“Joker” arrested for stealing Batman memorabilia from Michigan movie theater
July 28th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Heath Ledger died for your sins!
The Smoking Gun reports that a 20-year-old man dressed as the Joker was arrested earlier today by police in Three Rivers, Michigan for attempting to steal Dark Knight posters and memorabilia from a movie theater lobby.
When I used to steal posters from theater lobbies, I never once considered dressing up as a character from the movie. Imagine me dolled up as Mongo from Blazing Saddles or sporting a Travis Bickle mohawk from Taxi Driver.
Police were called to a disturbance just after midnight and discovered the theater staff restraining Spencer Taylor, who was decked out in his finest Joker regalia. Taylor was booked on felony larceny and malicious destruction of property. Wait till the boys in Three Rivers Penitentiary get a load of him!
Tags: Batman, Heath Ledger, joker arrested, joker buster, joker costume, Keith Ledger, Michigan, Movie Theater, Movie Theatre, spencer taylor, stealing posters, The Dark Knight, three riversFiled Under News
Movie Theater ads are the most powerful promotional tool outside of the Internet
June 16th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Sometime in the late 80s/early 90s slide projectors became projection booth staples. As soon as the closing credits ended the houselights would go up half and a commercial slide show would occupy approximately half the screen until the next feature started.
The pre-show entertainment consisted of star bios (two sentences and four credits), concession stand slugs, stills from upcoming presentations and trivia geared for imbeciles. (Who played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz?) With only one carousel locked and loaded, if projectionists set it on “fast” early arrivals were given numerous chances to answer.
Long before these pre-show filmstrips, enterprising exhibitors would offer up their screens to local businesses to promote their wares. It was still a basic slide show, this time bumped up to 35mm. There would be a shot of the store (occasionally with its proud owners beaming at the front door) and a printed message to show their love for the community: “When a car hits another car, it’s an accident. When a car hits a child, it’s a tragedy. This public service message brought to you through the courtesy of Al & Edna’s Varsity Shoppe, home of the Chillicothe Bengals gridiron gear!”
Any Something Weird DVD worth its salt has dozens of these commercial spots buried in their special features sections. The only hardtop theater that I can recall actually playing one before the trailers was the Wilmette located just north of Chicago. The modest theater (made even more so when it was cut in half) still stands, although I’m not sure if they are still advertising their next door neighbor The Wilmette Chuck Wagon.
Even before digital projectors began nudging out the 35mm warhorses, booths began stocking video projectors in order to present on-screen advertisements. Gone were the stiff slides and corny music, and in their place slick video commercials, mostly for upcoming television shows. Hollywood, demanding higher quality (as well as the largest share of the audience) holds off on trailers which are shown just prior to the feature in either 35mm or digital.
Pre-show entertainment has always been with us in the form of shorts, cartoons and trailers. In the days of block booking, studios would only allow their product to accompany one of their features. M-G-M’s Lowe’s Theatres showed Tom and Jerry while Warner’s houses had Bugs and the gang open their shows. These were still forms of commercial advertisement, albeit much subtler and a whole lot funnier.
I’ll gladly watch reels of trailers, but my initial reaction to commercials before movies was unfavorable to say the least. While still not a fan (those high class beer adverts that open each Landmark Theatres presentation drive me mad), I’ve accepted them as a necessity to keep movie theaters alive. The money taken in by these ads goes directly to the exhibitor with none of it kicked back to the studios.
According to Variety, “New figures just released by the Cinema Advertising Council, a trade org repping 82% of U.S. screens, show a hefty 18.5% gain in revenue to just shy of $540 million in 2007, up from $455.7 million a year earlier.”
“More advertisers are using cinema more frequently, committing ad dollars ‘upfront’ for multiple flights as cinema has proven its value and efficiency as a sustaining medium,” said Stu Ballatt, head of the CAC. “Onscreen advertising combined with off-screen marketing in the theater can, literally, double or triple the impact a brand can make on the moviegoer.”
In the past two decades, what began as a slide projector propped up on a card table in the booth has become the second most powerful brander of advertisements this side of the almighty Internet. Sure wish that I had a piece of either Screenvision or National CineMedia, the two rival companies that control on-screen ads. If you have no interest in going behind the scenes on the latest TBS mini series, I suggest that you arrive at the multiplex just minutes prior to showtime. If not, don’t bother complaining because the alternative is your living room.
Tags: Advertising, Commercials, Movie Theater, Movie Theaters, Movie Theatre, Movie Theatres, National CineMedia, Screenvision, The Wilmette Theatre, TrailersFiled Under News
$35 Luxury Movie Tickets on the Horizon
March 25th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Those of you still comfortable enough to afford full service at the gas pump will probably be delighted to learn of the planned extravagances of Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas.
Variety reports that Village Roadshow Ltd., Act III, Lambert Entertainment and the Retirement Systems of Alabama pension fund’s are partnering to bring the luxury cinema circuit to the U.S.
Over the next five years, the partners will cough up $200 million to build 50 theaters nationwide. The first two complexes are set to open in Redmond, a suburb of Seattle and South Barrington, a ritzy suburb one hour west of Chicago. Others are planned for Fairview, Texas, near Dallas-Fort Worth, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
On average each theatre will house 8 screens with auditoriums that boast 40 reclining armchair seats with footrests, digital projection and the capability to screen 2-D and 3-D movies. In addition there will be a lobby lounge and bar serving cocktails and appetizers, a concierge service and valet parking.
Let’s see, a handful of La-Z-Boy recliners, food and booze while you watch and digitally projected imagery. Remove 3D and valet parking from the equation and you have your basic upscale home theater.
