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This topic comprises 4 pages: 1 2 3 4
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Author
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Topic: Carmike Sucks
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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 02-24-2003 09:53 AM
There are things I like and dislike about Carmike. There are two Carmike theatres in my area. One is terrific and the other is terrible. It is possible that in your city, the Carmike locations are not well maintained.
In Huntsville, there is the Carmike 10, which opened in 1998. It was built as the only theatre with stadium seating, digital sound, and adjustable screen masking in all auditoriums and the presentation quality has remained high (actually, it's better now than it was 2 to 3 years ago). However, there are some little things that bug me. Since August of 2001 in auditorium 6, when a scope movie is shown, when the changeover is made from flat to scope, the aperture plate lands in a position projecting the soundtrack and DTS time code to the left of the screen, with about 4 feet of the right side of the screen being black, until someone moves it. This happened last week in the same way, so it had been going on for a year and a half. They should get this fixed. This theatre has had small problems that have gone unfixed for long periods of time, but their overall quality has been very good.
The Carmike Century Cinema 8 in Decatur is another story. It was built by Fairlane/Litchfield in June 1982 (as a 4-plex) and went through a shift in management to United Artists around 1987 and then to Carmike in 1990 Carmike added 4 screens to the location in 1992. I began going to this theatre in 1997 and the images have always seemed too dim and contrast is generally poor. In addition to this, there are typically several defects in the presentation for each showing. There is typically some sort of alignment problem, shutter ghosting problem, or misframing problem. It definately has the worst presentation quality record of any theatre in my area.
From these two extreme Carmike examples, I'd say that whether "Carmike sucks" depends on which city you choose to do your evaluation. I'd be willing to bet that the older theatres in smaller areas (like Decatur, Cullman, and Florence, AL) get neglected while the newer ones in larger cities (Huntsville and Birmingham, AL, and Nashville, TN) get maintained better.
The Carmike Century Cinema 8 in Decatur hasn't had any noticeable upgrades since I started going there in early 1997. There is still only one auditorium with DTS, with many of the others having poorly maintained audio systems that often have a lot of noticeable distortion. Theatres like the Carmike in Decatur really give the company a bad name. After an article in the December 6, 2001 Decatur Daily about the poor quality, there were fewer problems the next year, but nothing was improved, and I'm noticing that some of the old problems are coming back. Carmike is not willing to put any money into that facility, which is in poor cosmetic and operating condition.
I have heard similar stories about the Carmike locations in Florence (Capri 4 [originally Martin, 1978], Hickory Hills 6 [originally Fairlane/Litchfield, 1978], and Cullman, AL [Town Square Triple [appears to have been a Martin theatre]).
Do any of you work for Carmike locations in towns with less than 100000? How are the Carmike theatres doing with regard to maintenance? For example, let's say something breaks. How long does it typically take to get fixed, especially if the problem isn't one that totally stops a show?
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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 02-24-2003 10:33 AM
They're a chain, based in Columbus, GA, USA. A few years ago, they were the largest theatre chain in the country. Around 1991, in north Alabama, most of the Carmike theatres were theatres originally built by Martin Theatres, Fairlane/Litchfield theatres, and Consolidated Theatres. In the mid to late 90s, Carmike went on a building spree and in the larger cities, most of the older theatres closed, with most of the remaining Carmike's being their own newer cookie cutter designs. In smaller cities, the older theatres remain with very few of them being original Carmike locations.
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Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 02-24-2003 04:49 PM
As to the Christmas cards, yes, Wynn was sitting in/on a Ferrari that is, in fact, owned by the Patrick family. This year the cards showed M/M Patrick, along with Wynn, amongst lavish gifts with Saks logo, etc... and Mr. Patrick holding what appears to be the credit card statement, if I recall correctly.
Tasteless. You bet! Especially given the fact that the mean income of a Carmike manager falls where it does.
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Mark Maxwell
Film Handler
Posts: 55
From: Tyler, TX, USA
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 02-25-2003 01:44 AM
You all brought up good points. Being an insider, this is what I can tell you. They started out by buying out a theater chain that wasn't making any money. After that they strted buying closed theaters in midsized towns. After they got bog enough, they started building new theaters on credit.Nice theaters. If you want an example, go to carmike.com, hot showtimes, hot Kentucky, and check out the 20 screen they have there. They got to far in debt. the reason they have nice theaters and just flat out crappy ones is because they go too far in debt, so they focused their' spending on the nice ones that they were still paying for. My 20 year old theater that I had worked for went 2 winters without heat. The district manager drives a company Cadilac, and has a company credit card that he spends lavisouly on. We had a girl work there for 2 years before she got a raise from minimum wage. And because they are based in Goeria where there is no overtime for people in the entertainment industrie, the employees could work 60 hours a week, and have, with no overtime. As far as Michael Patrics son being on Christmas Cards in a Ferrari, it does not suprise me. His kid's birthdays are hollidays for home office, and it sucks when one of those birthdays falls on a monday because the payroll office is closed, so you can't call in the payroll so the checks can come in late. You wanted my reasons, but I'm just scratching the surface. And I had a friend that I worked with with that had the same name as I do so I don't want backlash towards him. My real name is Mark Maxwell, but I go by my middle name Jason. So if anyone on her is from carmike, the guy to talk to is Mark Jason Maxwell from Tyler Tx. I don't don't know if he still works for the company, and if so, I don't want to get him fired.
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Evans A Criswell
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1579
From: Huntsville, AL, USA
Registered: Mar 2000
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posted 02-25-2003 09:39 AM
After what I've read on this thread, I think if your company is too far in debt and has gone through chapter 11 reorganization, it is in extremely bad taste to send out Christmas cards showing how you can afford to buy your son the best, most expensive gifts, and flaunt it with the Cadillacs, etc. Can someone send me an image of these cards that were mentioned? About that company credit card you mentioned -- does the district manager put personal expenses on it without getting in any hot water for it? If so, I see Carmike as a corrupt company that needs a lot of cleaning up.
These things send the message "We're rich, we're arrogant, and we don't give a damn about 'Film Done Right' except for our flagship theatres in larger cities."
Which theatre chain did you refer to that wasn't making any money? Martin? In my area, they seem to have taken over all of the Consolidated and Fairlane/Litchfield (later United Artists) theatres as well. Were any of these chains doing well when their theatres were taken over by Carmike?
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