I work for a small indy theatre and only have a few staff and older equipment, but I feel that our emphasis is more presentation oriented than some of the bigger chains that try to dazzle patrons with arcades and restaurants in the lobby and let the focus drift away from the on screen experience.

I see some members here who do work for large megaplex's and care greatly about their presentation, but am sorry to say that this is not the impression that I get when I visit some local theatres run by the big corporations(no names, but their initials are AMC)

Equipment wise, I can get a better image out of my WW2 era centurys than I've seen any where else, and because I don't have all the fancy equipment and shiny new toys, I get a great sense of accomplishment from my job.

Of course the larger theatre was the first purpose built Todd AO theatre worldwide, and therefore after 43 years still looks extremely modern, with little refurbishments.
Projection is the major task, people come here to see a film.
We are tempted to go back to x-over projection, as this together with skilled (union) operators would ensure high class presentations, but I believe we will soon be called old fashioned.
Some years ago, I talked to patrons that said, we know who's preparing meals at our local restaurant, so we know whom to blame, if the taste isn't allright. The same applies to you folks, we like to return here.
I believe better presentation makes a difference, and is not depending on modern equipment, except sound.
And sound does matter. If you get away from 2 way boom box speakers with biamping to real 4 way systems, correctly set up, you'll notice a huge difference. Why do we still install electronically "corrected" and biamped 2 way systems in most theatres, even with a wrong type of hf horn? Not for quality, just for price.

I saw "Close Encounters" and "Apocalypse Now" on (each film's) opening night at the Zigfeld in NYC. There was a big crowd; it was cool... and that was a great experince.
I recently saw "Sixth Sense" in a small theater with only a few (100 or so) people, and that was cool, too.

(I feel like I'm quoting that song from the group Everclear..) I've seen a film ("The Sting") run by a guy doing 20 min. changeovers with 1932 Centurys and carbon arcs. Nine months later, that film went out as perfect as when it came in. I saw a film destroyed on it's first showing by a really nice Norleco AAII and AW3 platter because it was threaded just a little bit wrong.

I knew a guy who kept a perfect booth, but insisted on using that opaque tape.

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

We do have brenkerts, but not for 35mm projection, our Brenograph FT, and our follwow spot, model C14. All are still carbon's.

We don't quite have the spacious lobby you mentioned, but it does cover 2 floors which helps out. Our concession stand sells these really good cookies which are baked by a carytown bakery right up the street. They are about the size of a music CD! We change our films on a weekley basis, and we frequently show cartoon shorts before the feature. The really cool thing is our 15 min organ concert on the Wurlitzer before the Saturday shows! Nobody ever mentioned a good pipe organ in their ulitmate theater (hardly a necessity, but definitely adds to the presentation!)

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged