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Author Topic: Technicolor Botches 'Life Aquatic' Delivery Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-24-2004 10:12 PM                     So, Life Aquatic was supposed to open on Christmas Day, Saturday. Its not the only film opening on Christmas Day but to my knowledges its the only film handled by TES opening Christmas Day. Fat Albert and Aviator are also opening Christmas Day and ETS was kind enough to deliver out prints on Thursday. But Technicolor? Well, god forbid they deliver anything more than one day early, and lord knows there won't be any problems trying to deliver things on Christmas Eve, despite the millions of packages in route and possible bad weather. Right. So I'll get to the point. Our print of 'Life Aquatic', and at least one other print that was meant for our Moundsview location in the Twin Cities, will not be delivered on Christmas Eve. It will not be delivered on Christmas Day. No, it is going to be delivered on MONDAY December 27. Why? I don't know the details, something about not being able to get a plane. In any event, the print is sititng in the depot in Ohio as I type this, where it will remain until early Monday morning. So yes, Technicolor, you suck, for as stupid and pointless as it is to have Saturday openers ETS managed to deliever three prints without problems and you couldn't deliver one. What's that you say? Its the sudios that won't let you deliver early? Well, I wonder what Disney will have to say when they found out you botched the delivery and they lost their entire opening weekend gross. Unecessary. This didn't need to happen.  |  IP: Logged Jason Black Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1723 From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 12-24-2004 10:18 PM                        Dustin, Niether would this have happened if our own damn booking department had the balls to stand up and request earlier delivery windows.. say, Wed. delivery.. Not that TES doesnt' have issues of it's own, but we really need to look in our own backyards as well... Sucks to be you.. I can hear the bitching now... and it'll be YOUR fault that the folks came out on Christmas day to see the film that YOU advertised and that YOU do not have.. therefore YOU have ruined their Christmas... Sucks dude...  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 12-24-2004 11:33 PM                     I wholeheartedly agree with Jason except for one clarification. Requesting won't do a damn bit of good. DEMANDING is the only way this nonsense will stop. This "day prior" delivery bs all started with Buena Vista and until a major player steps up to the plate and says "we will book no more of your movies unless you knock this off", it will never change. Remember, it is the THEATERS that get screwed by this. The theaters have to schedule extra personnel for Thursdays because of the last second delivery window and "next morning" pickup of films that are coming off. Then when a reel turns out to be defective, there isn't a chance in hell of getting a replacement before you have to deal with the first show or day's worth of customer complaints on it. Of course no major chain has what it takes to stand up against a studio, so you can kiss the whole idea goodbye. About the only thing you can do is stop playing X studio's trailers and putting up their promotional items. Sure it won't make any difference in getting your prints at a reasonable time, but it'll personally make you feel better. I know whenever I get a used print (since the odds are 1 in 1000 that the print will actually be in good condition once some schmuck has touched it), I enjoy not playing that studio's trailers or plugging their films in any way for the next 2 months. If the studio doesn't care enough about you, don't worry about them. So the real trick here is to give free admission to any other BV title in your complex for as long as your Acquatic prints have not yet arrived. Buena Vista screwed you, you gave it back, but the customers are happy and that's what matters. Turnabout is fair play, ya know.  |  IP: Logged Mark J. Marshall Film God Posts: 3188 From: New Castle, DE, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 12-24-2004 11:54 PM                    Hmm. Our print showed up mid day on Thursday, which was also obviously a mistake, but it worked out in our favor. Sorry to hear that yours didn't work out. I agree with everything Brad says. This crap needs to stop. The "grey can" people couldn't care less if we send their movies back three weeks later, and their movies include: Star Wars, Spiderman, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings, etc... so I don't see what the big freakin deal is here with BVD. As if they would EVER release a movie anywhere near as popular as any of the ones I just mentioned.  |  IP: Logged Mike Babb Master Film Handler Posts: 250 From: Norwich UK Registered: Jul 2002 posted 12-25-2004 12:16 AM                        It's been a couple years since I dealt with this on a weekly basis but I used to complain a lot since we screened everything and rejected bad reels or prints. I was told by Technicolor that the bookers had influence in getting them a day early but didn't use it. Another chain in the area was getting theirs a day earlier consistently. When I had a bad reel or print I was lucky to replace it before Saturday first show. Also along Brad's lines, whenever I had more than a print or two going out via Technicolor I used to call them and make arrangements for Monday pickup rather than the Friday pickup that was standard. I figure if they couldn't get us prints 'til Thursay it was a joke to expect several put together and screened and several more torn down and ready for the next morning. Even though we usually had them ready, it was the principle of the thing. The worst ever though is having a sneak print, putting a print together, screening, then having to tear it down only to get it back, put it together and screen it a couple days later.  |  IP: Logged Chris Brown Expert Film Handler Posts: 105 From: Fairport, NY, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-25-2004 01:49 AM                        Sorry to hear about your difficulties Dustin. We got lucky also with Life Aquatic...came in Thursday afternoon. Not being delivered until Monday is pretty ridiculous, though somehow not surprising. Mark raises a good point about how anal BVD can be about their precious "orange can" prints, even though most of the big releases are gray. Very strange indeed. Hope everything works out Dustin!  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-25-2004 05:31 AM                        I was supposed to get a print of National Treasure for my 8-screen to re-open on Christmas Day. It got caught up in all of this mess ... I called Technicolor to find out if I can just pick up one of the multiple prints coming off of screen here in Atlanta (2nd and 3rd prints) for Saturday openings ... answer = "no" - they can't authorize that without studio approval. So, rather then letting me circuit a print already here in town ... I had to wait on this thing ... luckily it showed up around 7pm ... my first show isn't until 9:40pm tomorrow.  |  IP: Logged Jason Gazaille Film Handler Posts: 46 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-25-2004 03:20 PM                     I find it interesting that people here hate Technicolor so much. I think it may have something to do with what region or market you are in. My Life Aquatic arrived Thursday as I called Tech on Monday and they confirmed that. All four of our ETS prints arrived Tuesday night. But it is ETS that doesn't have any integrity checks on their prints. It is ETS that lost one of our prints on a plane last year for a screening. It showed up 10 minutes til showtime. It is ETS that will drop off 4 9-reel prints at our door 7 hours before showtime and have our director of operations wondering why we are still screening prints at 8 or 9 in the morning. And reel replacements usually don't happen within the first 24 hours. Technicolor, on the other hand, replaced my Ladykillers reel in just 7 hours after I called them at 11PM. They called someone who worked at the lab at home to get us a reel at 7 in the morning so as to not have to cancel our 11AM show. Maybe things vary from area to area, but you can all have ETS and let me have all the orange cans. The customer support is far superior.  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 12-25-2004 04:21 PM                     If they want their print shipped back to them "next morning", just tell them that you would be happy to do that if they would pick up the extra labor cost. If not, then they will get it when you can get to it. Money talks, BS walks.  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 12-26-2004 01:09 AM                     We at our lowley 5 screen did not get Life Aquatic. But after not having The Incredibles for more then 3 weeks we get it back. But the fun part it didn't show up till mid day yesterday...but like everyone else, I feel for you. Quick story on this note We didn't get Hero when it opened, but a month after I beleive. Anyway the film didn't arrive on wednesday, no no not Thursday, not friday morning. around 5:10pm Friday evening. After calling Technicolor, they said oh yeah your print wasn't ready for pick up so we have to find you a new one. This is Friday morning. 2 hours later, first shows past. Call back and still no print. 4 hours past, they found one but there not sure when it will be here. They call back 6 hours past and say it will be there by 8. Luckily the guy driving was a speed demon or something cause it was here by 10 after and ready to go by 5:40...4 missed shows and one pissed off theater chain owner. Kurt  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-26-2004 01:22 AM                     So this afternoon we get a fax explaining the problem with the blizzard in Ohio and apologizing the inconvenience (it was a general fax, not specificaly to our theatre). Once again the fax stated that our print would arrive Monday morning and asked us to call TCD (Technicolor Cinema Distribution) to confirm a delivery time for Sky Courier so we can get the print on screen for the first show. Imagine my surprise then when our print arrived at 9:30 this evening. Too late to get it going for the last show tnoight but at least it will play on Sunday. I'm not sure if TCD put in the extra effort or if Disney threw its weight around to get the print there-given the earlier fax I would guess the latter.  |  IP: Logged Jason Gazaille Film Handler Posts: 46 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-26-2004 01:43 AM                     Kurt, ETS handled Hero-not Technicolor. Miramax switched over to ETS after Kill Bill vol. 2. The same week they were having trouble with Hero, my Superbabies print arrived less than 2 hours before showtime. They didn't even have the decency to let me know it would be late (by late I mean not with the regular delivery.) The lady on the phone when I called at 7:30 AM said there were many titles having dark starts (including Hero) because they didn't know what the hell they are doing. This is an ETS issue. Dustin, Do you think ETS would have gone the extra mile to get you your print? Maybe, but I don't think so. I needed a replacement R-5 for my Life Aquatic print. It arrived at 2:15 this afternoon, which was less than 12 hours after I called them. Technicolor has really helped me out, and I think they got your print to you as quickly as they could, and saved you a day of dark showings. I'm really sorry about the trouble you had though.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-26-2004 02:45 AM                     Well, since we're going by anecdotal evidence here, I can't remember the last time I had a screen go dark because of a late ETS delivery. Perhaps a better way to determine which service is giving better...service would be to conduct a study of the number times screens have gone dark over the last 5 years because of late delieveries. This would be something that NATO and the MPAA could fund jointly.  |  IP: Logged Chase Hanson Expert Film Handler Posts: 172 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Oct 2004 posted 12-26-2004 03:07 PM                     No Jason you live in a vacuum, Tech is with moderate regularity botching stuff. Break has a few goofs also, but nothing near as consistent. I think his particular "Life Aquatic" scenario is a compounding of issues, specifically Tech's asinine delivery process and the fact that a significant percentage of the Carriers domestic Hubs are under snow out conditions...during their highest volume of business in the entire year. If one were to write a recipe for disaster, those would be the three main ingredients.  |  IP: Logged Jason Gazaille Film Handler Posts: 46 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-26-2004 04:28 PM                     Chase, Bottom line...We've had dark screenings from ETS...at Mission Valley. I've almost had one in Vista. I've NEVER had a dark show from Technicolor. As I said before, this may change with what region you live in. My prints come from Ontario, CA. They arrive Thursday morning at 9:30 almost religiously. It took ETS 36 hours to replace 3 reels of Last Samurai for me last year. We gave out over 500 passes to those who came to that print's performances since the film was so long and people would have had to wait over 2 hours for the next one. They couldn't even tell us when the replacements would arrive. They were even later than the blizzard grounded print of Life Aquatic. I get trashed prints from ETS constantly. Brakewater is nothing more than a "local" company in Southern CA. ETS sub-contracts many different carriers to deliver their prints. So I'm sure the service varies. I'm sure Dustin is totally right. Just like the difference between two outlets of the same chain. Service varies. I know my history with Technicolor and ETS during the last 3 years and I'm merely stating such. Ask Roger or any of the other Brakewater guys about ETS. They will tell you. As far as living in a vacuum, Chase, you should look in the mirror.  |  IP: Logged

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