May 13, 2009
Despite Recession, Marquee Pullman Still Pulls No. 1 Numbers in Chain
McCall Predicts It Will Maintain Greater Market Share Than New Screens at Huntington Mall
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Beckley, WV (HNN) – Although many industries and retailers have suffered melt down numbers, the movie industry continues to shrug off the downturn and continue their immunities from the normal cycles. It’s not a new finding, though, since movies have generally been regarded as the most inexpensive form of entertainment, cinemas benefit as an alternative to more expensive nights out, such as concerts and other live entertainment.
So, has this deep recession hurt theatres?
For the predominately regional and West Virginia chain, Curtis McCall, president and CEO of Marquee Cinemas, crossed his fingers and said, “No, not yet.” Nationwide, cinema attendance has been combining two phrases for conveyance of McCall’s enthusiasm , “what the hell is going on … off the charts.”
[Editor’s Note: The Industry site, Meet in the Lobby.com, had January and February nationwide ticket sales up about 13-15%, which would be the biggest increase in 20 years for the film industry. “Certainly a reflection of people’s recreational spending during our recession.” The site noted that films released during the beginning of each year --- normally a perennial cinema no-man’s land four run-of the-mill comedies and two horror movies--- provided audience power, including the then building “Slumdog Millionaire” and the steady “Gran Torino.”]
McCall pointed to Beckley’s Galleria 14 which in January 2009 showed about a 40 percent increase over the previous year. He postulated that those numbers mean “we’re bringing more into the buildings that have not been [there] before and more frequent repeat audience” due to an increase in the selection of titles due to Hollywood’s release schedule which spread some films out into undersold months.
“The industry was up 12% [plus] in January and we were up like 21% [chain wide],” McCall stated. “February was a little flatter,” although the month competed with same cinema sales of the 2008 super charged, “Hannah Montana 3D Concert.”
Generally, the smaller town theatres had increases in the teens, while Orchard 10 (Tom’s River, NJ), Southridge (Charleston, WV) and Beckley (WV) were up in the thirties.
Significantly, the increases came when theatres were “not playing $150 million dollar pictures,” McCall said. “It’s kind of astonishing.”
Nationally, the January 2009 slate forged a family and horror combination of “Hotel for Dogs,” “My Bloody Valentine 3D,” “Paul Blart Mall Cop” and “Bride Wars” that combined with heartland wider releases of Oscar nominated pics like “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Defiance,” and “Last Chance Harvey.”
[Editor’s Note: According to a New York Times article, ticket sales jumped 17.5 percent ($1.7 billion compiled by box-office tracking company Media by the Numbers and attendance by nearly 16 percent during Jan/Feb 2009. The times quoted Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment and society at USC as concluding, “It’s not rocket science. People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people [in the recession].”
The Times article noted quoted Angel Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking attendant with four young girls, who stood in line to buy $15 advance tickets for the “Jonas Brothers: 3D Concert Experience.” Ms. Hernandez considered the cost “a bargain” compared to “spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland. For $60 and some candy money, I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun.”]
And what theatre in the chain remains at the top of the Marquee chain chart?
“Huntington is still our #1. You can’t knock it off at first, but it is close some weekends,” McCall said , adding that the lead “goes back and forth a little bit” with Marquee’s Orchard 14 in New Hartford, New York. Southridge [Charleston, WV] generally comes in third, followed by Tom’s River, and Beckley.
McCall gives part of the credit for the increase to “getting in on the first wave” of theatre conversions to digital and digital Real 3D screens. Other chains were hit by the credit and money crunch which limited their upgrades. The CEO has been so pleased with the response to 3D attendance that Huntington, Charleston, and Beckley will add a fourth 3D auditorium . This summer, numerous 3D flicks await, such as “G Force 3D,” “Up” and others which overlap. “We have a couple of 3D’s this summer playing back to back, which we usually don’t have,” McCall said.
[Editor’s Note: By the end of April, Hollywood appeared headed to a $10 billion dollar year with Boxoffice Magazine and the web site, Boxofffice Mojo showing increases of 17 percent. May advance ticket sales, from Movie Tickets.com could set a record with “Wolverine,” “Star Trek,” “Angels and Demons,” and “Terminator: Salvation.”]
As for the potential impact of the opening of the 12-screen stadium theatre now scheduled for late Fall at the Huntington Mall, McCall admits it will “take a bite out of us,” particularly during the first year which could mean a 25 percent to 35 percent for Pullman’s sixteen screen cinema. However, based on comparative Charleston data where Nitro’s Great Escape opened to compete with Southridge, Park Place Stadium, and Teays Valley, he anticipates “swinging some of it back” the second and third year. “You have to build back up to where you were before.”
McCall hopes that the “synergy” now generated by the other businesses at Pullman Square will stand up to the on-going challenge of the Huntington Mall upon the market shares, as both venues are considered destination points. “We still think we can be dominant and maintain a greater market share,” McCall predicted.
