Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Indiana Jones is gone! (Almost)
OK, folks, just ONE more day to see Indiana Jones on the Roxy's big screen. After that he will be banished to the awful world of video forever. (Or until they make another one, which we're betting will happen.)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Indiana Jones is here! (Almost)
Well it's not QUITE on opening weekend, but Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be at the Roxy this Friday. The movie opened nationally on May 22, but the studio didn't make enough film prints to satisfy the demand, so we had to wait a while. But we're sure the wait will be worth it! We thank all our local moviegoers for their patience.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
We keep reaching for more "firsts"
It's happened again...another "first" at the Roxy. Although this isn't one of our prouder moments.
This one is my fault. We usually change our marquee on Wednesday nights, because we're closed Thursdays...usually. This week, Dylan the marquee changer showed up right on schedule on Wednesday night and put "Iron Man," which starts Friday, on the marquee.
The problem? "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" didn't end Wednesday...it has one more night to run. I forgot to explain that fact to Dylan, and he changed the marquee a day early.
So mark the date -- May 29, 2008 -- for the first time ever, the Roxy will be playing a movie that's different from the one listed on the marquee.
A sign in the front window explains things, and we should be back to normal by Friday the 30th. We hope.
This one is my fault. We usually change our marquee on Wednesday nights, because we're closed Thursdays...usually. This week, Dylan the marquee changer showed up right on schedule on Wednesday night and put "Iron Man," which starts Friday, on the marquee.
The problem? "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" didn't end Wednesday...it has one more night to run. I forgot to explain that fact to Dylan, and he changed the marquee a day early.
So mark the date -- May 29, 2008 -- for the first time ever, the Roxy will be playing a movie that's different from the one listed on the marquee.
A sign in the front window explains things, and we should be back to normal by Friday the 30th. We hope.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
The upcoming schedule: (A guess)
OK, folks, here is what's coming up in the next few weeks. The usual advisory: Almost none of this is set in stone -- it's always SUBJECT TO CHANGE. With that in mind, here we go:
May 30 Iron Man
June 6 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
June 20 What Happens In Vegas + You Don't Mess with the Zohan
June 27 Wall-E
July 11 The Incredible Hulk -or- Kung Fu Panda -or- The Happening
July 18 The Dark Knight
May 30 Iron Man
June 6 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
June 20 What Happens In Vegas + You Don't Mess with the Zohan
June 27 Wall-E
July 11 The Incredible Hulk -or- Kung Fu Panda -or- The Happening
July 18 The Dark Knight
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A little remodeling news
Next time you're at the movies, if you think of it, walk down to the stage and take a look. It looks like a simple fresh paint job, but it's really a lot more.
Sharp-eyed folks might remember that we had a "brick wall" trimming the stage for many years. This was done in about 1998 because the former stage trim (curtains matching the side walls) had gotten dirty and stained.
When we decided to remove the brick paneling from the lobby in February of this year, we decided to remove ALL of it, which meant the bricks in front of the stage had to go, too. Our contractor, Tom Ungefug, noticed that the original stucco stage front was still there under the bricks, and suggested just removing the bricks and letting the original stage show. The only thing required was to rebuild the front trim on the stage, which had been removed when the brick wall was constructed.
Well, replacing that trim was no ordinary job. First of all, the stage is curved, so that meant the trim would have to be built to match. The top rail in the front is actually composed of about eight 1x6 boards, trimmed down at the joints to match the curve of the stage floor. The top rail is supported by additional panels and trim pieces below. If you were to cut a cross section out of the rail assembly, you would find it consists of seven separate pieces of wood!
In the center of the stage, there used to be a large air intake for the now-defunct swamp cooler system. We decided to build a storage cabinet in that area for concession supplies. (Don't worry, we're not going to interrupt the movie going back and forth to that cabinet during shows!) As of this writing, the cabinet is all finished except for the doors, which should be installed next week.
We're not quite done with the remodeling yet... Here's a list of what's still to be done. Granted, this list is quite boring compared to what we've been doing, but it's all good. Over the next few weeks, we'll be:
Sharp-eyed folks might remember that we had a "brick wall" trimming the stage for many years. This was done in about 1998 because the former stage trim (curtains matching the side walls) had gotten dirty and stained.
When we decided to remove the brick paneling from the lobby in February of this year, we decided to remove ALL of it, which meant the bricks in front of the stage had to go, too. Our contractor, Tom Ungefug, noticed that the original stucco stage front was still there under the bricks, and suggested just removing the bricks and letting the original stage show. The only thing required was to rebuild the front trim on the stage, which had been removed when the brick wall was constructed.
Well, replacing that trim was no ordinary job. First of all, the stage is curved, so that meant the trim would have to be built to match. The top rail in the front is actually composed of about eight 1x6 boards, trimmed down at the joints to match the curve of the stage floor. The top rail is supported by additional panels and trim pieces below. If you were to cut a cross section out of the rail assembly, you would find it consists of seven separate pieces of wood!
In the center of the stage, there used to be a large air intake for the now-defunct swamp cooler system. We decided to build a storage cabinet in that area for concession supplies. (Don't worry, we're not going to interrupt the movie going back and forth to that cabinet during shows!) As of this writing, the cabinet is all finished except for the doors, which should be installed next week.
We're not quite done with the remodeling yet... Here's a list of what's still to be done. Granted, this list is quite boring compared to what we've been doing, but it's all good. Over the next few weeks, we'll be:
- Fixing the front display window so the glass doesn't fall out, and putting new backing in there to replace the aging, sun-cracked current backing.
