Movies that should be seen on the Big Screen only.

I saw this post on Cinematical today and couldn't resist linking to it. I've done the same thing as the author. There are films I've refused to watch until I could see them on the big screen. I'd never seen Wizard of Oz in it's entirety until they re-released it a few years ago. I had never seen Lawrence of Arabia until the old New Yorker theatre played it. I still haven't seen the Sound of Music to the disbelief of everyone I know.

This is one of the reasons I'm looking forward to the switch to digital projection. These old films will probably be converted to whatever format the new projectors use and we can finally see them as they should be seen. The few 35mm prints of most of these films left in Canada are pretty much unwatchable. It's too expensive for the studios to make new 35mm prints but digital copies are a lot cheaper.

Some films I've seen but would love to see on the big screen again.

Grease 2

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Star Wars ( Lucas would probably nix this one)

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Moulin Rouge

The Lost Boys

The Goonies

Fifth Element

The Abyss- the original version is the only one available on film here. I'd travel far to see the Directors Cut on the big screen. It's way better than the original version.

Anyone else have movies they want to see on the big screen?

Movie Theatre teaser for Pink Panther 2.

I thought the first Steve Martin Pink Panther was okay but obviously nowhere near as good as the Peter Sellers series. A lot of people around here wonder why a sequel is being made when it didn't do great here. The reason is it did big business in the rest of the world. According to boxofficemojo.com it did 82 million in North America, not bad but not great. However it did 76 million overseas. A large amount compared to the domestic gross. Hence we get a sequel.

This is the first teaser for the film. I can't quite tell if it's part of the film or footage shot just for the teaser. I'm inclined to believe the latter. It's self-contained and takes place in a movie theatre. The end part seems a little long to be inside a movie and there's something at the very end that's obviously not in the film.

P.S. I love the Marquee on the theatre. I wish theatres still had those fancy Marquees.

Great Ideas!

I wish I'd thought of these myself.

How to Improve Cinemas in one simple step.

Why the General Public should be banned from Cinemas.

Some interesting differences between movie-going in Canada and England.

This was the first trip I had taken outside North America. I've visited the States a few times and overall it's similar to Canada, although I did get some funny looks when I asked for vinegar for my french fries in the US.

There's some interesting differences in England, some good, some bad. I was in enough different cinemas that I think it's safe to say these are probably common to the entire country.

They are called cinemas only, whereas we often use cinema and theatre interchangeably. If I said theatre over there they assumed I was talking a live show. This makes sense to me, I often calls for people looking for the live event theatre on campus.

No cinema I was in had a pre-show, they all had curtains which stayed closed until the film started. I can't decide about that. I kind of like an interesting pre-show and since Western Film has one I'm in a bit of a conflict of interest. On the other hand it was kind of nice being able to relax and just wait for the show to begin.

They play way more commercials and fewer trailers. One show I checked and there was half an hour of commercials and trailers. The proportion was different. Here you usually get about 5 minutes of commercials and 15 minutes of trailers. There it was about half and half. It wasn't all bad though, most of the commercials were quite entertaining, even multiple times. I did wish they played more trailers though as I really like trailers.

As an example, around here we get those boring Telus ads with the fish etc. asking us to turn off our mobile phones. In England they have this.

In some cinemas they have assigned seating. Some of the bigger prestige cinemas, most notably the big Odeon in Leicester Square have assigned seating. It also has different levels with different prices. I'll do a post on it later. The cinema closest to my sister's place had an interesting arrangement. Most of the cinema was general seating but there were a few rows in the middle that had assigned seating and were bigger chairs. They cost extra but it was nice to be able to book tickets for Indiana Jones online and know I would get a good seat.

There's a lot more digital presentation in England, I'll be doing a post on this later.

This one was my sore point. Every cinema had stale popcorn!? I never saw an actual popper as we do here. They seemed to get it in from somewhere in big plastic bags. It was dumped into a bin under the counter and served from there. It was interesting they had a choice of salted or sweetened popcorn. They didn't have butter or similar products. They also didn't have the seasonings we have, white cheddar, dill pickle etc. If I wasn't such a popcorn addict I wouldn't have bought it, especially when it was outrageously expensive once the money exchange was factored in.

I must be the most depressed person on the planet?

