Next Week's Film Jun 19 - 25

Again there wasn't anything new coming off so I had to be creative. This week there was a print of TWO LOVERS available so I booked it in. It's got low awareness but Sunshine Cleaning was in a similar situation and did surprisingly well here. It's also a good movie.

If that hadn't been available I was going to book in 17 AGAIN. I wouldn't have expected it to do well but I might have been surprised.

Wolverine is available to start Jun 26th but I decided not to book it in yet. The booker says Angels and Demons will probably come off since Transformers 2 is opening. I'd rather play that than Wolverine. I wouldn't be particularly upset if I didn't get a chance to play Wolverine. It's Fox with all the conditions that go along with that. While it wasn't a terrible movie it got a lot of negative buzz, I've noticed movies in that situation don't seem to do well at Western Film anymore. I think the fact it's a big movie would outweigh that but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm wrong.

A hard decision is going to be whether to play a late show of ANGELS AND DEMONS or WOLVERINE. I know my staff will want me to so they can get more hours but will enough people show up to justify it? I was way wrong on the late show for MONSTERS VS. ALIENS. The late show was a complete bust. We did 5 people on Tuesday?! Something I wouldn't have thought possible since it's our discount night and usually the busiest.

Next Week's Film May 8 -14

There were a couple choices this week.

FAST AND FURIOUS - I booked this for the 7 pm show. I'm not sure how it will do. It opened huge, biggest April opening ever, and did quite well but I can see it being one of those films where most who wanted to see it already did.

TAKEN- Fox was finally willing to let me split it but I decided not to play it. It comes out on DVD on Tuesday and there's no one here to see it right now.

CRANK 2 was available but I never planned to play it. It's a fun completely over the top film but wouldn't do much business at Western Film even during the school year.

Looks like I made one of my occasional misjudgments. I was away for the weekend and came back and my jaw just about hit the floor when I saw the numbers for OBSERVE and REPORT. It had done $72 all weekend as opposed to several hundred for I LOVE YOU, MAN?! I haven't had a film do that bad in years. I thought there was a chance it might not do great but had no idea it could do this bad. I don't think it's just based on the movie although it seemed to be one of those movies where people either liked it or hated it. It's mostly timing, exams are over and summer school hasn't started yet so there's few students around. It also occurred to me tonight that a lot of our regulars saw it at the advance screening we did.

So there's no late show next week based largely on that. I don't like running single shows for the sake of my staff who get about half the hours they normally would but if there isn't anything I think people will come see then I can't play a late show. This is generally the worst time of the year for us so I just kinda hunker down and try to lose as little money as possible.

Next Week's Film

Finally, Iron Man came off so I booked it in. I was already told What Happens in Vegas was available so I would have booked that in if Iron Man had not come off. Vegas will probably play the week after Iron Man. I was mildly surprised when the booker told me she was checking on Sex and The City. I didn't think it would come off for a couple more weeks. It turned out it wasn't available next week but may be for the following week. That may introduce an interesting choice. I may have to chose between Sex and Vegas?! I'd choose Sex as I think it will do better here.

I decided to do late shows and matinees for Iron Man. Late shows lately have been a bit of a bust but I think Iron Man should pull some people. If it doesn't we may be looking at a summer of single shows much to the chagrin of my staff.

Matinees have been Hit and Miss at Western Film. Iron Man isn't as obvious a matinee film as something like Kung Fu Panda but a lot of kids liked it and I heard many wanted to see it more than once so parents may choose to bring them to a lower priced theatre. If Western Film plays matinees for a film we are playing at night the extra cost is basically just the staff cost so a huge number of attendees isn't required. I stopped bringing in movies for just matinees as the costs go up quite a bit once the minimum rental is added.

Plus matinees tend to have high food sales, kids love popcorn even more than I do.