Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Riske Business: 10 Moviegoing Mysteries I Need to Solve

by Adam Riske
I am a reasonable man. These are 10 things I simply do not understand.

10. Why do movie theaters play a movie to an empty auditorium? I’ve heard before that it’s due to some sort of contractual obligation between the theater and the studios but, seriously theaters, who is going to tell on you? Save the planet.

9. Why is 70mm a big deal? I recently attended a screening of Vertigo at the Music Box Theatre during their 70mm festival. I was unimpressed. Is this just a case of me being jaded? Do I need to see something in 80mm to “get it?” Was the picture quality special? Yes and no. It looked good BUT the theater was uncomfortably full (making for a claustrophobic “sitting on an airplane” atmosphere) and all I could think about at the screening was how I would rather be at home watching the movie on Blu-ray and stretching out. The option of watching a movie in my boxers trumps any presentation option for me these days. This has become my new barometer for going to a movie: “is it worth putting my pants on?” What is wrong with me?
8. Why do some movies only play in IMAX for a single week? It doesn’t seem like it’s worth the effort to IMAX your movie just to play in IMAX for a week. Funny story…I went to see Zootopia in IMAX 3D. The movie starts and the 3D was not working so I watched the movie without the 3D glasses on and it was perfectly fine – not blurry or anything. When you would watch the movie through the 3D glasses, one lens was clear and the other one was so dark you couldn’t see through it. When I was walking out of the theater, the manager gave me and my guest a coupon so we could come back for free next time. It was a nice gesture but her explanation confused me. She said “this is because the IMAX didn’t work.” Um, wait, what? That sentence makes so little sense that it almost goes back around its axis and makes sense. The IMAX is a screen. Zootopia filled the IMAX screen so the IMAX did work. The 3D didn’t work. But how is that possible? Isn’t the film print/DCP transfer in some way 3D? What the fuck is going on??!!
7. When you see a movie trailer and it gives you a number at the end for who to call for group sales, are those people just going on Fandango and ordering a bunch of tickets for you? Why can’t you do this yourself?

6. Who picks what trailers go before a movie? Is it the studios or the movie theaters? Who decided that seven trailers before a movie is a good idea? It used to be five, but now it seems that seven is the standard. And why is it not consistent? For example, I could go see 10 Cloverfield Lane at 1:00 at one theater and then go back to the same theater at 7:00 and see a completely different set of trailers. Whose job is this to be the trailer picker?

5. Why do movies play for a single screening at a movie theater? Why not just kick it the hell out? What difference is that one screening going to make? I understand it from the standpoint that you might play Kung Fu Panda 3 all day in an auditorium but not want to show it at 9:00 because no kids will go see it at 9:00 so instead you play How to be Single at 9:00 (when adults are more likely to show up) but other than that I just don’t get it. Who decides “ok, Hail, Caesar, you are on thin ice but we’ll give you one screening a day for a week and then we’re done, ok?” Just break up with it! I especially don’t get it when that single screening is at, like, 5:25pm. What kind of passive aggressive bullshit is that? If you don’t like it, then don’t put a ring on it.

4. Speaking of 5:25pm, who decides what times movies play at? I know it has something to do with maximizing the number of shows you can have per day based on the movie’s run time but still…why 5:25pm or 3:05pm? Round that shit, son! Every movie should play on the half hour. Otherwise, it’s a world predicated on chaos.

3. Who decides how many days it takes for a movie to go from first-run to second-run? Why do some second-run theaters get movies before other second-run theaters? How do I get this job? Is it the studio that just gives up on the movie and dumps it? Are the second-run theaters just at the mercy of the first-run theaters on when they are done with a movie? Who picks how many days before it goes on digital or Blu-ray? Why were some movies at Blockbuster $4.99 PVT and others $9.99?
2. Why do people still go see a movie they are late for? I went to see 10 Cloverfield Lane this weekend and there was a couple in line before me that wanted to see The Perfect Match. They were 30 minutes late for the 7:00 show. That means (with previews) they were probably 10 minutes late for the actual movie. The box office woman said as such and they were like “no, that’s ok!” 1) Get to a movie on time, aka if you know you want to see The Perfect Match wouldn’t you think you would know what time The Perfect Match started? and 2) Why would you pay full price to see less than a full movie?
1. Why are people still seeing Spotlight in a first-run theater? Don’t get me wrong, I love Spotlight and want everyone to see it, but why is it still in theaters? It has been out on digital and Blu-ray for over a month! Who is still paying full price to see it in a theater? Do they just not know it’s available at home for less money? I want to go into a theater playing Spotlight and just pass out Blu-rays of the movie to these people and say “it’s ok.” And it’s not like it’s just a few people either. Spotlight made almost $1M this weekend in theaters. It had a $1,130 per screen average. Say at four showtimes a day for three days (Friday through Sunday) and at $10 for an average ticket…that’s like 10 people per screening that are still doing this. That shit’s crazy!

