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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Dreamgirls Ticket $25.00 (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: Dreamgirls Ticket $25.00
Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)


Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
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- posted 11-16-2006 09:35 AM      Profile for Bob Maar   Author's Homepage   Email Bob Maar   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
THE $25 MOVIE

'DREAMGIRLS' WILL SET RECORD

Your opinions please..............

By LOU LUMENICK Post Movie Critic
November 16, 2006 -- First, the $6 cup of coffee - now brace yourself for the $25 movie ticket.

That's the record sum that will be charged to see "Dreamgirls" for the first 10 days of its theatrical run, beginning on Dec. 15.

The highly anticipated film version of the 1981 Broadway musical about a singing group resembling the Supremes stars Beyoncé, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy.

It will be showing exclusively at the Ziegfeld in Manhattan, as well as at single theaters in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The $25 ticket buys a reserved seat, a 50-page color souvenir program and a look at a lobby exhibition of costume and set designs.

Moviegoers will also have "the opportunity to purchase exclusive merchandise and the film's soundtrack in the lobby," according to the movie's Web site.

The film will be shown without commercials or coming-attraction trailers. There will be only one showing per evening, with an added matinee on weekends.

Paramount, the film's distributor, is reaching back into movie history to bring back the "road show" - or reserved-seat engagements at higher-than-usual prices.

The practice was standard for big-budget Hollywood pictures into the 1960s, with blockbusters like "The Ten Commandments," "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Sound of Music" running six months or more at a single theater with higher prices.

The last official road show was "Man of La Mancha," another film based on a Broadway musical, in 1972.

"Dreamgirls" is being treated much like a live theatrical presentation - although $25 is a bargain compared with the $110 and up charged for orchestra tickets to Broadway musicals - to build buzz and the film's Oscar chances.

"We wanted to bring it to audiences in a special way, and we think this road show does the film justice," Jim Tharp, Paramount's president of distribution, told Variety.

There's one difference - road-show movies generally had an intermission. "Dreamgirls," which runs 125 minutes, will not. The last movie with an intermission was "Gandhi," in 1982.

Theater owners and studios have debated for years whether tickets to popular and expensive movies should carry a premium, as well as whether prices should be dropped after a movie is running for a few weeks.

Last year, the Ziegfeld, a 1,131-seat single-screen theater on West 54th Street that is often used for movie premieres, charged $12.50 - instead of the usual $10.75 - for its exclusive run of "The Producers," a Broadway hit that flopped on the big screen.

"Dreamgirls" will be showing at regular prices - even at the Ziegfeld - when it goes into wide national release on Christmas Day.

lou.lumenick@nypost.com

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

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From: Forsyth, Montana
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- posted 11-16-2006 12:00 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
I think this is great. I hope it is a resounding success and sends a loud message to the studio - people are willing to pay for a quality experience BUT THEY WANT TO REALLY GET THE EXPERIENCE, not a promise with no delivery.

The article gets one fact wrong - The last movie with an intermission was of course "Gods and Generals" (and I don't remember "Ghandi" having an intermission, but maybe I'm wrong on that.)

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Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
Jedi Master Film Handler

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From: London, UK
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- posted 11-16-2006 12:21 PM      Profile for Caleb Johnstone-Cowan   Email Caleb Johnstone-Cowan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
You pay over $30 (£17.50) to sit in the Circle at Odeon Leicester Square, which always gets an exclusive engagement in the centre of London due to industry politics. It isn't worth the money.

Agree with Mike, a customer will expect something special from a $25 ticket, don't think many cinemas could offer that. Certainly not at a multiplex.

Ghandi didn't have an intermission on the vhs version I saw in school. As for there not being intermissions anymore almost every film released in India has one.

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Dan Lyons
Jedi Master Film Handler

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- posted 11-16-2006 12:59 PM      Profile for Dan Lyons   Email Dan Lyons   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
For that price it SHOULD BE IN 70mm.

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Bill Gabel
Film God

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From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 01:21 PM      Profile for Bill Gabel   Email Bill Gabel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
In NYC at the Ziegfeld Theatre

In SF at the AMC/Loews Metreon 15 Theatre
First night 7PM, 10PM

In LA at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Digital Projection.

