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Author Topic: Flash Back Marathon Thomas Dieter Expert Film Handler Posts: 234 From: Yakima, WA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 02-12-2007 06:22 PM                     Hey guys, I wanted to see if any of you could give me some information on bringing back movies to the big screen. What I'm looking for is information that I can put together in an email to present to someone as a reason why bringing back old movies can be profitable. This person is set in stone on his belief that bringing back old movies is bad for business. I'm sure that everyone here would disagree with that, but I'm working with another obstacle. Someone previously did this in the company, I think 2 Christmas' back, and they weren't successful, and I know he's going to use that against me. Can you give me was to show that this will be a success, and how to pull it off. I want to run a summer marathon (School here gets out 3rd week of May and doesn't go back til August 20th or so). I've picked out 12 movies that I feel would be good for this one for each week. Those movies are; Back to the Future Star Wars: A New Hope The Neverending Story The Lion King The Goonies Ghostbusters The Mask Aladdin Grease Forest Gump Toy Story Edward Scissor Hands Jaws Some other movies that I chose, but decided not to use cause I was going for more of a family environment or felt were not as popular as the ones above, are; Honey I Shrunk the Kids Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Donnie Darko Office Space Space Balls I decided against this cause the Regal Cinema down the road from us is running it in the marathon which starts Valintine's Day and goes for 8 weeks. Fight Club Star Trek (one of them) Clerks Blade Runner Dazed and Confused Blue Velvet Of all those movies, has anyone ever had the opportunity to re-run them, and what's the availability of them? I figured that we would do it on one of our slow days during the week like Tuesday. Tuesday is one of our busy days, but it's also our 50 Cent day. I figured a 2:30 show time, and a 7:15 show time would be best to run them, as those are the two busiest times for the past summer Tuesdays. Because we are a second run theatre as it is, I thought it would be best to put it in one of our larger auditoriums with one of our slower movies we have running, and cancel those shows. I wanted to make it able to purchase tickets in advance beings we would know the dates, and to help make it successful, have the purchase of the advanced ticket sale include the purchase of some concession combo. I planned on promoting the event in our weekly newsletter start right after Spring Break. Posters and promotional materials I wanted to have made by our employees so they could have fun in making something, and sharing in the success of the event. How well do you feel I've done my work on this, and what are some other ideas that you would think of?  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 02-12-2007 07:43 PM                        scratch the Disney Kids Films. They don't allow these to be run for these.  |  IP: Logged Caleb Johnstone-Cowan Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 593 From: London, UK Registered: Mar 2006 posted 02-12-2007 07:52 PM                     You can't just show one Star Wars. Make it a marathon on a slow day, should be cool.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-12-2007 08:29 PM                        We tried to run the Star Wars series for our 75th anniversary a couple of years ago. My idea was to run each movie one night, or one each Friday night for six weeks....I was open to any plan they wanted to sign-on for. The response was, they're not available. (I suppose if we were in Los Angeles or New York or Chicago the answer might have been different.) Beyond that -- your biggest problem is probably going to be getting quality prints. You'll have a weekly crap-shoot on whether you'll get something you can play without having to hide your head. Selling tickets ... well, we've tried vintage movies sometimes here, and they don't usually do well. In a big town, who knows?  |  IP: Logged Christopher Crouch Expert Film Handler Posts: 128 From: Holywood, ca, usa Registered: May 2006 posted 02-12-2007 09:47 PM                  I've never had much luck with specialty programming (classic, cult, or kiddie shows), even with some "big time" marketing behind the projects. Tried it when I worked for one of the "big three" chains. They obtained quality prints of popular films, advertised in a major paper, printed flyers, etc., etc. It was a complete flop. Tried it several times when I worked for a well connected local company. They even managed to get a radio station and the pictures' studio involved for one project. Other projects had special draws like vehicles used in the films on site. Broke even, at best. The owner of this company pulled out all the stops (and to the best of my knowledge still does), but it just never seemed to live up to expectations. Tried it with a mom and pop independant. We didn't manage to obtain any worthwhile tittles, let alone an audience. Obtaining the prints you desire is difficult without the right film buyer. Tried the old standby "$1 kiddie matinee" with just about every company I've worked for with mediocre to poor results. The most annoying thing was that each project created a buzz and plenty of people voiced their excitement/desire to attend, but when it came to actually showing up we were let down time after time. I know there are theatres that have found success with this sort of programming, but I've never been able to duplicate it (even with the kind of resources most people would kill for and being located in the expected hot bed for such programming, Southern California). I know that's not very helpful or supportive, but it's the reality of my experience.