Have a news tip for us?
Just email . Ideas for stories, links to interesting articles, and press releases are welcome.
Current Day Movie Palaces
posted by
NostalgiaFactory
on
June 16, 2005 at 4:58 am
There is an interesting article in yesterday’s (June 15) Wall Street Journal that has found a successful formula for drawing customers by emulating the movie palaces of the 1920s.
From the WSJ article:
[i]“They’re doing what needs to be done,” says Paul Dergarabedian, Exhibitor Relations' president. The industry needs to emphasize the difference between watching movies at a theater and at home. Muvico “does that by creating these incredible theaters,” he says. “It tells people, ‘I can’t do the same thing at home.’ ” National Amusements Inc. and Pacific Theatres Exhibition Corp. are two other chains with similar state-of-the-art theaters, he says.
“The industry is still going through changes,” Muvico’s Mr. Hashemi says. “With the shortening of the window between the DVD and the theatrical release we really have to create an event."
[/i]
(rudy franchi, www.nostalgia.com))
Comments (1)
Emulating movie palaces gets lots of hype but does little as far as drawing customers.
Muvico banned “Fahrenheit 9/11” for political reasons; the company’s chairman admires George W. Bush and gave big money to the Bush re-election campaign.
The “cinema de lux” theaters run by National Amusements are shockingly ultra-mainstream. Try finding a “cinema de lux” that has more than token upmarket/art product.