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Is It The End Of The Seattle Cinerama Theater?
Cinerama layoffs - the untold story
So last week everyone at Cinerama was suddenly laid off with the theater announcing ‘renovations’. Here’s the inside story that wouldn’t otherwise be told. Hold on to your butts because it’s a long one.
A brief history. Cinerama was purchased by Paul Allen in 1999. Vulcan didn’t want to deal with the day-to-day operation of the theater, so they contracted it out. Until 2010 this contract was held by AMC theaters. AMC had supposedly been doing a poor job of running the place and Vulcan decided to look for another operator. This is where the Cinerama that you know and love was born.
The contract went to a small-time group based out of Portland. Like literally just one dude. He knew the industry, had great contacts, and wanted to do cool shit. So the theater closes briefly in 2010 for a renovation while AMC is moving out. During this time digital projectors are installed at Cinerama for the first time and a second 70mm projector is installed to allow for reel-to-reel projection (the good shit). Chocolate popcorn is introduced. At this point you start seeing 70mm festivals, the actual Cinerama screen getting used occasionally to show 3-strip Cinerama films, lots of cool one-off events like a Game of Thrones premiere, the world premiere of MAGI (for the techies, this was the first ever 120FPS 4K 3D projection - really cool shit).
Eventually in 2014 Cinerama closes from Aug-Nov while the theater is renovated again. This is the big one. The auditorium is re-raked for sight lines, seat count is reduced and new seats with improved leg room are installed, screen is replaced, kitchen is renovated to allow for beer and wine service, the kickass mural goes up, Dolby Atmos is installed, and the world’s first laser projection system is installed. It's something like a $5M investment. If you want to pour one out for Paul, now is the time. At this point the Seattle Cinerama is literally one of the best cinemas on the planet. https://www.cntraveler.com/…/11-coolest-movie-theaters-arou…
Now, let’s rewind for a second and consider financials. The first couple years post-AMC were a little shaky. Festivals were really popular but they generally weren’t great movie years. The place grossed less than $1million in 2011, its first full year under new management. 2012 had films like The Dark Knight Rises and they got better at programming for the Seattle market, so this year is better - turns a small profit. 2013 is about the same with slight improvements. 2014 was an incomplete year because of the renovation but was on pace to be the best yet. Cinerama has been doing steadily better year over year. Well, now the ‘epic’ renovation goes through and the numbers skyrocket. 2015 Cinerama grosses over $3M and nets $500K. So in 4 years the place has gone from grossing just $700K and losing money to netting $500K. Huge. 2016 is even better. Now Cinerama is netting close to $1M with a box office gross nearing $5M. Festivals are doing amazingly well and first-run content is on point. For example, Blade Runner 2049 tanked nationally but totally crushed at Cinerama. It ran sold out on the weekends for several weeks straight. Get this, Cinerama was the #1 theater in the country with BR2049. This means Cinerama’s one screen out performed every other theater in the country including multiplexes. Unheard of. At this point Cinerama is absolutely throttling and is paying for the recent renovation at an astonishing rate. All while keeping ticket and concession prices reasonable. 2017 is Cinerama’s best year yet, however this is when Cinerama’s fate takes a most unfortunate turn. Have I mentioned employee satisfaction yet? Working for such a small company had its drawbacks. No health insurance, for example. But despite this, pretty much everyone loves the job. We have a hugely dedicated team who believe in the project. And we are all getting the hours we need because the theater is so busy all the time.