Each plush theatre seat will come equipped with a button to instantly summon a waiter poised to deliver anything from sushi to Lemonheads to your seat, for an additional price, of course. Village Roadshow is banking on its culinary delights to seal the deal with viewers. First pagers, then cell phones and now waiters with drink orders flitting in and out of your field of vision. What will they think of next to make the moviegoing experience even more disorderly than it already is?
Village Roadshow founded the Gold Class Cinemas chain in Australia in 1997. It has since expanded to other countries, including Singapore and Greece.
The question remains, will patrons drop $35 for the same $10 piece of crap they can see at any conventional multiplex?
Tags: 35 dollars, Admission, Movie Theater, Ticket, Upscale, Village Roadshow, Village Roadshow Gold Class CinemasFiled Under News
THE SIGNAL prompts stabbings in California movie theater
February 27th, 2008 by Scott Marks
FULLERTON, Calif. Two people were stabbed at an AMC multiplex during the screening of the horror film The Signal on Sunday night. Police are still searching for the suspect.
According to CBS2.com, the victims, who reportedly did not know each other, were sitting in separate areas of the same theater when they were attacked around 7:30 p.m. at the Fullerton AMC Theater.
I was curious to discover how far into the film the audience participation took place. The Signal is an omnibus feature with a trio of directors each helming a third of the narrative. Stories about technology gone wild are not exactly leading edge. Part 1, directed by David Bruckner is as creepy and effective a horror film as any I’ve seen in the last twenty years. How did a film go so wrong so fast? By the time it got around to the gore-fest in Part 3, I was worn down by the middle section’s self-conscious buffonnery.
Therefore, it came as no surprise that the stabbings took place approximately 4o minutes into the showing. After the film’s strong opening quickly evaporated into standard silliness I wanted to killl somebody, too.
The suspect, still on the loose, was described as a heavy set white dude in his late to mid 20s, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with black hair. He was last seen making an early exit out of one of the back doors.
Investigators reviewed surveillance tape from the theater but the video, not unlike the photography in The Signal, was of poor quality.
One of the victims was hospitalized with a stab wound to the arm, which also punctured one of his lungs, but he was expected to survive. The other victim suffered a non-life threatening stab wound to the arm.
Neither victim knew one another or their assailant. Police believe the attacker may be the same individual who had been kicked out of the theater that same day — an intoxicated man who was very disruptive during a movie. Guilty! Tie him to a car and drag him!
Anyone with information on the attacks was asked to call the Fullerton Police Department at (714) 738-6800.
Tags: AMC Movie Theaters, California, Fullerton, Movie Theater, Stabbing, THE SIGNALFiled Under News
Martin Scorsese’s AT&T theater ad better than anything in “The Departed”
February 12th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Marty as a satanic, meddling Marcus Welby type interrupting a bedtime call from daddy to his little boy all in the name of getting imbeciles to leave thier phones off when they go to the movies.
I’d rather watch this 60 second spot 151 times than revisit The Departed. Come to think of it, I already have.
Don’t confuse this with acting, folks. Not since his cameo in Taxi Driver has a camera lens channeled the true force of Scorsese on screen. Look at the way he cuts the mother off and bullies the little kid. He’s bringing a childhood nightmare to the screen. Simply reverse the roles: put a little Marty under the covers talking to his meek old man and have man-eater Catherine Scorsese burst into the room and browbeat the bejeezus out of both of them. Look what she did to him? Is it a wonder that Marty used to wear belt buckles bigger than his head in order to compensate?
The spot began airing in movie theaters nationwide on February 8 (the should have waited until May Ten) According to CNN, “In a recent survey of moviegoers throughout the United States, an overwhelming 93 percent reported that they either silenced their wireless phone, put it on vibrate or turned it off as a result of AT&T’s Be Sensible public service announcements.”
The other 7 percent eat their young.
“As the leader in wireless, we believe that it is our responsibility to promote mobile phone courtesy,” said Daryl Evans, vice president of Advertising for AT&T’s wireless unit. “And research shows that, when you remind people, they will silence their phones. Our efforts — this campaign — are clearly making a difference. Our goal is to deliver this message in the most entertaining way possible, and we are very excited to team with Martin Scorsese in the creation of our latest Be Sensible movie courtesy trailer.”
We here at Emulsion Compulsion salute AT&T for truly delivering their message “in the most entertaining way possible.” It just makes sense that Marty produced his finest and angriest work of the decade for AT&T. After all, he’s been known to throw many a telephone in his day.
Tags: ATT, Martin Scorsese, Movie Theater, PSA, Trailer, VideoFiled Under News
Vienna movie theater literally goes to the dogs
February 9th, 2008 by Scott Marks
Now patrons can enjoy dogs both on and off screen. A movie theater in Vienna, Austria is scheduling daily shows for animal lovers who want to bring their pooches to the movies.
According to Cinema Treasures, “The Admiral cinema used to have “dog days” only once a month to compete with larger theaters, but has begun hosting them daily because of their popularity, the Mirror reported Wednesday.”
In addition to the on-screen entertainment, The Admiral kicks in a blanket, popcorn and water for the dogs upon their arrival.
“The volume for the films is turned down a bit so as not to hurt the animals’ ears,” a spokesman said.
Chicago’s Woods Theatre had the filthiest and stickiest floors by far. Making your way to a center seat was like walking on a glue stick. Rat droppings? You bet, but never any piles of poop. At least none that I witnessed. A pack of nervous dogs filled with popcorn could mean extra duty for the ushers.
Tags: Admiral Kino, Austria, cinema, Dog Friendly, Dogs, Movie Theater, Vienna.Filed Under News
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In their infinite wisdom, the Academy finally decided to award Martin Scorsese one of their precious statuettes for his worst film.
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