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Despite Recession, Marquee Pullman Still Pulls No. 1 Numbers in Chain
McCall Predicts It Will Maintain Greater Market Share Than New Screens at Huntington Mall
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Entertainment Editor
Beckley, WV (HNN) – Although many industries and retailers have suffered melt down numbers, the movie industry continues to shrug off the downturn and continue their immunities from the normal cycles. It’s not a new finding, though, since movies have generally been regarded as the most inexpensive form of entertainment, cinemas benefit as an alternative to more expensive nights out, such as concerts and other live entertainment.
So, has this deep recession hurt theatres?
For the predominately regional and West Virginia chain, Curtis McCall, president and CEO of Marquee Cinemas, crossed his fingers and said, “No, not yet.” Nationwide, cinema attendance has been combining two phrases for conveyance of McCall’s enthusiasm , “what the hell is going on … off the charts.”
[Editor’s Note: The Industry site, Meet in the Lobby.com, had January and February nationwide ticket sales up about 13-15%, which would be the biggest increase in 20 years for the film industry. “Certainly a reflection of people’s recreational spending during our recession.” The site noted that films released during the beginning of each year --- normally a perennial cinema no-man’s land four run-of the-mill comedies and two horror movies--- provided audience power, including the then building “Slumdog Millionaire” and the steady “Gran Torino.”]
McCall pointed to Beckley’s Galleria 14 which in January 2009 showed about a 40 percent increase over the previous year. He postulated that those numbers mean “we’re bringing more into the buildings that have not been [there] before and more frequent repeat audience” due to an increase in the selection of titles due to Hollywood’s release schedule which spread some films out into undersold months.
“The industry was up 12% [plus] in January and we were up like 21% [chain wide],” McCall stated. “February was a little flatter,” although the month competed with same cinema sales of the 2008 super charged, “Hannah Montana 3D Concert.”
Generally, the smaller town theatres had increases in the teens, while Orchard 10 (Tom’s River, NJ), Southridge (Charleston, WV) and Beckley (WV) were up in the thirties.
Significantly, the increases came when theatres were “not playing $150 million dollar pictures,” McCall said. “It’s kind of astonishing.”
Nationally, the January 2009 slate forged a family and horror combination of “Hotel for Dogs,” “My Bloody Valentine 3D,” “Paul Blart Mall Cop” and “Bride Wars” that combined with heartland wider releases of Oscar nominated pics like “The Reader,” “Revolutionary Road,” “Defiance,” and “Last Chance Harvey.”
[Editor’s Note: According to a New York Times article, ticket sales jumped 17.5 percent ($1.7 billion compiled by box-office tracking company Media by the Numbers and attendance by nearly 16 percent during Jan/Feb 2009. The times quoted Martin Kaplan, director of the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment and society at USC as concluding, “It’s not rocket science. People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people [in the recession].”
The Times article noted quoted Angel Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking attendant with four young girls, who stood in line to buy $15 advance tickets for the “Jonas Brothers: 3D Concert Experience.” Ms. Hernandez considered the cost “a bargain” compared to “spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland. For $60 and some candy money, I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun.”]
And what theatre in the chain remains at the top of the Marquee chain chart?
“Huntington is still our #1. You can’t knock it off at first, but it is close some weekends,” McCall said , adding that the lead “goes back and forth a little bit” with Marquee’s Orchard 14 in New Hartford, New York. Southridge [Charleston, WV] generally comes in third, followed by Tom’s River, and Beckley.
McCall gives part of the credit for the increase to “getting in on the first wave” of theatre conversions to digital and digital Real 3D screens. Other chains were hit by the credit and money crunch which limited their upgrades. The CEO has been so pleased with the response to 3D attendance that Huntington, Charleston, and Beckley will add a fourth 3D auditorium . This summer, numerous 3D flicks await, such as “G Force 3D,” “Up” and others which overlap. “We have a couple of 3D’s this summer playing back to back, which we usually don’t have,” McCall said.
[Editor’s Note: By the end of April, Hollywood appeared headed to a $10 billion dollar year with Boxoffice Magazine and the web site, Boxofffice Mojo showing increases of 17 percent. May advance ticket sales, from Movie Tickets.com could set a record with “Wolverine,” “Star Trek,” “Angels and Demons,” and “Terminator: Salvation.”]
As for the potential impact of the opening of the 12-screen stadium theatre now scheduled for late Fall at the Huntington Mall, McCall admits it will “take a bite out of us,” particularly during the first year which could mean a 25 percent to 35 percent for Pullman’s sixteen screen cinema. However, based on comparative Charleston data where Nitro’s Great Escape opened to compete with Southridge, Park Place Stadium, and Teays Valley, he anticipates “swinging some of it back” the second and third year. “You have to build back up to where you were before.”
McCall hopes that the “synergy” now generated by the other businesses at Pullman Square will stand up to the on-going challenge of the Huntington Mall upon the market shares, as both venues are considered destination points. “We still think we can be dominant and maintain a greater market share,” McCall predicted.
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