My theatre, The Rialto Cinemas Lakeside, is running platters.

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The Sebastiani in Sonoma.
The Park in Lafayette.
The Grand Lake (Oakland); Orinda (Orinda), the Oaks (Albany) are capable of running reel-to-reel but they have platters.

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The drive in at Coburg occasionally get to run changeovers (6000ft spools) when prints don't behave on the platters.

Then there are the major exhibition companies screening rooms that run changeovers. One for Village, One for Hoyts. The distributors also have their screening rooms, I'd be guessing, but would imagine that changeovers would be the go.

There may be a few more independant theatres running changeovers.

In the DC area, The Uptown is the biggest commercial theatre running changeovers and runs on the 70mm standard reel of 22" or 4500 foot.

The various Smithsonians of which almost all have 35mm film capability run on 2000' reel changeover with the notable exception of the Air and Space theatre (Langley) now running on a platter.

The MPAA screening room in DC is also on 2000' reel changeover.

Then their are the colleges and universities like Johns Hopkins that run 2000' reel closed magazine changeover and George Mason U also on 2000' reel changeover.

The Colonial theatre in Phoenixville, PA (remember THE BLOB w/Steve McQueen?) that pulled a platter out and now is on 2000' reel changeover (art house/special venue).

The National Gallery of Art runs primarily 2000' reel changeover (but has 6000' capability)

Dalke's theatres runs changeovers on all but one screen, including both screens at the "Family Drive-In"

There are others including some that physically can't run more than 2000' reels.

Steve

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They ALL run platters - but most of the theatres are equipped with two projectors for what the projectionist who gave me the tour described "In case one of the machine f&*ks up."

At first I thought it was just the auditoriums that were original from the theatres construction... but then I found a pair of Century's in the #3 booth - a small addition tacked on at the Grand Lake. I think it's a nice idea to have a spare in case you run into trouble with the main machine.

I personally would love to be able to run changeovers so when we get a special screening for a film-maker... I wouldn't have to cut the heads and tails off.

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Actually 3-projector booths were quite common in the important theatres. It gave complete back up with NO inconvience. Also, in a 35/70 situation, allowed for 35mm previews on a 70mm feature without having to convert a machine mid-show....this could be an issue if the 70mm required raising the top masking (and hence you don't want to be adjusting the projector after the format change going from 35mm to 70mm).

Personally, I am all for four projectors in the really important theatres where shows must run perfect. We always get two prints for these premiers and such but it would be great if both prints were loaded and both running so that if one has a problem...any problem, a simple c/o to the other print keeps the show going on the backup. Normally, the second print just sits in the can waiting for a disaster.

Obviously this would be excessive the the typcial venue but for theatres that feature premiers and like, it would be quite handy. I do think it would also be handy to keep a projector on wheels for the plexes to move into place in the event of a theatre going down.

On the story of cutting off the ID frame...this topic is covered elsewhere in the foum (look for a locked thread). As Brad has pointed out one does NOT have to leave an ID frame and can still match up the leaders though careful observation. Be that as it may, if there was a concern about cutting up the print, the releasing company should have done a site survey and asked as to the mode of operation (changeover or platter) and chosen the process they prefer (sometimes it actually is the platter, more often than not it is changeover). If they didn't know you ran on platters and knew it had to be loaded in order to run the show when the got there, they should have either moved the show or sucked it in and dealt with it.

I once was handed a film maker's copy of a film and he instructed me that not only could the print NOT be cut but NO cue marks or other visable marks of any kind could be put on the print either! It ran on a pair of Century Cs and didn't miss one changeover (heck the editor and director were in the audience and would have let me know too).

Steve