Classic Films Belong on the Biggest Screens

[Geoff Jones]

One theater around here decided to build 10 screens all the same size

Which theater? How big are the screens? Do you know if they've been successful?

I've often wondered if that model could work. It's ridiculous that the same $12 ticket can get you a 5 meter screen or a 12 meter screen, with a wide gamut of audio possibilities.

I love the idea of a theater with 10 screens all the same size. I really want to see SISU, but it's only showing on crappy little screens, so I'm waiting to watch it at home. (Just read Mr. Redifer's review of Top Gun Maverick to see what that experience is like.)

Not that I think the big cinema chains are competent enough to pull it off...

[Marcel Birgelen]

I'm over at the other side of the pond here, so I'm not sure if it's of any use for you in particular. It's this theater (not much info, and the info there is, is in Dutch) and they have 8 rooms not 10, I was mistaken on that one. But they are ALL the same size and configuration.

Are they successful? They've been around since 2005 in the current form, before that, they operated two duplex city theaters for decades. They're seemingly sufficiently successful to keep any competition at bay. I'm not sure if many people that visit the place are aware that all rooms have the same size though. But I guess that's pretty unimportant, the impression you leave is more important.

Like many multiplexes, there are aspects to like (like the concept of split visitor in- and out routing they copied from the Belgian Kinepolis chain) and aspects not to like (like the lack of proper movable masking, which they copied from everybody else). It started out as an experiment in industrial minimalism, but has since been decorated to be more cinema-esque over the years. The lobby still feels like someone's basement dungeon though (maybe it's time to install some proper carpet on that concrete floor?).

The concept of each room being the same size, I do like. No matter if you're going to watch the next Avatar or some Indy production on its last legs, you're going to get an equally good or crappy experience. Over the years, different projection and sound systems have been rotated in/out and over and between the rooms though, so it's not all 100% equal on the technical side anymore, but most indy productions don't come with an Atmos track or aren't in 3D anyways, so you can shuffle movies around your auditoriums based on technical merits rather than room size, which at least increases the chance that any movie gets presented in the best possible way.

Obviously, building a multiplex with all the same room sizes isn't always practical. In this case, the complex is located in a custom-built building on the outskirts of town. If you need to fit your theater into an existing building's framework, creating n number of rooms with all the same size and configuration may be quite challenging.

A local, pretty successful art house decided to put some of their auditoriums into a "box in a box" kind of setup inside an old warehouse. It looks like this. Unfortunately, not all rooms are the same size. But maybe we're inventing the future here: Containerized cinema, where every room comes as an equally sized box, which can be easily deployed in an empty warehouse somewhere and easily moved to somewhere else when no longer welcome or useful.

[James Biggins]

not much info, and the info there is, is in Dutch

Google Translate does an excellent job.

[Geoff Jones]

Thanks Marcel.

It's fascinating to learn that a theater exists where every screen is the same size. That's something impossible to find on Google. Based on the reviews at Google, it look like moviegoers are generally happy with it.

[Mike Blakesley]

I've long had the dream of installing a 2nd screen here, and I even have a plan how to do it, but there are a few roadblocks: The building next door that we would need to buy is owned by a lady who wants to open "a business" in it (but she can never decide on what type), or she wants a ridiculous amount of money for it considering the condition it's in (basically it's just a shell of a defunct gas station). Then there is the little matter of the old gas station tanks are still under the building, or behind it or somewhere. So it'll probably never happen, but IF IT DID, my plan would give us a 2nd screen with fewer seats (about 40 to 50) than our main screen, with about a 25-foot second screen, without compromising the main auditorium - so we could offer a very similar presentation in both screens.

[Leo Enticknap]

[Off topic alert - sorry] I hope the laws and regulations around decommissioning former gas stations aren't as horrific in Montana as they are in California. Even for a medium-sized one, you're looking at having to spend $10-20m before you can build anything else on the lot. There is a former gas station next to the freeway on-ramp for my commute. It closed around this time last year: people stopped using it because you were guaranteed to be harassed by aggressive, violent, meth-whacked and sometimes armed vagrants while filling up your car. Then there was an armed robbery at the gas station store in which an employee was severely injured, after which Arco decided that enough was enough, and closed it. The city is now taking them to court to force them to either clean the lot up such that it can be used for something else (which they claim would cost $10-20m to do in compliance with all the applicable regulations: the underground tanks would have to be dug up, contaminated soil hauled away, new drainage installed, etc. etc. etc.), or reopen the gas station.

Multiply that by the thousands of gas stations that will close as we convert to EVs, and this is going to be a major problem.

[Ryan Gallagher]

We opened our summer classics season with Casablanca. We nearly sold out the 1200 seat theatre (our only screen). They don't all do that well, but certain classics will definitely fill as many seats as you give it (depending on how well it's marketed i imagine). Certain era films are just a "good fit" for the remaining decorated historic theatres it seems.

