Cinema Paradiso (1895-2020); Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (2021-??)

At the courthouse I work for, we utilize the folks who've been ordered to do community service to serve as janitors.  They get credit towards their fines at a rate of $100 per eight hour shift.

SnoBorderZero Pbar and whoever else lives in Los Angeles.

Egyptian and Aero theaters are doing Cowboys and Samurai double features the last weekend of April.  

Rashamon/High Noon
The Searchers/Hidden Fortress
Seven Samurai/The Wild Bunch
Unforgiven/Harakiri

If you guys are interested in any of those let's talk.

You just made PG Cooper very jealous.

Let's talk!

MoviePass has lost 90% of its subscribers

variety.com/2019/digital/news/moviepass-subscribers-loss-crater-225000-1203192468/

hi-larry-us

"Even with the change, Rotten Tomatoes will continue to allow all visitors to rate and review movies regardless of whether or not they are confirmed ticket purchasers. In addition, users will have an option to see the “all audience” score for a given movie, which incorporates all user ratings (the way Rotten Tomatoes has previously displayed the Audience Score)."

Doomsday frankyt Dracula



Launching this month

deadline.com/2019/07/regal-cinemas-unlimited-movie-ticket-subscription-program-cineworld-1202640441/

From my experience it really depends from location to location. Some Regals are trash, while others are great. Same with AMC and Cinemark. None of the big chains seem to have any consistency when it comes to theater quality (from seating, to projection/screens, to audio). I went to an IMAX at an AMC recently that was awful. It was terrible even by comparison to a lot of just standard theaters I frequent. Blew my mind that they charge premium prices for it.

Sadly you're wrong. These aren't like a franchise with individual theater owners. So yes, they do have district managers that oversee multiple theaters in a given area. Surprise visits from the company are also not uncommon (once a quarter I would say). They even get visited by higher ups every now and again (I've met the CEOs for two of them). So needless to say, they at least are making sure management at the locations are not being complete screw-ups. But ultimately the big chains simply don't care enough to keep up with any form of real quality consistency. Although they probably realistically can't, once they get to be a certain size. As far as they're concerned: Does the theater make a profit? How does it compare to other theaters in the area? ARE there other theaters in the area? They buy up locations and leave them be, unless absolutely necessary upgrades are required or competition in the area is very stiff.

So, like said, some places are great, some are poor. You often simply can't know until you actually visit one. The only thing you can really vouch for with each is maybe their policies, which generally stay the same from place to place. But I can't ever say with a straight face "This company is better than this company" based solely on their theater-going experiences, because it varies too greatly. In one city, the Regal theaters could be the best among what is available to choose, but then in another city 30-50 miles away, the Cinemark theaters are the best.

*Having said all that, each AMC Dolby Cinema I've been to has been about the same. They're always pretty good. The same cannot be said for IMAX theaters, Regal's RPX, or Cinemark's XD. As for the rest of the houses at said locations with a Dolby Cinema, that's another story. But at least you know you're in for a good time if you've got a ticket to a Dolby Cinema house. It's just too bad most AMCs don't have one.

Source: I've worked for each of the big three at one time or another in the last 15 years and do a fair bit of traveling.

We're talking about completely different things. The "they" in that out of context quote you made is corporate, and they're well aware of the state of things at the theaters in question, in terms of what I'm speaking about. I'm not talking about customer service or maintenance (which in actuality is probably more consistent). No, what I'm talking about is theaters being drastically different from one area to the next in terms of what they offer you as a movie-going experience (type of seats, sound systems, screen quality, screen size, projectors). So vouching for one of the big three as being of excellent quality, citing their name alone across the board... you just can't. Theater quality varies too greatly from place to place. None of them have a quality standard that they follow. I've seen GMs continually make requests to corporate to get newer seats, better audio, or to replace screens, only to be put on a long waiting list or to be just straight up shot down, because they don't "need" it. People are still coming to the theater, right? So no need to improve, then. That's how the big heads tend to view things. The GMs I've personally worked with don't think that way. They want their theaters to be a better movie-going experience.

So, as an example, there might be an AMC IMAX that is great that I can go to, with comfy seats, great big screen, awesome audio. Then another city over there is another AMC IMAX that is awful. Old, uncomfortable seating, much smaller screen... and yet, they both have the same name and premium pricing.

I can't tell people with a straight face "Cinemark XD theaters are great and you should see a movie that way if you can", when one Cinemark XD can vary from another so much in terms of their seats, the screen/size, and audio. Some have the nice recliner seats, while other still have the old stadium seating. It's a location by location situation. Nothing to do with the GM or customer service. The companies themselves just haven't updated some of those theaters or even care enough to keep them all on one quality standard. It's as simple as "Is that one XD theater doing okay? It is? Then there's no reason to update it and make it as good as the XD theater in the town over."

Which of course is rubbish. You would think they would want to have a particular quality standard at least in their premium formats, but they don't. Dolby Cinemas are one exception to the rule, and that's probably simply because their newer. Hopefully Dolby will stay on top of that and make sure all their Dolby Cinema locations are always on par with one another, but it wouldn't surprise me if as newer theaters keep getting installed, older ones start falling by the wayside and won't be updated.

That's exactly my point. The big chains are not consistent, and it's because they're big. So the unfortunate result is that you can't cite one or another as being consistently good, because you don't know for sure whether or not a theater is one the company decides to keep updated. You typically won't find out until you visit.

Now, I don't expect that all theaters should have excellent houses throughout an entire multiplex, but it is bad when I visit a big screen format theater that is worse than smaller standard theaters not that much further away. I still stand by the thought that at the VERY least, if any of the chains are going to have a premium format and charge premium pricing for them, those need to be prioritized and made sure to be adhering to an expected standard. The only one you can expect as such for the moment is Dolby Cinema. If you go to a Dolby Cinema, you're pretty much guaranteed to get dual laser projectors, recliner seats, and monitored audio. Meanwhile, you go to an XD theater and what do you get? Maybe recliners? Maybe a decent screen? Maybe decent audio levels? You won't know for sure until you get in there.