My old theater dropped late showings during the week!

[Jesse Skeen]

I worked for nine years at the Holiday Cinema in Davis, CA, from 1991-2000- it opened in 1989 and was purchased by Regal in 2004 who has run it since.

Checking up on what they’re showing now, it appears that they no longer run the usual last set of shows on Monday through Thursday nights, the latest show in next week’s schedule is at 7:45. For years the last showing would be at 10:15. Oddly enough they are running matinees during the week starting at 1:00 which seems early, when it first opened their first shows started in the 4:00 hour and they eventually settled on about 3:00 or so for the first weekday showing.

They still run the later shows on weekends, and seem to have also adjusted the earlier showtimes on weekends to 12:00 or so. No other theaters in the area are closing as early as this one is now during the week though.

[Chris Haller]

An edict from the top - before I left Regal in late January this was their big policy shift to conserve hours of payroll during the slow season. No late shows. Saves hours from floor staff and management.

[Randy Stankey]

Sounds, to me, more like they are shifting their business hours to cut payroll during slow times in hopes of picking up business during the weekday afternoons.

If no other theaters have shows at Noon, they might be trying to capitalize on underserved customers.

Some people still go to theaters to watch movies instead of having a "moviegoing experience."

[Leo Enticknap]

When I was working in regular, first run movie theaters (admittedly not since 2001), the last evening shows on Mondays through Thursdays were usually slow, unless a big draw blockbuster was playing. You can go to a show starting at 6-7pm and be home in time to get a good night's sleep before work or school the next day. That's not the case with a show starting at 9-10pm. In my days in the booth those shows still ran, presumably because of contractual arrangements with studios that specified a minimum number of shows per day, combined with the fact that a show at 9pm would draw more customers than one at 9am, even if that 9pm show was still unprofitable overall.

Given its size, I'm guessing that Regal has used its bargaining power with the studios to get out of that contractual requirement and not have to run late evening weekday screenings.

[Jesse Skeen]

Seems like this is spreading to other theaters now also. The Davis theater has also cut back on daytime shows this week, most movies are only showing twice per day but it looks like they will have more early and late showings when Dune starts playing.