• Why do you "choose" the films you show?
Ultimately, we don’t make the movies. So when we have a situation where there is a dearth of interesting films, we have to show what’s available. A few months back at the Claremont, when we were showing THE DIVING BELL & THE BUTTERFLY and SAVAGES and PERSEPOLIS, we were only too happy to resist the studio siren song and skip playing films like DEFINITELY, MAYBE, FOOL’S GOLD and JUMPER. But when the art films that are in release are not as commercially viable, we do what we have to to stay afloat. Our policies haven’t changed. It’s just a matter of the films we have available to us.
We sometimes aren't particularly thrilled with what we play. However, we can only offer films as distributors make them available to us. And when films don’t open particularly well in town, the distributors cut back on their print allotments which means we have to delay the expansion of these films.
A case in point is the French film, PRICELESS, which opened on March 28 at the Claremont. Not the best film mind you, but at least it is something different. Anyway, the opening was less than stellar, so the distributor declined to provide a print for the Claremont where we had initially hoped to open the film on April 4, a week after the opening in LA. Kept having to push the film back week after week. It finally opened but did not have any life left. But at least we are able to get it to Claremont. In some cases, distributors have moved prints out of the LA market, forcing us to cancel planned for engagements. The weak dollar makes gas more expensive, but it also makes it more expensive for distributors to buy prints of foreign films. So where they might have had ten prints of a film for the US release, they often make do now with just two or three. I’m not kidding. The weak dollar has had that kind of impact on the distribution of “smaller” films. ROMAN DE GARE was turned down by the distributor. And the same for THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI. Doing what we can, but it is not an easy marketplace right now.
Further, and in our defense, we have been opening more esoteric fare at the Claremont throughout the past few months, but the audience response to the films has been weak. I don’t mean to say that Claremont has been particularly weak. Many of these films, like WHERE IN THE WORLD IS OSAMA BIN LADEN or MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS have had a hard time finding an audience anywhere. But when they only do enough business to warrant a week at the Claremont, we are again forced to look elsewhere for films. It hadn’t planned on (or wanted to) playing HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY. But when an “art” film like FLAWLESS doesn’t do enough business to hold for a second week, and we can’t get the distributor of YOUNG@HEART to give us a print as promised, we have to lower our standards.
Also, Distributors are not inclined to leave prints in this market for limited shows like morning shows when they have need to move them on to other markets. And for films that screen via video, there is still a cost to each exhibition for use of video equipment, etc. Distributors are willing to incur that expense (loss) when it means getting a review in the LA Times. Beyond those markets though, they weigh each exhibition on a cost benefit basis. If they don’t think they’re going to earn enough in film rental to cover the expense, it isn’t worth the risk.
Rest assured we always try to play the more esoteric fare that people expect of us.
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• How long will (insert title) play?
I'm sorry but we don't even know. Our schedules our done on a weekly basis every Tuesday for the upcoming week. If the film you want to see doesn't do well on opening weekend, it probably won't last past one week. We do our best to promote all of the films way ahead of opening dates through the website, sneak previews, enewsletter, flyers, trailers, posters, newspapers and other media. Try and see most films opening weekend and please visit Laemmle.com often as dates do change. Note that our website has the most up-to-date information about the films we show. Please also subscribe to our weekly enewsletter.
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• Why do some films only last a week?
We try and book a wide variety of films at all of our theatres. When we open a new movie, we look at the grosses for the previous weekend, and generally replace the film(s) that has/have the lowest gross with the new one(s). Since we have a limited number of screens available to us and the volume of new movies is large, it means that some films will have a shorter run. There are many cases when we would like to keep films longer, but that would mean that we wouldn't have room for other new films. In other cases, the distributor/studio behind the movie doesn't have the budget to make more than one print of a movie available to us for a Los Angeles engagement and they want their one L.A. print to run at the theatre where it will draw the largest audience. Inevitably they'll choose a theatre in L.A. proper, not the suburbs. Also small distributors often need to move their prints on to other engagements in other, smaller cities.
As a heads up to customers we mark films on our website, L.A. Times ads and flyers that we think will not run more than one week as "ONE WEEK ONLY" or "LAST DAY" to alert the public that they should try to see these limited release films sooner rather than later or risk missing seeing them on the "Big Screen."
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• Why do you sometimes show films only weekend mornings?
Each week we will have an average of 2 or 3 new films opening under a full schedule at each of our theatres. When the new films come in, generally the films with the lowest grosses are the ones that drop off. Sometimes films that we drop are still bringing in decent size audiences. But, because of prior booking commitments made to the distributors of the new films, we can no longer show the film on a daily schedule. In this case we will move the film to the Sat/Sun 11am slot.
In other cases, films will open in a handful of theatres in the West LA / Hollywood area, then branch out to other cities in stages. Films will commonly be available to us at the Fallbrook, Town Center and Playhouse in the 2nd or 3rd week of a film's release, for example. In the Valley we have 12 screens available for programming, but in Pasadena we have only 7 screens. The summer time is a particularly busy time for theatres... so unfortunately we do not have room to show every film that we'd like on a full schedule.
There are definitely times when we wish, for example, the Playhouse "7" were the Playhouse "10." But, since we can't add screens only when we need them showing the films on weekend mornings is the only option in many cases.
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• Why does Laemmle Theatres sometimes not open films on the dates it has previously announced on its flyers and website?
When we announce dates in advance on our flyers and website, those dates represent the "planned" roll out for films that we've discussed in advance with the distributor of the film. However, since we need to take an old film off screen in order to open a new one, these plans can be thrown into disarray when the "old" films are simply doing too much business to come off. We realize this can be frustrating for our regular patrons who have already seen all the films at a given theatre and are eager for new ones. However, if the interest level in the films we’re playing is inordinately high we are obligated to the general public, the films’ distributors and our bottom line to extend runs on the popular films beyond the point that we would have normally expected.
We try to do a good job of getting the correct opening date information on the flyers but sometimes, especially around Oscar season, advance announced dates can be fluid. File it under, "...the best laid plans of mice and men..."
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