SaulsAll t1_jab0etr wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:12 AM

From my time working at a theater:

>showtimes scrunched together?

The theaters usually run in blocks with staggered times. So the theater would open around 10-11am, with shows starting every 10 minutes or so. That way they arent all getting out at the same time and the cleaning crew can hit each theater as it empties. Allow a few minutes in between for the new viewers to get settled, and then a new block starts.

>blockbuster movies release in november, december, march, april, and most of summer

There are various "seasons" to releases. Big tentpoles are usually in summer because school is out and allow for more viewers. Christmas and Thanksgiving time are also big release times, and usually have the largest crowds - more than summer. End of fall for horror. Jan-Mar is usually the time for the movies with lower expectations. And so on.

>senior citizens come to movies in flocks more than younger people not to mention they go to the movies on the slow days but younger people don’t as much?

Retired people have more free time and can choose times with cheaper tickets and smaller audiences.

>Why do some movies that people expect from to do bad become successful while some movies expect people to be a big hit flop?

You figure that out and you could make a career in Hollywood.

pandaocean168 OP t1_jab0jrz wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:14 AM

i work at theater where there’s rushes with showtimes close together

SaulsAll t1_jab1whd wrote on February 28, 2023 at 3:24 AM

Exactly. when you open, you want to open all the theaters, so there's a rush. Then most movies are close to the same run length - maybe a 90 minute kid's movie or a big 3 hour blockbuster, but most are around 105m-120m. So there will be ~30 minute span where the movies are getting out and the crews are cleaning, then the next block starts ~10 minutes after that. So another rush. The manager is trying to keep each theater playing as many times as they can during operating hours.

The main reason to break from this model is when you have a long movie playing in multiple theaters. Like when Interstellar came out and the 15 theater plex I worked at had 4 theaters playing it including the IMAX so you could get a start time every 30 minutes or so.

Edit: more accurate runtimes