Ready Theatre Systems Announces New Alternative Pricing Plan in Response to COVID-19

PRESS RELEASE Knoxville, TN- Ready Theatre Systems announced an optional alternative pricing plan in response to COVID-19 to best support the exhibitor community. Instead of paying for upfront license costs, exhibitors now have the option to only pay when customers use the software. For instituting the plan, RTS’ owner Rob Chabot stated, “As a fellow exhibitor, we wanted to offer a plan that will help all of us succeed during this difficult time.” RTS’ Sales Director, Liz Golem, also added, “We want to support our community any way that we can. In addition to our relief pricing plan, we are maintaining our 24/7/365 technical support and continuing to release software versions with new features, so exhibitors return to their theatres better than ever.” Exhibitors taking advantage of the relief plan receive all the benefits of the core RTS license package, including...

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How Kino Marquee’s Virtual Theatrical Model is Helping Cinemas Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Interview with Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber Kino Lorber’s theatrical release of festival hit Bacurau, which garnered critical praise at major events like Cannes and NYFF, began its run in New York City on March 6. An expansion to arthouse theaters nationwide was scheduled for the ensuing weeks, but was ultimately cut short as COVID-19 began its spread across the country. With its theatrical commitments cut short by the virus, the distributor quickly came together to discuss next steps to salvage the film’s release. Rather than opting for a traditional home entertainment launch, the way bigger studios like Paramount and Universal have, Kino...

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Alamo Drafthouse is Making Its Food Recipes Available Online as Part of ‘At Home’ Initiative

Its theaters may be closed during the coronavirus shutdown, but Alamo Drafthouse is keeping its commitment to screening independent and unheralded movies alive via its recently announced “Alamo-At-Home” initiative — which includes posting recipes for its popular in-theater snacks and entrees online. The first recipe being made available is the theater chain’s popular Buffalo Cauliflower vegan snack, which the company notes has been a much-missed item among its loyal patrons. “If you’re missing those vegan-friendly lightly breaded flavor morsels, we’re opening the vault on this much-loved recipe, re-formulated it for ease of cooking at home, and just in time to stave off those cauli-cravings at your next homebound movie party,” notes a post on the company’s official website, which includes a 20-second “how-to” video as well as a written recipe. Those who attempt the recipe...

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Studio Movie Grill Opens Kitchens, Announces Support of #TheGreatAmericanTakeout

Studio Movie Grill—in a move to continue to serve its community and keep members of its team on-board through the exhibition industry’s coronavirus-induced shutdown—has introduced curbside food pickup at ten of its locations spread across California, Florida, and Texas. Pickup is available 11am-9pm, Monday through Saturday; the menu is skewed towards comfort-food, with offerings including Coconut Chicken Tenders, BBQ Glazed Chicken Pizza, Pretzel Bites, and Chocolate Beignets. (Also comforting to many in these troubled times, and also available for curbside pickup: bottled beer and wine.) Select theaters will soon deliver food via GrubHub. In...

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Alamo Re-Introduces Popular “Terror Tuesday” and “Weird Wednesday” Series with Alamo-at-Home

Though Alamo Drafthouse locations nationwide play first-run movies, a large part of what they’ve built their reputation–and community–around is their regular, curated repertory series. Two of the most popular are Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday, which bring the scary and the just plain weird to Alamo’s 41 locations. Those locations may be shut, but Terror Tuesday and Weird Wednesday live. The chain’s “Alamo-At-Home” initiative sees these two series return digitally, complete with pre-show content, introductions, post-screening discussions, and–of course–the movies themselves, screened for $7.75 a pop. Proceeds benefit Alamo Drafthouse and the American Genre Film Archive. Says Tim League, Alamo’s founder and CEO: “The entire reason Karrie and I built theaters in the first place was to bring people together in a celebration of film. Our theaters are currently closed,...

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Art-House America Campaign Launches to Help Independent Cinemas Nationwide

PRESS RELEASE The Art-House America Campaign, a new relief fund established by initial donations from the Criterion Collection and Janus Films, launches today to help the more than 150 independent movie theaters across the United States that temporarily closed to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Art-House America Campaign aims to provide financial relief to struggling independent cinemas across the country so they can pay staff and their essential bills and survive until it is safe to reopen their doors. The Campaign was kick-started with an initial donation of $50,000 from the Criterion Collection and Janus Films, and they are inviting friends of independent theaters and art houses everywhere to join them in this fundraising effort. The fund is being administered by the Art House Convergence, a nonprofit association dedicated to sustainability in community-based,...