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 02-12-2007 09:58 PM                        quote: Thomas Dieter This person is set in stone on his belief that bringing back old movies is bad for business. I'm sure that everyone here would disagree with that Back in the mid-90s a guy bought the old McKenzie Theater in Springfield and programmed it with old movies. It was a colossal business failure. At "2001" there were about 5 people in the audience. Of course it didn't help that they had a 5-watt mono sound system.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 02-12-2007 10:25 PM                     I think one of the reasons the Alamo Drafthouse is so successful with this format is becaue of all the hyping on Aint it cool (and it's well deserved too). And Ive read Austin Tx has quite a film community going on so that helps it out. We haven't done anything like you are doing, but unless it's something like Its a Wonderful Life during Christmas, anytime we've shown an old movie (grease had like 3 people show up, same for Guess whos coming to dinner) we rarely get anyone to show.  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 02-12-2007 10:40 PM                     The only time I have had success with something like this is in a college town. Showed "Midnight Movies" on Friday and Saturday night. Had some sell outs, had some real duds too. We played many of the movies on your list including: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Donnie Darko Office Space Fight Club Clerks Dazed and Confused Forest Gump One that did really well for us was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Your companies booker should be able to tell you what you can or cannot get.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-12-2007 11:08 PM                        Probably the best result we ever had with an 'old' movie was when The Wizard of Oz came out a few years ago. We played it for 3 evenings, and on one day we held a "free" matinee sponsored by our local Chamber of Commerce. (Everyone got in free, but we punched up the tickets like normal and the Chamber paid the cost.) THAT performance of the movie was sold out. The evening shows, we had between 5 and 20 people. I didn't care though because I loved seeing "Oz" on the big screen.  |  IP: Logged Adam Martin I'm not even gonna point out the irony. Posts: 3686 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-13-2007 02:26 AM                     quote: Thomas Dieter the Regal Cinema down the road from us is running it in the marathon which starts Valintine's Day I'm sorry to say that Regal has beaten you to the punch. In several markets, they are running these films every Thursday. In your market, if you choose to give this a go, you will be perceived as a copycat and will probably fail miserably. In your case, I would sit back and see what happens with their 8-week program and if they extend it. If they do well and don't extend it, try it yourself several months later. Their success will give you the firepower against the naysayers above you. Regardless of their success, you won't be able to play the same films that they do. You'll also have to come up with some sort of a gimmick to make the people want to spend their money to see the movies in a theater instead of on their DVD players (which may be why they fail, if they do).  |  IP: Logged Allison Parsons Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 630 From: East Peoria, IL Registered: Oct 2004 posted 02-13-2007 03:09 AM                        One of the theaters in town ran re-run marathons at least twice a year. The two biggest sellers were Office Space and Goonies. So much so that they had to interlock the print of Office Space in two theaters because they sold so many tickets.  |  IP: Logged Patrick Matthews Film Handler Posts: 86 From: Kansas City, MO, USA Registered: Sep 2004 posted 02-13-2007 10:50 AM                     I operate a single screen theatre in Kansas City (not I huge market) and I have been programing "old" movies for about a year and a half now. I do them once a month on "First Fridays" (I am in the downtown area of KC and all the art galleries open on the First Friday of every month so it typically brings people from the burbs downtown) but I will occasionally do them at other times during the week as well. I have had great success with these films, typically selling them out. Granted I have only 150 seats but I will often play them twice on Friday and once on Saturday (my shows are usually at 9:00 in the evening and if I have second shows they are usually at 11:00ish). Our theatre does sell alcohol (beer, wine, mixed drinks) but no food so it really does cater to these types of shows. We have specialty drinks for each movie that are themed with the movies and people really seem to enjoy it. I don't do a lot of advertising but I have a myspace for the theatre and an email list of over 3,000 people. We have our normal print ad and I also advertise in the Pitch newspaper that comes out once a week. I only put one ad a month in there. So my advertising costs are very low and I get crowds based on word of mouth mostly. The