Playing a movie for an empty room

[Frank Cox]

There was only one person at tonight's show, but that's ok. I'll play a movie for one person just like I'll play a movie for a full house.

End of the show comes, end of the credits.... nobody comes out of the auditorium.

There was nobody there. The one customer must have left somehow (maybe through the fire exit?) without me noticing.

That's kind of a weird feeling -- I've been playing a movie for an empty room for how long....

[Randy Stankey]

Be sure to check the restrooms or corners where people can disappear.

While you're at it, check to be sure that nobody is hiding out someplace where they can come out after you have locked up and turned out the lights.

I've seen it happen.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Halloween is early this year.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

What? No panic bar alarms on your EXIT doors?

[Mike Blakesley]

Maybe you took a bathroom break and he left during that minute?

If you're showing the new Addams Family movie (like we are) it's no surprise if somebody walked out. We've had several. That movie blows such chunks.

[Jon Dent]

Maybe you took a bathroom break and he left during that minute?

If you're showing the new Addams Family movie (like we are) it's no surprise if somebody walked out. We've had several. That movie blows such chunks.

A parent at a private birthday party showing said the same thing.

[Mike Blakesley]

I played at least a half dozen movies for empty rooms during the pandemic closure, as recommended by the techs to keep the projector from growing mold, or whatever it does if you don't use it.

[Marcel Birgelen]

E-mold and bitrot... it's all diigtal now.

Looking at Frank's website, it indeed seems to be the new Addams Family movie. Luckily, they "only" spent $18M on making this "masterpiece" of digital animation...

[Randy Stankey]

Even from the poster, you can tell that they got it all wrong.

Gomez isn't portly. He's svelte like a Spanish Gentleman.
Morticia doesn't have a long neck like a snake woman. She's actually just a tad bit housewife-ish.
Wednesday isn't Goth. She dresses a little bit like a schoolgirl.
Pugsley isn't fat. He's husky like a grade school bully.
Fester is the only one they even got close to being right.

Just from that, I knew that the movie was written by people who don't know the source material and weren't interested in even finding out more than the most superficial details.

I, really, am not interested in seeing the movie just on this basis.

[Jim Cassedy]

It's better to have a show with no people, than to have a house full of people, and no show.

I think Confucius said something like this once. - - or maybe I heard it in a Charlie Chan movie.

[Martin McCaffery]

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." ---Tom Waits

[Mike Blakesley]

Well... kids are liking it, I can say that. There is one scene where Pugsley says "I'm going to the bathroom" and then it cuts to him walking into the ocean, so that gives you a little idea of the kind of humor herein.

We were nearly sold-out on Saturday, surprisingly.... but a friend of mine who was there last night said it's one of the worst movies he's ever seen.

[Frank Cox]

You're doing much better with that than I am. So far this week I've had a grand total of 29 people come to this show, and 23 of them were here on Friday night.

This is the second week in a row that I've had almost no turn-out for the movie. Last week I played After We Fell; two people came on Friday, 13 came on Saturday and that was it for the week. Five nights in a row with nobody coming to the show. I think that'ss a new record for me, though the Addams Family looks like it's shooting for something close to that as well.

I really don't know what's going on; the restaurant across the street (the best and most popular restaurant in town by far) has been pretty much dead as well and that place is usually just packed on weekends. A fairly high-profile guy in town died from the virus a couple of weeks ago so maybe that's scared people into staying home. The (few) people who have come here since the vaccine passport requirement started have all been very supportive and thankful that this is the procedure now. I've said, "Sorry about the extra hassle, but this is the new requirement" and been told "By all means don't apologize. This is actually great." I thought I might get blasted but it's been totally the opposite experience so far.

I asked my friend the "Coop cop" at the grocery store this afternoon if he's had any arguments about masking when people come into the store and he said nothing bad has been said at all. I've mentioned him here before -- he does everything from apprehending shoplifters to stocking shelves to shovelling snow to carrying bags for old ladies, and now he's also in charge of making sure everyone wears a mask when they come into the store. Oh, and today was his birthday. He told me that he's 42 so I advised him that's the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Hopefully it picks up again soon. This is usually the slow season, of course, but still: it gets pretty depressing when nobody comes and there's no show at all night after night.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

In the film days we used to run matinees and there were often empty houses at the beginning but someone came about half way into the show. The manager had us run the film without light and the box office would ring us when there was a customer so we kept the schedule and saved carbons aand the customer didn't know the difference.

[Jon Dent]

Addams is doing okay for us but Venom is certainly more popular.

I usually try to screen all our movies beforehand to check volume levels. I didn't even try to watch Addams.