36 comments:

  1. I'm as clueless as you are on many of these. All I know is that pants on/pants off should totally be the new thumps up/thumbs down.

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    1. "I give this a pants way off."

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    2. Movies that I recently skipped because I was too lazy to put pants on: Zoolander 2, Eddie the Eagle, The Boy and the Beast, London Has Fallen, Knight of Cups

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    3. You could have gone to Knight of Cups naked and no one would have noticed, they would have all been asleep.

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    4. "Movies that I recently skipped because I was too lazy to put pants on: Zoolander 2, Eddie the Eagle, The Boy and the Beast, London Has Fallen, Knight of Cups"
      Well, reading those titles it´s very understandable you were too lazy to put pants on. None of those titles would bring me to even leave my bed.
      Over the last few years I came to the conclusion, that I don´t have to see everything on the big screen and more often than usual I find myself in the same situation as you.
      Do I put my pants on, drive half an hour to the theater, watch a movie with potentially disappointing results surrounded by potentially terrible people, drive back half an hour, pulling my pants down and being miffed because of three hours of wasted lifetime.
      Huh, that sounds depressing.
      Right now, more often than not I do opt for putting my pants on.

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  2. Nothing confuses me more than when people show up to a movie late.

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    1. I really think it's probably usually a case of "what do you want to see?" "I don't know, what do you want to see?" "Well so-and-so just started." "Sounds good. We'll be a few minutes late, but that's probably not a big deal."

      OR

      *Goes to see so-and so* *sold out* "Well damn. I guess I'll go see this other thing, even though it has already started."

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    2. I guess it just bothers because they're doing a disservice to themselves and to the filmmakers, and most times they probably don't even care.

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    3. I hear you. To my "sold out" point, that's not something I would typically do. I drove out to see Zootopia the other day only to find it sold out, but instead of going to something else that had already started, I just went on home. It's a waste of my time, but that's on me for not preparing better.

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  3. "That means (with previews) they were probably 10 minutes late for the actual movie. The box office woman said as such and they were like 'no, that’s ok!'”

    reading this gave me hives.

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  4. I've worked on and off in movie theaters for the past decade in various capacities including cashier, manager, and projectionist. I still work at one on occasional weekends and holidays. If I may...

    10.) If a movie is playing in an empty theater, it's because the manager is too lazy to go up and turn it off. If there's no one in the movie after it's been playing for a while, we always turn them off to save time on the bulb. If a theater is still showing film prints, however, it's played because cutting it short is essentially not possible, unless you want to create a mess for yourself during the next showing. However, you could still close the douser and turn the bulb off, and just let the film run through. So again...just laziness.

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    1. 9.) I have no idea on this one. I'm just guessing people are convincing themselves it's SO MUCH BETTER because nerd gods Tarantino and Nolan say it is.

      8.) IMAX theaters are technically rented out by the studios through contracts with IMAX. If it's playing for only a week, it's most likely because another studio has already contracted the next week. Studios, especially Disney, have also been known to do things like throw Star Wars back in IMAX and split the screen with Finest Hours, when Finest Hours flops, to get the most out of their contract. As for the "IMAX not working," the IMAX 3D digital projector operates off of two lenses to create the "enhanced 3D effect." If a bulb goes out on one lens, the other is still able to project the film in 2D on its own.

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    2. 7.) The numbers that pop up for group ticket sales are for you to get a group discount. It's not through fandango or any other typical ticketing website. It's usually set up by the distributor of whatever film it is, and usually with all those awful Christian films for Church groups.

