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Author Topic: Stupid Showtimes (AKA You Suck: Outing bad showtime schedulers) Eric Hooper Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 532 From: Fort Worth, TX, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 08-10-2005 02:54 PM                     I called the REG/UA Berkeley 7 on Tuesday to inquire about showtimes for Skeleton Key on Friday, since a group of us are going to see it and the showtimes weren't on Fandango yet. I was told 5:00, 7:40, 10:20. Sounds great, right. Fandango (and other websites) now have showtimes for the weekend up and here's the 'new' schedule: Deuce Bigalow 12:30pm |1:30pm |2:40pm |3:40pm |4:50pm |5:50pm |7:00pm |8:00pm |9:40pm |10:10pm Ok, so showing on two screens, but with over an hour intermission between the 7 and the 9:40? Four Brothers 2:30pm |5:00pm |7:45pm |10:20pm Empty useless wasted auditorium until 2:30 Wedding Crashers 2:00pm |4:40pm |7:40pm |10:30pm Ok. Dukes Of Hazzard 2:10pm |3:15pm |5:45pm |7:30pm |8:15pm |10:45pm Sharing one screen with Batman, but the other screen is empty and wasted until 3:15.. Batman 4:30pm |10:00pm Sharing one screen with Dukes and finally... Skeleton Key 1:10pm |4:10pm |7:10pm |10:40pm No mid evening show scheduled with almost an hour and forty minutes with the auditorium just sitting there empty and wasted from about 9pm until 10:40pm. Also, hello, people want to go to dinner first sometimes. They've effectively made their showtimes so unattractive to attend, and they're also wasting the whole auditorium during prime time with it just sitting there empty. Who makes up these schedules? What a bunch of idiots. Crack kills.  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 08-10-2005 05:26 PM                     Eric, it is quite possible that they don't open up until say noon, which would make it hard to have an early showtime then say 2:30 for Four brothers as it is a 2 hour movie, unless they wanted to start it right at noon. Why do you say its ok for Wedding Crashers to start at 2 but its not ok for Four Brothers to start at 2:30? Just curious. An example of another theater in the area that dosn't open until 12:20 Take a look at the Bad News Bears and Sky High, while they are before 2 still pretty darn close. Once the winter starts it is common for some of our movies not to start till 2 something, the doors open at 12:30 and the first show starts at 1 or after. This is common practice around my area and with the company.  |  IP: Logged Eric Hooper Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 532 From: Fort Worth, TX, USA Registered: May 2003 posted 08-10-2005 06:09 PM                     My issue isn't really with what time the theatre opens, if you'll go back and read my entire post. But since you brought it up, the absurdity in the afternoon shows, as I mentioned above, is that Example Aud #1 Deuce shows at 12:30 and 2:40 Example Aud #2 Dukes first show is not until 3:15. Why not have a 12:45 show also, since the theatre IS open?  |  IP: Logged Kurt Zupin Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 989 From: Maricopa, Arizona Registered: Oct 2004 posted 08-10-2005 06:31 PM                     Who really knows, every bodys diffrent. And from what I understand most of the big 3 or 4 showtimes are done by there home office. This is one place where Goodrich is great at, we do the showclock at theater level. A very nice thing. As far as reading your entire post I did, several times just to make sure I wasn't going to make and ass out of myself. Who really knows why there isn't a show scheduled in that time, only way your going to find out is to call and ask the manager. Because he/she is the only one that will know for sure.  |  IP: Logged Jason Whyte Expert Film Handler Posts: 132 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Registered: Sep 2002 posted 08-10-2005 10:45 PM                        Eric, Yeah that 7:10 to 10:40 split for Skeleton Key is baffling. It's about a 105 minute movie so why not set the second one for 9:50 or even 10? What I find incredibly irritating is theaters that schedule so much dead space in their afternoon shows, sometimes so much so that an entire showtime can be fit in the middle of it! Years ago, a cinema in Vancouver had a 88 minute movie with the following showtimes: 12:20-4:50-7:30-9:50 The 12:20 show ended around 2:00 and there was no sharing product, so there was TWO HOURS and FIFTY minutes inbetween shows! There could have easily been a 2:30 scheduled show. I think the reason being was that they had longer movies starting around noon or so, but still... Another oddity I saw a few years back: A mutliplex here in Victoria had 2 Fast 2 Furious scheduled at the following times: 12:30, 1:50, 3:45, 4:45, 7:00, 7:40, 9:50 and 10:30 No problemo, right? Here's how the screens were assigned when I got to the cinema (EDIT: I should mention here that I was seeing another film): Screen #5 - 1:50, 4:45, 7:00 and 9:50 Screen #8 - 12:30, 3:45, 7:40 and 10:30 Rather odd that the first set of showtimes run into the second, and vice versa, and only about a 15 minute break between the 4:45 and 7:00 show and a TWO hour break for the other one! I double-checked this with the box office and it was confirmed as correct!  