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Topic: SF Strange: Century 9; AMC Metreon playing Day & Date

Mike Croaro
Master Film Handler

Posts: 394
From: Millbrae, CA
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 03-17-2018 06:03 PM

Hello Everyone,

Just noticed that the Century 9 SF and AMC Metreon (2 theatres accross the street from one another) are playing Day and Date.

I do not recall them ever doing this. Each had clearance over the other. What Gives? Has something changed in Downtown San Francisco? New trend?

Tomb Raider, 7 Days in Entebbe, Red Sparrow, Annilation & Love Simon.

Mike

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Alexandre Pereira
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jan 2016

posted 03-17-2018 07:54 PM

The US DOJ started investigating the studios for anti-trust behaviour a few years back - FOX was the first to bail on clearances under threat of possible charges. Now if we could only make Canada great again and take on the corporatocracy of CP. Both the liberals and pc have protected and encouraged the CP 90% monopoly through the Orwellian name Competition Board.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-17-2018 08:03 PM

quote: Mike Croaro
Just noticed that the Century 9 SF and AMC Metreon (2 theatres accross the street from one another) are playing Day and Date.

I do not recall them ever doing this. Each had clearance over the other. What Gives? Has something changed in Downtown San Francisco? New trend?

The same thing has been going on here in my little town. The old former Carmike 8 theater and its newer Patriot 13 replacement are about 1.25 miles apart from each other via local streets. When Carmike was running both theaters the old 8-plex had been demoted to 2nd run/bargain status. Not long after AMC took over both theaters (and sold the 12-plex it had in Central Mall downtown) it started running movies 1st run at the old 8-plex. Then it began playing some of the same movies playing at the new 13-plex. What's even more odd is the ticket price at the older theater is significantly less than that of the newer 13 screen theater. The old 8-plex has decent sound systems and projectors; its 2 largest screens were once THX-certified. It's a real head scratcher.

The only way I can make sense of the situation is that 2nd run/bargain engagements are effectively a dead thing. There's no point to them anymore. Not with these extremely short theatrical windows. The movies play in 1st run for maybe a month at best and then they're done. They show up available to buy via "HD Digital" download within 8 weeks of the theatrical debut. Then the movie is out on Blu-ray maybe a month later. And by that time the ADHD general public has already forgotten about the damned thing and moved on to some other short term social media sensation. Our nation has the attention span of a fucking hummingbird.

quote: Alexandre Pereira
Now if we could only make Canada great again and take on the corporatocracy of CP. Both the liberals and pc have protected and encouraged the CP 90% monopoly through the Orwellian name Competition Board.

You do realize the discussion of politics is expressly forbidden on this forum, right? Especially now under current circumstances. Cool that shit already. Enough with the bitching about "liberals" or whatever. Take that bile to another forum. Another tip: take a break from cable news. The whole damned continent needs to do that. It might cut our rate of heart attack and stroke down quite a bit.

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Alexandre Pereira
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jan 2016

posted 03-17-2018 08:27 PM

"You do realize the discussion of politics is expressly forbidden on this forum, right? Especially now under current circumstances. Cool that shit already. Enough with the bitching about "liberals" or whatever. Take that bile to another forum. Another tip: take a break from cable news. The whole damned continent needs to do that. It might cut our rate of heart attack and stroke down quite a bit."

Sorry it took me so long to respond but I had to go help clean the theatre. How about you take your pontification (which you have done loads) and shove it right up your bile?

I have been sitting running the Kingsway Theatre - blocked in by CP for ten years. Perhaps that is just too political for film-tech forums which I thought was about everything related to - well you know movie theatres. So much for open discussion.

ps - Cable news? What is that?

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-18-2018 02:57 AM

Fox and Universal will allow all theaters to book their movies in a competitive zone. Paramount and Lionsgate will allow the bigger movies to play in all, but their smaller releases are allocated. (Makes sense as Annilation does not really need to be playing on 4 screens in Lubbock.) Disney, Sony and Warner Bros allocates, though we all got Spiderman last summer. I guess it depends which way the wind blows...
People have asked me if Fox will allocate again when Disney takes control. I honestly don't know. Maybe? Maybe not? Disney doesn't have control yet. We will find out when they do get control.
And who is to say the companies won't resort to allocating in certain markets again? Our competitor has IMAX. Public perception of that format makes it difficult to compete with. Their other auditoriums have recliners. When we all get the same movie, we often get their overflow...which is a blessing.
But...when we get a movie they don't have, we will do decent business with it. We rocked with Jumanji and we rocked with the religious themed I Can Only Imagine.
Each market is different. Each country is different. There is an abundance of "unfair and unjust" everywhere. We just have to make do and just do the best we can.

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Alexandre Pereira
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 126
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Jan 2016

posted 03-18-2018 10:48 AM

I was told this was the case in the US by one of the studio distributors here in Toronto. However, in Canada CP continues to demand all product - including major release films and all studios comply. The competition board in Canada is completely useless - effectively they act as gatekeepers for CP - this is clearly a directive coming from the Federal Government. Only in Quebec - was the monopoly successfully challenged by Cinema Guzzo and that happen through a Quebec superior court action.
As for Disney in the US it is only a matter of time before either their board goes up on charges or they stop their non-competitive practices like the other studios.

