Your ideal cinema

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

What would your ideal cinema be? Optional: list films per screen (can be fictional).

My cinema would have 11 screens including an IMAX one and Ghostbusters (2016) would show from it's July release for two months. There would always be more 3D than 2D times and customers would be encouraged to support the 3D showings for things like Ghostbusters (2016) where it was clearly made for it. I'd have a poster outside that would read something like 'Want the full experience? Then see Ghostbusters (2016) in 3D or IMAX 3D!'

Screen 1: Ghostbusters (2016) 2D
Screen 2: The Doctor Who Movie 2D (Starring Peter Capaldi)
Screen 3: Doctor Who episode screenings
Screen 4: Scooby-Doo v Lassie: Paw of Justice
Screen 5: The Film About Teenagers In The Woods That Totally Isn't A Blair Witch Movie
Screen 6: Trumppool
Screen 7: Farage's Eleven
Screen 8: Back to the Future Part Female
Screen 9: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Part Twenty
Screen 10: The Doctor Who Movie 3D
Screen 11: Ghostbusters (2016) 3D

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

Posts have arrived from the Ghostbusters thread:

Originally Posted by jacobsever

I'd walk right past that theater, and continue on to my small, indie art-house theater. 3-4 screens max. Plays mostly foreign and independent films. Still projects 35mm film. Intimate setting with 100 or less seats per theater. Basically describing SIE Film Center here in Denver, which is my favorite spot.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

I'd still want my cinema to project 35mm film. I think film is infinitely better to digital projections.

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Even if I wanted to see GB 2016, I would want to see it in 2D. I would ignore your ridiculous signs, and if your theater didn't have any 2D showings at a time that I find reasonably convenient, I would go see it at another theater or skip it entirely.

Plus even if you had at least some showings of the film for at least 2 months, it would be business suicide to keep GB on your IMAX screen and not put other blockbuster films coming out on them when they open.

And even then, GB should only be kept playing if people are still coming to see it in reasonable numbers. Maintaining screenings of a movie that has left most other theaters and that is not bringing in any business just because you really like it would not be good business at all.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

The times wouldn't be stupid. I'd have equal amounts of afternoon and evening showings. I wouldn't have (in my opinion) stupid timings like midnight either. Also the option to book a private screening for an increased price if none of the times suit.

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

And this right here is an example of mismanagement. A lot of theaters do have midnight screenings. And often because people actually go to them. You can't base what times you offer purely on your own opinion and preferences. You have to follow market demand.

If this theater were to exist in a small town where people rarely go to midnight screenings, that would be one thing. But if it's in a reasonably busy area where midnight screenings get a good amount of business, then not offering them just because you personally wouldn't go to them would be bad business.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

It would though. It would be in Scarborough.

Originally Posted by octagon

You know, it's funny. So many of us say we're tired of studios playing it safe and of bean counters making all the decisions. We say we want studios to be bold and to follow their hearts instead of blindly following spreadsheets.

And now people are piling on Dalek's 'mismanagement' of his completely hypothetical theater because he would he would do exactly that. He would run it as a movie lover and not as an accountant.

Dalek might be nuts (again, no offense, Dalek) but ironically enough, his thinking is exactly what many of us say we want to see more of in this industry.

And he's getting mocked for it.

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

It's not ironic at all. While they may have a business relationship with each other since one makes films and the other runs venues for people to see them at, Movie studios and theaters are otherwise two separate businesses.

The type of movies that studios are making are a completely separate issue from how the theaters manages showing them. I may want studios to make more original and/or good content, instead of as many mindless, phoned in reboots as they often do, but that doesn't mean that I want theaters to suddenly have weird practices as to the show times they offer, how many screens a movie is put on, etc., making it potentially inconvenient for the audience because of the random whims of an eccentric theater owner.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I love midnight showings.

Originally Posted by Doomlord

Midnight showing are not stupid, they're for film aficionados or fans of that particular genre they're going to see and the cinema is providing that pleasurable 'be the first to see it' experience and they're 9 times out of 10 a complete sell-out even on multiple screens because they've been waiting for this moment for 12 months or so.
The cinemas are also making that quick quids-in before their own localised competition.
First screenings have a great atmosphere as you know everyone there is just like you. They also have that added bonus that there will be no little kids in there screaming for mummy to take them to the toilet or them finding more fascination with the cinema seating than what's on the big screen in front of them.
I mean how can you think that a midnight showing is 'stupid'?
I can only presume that you don't like them because you're tucked up in bed by then and you can't stand the fact that other people have seen a film before you.