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-10-2005 11:59 PM                     Okey - try this one out for size and see what you think on this one: Opening 12:00 set for a six-plex are: 12:00, 12:05,12:10,12:20,12:25 and 12:30. = people in, people out. A mad rush to the snakbar (and they wonder why their percap is low...) Using the same scheduling format for the 4:00 sets are: 4:25, 4:30, 4:35,4:40, 4:45, 4:50 and 4:55 <-which this one is the most "gay-assed" showtime to use. Why not go to 5:00??? Then the most "ballsy" one is for the 9:00pm set: 9:30, 9:35:,9:40,9:45,9:50 and the "gay-assed" one at 9:55pm. The six-plex doesn't believe in 10pm showtimes, so the 9:55 one pops up. Like-a...Where's the time for snakbar sales to happen? "Hey people! your percap sucks with these crammed in showtimes!" It's hell to start shows like this - being 5 minutes apart. You screw up one house, the others are going to be behind. -Monte  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 08-11-2005 12:02 AM                     Hi Folks: Last week the UA Stonestown shows "November" (73 minutes) at 1:30, 4:00, 7:15, 9:35. The 4:00 show, with previews, gets out at 5:30 and the aud sits empty for 1 hour and 45 minutes? Both screen are always scheduled this way. What could the employees possibly be doing during the down time? Mike  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-11-2005 12:06 AM                     quote: Mike Croaro What could the employees possibly be doing during the down time? "....a seat cleaning/repairing party!" "...plenty of time for a good thorough machine maintenance party!" (if they do these things....) -Monte  |  IP: Logged Chase Hanson Expert Film Handler Posts: 172 From: San Diego, CA Registered: Oct 2004 posted 08-11-2005 02:25 PM                     Well since none of us work at any of those theaters its a little absurd to start slamming them for their scheduling practices. I know that personally at my theater if there is ever a gap between scheduled showtimes large enough for another movie to have played, its because their is another movie playing in that gap that is not scheduled (like a press/promo/private screening). Or if there is a larger than average gap between showtimes (say an hour or so) than the auditorium is being "reserved" for internal use, being it a hiring session or employee classroom training...or Theater maintainence. And there are those fringe "econcomic" factors that I imagine get frequently overlooked by most of you.  |  IP: Logged Robert Burtcher Expert Film Handler Posts: 194 From: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Registered: Jun 2005 posted 08-12-2005 03:40 AM                     quote: Chase Hanson And there are those fringe "econcomic" factors that I imagine get frequently overlooked by most of you. By that statement, I assume you mean situations where the draw for a particular show is so low that it'd actually cost the theatre more in electricity to play the show than to let the theatre sit dormant for 2 hours?  |  IP: Logged James Bjarnason Film Handler Posts: 6 From: Victoria, BC, Canada Registered: Jun 2005 posted 08-12-2005 04:39 AM                     My favorite is trying to fit in a screening of a 2.75 hour movie on a Mon, Wed or Thu at 7:00 when most of the shows you have are 1.5 to 2 hours. Now that's when you get the crazy showtimes.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-12-2005 05:45 AM                     quote: James Bjarnason to fit in a screening of a 2.75 hour movie ... That's when you start that long one in later - around 7:45 or 8:00p at the most. Forget about having a 9pm set with a long one. Let the others have their regular times, for you know that you're only going to get 3 showing a day (with full matinee scheduling)on these long ones (e.g. - 1:00, 4:00 and 7:45, or 8:00). Lotsa fun doing show schedules... - Monte  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 08-12-2005 10:18 AM                        For more fun with show scheduling ... read here ... Link [ 08-13-2005, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Adam Martin ]  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 08-12-2005 01:48 PM                     That is a goofy schedule you posted on that Carmike 10 plex. Now, I've seen seven, 7pm show starts, but at a 21 plex - which is more viable..but at a 10 screen? Talk about "cramming and jamming" there with the patrons.. ..wonder how their percap was doing with these times...  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-12-2005 04:23 PM                     Carmike managers can change the mandatory showtimes after two weeks, they just need to run the changes by their district manager.  |  IP: Logged

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