That Chapter 11, it's an expensive thing. . .

(To add insult to injury, last Friday they shuttered the highly popular Worldwide, the only sub-run in town, and the most Moviefone requested house in the city).

Does your theatre provide sound that clearly surpasses the quality that can now be enjoyed in most homes? Is your image quality an example of "Film Done Right" at its finest? Is a visit to your theatre a truly enjoyable experience, or will the audience find the experience mediocre or even unhappy? Does everyone in your theatre take pride that they work in "show business", or would they rather work at McDonald's or Burger King because the pay is better?

Remember, your biggest competitor isn't the theatre across town. It's the Blockbuster and Circuit City stores a few steps away from your theatre.

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Theatres complain about low attendence figures, and sites them for the financial trouble that they are in.

What do the exhibitors do? Lower ticket prices to encourage more movie goers? Make changes to provide a better experience? Come up with speicals, promotions to attract people that would otherwise not patron them? Nope, D - None of the above.

People have decided that its just simpler (and cheaper) to walk into a nice clean Blockbuster to see a movie, than it is to deal with dirty theatres, poor management, scratched film, and the fistfull of other reasons that many exhibitors are in trouble, but the studios are doing well... I would never pay $10 to see a movie that I couldn't own. For a family of 4, 2 Adults and 2 Children at those prices it would be 33 just to get in the door! Not to mention the cost of a snack or 2.

My personal threshold for a movie ticket has been $10 for a few years as well. NYC has been at $9 for about 3 years now. I watched Boogey Nights at Sony/Lowe’s Lincoln Center and spent that much.

In 1985 I used to have breakfast for $2, lunch for $5 and dinner for $10. Now Breakfast cost $8, lunch costs $10 and dinner seems to run $20. In 1985 in Denver tickets were $4, which was my hourly wage as an assistant manager. They went to $5 the next year and to $6 in 1990. I remember $7 as happening around 1995 and we just went to $8 last month. By the way we are paying our assistant managers $7.50 but California minimum wage, which went to $6.25 this year, is going to $6.75 next year. So I’m thinking the assistant managers will be making $8 next year.

The price of natural gas has doubled this year and our PG&E bill has gone up 50%. They haven’t been able to pass on the electricity debacle yet. Gasoline went up in the past five year. 8 years ago I purchased a house for $85,000, now I live in a place where the median house costs $300,000. In 1990 I rented a one bedroom apartment for $270 per month. Now I share a house with two other people and pay $800 per month for the privlege of keeping out of the rain.

The lease for the theatre I worked at in 1987 was $750 per month. They increased it when it was twinned. We closed a theatre in 1986 because the bastard of a landlord wanted $1,000 per month! Our little 5-plex costs us $11,000 per month for the lease and has a cost of living clause.

Broadway tickets used to cost $50 and now cost $100. Concert tickets used to cost $25 and now command $50. I went to Kiss in 1977 for $15.

I used to go skiing for $20 now it costs $50. My 1980 Honda cost somebody $4,500 now you can get one for $15,450. I bought my last bicycle in 1990 and it cost me the princely sum of $600. That same type of bike today costs $900.

Magazines now seem to cost $4-$5 where they used to cost $2-$3 and they are still paid for by the advertisements. The newspaper used to cost a quarter and now it’s 50c. Paperback books used to cost $3.99 now they seem to cost $7.99.

Gee: When you look at it that way, the fact that movie tickets have doubled in price in the past 15 years during the longest period of economic expansion in recorded history, it doesn’t seem to be that big a deal.

Time passes, prices go up, get over it! Enjoy the coming recession.

Even after having read everything that you just said about inflation I still think that $10.00 is too much... no make that WAY too much.

The big difference is that most of the things you mentioned are things that we need to live... housing, food, fuel etc. No one needs movies, and there are many other outlets for them for those who think they do.

1. Wages are not staying in step with price increases in much of the country.
2. DVD rentals have hit the market for 2.50 per movie.
3. Increase in necessity items have skyrocketed.
4. 75% of the crap on the big screen is not even worth a buck to see.

5. Patrons have alienated the theaters because of: (not necessarily in order)
a. High ticket prices
b. Rude staff
c. Crappy sound
d. Crappy picture quality
e. Filthy auditoriums
f. High concession prices
g. Rude Patrons
h. Crappy projection

6. People are becoming more conscious on what they are spending ther money on.

This list could go on and on. It is breaking our backs. Most theater chains don't care about anything except the bottom line, even though they are turning a profit. They are greedy, and want more. They even balk at buying a new Xenon bulb. They are too cheap to keep the equipment running at its peak and maximum efficiency. They are using bubble gum to repair the broken super glue repair jobs.

There is no way on this earth I would spend 10 bucks a ticket to watch a movie that will be screwed up by incompetent booth or staff personnel, no matter how good the movie is.

I am pro-union, always have been, and always will be. I will watch a movie in a theater if it is staffed with a professional projectionist that knows what he/she is doing! But as far as theaters that do not believe in professionalism (and you know who they are), I would not be willing to give them the time of day.

