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» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Ground Level   » AMC not updating exterior signs (Page 1)

 
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Author Topic: AMC not updating exterior signs
Mark Campbell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 148
From: Seattle, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2007

- posted 02-25-2015 06:35 PM      Profile for Mark Campbell   Email Mark Campbell   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
There are at least 3 AMC's in the Seattle area that still have old branding signs from previous operators on the exterior.

The Oak Tree Cinemas, Factoria Cinemas and Woodinville 12. All 3 are listed as "AMC Loews…………" on the website. All 3 have Cineplex Odeon signs on the exterior - no mention of AMC or Loews. All 3 have AMC branding on the interior. When I was last at Factoria some patrons went up to the box office and asked where the AMC theater was. They had been driving around looking for it.

In the grand scheme of things is it that expensive to put up AMC signs on the exterior? All these theaters have been converted to digital so they appear to be in it for the long haul.

Also, most of the Seattle area AMC's are old GCC's, Loews, and Cineplex Odeons (a lot of those were SRO prior to being bought by C.O). All the GCC's were rebranded AMC on the exterior and read "AMC………….." on the website. All the Loews Cineplex read "AMC Loews………." on the website and and only a hardly any of those have been rebranded on the outside.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

- posted 02-25-2015 06:45 PM      Profile for Joe Redifer   Author's Homepage   Email Joe Redifer   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
That's weird. AMC has been really good about updating their branding here in the Denver metro area with the theaters they've acquired. They've gone so far as to repaint entire buildings to match the red AMC motif.

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Shawn M. Martin
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 175
From: Arlington, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2012

- posted 02-25-2015 06:48 PM      Profile for Shawn M. Martin     Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Yeah, the AMC Loews in Georgetown still says "LOEWS THEATRES" across the outside.

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Mark Campbell
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 148
From: Seattle, WA USA
Registered: Jul 2007

- posted 02-25-2015 07:10 PM      Profile for Mark Campbell   Email Mark Campbell   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Pretty sure the Alderwood 16 north of Seattle still says Loews as well but can't confirm. The Lakewood Town Center 12 south of Tacoma appears to have lost its Loews sign for an AMC when they converted to the cushy chairs.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 02-25-2015 07:29 PM      Profile for Mike Blakesley   Author's Homepage   Email Mike Blakesley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The Carmike Wynnsong in Billings has one of those 10-line marquee signs on the main street near where the theater sits....they stopped putting the show titles on it and only put the phone number and "Fandango" website address, unless they are opening some huge title in which case they'll put just that title on the sign. This despite the sign being on one of the heaviest-traveled streets in the whole state. I'm kind of surprised Carmike hasn't gone to some sort of electronic signage.

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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99

- posted 02-25-2015 08:45 PM      Profile for Mark Ogden   Email Mark Ogden   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Many Loews Theaters acquired by AMC in the 2006 merger are still branded as "AMC Loews", and Loews is still technically an AMC brand. As I understand it, it partly had to do with contracts that Loews/Cineplex locations had with various outside vendors (Screenvision, for one) that did not also have a deal with AMC, and partly to distinguish pre-existing Loews locations that hadn't been upgraded to stadium seats, the AMC trade dress and the like. I notice around the NYC area that when one of these locations gets remodeled, the "Loews" disappears from the name.

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Jarod Reddig
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 513
From: Hays, Ks
Registered: Jun 2011

- posted 02-25-2015 09:58 PM      Profile for Jarod Reddig   Email Jarod Reddig   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
The Mall Cinema 8 in my hometown has identity issues too. For years it was owned by Dickinson so their branding is spread around the place here and there. In the last maybe 10 odd years Showplex bought them out and then the most recent buyout was by Starplex. Amazes me companies dont have branding as one of there priorities.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 02-25-2015 10:28 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Dickinson ran the Central Mall 12 theater here in Lawton for a few years. Then it changed hands a couple of times, with Showplex running it currently. Our company built the original exterior channel letter sign, but never with any "Dickinson" branding. It's always been "Central Mall 12 Theaters".

quote: Mark Campbell
In the grand scheme of things is it that expensive to put up AMC signs on the exterior? All these theaters have been converted to digital so they appear to be in it for the long haul.
That seems very strange AMC would not change out the exterior signs at those theaters to get the branding current. They've taken care of that with a couple theaters I know of in the Oklahoma City area.

Exterior channel letters aren't all that expensive (relatively speaking). If they just wanted to do the "AMC" part alone it might not even cost a couple grand for standard 24" tall characters.

Maybe there is something else getting in the way of a brand update. Sign ordinances change for one thing, with some sign codes getting strict to a very stupid, anti-business degree. Many will try to restrict square footage of building mounted and free-standing signs. Some of these ordinances will restrict how many signs can be on a building exterior or how many exterior signs are allowed in total. The theater operator might be stuck with a choice of leaving the old "grandfathered" signs in place versus having no building sign at all in place of it.

quote: Mike Blakesley
The Carmike Wynnsong in Billings has one of those 10-line marquee signs on the main street near where the theater sits....they stopped putting the show titles on it and only put the phone number and "Fandango" website address, unless they are opening some huge title in which case they'll put just that title on the sign. This despite the sign being on one of the heaviest-traveled streets in the whole state. I'm kind of surprised Carmike hasn't gone to some sort of electronic signage.
Here in Lawton the Carmike 8 theater has a fairly big street sign with a 16' tall by 20' wide cabinet; the bottom 11' is for the changeable copy section. They still update the movie listings on it. It would be pretty expensive to replace that with a LED sign. However, the LED display wouldn't have to be quite as big since the messages can change.