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This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: Keeping in Touch with Audiences

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Russ Fischer and Daniel Loría look at the stimulus package and what it means for movie theaters. Boxoffice Pro Deputy Editor Rebecca Pahle joins the podcast to highlight different social media campaigns that cinemas are using to stay in touch with audiences while their doors are closed. SUBSCRIBE TODAY APPLE: https://apple.co/3a9WjRc SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/3dkSHOt The post This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: Keeping in Touch with Audiences appeared first on Boxoffice. from Boxoffi...

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NATO and Pioneers Assistance Fund Announce Movie Theater Worker Emergency Fund

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and the Pioneers Assistance Fund (PAF) are partnering to create an emergency fund for cinema workers affected by furloughs and layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic. An initial $2.4 million has been poured into the fund intended to provide financial assistance to movie theater employees facing economic hardship. The grant program is Phase 1 of an eventual two-phase assistance program.  Phase 1 will provide a stipend to any theater workers who meet specific criteria. Phase 2 is being developed and will expand assistance to a larger group of people who work in the motion picture industry, in the event the current crisis continues for an extended period of time. The basic eligibility requirement for the Pioneers Assistance Fund COVID-19 Emergency Grant (Phase 1) requires an individual to have worked in theatrical exhibition...

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Baltic Cinema Chain Cinamon to Donate Concessions to Local Charities

With theaters around the globe in shutdown mode, exhibitors are entering a new phase of operation. The priority has shifted from getting people into the theater to weathering the storm while they’re away. One Baltic chain has addressed the issue of F&B surplus—concession stands stocked, but with no moviegoers to sell to—by donating to local, in-need organizations.  Cinamon operates eight locations across Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland, all of which shut down in the second (Estonia) and third (Latvia, Lithuania, Finland) weeks of March. Of those cinemas, Cinamon is notes that four of them—the locations with stocks of concessions—will be donating items to local charities. Cinamon’s decision to donate their food was made rapidly, “right after the first closure of our cinemas in Estonia” on March 13, says CIO and CTO Andac Bagioglu. “We forecasted that...

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Sensible Cinema Software Offers Discounts for Independent and Family-Owned Theaters in Need

PRESS RELEASE In response to the COVID-19 theater closures, Sensible Cinema Software is providing relief for independent and family owned theaters struggling to pay for their ticketing and point of sale systems by offering the free use of the Sensible Cinema’s general admission ticketing and concession software (up to four selling stations) for up to two years without obligation. Software for additional terminals may be purchased at the regular license fee. Internet ticketing through Sensible Cinema partner Jack Roe USA is also available with only a $1 convenience fee to cover service costs. Theaters must enroll for integrated merchant processing through Worldpay Integrated Payments or transfer an account from their current POS system. Theaters must be located in the U.S., coming from another theater POS and must have been in operation for at least six (6) months by the...

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Kino Marquee Expands to 150 Theaters Across the Country

PRESS RELEASE New York – March 26, 2020: Kino Lorber’s virtual theatrical exhibition initiative called Kino Marquee has now expanded to 150 art-house theaters to screen Cannes prize-winning Brazilian thriller Bacurau. Alamo Drafthouse and Laemmle Theaters have just signed on to screen through many of their locations. A virtual Q&A with filmmakers and cast hosted by BAM will be available for all to watch on Wednesday, April 1 at 8 pm ET. The company also plans to offer top films from other independent distributors.  Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles and starring Sônia Braga and Udo Kier, Bacurau won the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2019 and went on to play Toronto and New York Film Festivals to much acclaim.  Ken Loach’s festival favorite Sorry We Missed You is also currently available through Kino Marquee with Film Forum in New York, where...

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Cutting Checks: DCDC Begins Issuing Rebates to Exhibitor and Content Provider Partners

Always, but especially now: It feels good to get a check in the mail. Sending out checks with such exceptional timing is the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC), which has reached the point of being able to offer rebates to all of its customers. Launched in 2013, DCDC utilizes a network of satellites to deliver films, trailers, and special events to theaters across the United States. Run by CEO Randy Blotky, DCDC counts as its clients both exhibitors (over 345) and content providers (over 55); the DCDC network enables these companies to deliver and receive content as encrypted digital files, a big step up on ease and a step down on cost from the old method (still used by DCDC in some theaters where an appropriate signal isn’t available) of shipping hard drives.  “We started [as] the low-cost option from the get-go” for content delivery, explains Blotky....

