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For the past two weeks we have been running our shows starting at noon and running five shows per day. We did this to maximize our revenue over the Thanksgiving holiday. Our usual schedule is to run four shows per day starting at 1:00 PM.

This week we switched back. We have a few people who thought we still had 12:00 shows and showed up for them. Most were understanding, but a few were downright hostile about our changing the show times. They would spout things like "Why did you do that? NO other theatre changes their show times!" "How do you expect us to know when the shows are if you willy nilly change the show times?" "No other theatre changes their show times on Friday!" "There should be public notification when you change you show times?"

That last one was my favorite because my cashier held up today’s paper and said, "Like this ad we place every day in the newspaper?" I was so proud.

Now I am not totally impressed because we have 50 or 60 people in the auditoriums that got the times right.

I do not change my show times on Saturday. I do not change my show times on Sunday. I do not change my show times on Monday. I do not change my show times on Tuesday. I do not change my show times on Wednesday. I do not chage my show times for Thursday.

Come on say it with me, All theatres change their show times on Friday! except when they don't.

When we bought our theatre it had 2 screens, never split a show, and never showed a late show. Both movies always started at 7:00 and for literally YEARS we had whiners standing around when we started a film at 6:30 to get two shows in or whenever. We change show times every week on friday and we have brutally disciplined our customers to be aware or be late! Shows can start at 7, 6:30, 6:45, 6:50, 7:10 or whenever we feel like it and YES the same movie will not show at the same time next week as it is this week. Fer The love of Bojangles! You rant on Large because you're right!

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Mike Hurley
www.bigscreenbiz.com

I stopped running my show times in the paper. I have a box next to the title that reads: "Please call or log-on for show times." On my website it says to call to confirm all show times. When i start my show is determined by the length of the movie. It has been said, "You can't please all the people all the time . . . ." I have no sympathy for those who feel the world should be run to their specs.

It is all symptomatic of this new "victim mentality" -- it is YOUR fault that you scheduled the movie at a time that was not 100% convenient for THEM to arrive and watch it. They are the customer, and they are always right (except when they are wrong). The convenience of home video and pay-per-view have created an attention-deficit disordered public incapable of realizing that a movie is still a special event...

DJ has hit the hammer on the head. We live in a social climate were it is fashionable to complain about just about anything. Everyone wants to be catered to----sorry,but that isn't going to happen. If they can't read the paper or dial the telephone, then that's their problem not ours.