Theater Owners Plan to Spend $2.2 Billion to Modernize and Upgrade

[Ed Gordon]

Theater Owners Plan to Spend $2.2 Billion to Modernize and Upgrade Moviegoing Experience

The eight biggest theater chains in the U.S. and Canada announced Thursday that they plan to invest more than $2.2 billion to modernize and upgrade more than 21,000 screens over the next three years. The investment will cover everything from improved sound and projection to upgrading dining experiences.

As theater owners work to keep moviegoing top of mind for audiences, some theater owners have been adding attractions like pickleball and ziplines in addition to upgrading their auditoriums.

“Across the industry, we’re feeling that perhaps we’ve turned a corner. The audiences are coming back to the theaters. There’s just a very positive kind of feeling about the future,” Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Variety.

Article continued here: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/t...ll-1236148881/

[Ryan Gallagher]

Direct View LED screens for all!!!
jk

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I'd rather have direct view than laser!

[Frank Angel]

In other words, after bringing EVERY room up to current standards (at least 4K projection and Atmos sound), then they need to address the other main issues that people EVERYONE complains about, and lets be clear, no one is staying away from going to the movies because they don't have effin pickle ball courts or zipline setups. Exhibition needs to address the things that even the network late nite talk show hosts joke about -- sticky floors, which of course is more of a mime, but it's based on enough of a reality that people say it all the time; that and the Film-Tech Forums complaint, imbeciles yapping like parrots or yapping on theair cellphone. For the sticky floors, I say, one night a week on the slowest night (Monday probably), only open for the evening; invest some money in sophisticated, heavy-duty floor cleaning equipment and use the first part of that day for thorough, deep cleaning. No one should ever feel their shoes sticking to the floor. During those off hours on Monday, theatres are not making enough money to even pay for the electricity to run the projector anyway. Use that time to REALLY clean the rooms.

And invest in dealing with the cellphone use. Remember when there used to be all kinds of ideas to deal with that major annoyance right here on FT? Everything from cameras at the front of the screen that would alert personnel that someone was using a cellphone, to building a Faraday cage around each room to block service. We had quite lengthy discussions about being proactive in controlling that one major complaint. Exhibitors seem to have forgot about dealing with issue for patrons. Well, had they not ignored the things that made patrons prefer their own living rooms and streaming services, maybe they wouldn't now need to spend BILLIONS (they did say billions, right?!) to lure patrons back to their cinema screens.

Another annoyance -- ADVERTS -- one more thing that makes the cinema experience feel more like TV, something that the entire industry itself is well aware if being a BAD thing -- EXACTLY what they want movie goers NOT to associate with theatre presentation. The mantra has always been, theatres can give you something you can never get in your home. Like not having to endure commercials --many times not even different ones, but the same ones you have to endure at home, just doubling down on blurring the line between living room and theatre screen.. If Coke wants to REALLY impress me, don't make me sit thru a Coke commercial before I get to see the movie I PAID to see, but give me a large Coke at the Concessions....I promise it will impress me light years more.

Lastly, I would ask, in that 2.2 BILLION "improvement money," will that include money for extra, well-trained ushers to help out with unrulely patrons? Might there be a few bucks to install a SCREEN CURTAIN and proper MASKING? Maybe there should also be a protocol written in stone that every cinema should have Common Height presentation with proper masking and that no movie goer should EVER be subjected to a letterboxed image on a cinema screen. EVER! Rule-of-thumb: if you can't build a theatre that is properly sized for Wide Screen/accurate aspect ratio presentation, then build a freaking fast food joint instead and be done with it.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

2.2 billion between eight exhibitors is really just chump change. With the total number of locations and screens, those chains have, I don't forsee very much OVERALL improvement in equipment, picture or sound. You can bet it will be spent to spiff up the buildings, perhaps convert to stadium with recliners, so customers think some important transformation has taken place.

[Mark Ogden]

These are the plans of money people, not film people. Who in the effulgent fuck wants to play pickleball at a movie theatre, or go zip-lining? A few years ago a local 16 screen theatre here in Northern New Jersey converted their former LIEMAX screen into some kind of immersive, laser-tag thing. It died after just a few months and the large auditorium has sat dark and non-revenue generating ever since, gotta be a couple of years now.