A commenter recently said going to the movies alone was a depressing thing to do. That makes me really depressed then as I almost always go alone. I don't know anyone who goes to as many movies as I do so it would be hard to find people to go with me to every movie.

With my work schedule I work most of the evenings people usually go to movies.

I don't mind going alone, although it is nice to have someone to discuss the film with afterward, especially if it's a interesting film.

A while ago someone gave me a two for one pass for Cineplex that expired about 6 months later. I never got a chance to use it. Although in my defense that was largely because when movies first come out they usually put on the 'no passes' restriction.

I have noticed a lot of people come to Western Film alone, and they don't all look depressed, just some of them.

Changing the movie seasons?

From IMDB: "The head of the National Association of Theater Owners charged Tuesday that both the owners and the studios could be earning a lot more money if the studios did not rely on an outmoded release schedule. John Fithian chastised the studios for failing to provide attractive movies throughout the year, noting that April and September are "virtually empty," because studios save their prime product for summer or the winter seasons. "They look at their calendar and wait for May and say, 'OK, now we can open our tent-pole movie.'" He said that if the studios hadn't tried to release the latest Spider-Man, Shrek, and Pirates of the Caribbean sequels all within three weeks of one another, the exhibitors "could have done at least another $50 or $60 million" -- particularly if the studios had decided to open at least some of them in April. "A good movie will be successful no matter when it is released," Fithian said"

I agree with this in most part. It is a bit silly to have three of the biggest movies of the year open within three weeks of each other. Despite what the studios may think most people don't see every movie they want to because of time, money etc. By releasing them so close together many people would have to choose between them.
There are however seasonal considerations. Obviously kid's films will likely do better when the kids aren't in school. The weather affects movie-going a lot, people tend not to go out as much when it's cold.
On the other hand, Cloverfield and 300 last year showed that a good movie played off season can do big business.
I remember when the redone versions of the first 3 Stars Wars movies were released in 1997. Theatres were very happy since George Lucas released them in February I think it was. It brought in a ton of business in what is normally a quiet time.

Some of this is irrelevant to Western Film. Between being 2nd run and subject to the student cycle we often get big movies at slow times for other theatres. However we also run into problems. Certain times of the year attendance drops no matter what's playing because the students are busy with school work. There's also things like Juno, at the rate it's going I might not be able to play it until well into exams. Last year I didn't get 300 until the last few days of exams. Most of the students had already left.

Questions about 3-D.

A convention for movie theatres called Showest just ended in the US. There was a lot of talk about 3-D being the saviour of the theatre since it can't be duplicated at home. A few questions occurred to me.

Some of the films are supposed to be coming out exclusively in 3-D. The Hannah Montana film was like that and so is the upcoming Journey to the Center of the Earth. I wonder how long the exclusive part will last? There are still a lot of places that don't have a 3-D theatre. 3-D is expensive both to put in and maintain. For example the small city St. Thomas south of London isn't likely to have a 3-D screen any time soon. Are they willing to forsake all places like it in order to play exclusively in 3-D?

There's also the matter of second run and independent theatres. Western Film won't have 3-D any time soon either so does that mean we won't be able to play James Cameron's Avatar when it comes out next year?

The 3-D thing also messes up the normal pattern in a multiplex. Normally a film opens in one of the larger screens then gradually moves into smaller screens as the run progresses. Unless they all have 3-D this won't be able to happen.

For example,the Silver City at Masonville converted their largest screen (#2) to play digital and 3-D. They are playing the Hannah Montana film but since none of the other screens can play it they will have to drop it right off the big screen.

Hannah is a bit of a special case but imagine this. Let's say Shrek 4 opens in 3-D only on May 1, then Spiderman 4 opens May 7 in 3-D only. The Silver City would have to either drop Shrek completely after one week or not play Spider-man. Not a choice I would want to have to make.

I predict a similar situation to when Stars Wars: The Phantom Menace opened. Initially Lucas insisted it could only open on screens with digital sound. There was a huge uproar since so many places didn't have digital sound and that requirement fell by the wayside. The 3-D movies will all or at least most have 2-D versions available as well.

The Ten Moviegoing Commandments.

This has got to be one of the funniest things I've read lately.

The Ten Moviegoing Commandments

I think I'll post these in the slide show that runs before the films. Should be good for a laugh and hopefully some educational value.