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Author Topic: Rant on stupid theatres Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-08-2003 01:23 AM                        In this case - the Regal Village Square 18, Las Vegas, Nevada. Besides the poor presentation of the film "Princess Blade", the entire experience at this theatre was horrible. Regal has reached new lows of micromanagement. Here's the list: 1. The only visible manager working is selling tickets at the box office (and no she was not giving a break).She also served as the usher tearing tickets. 2. The poor lonely concession person has a line of 10 to 15 people (both times I was in the lobby). 3. The "Regal 20twenty" looked and sounded GREAT. Too bad the 35 mm presentation of the actual feature had a dimly lit, flickering Xenon bulb. 4. Myself and one other person was viewing this feature until a very loud couple decided to join us 30 minutes into the film. Of course they sat right behind me and proceeded to unload their 'restuarant' food into thier laps. Around the time they decided to argue what would go best on their sandwiches, I exited to complain. 5. I had to go all the way to the box office -outside (because I thought this situation had a chance)and talk to the manager. She said that she could call the projectionist down to check on the people. I asked her how many tickets were sold to the film and she did not know. It was at that point that I LEFT. Regal may be the largest, but they are last on my choice of locations to see a film. The only bright side of this - is that I manage a theatre in Las Vegas and it ain't a Regal. Thank God for capitalism and good 'ole American competition.  |  IP: Logged Robert E. Allen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1078 From: Checotah, Oklahoma Registered: Jul 2002 posted 10-08-2003 03:40 PM                     I see another round of bankruptsies looming in the future Dennis.  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-08-2003 09:00 PM                        Dennis, have most of your experiences at Regal theatres been that bad? The Regals in my area do a pretty good job overall. Before we all condemn Regal, let's make sure we have a sufficient sample size. I'm very cautious about using one visit to a location, or multiple visits to one location to condemn a chain. Multiple visits to multiple locations should be used in making assumptions about how well a chain is doing in general. Here in Huntsville/Decatur, I've had very few problems with Regals. 1. Manager visibility -- a bit lacking at the Huntsville locations sometimes. In Decatur at Regal River Oaks 8, the manager (or whoever is on duty as the "manager" if he isn't there) is highly visible. I'd give the Decatur River Oaks a perfect score on "manager visibility and availability" while the others I'd give an average score. 2. Concession stand -- number of workers -- The Regals here are pretty good about having enough people working at the consession stands to handle the load. When I buy consessions, I seldom have to wait more than a minute or two, and often, there is someone without anyone waiting in line, so there is no wait many times. 3. We don't have Regal 20twenty here yet, so I can't judge how it looks compared to the movies being shown. The Regals tend to have good screen brightness and I seldom see flickering, dim bulbs. 4. Unruly patrons -- If you see enough movies, you'll have unruly, disruptive patrons. The best thing to do is just move if you can to a different seat where they won't bother you. If not, there's only so much the staff can do. On weekend nights, the staff at the Regal Hollywood 18 here in Huntsville are good about going in the theatres and making groups of disruptive teenagers behave. At Regal River Oaks 8 in Decatur, disruptive behavior is not tolerated and I've never had any problems there with disruptive people during movies. At Madison Square 12, other than occasional crying babies, there are few disruptive people. In my area, Regal is very good and I'm glad the theatre being built a mile from my house is a Regal. The problems you mention aren't a problem with the chain as a whole, but with the staff at that particular location. Did you submit a comment card or write a letter to Regal about your problems and observations? I'd recommend that you do. I don't work for Regal -- I'm a theatre critic and am just posting based on my observations here concerning Regal. Regal has done a good job maintaining and improving their theatres here, especially during the past couple of years.  |  IP: Logged Emma Tomiak Expert Film Handler Posts: 238 From: Carrollton, TX, USA Registered: Aug 2003 posted 10-08-2003 11:31 PM                        [ 12-16-2003, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: Emma Tomiak ]  |  IP: Logged Jesse Skeen Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1517 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Aug 2000 posted 10-09-2003 12:17 AM                     "3. The "Regal 20twenty" looked and sounded GREAT. Too bad the 35 mm presentation of the actual feature had a dimly lit, flickering Xenon bulb." Based on my experience, the ads are all that matter. Nobody cares about the MOVIE! (To be fair though, they do make sure bulbs are changed when they have to be, though there may not always be time available for someone to change them.)  |  IP: Logged Leo Enticknap Film God Posts: 7474 From: Loma Linda, CA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 10-09-2003 01:42 AM                        quote: I realize that a theatre can technically function with this few people, but it cannot function well at all in terms of customer service and the quality of the experience... What do your health and safety laws say viz the number of staff on duty when the theatre is open to the public? In Britain this is determined by the council of the town or district in which the theatre is situated, but the usual rule is a bare minimum of one staff member per auditorium, each of whom has an allocated screen to 'clear' in the event of a fire alarm or other evacuation. In some of the theatres I worked at and have visited the ushers in question were such morons that I wouldn't trust them to evacuate the contents of their own bowels, let alone 200 customers from an auditorium, but the rules say they have to be there...  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 10-09-2003 01:25 PM                        With regards to Regal's technical operations quality here in 'Vegas, my experience is that they are distinctly #2 behind Century here. From personal experience visiting the big three chains here, the Century's seem to have the fewest technical problems. Regal comes in second with lots of little things wrong--stuff that annoys me but usually not enough to be a show stopper. UA comes in a distant third with poor projection quality being the rule rather than the exception, especially at their two off-Strip locations. I've had such consistently bad luck with the UA's here that I now avoid going to them altogether unless they're the only ones playing a title (which never happens here). My last visit to a Regal here was also at the Village 18 to see Whale Rider. Very poor projection that day due to something smeared on the lens--very poor contrast and focus. Also, the sound kept toggling between analog and digital. I later attended another screening of this title at the Century Orleans and had another bad presentation (in my experience a rare occurrence at that theater)--ironically another smudged lens. Just couldn't win with Whale Rider in 'Vegas it would seem.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-09-2003 04:21 PM                        Evan, I worked for Regal for five years. I also worked at thier corporate office. Believe me, there is no 'bad blood' between me and them. I know that each individual location is only as good as the GM running it. However, being a GM for them myself (at numerous locations) - I know that during these 'slow' months they cut their payroll drastically. I was only pointing out that by cutting their payroll to the bone - incidents like the one I 'ranting' about happen much more often than when their theatre is properly staffed. That is why I was pointing out the specific location I went to. If I was the GM there, I would fight about running a 5% payroll at an eighteen plex. I would make sure that ALL of my customers get the best experience possible -whether it is a Tuesday night or a Friday night - and regardless of what month it is. I wrote a personal e-mail to the division manager of the Las Vegas area. I asked him to show the letter to Mike Campbell. So far, I have not gotten any response.  |  IP: Logged Charles Everett Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: New Jersey Registered: May 2001 posted 10-09-2003 06:58 PM                     "Stupid theatres"? How about the one that didn't open a big hit -- and when I asked why not, I was simply told, "We didn't get that movie"? (The theater is off service with the studio involved.) How about the one that screwed around with the framing all through the last reel -- and when I complained, I was told, "That's part of the movie"? (That was for an arty picture at a megaplex that no longer runs arthouse fare.) You will notice that names have been omitted to protect the innocent.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 10-09-2003 06:59 PM                        quote: Dennis Benjamin wrote: I wrote a personal e-mail to the division manager of the Las Vegas area. I asked him to show the letter to Mike Campbell. So far, I have not gotten any response. They are not interested in responding or dealing with anything. As an employee, I have noticed that theater chains try to cut the hours of the projectionists the most since they get paid the most out of the hourly staff. Of course management never has to bite the bullet. They should, though, since they get paid the most. It would be much cheaper to just have the staff manage the theater (part time of course, since you don't want to *god forbid* pay benefits). Cheaper is better. Charles, why withhold the names of the theaters? If they know they will be publicly embarrassed, they may be less likely to suck. OK maybe not, but it would at least serve as a warning to other potential customers.  |  IP: Logged Evans A Criswell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1579 From: Huntsville, AL, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-09-2003 07:20 PM                        I'll definitely keep a watchful eye at the three Regals that I visit frequently for the "understaffing" problems. I haven't had any problems with excessive waits to buy tickets or buy concessions in a while. Of course, if I go to the Hollywood 18 on a Friday night when a popular set of movies is opening, I can expect to have to wait in line about 5 minutes to buy a ticket, even if all ticket windows are open. There are times when even a fully staffed theatre cannot keep up with the incoming crowds if everyone in town is trying to get in. Having all ticket selling windows open is all they can do in that case. Some nights at other theatres are so slow that one person selling tickets and one behind the consession stand is plenty. The problem arises when a normally slow night ends up being busier than planned for, but I haven't witnessed that very often. I'm often the only person in an auditorium when I go on weeknights to see movies. If there are fewer than 60 people in the entire multiplex, and there are not more than 5 people in line at any time to buy tickets or more than 2 at a time to buy concessions, do you really want to have more than one person selling tickets or more than one concession stand person? I'll keep an eye on staffing levels at the theatres more carefully to see if I notice long concession lines or ticket lines.  |  IP: Logged Richard Fowler Film God Posts: 2392 From: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Registered: Jun 2001 posted 10-09-2003 07:26 PM                     Cut down on employees that are not in direct contact, or responsible for the cash handled....I have worked on some theatre design projects where the discussion and planning for money handling areas had primary importance.  |  IP: Logged John Pytlak Film God Posts: 9987 From: Rochester, NY 14650-1922 Registered: Jan 2000 posted 10-09-2003 07:41 PM                        quote: ...I have worked on some theatre design projects where the discussion and planning for money handling areas had primary importance. IMHO, if the money is important, so is the presentation quality. If you don't maintain good presentation quality, there won't be much money to worry about.  |  IP: Logged Raphael Jacquot Film Handler Posts: 7 From: corenc, N/A, France Registered: Oct 2003 posted 10-09-2003 08:21 PM                    talk about that one Went to the "Nef Chavant" theater in Grenoble, France, to see Underworld. while waiting for the previous presentation to end and the people to exit, went to the rest rooms (I prefer to take my precautions before the movie ). I notice that people can't seem to pee in the receiver. go to an usher (they seem to use rent-a-cops there), and he says "can't do anything about it, ask that other dude there", showing a sub-manager of some kind. I go to the dude and tell "erhm, the male rest-rooms over there need a cleanup", he goes "you see, we can't do that, we don't have janitors"... Now, going through that movie was painful to say the least. The ads were brand new, the THX trailer needed to be changed 5 years ago and the print, well.... this was on a wednesday evening (around 8pm or so) and it only had 3 shows on the counter (this is a THX multiplex, so they get first show prints). Yet, the whole movie had dirt, spots, vertical scratches all over (and probably more crap I didn't notice, not really knowing what to look for, now I know ). When I came out of the movie, back in there to get rid of the pepsi, the toilets were in worse condition, with a lake of pee on the floor... That's when I decided to never go back to that theater any time soon and tell all my friends that they suck and that their customer service is a pile of  |  IP: Logged Carl Martin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1424 From: Oakland, CA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-10-2003 04:59 AM                        quote: How about the one that didn't open a big hit -- and when I asked why not, I was simply told, "We didn't get that movie"? but this is common. the movie is playing somewhere else nearby, so it can't play there. and even if it's not, there are only so many screens at any theater and not all films can be played. you can't necessarily predict a big hit. in any case, the logic behind booking decisions is, to the floor staff, and most management, typically quite obscure. carl  |  IP: Logged

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