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July 30, 2009
Old fashioned ballyhoo / Richard Elfman shows Hollywood !
HOLLYWOOD, CA – Here is a video of the promotion that Richard Elfman did on July 11 to promote Forbidden Zone at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Enjoy!
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July 28, 2009
Sonic to offer 3D download service
Going along with the Cinemanow service already available, Sonic is rolling out a 3D download system.
The company has partnered up with NVIDIA and says the 3D content will be optimized for GeForce GPUs. The CinemaNow player, when it goes live, will support the interesting GeForce 3D Vision and all compatible NVIDIA based 3D-capable displays. A couple notable displays that are capable are the Samsung 2233RZ and ViewSonic FuHzion VX2265wm.
Read more at After Dawn.
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July 27, 2009
River Oaks praised as Houston’s best
HOUSTON, TX — This week, Film 101 takes a look at Houston-area theaters and claims the River Oaks is at the top of the heap.
Opinions on what makes a movie theater great are as different and widespread as those citadels of cinema themselves. Nowadays people like big screens, stadium style seating, clean floors, and speakers so large and loud they make your clothes vibrate. All of these amenities are nice and enhance the viewing experience to a certain degree, but do they really make for a great theater? I’m not convinced, and that’s why my choice for Houston’s best movie theater is the River Oaks Theater on West Gray.
This isn’t a monolithic megaplex with 24 screens, a loud arcade, and seats that become couches with the moving of an armrest. The River Oaks Theater was built in 1939, and still today looks like one of those old timey theaters you see in movies set in the past. If you saw Public Enemies, and I feel a bit sorry for you if you did, you’ll notice the River Oaks Theater looks like the theater Johnny Depp walked out of shortly before the end of the film.
Read more at Film 101.
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July 24, 2009
We want to help independent theaters
Theatre owners face mounting pressures from several different directions. Independent theatre owners are facing issues that they have never faced before.
- Lack of access to release.
- Increased revenue guarantees.
- Reduced theatrical attendance.
- Screens going empty or having to hold over an underperforming picture.
Now, theatres are being asked to invest in digital systems to accommodate a new standard set by the studios, DCI . The initial costs for converting theaters to digital are high: up to $150,000 per screen or more. While a theater can purchase a film projector for US$50,000 and expect an average life of 30—-40 years, a digital cinema playback system including server/media block/and projector can cost 3—-4 times as much, and is at higher risk for component failures and technological obsolescence. Experience with computer-based media systems show that average economic lifetimes are only on the order of 5 years with some units lasting until about 10 years before they are replaced
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July 20, 2009
New group formed to rescue abandoned Miami Valley movie theaters
DAYTON, OH — NOUVEAU CINEMA GROUP INC. (NCGI) is, as its name suggests, a new 501 c 3 non-rofit arts oriented corporation, the brain-child of Richard Alan Mendel-Martin, of Dayton, OH, George Katchmer, esq, of Yellow Springs, OH, and Kendra Neargarder, also of Dayton, OH. “We are dedicated to the preservation, restoration and management of culturally significant theatrical venues and the presentation of quality retrospective and new world cinema,” according to Martin, NCGI Executive Director.
In addition, NCGI envisions an educational outreach to the community which would include but not be limited to master classes/seminar series dealing with film history, production, arts and management. A multi-tiered Film Society would offer educational and entertainment opportunities to various, specialized groups and demographics. “Additionally,” according to Martin, “our proposed scholarship/grant program would provide funding for students interested in pursuing a career in the cinema arts with additional funding for other local, national and international, non-profit arts projects. All envisioned services would be made available at minimal cost to the individual patron.
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Pros and cons of church services in theaters
The rise in churches relocating services to theaters has led to better attendance but not necessarily moving organizations in the best direction.
Congregation members eat popcorn and drink soda while worshipping. The offering is collected in popcorn buckets. “Sunday best” is often sneakers, jeans and an untucked T-shirt. Song lyrics and movie clips that illustrate sermon points flash across the large screen. (And during normal theater hours, church ads are included in the movie previews.)
However, Pastor Steve Kelly of Wave Church in Virginia said staying in a movie theater sends a certain message to the community. “The moment you define yourself as ‘We’re just going to rent this facility,’ you’re saying that you’re not necessarily here to stay,” he said.
Read more at CNN.
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July 16, 2009
Plays broadcast into movie theaters, and will be 3-D
Following opera, sporting events and concerts, now a company is bringing theatre to movie theaters.
Theater lovers rejoice. The world’s best stage productions are on their way to a movie house near you. Thanks to the digital revolution, everything from London’s acclaimed National Theater production of Racine’s masterwork “Phèdre,” starring Helen Mirren, to the off-Broadway cult favorite “Forever Plaid,” not to mention upcoming top Broadway musicals, are beaming into multiplexes from Reykjavik to Los Angeles —– in high-definition and eventually 3-D, to boot.
It’s high-tech culture for the low price of a movie matinee and a box of popcorn. And in a sure sign that regional thespians aren’t worried about the arrival of their digital counterparts, the premier regional theater in the United States, Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater, will actually screen a delayed transmission of “Phèdre” July 8 and 9 in one of its main stages.
Read the full story in the Christian Science Monitor.
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Sprint theater kiosks provide discounts
New technology in theater lobbies could lead to you getting discounts through your Sprint phone.
Sprint has unveiled kiosks in the lobbies of movie theaters where Sprint customers can scan a code from their phones to get coupons for popcorn and sodas.
The campaign, in 500 theaters across the country, will continue through December.
Read more at Media Buyer Planner.
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July 14, 2009
Silent film organist Bob Mitchell dies at 96
LOS ANGELES, CA – World-renowned organist Bob Mitchell passed away last week in Los Angeles.
Bob Mitchell, an organist who was the first such house musician at Dodger Stadium and the last surviving working accompanist from the silent-film era, has died. He was 96.
Mitchell died Saturday from congestive heart failure at Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles, said his caregiver, Vincent Morton.
When the Dodgers debuted in 1962 at their stadium in Chavez Ravine, so did Mitchell – on a Wurlitzer double-keyboard organ with a 25-note pedal board. At the time, he was best known as founder and director of a group often called the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir, which would appear in more than 100 movies.
Read more in the Los Angeles Times.
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July 13, 2009
Jackson memorial brings crowd to local theaters
Movie theaters around the world last week provided public viewing of the Michael Jackson memorial service.
They were miles from Staples Center, but those who filled the seats at the Krikorian Theatre in Monrovia acted as if they too were at Michael Jackson’s memorial.
Watching the live screening while munching on popcorn and sipping on soda, audience members laughed at Smokey Robinson’s joke-filled tribute, sniffled through Brooke Shield’s emotional eulogy, cheered during the Rev. Al Sharpton’s speech, and clapped along to the performance of “We Are the World.”
But for the most part, the crowd of more than 150 was somber, quietly taking in the star-studded performances. While the attire was casual — flip-flops, jeans, T-shirts and shorts — people treated the screening as the memorial.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.