The creation of Vulcan Art + Entertainment (VAE):
The idea was decent, but the staffing and execution could not have been worse. The head of the Paul Allen owned Portland Trail Blazers had an idea to pull all of Vulcan’s disparate entities under the same umbrella thus the creation of this "art and entertainment" organization. MoPOP, Living Computers Museum, The Flying Heritage Museum, and Cinerama. What do these things have in common? Who the hell knows, but they’re all of Paul’s random ‘entertainment’ interests, so why not group them together? So Mr. Trail Blazers is now the head of a fledgling VAE but he’s busy with the basketball stuff and hires a Vice President to do the dirty work. This person - the VP. Ugh. We could write an essay on how trash this person is that would rival the brother’s K in page count. Check out this person's resume - 'Vice President of Vulcan Art + Entertainment' - it includes marketing or some shit for an NHL hockey team, some corporate sales shit for the Iron Man competition, and sales for AEG. This person didn’t know what Cinerama actually was, didn’t know the difference between analog and digital film, and had zero knowledge of popular culture. How is this person qualified to oversee one of the best theaters on the planet or really any of this? Well, this person knows the Trail Blazers dude, that’s how.
So this person comes into the fray in late 2017 and there’s an immediate clash with Cinerama leadership. They want to make changes to lower overhead and improve sponsorship dollars. At this point Cinerama was completely free of any ‘corporate’ influence because it simply didn’t need the ad revenue (reminder it’s netting $1M annually) and because the management had enough taste to keep things simple. At this point it’s still the Cinerama that you know and love, but only because management are fighting this shit tooth and nail. It all comes to a head in early-2018 and the outfit from Portland gets canned. Things are bleak. We're all afraid that we're going to lose our jobs and the theater is going to go to shit. Well, luckily Vulcan realized that they were absolutely stranded if they didn’t retain everyone else and at this point the General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and most of the staff become Art + Entertainment employees. Despite loathing the new senior management, most continued at Cinerama out of necessity, others out of love for the building. This is spring of 2018. The first few months under VAE are very bumpy. This movie theater thing is brand new to them, but they’re overconfident fresh off the victory of a “successful transition” (Napoleon Dynamite fist pump). They immediately cut staff hours, reduced the number of daily showtimes, and began heavily dictating the first-run film choices. This is also when Cinerama stopped refunding your tickets altogether. This is also when ads started hitting the screen and all the lobby televisions advertising combo meals got installed. This is also when prices went up. This is also when several of Cinerama’s managers resigned and the real loss of institutional knowledge began.
Continued in Part 2 Below
Is It The End Of The Seattle Cinerama Theater?
Cinerama layoffs - the untold story
So last week everyone at Cinerama was suddenly laid off with the theater announcing ‘renovations’. Here’s the inside story that wouldn’t otherwise be told. Hold on to your butts because it’s a long one.
A brief history. Cinerama was purchased by Paul Allen in 1999. Vulcan didn’t want to deal with the day-to-day operation of the theater, so they contracted it out. Until 2010 this contract was held by AMC theaters. AMC had supposedly been doing a poor job of running the place and Vulcan decided to look for another operator. This is where the Cinerama that you know and love was born.
The contract went to a small-time group based out of Portland. Like literally just one dude. He knew the industry, had great contacts, and wanted to do cool shit. So the theater closes briefly in 2010 for a renovation while AMC is moving out. During this time digital projectors are installed at Cinerama for the first time and a second 70mm projector is installed to allow for reel-to-reel projection (the good shit). Chocolate popcorn is introduced. At this point you start seeing 70mm festivals, the actual Cinerama screen getting used occasionally to show 3-strip Cinerama films, lots of cool one-off events like a Game of Thrones premiere, the world premiere of MAGI (for the techies, this was the first ever 120FPS 4K 3D projection - really cool shit).