Meanwhile, two weeks ago tonight, a 91year old movie theatre in Massachusetts sold out 450 seats with a 70mm show of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was in one of those seats, and it was a flawless presentation (take a bow, Herb Kelley) and the mostly younger audience was really into it. There wasn't a pickleball court in sight. The same theatre does great business with first-run/classic/cult/midnight titles. It is a theatre run by film people, people who know film, and what their audience will pay to see, and what they will pay to see without needing some other tawdry crap as a lure.

Pickleball. Jesus.

[Ryan Gallagher]

I was curious enough to do the math, if 2.2b was split evenly between all 2100 screens, it is about a million each. But it is not all for the movie rooms of course.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

You forgot about the theater interior, exterior, roof, signage, HVAC, restrooms, snack bar and equipment, converting lighting systems to LED, etc, etc.

[Jim Cassedy]

Direct View LED screens for all!!!
jk

Earlier this week, I was meeting with the new owner of a private screening room here in S.F.
Instead of upgrading or replacing the DSS-200 and NEC projector there, He was seriously
talking about putting in one of those LED screens, and said he'd already gotten a price quote.

[Bobby Henderson]

In my town I think chances are better AMC will just close down the one operational multiplex we have here rather than spend any money on upgrades. Carmike opened our local 13-plex almost 9 years ago. In the years since AMC took over they've been letting the place fall into ruin. All sorts of things rarely get fixed. It could be damaged seats that go not-repaired for months on end. Or it could be the Carmike-era script channel letters on the building exterior. Faces get broken or LEDs inside get burned out. The signs stay broken for a long time.

With that kind of standard in place I don't have much hope AMC will pony up for upgrades in the IMAX house. It's a bigger than average IMAX digital venue (over 550 seats and a screen more than 70' wide). The dual laser setup would be great in that room. But Lawton isn't a giant-sized city. And we're in "fly-over country" too. This town doesn't matter.

[Ryan Gallagher]

Earlier this week, I was meeting with the new owner of a private screening room here in S.F.
Instead of upgrading or replacing the DSS-200 and NEC projector there, He was seriously
talking about putting in one of those LED screens, and said he'd already gotten a price quote.

Audio/masking issues aside, if i was buying one for a small screening room I’d be tempted to maintain both options. A direct view screen could lower from a small fly loft and land in front of the traditional screen.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Earlier this week, I was meeting with the new owner of a private screening room here in S.F.
Instead of upgrading or replacing the DSS-200 and NEC projector there, He was seriously
talking about putting in one of those LED screens, and said he'd already gotten a price quote.

They probably cost a bit less than a new 4K Barco Laser projector that would adequately light up the same size screen. Of course you still need all the other support gear...

[Frank Angel]

Ah, but then we are back to the same pesky conundrum...what to do about screen speakers?

[Lyle Romer]

A faraday cage for each auditorium would be easy and relatively inexpensive to do during construction but would probably be cost prohibitive as a retrofit. Probably the best solution to curtail cell phone use would be to work with the cell carriers and install micro cells for each auditorium. If it can be designed so that the signal is significantly stronger from the in-auditorium cell than from the other auditoriums or outside cells, the phone will lock onto it. It can then be set up that once the movie starts (or at least the feature), the phones stay connected to that cell and think they have full service but the network does not allow traffic to pass. Something similar to when they put micro cells on airplanes but voice calls were restricted. Obviously, the isolation and getting the phones to lock onto the microcell was easier inside an aluminum tube that is above the aiming of the ground based antennas.

Who will be the first exhibitor to put pickleball courts inside the auditorium so you can play during the movie?

Ah, but then we are back to the same pesky conundrum...what to do about screen speakers?

Some Chinese company launched a direct view LED screen that is supposedly acoustically transparent. It was posted in another thread a few months ago. Details on exactly how acoustically "transparent" it is seemed sparse.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

In my town I think chances are better AMC will just close down the one operational multiplex we have here rather than spend any money on upgrades.

The AMC here is still using the Sony projectors they moved from their old 12 screen site a mile down the road from me. That old location is now a church. Anyway, at the new site they didn't even bother buying new lenses. So the image in most rooms doesn't even fill the screen. The less AMC's there are in the world, the better off everyone will be.