Canadian Film Digest (Aug 1971)

Q MULTI THEATRES AND AUTOMATION MESH The motion picture business has been subject to many changes in the past decade. The thinking in production has altered, and distribution has been streamlined and changed in many ways. It was also necessary for motion picture theatres to go through a period of restructuring. The greatest evidence of this is in the appearance of dual, triple and quadruple theatres on an ever increasing basis. Some exhibitors have even been bold enough to build six theatres in one complex. It took a long time, but exhibitors eventually discovered that the offering of two different films to prospective patrons, greatly enhanced chances of selling tickets. And by offering three alternatives, the chances were again improved. The idea is not new and in point of fact, has been around for a long time. But all good ideas do not necessarily catch on immediately. Now the trend is firmly established. Peppered al] over the country, operated by Famous Players, Odeon Theatres, Twentieth Century Theatres and some independents, are many dual and some triple theatres. They come in all shapes, sizes and forms. No longer uncommon is the “’piggy-back’”’ type of dual theatre. In some duals the auditoria are side by side, or back to back, or at right angles. There is no lack of ingenuity about what will fit in a specific location. There is also a growing trend towards converting large theatres into a number of smaller units. This has caught on especially well in England where so many of the cinemas are very large. In order to make multiple theatres and use the original booth, some theatres have resorted to projection by mirror. Probably the first recorded example of two theatres in one location on this continent was Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre in Toronto. Erected in the first decade of this century, it housed One theatre on top of the other. Both were equipped with full stage facilities. The downstairs theatre was complete CANADIAN FILM DIGEST with balcony and presented six acts of vaudeville and a motion picture feature on a daily grind policy. The upstairs theatre was known as the Winter Garden with a special decor to fit the name and presented the same show as downstairs but on the basis of one performance nightly with reserved seats. There were three elevators to carry the audience to the upper theatre and a grand staircase beside it. These theatres were not really operated as duals in the modern sense. Rather, they ran the same entertainment but with a different type of presentation. The Winter Garden was closed down when Loew’s installed talking pictures in the late 20’s and discontinued vaudeville. One of the first recorded uses of a “dual theatre’”’ concept was the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa. The original Elgin Theatre was built and opened in late 1938 by Twentieth Century Theatres. It was designed in an L-shape. Ten years later it was decided to nestle a little auditorium inside the L. It seated 400 and had a separate projection booth. However, the entrance, lobby and washrooms were common to both theatres. Thus, one cashier, one doorman and one manager could look after both theatres. The original policy of the theatre was to run the same film at staggered hours. It was not long before management realized that this was a completely impractical method of operation. In actual practice, the extra sets were generally only required for one hour on Friday night and at the most, for two hours on Saturday night. This meant that there were plenty of empty seats a great deal of the time. It was not long before experimentation established the fact that good films could nove-over from the larger Elgin Theatre which had 800 seats, to the smaller one and continue a profitable run for both distributor and exhibitor. Since the overhead in the smaller theatre was roughly half of that in the larger one, it was not necessary to gross nearly as much in order to continue the run on a film. Subsequently, it was learned that certain films with less potential draw, could be comparatively more successful if shown in the smaller theatre. The fact that there were two theatres and two different films playing, drew a larger number so that one theatre complemented the other. Frequently, when people came to see one attraction and could not get in, they would go into the other theatre and return at another time to see their first choice. This does not necessarily happen unless the attractions are of a similar appeal to the same patronage. Over a period exceeding 20 years, the Elgin Theatre in Ottawa, probably had a greater use per seat, per annum, than any other theatre in Canada. This policy was subsequently adopted by Famous Players in the Hollywood Theatre in Toronto. It was one of the first acts of Mr. George Destounis when he became executive vice-president in 1966. Twentieth Century Theatres continued to pioneer in the multi theatre field and was responsible for the building of a dual theatre in Place Ville Marie in Montreal. There, the small theatre only contains some 150 seats but the grosses are exceedingly good. In the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, a dual theatre was opened in 1964. It was after that time that the building of dual theatres started to spread in Canada and in the United States. Last year, Twentieth Century Theatres bought the two Loew’s Theatres in Toronto and converted the Uptown, which had 2200 seats, into a theatre with five auditoria. Each auditorium is a different size and by the use of a judicious and flexible booking policy, maximum results are obtained. The latest multiple theatre opened by Twentieth Century Theatres is in Sudbury, Ontario, where one with three auditoria was recently opened, Two theatres are side by side and one is at right angles. They seat respectively — 596, 412, 168. Two different attrac Cont’d on page 10 9