Eventually in 2014 Cinerama closes from Aug-Nov while the theater is renovated again. This is the big one. The auditorium is re-raked for sight lines, seat count is reduced and new seats with improved leg room are installed, screen is replaced, kitchen is renovated to allow for beer and wine service, the kickass mural goes up, Dolby Atmos is installed, and the world’s first laser projection system is installed. It's something like a $5M investment. If you want to pour one out for Paul, now is the time. At this point the Seattle Cinerama is literally one of the best cinemas on the planet. https://www.cntraveler.com/…/11-coolest-movie-theaters-arou…
Now, let’s rewind for a second and consider financials. The first couple years post-AMC were a little shaky. Festivals were really popular but they generally weren’t great movie years. The place grossed less than $1million in 2011, its first full year under new management. 2012 had films like The Dark Knight Rises and they got better at programming for the Seattle market, so this year is better - turns a small profit. 2013 is about the same with slight improvements. 2014 was an incomplete year because of the renovation but was on pace to be the best yet. Cinerama has been doing steadily better year over year. Well, now the ‘epic’ renovation goes through and the numbers skyrocket. 2015 Cinerama grosses over $3M and nets $500K. So in 4 years the place has gone from grossing just $700K and losing money to netting $500K. Huge. 2016 is even better. Now Cinerama is netting close to $1M with a box office gross nearing $5M. Festivals are doing amazingly well and first-run content is on point. For example, Blade Runner 2049 tanked nationally but totally crushed at Cinerama. It ran sold out on the weekends for several weeks straight. Get this, Cinerama was the #1 theater in the country with BR2049. This means Cinerama’s one screen out performed every other theater in the country including multiplexes. Unheard of. At this point Cinerama is absolutely throttling and is paying for the recent renovation at an astonishing rate. All while keeping ticket and concession prices reasonable. 2017 is Cinerama’s best year yet, however this is when Cinerama’s fate takes a most unfortunate turn. Have I mentioned employee satisfaction yet? Working for such a small company had its drawbacks. No health insurance, for example. But despite this, pretty much everyone loves the job. We have a hugely dedicated team who believe in the project. And we are all getting the hours we need because the theater is so busy all the time.
The creation of Vulcan Art + Entertainment (VAE):
The idea was decent, but the staffing and execution could not have been worse. The head of the Paul Allen owned Portland Trail Blazers had an idea to pull all of Vulcan’s disparate entities under the same umbrella thus the creation of this "art and entertainment" organization. MoPOP, Living Computers Museum, The Flying Heritage Museum, and Cinerama. What do these things have in common? Who the hell knows, but they’re all of Paul’s random ‘entertainment’ interests, so why not group them together? So Mr. Trail Blazers is now the head of a fledgling VAE but he’s busy with the basketball stuff and hires a Vice President to do the dirty work. This person - the VP. Ugh. We could write an essay on how trash this person is that would rival the brother’s K in page count. Check out this person's resume - 'Vice President of Vulcan Art + Entertainment' - it includes marketing or some shit for an NHL hockey team, some corporate sales shit for the Iron Man competition, and sales for AEG. This person didn’t know what Cinerama actually was, didn’t know the difference between analog and digital film, and had zero knowledge of popular culture. How is this person qualified to oversee one of the best theaters on the planet or really any of this? Well, this person knows the Trail Blazers dude, that’s how.
So this person comes into the fray in late 2017 and there’s an immediate clash with Cinerama leadership. They want to make changes to lower overhead and improve sponsorship dollars. At this point Cinerama was completely free of any ‘corporate’ influence because it simply didn’t need the ad revenue (reminder it’s netting $1M annually) and because the management had enough taste to keep things simple. At this point it’s still the Cinerama that you know and love, but only because management are fighting this shit tooth and nail. It all comes to a head in early-2018 and the outfit from Portland gets canned. Things are bleak. We're all afraid that we're going to lose our jobs and the theater is going to go to shit. Well, luckily Vulcan realized that they were absolutely stranded if they didn’t retain everyone else and at this point the General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and most of the staff become Art + Entertainment employees. Despite loathing the new senior management, most continued at Cinerama out of necessity, others out of love for the building. This is spring of 2018. The first few months under VAE are very bumpy. This movie theater thing is brand new to them, but they’re overconfident fresh off the victory of a “successful transition” (Napoleon Dynamite fist pump). They immediately cut staff hours, reduced the number of daily showtimes, and began heavily dictating the first-run film choices. This is also when Cinerama stopped refunding your tickets altogether. This is also when ads started hitting the screen and all the lobby televisions advertising combo meals got installed. This is also when prices went up. This is also when several of Cinerama’s managers resigned and the real loss of institutional knowledge began.
Continued in Part 2 Below
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