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Mike Croaro
Master Film Handler

Posts: 394
From: Millbrae, CA
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 03-18-2018 11:30 AM

I was aware that theatres were playing Day & date on certain features. I thought there was an exception though for theatres in very close proximity to one another, such as these two which are across the street from each other.

Maybe it's been this way for a while (at these two) and I never noticed?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-19-2018 11:25 AM

I have been watching the movie booking and show time listings for our two local AMC/former Carmike locations since my girlfriend and I visit both places most often. I haven't been able to figure out a pattern yet as to which movie studios will or will not allow both theaters to play the same movie. But I have noticed the theaters have fewer evening show times during the week; often there is no late show in the 9:00-10:00 time range.

quote: Alexandre Pereira
Sorry it took me so long to respond but I had to go help clean the theatre. How about you take your pontification (which you have done loads) and shove it right up your bile?

I don't make/enforce the forum rules. But I have participated in this forum long enough to see a number of people get banned when they pushed their luck too far. "So much for open discussion" -this is not an "open" forum. It is a moderated, privately owned forum. Discussion of religion and politics is not allowed (Rule #3) and personal attacks are also not allowed (Rule #1). Certain kinds of attacks can result in an immediate ban. Click the "faq & rules" link at the top for more info.

quote: Alexandre Pereira
ps - Cable news? What is that?

Anger pornography, that's what. It's entertainment for people who love getting their chains yanked.

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James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 03-19-2018 01:27 PM

AMC, owning both locations, probably can eliminate that late round of shows on the "school nights" (Sunday through Thursday) without the film companies threatening to "take their movies to the competitor". A lot of small market theaters do that. My building has been dead enough, in some instances, to be able to open later in the afternoon and close earlier but this is not an option we have in this market. College students will take in the later movies. I noticed as of late the Plainview Cinema 6 has early afternoon showings on the week days (which I drove the 100 miles round trip to partake in twice now) but still eliminate the 9 to 10 round.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 03-19-2018 01:27 PM

quote: Bobby Henderson
But I have noticed the theaters have fewer evening show times during the week; often there is no late show in the 9:00-10:00 time range.

For almost 40 years we've operated on essentially the same schedule: Two shows in Fri-Sat (unless the movie is too long to allow a late show at 9:30 or earlier), and one show the rest of the week. In the last year or so, we've had an increasing number of occasions where nobody came for the late show.

But we keep that show in the schedule...first, I feel like cutting shows is the first step down a slippery slope, and second, the two or three people (or occasionally, ONE person) who show up for those movies feel really pampered when they're the only ones in the building. Sometimes I ask if there's any trailers they're wanting to see.

I suppose one reason the late shows are dwindling is because of the length of the movies. Who wants to go see a 157 minute Marvel movie at 10:00 on a Sunday?

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

posted 03-19-2018 03:11 PM

quote: Mike Croaro
Just noticed that the Century 9 SF and AMC Metreon (2 theatres accross the
street from one another) are playing Day and Date.

At the risk of being nit-picky, they're not exactly across the street from each other.
They are separated by at least a very long city block or maybe two, and, in fact,
are on different streets. (Metreon is on Mission St, Century 9 is on Market St.)
And both their main entrances face north, which would be geographically very
tricky if they were actually across from each other.

But I'll concede they are "damn close" to each other, & you raise an interesting
question about the 'day & date' thing.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 03-19-2018 04:05 PM

That reminds me a little of the situation in Manhattan. A movie could be playing at a theater in Times Square and also be playing maybe half a mile away at a cinema like the Ziegfeld at 6th Ave & 54th St or the Loews complex on 34th St a few blocks East. This was back in the late 80's when I observed the situation.

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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.

Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 03-19-2018 05:56 PM

The entrance to San Francisco Centre that is on Mission Street contains the elevators that take you directly to the theater lobby, so Century and Metreon are a half block apart. [beer]

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Sam Graham
AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues.

Posts: 1431
From: Waukee, IA
Registered: Dec 2004

posted 03-20-2018 09:47 AM

Cinemark Layton, UT and the AMC Layton Hills 9 right behind it are both currently showing: Tomb Raider, A Wrinkle in Time, Black Panther, Love Simon, and Death Wish.

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Mark Campbell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 148
From: Seattle, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2007

posted 03-20-2018 04:20 PM

In downtown Seattle the AMC Pacific Place 11 and the Regal Meridian 16, only a few blocks from each other, played The Last Jedi day and date. That is the only day and date Disney engagement I have noticed here. All the other studios with the exception of Warner and Sony (aside from Spider Man) seem to be doing day and date.

The Cinerama is the exception - it plays day and date with all downtown theaters and studios. Last Jedi played there as well as the AMC and Regal.

Back in my LA days in the 90's and 00's I remember the Irvine Edwards and AMC across the street from each other (52 screens!) played day and date for all studios with the exception of Sony if I remember correctly.

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