I go once a week, I only paid around 3 USD per screening. If you want I could tell you more about it, but I think a strategy with flexible pricing is the way to go.
What I want to see movie theaters do is offer private rooms with a nice projector + sound system and let people pick their own films from a huge catalogue.
I love these ideas. The one question I have is how masking would work with movies by directors like Christopher Nolan where they will sometimes alternate between Imax and regular aspect ratios.
You just wouldn't mask it. Not exactly rocket science
@@32fps Nah I want to see the masking try and keep up 😂
I was an usher for a Regal theater. I very rarely had to tell anyone to be quiet. I did have to kick someone out during a Harry Potter movie and a manager had to get involved and I thought the customer was going to fight.
I was an assistant manager at a movie theater for a long time and I have said LITERALLY ALL OF THESE THINGS. My gosh. *especially* the hosting live events-- sporting events, game nights, specialty screenings, clubs. Don't wait for people to make reservations with you, partner with some outreach groups to make events for your customers
My local movie houses could also use some regular deep cleaning and air filters.
Been watching for years and I think you should open a theater cause your plan is fantastic!
Great ideas. Especially cutting back on trailers. It's not that I don't like them but we all have busy lives and adding 30 minutes to an already long film, plus arriving early, plus travel times adds up to a large time commitment. That 2.5 hour movie now takes up half my day.
On using theatre's to show different events: another benefit is there are many live events that take place in doldrum seasons for moviegoing. Super Bowl is usually in February when the main stuff playing is Oscarbait, many eSport events are in late summer-early fall. Plus it's easier to slot in a one-and-done experience.
I know for a fact that when the Nationals were in the World Series a couple years ago, most all of my friends would've gone to a movie theatre to watch the series
as a theatre employee i really wish we could embrace dressing up for movies and doing special screenings. we’re halfway there but like we got a whole week of harry potter playing so let’s embrace this and have fun with it and let our staff wear hp stuff and actually let then know they can and are encouraged to do so. most of the time its maybe one or two people from management who even get excited. we’re a movie theater not a corporate office. let’s have some fun. theaters are suffering as it it so why not try something new. ive had so many customers compliment my wardrobe for screenings. we are doing a show of Mean Girls on Oct 3rd and id love to see us do SOMETHING for that with wearing pink
I worked as an employee and eventually assistant manager for a chain theater for several years. Enforcing no talking/ no phones is one of the hardest things to remedy unfortunately, and that is mostly cause it is not prioritized.
First and foremost, 16-18 kids telling grown adults how to behave rarely ends well. The disruptive guests almost never own up to their mistakes, and often ignore any warnings or get super defensive.
Kids weren't any better, as disruptive teenagers getting kicked out of a theater often led to angry parents bursting into the lobby insisting their kids could never have been the issue.
The ushers (a title that just means cleaning crew now) technically had a set schedule of doing "theater checks" every so often. Theater checks consisted of pacing slowly down the walk way, checking on both the audio/visual quality & looking for guests on phones or talking. However, these checks were often ignored or reduced down to once a showtime. Sometimes because of lazy staff, but other times because these same employees were responsible for cleaning, and that was a larger priority. Especially when busy kids movies let out, they were a mess and all hands were needed.
Even when the required 3 checks per show were done properly, it was very easy for them to be timed at moments when the guests happen to not be disruptive in that instance.
I fully agree that having dedicated staff to monitor theaters would be the correct solution. However we would have killed for the budget to schedule extra regular staff as is.
I would also have loved for the same type of anti talking marking that Alamo has. I know we shouldn't need it, but having guests notified that theyll get kicked out with no refund for being disruptive is actually really helpful. It gives them no leg to stand on when they get defensive.
Yep, give me some enforcement and I'm there. I'm so tired of terrible experience after terrible experience. I've found myself going less and less.
I’m going to go a very simple route on the enforcement issue: Cell reception blockers install one in every auditorium and you cut out a huge amount of the nonsense right there. People would simply be unable to talk, text, check social media or play solitaire (I saw a 70 year old woman doing this during a movie just the other night) at all, removing the temptation to even pull out their phones and tablets.
I think this eliminates the biggest issue we face in theaters now and would be a far cheaper solution that payroll increases that come with staffing for the same purpose.
I don’t have an issue with theater ticket prices. I know we don’t all have the same options but my city has a second run theater where movies are $3.50 (somehow that theater is failing) and I have two local Cinemarks where I am a member of their cost-saving Movie Club. Add matinees and discount days to the mix and there are a lot of ways to save.