      6.) Trailer lists are usually dictated by the studio. Very rarely will they give the projectionist the ability to create the playlist themselves. The number of trailers on a film has nearly doubled throughout the years because studios are paying off other studios to play their trailers on their big movie. All about greed, my friend.

      5.) When movies play once a day, it's usually because it's on its way out, but there's still some interest from customers. The time chosen to play it is usually the time when the film has played the strongest in the past. For example, Hail, Caesar! was a big elderly matinee crowd film at my theater. So when it was on its way out, they kept a showing in the middle of the afternoon, and the walking dead shuffled in for "that Clooney movie."

      4.) The scheduling of times for movies usually comes down to one manager. Agree, the times are ridiculous sometimes, but it's all done for some ridiculously over analyzed reasoning of spacing out the more crowded films to avoid reaching fire marshall capacity in the lobby.

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    3. 3.) This all depends on how good of a booker a second run theater has. Back in the dark ages of film projection, the second run theater closest to us would literally get our film prints because we had the same booker. If a movie bombed at our theater its first week, it'd be pulled out and sent immediately over to the second run one. Some of this still goes on with hard drive sharing.

      2.) People showing up late for movies infuriates me more than anything. It's two things: 1.) They have this theory in their heads that trailers run 30-45 minutes, so they full believe they're not missing much of the movie, despite me insisting that they did. 2.) They just don't care. The general movie going audience has changed drastically in the past ten years, from my experience. They just want to kill time and couldn't care less that they've missed a half hour of the actual movie. In the case of something loud and dumb like a Transformers movie, their excuse is "well it's just robots fighting, so I don't need to know anything else." Either way you look at it, it's because Idiocracy is becoming a reality.

      1.) Spotlight was brought back to my theater immediately after winning the Oscar, and it's a predominantly elderly crowd coming, who let me know that "the paper says it's good," or "it won the award, you know." Like, thanks, I hadn't a clue. It's people who had no idea the movie came out last fall, and only pay attention when something gets news coverage. It's also audiences that would have no clue how to rent it off the google, or the apple. These are also the same audiences that call up yelling why we're not playing other prestige films, such as Carol, The Danish Girl, or Room. To which I reply, "because we played them 5 months ago and no one came to see them."


      The moral of these long rant answers is that working in a movie theater is one of the worst, soul crushing jobs I've ever had, that has made me hate my former favorite past time of going to the movies.

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    4. "The moral of these long rant answers is that working in a movie theater is one of the worst, soul crushing jobs I've ever had, that has made me hate my former favorite past time of going to the movies."

      My experience has been completely different, which I don't say to gloat, but just because I don't want to leave people with the impression that it has to be like that.

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    5. Guess we've just had different experiences then. I've been called dumb and uneducated by customers (despite having a degree and a career outside this weekend job), called an F-ing F****t for not accepting other companies' gift cards, told I'm going to burn in hell because the theater didn't play War Room, had a woman who was trying to scam us out of free passes by creating fake problems tell me that she's glad I'll never be able to reproduce (meaning she was calling me gay), been called every curse name in the book for not letting their kid into an R rated movie without them, etc. I could go on, but it deviates from the subject at hand.

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    6. I think any job where you have to deal with people that much has the same issues though. In the most extreme case for me personally, I had a drunk guy pull a blade on me last year because I wouldn't let him in. Some people are just shitty human beings and I can't fathom what it must be like to live as someone like that who has so little empathy that they can treat strangers in the ways you describe for little to no reason.

      I also have some regular customers who are awesome and like to come up to me and talk for a bit when they come in, one older guy who loves to talk about movies in detail, and on the extreme end of that side of the spectrum I had one young couple recognize me at the grocery store and they told me that they thought I do a really good job.

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    7. Haha, you lucked out! The only people I would get recognizing me were the students at the high school where I used to substitute teach. Legit in the hallway, "It's that asshole that wouldn't let me see Annabelle!" To which I told them they were welcome for the 90 minutes.

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    8. John and Ross - thank you for your comments. Made my day for real :-)

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    9. Always happy to talk shop, although since I don't represent the company I work for in any official capacity I'd be more than happy to answer direct messages on twitter to the best of my ability should anyone need to ask.

      Also I'm with Chaybee in that I think you'd be great to watch movies with (although I could say that about literally any of the F This Movie folk).

