The last post reminded me of a time we lost a show at the Galleria when it was a Cineplex. It wasn't a Tuesday though. I think it was a weekend matinee. We were playing Saving Private Ryan.
(spoiler alert)
About 10 minutes from the end of the movie, just when Tom Hanks character is dying the bulb goes. Everything else keeps going so the audience can still hear the movie but there's no picture?!
The manager asks me to stop the show and fix the problem.
I had to tell him I couldn't fix the problem in time to finish the show. The xenon lamps in movie projectors are under very high pressure and can explode if not handled properly. They are especially likely to explode if they are hot. It's recommended to wait at least 20 minutes for a dead bulb to cool down before changing it.
What made it even worse was the bulb in this projector was a big old 5000 watt. Most projectors use about 2000. It would not have been pleasant if that sucker had exploded.
It was too bad for the people in that show, sitting for almost 3 hours and not being able to watch the last 10 minutes of the movie. I'm glad the manager was the one they would have yelled at, not me.
Of course now at Western Film it would be me they would be yelling at?!
BTW I just changed the bulb at Western Film, the old one was starting to have problems igniting which is the first indication it needs to be replaced.
BTW You may wonder why theatres don't just change the bulbs every month or something. The 200o watt bulbs Western Film uses cost $850.00 each.
No comments:
Post a Comment