first night that we did it I got a really nice write up in the Kansas City Star newspaper in a section about night life. Here is a list of films that I have played and how they did... Fight Club (Sellout) Sideways (Sellout) The Big Lebowski (Sold Out 2 Shows) The Goonies (Sold Out 1 Show, Second Show was 3/4 Full) Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1/2 Full Show) The Warriors (Sold Out 2 Shows) Monty Python and The Holy Grail (Sold Out One Show, Second Show Half Full) This Is Spinal Tap (Did ok) Ghostbusters (Sold Out 2 Shows) The Princess Bride (Sold Out) Uncle Buck (worst show I have done, had about 30 people) Clue (Sold Out 1 Show, 3/4 full on the second) Tremors (Another bad one, had about 50) The Lost Boys (Sold Out 1 Show, came very close on the second) The Big Lebowski (one year later sold out 2 shows and was very close on 2 others) Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory = (Did ok) Ferris Bueller's Day Off (Sold Out 1 Show, Came Very Close on Second) And most recently I did a John Hughes Double Feature where I had Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. It was $6 for a single show (our normal ticket price for these old movies) and $10 for the double feature. We showed each film once each night and I sold nearly 180 double feature tickets over both the nights and nearly 80 single feature tickets. The booker that I talk with normally called the idea "crazy" when I first told it to him and said it probably wouldn't work and he was very impressed at the numbers that I got. I have found that playing the films only once or twice reduces the number of "bomb" shows I would have if I gave it the screen for the whole weekend (we only run on weekends). The downside to that is the $250.00 up front that you normally have to pay the studio because even if I sell out one show I'm still not getting too far above it which is one of the reasons I have resorted to do 2-3 shows each weekend when I have the prints. As far as print quality goes it varies a lot. I have noticed that most of the prints from Universal have been very good (with the exception of Lebowski) but we can also run reel to reel so Universal usually sends us prints that can't/have never been built up. I have got some really awful prints a couple of times and most of the time they come from Criterion. If I want to play a film that I can only get from Criterion then I find something else to play instead. I got Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap from them and both were nearly unplayable. I have got some wonderful prints though too. The Warriors was newly struck and had maybe been run one time before I got it. The Goonies and Ghostbusters were also new printings and looked wonderful. People love the "living room" feel to the films, people often say it is like watching the movie in your living room with 150 of your closest friends. I will be doing Scarface and Caddyshack in the next few months.  |  IP: Logged John Carpenter Film Handler Posts: 96 From: Fort Walton Beach, FL, USA Registered: Nov 2002 posted 02-13-2007 02:57 PM                     Thomas- While a manager of a theatre in Gainesville, FL (former Eastern Federal), we played this type of thing in the spring and fall. A lot of the titles turned out to be a huge success - even triple interlocking "Goonies" both Friday and Saturday night. But being a college town - it is a lot easier to do this! But like others have said - print availability was very difficult. The Disney titles will be impossible but some of your other selections were available - Paramount and WB was the easiest for me to get ahold of at the time. I think I still have data somewhere as to what we did play and how they did as well if you want. So what Regal is playing the marathon you mentioned? I didn't see any mention of it on fandango...  |  IP: Logged Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 02-13-2007 03:11 PM                        Good Luck Thomas- I'm glad to see you doing this. Folks pay thousands of dollars for fancy HDTVs & Sound Systems because they want to see their favorite movies on a "big" screen with good sound. It only makes sense that they'd pay $10 to see them on a really big screen with a room full of fans. I know I would (and do!) I also know that some folks go to the movies without any idea what to see, and pick a title once they are there. It seems like there would be an opportunity for sales there. And I think flash-backs could do well in slow times when the new release pickings are slim. (Now?) How about running the first chapter(s) when the sequel is about to open? Die Hard, Pirates, Spider-Man, etc.  |  IP: Logged Tony Ratcliff Expert Film Handler Posts: 216 From: Madison, IN, USA Registered: Mar 2002 posted 02-13-2007 04:17 PM                     We run classic films 3-4 times per year, mostly at Christmas. We've been doing this since we bought the theatre in 1996. We found out very early on that the only way people will come see the classics in this town is if it is FREE. Otherwise, they can "see is on TV" the same. So we get local businesses to sponsor the film, footing the bill for the film rental and shipping. Buena Vista films are not available. Warner Brothers is controlling more and more of the classic film collection. And unfortunately they are the most expensive. White Christmas is up to $400 vs 35%. Another gotcha on classics is the shipping costs. I've paid up to $120 EACH WAY to get a classic.  |  IP: Logged

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