The time has come to start thinking about the summer term scheduling. As many of you know I produced a sample schedule and based on your feedback I have created a first draft.
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A few things to note:
[list] ]Italicised films are already released ]GREEN films are suggested ‘Free for Members’ ]RED film is suggested Sponsored Event ] Films have a slight uncertainty in release date ] Films we’re showing the sequel to later in the term ] The sequel is released soon after nationally (potentially unavailable though)
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The ‘Blood and Ice Cream’ is the trilogy of the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost films:
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*]Shaun of the Dead
*]Hot Fuzz
*]The World’s End
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The AllNighter is made up of:
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*]Monster’s University
*]Now You See Me
*]The Wolverine
*]Mystery Film
*]Scott Pilgrim vs The World
*]Ocean’s Eleven
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Please read, absorb, ponder and get back to me with your suggestions. Can you especially highlight any films you feel are omitted from the schedule!
Nice to see Evil Dead up there! Early buzz is looking good too.
I know it’s in 70mm, but I think we’ve shown Alien at least twice in 3 years. Possibly a bit overdone? I can see the arguments for showing it, but if you could get Aliens I think that’d be even better.
For things where we’re showing the sequel, why not have the previous film in the same week, i.e. Kick-Ass in Wk. 8 but Kick-Ass 2 in Wk. 9? Seems a bit weird to show it the week before, it’d be fresher in minds I think if it were in the same week.
Mildly skeptical about the *** films. Good films, don’t get me wrong, but not sure people looking to see the sequels will come to see them for that reason (in other words, will it be worth it?)
Kick-Ass 2 might be a better All-Nighter film than The Wolverine? I think The Wolverine would do stronger on a double than KA2, but that one’s personal thought. Kick-Ass went down a storm when it was shown at an All-Nighter too.
I like the idea of the “Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy” back to back. Not sure about two screenings though. Also, what about those people who want to just watch The World’s End? Not saying you should, but maybe show Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz as a pair on Friday, then two showings of The World’s End on Saturday? Dunno. I’m not adverse to sitting through all 3, some people might be.
I’m not sure how to feel about the prequels thing… Perhaps it would be best to trial it with one film, then if it works it’s obvious that we should try to go down that route more in spring term, and if it doesn’t do as well as we’d hope then we’ve cut our losses.
Financially I’d be cautious about scheduling more than one film on a night (e.g. Iron Man / Iron Man 2, Blood and Ice Cream), as hire costs will double, or triple, for the evening, and we would therefore need to get a similar number of extra customers or a similarly adjusted ticket price. That one is up to the Exec…!
I haven’t gone through the upcoming films in much depth yet but generally speaking I think it’s looking good. A few suggestions for the time being (until I start looking at the smaller films):
I think the ** films should be closer to the film they are leading up to. I know that there has been an argument that it would mean that people would have to come to the cinema twice in a couple of days but, in these cases, the point of showing it is to tie them together. If we separate them they are harder to advertise and I doubt our audience will put enough thought into our schedule to be preparing themselves for a sequel that we’re showing over a week away by coming to watch the first film. I also think that one of the advantages of screening the first film is to make the newer film more of an event which again doesn’t work as well if you separate them.
I’m not opposed to trying one of the trilogy or double nights again. It might be worth only experimenting with one though as the costs are higher.
I think you could probably do with losing some of the midweek classics otherwise we’ll end up missing loads of the smaller films that come out over the summer. While in some cases it probably won’t do us much harm if they fall into Spring, we could end up missing a big hit that only looks ok from where we are now (eg Four Lions, Silver Linings Playbook, Ted). It should also give us a bit of variety with foreign and art house films just to show the freshers that we do show them.
Other than those suggestions, I think it looks good though.
To echo some of the sentiments above, I agree with Ed and George regarding trilogies and pairs…
…they’re exactly the sort of thing I love to watch, but it’s a bit risky going all-out with them when we’re not sure how well they’ll work - the dark knight didn’t do quite as well as I’d have hoped in the middle of the trilogy with free begins!
Also, I agree with George - if we’re going to make a thing of doing the double plays, then they need to be obvious and adjacent - there’s no easy way for publicity to push them if they’re a week apart!
As for the Iron Man ensemble, I’m afraid I think it’s too risky to put them all on across two nights in week 1 - dredgers will be wanting to spend some time doing cool uni stuff - not spending their whole weekend watching Robert Downey junior!
This is the updated schedule having taken on board feedback and opinions. There is some reshuffling with a couple of minor changes. Note the removal of the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy and the Iron Man/Iron Man 2 double and the slight reduction of ‘classics’.
Might be worth putting ‘The Bling Ring’ somewhere… directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Emma Watson, released 14th June. Since ‘Perks’ did so well, an Emma Watson film seems like a fairly safe bet.
-I think you can probably afford to drop The Big Wedding (which looks pretty bad) and 21 & Over (1 star review from Empire)
-I don’t think Epic could do a double. Most of the Thursday films look better
-I agree with James about The Place Beyond the Pines
-I think you need some more foreign films. I suggest ‘I’m So Excited’ as one (its by the director of The Skin I Live In and Volver)
-I think only crew would come to see Exam. I suggest Evil Dead 2 instead (it goes through the first film again so you don’t have to have seen it)
-I still think there are a few too many classics (although I will have to search through IMDB to suggest replacements)
-I think Star Trek and Kick-Ass would benefit from being closer to the sequels. They won’t do too well on their own so I think we should associate them more closely or not bother showing them.
I think the problem is that if a film gets really bad reviews then when we finally show it it has a bad reputation so nobody comes. I think that was part of the reason for clash of the titans doing as badly as it did (when it did ok at the box office).
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A few more suggestions:
Before Midnight: The last part of a highly regarded romantic trilogy. Definitely worthy of a single slot.
Behind the Candelabra: Matt Damon and Michael Douglas…
Admission: Tina Fey Rom-com
The Last Exorcism Part II: Possible midnight?
Hummingbird: The Stath hitting things
Stand Up Guys: Al Pacino and Christopher Walken crime comedy