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I find Mike's recent post about the outdoor screening of "His Girl Friday" to be very interesting. see: http://www.bigscreenbiz.com/ubb/Forum39/HTML/002010.html

It's interesting not so much because it is an outdoor showing, but mainly because it includes the idea of using public domain DVDs. Because I want to take the discussion in that direction, I am starting this new thread.

I know that DVDs are lower quality than film, but if used in a non-traditional way (such as outdoor screenings) then maybe the quality wouldn't be such a problem.

My concept for a theater is like a combination of cinema cafe and a traditional movie theater. I wouldn't necessarily want to serve food in all auditoriums. I would like to have 3 screens. Two would be for showing new release films, primarily indie/art/foreign films, maybe some move-over with legs, and the third would be the cinema cafe screen.

This cafe evironment would be the candidate for using a DVD projection system to show public domain titles. I even envision packaging dinner and a movie as a double feature. The first feature would be the public domain piece shown over dinner and then for the second feature patrons would move into the more traditional auditorium.

Additional movie-goers could join the crowd for the second feature and skip the first, therefore the traditional movie-fare of popcorn, soda, etc. would be available as well.

I don't think the public domain titles could be used all the time in the cafe, but would certainly help the bottom line if used occassionally. When not showing a public domain title, other films could play in the cafe once they have passed their prime and attendance is dwindling in the traditional auditorium. The cafe would be the smallest auditorium (at least in seating capacity if not in size) and the place to move slower films. Hopefully, this would increase interest in a film toward the end of its run.

However, when not using public domain titles, there could be no double feature package, but it might be possible to entice people to buy two separate tickets if packaged properly. Maybe something like: "See two great movies when you come for dinner! And get a free dessert! All for just $40 per couple!"

The price could be adjusted of course to whatever is reasonable and profitable after real expensives have been calculated, but you get the picture. I would be sure to ring up everything separately even though it might be advertised as a package. McDonalds and others do it all the time with their value meals. That way distributors will only get the percentage of tickets they normally do and not part of the food sales.

Also, I've read in the past that public domain DVDs might still have restrictions against public showings because the manufacturer or video store may put restrictions on the use of the DVD they have sold or rented to you. How can they do this if it's a public domain piece? They don't own the rights for the content. It belongs to everyone, just as copyrighted works belong to the creator. Then, if they don't own the content and they sold me the medium (the DVD), what is left to restrict? Somebody, please enlighten me on this issue of public domain.

Also, what do you think about my cinema cafe concept? What are the problems with it? Where am I wrong in my thinking?

Thanks for any input!

You will really need to research each title to be sure it is really "public domain". For example, sometimes the picture was remastered with enough change to qualify for a new copyright (e.g., colorization), or other elements in the picture like music need clearance and may be subject to royalties.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
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Thanks, John. I agree that dilligent research is required, but I would not be looking to show pieces that were not widely accepted as public domain. Since I would normally be using the public domain piece as a warm-up feature where people could be a little distracted by food, I don't think using some old "B" movies would be a bad idea.

However, I do wonder if people would be willing to sit through two movies in a row. Has the attention span of the general public shrunk? Seems to me there were some old posts that said double features usually still do ok, but that distributor rules rarely allow such showings.

I think leveraging titles that fall under public domain is a great idea. I feel like this is a model that more of the content in the industry (or all industries for that matter) should fall into much faster than they do, but that's another story.

As for the cinema cafe itself, I've had a couple of experiences with going to Dinner and a movie joints, and wanted to share my opinion in case it's helpful:

Location 1: Foreign Cinema, San Francisco
This is a relatively fancy restaurant in the city. The night we went, they were playing Whale Rider, which I really enjoy and wanted to watch again. But as I found out, the movie is played merely for ambiance. The business is clearly a restaurant, and one that caters to a high end experience that makes people feel it's worth it to drop 100 bucks there. And it's mostly about the food

Location 2: Parkway Theater in Oakland
At parkway, the place was much more about the movie. Actually, it was more about being able to sip a beer and munch on real food while watching a halfway decent movie. Unlike foreign cinema, where one never really pays attention to the movie, having something that is watchable really counts for this sort of cinema cafe.

So what I'd say is that public domain films would probably work for places like Foreign cinema (primarily restaurants) but I don't think they'd draw for places like Parkway. Even if there's food in front of you, you're still really there for the movie. Unless you're there for the food... in which case you can't really concentrate on the movie much. But then the food (and service) had better be restaurant caliber.

Does that make sense?

Ben Trevino
exhibitionresearch.blogspot.com