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tuesdaysdusk | Male | 18 years old | Arkham

Can I turn off this machine before it destroys everything that I loved...?


As some of you know, I work at a Marcus Budget Cinema

My theatre, although being, er, under par, is loved by the local community. We often have people tell us that our popcorn is better, our staff is nicer, and our theatres are cleaner.

Marcus has a plan to have only big multiplexes by 2010, and the theatre I work at is most definantly NOT a big multiplex (we fit in the east wing of the new theatre)

However, we still make enough business so that closing us is not the greatest of ideas.

So, Marcus has cut us down to 1 set per day, every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday has 2 (thats our special deal day, and the day we make the most business), and I have no idea how the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday schedules will be.

Thusly: unless we get FAR more people a day than we do, it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to make enough money to keep us open.

So, you know what I say?

Fuck Marcus. Fuck the big movie companies.

Don't pay 9 dollars to see a movie, support budget theatres. Support small houses.

Posted on: Sep 2 2008 - 04:20:00 AM

  • 11 weeks ago by 1573's avatar 1573
  • i agree to a point. as it is mention around the here, i run a movie theater. not sure where my theater falls in the big scheme of things though. we definitely are not a BIG franchise theater. we are considered a multiplex, but not a HUGE 16-20 screen multiplex (we only have 4). i guess we could be considered a budget theater because out tickets are significantly cheaper than the usual $9-$11 theaters (ours are $5.50 for seniors/children and $7 for adults). however, the company that owns my theater also owns the next closest theater. so we are a small chain.

    anyway, i agree, support the small local theaters.however, by "fucking" the big, franchise multiplexes, things could come back to hurt the little guy. if everyone says "fuck the big guy" and boycots to a point, the movie companies themselves will have no choice but to raise the rental fee on there movies to make up for lost $$$$. this will then fall to the little guy to make up the difference. then the small theaters will have to raise their ticket prices. and then they are no longer the "budget" theaters. also w/ raised rental fees, usually comes raised concession prices. people already complain about the price of popcorn, soda, candy and whatever else there may be. although, most people do not realize that theaters make their $$$ at the concession stand, not he box office.

    i say, let the local commumities voice their oppinion. have them continue to support their theater while writing letters to the owners (marcus in this case) expressing hwo much they would hate to see the theater go. have them ask what they could do as a community to help "save the theater".

    also, the theater itself can do some things as well. most movie companies have someone in charge of marketing. someone who comes up w/ ideas to promote upcoming movies within the community. the ones that i often deal with do not charge anything for this service. the movie companies are usually glad to help promote 1 of their films because it makes them $$$. some of the ideas that have been passed on to me and my theater have ranged from employees dressing like characters from the films, free give aways (usually provided by the film companies), fund raisers for different commumity programs related to the films or even something as simple as raffleing off a framed copy of the movie poster w/ $$$ being split between a local charity and the theater.

    wow, just realized how much i just said. i should have made this a blog of my own. sorry tuesday, didn't meen to rant, i swear. but hey, if you want some help coming up w/ something, let me know. i'll see what i can do.

    • 11 weeks ago by tuesdaysdusk's avatar tuesdaysdusk
    • i get what your saying about the ticket prices.
      i did, however, forgot to mention that my manager and one of the assistant managers have BOTH been working for Marcus for over 20 years. My manager, in fact, took a 30,000 dollar a year pay cut in order to continue working for Marcus.
      So far, they have not been offered anything in the way of another job or severance package (we are supposed to close in april)
      Marcus doesnt seem to do the whole promoting outside of the theatre and the commercials the movie companies are already putting out, but i do raise awareness about my theatre and its predicament.
      hopefully that will help, but i doubt it