I had a short stint with a theater chain where the district manager flat told me that if I maintained my union card, I could not work for that company. What a loser that guy was!

In my booth days, I was always willing and happy to really train prospective projectionists. When it comes to the booth, my standards are, and always will be, very high. It is our industry that depends on that. I think all the union projectionists in these forums will agree with me, and we don't like settling for hind tit! I was trained by professional projectionists, and they were tough breed because they believe in professionalism! I am proud of being called a PROFESSIONAL PROJECTIONIST!

I spoke my piece, accept it or reject it, it is your choice. For the beginners, be proud of what you are doing, and strive for perfection. Your performance will become better as you gain experience.

Remember - it is YOUR show. It is not Regal's, Cineplex, Carmike, or anybody else's. It is YOUR show. The quality of the performance represents you as the projectionist. Be proud of it.

Oh my God! Your tickets have gone up 150% in five years! Ticket prices in NYC have only gone up 60% in the past 15 years. I'm not proud of how low it started, but my salary has gone up 500% in the past 15 years. I still can't afford car pay payments or a mortgage in this town.

Lets see, what has happened in movie theatres in the past 15 years that I have been involved in the industry?

My first theatre was Carbon Arc, Mono, Single screen, Super Simplex, Cold in the winter, Warm in the Summer, and the urinal leaked (with the requisite smell). And I loved it. Tickets cost in Denver cost$4, and in NYC they cost $6.

A year later I was introduced to the Xenon Lamp. The next year I discovered the platter. Oh my God! We got Dolby Stereo (A used CP50 installed my friend with a Who tape to equalize by). Then they came out with SR noise reduction. By 1990 I had 70mm and a two-plex. In 1990, I got to work with ORC's Cinemas Digital Sound. In 1992 I was introduced to the concept of the 10-plex and a technician who had been to Dolby school and TXH training and had the tools to back it up. The following year I opened a 12-plex and somebody showed up with a Dolby digital system. Not to be out done, then came SDDS and DTS. Then they dropped a few big fat video projectors on us. Not to mention that the lenses have gotten better. There has been a good bit of progress in the presentation of motion pictures in the past 15 years. Now tickets in Denver cost $8, in San Francisco tickets cost $9, and in NYC they cost $10. New York is a very expensive city.

Earlier this year I tried to do a survey to find out what tickets cost around the world, but people didn't write back much. I think somebody said that they were $12-$14 Canadian Dollars in the big cities in Canada.

Ok, last stupid example. I get to see screenings for free at the Century screening room. (See Pictures in the Picture section.) It is 45 miles from my house. Norge gets 17 miles per gallon and fuel costs $1.75 at the moment. It cost me $9.26 just to see Monkey Bone! Ok, I do regret that.

But I would spend $10 to see a film that interested me, in a good theatre on “Film done right.”

What if... theatres charged $2.00 more per ticket for a flawlessly presented 70mm print of one of the "big" movies expected later this year (e.g., "Pearl Harbor" or "Lord of the Rings")? $1.00 would go to the distributor, to offset the extra cost of the 70mm print. The other extra dollar would help the theatre defray any extra cost of maintaining the 70mm equipment (they may need to install a DTS reader), and perhaps have an additional (and 70mm-experienced) person in the booth to monitor and tweek presentation quality. And, what if... the 70mm release was exclusive for the first week or two, in other words, a SPECIAL EVENT, like these movies used to be?

Not only would such an special event platform release build interest in the picture, but would remind people that 70mm used to mean this picture was "something special".

Would something like this be worth trying? Would it work?

It's not always the presentation thats bad but the content of the film stinks.

New Yorks will complain for two days and then pay the price.

Ian mentioned that my ticket prices have gone up 150% over the past five years. The previous 25 years they went up 0% when most others went up 100% or more. When I began my $1.00 admission policy in 1970, most theatres were getting $2.50, therefore the savings was 60%, now the other theatres are up to $7.50 while I'm at $2.50, therefore the savings at my theatre is now 66%... an even better deal then before. It's all how you crunch the numbers.

Since all of us are in this business we want to justify our prices to ourselves, whatever they are, but that is not what is important. Can we justify our prices to our patrons? I think not. We keep saying that if we give the best presentation with the finest state of the art equipment, operated by attentive caring managers and projectionists in a comfortable, clean and attractive enviorment, people won't mind shelling out whatever high price we establish.

Why is it then that EVERY time we raise our prices, our attendance goes down. Yes, we still bring in the same grosses, but we have less people to buy our refreshments. We then have to raise those prices to make up for that loss as well, and we therefore chase more people away to home video etc.

I have operated 18 theatres over the past thirty five years... indoors, drive-ins, first runs, 2nd runs and discounts, single screen and multi-screen and EVERY time I've raised prices, attendance fell... and EVERY time I lowered prices attendance rose.

Wouldn't you prefer to fill your theatres more often at a lower price then run them half empty (or less) with a higher price. More patrons creates more interest in movies, and brings those people back more often. Chasing away people does just the opposite.