How will digital screens change the scheduling of blockbusters?

By Sarah Sluis

Earlier this year, when I spoke to a theatre manager for an unrelated article, he mentioned that their new all-digital theatre was able to show four simultaneous Twilight: New Moon midnight screenings to meet demand--half of the small town's eight screens. In the past, the theatre would have needed four prints in order to show the movie on four screens. Because of advance ticket sales, they were able to set aside the correct amount of auditoriums and fill four theatres with Twilight fans. As entire theatres to convert to digital, the combination of digital projection and advance ticket sale websites has the potential to change the movie exhibition landscape.

Because people are willing to pay surcharges for highly anticipated

movies, advance ticket sales for blockbusters will have the greatest effect on how movies are booked. If a blockbuster could sell out

half the multiplex in one night, wouldn't theatre owners just change

the schedule to get all those people into theatres? There's no way Twilight: New Moon could have earned $72 million in one day (a single-day record) without pre-sold shows and multiple theatres playing the movie at fan-centered times like midnight.

Today, for example, Regal reported robust ticket sales for Sex and the City 2 (opening six weeks from now), which outpaced sales of Kick-Ass last weekend. Depending on ticket sales, Regal can most likely add screenings to meet demand, depending on any contractual obligations it might have to show other movies X amount of times.

Advance movie tickets stand to become more popular as more

people buy smart phones that enable them to buy movie tickets. Fandango, Movietickets.com and others already have

iPhone apps for that purpose. Cost, however, will always be something

of an issue. People will only buy tickets in advance if convenience

trumps cost, and heading over for a Sunday afternoon show probably

isn't one of those times. Plus, movie theatres have to set their schedules in advance. While they can switch a movie to a larger theatre if it's playing better than expected, they can't change showtimes once they're published online and in newspapers.

One thing digital projection probably won't be able to change is the annoyance of a sold-out show on a Friday and Saturday night, when even middling movies sell out theatres. If you're lucky, it's playing in

multiple theatres and you can catch the show an hour later (if the next show's not sold out). If you're not as lucky, it's either choose

another movie, wait two hours for a better option, or go home. For those making last-minute decisions, it would be great to be able to purchase a ticket on a phone (no fees) if it's within a couple hours of a show. It gives the consumer more choice. If you can see that a show is sold out, you can pick a second-choice movie and show up later, or search for another movie theatre in the area. If fans buying tickets in advance for Harry Potter or Sex and the City or Avatar is beneficial for the theatres, they should find a way to let consumers buy tickets slightly in advance without tacking on extra fees.

'Marley & Me' charms holiday audiences

By Sarah Sluis

When I expressed my skepticism over Marley & Me (a little too adorable-looking, don't you think?), a friend's mother, who had been hyping the film to me, asked if I was ever a dog owner. If I wasn't, she

said, I just wouldn't understand.

Considering the popularity of pooches among families--and that includes critics--PG-rated Marley & Me proved to be the most enticing option for families over the holiday weekend. The critical applause, included that of our reviewer Doris Toumarkine, who called Marley & Me "[P]erfect holiday entertainment. Families, dog lovers and even demanding breeds of filmgoers will adore it." These thumbs-ups helped pull the film to a $51 million finish, 30% more than the runner up, younger-skewing Bedtime Stories.

It makes sense: Marley & Me appealed to families with teen and adult children (my friend's family falling in that category), while Bedtime Stories targeted the narrower crowd that's still telling bedtime stories to each other. The dog-themed success, coupled with this year's earlier surprise smash, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, must be making studios scratch their heads looking around for another dog title to put into development. However, I chance that eventually there will be a burnout in pet pictures. January's kid-adventurer picture Hotel for Dogs might be the canary-in-a-coal-mine test to see if there's any dog-related viewing fatigue. After all, even playing fetch gets old after awhile.

Other family pleasers Yes Man, Seven Pounds, and The Tale of Despereaux, which finished 1-2-3 last week, moved down to fifth, sixth, and seventh, each dropping a similar amount from last week's open. As audiences see their second- and third-pick movies over the coming weeks, one might break ranks and rise above the others.

For adults, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button earned $39 million over the Christmas holiday, while Valkyrie made off with $30 million. Button's expected awards campaign should keep it in a top position in coming weeks, while Valkyrie dies off (just like the hero's Nazi coup!).

Among awards contenders, Revolutionary Road earned the most per-screen, bringing in a $64,000 per-screen average at each of its six locations for a total of $196,000. Waltz with Bashir, a Christmas day-opener set in Israel with special appeal to Jewish filmgoers, earned $10,240 per-screen across five locations, taking advantage of the informal Christmas day viewing tradition among Jews. Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino expanded to 84 locations, but kept its per-screen average at $29,048, bringing its cumulative total to $4.3 million. Frost/Nixon, Milk, and Slumdog Millionaire earned in the $7,000 per-screen range, a performance mitigated by being in a wider release and over a month old. Awards voters are a finicky bunch, but having your opinions reinforced by a wider audience certainly helps when it comes to statuette success.

Full box-office estimates available here.