Monday, November 22, 2004

Movie Theater Donates Thanksgiving Meals WQOW TV-18

Movie Theater Donates Thanksgiving Meals WQOW TV-18

Now this is what I'm talking about. What could be more fun than thinking up stuff like this!?

Movie Theater Donates Thanksgiving Meals

Eau Claire
Nov 21, 2004

One-hundred families in the Chippewa Valley have their Thanksgiving turkey a few days early thanks to an Eau Claire movie theater. Instead of the usual popcorn and soda, London Square Cinema is serving up turkeys, cranberries and pumpkin pie. 100 families signed up with the Salavation Army to recieve the meals. The food was delivered early Sunday morning by theater employees. The theater's manager says she wants to bring the community more than just movies. "Me and my co-workers can get together and help the community," says Jen Steinke of London Square Cinema. "It's a good time to just goof-off while we're doing something helpful."

The Salvation Army says the need for food is growing in the area. "Our weekly food basket, even our daily food baskets, used to be just a year ago when we arrived, was anywhere from ten to 15 boxes a day," says Salvation Army's Roger Windell. "Now it's anywhere from 20 to 25 a day. So the need is going up." London Square Cinema says it will be there to help for years to come.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Disney, Sony, Warner mull digital cinema deal

Disney, Sony, Warner mull digital cinema deal

Blog note

As much as I endorse the idea of having the studios bankroll the installation of digital cinema equipment on a large scale, in order for the industry (not just the studios) to realize the
full financial benefits of the technology, it must be assured that some limit will be placed on the structure of the business deals used to put the equipment in place. While it will certainly
be necessary to compensate for the cost of the new equipment by factoring this cost into film distribution deals to the exhibitors, once the cost of the equipment is paid off, then deals
should be resutructure to more accurately reflect the contributions of the distributor.

UNLESS, it is the plan of the studios to keep providing dcinema equipment on a regular basis, refurnishing the technology as new films take technological leaps and processes continue to make the distribution effort more efficient. If the new model of distribution can keep the overhead costs of equipment maintenance down by gradually recouping the costs (essentially renting the equipment like a satellite dish or cable box) then this could be a way to pass on savings to the exhibitors.

It doesn't solve the problem for smaller exhibitors whose shipping costs/equipment costs could not justify having the studios pay attention to them. But they would benefit from a widespread acceptance of the format and could broker much more cost effective deals for first run films (sans equipment). The studios could further cash in on the widespread effects of their investment and there would be greater possibility for profitable businesses for smaller exhibitors.

Monday, November 15, 2004

ESPN.com - NBA - Bucher: Sterling successful on his terms

ESPN.com - NBA - Bucher: Sterling successful on his terms

...as always, wisdom from the NBA

"Which is what a good owner does -- he makes a customer feel welcome, thereby improving the chance that he'll come back again and drop a little more coin in the owner's pocket. Or maybe Sterling isn't that mercenary. Maybe he believes Clippers fans are in on the joke with him. Maybe he doesn't believe anyone -- much less the thousands of anyones who continue to follow the Clippers -- could be stupid enough to continue to dream that their team eventually will be more than a form of entertainment and evolve into a point of pride after so many years of repeatedly running the same cycle from bad to promising to bad again.


"I hang in there with them," Carl says. "That's just the way it is."


Maybe that's why my admiration for Sterling isn't quite what it might have been before. A good owner takes advantage of that attitude. A good person finds a way to reward it."