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Does anyone display any type of movie memorabilia in your lobby? Things like old movie posters, signed pictures, vintage items, screen-used or replica props, etc.? If so, have you received comments on whether people like/dislike them?

We use the stuff whenever we can get it. You can hear people comment about a show they're looking forward to, when they see these materials. It can add a lot of atmosphere to a lobby, if not overdone.

I can't imagine why anyone would complain, as long as you don't have so much of it, it blocks traffic.

What do you mean by "whenever we can get it"? Are you talking about things you purchase for permanent displaying, or things you borrow for a period of time?

Christie's of New York is having a Star Trek auction with 40 years of real props for sale in October, and I'm wondering if shelling out a few thousand for an original screen-used Star Trek piece of history would bring in enough extra business to pay for it. It would be an excellent way to get some free TV/newspaper coverage, too.

I've also read a lot lately that animatronic Disney-ish props are going a long way in creating buzz nowadays. I can just imagine an original lighted Enterprise movie prop model behind glass in the lobby complete with engraved plaque... ooooooooh!

Ooops... sorry. Shudda put my glasses on. Thought you were asking about the various ad materials that are sent out for future releases.

There's a guy in Lockport, who has probably 100+ publicity photos of stars going waaaaay back. They're all signed, many referencing his theatre. All are framed. He has a couple of walls covered with those pictures... pretty interesting to look at, while waiting for your pizza to cook.

I wish more exhibitors would make the effort to make their places more interesting. This would make the cinema more of an occasion to remember rather than just some 'glitzy' lobby reeking of ersatz 'butter' fumes and indifference.

In my area, Eric Levin, operator of the TIMES cinema has long maintained vintage movie posters as well as a glass case exhibit of old movie relics, and there is always a group leaning over the illuminated case to eagerly view the items he has located at swap meets in Los Angeles. His is a revival house, so this is somewhat expected, but even a first run house could benefit from this break from the hard-sell refreshments atmosphere.

Milwaukee's ORIENTAL has had posters of vintage movies in strategic places along the upper level of the lobby for decades, with displays concerning more recent offerings on the entrance level. Since it is a Landmark chain mixed fare house, they also print and give away a regular Films Calendar printed in 2 or 3 colors.

There was once the GALLERY CINEMA here, built, programmed, and operated by sole owner Hank Landa who not only put out a film calender for this revival house of less than 100 seats, but also sponsored and provided space for his annual Cinema Collectibles Swap Meet on the lot next to his little 35mm-plus-16mm cinema. It was all a labor of love. Movie lovers often talked about his Shows and the posters in his tiny lobby. If he could build the building, run the projectors, deliver a prologue for each film as well as all the behind-the-scenes work almost single handed, then others can at least set up some sort of lobby display! (and all that he did was in addition to his full time job teaching at a university 30 miles away.)

Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Those are great examples of revival house lobby ideas. I've even seen a theater in Pennsylvania (I believe) that has an old Super Simplex projector on display behind velvet ropes in the lobby- it was beautiful.

For my theater, I was thinking of putting a more modern twist on the same concept by having moving props (not necessarily screen-used) in the lobby to catch patron's attention. Don't you just like going into the Disney store in the mall just to watch the animatronic characters? I know I do, and I usually end up buying something.

I couldn't agree more with Jimor- exhibitors need to use their imaginations and get away from what everyone else is doing. An interesting lobby will set them apart from their competition for certain. I get tired of hearing other exhibitors whining about how poorly the quality of movies are, the shrinking window, etc. when they should be looking at themselves instead of blaming the industry, the economy, politics, etc. Creating a stunning lobby is something that only the exhibitor owner can do.

A few theatres have restored antique projectors setup in their lobbies. One colleague at Kodak restored an old standard Simplex and Peerless Magnarc lamp, on display at the theatre he works at part-time.

Others may have items of interest to the more technically minded audience members -- old splicers, carbons, reels, ICC film cases, depressurized xenon lamps, tube amps, maybe even an old motor-generator set.

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We have canvas murals mounted on our walls in our lobby and coffee shop that depict stars of yesterday and today. Mel Gibson, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, etc.

We also have big glass cases filled with autographed coffee mugs and photos of Hollywood stars.

Gets alot of attention from people, but I don't think it generates any actual business. It does give the place personality not found in other theaters I have been too, however, and that is pretty important.

The amount of business generated by having an eye-catching lobby may not be directly measurable, but when people consider which theater to attend, all else being equal, it will be the one that is more interesting. By having autographed mugs, murals, etc., you're probably generating business indirectly that you're not even aware of.

It's the "all things being equal" that makes me think it doesn't create business in our situation. Films are allocated to either us or our competitor, never both. I agree that having the more interesting and inviting atmosphere helps business in a situation where films are playing at two locations, however. I also think making your building more interesting is good business in either scenario. But the films we are playing is what truly matters.

Big Guy, I don't understand why you can't show the same movies as your competitors. Isn't that between you and your booking agent? Or do you have the same agent as your competitors? I always thought each exhibitor was in control of what they show. No?

In our lobbies: antique ticket takers machines, antique scale, framed newspapers of historical aritcles on theatre, pieces of props like: movie directors megaphone, etc, framed poster cases, cool old signs, art deco lights, cool carpet, red velvet and brass ropes, neon clocks, 11 years of framed t shirts with a new design each year on front and the movies we played in each year, big murals, bull boards with upcoming movie news, antique furnitiure, retro seating, speakers that play background music made from old drive in speakers, and me!

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

[This message has been edited by Mike (edited June 21, 2006).]

"I don't understand why you can't show the same movies as your competitors. Isn't that between you and your booking agent?"

It depends on if your in a competitive zone or not. The distributors make that determination.

My apologies to Big Guy or anyone else if I offend here, but I thought an explanation would be in order. Most of us would be prefer to be first run theaters if at all possible as that is where the money is to be made. Unfortunately, distribution does not permit an unlimited number of prints to be made available in each market, so if there are 2 theaters in the same market, they are not both allowed to run the same movies. Sometimes allocation is done whereby they split the available supply of movies hopefully equally. The theaters have very little say in which ones they get or don't get. However, this situation allows them to be first run and have access to the higher profits at a somewhat more limited level than in an unrestricted first run market. Big Guy is actually lucky. More commonly, another, bigger,theater locates in an existing market already served by a theater and immediately, gets all the first run film available leaving the older theater with no access to first run film. Many close after a short honeymoon with second run film.

Since this topic has veered away from the original subject of movie memorabilia in lobbies, I've started a new thread titled "Restricted VS Unrestricted areas" to continue this interesting (confusing, frustrating, ...) topic.