Re: this week in review....

["Brian Vita" <brian_vita@cssinc.com>]

> Joseph Pappalardo wrote:
>
> >Let's say a theater owner operator has booked a blockbuster film...say,
> >Titanic.
> >
> >So...said theater owner it wants to keep it successful...so on many of
the
> >other screens in the chain/complex they deliberately puts less successful
> >films on them

As a matter of fact, until they overbuilt screens, it was a common practice.
Film rentals are based upon a % of ticket price.  Until fairly recently, a
typical contract would be 2 weeks @ 70%, 2 weeks @ 60%, balance @ 55%.
Until this practice was made unprofitable by an over abundance of screens,
many theatre owners would open a "Star Wars" type movie in a 250 seat house
(as opposed to a 500 seat theatre or multiple houses in interlock) and
deliberately sell out knowing that patrons arriving for "Star Wars" and
finding it sold out would likely stay for the "slasher" movie that had seats
available at 35%.

The recent overbuilding of the industry, a brainchild of minds far superior
to mine, has created a surplus of screens and seats. As a result movies
aren't selling out and everyone who wants to see the movie does so in the
first weeks rather than later.  Since there is no holdover the lower rentals
never kick in and your overall film rental becomes a higher % of your
theatre's gross.  All it took was one bad year (last year) for the house of
cards to fail and the majors, run by those superior MBA's all came crashing
down.  Carmike, General Cinema, UA, Edwards, Mann et al all filed Chapter
11.

> >(slasher movies, "already run" titles, maybe some Turner Classic Movie
> As far as the theater owner's bottom line goes, any empty seat in the
> complex is lost revenue. That's why you will often see "blockbusters"
> running on three or more screens at a cineplex each showtime offset by
> :15,  :20, or :30 for the first 2-3 weeks of release.

No, this is a function of having 20 screens and only 8 marketable movies.

Brian Vita, President
Cinema Service & Supply, Inc.
75 Walnut St.
Peabody, MA  01960-5626 USA
Business Ofc: +1-978-538-7575/Business Fax +1-978-538-7550
Sales Dept:  (800)231-8849/Sales Fax: (800)329-2775