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Hey...what happened?!

We had a great summer. But what have you done for me lately my friendly distribs???

What looks good out there between now and Nov?

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Doing great with death a funeral..did more 2nd wek than 1st..from mgm

Hoping to make a splash here in Iowa with The Final Season:
http://www.finalseason.com/

I love telling this story, and am not sure if I ever told it here, so here goes.

One of my accounts, who plays a mix of first-run art and upscale commercial, had a regular customer who loved the theatre, and especially the foreign films. When she died four years ago, she left a bequest to the theatre so they would hold an annual film festival in her name. Every year in September, we hold "The Rosa Goddard International Classics Film Festival." The 2007 edition started last night and goes for 8 days.

Here's the lineup...
Thu: Black Orpheus
Fri: The Seven Samurai
Sat: The Third Man
Sun: The Triplets of Belleville
Mon: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tue: Army of Shadows
Wed: McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Thu: Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise

Needless to say, programming something like this is one of the highlights of my year.

I'd like a customer like that! Nice little schedule. Are the films chosen by her in advance?

We have our twice yearly catch-up film festival starting this week:

1. Waitress
2. Away From her
3. Once
4. Sunshine
5. Parie/ I love you Man!
6. la Vie en Rose
7. Golden Door
8. Becoming Jane
9. Warren Miller ski films!

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Nothing looks good which is why I switch to all live events during September and October. Its the only way stay alive in the off-seasons. See you in November!

this looks like a great fall line up ..
eastern promises
310 yuma
into the wild
darjeeling limited
queen

and at least for the little guys: they don't cut enough prints/ grrrrr.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

Here is one way to maybe capitalize on the great summer.

The local chain here is bringing back the summer classics ( Shrek 3, Spiderman 3 and Pirates) for 1 week for $1. They did a big radio promo on it so I picked up Shrek 3 to tag along with them.

dsschoenborn, that sounds like a great idea.

But how are you handling the film rental on this with only charging $1?
What do you charge normally?

I have noticed some of the chains in the region seem to be abandoning the bulk of the fall releases in favor of the summer hits (Pirates, Spiderman, Surf's Up, Ratatouille, etc). I already played them so haven't really considered them. Is this a good strategy in a bad season?

Well we are doing the same thing others are doing. We told the film company we are charging $1 and are paying a % of that. We narmally charge $4 for matinees.

Maybe I should try that. September has been pretty bad this year. Last week I had 11 patrons on Friday night at both of my theatres (The Simpsons and Daddy Day Camp). This week probably won't be much better with Superbad and Mr. Bean's Holiday. I have had to dig deep for movies while waiting for 3:10 to Yuma and The Brave One--and there's no guarantee they will perform either. Anyone play Shoot Em Up? I haven't, but that was a ridiculously funny movie.

What movies have performed well for your theatre this month?

Death at a funeral......if you can get it ....get it start my 6 th week fri verry nice numbers.......

dsschoenborn, how have you done this week?
Did you do better with Shrek at $1 than you would have with a current movie?