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Author Topic: Should Studio's Pull Product From Bad Theaters Edward Jurich Master Film Handler Posts: 305 From: Las Vegas USA Registered: Jul 2003 posted 03-25-2005 07:14 PM                     A friend of mine in Sarasota walked out of a showing (along with several others) of Aviator. The sound kept having bursts of noise and the picture was lousy. The concession/projectionist couldn't fix it so everyone who walked out got a refund. My friends reaction, he can't wait until new releases come straight to video and theaters are gone. He claims it cost too much to go to a movie anyway and it's cheaper to watch at home. I pointed out to him that a studio hopes to at least break even with the theater release so if there is no theater the cost of home rental will jump. Would it not be in the best interest of studios to withhold product from theaters that put on a bad presentation. Chances are such theaters are chasing people away anyway and that would lower the print cost by supplying only to decent theaters. I'll be happy to rate theaters in my area for free  |  IP: Logged Fred Schoenfeld Film Handler Posts: 49 From: PORTSMOUTH, VA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 03-25-2005 08:41 PM                        A start would be for ALL studios to bill ANYONE who damages a print to pay for it. It might make bad operators/theatres do a better job in the booth. But then again, there are fewer and fewer true projectionists left and I salute all of you on Film-Tech who do care and take pride in a good presentation and return prints after many weeks in your house in the same condition they were in when they arrived.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-26-2005 07:34 AM                     The other thing...to eliminate the readmit type of pass. The theatre would have to pay for every person that enters the theatre. The studio shouldn't have to subsidize the theatre's poor operation. I'd say the studios loose more money to the readmit pass than to any form of print theft.  |  IP: Logged John Walsh Film God Posts: 2490 From: Connecticut, USA, Earth, Milky Way Registered: Oct 1999 posted 03-26-2005 07:50 AM                     Both good ideas ..... But I think (despite what they say) the studios are making so much money, the revenue lost is not worth worrying about. Of course, the studios will use bad theaters as an argument to say digital will elimate these problems.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2005 12:11 PM                        If EVERYONE who ever sees a seriously bad presentation would write a letter, complain to the management and demand a cash refund, then the problem would go away. The trouble is, most people simply do not care. I remember back when we ran "Driving Miss Daisy." The print we got was one of the worst I ever saw, scratched the whole way through. It looked like you were watching through a screen door. (And since it was a hot movie, no replacement prints were available...I checked.) We stood by the doors at the end of each show, apologizing for the condition of the film. Most people said, "Oh, it didn't bother me" or "I never even noticed it, the movie was so good."  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-26-2005 01:40 PM                     Writing letters does make a difference. I've seen positive results from the few times I've had to do it. But then that's really the trick. Most customers just blow off a bad presentation as bad luck or something like that. Even many of the ones who get seriously pissed off about it usually don't have the follow through to sit down and write a well thought out letter. At the most, they'll have a pissy conversation with the theater manager and just leave it at that. My opinion is if you have a civilized conversation with the manager that may go over better. You'll at least have better chances of seeing the problem addressed promptly. Honestly, the hands of theater managers are often tied and you'll sometimes have to write to the corporate offices about the problem. Some of those suits may not take a letter seriously, but others will. You'll never know unless you bother to write. Customers can write branch offices of film distributors about a problem as well. I did that in the case of our local Carmike theater in early 1995, only because the distributors were not sending out any DTS discs with the prints they had heading for Lawton. Their books didn't even show that eight plex existed. After that the theater received DTS discs on just about every show supporting the format. I also did the same thing in 1996 when Fox was being inconsistent about their allocation of titles between the Carmike theater and the crappy Cache 8 down the street. "Independence Day" was due to play on the Carmike's two THX-DTS equipped screens. I put Fox's office on notice they would seriously anger lots of movie fans around here if they stuck that show in an old theater as part of another allocation sequence glitch. "Independence Day" made a LOT of money for Fox in its run at the Carmike. In the 10 year history of that theater, "ID4" and "Titanic" have drawn the largest crowds.  |  IP: Logged John T. Hendrickson, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 889 From: Freehold, NJ, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-26-2005 02:48 PM                     Steve's idea of ending remits is a great point. Problem here is that many of the big chains give them out like water. Print scratched? No problem. Give 'um passes if they complain. Realistically speaking, that's a future free admission for a show someone would have paid money for, and the theater doesn't get a cut of that, along with the distrib, so both parties lose. We are an independent, and a "hands on" operation, so we want to keep everyone happy and keep them coming back as paying customers. John Walsh's argument is especially valid. My owners said the big push at Show West was digital, digital, digital. Translation: save $,$,$. No cost for prints, no paid projectionist. Just press a button. (Just like the WB screening at Show West) So, yes, I think the studios love to hear about prints being trashed, and the more the merrier. Bend over, theater owners, and be prepared to shell out for digital. And when that digital show goes down, they'll have a tech there to fix it in a jiffy. Yeah right. When pigs fly.  