Classic Films Belong on the Biggest Screens

[Geoff Jones]

Harkins Theaters, to their credit, ran The Polar Express on their premium screens tonight and drew large crowds. Below is what it looked like at their Estrella Falls location. The 7:10 showing of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was bumped from this auditorium, drew a crowd of 2 people.

Polar Express Estrella.png


Meanwhile, the Alamo Drafthouse in Wesminster, CO continues to walk away from easy money.
(D.C. area Drafthouse locations ran Gremlins on their largest screen and drew an even bigger crowd.)

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[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Looks like a COVID party to me!

[Geoff Jones]

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is back in U.S. theaters on 6/19 and 6/22 through https://flashbackcinema.net/schedule. (The other two Indiana Jones films play in the following weeks.)

In Wyoming, the 6/22 showings will be on the massive curved ARQ screens at https://wyomovies.com. I saw The Lord of the Rings EE trilogy there last year and they were magnificent.

[Geoff Jones]

How John Carpenter’s 1982 ‘The Thing’ Became a Surprise Entry in This Weekend’s Top Ten

Box office reporting numbers are always in flux, but not usually in favor of a film that didn't play on Friday or Saturday (and which also happens to be decades old).

Forget the box office top ten estimated weekend charts published yesterday. They all left out one film: John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic “The Thing.” The film, which played in around 730 theaters for a single showtime on Sunday only as a Fathom Events presentation, ended up in the #9 position for the three days with about $500,000 total, per industry sources.


[EDIT TO ADD]

Ugh. The 40-year-old movie made the top 10 Box Office for the entire weekend based on a single showing at 730 theaters, and every single one of them was apparently fucked up. smgdmfh

Dear Fathom Fans,

Your patronage and trust are of utmost importance to us. We know you come to theaters expecting the very best experience possible and we pride ourselves on being the provider of that experience.

We are aware that the recent showing of The Thing wasn’t shown in its original aspect ratio and the disappointment it caused. Wednesday’s scheduled event will be shown in the proper aspect ratio, so you can see the film in theaters, as it was meant to be seen.


Thank you for your patience and trust in us to bring you the very best in event cinema experiences

https://www.fathomevents.com/events/...th-Anniversary

[Gordon McLeod]

How John Carpenter’s 1982 ‘The Thing’ Became a Surprise Entry in This Weekend’s Top Ten

Box office reporting numbers are always in flux, but not usually in favor of a film that didn't play on Friday or Saturday (and which also happens to be decades old).

Forget the box office top ten estimated weekend charts published yesterday. They all left out one film: John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic “The Thing.” The film, which played in around 730 theaters for a single showtime on Sunday only as a Fathom Events presentation, ended up in the #9 position for the three days with about $500,000 total, per industry sources.


[EDIT TO ADD]

Ugh. The 40-year-old movie made the top 10 Box Office for the entire weekend based on a single showing at 730 theaters, and every single one of them was apparently fucked up. smgdmfh





https://www.fathomevents.com/events/...th-Anniversary

There has been discussion that Universal supplied a flat TV print to Fathom that was cropped

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The thing one has to realize is the amount of pixel loss on a deep curved screen as shown in the image above is quite staggering. Thus you not only have loss of image, but you end up at a lower projected resolution. Doesn't matter if it's 4K (which also provides lower image contrast) or 2K projection. The same thing happens. For Digital, a proper (minor) curve that balances light distribution to the room is really the best route.

[Geoff Jones]

Mark, I don't have any actual measurements, but I think the photo (and maybe also the curtain track?) makes the screen appear to be more curved than it actually is.

I've seen Jaws and The Lord of the Rings EE trilogy on that screen in the past few years (from the 2nd and 3rd rows), and to me, they looked great. I don't claim to have the most discerning eyes in the world, but I have been accused of having "lofty standards" by at least one Expert Film Handler.

If I hadn't seen Raiders of The Lost Ark on a big screen last year and/or if that theater wasn't 90 minutes away, I would be there Wednesday night.

