First run theaters: Any leeway on show days?

[Bill Seipel]

I would really like the flexibility of having a weekend open to other evemts at our theater. We have 1 screen & 1 stage.

But our manager tells me that we must show a movie every evening of every day we are open. Otherwise the studios retaliate.

This is why we are trying live events Mon or Tues nigjts. Theater is usually closed thos nights.

"You want to book a Tuesday?"

This is what most acts say....

[Frank Cox]

I would be rather surprised if you could book a first run movie for weekday showings only.

You might consider having an occasional live events week instead where you don't show a new movie but rather do whatever live act you've got and maybe play a "classic title" during the week instead.

I only close two days per year here (Christmas eve and Christmas day) and I usually use the opportunity to paint the auditorium floor during those days. But I have had a few occasions in the past where I've been told that if I am to be allowed to play the top new movie over Christmas I need to be open those two days. So it's either play that movie or paint the floor.

I usually convince myself that the floor isn't in that bad of a shape this year and play the movie that week.

[Bill Seipel]

I would be rather surprised if you could book a first run movie for weekday showings only.

You might consider having an occasional live events week instead where you don't show a new movie but rather do whatever live act you've got and maybe play a "classic title" during the week instead.

I don't see that happening either. Its more plausible we'd be allowed to close for a week, rather than close on Friday or Saturday.

They might not even like that we close the entire week for a different event. Hard to say.

It's coming to the point where we might have to ask ourselves

: "Do I lose money on this first run show or take a risk on a live event we've never tried?"

[Mike Blakesley]

We are generally only closed the Thursday night before a new movie opens, so if there's any call for a special event, we'll have it on a closed Thursday. People are used to going to sporting events and stuff like that during the week, so nobody minds going out on a weeknight if there's an event they really want to see.

As for scheduling new movies -- it's all dependent on what you establish with the studios. If you go in saying you're closed every Sunday, then they won't have a problem with you running a concert on Sunday night. But if you usually run a movie that night and cancel it for a concert, it might be more of an issue.

The big BIG thing is, if you are doing anything outside of your normal, like disrupting a showtime, make sure the studio is aware. The studios can be surprisingly flexible, especially if the movie in question is not a blockbuster. What they REALLY hate is when you do something without telling them and they find out about it. That's when they'll come down on you by refusing future bookings or (in extreme cases) pulling your print.

[Martin Brooks]

Show the movie at 7 and have the event at 9:15pm

[Bill Seipel]

Show the movie at 7 and have the event at 9:15pm

Not enough setup time. Especially for a concert.

[Armand Daiguillon]

In case you were not aware, the film companies are not your friends, they are not interested in what is good for you - only for them. Any booking you get will always have a 2 week minimum and will require a showtime every day you are open. If you are not open enough to give a decent gross they will not service you in the future. Each release has a "print plan" not as many movies are super wide releases these days, and most print plans have a limit on how many locations will play the film. If you can't gross anything, you will not be on the print plan. If you really want to do both types of things with only one screen you could book only big movies (2 weeks at a time) and then book alternate content other weeks. As long as you fulfill your commitments, you can be fine. But if you try to juggle both at the same time on one screen, you'll have big problems. - its tricky

[Mike Blakesley]

It's true that the studios have their own interests at heart, but as I said above, the main thing is making the studio aware of what you are doing. There is a theater down the road from us which has 3 screens. The main screen has a stage for plays, concerts, etc. They are frequently interrupting the run of movies for those kind of events. I think they plan ahead so as not to interrupt a really big title, but the key is that if the studio is clued-in ahead of time that you're doing a concert on Saturday night, unless the movie is the blockbuster of the year, they should be fine with it. Just don't try to "put anything over" on them -- THAT is the main thing.

There's another theater about 250 miles from us (but still in Montana) that is having a boxing event this coming Saturday, yet they are playing Madame Web now and will open Dune 2 next week.

Any booking you get will always have a 2 week minimum and will require a showtime every day you are open. If you are not open enough to give a decent gross they will not service you in the future.

The 2 weeks requirement usually goes away by about the third week of the film being released. The tri-plex I mentioned above does pretty low grosses on a lot of movies, but they still seem to manage to get all of the big titles on the break, so I think grosses are a little bit less important than they used to be. A wide release is still pretty wide.

[Armand Daiguillon]

It's true that the studios have their own interests at heart, but as I said above, the main thing is making the studio aware of what you are doing. There is a theater down the road from us which has 3 screens. The main screen has a stage for plays, concerts, etc. They are frequently interrupting the run of movies for those kind of events. I think they plan ahead so as not to interrupt a really big title, but the key is that if the studio is clued-in ahead of time that you're doing a concert on Saturday night, unless the movie is the blockbuster of the year, they should be fine with it. Just don't try to "put anything over" on them -- THAT is the main thing.

There's another theater about 250 miles from us (but still in Montana) that is having a boxing event this coming Saturday, yet they are playing Madame Web now and will open Dune 2 next week.



The 2 weeks requirement usually goes away by about the third week of the film being released. The tri-plex I mentioned above does pretty low grosses on a lot of movies, but they still seem to manage to get all of the big titles on the break, so I think grosses are a little bit less important than they used to be. A wide release is still pretty wide.

Just to clarify on this point though .... depending on the studio, if you cancel their show and notify them after the fact and they dont approve it. Per the MLA (specifically Disney Uni, WB and Paramount) they are entitled to the revenue from whatever you put on in their place. And i'm not joking ..... that wording is in there.

[Mike Blakesley]

if you cancel their show and notify them after the fact and they dont approve it. Per the MLA (specifically Disney Uni, WB and Paramount) they are entitled to the revenue from whatever you put on in their place.

Absolutely true. Back in the film days, we used to be closed on Tuesdays and we'd run two changes a week: Wed-Thur-Fri, and Sat-Sun-Mon. Sometimes we'd play a major hit for the whole 6 days. We were playing "Movie A" and originally had it booked for the whole 6 days, but our booker thought we'd do well with "Movie B" over the Sat-Sun-Mon, and booked it, but did not get the OK from the owners of Movie A.

A couple weeks later, we got a letter from Movie A's studio demanding that we pay the same film rental for Sat-Sun-Mon as we had paid for Wed-Thur-Fri, assuming we would have grossed the same on those last 3 days had we continued to play their movie. (In reality it was ridiculous, because we had announced "3 days only" for the first movie, so most people who wanted to see it were able to.) I don't remember if we negotiated a lower payoff or what -- I wasn't doing our books back then -- but we definitely learned our lesson. You have a lot of leeway, but just make sure you're on the same page with the studio.

There have only been two times in my nearly 45 years in the business where I've had "trouble" with a studio, and both times it was because we did something different than originally planned.