LA's schedule:
  • Fri. Dec. 15, 7:30PM, 10:30PM
    Sat. Dec. 16, 3PM, 7:30PM, 10:30PM
    Sun. Dec. 17, 3PM, 7:30PM
    Mon. Dec. 18, 8PM
    Tue. Dec. 19, 8PM
    Wed. Dec. 20, 8PM
    Thu. Dec. 21, 7:30PM, 10:30PM
    Fri. Dec. 22, 3PM, 7:30PM, 10:30PM
    Sat. Dec. 23, 3PM, 7:30PM, 10:30PM
    Sun. Dec. 24, 4PM
The way AMC has it listed is Pre-Release Special Engagement
And Special Engagement 10 Days Only on another part of the page.
NY/LA/SF: Dec. 15th
Expanded Release: Dec. 25th
Wide Release: Jan. 19, 2007

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Wayne Keyser
Master Film Handler

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From: Arlington, Virginia, USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 04:30 PM      Profile for Wayne Keyser   Author's Homepage   Email Wayne Keyser       Edit/Delete Post 
Okay, okay ... $25 "Pre-Release Special Engagement" ... something of similar caliber/buzz as LORD OF THE RINGS would still sell out, but DREAMGIRLS???

How about just padlocking the theater for the first ten days?

You'd do better trying this crass publicity stunt with BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE 3-D or maybe PEEWEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, THE RESTORED DIRECTOR'S CUT.

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Phil Hill
I love my cootie bug

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From: Hollywood, CA USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 04:33 PM      Profile for Phil Hill   Email Phil Hill       Edit/Delete Post 
Wayne = [thumbsup] !

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Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler

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- posted 11-16-2006 04:55 PM      Profile for Paul Linfesty   Email Paul Linfesty   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Wayne Keyser
How about just padlocking the theater for the first ten days?
Actually, the Arclight THeatre page shows a majority of tickets already sold for opening night, and that's with more of a month away. So something tells me this may actualy be a sell-out by the time it opens (reseverved seats is the normal policy at this theatre anyway, and they noprmally run no ads either).

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Bill Gabel
Film God

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From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 05:05 PM      Profile for Bill Gabel   Email Bill Gabel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
For NYC

A Night at the Ziegfeld for 2
  • Movie: $50.00
    Dinner:$60.00
    Parking:$20.00
    Snack Bar:$10.00
Total for evening:$140.00
If you use the subway minus $12.00 from parking. (subway $2.00, one way per person)
Total: $128.00 [beer]
Admission breakdown: $10.75 ticket plus a $14.25 program....Total $25.00

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Jack Ondracek
Film God

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- posted 11-16-2006 06:07 PM      Profile for Jack Ondracek   Author's Homepage   Email Jack Ondracek   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Bill Gabel
Admission breakdown: $10.75 ticket plus a $14.25 program....Total $25.00
THAT'S interesting. Are they splitting the pricing to avoid admission taxes on better than half the cost? How could Paramount receive percentages on the $14.25 if it wasn't actually "admission"?

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Bill Gabel
Film God

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From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 06:48 PM      Profile for Bill Gabel   Email Bill Gabel   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The normal price of tickets here in NYC is $10.75. So if you paid $25.00 for this special engagement. And if the movie sucked, that special program costed you an extra $14.25. and 125 minutes of time. The Ziegfeld is the last large theatre left in NYC. Some people like it and some people don't, like preferred the Astor Plaza to the Ziegfeld. [Smile]

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Chad Souder
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- posted 11-16-2006 07:20 PM      Profile for Chad Souder   Email Chad Souder   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Didn't Dances With Wolves (1990) also have an intermission? I don't think Lou did his research very well.

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Jon Miller
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- posted 11-16-2006 07:37 PM      Profile for Jon Miller   Email Jon Miller   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Bill Gabel
In LA at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Digital Projection.
[dlp] ???

For $25 I'd expect a 35mm Showprint presentation run by the theatre's best projectionist, assigned to run only that screening. Not to mention on a clean, tuned-up projector with a new or low-hours lamp.

Am I asking too much? [Smile]

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

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From: Los Angeles, California
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- posted 11-16-2006 08:31 PM      Profile for Michael Coate   Email Michael Coate   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Chad Souder
Didn't Dances With Wolves (1990) also have an intermission? I don't think Lou did his research very well.
Not when I saw it, and I nearly had piss in my pants to prove it.

quote: Bob Maar
The last official road show was "Man of La Mancha," another film based on a Broadway musical, in 1972.
Without debating what constitutes an official roadshow release, I believe the most correct/practical answer (at least for the U.S.) would be "Last Tango In Paris" which had some hard-ticket, reserved-seat bookings in the major cities and was released after "Man Of La Mancha."

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Mike Heenan
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From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA
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- posted 11-16-2006 09:35 PM      Profile for Mike Heenan   Email Mike Heenan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dances with Wolves did have an intermission, in the 4hr european version.

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