- Stopping up a lot of air leaks in the back of the building. (This will save us money on heat, and also make the theatre warmer during the winter.)
- Putting the various movie posters in the lobby into frames. (This is because the old system of attaching the posters to the wall doesn't work with our new textured walls.)
- Adding some additional lighting to the stage.
And for the final crowning touch that you won't be able to see, we'll be getting a new roof this summer, thanks to the big hailstorms from last summer.
Where have I been?!
OK, I'll be the first to admit that I have been a slacker, blog-wise. I haven't posted in quite a while. I could say that I've just been too darn busy -- well, that's really an accurate statement -- but I spend a good share of my day typing and the real truth is, it's just been hard to think of something worth blogging about lately.
Now that that's out of the way -- despite the recent cold, rainy weather, SUMMER has officially come to the Roxy. We're currently playing the new Narnia movie, and Iron Man will follow at the end of this month, and right after that...Indiana Jones's new adventure.
Some might be wondering, why aren't we playing Indiana Jones right now? Don't we usually jump on those new blockbusters the day they come out? Didn't I read on the Roxy website that Indy would be here on the 22nd of May, or was that a dream?
Well, we really were planning on playing the Indy movie on the 22nd, but a little thing called "print availability" spoiled that plan for us. In other words, there were not enough prints around to fill the demand, and while the Roxy definitely is one of the coolest theatres around, unfortunately it's not one of the biggest, therefore we have to take a place behind the larger city theatres sometimes.
Not to worry, though....Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be here just as soon as we can bring it in, probably by the first or second weekend in June.
Now that that's out of the way -- despite the recent cold, rainy weather, SUMMER has officially come to the Roxy. We're currently playing the new Narnia movie, and Iron Man will follow at the end of this month, and right after that...Indiana Jones's new adventure.
Some might be wondering, why aren't we playing Indiana Jones right now? Don't we usually jump on those new blockbusters the day they come out? Didn't I read on the Roxy website that Indy would be here on the 22nd of May, or was that a dream?
Well, we really were planning on playing the Indy movie on the 22nd, but a little thing called "print availability" spoiled that plan for us. In other words, there were not enough prints around to fill the demand, and while the Roxy definitely is one of the coolest theatres around, unfortunately it's not one of the biggest, therefore we have to take a place behind the larger city theatres sometimes.
Not to worry, though....Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be here just as soon as we can bring it in, probably by the first or second weekend in June.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
This is the time of year when people start asking "When will you play (fill in an Oscar-nominated film title here)?"
This year is unusual because nearly all of the Oscar-nominated films are either low-budget, indie productions, or boxoffice flops. Sometimes both.
There are some exceptions. One of the Best Picture nominees, "Juno," is very popular and we do plan to play it -- hopefully sometime before the middle of March. Another popular nominee, "Atonement," is penciled in later this month (although it may get knocked off the schedule by "The Bucket List," which is not nominated but is a huge hit).
And we played two of the three Best Animated Feature nominees -- "Ratatouille" and "Surf's Up" -- last summer.
We have already played one of the Best Picture films -- "No Country For Old Men" played here in January of this year.
Beyond that, however, the nominee list is full of movies that the mainstream moviegoer might never have heard of.
So why don't we just bring in these excellent movies and play them? Well, we'd love to, and sometimes we can, but we also have to consider all the variables.
So there you have a list of the questions we have to answer when booking Oscar-nominated films. The booking process is interesting and complicated for all theaters, but especially so for small operations like ours where one screen has to fill all the needs of the local moviegoers. I hope this post has shed some light on the process we go through in deciding what to put on our screen.
This year is unusual because nearly all of the Oscar-nominated films are either low-budget, indie productions, or boxoffice flops. Sometimes both.
There are some exceptions. One of the Best Picture nominees, "Juno," is very popular and we do plan to play it -- hopefully sometime before the middle of March. Another popular nominee, "Atonement," is penciled in later this month (although it may get knocked off the schedule by "The Bucket List," which is not nominated but is a huge hit).
And we played two of the three Best Animated Feature nominees -- "Ratatouille" and "Surf's Up" -- last summer.
We have already played one of the Best Picture films -- "No Country For Old Men" played here in January of this year.
Beyond that, however, the nominee list is full of movies that the mainstream moviegoer might never have heard of.
So why don't we just bring in these excellent movies and play them? Well, we'd love to, and sometimes we can, but we also have to consider all the variables.
- Is the film available to us at all? Sometimes, big city theatres snap up all the prints and we can't get one in a timely manner. If a film is too old, people stop wanting to see it. (This is a mystery, since the movie is still the same!)
- Is it the type of film that would do well for us? In a lot of cases, Oscar-nominated films have such limited appeal that they only do well in large cities. We play most movies for a full week, so every time we book a film, we're staking one fourth of our total business for a whole month on it. We need to play films that bring in enough business to pay the bills.
- Is the film coming to video soon? If so, there's no point in us playing it. Most movies are about four to six months old when they hit video. We play many movies on their national release dates, but when we have to wait on a film, we do our best to get it before it's over a month old. (Usually we're successful in that, but occasionally we're not.) Since many Oscar-nominees have been out for two or three months, their video release date can loom large. Generally, if the video release date has been announced for a film, we won't play it unless it's massively popular.
So there you have a list of the questions we have to answer when booking Oscar-nominated films. The booking process is interesting and complicated for all theaters, but especially so for small operations like ours where one screen has to fill all the needs of the local moviegoers. I hope this post has shed some light on the process we go through in deciding what to put on our screen.
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