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As movie theatre owners I know that most of us visit other theatres from time to time. Besides the fact that we may be going to see a movie, what other things do you look for. One of the things I always look for is how clean the conccession area is. What do you look for?

Consession pricing and content. What do they have and what are they getting for it. Secondly, would be their presentation. And how many of us can sit in an auditorium without counting the number of people in there (then run home and see how we did)?

Avalon, I don't count heads but my wife carries a small pad with her and takes the scan before the show begins. Sometimes she stands up to do it. She stands up and I sink down.

I always do a headcount of the employees on duty. I went to see MONKEYBONE on Sunday. It was a slow night in this 6 screenplex. I counted 4 employees behind concessions, and 5 standing around by the tickettaker. I'm impressed, how the hell did they make payroll???? I also complained about the sound. The monitor behind the screen was blown, and crackled for the duration of the film. You would think they would get more complaints, its pretty bad when you rely on your surround speakers for the only audio. This multiplex is know for their bad presentations. They damage more prints than anyone in the area. But yet, more folks frequent them because its a new theatre, with better seats.

MovieGuy:

For something as obvious as a blown speaker or major film damage on a new print, walk out early and demand your money back. Then write the theatre manager with copies to the head office and distributor, detailing the problem.

I have a feeling they "make payroll" because they don't pay enough to retain skilled people, especially in the booth. And they don't seem to spend much on simple maintenance.

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
EI Worldwide Technical Services
Research Labs, Building 69
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

duplicate post deleted

[This message has been edited by John Pytlak (edited March 01, 2001).]

John, I can't complain and ask for my money back. I do work for their competition, and I'm on the passlist on both theatres. They are the competition as much as I hate to use that word.I offered to check it out for them too! I went to see Hanibal on tuesday night with even more poor presentation. Sound coming out of the left side screen monitor, no center or right audio. To top it off, a heavily scratched print of Hanibal. I did complain, and 5 minutes later the problem was corrected.Oh yeah, another thing...2 seats that had yellow Caution tape wrapped all over them. I had to pick up a print there two weeks ago that was being moved to our theatre. Their Alpha platter was so messed up that the print required 3 of us to move it. It was not winding tightly and they had totally destroyed the actual print. We had a new print delivered the next day. By the way, the wages are higher for vendors, projectionist and managers than the theatre that I work for.

The corrected problem meaning the sound, not the print