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Geez has it been busy lately! I have sold out shows for three weeks now. What gives? How do I keep the ball rolling? Any reason why right now?

We are having the same great year.JUST amazing...We are on 12 weeks of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, WRESTLER STILL DOING WELL ALSO...

Good grief has it been crazy busy for us. How do you handle the fluctuations in your theaters? Hire extra people? Get bigger equipment? At this pace I'll be too worn out to enjoy this success !

If staffing is part of your "problem" is it possible for you to hire and train "on-call" employees? They are usually older folks (perhaps retirees on Social Security)who don't want full-time work and would be willing to be on-call. I hope your "problem" continues indefinitely.

don't get me wrong. I ain't complainin'!!!!

Growing pains is all it is, I guess

Leeler,

What have you played the last 4-5 weeks?

well, the switch was flipped when we played Marley & Me about 7 weeks after the break, which was in mid February. Then we had Mall cop about five weeks after the break which did just as well (but the terms were much better). After that we had Gran Torino which did even better seven weeks after the break. We were at 70% capacity those three weeks (including really busy weekdays)! After that we had New in Town which did well for us even though it bombed nationally (still 42% capacity) and we played it five weeks after the break. We stumbled after that with Confessions of a Shopaholic four weeks after the break. It did below average, but then we came back strong with Taken seven weeks after the break (50% capacity). Which leads us to this week where we opened Monsters Vs Aliens and to no suprise has done very strong business as well.

Is it just the movies or have things changed somehow and if so, why? I need to make some changes if we're going to be this busy on a regular basis

IMHO: 75% movies, 25% cheap alternative

M&M, Mall Cop, Gran torino, Taken, & MVA are movies that really play well to your base (non-15-20 year olds, which is similar to mine).

The problem is after MVA plays out, their is not much until May 1st. (or Mid-may for Move-overs)

We are up 38% first quarter 2008 vs first quarter 2009. The better movies this year over last probably would have gave us an increase of 8%. The remaining 30% I attribute to the economy "cheap alternative".

well, here is my plan until May 8th when I am thinking of opening Star Trek.
after my two week run of MvA I am playing some older stuff that I haven't played yet like Pink Panther, He's Just Not That Into You, Race to Witch Mountain and Duplicity. I am under no illusion that these will be overly busy weeks but my business tends to trail off in April anyways. Then I plan to run Star Trek and then, hopefully Night at the Museum. And then I will have loads of summer product to run.

Hey leeler:

I assume you're talking about the Steve Martin "Pink Panther". Did you ever consider trying to get a copy of the original Peter Sellers "Panther" and running a double bill?