Movies & Streaming

"If theaters are no longer the only places to watch hot new movies upon release, what is left to attract crowds? Big screens are nice, and there’s the debatable proposition that movies are more fun when watched with a crowd and the aroma of popcorn, but that’s not much of a business model."

                                                                                      N.Y. Times roundup of retail troubles.

     The Capri Theater in Montgomery remains closed after months, but has been making some money by working with a streaming entity.
     The film "Fourteen" is next up at bat...starting today. You can stream the film at the Capri website HERE.

     Covid19 has also pushed back the release dates for many films already in the can...including my "premier" 😏 in "Son of the South". Imdb lists it as having a 2020 release.

     From a column about the theater business & streaming in today's TIMES:

"Unlike watching a movie in the basement while wearing pajamas, going to a theater is an event and a social experience, and at its best a memorable one. I still remember driving with my parents over 100 miles to attend the St. Louis premiere of “The Sound of Music” at the Fox Theater, which is now a performing-arts center, and the excitement of seeing “Apocalypse Now” at the cavernous Ziegfeld in New York, which managed to hang on until 2016."

    Speaking of The Capri, Martin McCaffery just sent an update, and here it is:

Shutdown Week 9

I started working in the theatre business in 1974. I was an usher in a theatre built in 1968. That theatre is long gone. In 1976 I became a projectionist, working at a variety of theatres in the DC/VA/MD area (with a six month tour doing the same in Los Angeles). Some of those theatres went back to the 1920's, a few earlier. Most of the theatres I worked at are long gone, or something else. After nine years as a projectionist, I stumbled into the Capri Theatre and have been here since November of 1985. With the exception of the Davis, which is no longer a movie theatre, all of the movie theatres that were operating when I took over the Capri Theatre are closed, most of them no longer exist.

Needless to say, I have a little skin in the game as far as keeping the Capri Theatre alive and operating. I have no intention of letting the Capri die under my watch, and I am also working with the Board to make sure the Capri continues after I'm gone (whenever and however that happens).

Still, I am at a loss as to how we continue.

Our business model has always been, show art films, hope they don't lose too much money and hope we can show an unexpected blockbuster. And although we've done pretty well with that model, we did peak in 2002, the year we showed My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

So many improvements have been made to the Capri in the last eighteen years: Dolby Stereo, buying the building, surviving the conversion to digital, remodeling the building, and replacing the seats. The only thing that hasn't gotten better is the attendance.

None of this was possible without the Capri supporters who stepped up and gave whatever they could to keep the Capri operating and moving forward. Even in our best years, the Capri could never survive based only on attendance.

And now we have no attendance.

For the time being we are doing ok. We've gotten a few grants, and people have been quite generous with their donations and membership renewals. We are not going away anytime soon.

Someday we will re-open. And when we do, we will have to keep the attendance low, lower than what we were doing before we closed. We'll also be facing a dearth of crowd-attracting new films to work with. As will the multiplexes. All movie theatres, independent and corporate, will have to find new ways to appeal to an audience that may have lost the desire to go to the movies. It's going to take a lot of work. It feels like 1985 all over again to me.

When I first interviewed for this job, attendance had bottomed. I was asked what we needed to do to boost attendance. "Gotta get the kids to come," I replied.

At the time "kids" to me were in the 17 to 20-year old range. I failed miserably on that score. Those kids are now in their 50's and now my version of kids is those in their 40's - and we still have to get them. All we have to do is figure out how.

I don't know what changes will have to be made at the Capri, but I hope you look forward to rather than dread them. In many ways, it's 1985 all over again. And despite everything, we are here to say "Look how far we've been, and we still have too far to go to stop now."

Stay Home and Stay Well

Wear A Mask - It's The Polite Thing to Do.

Martin McCaffery, Director Capri Theatre