UA Sheepshead Bay Stadium 14

I too hate all the commercial advertisements, but I enjoy the trailers for upcoming movies. The problem with arriving after the posted start time, if the movie is new or very popular, You won’t find a seat in a good location, or enough seats together for your group, You must come early to sit where you want to, and endure all the crap.

I worked for this theater for about a year and a half – beginning one week before opening. This was considered UA’s flagship theater. We had to shine the marble tiles and polish the brass poles that held the line-control ropes. We had to wear a company-supplied jacket, bowtie, and even WHITE GLOVES. The group of people I worked with (we were all teens) became friends, and some are still friends now. A few couples who started as teen workers even ended up married. The current manager is a friend who has worked there from day one. There is an elderly woman who continues to work there since the beginning, and before that she worked at the Graham Theater in Gerritsen Beach (Mary, short with white hair).

I agree with all the other posts. The place is like a zoo. The bad design, even after renovation, leaves lines of people on top of each other as they wait for movies to start. The parking garage is a joke. I believe it holds the same number of cars the original flat parking lot held, maybe even less.

When it first opened, the front area between the seats and screen was carpeted. All the spilled soda would run down, collect in the carpet, and stink. They removed that carpet, and began shampooing the rest weekly. Now I don’t think they do that anymore, because the whole place stinks again.
The kitchen had mice. If I came in for a morning shift I’d sometimes find holes in the bags of popcorn that had been popped the night before.

The workers don’t care much about their jobs. Why should they? They are treated like sh*t and paid low wages – but that probably happens in most theaters.

At the time it was built, the building cost about 7 million dollars, if I remember correctly. The low quality building had a leaky roof that always needed repair. Theater #3, one of the largest, had to have the entire left side close during heavy rain, due to water pouring in through the foundation. It was discovered that it was caused by cracks in the cement foundation, and improper grading of the property so that water runs toward the wall when it rains. In the end the solution was to install a drainage system with a pump outside the wall, rather than regrade the property. Things like this just did not happen with the old theaters like the Marlboro, Walker, Oriental, and all the other strong, well constructed old buildings.
UA or Regal or whoever they are now should sell this place so it can be converted to a storage facility or warehouse, and reopen the Marlboro, Walker, and any other old theater that is left around Brooklyn that has a chance of being save or converted back to it’s grand old purpose!!!

JJ Fink.. A good rule of thumb is to arrive for the movie a good 10 minutes AFTER the posted time. If a movie starts at, lets say 4.30, it will actually begin at 4.40. This way you will not have to watch none of “The 20”, and n maybe only one trailer. Works for me everytime. Also, regarding “bootleg” movies . I recently purchased “Robots”, “Sahara”,and “Star Wars- Revenge of the Sith”-even though I saw it on the big screen the other day, and the quality of these coppies are pretty good, and watchable. Even though I DO NOT advocate their sale, the quality has improved from the bootleg version of “Titanic” where the videotaper got the heads of the theater patrons on the recording!

It worked for Famous Players because they recently extended their $9.95 or less for all theatres all times here in the Toronto area. They used to charge $13.95 (CDN) for all theatres except a few that were already lower prices. I think they should have lowered it to $9.00 as some theatre chains in Quebec have. Cineplex Odeon still charges $13.95 for a few of their biggest multiplexes here.

John J Fink… The endless trailers are nothing new, but the endless commericials for such things as soda, theme parks , Hyundai autos, TV series, restaurant chains, hair products, computers ans cell phones{of course}a are not helping the movie going experience. Of the six trailers that were shown, not one film interested me.I just will NOT pay 10.25 to see a movie based on an old TV series {Bewitched{ or a remake of a movie that was mediocre at best when it was new. It is a shame, but it really DOES look like Hollywood has finally run out of ideas.

Went to the Sheepshead today to see Cinderella Man and Star Wars the newest edition. Even though the films were good, I also have some good news about the theater itself. It was a lot cleaner than it was on my last visit( maybe because it was on a Monday} and the staff seemed a lot more pleasant than usual. They STILL have the endless commercials and trailers, but now they are telling you to shut off your cell phones! A sign of the times prehaps, but several patrons were still using those insidious things- with those annoying “ring tones”.Other than that{maybe Im old fashioned about so called progress} it really was NOT a bad experience. Now, if I can find another movie that is worth seeing, maybe Ill go back.

The fact of the matter is…. the studios will NOT waste time on scripts that build and give you a good story with good CHARACTERS. Everything now is get into the story and get out. Characters are hardly ever developed so you care or know anything about them. If something is not moving the story forward, it is just OUT.

Maybe it is the ADD society we live in, but I think it is more the rack em stack em way of the studios today to get peopel talking about the movie so you see it week 1 or 2, and if not the DVD is right around the corner.

Even movies like ET and the Karate Kid DEVELOPED the charatcers. The 1st set of Star Wars (4-6) developed the characters (and those were ACTION movies!) In fact, if they didn’t would there REALLY be new Star Wars over 20 years later. No is the answer, because it would just go in and out of your memory lke most movies today.

And how about some good stories? Anyone see THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW? That is an insult to any moviegoer in America who has above a 5 IQ because of it’s story line and content.

And since this is a UA (Regal) Sheepshead Bay discussion, that theatre is STILl a dive, even though it is the best Brooklyn has to offer in that area.

They did the minimal amount to keep any other chair from getting the idea of opening a theatre in Brooklyn.

Regal does what is has to and not much more.