[edit for completeness, there is a smaller 2nd screen for the series, in a more contemporary capacity room, lacking appropriate masking on a roll up screen. As we only do classics, rentals, premieres, and festivals... not really a fair comparison to the topic of the thread about giving the large screen to your classics over current releases]

[Geoff Jones]

I tweet at Harkins every so often about this topic. Yesterday (6/25) I replied to their tweet about Tuesday's showings of Interstellar with the following:

Have you considered showing classics on your biggest screens? The demand is there. INTERSTELLAR showings are all full!

Meanwhile, your premium screens are ghost towns.

You bumped FLASH for SPIDER-VERSE showings. Why not bump for classics?

You'd get happier customers & more $$!

Today, I see that they've moved tomorrow's showings of Interstellar onto 8 out of 12 of their premium screens.

The Interstellar showings on the premium screens have already outsold comparable showings [EDIT: Actually, they’ve outsold a full day's worth of premium showings] of The Flash or Spider-Verse, despite the fact that moviegoers have only gotten one day's notice, and despite the fact that Interstellar tickets have been available for weeks on small screens. (At many locations, they had already added a second small screen (and at several, a third).)

A victory. Yay!

It's also further proof that:

• Theaters in decent-sized markets that show the occassional classic can sell more tickets if they show them on their biggest screens.
• If theater chains want to show classics on their biggest screens, they can make it happen.

As soon as I saw that it was playing on their premium screens, I tweeted the info to a couple of Nolan fan accounts, hoping to help it get some traction.


https://www.harkins.com/movies/interstellar/2023-06-27

[Harold Hallikainen]

A few days ago, a local theater ran Pee Wee's Great Adventure on their largest screen. I think the auditorium holds about 350, and it was nearly sold out. As usual for this theater, they turned it into an event. Everyone got a Pee Wee Herman bow tie on the way in. The program director for the theater, dressed as Pee Wee Herman, introduced the movie and did the Tequila dance with several kids and adults in the audience. They do a good job of making classic movies an event. There is a Hollywoood Classics series running on Thursdays. Each of these, again, starts with an introduction by the theater program director. They do a good job at making the movies an event.

[Mike Blakesley]

We have a regular customer who has developed a "movie club" of sorts where he books a private show every month, then invites friends and acquaintances in to watch. He asks for (but does not require) donations to help pay for the movie. His choices have truly been all over the map. At first he was mostly doing sci-fi, but he's really branched out. Last week we played "Tenet" for him, and next month we're doing the 2021 version of "Suicide Squad." He's also done "2001," "Gravity," "The Blues Brothers," "Dirty Harry," "V for Vendetta," "300," "Her," one of the "Hobbit" movies, and a double feature of both Blade Runner films. In October he's planning the original 1973 "Exorcist." He tends to favor Warner Bros. movies because they are the most reasonable to book. He's got a pretty good group of regulars, always hovers around 20 people.

[Paul Finn]

Pee Wee's Great Adventure also did very well in a last Friday night Detroit commemorative showing, along with archival television interview clips. About 850 in attendance.

Paul Finn

[Geoff Jones]

Classic films continue to do well (in decent-sized markets).

On Tuesday, Harkins hosted packed showings North By Northwest in small auditoriums, while their premium houses sat practically empty. In some locations, they added second, or even third auditoriums for NxNW. They undoubtedly left money on the table, losing customers who didn't bother because the screens weren't all that impressive or the showings were full.

Harkins is showing The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Godfather I and II, and Pulp Fiction on their premium screens in the coming weeks.


Also, after painfully long runs of Wonka and Mean Girls, the newly reopened Siff Cinema Downtown (nee Seattle Cinerama) is showing The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies in February. Tickets went on sale yesterday and many of the LotR showings are already full. The Hobbit... not so much.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

The Belcourt here in Nashville is a 3 screen art - Classics house... I got to see Hans Gruber fall from the Nakatomi Building just in time for Christmas! Have alseen countless other Artsie and Classic films there. Great place and they do an excellent presentation.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I've long had the dream of installing a 2nd screen here, and I even have a plan how to do it, but there are a few roadblocks: The building next door that we would need to buy is owned by a lady who wants to open "a business" in it (but she can never decide on what type), or she wants a ridiculous amount of money for it considering the condition it's in (basically it's just a shell of a defunct gas station). Then there is the little matter of the old gas station tanks are still under the building, or behind it or somewhere. So it'll probably never happen, but IF IT DID, my plan would give us a 2nd screen with fewer seats (about 40 to 50) than our main screen, with about a 25-foot second screen, without compromising the main auditorium - so we could offer a very similar presentation in both screens.

So the bar is gone?

[Randy Stankey]

My late father-in-law owned a property that was a defunct gas station and he had to deal with the problem of underground tanks.

Depending on the conditions underground and the amount of ground water, you MIGHT be able to pump the tanks dry then fill them with sand. That's what my FIL did.

I don't know what the rules are in your area but, if you are interested in a property like that, you could check into it and see if you'll be allowed to do the same thing.