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NATO Applauds Senate Passage of Movie Theater Aid Package

PRESS RELEASE The National Association of Theatre Owners is continuing its work advocating for cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic. In their latest statement, the association responds to the Senate aid package: We applaud the bipartisan agreement reached in the Senate today to provide relief to movie theaters their employees and so many other public-facing industries that have had to close their doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this agreement, movie theaters can look forward with confidence to re-opening and once again serving their communities when this crisis has passed. While some details remain to be worked out, the broad provisions of the agreement help movie theaters and their workers in so many ways. A $454 billion loan guarantee fund provides access to capital allowing movie theaters and other businesses to pay their fixed costs while they are unable...

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This Weekend in Box Office History: How to Train Your Dragon Lifts Off, Titanic‘s Final Stand, and Ninja Turtle Power

The coming weeks will be challenging for all of us to face, including movie fans who are eagerly awaiting the near future when the world begins to recover from COVID-19’s impact so that theaters may reopen. In the interim, though, now is the perfect opportunity to remember some of the most notable achievements in popular cinema as we celebrate the joy of moviegoing. In place of our traditional Weekend Forecast, (temporarily, of course), this new column will take a look back at standout box office weekends of yore. How to Train Your Dragon Takes Flight March 26 – 28, 2010 It was exactly ten years ago when DreamWorks Animation launched what has gone on to become its most successful franchise not named Shrek. Under the screenwriting and directorial guidance of Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, author Cressida Cowell’s popular children’s novels discovered an entirely new audience...

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GUEST COLUMN: Going to the Movies Saved Me, Now It’s Time to Save “The Movies”

By Mark Malinowski, Vice President Global Marketing, National Amusements Full disclosure, I work with Showcase Cinemas. Although I work for the company, this is very much my personal story as what “going to the movies” has meant to my life. I grew up in the ’70s and early ’80s in central Massachusetts. From an early age, I knew two things: one that I was gay and two that I loved going to the movies. This was a time before social media, LGBTQ acceptance and even DVDs. It was isolating, confusing and even threatening. As a pre-teen/teenage gay kid from rural Massachusetts, going to see a movie in a movie theater was truly my only escape from a daily struggle to survive. Survive at school, survive at home and survive in life. My father and I were very different people, but the one thing we shared in common was our love of going to the movies. Our favorite cinemas were...

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From the Archives: Cult Horror Director Stuart Gordon Reflects on His MPAA Battles

Stuart Gordon, director of the 1980s horror cult classics Re-Animator and From Beyond, has died at the age of 72. Founder of the Organic Theater Company with his wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, he was also the co-creator of the family favorite Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. In tribute, here are excerpts from Ed Kelleher’s profile of Gordon in the October 1986 edition of Film Journal International. “I think it’s a shame that an X-rated movie now automatically means porno. What’s needed is to get back to the original concept of X—adults only—or else have a new rating, something between an R and an X.” So says director Stuart Gordon, who, although he has only made two features to date, is already a veteran of the MPAA rating skirmishes. Gordon’s debut film, the vivid shocker Re-Animator, was rejected for an R classification and subsequently released...

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UNIC Urges National Government Support for European Cinemas During COVID-19 Crisis

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the body representing European cinema trade associations and operators, today issued the following statement on the current situation with regard to the outbreak of Coronavirus/COVID-19: “The overwhelming majority of cinemas in Europe have closed in response to measures to limit the spread of the current Coronavirus outbreak. This will have a huge economic and social impact in their local communities, but our priority at this moment must be the health of our audiences and the millions of people in our sector dedicated to making the cinemagoing experience unique. We call on national governments to do all they can in the weeks and months to come to ensure that European cinemas are able to survive and overcome the unprecedented challenges that they face. The entire film and cinema sector is in this together—we will only succeed...