I’d like to see a great AMC pop up in Broklyn. They may be corporate in many ways, but at least they would do it with style.

My thinking about 70’s films is that they culminated with both “Jaws” and “Star Wars”. There are a LOT of people who say that both of those films were the beginning of the end of the great films of the 70s but I beg to differ. Why? Because those two films were/are great: they were exciting, well made and done with heart. They GAVE something to the audience and audiences responded back with $$$. They were and are as much part of the 70s film landscape as any other. Without the great, landmark films made during the 70s (remember, Lucas made “American Graffiti”) those two films might never have been made.

Where the “break” occurs in terms of the creativeness vs. the monetary gain which has taken over all the BIG studio releases happened exactly as you state: in the mid 80’s. It’s hard to exactly pinpoint it but around 1982, films began to rot. 1982 was (to me…) one of the last truly great years. You had “Tootsie” and “ET”, two all time classics. After that, the studios began to pump out more and more crap. Yeah, of course there were still good films being made. But 1982 was the end of the line for the creative stuff that came about because of the 70s.

I still think films mattered even in the 90s. When things really started to suck for me was after 1999. That year was the last year where I actually got excited over some of the studio releases. The two that spring to mind are “The Sixth Sense” and “The Blair Witch Project”. Yes, some will deride these films now but they were exciting and involving films. They intrigued people. Even 2000 wasn’t too bad with “Gladiator” and such.

It was the summer of 2001 that really started the trend. What happened was the studios were terrified that there was going to be an actors strike and they rushed as many studio films out into theaters without checking to see whether they were any good or not. This was the summer of the awful remake of “Planet of the Apes”. I read that the studios realized that summer that even if a film blew, they could still make a lot of money during the opening weekend only. That’s where they make their main $$$. Ever since then, that’s been the philosophy. Open BIG and then who cares if it dies off. A profit awaits on DVD. I remember the summer of 2001 because it was the first summer where virtually every movie I wanted to see, frankly, sucked. Either I stopped going or was sorely disappointed when I went.

Sorry for the rant but you got me started….

Re: “Master and Commander” one of the finest movies I’ve seen in the past 10 years. Yes, partial thanks to Crowe who might be a bit of an a-hole in real life but is intelligent enough to at least ATTEMPT to star in projects that have some teeth. But the real congrats go to the director, PETER WEIR. He is one of the BEST directors around today and of all time. Right up there with the best of them. The guy can take hack material (like “The Truman Show”) and turn it into something unique and exciting.

As much as I did not like “The Passion of the Christ” (too divisive…not my idea of Christian at all…) I’m glad at least Gibson was cinematic and got people into theaters. It was Gibson’s passion and on that alone, I’ll applaud him.

There ARE worthwhile films out there. “Eternal Sunshine” is not everyone’s cup of tea but it was mine and I loved it. There are thoughtful, intelligent people out there TRYING to make movies that matter. Maybe, just maybe if the numbers keep going south, the studios might try something radical. Who knows? Maybe we’re in for another decade like the 70’s.

And I hate Tom Cruise…

Theaterat: you’re way too kind!

Virtually all the new theaters (if you can call them that) are factories with not one iota of anything resembling personal service. Think this dump is bad? Try the Loews Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY. The same thing there.

And you’re right on target about the lousy, lousy, LOUSY movies “Hollywood” is making these days. It’s as if they simply don’t care. It’s all marketing now. The studio gets the lions share of the boxoffice in the first weeks of a films theatrical run leaving the theater owners to get their $$$ later and through the concession stand. The studios now make their big bucks on DVD sales. But don’t tell anyone else involved in the film about that. There’s no open profit sharing for DVD sales….yet. Only the big name stars like Cruise and Speilberg hold enough power to demand a piece of the DVD profit pie.

My wife and I used to go to a movie, on average, once a month 10 or 15 or so years ago. It wasn’t just a thing to do. There were actually good movies then mixed in with the usual popcorn junk. (And to old timers out there: admit it…even “back in the day” the studios produced mass market crapola like “When Worlds Collide” and such).

The movies and the theaters are killing the experience for me. It’s so sad to comtemplate. BUT if the movie going continues it’s trend, the studios are going to have to do something.

I can’t believe people would rather go here then to the neighborhood theatres that sadly are closing because of it. I never liked this place even when it first opened. It always seems to be out of control and that a riot could just break out.

The multiplex was a HELLHOLE back in the early 90’s when I lived in Brooklyn for two years. On a crowded Friday or Saturday night, it was chaos in the lobby if there was one or more big, opening films there. Secondly, the place STUNK. Literally, it smelled like an old sneaker in there. I went back there about five years after I had left Brooklyn, it still smelled like that.

The only reason why this place has remained is because there were/are(?) so few choices for people in Brooklyn. I understand there’s new theater in East NY on the Belt Parkway but would YOU go there?

The theatre open in 1987 as 9 screens. THe original entrance was off the Belt Parkway. Frm the lobby you were able to see the ocean. In 1997, UA added 5 screens to the current cound of 14. 12 out of the 14 are stadium seating. Theatres 8 and 9 were renovated, but weren’t converted to stadium seating due to the dimensions of the houses. Their are know three mens and womans restrooms. Their is a 3 story parking garage. All screens have digital sound.

United Artists Sheepshead Bay is a terrible building with no personality. Why can’t we have theaters like in the mid 20th Century, with wonderful details and architectural features? “Robert R.” had it correct when he said that is looks like a factory. Very unfortunate.