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walkitoutAround the time that I retired, movies began the long, slow transition from physical media (film) to digital (whether on disc or a hard drive or wtf).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema#History
I thought that was mildly interesting, but I can't say that I gave it a lot of thought. I had worked in concessions and later box at the Aurora Village multi-plex (back before the whole mall was torn down and replaced with a Costco -- I also worked cashier at the Woolworth's. Sometimes I feel like I live in a time warp), so I had absolutely Zero Affection for film per se: I thought of the physical media as shitty, fragile stuff that the general manager delivered in a car that was extremely tiny (a Corvette, maybe -- and he was a large man). The cans themselves were incredibly beat up, which probably didn't help me love the format, and then there was all the cursing constantly coming out of projection over splicing and blah blah bleeping blah.
Okay, so that covers 1988, 1998. What about 2008? Oh, wait there was like some sort of financial event then, and I had my second kid.
Now it is 2013 and I have been taking my two kids to the movies. I worry about this, because (a) they are kids and (b) they have diagnoses. I was overjoyed to find a theater nearby playing relatively current movies including kids' animated stuff, that was ancient and sticky, cash only and (as these things go) inexpensive. I wouldn't have to drive a half hour each way to get to a mall multiplex. If something spilled, no one would ever notice or care. And the light attendance and general low expectations meant my kids' somewhat random behavior and noises would not generate an embarrassing incident. Also, super close! Only a few minutes in the car and conceivably bike-able when the kids are older. Yay!
When I went to go look at whether they were going to get Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, however, instead of showtimes, I got The Fine Arts Theater is closed. A little investigation revealed an August campaign to do the digital transition (uh oh -- everyone else started their capital campaigns to transition to digital like, at least a year ago) that did not appear to be going really well.
Worrisome.
So what happened? The obvious conclusion -- and the one I held up until this morning -- was that the people who bought the theater in the spring and were dumping a bunch of money into renovating the building -- did not know What They Were Doing. And it's possible that is still the case. However, they've updated their FB page to explain that they inherited a tenant-operator who sort of shut down in a Big Ole Hurry without notifying Them. The new owners had assumed the tenant-operator would be upgrading equipment, but alas, not so. Now the owners are working on operations while trying to figure out if they want a new tenant-operator, or if they're going to have someone else do it. In the meantime, the fundraising for the equipment, and they're working on doing the interior renovations (which are truly needed and were going to disrupt operations at some point anyway, so no time like the present, amirite?).
I'm trying to figure out what I think of a capital campaign being run for this purpose, at this time, in this way. I'm sort of not impressed. However, if you thought your tenant-operator had this under control and then they walk, well, that's a solid explanation.
I will await developments -- and try to decide whether Cloudy 2 is worth a longer drive. Probably not, unless the kids _really_ want to go see a movie, which does happen once in a while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cinema#History
I thought that was mildly interesting, but I can't say that I gave it a lot of thought. I had worked in concessions and later box at the Aurora Village multi-plex (back before the whole mall was torn down and replaced with a Costco -- I also worked cashier at the Woolworth's. Sometimes I feel like I live in a time warp), so I had absolutely Zero Affection for film per se: I thought of the physical media as shitty, fragile stuff that the general manager delivered in a car that was extremely tiny (a Corvette, maybe -- and he was a large man). The cans themselves were incredibly beat up, which probably didn't help me love the format, and then there was all the cursing constantly coming out of projection over splicing and blah blah bleeping blah.
Okay, so that covers 1988, 1998. What about 2008? Oh, wait there was like some sort of financial event then, and I had my second kid.
Now it is 2013 and I have been taking my two kids to the movies. I worry about this, because (a) they are kids and (b) they have diagnoses. I was overjoyed to find a theater nearby playing relatively current movies including kids' animated stuff, that was ancient and sticky, cash only and (as these things go) inexpensive. I wouldn't have to drive a half hour each way to get to a mall multiplex. If something spilled, no one would ever notice or care. And the light attendance and general low expectations meant my kids' somewhat random behavior and noises would not generate an embarrassing incident. Also, super close! Only a few minutes in the car and conceivably bike-able when the kids are older. Yay!
When I went to go look at whether they were going to get Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, however, instead of showtimes, I got The Fine Arts Theater is closed. A little investigation revealed an August campaign to do the digital transition (uh oh -- everyone else started their capital campaigns to transition to digital like, at least a year ago) that did not appear to be going really well.
Worrisome.
So what happened? The obvious conclusion -- and the one I held up until this morning -- was that the people who bought the theater in the spring and were dumping a bunch of money into renovating the building -- did not know What They Were Doing. And it's possible that is still the case. However, they've updated their FB page to explain that they inherited a tenant-operator who sort of shut down in a Big Ole Hurry without notifying Them. The new owners had assumed the tenant-operator would be upgrading equipment, but alas, not so. Now the owners are working on operations while trying to figure out if they want a new tenant-operator, or if they're going to have someone else do it. In the meantime, the fundraising for the equipment, and they're working on doing the interior renovations (which are truly needed and were going to disrupt operations at some point anyway, so no time like the present, amirite?).
I'm trying to figure out what I think of a capital campaign being run for this purpose, at this time, in this way. I'm sort of not impressed. However, if you thought your tenant-operator had this under control and then they walk, well, that's a solid explanation.
I will await developments -- and try to decide whether Cloudy 2 is worth a longer drive. Probably not, unless the kids _really_ want to go see a movie, which does happen once in a while.