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A Century in Exhibition – The 1940s: Conflict and Consent Decrees

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Boxoffice Pro. Though the publication you hold in your hands has had different owners, headquarters, and even names—it was founded in Kansas City by 18-year-old Ben Shlyen as The Reel Journal, then called Boxoffice in 1933, and more recently Boxoffice Pro—it has always remained committed to theatrical exhibition. From the 1920s to the 2020s, Boxoffice Pro has always had one goal: to provide knowledge and insight to those who bring movies to the public. Radio, TV, home video, and streaming have all been perceived as threats to the theatrical exhibition industry over the years, but movie theaters...

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CineEurope Is Rescheduled for August 3, 2020

CineEurope, the leading European convention for cinema professionals, announced that its 2020 edition has been rescheduled for August 3-6, 2020, due to the current coronavirus crisis. The convention organizers had previously announced that they would announce by May 4 whether the show would go on as planned in June. “However, with your safety and welfare being our absolute priority, and given current news across the globe, we remain uncertain that we can operate CineEurope safely by the time those dates arrive,” their press release stated. The organizers expressed hope that the new August date will be feasible, but added that a final decision will be made by June 19, 2020. The show remains at the CCIB in Barcelona, Spain. “We feel that holding the 2020 show is important,” organizers stated, “not just for the morale of the industry (we will not by then have had a major...

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This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Cinema Business

In the debut episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, Russ Fischer and Daniel Loría talk about the impact of COVID-19 on the cinema business–and what exhibitors and moviegoers can do to help the movie theater business during this time of crisis. Subscribe to The Boxoffice Podcast on the following platforms: APPLE: https://apple.co/3a9WjRc GOOGLE: https://bit.ly/3blYIshOGLE: SPOTIFY: https://spoti.fi/3dkSHOt The post This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Cinema Business appeared first on Boxoffice. from Boxoffi...

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NATO Urges the Public to Petition Congress for Aid to Movie Theaters and Their Employees

Nearly all movie theaters in the United States are dark. Tens of thousands of cinema employees are out of work. The National Association of Theatre Owners is calling on the public to ask Congress to help movie theaters and their employees survive this period so that they can remain resilient and come back strong when this crisis is over. #supportmovietheaters http://www.natoonline.org/initiatives/action-center/?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f72765%2frespond The post NATO Urges the Public to Petition Congress for Aid to Movie Theaters and Their Employees appeared first on Boxoffice. from Boxoffi...

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Cinema Technology Community Offers Free Membership to Global Exhibitors

Not-for-profit independent trade organization Cinema Technology Community (CTC) announced the creation of a new free membership level to help support the global cinema technology community. The new membership level allows cinema professionals to gain an initial six-month free access to all members-only content including presentations, white papers, handbooks, test materials, podcasts, magazines, over ten hours of video content including CTC’s complete Women in Cinema series and the CTC technology forum aimed at enabling the cinema community to seek advice, share knowledge and expertise, and remain connected by sharing words, pictures and videos. “This new measure takes us a further step on from the measures we announced last week to extend all existing paid membership and sponsorships by six months whilst we face this crisis,” stated Richard Mitchell, president of CTC....

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Theater Owners Urge Passage of Stimulus Legislation Before Congress to Aid Workers and Business Continuity

The National Association of Theatre Owners is continuing its work in urging congress to act on behalf of cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic. In their latest statement, the association reveals several updates in their efforts: Theater owners applaud the efforts of Congress to aid vulnerable employees and ensure business continuity through this pandemic crisis. We particularly applaud the elements of phase III stimulus legislation that provide assistance to employees to help them weather this storm and that ensure access to capital while businesses are closed and unable to generate revenue while their expenses continue.  Key elements in the legislation that will aid movie theater owners so they can remain resilient and ready to go back to work include: Loan guarantee programs for severely distressed sectors of the economy, like movie theaters; Small business interruption...

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How to Handle Temporary Closures on Google During the COVID-19 Crisis

As businesses around the world grapple with temporary closures during the COVID-19 crisis, French digital marketing company Partoo (part of Boxoffice Pro corporate parent, Webedia) is offering five useful tips on how to tackle temporary closures without affecting SEO. 1. “Permanently closed”: the worst thing to do This is probably the worst thing to do right now; however, there are many establishments falling into this trap, as it may seem as the most simple way to handle your listing on the Google My Business interface. Advantage: None, except for it’s easy to be done. Disadvantage: it will make you lose all of your local SEO, so that...

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