(Incidentally, I saw Raiders in "liemax" in 2012 at AMC Orchard 12 and thought it looked horrible. It was like watching through a screen door.)

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Mark, I don't have any actual measurements, but I think the photo (and maybe also the curtain track?) makes the screen appear to be more curved than it actually is.

I've seen Jaws and The Lord of the Rings EE trilogy on that screen in the past few years (from the 2nd and 3rd rows), and to me, they looked great. I don't claim to have the most discerning eyes in the world, but I have been accused of having "lofty standards" by at least one Expert Film Handler.

If I hadn't seen Raiders of The Lost Ark on a big screen last year and/or if that theater wasn't 90 minutes away, I would be there Wednesday night.

(Incidentally, I saw Raiders in "liemax" in 2012 at AMC Orchard 12 and thought it looked horrible. It was like watching through a screen door.)

I used to do work for this chain, and that screen is supposed to be a replica of the one that was in Denver. But even in their other locations with screens not so curved, there was still lots of pixel loss after the masking was set. Can't escape the laws of physics... But I still enjoyed watching a movie in many of their locations that had them when time allowed... Pretty sure this big screen also has Meyer Sound Lab speakers.

[Geoff Jones]

Here's what it looks like at the Alamo Drafthouse in Westminster, CO tonight. Forty-three people are watching Conan on a crappy little constant-width screen while the big screen auditorium sits literally empty.

While this is an extreme example, this kind of disparity happens all the time here. It also happens across the country (in metropolitan markets) at all sorts of theater chains. Cinema chain executive dimwits probably think classic movies are unable to draw more than a couple of dozen people, without realizing that's because they always play them in auditoriums that only hold a couple of dozen people.

And please spare me the "distributor contracts mandate new releases in the biggest house" nonsense. A few theaters (including other Alamo locations) play classics on their largest screens all the time (with $tellar results). If they can make it happen, other theaters could make it happen.

It's very sad to watch the cinema chains mismanage themselves out of existence.



Conan.png

How many more people would have gone to Conan if there were decent seats available?
How many more people would have gone to Conan if it was on a screen significantly bigger than what they have at home?

[Mike Blakesley]

Well the screen in the diagram has to be at least 35 feet wide (going by the number of seats across at about 2 feet per seat) it’s not exactly a TINY screen.

[Geoff Jones]

Mike, I'd be surprised if that screen is 35 feet wide. But there's no way to know for sure without buying a ticket, which is one of the biggest problems with the multiplex. You simply don't know what you're going to get unless you buy tickets for the premium screen. I've peeked in several auditoriums at this location, and except for their "Big Show" screen, none of them look big enough to be worth my time.

At home, I sit ~7 feet from a a 125" diagonal 2.39:1 screen. In order for a ~30' screen to fill my field of vision as much as my home theater, I need to sit so close that the perforations might be visible and I'm probably craning my neck to look up. No thanks. And that's just to equal my home experience. If I'm paying for movie tickets, the experience should exceed what I've got at home.

[Geoff Jones]

Here's a bit of good news for a change.

Regal is showing the Extended Editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy on their RPX screens on August 29, 30, and 31. Tickets are $5 for each movie.

I saw these last year on the big screen and they hold up.

[Geoff Jones]

And... Alamo Drafthouse Westminster has added a showing of The Dark Knight on their Big Show screen on 9/2.

Have they finally seen the light? Are they testing the waters? (It's already sold more tickets than tonight's showing of the current new release playing on that screen.)

[Marcel Birgelen]

I've seen Jaws recently in the second-biggest screen in the house. It still was an art house theater, but one with decently sized theaters and otherwise well-kept infrastructure.

Unfortunately, the turnout wasn't all that great, but I blame that on the lack of advertizing and the fact that the standard public of this establishment will probably prefer something else than "Jaws", the ultimate horror flick by Steven Spielberg... They should've sold it as THE cult classic from 1975, made by a then underdog director: A movie about a very large, very troubled fish and it's impact on a small island community...

[Geoff Jones]

Marcel, what was the turnout in the largest screen in the house at the same time?