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-26-2005 03:59 PM                        The problem with getting rid of readmits is that there are situations where they ARE necessary. Example: Power goes out on Saturday night, 3000 patrons in the building. In the bustle of clearing the building ... I am not going to open the cash drawers ... I will be issuing readmits to everybody on hand OUTSIDE the building in exchange for their ticket stub.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-26-2005 06:43 PM                     Even if the power goes out a customer can demand a cash refund and refuse a pass  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-26-2005 07:04 PM                        It is unreasonable to expect an operator to be able to give 3,000 cash refunds in the case of a power outage. In most of the locations I've worked in, that money is already dropped into a drop safe, which is not accessible by anyone in the building.  |  IP: Logged Dean Kollet Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 591 From: Florida State University Registered: Jul 2003 posted 03-26-2005 08:07 PM                     which theatre was it? AMC Sarasota East 6-12 or Regal Hollywood 20?  |  IP: Logged Frank Angel Film God Posts: 5305 From: Brooklyn NY USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-27-2005 03:53 AM                        The owner I worked for at my very first theatre told me that the one of the Ten Commmandments of theatre operation was that you never, EVER give money that has come into the box office, back once you've got it. Give a refund coupon, never cash. For one thing, it is simply safer and more efficient to hand out a coupon than to deal with money, especially for more than one or two patrons. You can have an number of ushers handing out vouchers whereas trying to giving back real money requires patrons to line up at the box office; that could take an inordinate amount of time to give 3000 people cash refunds, plus it sure can irritate people having to stand on lines after they are already pissed because of the downed show. Some people might get a little miffed that they are not getting cash, but for the most part vouchers for getting into any other movie of their choice at any other time seems to satisfy the majority of patrons. Give em a free popcorn coupon as well & they are in seventh heaven. Hey, we give em a free popcorn voucher when they buy a discount book of five admissions -- for some reason they think they've won a lottery. In fact, the first year we did this prom, we didn't advertise that there was a free medium popcorn coupon in the ticket book -- it was just there in the back of the ticket vouchers. I can't tell you what great PR that was for us. The word-of-mouth about it was priceless. But again, commandment #1 -- never EVER give money BACK to a patron once you've wrestled it out of his hand.  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 03-27-2005 08:50 AM                     The theatre had BETTER give me a refund if there projection and/or sound is screwed up! My given rationale....Why would I want to take another chance with that theatre's crappy presentation?  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 03-27-2005 10:38 AM                     Legally, if you did not provide the service that the license of the ticked provided (Show the movie) you are required to refund the price of the license (ticket). That does not mean on DEMAND. However, the theatre is responsible to refund the money in a timely manner. No court would hold you to, in a power outage, to refund everyone's ticket right then an there. You would have to do it in a timely manner if requested. As to the readmit due to the power outage? That is not the studio's problem, that is the theatre's. It isn't that their print didn't work, it was your theatre. As to the theatre losing money on the readmit...Give me a break...what a silly answer. If the theatre's cut is 10-45% (depending on market and week of run...etc)...the readmit affects the theatre's income rather minimal since the bulk of their profits are from the concession stand. Thus, the theatre shifts the profits so that, while neither they nor the studio make a profit at the box, the theatre makes to per-capita profits at the stand (the first from the ruined show, the second from the readmit)...the studio's take on this? Just their original cut from the first show. No matter how you cut it, that is theft from the studio. If every ticket or pass issued to see a performance resulted in the studios getting their regular fee from a full priced ticked, this readmit business would slow down dramatically. In fact, it would provide a great incentive to keep the show running and the show at high quality.  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 03-27-2005 02:31 PM                     quote: Steve Guttag If every ticket or pass issued to see a performance resulted in the studios getting their regular fee from a full priced ticked, this readmit business would slow down dramatically. I was told that, for free list suspended tickets, the distibutor got paid their share for any comp ticket. This assumes that the ticket makes its way through the box office system. If a cinema refunds a ticket (through the box office system) does the distributer get paid? (when doing box office refunds there was not a way of coding whether the customer saw the show or not, just a field to enter a sarcastic comment)  |  IP: Logged

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