You'll be saying next that the opening of the Rio Olympics is 'stupid' because it's being broadcast live in the UK at midnight.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I kind of like the idea of fantasizing what I'd do with my own theater. Assuming I was rich I'd definitely run it more as a passion project than a business.

Originally Posted by octagon

I'd lose a ton of money on the sushi bar alone.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

Maybe it's just me but I don't see the point. You'd just be falling asleep halfway through the film because you haven't had any before you go to see it. And then you'd wake up the next day like you've had a hangover as you didn't go to sleep the previous night until 3am in the morning. I feel enough of a zombie as it is going to sleep at half past midnight and waking up at 9am so I dread to imagine how I'd feel going to bed at 3am like some do after midnight showings of movies.


I've already said that elsewhere. I think 10:00pm and two hours as opposed to four would have been more convenient worldwide than midnight in our time.

Originally Posted by WhySoBlu?

And a lot of customers from the fish smell alone...

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

I'd run tons of classic which can be costly. I'd also have a hell of an arcade. Arcades are about all but dead. Movie theaters are some of the last places you'll find an arcade. Mine would be 100+ games to go with the 10 or so screens of movies. It'd be my nirvana.

Originally Posted by jacobsever

Are there even midnight showings anymore? I remember lining up and waiting in line 2 hours to see midnight premieres of the Harry Potter movies, because back then, movies were released on Friday's.

[Show spoiler]
Harry Potter & Half Blood Prince



Harry Potter & Deathly Hallows



(Yes, I did go from having super long hair and no beard, to short hair and a very large beard).

Now it seems everything is Thursday night at 8-9pm for the first showing. That's a huge bummer. The rush of going to a Midnight screening, while still having to wake up and go to work/school the next morning made it all the more special. I wish theaters would go back to midnight premiers instead of Thursday night.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Yeah they still have midnight showings. My local Cinemark has showtimes from 7-12 each Thursday for the big new movies.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

You see, I totally don't understand that. Why would you want to go to work/school feeling tired and run-down? Would it not make you feel a bit miserable?

I was desperate to see Ghostbusters (2016) but personally a midnight screening would make me feel like I have no energy for anything.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

The best thing about midnight showings imo is the people. If someone is willing to go at midnight chances are they are a fan. That is the type of person to cheer when you should cheer and gasp when you should gasp during the movie . Some of my best movie experiences are midnight showings. You weed out the jerks.

Originally Posted by jacobsever

We have theaters that do specialty midnight screenings on weekends. Films like The Room, and Rocky Horror. Cult classics type of stuff.

But for new releases, it's usually just one screening on Thursday night, and that's it.

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

My local theater is a 20 screen theater so they probably have the workers and foot traffic to justify it. Scranton PA isn't even a big area either. It's odd we have a 20 screen theater here.

I'm super excited though for a new theater opening this fall that'll sell food and alcohol plus have amazing seating. Very excited to try it out.

Originally Posted by octagon

They're probably going to want to steer clear of the cigar bar too then.



I think mine would look a lot like TCM (including Silent Sunday) with things like Jean Rollins festivals thrown in here and there.

I would also be tempted to do some kind of TV content. Maybe all-day passes to watch a series of Star Trek episodes on the big screen.

I would be torn on arcade games. On one hand, I definitely get a nostalgic twinge when I see wire-frame graphics but geez, they're noisy.

My ideal ambience would be more toward the grand halls of the 30s. Not on that scale but that sort of dignified opulence.



One of my favorite movie experiences was during a midnight showing of The Wrath of Khan. The immediate reaction to Shatner's famous 'Khaaaaaan' was almost an uncomfortable embarrassed silence but then everybody in the theater seemed to realize at the same time that we were among friends and just started clapping and laughing and cheering.

It was very cool.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

I'd do that with Doctor Who. You'd be able to watch Genesis of the Daleks on the big screen.

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

As someone who has watched episodes of classic Doctor Who projected, you really don't want to do that.

Originally Posted by chip75

Midnight screenings are usually great they get attending by fans, not the masses, they're there to appreciate the film and take part in the experience with other fans.

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

Believe it or not, I actually more or less agree with you.

I used to go to late night/midnight screenings more when I was younger. I actually remember back in summer 1999 a local AMC theater was showing older movies at midnight on the weekends. I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ferris Bueller, Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy there that summer.

