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Topic: Sony Takes a Page From the Disney Playbook

Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 08-19-2002 12:39 PM

Sony has announced that for the Labor Day weekend they are going to 're-issue' Men In Black 2 and Stuart Little 2 together to the first runs as a package combo. Well at least they are both short!

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-19-2002 01:24 PM

Sony did the same thing last year with "The Animal" and "America's Sweethearts." These are two examples of true combo features, where you get to see both for the price of one admission.

Disney's Labor-Day re-releases have been simply two films sharing a screen, a kiddie filck for matinees, and an adult flick in the evening.

In 2000, it was Dinosaur/Gone in 60 Seconds.
In 2001, it was Atlantis/Pearl Harbor.

AFAIK, there is not one planned for this year (the only possible combination would be Lilo & Stitch/Bad Company ... but Bad Company has already hit subrun houses.)

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 08-19-2002 04:46 PM

Well golly gee kids, for those of you who weren't around then here's a little trip back in time for you: Up until about the late sixties or early seventies theatres always ran a "double bill". The show traditionally started at 7:00pm on weekdays with the main feature followed by the second feature (after an intermission) then the main feature was repeated. The features did not necessarily come from the same distributor and a patron could stay all night for one admission price. And this was in the days of "attended booths"! On weekends the show started at 1:00pm and ran continuously until midnight or 1:00am. Often the second feature was a "B" but frequently two "A"s ran. There was always a cartoon, trailers and, up until the late sixties a "newsreel" (Universal was the last to go). I have believed for a long time that the customer is being cheated when there are only trailers (vibrating the walls with their excessive volume)and one feature (poorly lit and focused with fuzzy edges because no one bothered to clean the gate).

Bob
The Old Showman

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 08-19-2002 06:29 PM

Someone told me that it was going to be MIB II and Spiderman. who knows.

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Fred Strausbaugh
Film Handler

Posts: 1
From: United States
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 08-19-2002 09:11 PM

I also was told today by my booker. That is was MIB II and Spiderman.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 08-20-2002 10:40 AM

A double-up of MIIB and Spider-Man would make sense. Stuart Little 2 was #11 last weekend and is still in first run.

OTOH you might not have to run such a double-up. For Labor Day weekend The Good Girl will go semi-wide and Possession will be at least semi-wide. Those 2 pictures have their national arthouse break this Friday.

Mike S: Disney re-released Pearl Harbor and Atlantis last year for Labor Day but not as a combo. Also, Sony re-released The Animal and America's Sweethearts in a double-up due to the events of 9/11.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-20-2002 11:09 AM

Yes - it is Spiderman/MIBII. I misread the original post (didn't notice the Stuart Little thing).

Charles - re-read my post ... I was explaining the difference between Sony's "true combo" and Disney's simple double-up on a screen.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 08-20-2002 11:24 AM

Mike S: A lot of theaters got Atlantis back but not Pearl Harbor. A lot of theaters got Pearl Harbor back but not Atlantis.

Also, The Animal and America's Sweethearts was a makeshift double-up due to 9/11. Search for "Big Trouble" and "Glitter" in Ground Level.

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Mike Spaeth
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1129
From: Marietta, GA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-20-2002 02:51 PM

It must have varied from circuit to circuit. In my circuit, we were issued one movie number for the 2 of them ... and the grosses were reported for the combo, not the individual movie (Animal/America's Sweethearts). In addition, you were allowed to watch both movies for the price of one.

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Thomas Procyk
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1842
From: Royal Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-20-2002 05:06 PM

I remember running a Hope Floats/Dr. Dolittle combo (FOX) when those were about to hit sub-run. They meant it as a double-feature, and we still had both prints, so we just spliced them together and ran it as one. Other theaters kept them seperate, and sold tickets to both films (if you came for one, you could stay for the other). Unfortunately, turnout was horrible.

=TMP=

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Jonathan M. Crist
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Hershey, PA, USA
Registered: Apr 2000

posted 08-21-2002 04:02 PM

The doubling which was done by Disney for the last 2 Labor Day weekends was not intended to give the public a 2 for 1 price break.

In each case (Pearl Harbor near the 200 Million mark) and Gone In 60 Seconds (near the 100 Million mark) the studio wanted to bolster the respective gross of these pictures to reach these platform goals. All the gross from both pictures shown on the Disney screen was directed to be reported to the picture they whose gross needed to boost. For prestige reasons I suspect Sony needs to get MIB2 over the $200 Million mark.

The same sort of thing goes on when it comes to reporting Drive-in figures. When an ozoner presents two top ten pictures on the same bill both of the pictures are reported (for public consumption) as having produced the full gross (regardless of how it is divided for payment percentages.)

It is always wise to remember that Hollywood invented creative accounting. Just ask Art Buchwald.

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 08-21-2002 05:33 PM

Jonathan, you are correct. The turnout as posted on Box Office Mojo reflects that reporting method.

Mike S, I stand corrected.

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Timothy Eiler
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Litchfield , Minnesota, USA
Registered: Mar 2000

posted 08-24-2002 03:11 PM

I going to hang on to MIB2 with Mr Deeds. Another Screen I am hanging on to AP Goldmember/Spiderman. Deeds/MIB2 still top grossing after 8 weeks in a town with a population of 6000.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 08-24-2002 05:57 PM

The difference here is that these double features are put together by the studio. They paired the titles, not the exhibitor. As Robert rightly pointed out, exhibition creating interesting double bills was a standard way of booking for decades, with the exhibitor making the deals and picking A & B pictures taylored to his demographics. I once booked a DF of YELLOW SUBMARINE and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD -- billed it as "Something to sing about; something to scream about." Did fantastic business. The distribs routinely would split the percentages on these doubles; it was the way business was done.

Today iIn the arthouse end of the business, we still are able to get DF splits, but it takes a lot more wheeling and dealing and the younger bookers are not at all happy about it because they never experienced Double Features as a staple in the majority of subrun, neighborhood theatres. Now it's an "event" when a DF shows up in a multiplex. And the only place these young'ns have ever seen cartoons has been on Saturday morning TV. One once asked me quite perplexed, "But why do you want to show a cartoon before the feature?" My answer was, "Because the audience claps and whistles and shouts 'Yaaaay' when I do." And if you think THAT confuses them, just ask them about Newsreels. I swear, it's like talking to people from another planet.

Frank

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Robert E. Allen
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1078
From: Checotah, Oklahoma
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 08-24-2002 10:40 PM

Hopefully, with what I am planning, I can revive the format Frank (well, with the possible exception of the newsreel, which I may try to book for its historic value). While I will install the latest film technology I can get I sometimes think today's young exhibitors (and some customers) are more caught up in the technology (of both production and exhibition) than they are the entertainment value of the program.

Bob
The Old Showman

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