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This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
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Topic: EP 3 print problems
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John T. Hendrickson, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 889
From: Freehold, NJ, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 05-20-2005 07:23 AM
The following story appeared on the front page in the Asbury Park Press this morning: (www.app.com)
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Some Shore moviegoers needed translator droids
Published in the Asbury Park Press 05/20/05
BY ALISON WALDMAN
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
- advertisements -
EATONTOWN — In plain English, "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" fans were flummoxed when the actors suddenly switched to a foreign language.
Christopher Hansen of Red Bank was particularly upset. A big "Star Wars" fan, he'd bought his tickets — about $40 worth — nearly a month in advance, anticipating the much-ballyhooed Wednesday midnight premiere at the Loews Cineplex at Monmouth Mall.
He showed up at 8:30 p.m. to secure seats for himself, his daughter, his wife, a nephew and a friend. Clad in "Star Wars" T-shirts and munching on "Star Wars"-themed snacks, they waited for the 12:01 a.m. movie to begin.
Within minutes, they were enthralled with the special effects and story line. But during a scene when two of the movie's stars are caught in a force field, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi began to speak in another language.
"For a second there I am confused," Hansen said. "Then I realized . . . that this is not a "Star Wars' language, that's Japanese!"
"Stop the movie, stop the movie!" people in the audience chanted, as they realized the apparent mix-up, Hansen said.
The lights came on, and a theater manager flanked by two police officers explained to the audience of 250 — many decked out in "Star Wars" clothing and paraphernalia — that he did not know what happened and the movie would not continue.
A reel mystery
Later Thursday, John McCauley, senior vice president of marketing for the Loews chain, explained that a reel of the movie — which is distributed to theaters on multiple reels that have to be spliced together — had somehow been mixed up with a Japanese version.
Customers were advised they could try to squeeze into showings in the five other theaters where "Episode III" was being screened. Or they were offered a refund or a pass for another time, McCauley said.
"We had amazingly very happy, content people with the way the situation was handled," McCauley said. "We received very nice compliments from our patrons."
But those who were in the audience said the news was bitter at first for the many diehard fans who had gone out of their way to get tickets for the first showing.
"It almost got to a point of being scary because some people were very angry," said Louise Conover of Rumson, who brought her sons, Charlie and Teddy, and two of their friends. But Charlie, 12, a "Star Wars" fan since he was 5, said he was too upset to be startled by the crowd's reaction.
"Everyone got really angry, including me, because I had my hopes up for this movie, and I was really excited," Charlie said.
The four trekked to another showing, where they sat on the hard, sticky floor in front. And the boys had fun despite all.
"It turned out to be a really fun adventure, and I got to be a cool mom, so it's OK," Conover said. She thought the theater handled the incident as best as it could.
Around the country, moviegoers flocked to the dark side in droves, giving the final installment of George Lucas' tale a record-breaking midnight run. It raked in an estimated $16.5 million from 2,900 midnight screenings Thursday, double what the Oscar-winning "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in during its midnight showings in 2003.
Their plans went awry
But for Christopher Hansen, it wasn't such a happy ending. The 38-year-old said he had spent money on popcorn and snacks, hired a baby sitter for his youngest child and taken his 7-year-old daughter, Siobhan, out of school for a day so she could stay up late to watch the movie.
He said he had to argue for his refund — which he contends was not an option initially given — and was upset with the way the staff treated him and other audience members. He then headed home with his disappointed daughter sometime after 1 a.m.
"I wouldn't have been upset in the least bit if they were cool about it," said Hansen, who took his daughter to a show later Thursday.
McCauley said this was a single incident of a dissatisfied customer.
"We pride ourselves in treating our guests in a very high-level fashion," he said.
Charlie Conover said he thought the movie was great, although it is not his favorite in the series.
"I was real happy that I at least got to see the movie instead of watching it in Japanese," he said.
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You have to wonder if this was intentional? ![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif) It sounds like it was the second reel. Maybe someone familiar with the labs could comment for us. John Pytlak, are you reading this?
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Per Hauberg
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 883
From: Malling, Denmark
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 05-20-2005 02:43 PM
quote: Brad Miller
there is no reason whatsoever for not pre-screening a print to a paying audience to ensure the presentation will be of high quality
Not all the way right, Brad.
As mentioned elsewhere in these forums, The Lucas Piracy Panic reaches so far out, that all danish prints were split in two packets and delivered by different carriers - one the day before the premiere, the second few hours before launch, when everybody had films running, and no chance to run a test on the complete print. -As for me: DTS dropout just after the fanfare lead-text section, not getting on again during the whole film, and SRD on higest failrate most of the way - a single reel all out in Error. New print friday with exactly the same result.
That's 2 prints, 3 sets of dts discs and 3 different projectors doing the same shit !
Next thing will be a flyer from Lucasfilm, promoting digital equipment to avoid this kind of trouble in the future
We are not amused !
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Dylan Marchetti
Film Handler
Posts: 27
From: New York, NY
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted 05-20-2005 08:21 PM
Sure, this wouldn't happen with digital projection, but I would respond to Lucas by saying that with 35mm, I've never had a print lock up and go to 50 by 50 square pixels in the middle of the 54th showing, a Windows crash take out a sold-out Saturday night prime, or a tech say "we can get you back on screen once a part arrives from Sweden, it'll be about 10 days", all of which HAVE happened to me with DLP.
As for the SW fiasco, I can understand not pre-screening if your prints arrive less than three hours before show time, as we're still not able to violate that whole space-time continuum thing. But if they had just "sold out" a 9pm show, that would've given them more than enough time to run the print and notice the problem. And while they couldn't have replaced the reel in time, they could've easily solved the problem by interlocking a few houses and freeing up a good print.
This is just bad management, plain and simple.
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