Then came this bit that was forwarded by THE PREACHER, about the theatrical strategy of United Artists Theaters in regards to acquiring the PREQUELS at all cost. Fascinating behind the scenes stuff for us ... geeks.
The wait for this new film is unbearable especially for such a rabid and diehard Star Wars fan like myself. I have been the manager for a new multi-screen cineplex here in (unknown) for the past 18 months. And I recently attended a United Artists Theatres corporate function (the guys I work for) for managers in my district. We briefly discussed the upcoming Star Wars film.
Our district manager told us that the number one priority for Summer 1999 is to outbid the other theatre chains in our industry for the right to exhibit the new movie. He said the executive head honchos of our company believe that to outbid everybody else we are going to have to give Lucasfilm and the film distributer 100% of the box-office gross for the first week of release plus an upfront fee and in exchange we'll get to keep all the concession revenues (i.e., soft drinks, popcorn, candy sales) and spill-over business to other films showing with the new Star Wars film . . . Also, we plan to start selling tickets for this film about six weeks before the film opens and we are going to number our seats so that fans can reserves a particular seat. We will provide maps of our movie exhibition rooms, available to the public, so that they can choose the seat that they want to reserve in advance . . .
We usually reserve our two biggest screening rooms for the big movies (i.e., MIB, Batman and Robin, Scream 2). But for the real big blockbusters (i.e., The Lost World and the forthcoming Godzilla movie), we reserve three rooms for those films. But we were told at our latest meeting, that corporate headquarters wants to guarantee Lucasfilm that we will show their new Star Wars film on up to half of our screens (which would obviously be unprecedented). We will probably show the film 24 hours a day for the first seven days (or for as long as the demand requires this) if Lucasfilm requires that. We want to make sure that every single Star Wars fan gets to see the film during its premiere week ! We will also pay for the local advertising costs associated with promoting the new film and other costs associated with promoting their film . . . if we get the new film, I and my employees are going to have an exclusive screening for just us employees and a few lucky friends early morning on May 25, 1999 before the general public gets to see the film. This will definitely be the best day of our lives. If we don't get to exibit the new Star Wars, I am going to be depressed for months . . . So if your smart and young, it would be a great idea to get a part-time job at the cineplex in your town that gets the new Star Wars film so that you can see the film as many times as you want ! " (Source: Anonymous Cineplex Manager in Nowhere, USA)