Aside from possibly cutting down the number of trailers shown before a movie, I think a solution could be just to start them earlier instead of waiting until ten minutes *after* the movie should have already started. Trailers run so long now that audiences are beginning to trickle in up to 20 minutes after a showtime, without having missed a thing.
Or...how about trailers for movies that aren’t releasing for a long time to come?? Openheimer. This trailer released a year before the film’s release date. Two months later I’ve seen this trailer probably fifteen times now. Seriously, do we even need to know what insignificant film is coming out next summer? I had no interest in it before I saw the trailer. Now I’m simply in open rebellion against it!
Limited release films... Do theaters think they’re doing anyone any favors by delegating hear independent and/or foreign films to showtimes in the middle of the afternoon on weekdays, or late-night screenings? I missed out on seeing RRR and Brahmastra this year because of this. Both played locally enough for me to have access to but the showtimes made them impossible to see.
Streaming? That I flat out refuse to embrace or support.
I like your points but as someone who worked in a cinema for 13 years and was running one up until earlier this year I can explain the counterpoints.
1. Cinemas are moving to a primarily kiosk experience. Roles that were filled by 3 - 4 staff 10 years ago are now being juggled ineffectively by 1. It would take months maybe even years for the word to get around about tougher management before the targeted audience would return to cinemas. On the other side of the coin you could alienate customers who prefer a more casual and flexible experience.
2. We tried lowering our price by about 25% and held on it for about 6 months. We saw no change to our admission trends and market share. Disney also calls the shots and any push back with them risked them limiting sessions or prevent us from putting advanced tickets on sale or them partnering up with a competitor and giving them free marketing. When it comes to concession prices, cinemas only increase prices when the supplier does. (Which happens about every 4 - 6 months). We had played around with smaller offerings and found that it neither hurt nor helped our SPA (sales per admission).
3. Ad revenue makes up another big slot of income for a cinema. The trailers are 100% political. Trailers that are picked and where they're placed before the feature is about "maintaining the relationship" with the distributor. Neglecting certain films can lead to the distributor withholding releases or being difficult.
5/6. All cinemas have their "bread and butter", some have a heavy family demographic and some have a heavy student demographic. Event screenings just don't work for every cinema. Our cinema would run revivals and event screenings often (at least monthly) and they would just be total flops (discounting a 4k session of 2001: Space Odessey). But other cinemas within the same chain would get decent success from them. Generally independent cinemas do better with revival screenings because multiplex brands attract more "mainstream" audiences.
9. Masking - totally agree but I guess the main problem is that the motor that runs the masking breaks down regularly and is costly to get a mechanic call out. Lots of new cinemas are now built without masking because money. Masking changes are automatic these days so I can guarantee if your masking is incorrect, the motor is either broken or doesn't exist. Most cinema staff wouldn't know how to manually open and close it either (there's usually some rope on the right hand side behind the curtain). In my experience the only people that care about the masking are the ones who remember how it "should" be. Younger people or staff that I worked with wouldn't even notice. So perhaps cinemas are just training people not to care (not just about masking but about a lot of things in the experience).
Totally agree with everything you said and I feel some of it is doable. I do feel there's a much bigger shift happening that's beyond changes in management though. It will be interesting to see what the movie going experience is like in 10 years time. Love the discussion you've started though.
In the UK they could lower the price of concessions or ensure they're consistently good quality. I go to the cinema all the time and it's so rare that I'll buy anything from the food/drink counter because I never know how stale the popcorn is going to be. I'm not paying a tenner for a quids worth of questionable popcorn and a fountain drink, or buying sweets (candy if you prefer) that are twice as expensive as it is in the shop I pass on the way to the cinema when I can just sneak them in. I'd rather not sneak them in, because I know that's how they make a lot of their revenue, but I know a lot of people who buy nothing from cinemas ever because it's a rip off. I've worked in hospitality, so I know there are costs beyond the product itself, but you have to provide value for money.
The movie theaters here in brazil many years ago tried to prohibit people from sneaking food but, thank god, people fought back, complained a lot to the customers thing, I forgot the name and the movies couldn't do that anymore, the cheapest combo is R$ 25, you can get so much more buy things and for more people at the supermarkets nearby the theaters. Going to the movies in brazil is for people with money to spare for sure.
As someone in the movie industry in the Netherlands, it's interesting to hear this from a different perspective. Here we do have a very succesful subscription model for 20 Euros for unlimited films, and the two biggest theatre chains both have one. It absolutely works and could work abroad as well. Furthermore, alternative content like concerts & other community activities are absolutely the future.