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  5. From my experience (I can't assume that it's how every chain handles these things):

    10. It's a generally a matter of it being time consuming to constantly keep track of auditoriums that are empty 15-25 minutes after the movie has started (some people come late) and then going upstairs to turn the projector lamp off (many theaters with digital projectors likely don't have a full time projectionist). There was talk of projectors automatically doing it if tickets hadn't been sold to the show, but I'm not sure if any theaters actually have that.

    7. The group sales thing is likely a file separate from the trailer file that gets added on after the trailer and is specific to that chain and is the contact at that chain for group sales and private rentals.

    6. Trailer selection is handled by people at the corporate office who works with the studios. Theaters are sent emails with the trailer lists.

    5. Part of it is that theaters may sometimes want to keep a movie around a little longer because the rental fee can decrease the longer the movie is out, so it's just a math thing. The rental fee can be low enough that a handful of people coming to one showing might make the theater more money than one more showing of whatever new movie came out.

    4. Movies are spread out like that because if every movie started on the hour or half hour, you'd have long lines at the box office and concession stands followed by nothing. There are a lot of reasons why movies are scheduled for the times they're at, and I could actually write a long answer just to this question alone.


    3. There are too many factors here for me to really give a good answer, and I don't work at a second-run theater so I can only hypothesize.

    2. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

    1. See previous answer. Also old people who might not keep up with Blu-ray release schedules or want to get out for a bit.

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  6. Such an entertaining article! But I must disagree you about the pants. If I'm given the choice between seeing a movie in a theater or at home I will pick theater everytime. This is why I love getting to see old movies in theaters. I completely understand why Spotlight is still making money because people, like me, would just rather see it on the big screen. I love movie theaters.

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  7. Riske, remember when I told you if I could pick any F This Movie! writer to watch movies with it would be you? Well I'm adding a caveat: it would have to be pantless.

    Seriously though - I'm with you. It takes a lot to get me to a theater these days mainly because of assholes with phones and babies and shit, but also cause the trailers are freakin' insanely long and I really don't like trailers. I recently finally saw The Witch and The Conjuring 2 trailer started and I closed my eyes through the entire thing. I really want to know as little as possible, especially visually and especially for films I'm anticipating.

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    1. I can't imagine closing my eyes during the trailer for Conjuring 2 because that would mean I would miss frames of Farmiga.

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    2. Haha! That's when you just Running Scared on your phone till it's over :)

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    3. *watch - botched that joke.

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    4. Oh man do I love Running Scared!

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    5. Boom, ticking that one off of one we agree on! love it!

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  8. SEVEN trailers? Am I ever glad that the theatre I regularly visit only does 3 before every movie.
    And woah @ John Doolan bringing the answers!

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  9. I found out the hard way that some theaters now sell not only tickets but seat assignments - like for real - online. My friend and I got to the theater, just bought regular tickets, we thought, and took the best seats in the house because it was totally empty until 5 minutes before the movie started. 5 minutes before it started, the theater fills with people who have pre-bought the seats we're sitting in and most of the house far in advance online. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

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    1. Mmh, isn´t it normal at your place that when you buy a ticket you have the seat number on that ticket?
      At least here in Germany you will have trouble finding a theater with free seating. Usually the clerk will ask you where you would like to be seated and online you can usually reserve the seats as well.

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    2. Nope, not normal at the majority of movie theaters I've been to here.

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  10. Count me as another one who would rather watch movies (especially good ones like Spotlight) in a theater than at home. I like being forced to sit through an entire movie without giving way to distractions (email, deciding to make a snack, looking up the actor on my phone, etc.), though having other people is testing my resolve. When I watched Brooklyn, I was one of five people in the theater, but (un)luckily, two of them were obnoxious movie watchers - guffawing at anything slightly humorous (I dare you to remember what these so-called hilarious moments would be) and narrating what was happening during quieter moments (during her time at home - "she's having too much fun!").

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    1. I had obnoxious people in my audience at BROOKLYN too. When she shows off her swim suit....this old guy next to me leans to his wife and said "look at that...she fits right in."

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  11. It depends on the movie theatre. If they have reclining chairs, I rather watch it there than at home. I would just go dressed in sweats lol.

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