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Remember back in August, September, and October when it was so hard to get prints? The smaller exhibitors (most of us) really suffered. Well, it seems to had an effect on NATO because they are looking into the problem. Hopefully the new year will see some changes. Maybe if the window between theatrical release and video release were widened it might make a difference and give a little more time to get more of those prints out to us little guys. What do you think?

The problem now is that there are too many prints for us to play off. We have lost some films to the big guys. We lost Chocholate but that may be a blessing, it isn't doing well. We lost Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the commercial plex in spite of the fact it is in Chinese with English subtitles. We are fighting hard now for the rest of our films.

We opened Quills day and date with a commercial plex 8 miles away. We kick their ass. I will have official numbers by tomorrow.

The multiplex 8 miles away did $3,753 with Quills. We did $7,300 and it wasn't even our biggest film. We did $8,000 on State and Main. Shouldn't we have the right to dictate what films we want to play?

[This message has been edited by Large (edited December 29, 2000).]

It's funny but we go from feast to famine. Yes they are now looking into it but nothing will recover Aug-Sept-Oct for those who could not get prints of the only two movies that did any business in the mainstream film sector: Titans and Parents: both were limited prints. With 3 screens I am now drowning in product. We turned down Cast Away to book a kid pic 102 Dalms and as long as get a print next week we'll be fine. What I don't understand is if you've got a hot film why not make prints????? They'll "look into it" and it won't make a difference. I tried to do my best by personally reaming BV and Universal over the lack of prints. Crouching Tiger is on 124 screens in the USA! That is not a lot of screens for all the buzz!

Mike, you want Castaway, it will pay some bills. There will be prints free in a couple of weeks.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a platform release. They are looking to have 1,000 prints by January 12th. It's a great film.