About 2 min. prior to showtime sound fades down, slide projector turns off. Manager in nice suit goes to front and quiets crowd.

"Thank you for coming...yada yada yada...please purchase concessions...yada yada yada...please don't talk, turn off cell phones, take noisy children outside...yada yada yada...enjoy the show." (lasts about 30 sec. to a minute)

Manager leaves, sound fades back up, slides go on, feature starts soon after.

I ran this by a manager friend of mine, and he said that many customers would find this a waste of time, unless there was something in it for them, i.e. promo items, gift certificates, etc.

Is this a feasible idea? Will customers get turned off by this? What extra things can I do (besides the obviously important elements of meticulously clean facility, courteous staff, flawless presentations) to get that showplace feeling? (keep in mind that renovations such as curtains, etc. are not an option due to the powers that be's iron grip on the wallet!)

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Kyle Abel
General Manager
Plano Movies 10

However, you may be exceeding policy by going into each one every show with announcements. Plus if slides go off screen for any reason other than blown bulb stuck slide or a reported down slide projector would probably be breaking contract agreement.

National Amusements does exactly what you are talking about all the time. They just leave the slides going all the time. Cinemark also does what you are wanting to do except the only time I remember doing that was at the opening of my theatre. I do agree with Darryl though ask your region leader first. Also if approved, in the beginning it may seem fun but when you are very busy 30 seconds in a theatre can seem like a lifetime. A loss of a manager on the floor on a busy Friday or Saturday can be detrimental. At National Amusements most of the time this is handled by an employee. The difference is that at National they use supervisors and customer service people within the employee ranks. One of the customer service employees usually does this task. Hope this helps you out and gives you more things to think about. You may want to have a couple of employees trained in what to say and do.

The slides and accompanying audio track stopped and the user came in and said something like:

"Let me have your attention please. My name is xxxx and I will be your user for this show. If there are any problems with the movie, please find me and let me know. I'll be walking around in the hall."

He came in the auditoirium several times during the show.

I thought this was a neat touch. However, there was significant aperture shadow on 2 of the edges that should have been caught and fixed during an earlier show. If they're going to come in and check on things, they should be trained to notice such flaws, such as images fading out 6 inches from the edge of the screen.

This was the first time I'd ever been to a theatre where they did this. At first, when he said "Let me have your attention please", I thought he was going to tell us that the movie couldn't be run for some reason.

About the slide show: All theatres in my area either show the slides with no audio playing or show slides with background music playing, that is unrealated to the ads being shown. I've never objected to this, but the Shady Brooks Cinema not only had the slides, but they had an accompanying audio track synchronized with the slides! After a few minutes, I found the constant advertising chatter annoying as well as the repetitive background music used for this track. (It's like the kind of music they use for news programs). After 5 or 10 mintues, I was ready for it to end, but it kept repeating.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

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He then asks for the show to begin.

I felt this was a better way to make a collection than the passing of cannisters.

It was certainly a nice piece of "Showmanship."

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Click here if you are a Joe Redifer fan

And/Or

Click here if you are a Brad Miller fan

And/Or

Click here if you are a Dwayne Caldwell fan

Yes, we all worked at the same theater.

You must be able to play MP3s to hear this. Also, if you right-click and "Download link to disk" your browser won't try to open it itself.

Let me set the stage: Mann's Chinese Theatre
Projection Booth: Lights low...red glow to booth. Three men sitting on 5 gallon drums in a semi circle.

On the floor in the recording device together with a tape player and a synthseizer.

The three men are drinking beer and smoking weed. They feel no pain. They are dressed in comforable work clothes. They all wear a baseball cap with two words hyphenated on front. Camera can only capture "F-T).

The music gets louder and Louder and Louder. The three rise up out of their seats.

In Unison: They yell out: Welcome to the Mann's Chinese THEATRE waw, waw, waw......

The rest is history and Film-Tech is born.

It weighs in at about 485 Pounds.

Congratulations, Great Thread.

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Aaron