Make it easier to get help if you're experiencing a problem in the theatre. The way it is now, you have to get out of your theatre seat, walk around the theatre and try to get to someone who can help. Offer snack options that work for a variety of people, not just regular movie snacks. Special movie screenings with filmmakers or actors doings Q & A after the movie.
Also insane to me that my local theater refuses to put an imax style screen in when they have so much parking lot space to do so. Their closest competition is 25 min away, but even their own employees drive to that theater and pay for movies to go see films in imax
Great video and list as always Dan.
I would add one more thing and that would be a merch shop. If a chain like AMC made deals with pop culture companies like Funko/Lounge Fly, McFarlane, etc., and sold merch related to the big movie(s) in theaters, and split the profits, then that could be beneficial for both companies. I’d even add AMC exclusives, to generate customers coming in specifically for that item, like they do with most Cons.
Imagine if they sold T-Shirts, Backpacks, Notebooks, of a movie you just came out of. They already exist for chain retailers, so why not also sell in chain theaters?
That's a great idea!
That's a great idea. Buying a memento of a film you have just watched would be cool
8:25 I actually like movie trailers before movies but what I don't like is the general random adverts for cars or food etc
This might be the best thing that has ever been posted on this channel and needs to be shared with as many people as possible.
One thing I'd tweak about your #1 is I think theaters with multiple screens should do a "Phones Allowed" screen and a "No Phones Allowed" screen. Some people like the "Be loud" and "Get involved" vibe, like a Marvel movie or a horror movie where people yell at the screen. Some people like the "Shhh, the movie's on and this is not your living room" vibe (me). Then the enforcement rule needs only to be enforced in the theaters where that is posted.
Hadn’t thought of this but I agree!
I would change the model to have more mid-size and "small" viewing screens. You could have more intimate viewing experiences i.e. leather couches and it would also let you show more movies.
Working in the industry, I can tell you most of these are sadly a pipe dream but yeah I think committing to a lot of this would help. The current way is obv not cutting it anymore
Great breakdown. In my local market, Boston, The Coolidge Corner is very popular. They have fun screenings, interesting and unique releases, themed screening and local food vendors. Bringing down the corporate vibe of the chains is key.
This should be shown to every one in management at a movie theater. Absolutely essential
Your #1 is 100% correct. I don’t like spending top $$ ticket prices for a movie when the idiot in front of me is texting during the movie. It’s distracting, annoying and frankly…I can wait to stream the movie a few months later and have a better experience.
I am SO glad you mentioned all of these things. I just moved to Missouri to run a single screen theater on Route 66 and thankfully my boss is open to making a better experience. I've been doing exactly every single one of these steps you suggested and people are noticing.
My favorite theater (in the us) is my closest cinepolis. Ppl never ever talk everyone is always very mindful and polite, everything is always clean, recliners are actually comfortable and I can go in and out w/o a single communication w/ a staff member.
I miss Arclight so much. I've only been to theaters during the pandemic twice, and both times made me miss Arclight terribly.
Your suggestions are really great! Masking the screen is such a good point, it's a little thing but it makes a huge difference to the feeling of it being a special event. Something I'd add is more foreign movies. We have years of surveys and data showing that even people in rural areas of America are watching foreign stuff on streamers, when the industry still pretends that all Americans are scared of subtitles and foreign media isn't profitable. More offerings beyond the typical Hollywood fare could expand to underserved audiences and draw people interested in foreign films.
I agree with all your points but I'm ESPECIALLY glad to hear you suggest masking. I feel like I'm screaming into the void when I say I hate unmasked screens! Some people just don't seem to care...
As someone who's been working in at the theater industry for two years now, I can say that all of this is the dream. Having all of these things would make it so much easier. The depressing part is none of this would never happen
Going to live events in theaters have been excellent. My Alamo drafthouse was showing the Oscars the year Parasite won. It was wonderfully watching and getting the reactions from movie fans during the awards, and there were local comedians hosting the event and talking smack during the commercial break.
The worst part about no enforcement is that in order to get people to shut up, I have to get up and miss parts of the movie to get the attention of an employee.
I used to be an usher for Cinemark, and we always had a "theater checker" every shift who was a part of the usher crew. The designated theater checker for that shift spends the whole shift checking each and every auditorium for cell phone usage, bootleggers, talkative people, seating issues, etc. They check the auditorium about 3 times per show, and can always call for a manager or security officer if there's any significant customer dispute. We took our policy enforcement very seriously, but I understand that not very many theaters put as much effort into it as we did.
20-25 minutes of ads/trailers?! You're lucky! We regularly get 28m here at Cineworld in the UK. It's so frustrating. Most people know this, so arrive later, but some invariably arrive *too* late and so you often still get people walking in after the actual film's started.