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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012

- posted 02-25-2015 11:32 PM      Profile for Terry Lynn-Stevens   Email Terry Lynn-Stevens   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Mark Campbell
In the grand scheme of things is it that expensive to put up AMC signs on the exterior? All these theaters have been converted to digital so they appear to be in it for the long haul.
On a set of individual theaters, no it would not cost a lot but taken as whole a re-branding can cost a lot of money.

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Jarod Reddig
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 513
From: Hays, Ks
Registered: Jun 2011

- posted 02-26-2015 02:39 AM      Profile for Jarod Reddig   Email Jarod Reddig   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Bobby is Dickinson still going or did Showplex buy them out?

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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler

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From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006

- posted 02-26-2015 11:27 AM      Profile for Jim Cassedy   Email Jim Cassedy   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Well, if Santa Monica is anything like San Francisco, even a simple
modification to an existing sign often requires getting approval from
the city planning commission and in some cases (depending on the work
to be done) it may even require an 'environmental impact review' to make
sure that you're not disturbing some rare bird or other critter that might
be nesting in the sign superstucture.

Getting the approvals & permits can take many months, or even a year.

When SBC took over Pacific Bell some years ago, it cost them hundereds
of thousands of dollars to get the permits & approvals to change all the
old "Pac Bell" signs to "SBC" signs, even though in many cases the only
thing that changed was the lettering on the "face" of the sign.

And then they went through the whole process again several years later
when SBC took over AT&T like Nazis marching through Poland and they
had to change all the signs again, to read "AT&T" instead of "SBC".

But don't worry - - all this cost was passed on to the customers.

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Jason McMillan
Film Handler

Posts: 68
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Dec 2009

- posted 02-26-2015 11:41 AM      Profile for Jason McMillan   Email Jason McMillan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Here in the Houston area, AMC just literally remodeled the AMC Loews Spring 10 which they acquired when they took over Loews years ago. Until this remodel, it had "Loews Theatres" signage. They put up a new sign and its now just "AMC Spring 10". Of course, it didn't have digital until they did the remodel, either.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

- posted 02-26-2015 12:39 PM      Profile for Bobby Henderson   Email Bobby Henderson   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Jarod Reddig
Bobby is Dickinson still going or did Showplex buy them out?
B&B Theaters bought out Dickinson. The old dtmovies.com web domain still works, but you wind up at B&B Theaters' web site.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Dickinson ran the Central Mall 12 theater here in Lawton for a few years. Then it changed hands a couple of times, with Showplex running it currently.
Correction: Starplex took over the Central Mall 12 from Showplex. Starplex, showplex, blah blah blah. Kind of easy to get them confused with each other.

quote: Jim Cassedy
Well, if Santa Monica is anything like San Francisco, even a simple modification to an existing sign often requires getting approval from the city planning commission and in some cases (depending on the work to be done) it may even require an 'environmental impact review' to make sure that you're not disturbing some rare bird or other critter that might be nesting in the sign superstucture.

Getting the approvals & permits can take many months, or even a year.
That's a great recipe to have businesses not locate there and others to leave. It sounds like it would be an act of business suicide to locate a sign company within San Francisco city limits.

Exterior signs are the most important marketing tool for most businesses with a retail store front. Overkill level regulations like the ones described in San Francisco get in the way of that. I'm fairly certain the people dreaming up those rules don't have any understanding of what it takes to run a retail business. They probably just have their servants, assistants or whoever do all their errand running for them.

quote: Jim Cassedy
But don't worry - - all this cost was passed on to the customers.
We're not going to deal with all the bureaucratic red tape off the clock. Our time is not free. Unfortunately most customers don't understand and/or don't care about that. So when we're faced with doing a job in a community with a completely ridiculous sign ordinance we'll stick to our guns about the higher "pain in the ass" tax assigned to that price quote, or we just don't screw with that project in the first place.

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Terry Monohan
Master Film Handler

Posts: 379
From: San Francisco CA USA
Registered: May 2014

- posted 03-04-2015 06:58 PM      Profile for Terry Monohan   Email Terry Monohan   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Just think when Loews Theatres makes a comeback someday and buys out AMC from the Chinese they won't have to change the signs. Time for RKO to start up again and buy out Cinemark Cinemas. As you know in the old days theatres had different names, now they are all called the name of the company that owns them. The big circuits today have no imagination or any showmanship.

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Eric Hooper
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 532
From: Fort Worth, TX, USA
Registered: May 2003

- posted 03-04-2015 09:53 PM      Profile for Eric Hooper   Email Eric Hooper   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
There is a "Cineplex Odeon" operating as an AMC up at the mall in Burlington, WA. All signage outside says CINEPLEX ODEON complete with the Cineplex logos.

It's very confusing..... [Confused]

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