And I would do it for then-new movies, too sometimes.

But even then, I would only do so if I knew I could sleep in the next day. I wouldn't want to go to a midnight screening then have to be up first thing in the morning for school or work.


These days I just find the idea of midnight showings far less appealing than I did roughly 15 years ago, so I almost never go to them (I can't specifically remember the last time that I went to a movie that late at night). And if I ever were to go see a movie that late again, you can bet your ass I'm going to make sure I have the next day off of work.


That said, if I were running a theater, if there is a demand for midnight screenings, I would still accommodate that despite my personal preferences.

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

Doing it when you can sleep in makes more sense.

Originally Posted by Doomlord

You're 20, so what do you do on a Friday and Saturday night when the clubs are closing at 4am?

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

Sleep.

Originally Posted by Foggy

What a waste of the earliest years of your life.

[Jett Rink]

This is weird.

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

Originally Posted by Jett Rink

This is weird.

How so?

[imsounoriginal]

My ideal cinema is a multiplex that plays Failure to Launch on every screen, all day, everyday.

[Al_The_Strange]

Eh, what the hell...

Screens 1 - 10: The hottest newest sh*t Hollywood puts out.
Screens 11 - 13: Classics.
Screens 14 - 16: Foreign cinema.
Screens 17 - 19: Indie films.
Screen 20: Gorefest and exploitation films. No kids allowed.
Screen 21: Worst movies imaginable. Audience participation encouraged.
Screen 22 - 25: Exclusive lounge-type environments where audiences sit in a booth with tables and sofas on platforms that face an IMAX screen and food/drinks can be ordered at a whim.

Give it the whole works, 3D projectors with 35mm, 70mm, and digital capability, Dolby Atmos or whatever sound system is the best. Maybe experiment with VR.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

My ideal cinema is a multiplex that plays Failure to Launch on every screen, all day, everyday.

Mine is just like this, but replace Failure to Launch with The Room.

[Moviefan2k4]

Mine would be fairly simple: a decent-sized screen with comfortable chairs in every auditorium, HD quality, with free concessions and ushers that escorted noisy people out. Also, no trailers - I'm sick of forgetting what film I've come to see, because I get lost in all the ads for new ones. If I were running such a theater, I'd also have final say on what films were screened there...which would probably make February and October the slowest months.

[Dubstar]

8 screens - all Dolby Atmos equipped. 1 screen with 35mm capabilities and one for 70mm screenings

four auditoriums with screens at a width of 75 feet - vertically drop down masking. Christie 4K laser projection.

four smaller auditoriums that can also project 4K. Two screens "21 and over" only on weekend nights.

comfortable seating, but no recliners, if you want that aspect, stay at home.
no D-Box (I'm not a fan of rumbling seats). Even space from the first row to the screen to not be suffering from neck straining (looking up)

no pre-film commercials, three trailers only before the feature.

'black box' lighting - like Arclight does, the auditoriums are very dark and the only light is what is coming off of the screen.

satellite transmission capabilities to do Fathom Events.

'couples' pricing on Wednesday nights, reduced price pre-noon pricing Monday-Thurs.

'classic series' Thursday night screenings. Late night Saturday midnight movies.

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

Originally Posted by Dubstar

no pre-film commercials, three trailers only before the feature.

.

Would they be in 3D?

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by Dalekbuster523Bluray

Would they be in 3D?

if the feature is in 3D - then yes.

[spectre08]

I wouldn't want to list films, because I obviously want my theater to rotate films as much as possible.

But regarding ideal physical theater.


Screen: big enough to fill most of my field of view without stretching into my peripheral vision. I don't like gigantic screens that I can't take in all at once without looking around.

Sound: Atmos with good subs

Light: not pitch black, just enough ambient light to be able to see. There's also scientific research to back this up. When you're in a pitch black room your eyes diolate and you lose a significant amount of your visual acuity. Just like with a camera when you step the aperture down you get a clearer picture. Also, I know it would be a safety hazard, but I don't want bright orange or green "exit" signs. I hate those.

Seats: powered leather recliners with cupholders on each side.

Food and drink: traditional american pub fare with a full bar and waiters that bring your food and drinks to your seat.

[Filmasong]

Well. let me see, I guess that a hundred inch screen and about 2,000 movies in a nice movie room with nice recliners would be nice.