By Gil Kaufman
Enquirer contributor
Karl Packham can't remember the last time he saw a movie. And, unless he's willing to risk some serious heckling or pay steep fees for baby-sitting his 6-month-old triplet girls, it was going to be a while.
But on a recent Tuesday morning, Packham, 39, and his wife, Anne, were relaxing among a theater full of other parents during a screening of Elf, their girls snuggled into car seats strung across three theater chairs.
"It's such a great idea, I would never have dreamed of it," said the Montgomery dad of Showcase Cinema's bi-weekly "Baby Pictures," a program where parents of newborns are encouraged to bring the kids for a one-hour Gymboree class followed by a film screening.
The Packhams joined more than 20 other parents on the lobby floor as they rolled balls back and forth with their children and played with parachutes in a space typically reserved for groups of giggling teens anticipating the latest Hollywood blockbuster.
"It would have cost us $100 or more for a baby sitter," he said, laughing. "And this way, we save that money, and I've definitely never been to the cinema at 10 a.m."
The new multiplex
Welcome to the new multiplex, where babies are (sometimes) welcomed and blockbusters increasingly compete for screen time with live rock concerts, DVD screenings, Survivor finales, college and professional football, soccer, wrestling pay-per-view, Broadway plays, corporate presentations, educational programs, and, believe it or not, church services.
While theaters are predictably packed from Friday to Sunday, industry estimates put off-peak attendance at 5-10 percent, so theater chains are rushing to fill the void with innovative programming aimed at everyone from seniors and rock fans to corporate executives, new parents and school kids.
"For some time now we've been incorporating non-traditional events into our programming to keep the moviegoing experience current and ever-changing," said Jennifer Hanson, a spokeswoman for National Amusements, which runs the Cincinnati area's nine Showcase Cinemas theaters.
In addition to the successful "Baby Pictures" program, which drew more than 50 parents and their babies to on screening earlier this month, the Boston-based chain presented a screening of the Broadway play Jeklyl & Hyde in 2001 and currently runs "Silver Screen Classics" for seniors once a month for $1, which includes a drink and popcorn.
Next year, there will be much more alternative programming, as National Amusements is exploring the addition of digital broadcasts of sporting and special television events, concerts and satellite simulcast meetings for corporations at the Springdale Theater.
This flood of new options comes courtesy of digital projectors that almost all major theater chains have installed over the past three years, allowing them to send digital images to dozens of theaters at once.
Though such major events as November screenings of new live DVD's from Avril Lavigne, Linkin Park and Coldplay skipped Cincinnati, the city will soon be on the map thanks to the recent installation of digital projectors at AMC Newport on the Levee.
The experience is already winning fans over. At the Nov. 3 debut of Lavigne's My World at an AMC theater in New York, fans were jumping out of their seats, yelling and clapping as if attending a live concert, according to a publicist at Lavigne's label, Arista Records. The screenings have been so successful that Arista/BMG spokesman Kirk Bonin said 2004 should bring several more major music events from such stars as Santana and Usher.
"We think people will choose our theaters for sports and concert events for the same reason they come for the movies, for that communal atmosphere and watching a story unfold on the big screen with superior sound and visual effect," said AMC's Rick King.
"This kind of programming can be a stimulant to weeknight business, but in our mind it's the opportunity to expand the appeal of the theater and demonstrate that it is an entertainment center that offers movies and more."
Events coming to Levee
King said AMC, which has broadcast big screen concerts by Tim McGraw and Destiny's Child, is finalizing plans for a series of major concert events in early 2004 at Newport on the Levee.
"Our core business will always be movies," King said. "But this provides opportunities for different products ... that enhance the going-out experience."
The AMC chain was the first to test digital theatercasts of concerts in July 2001 with a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, King said. The chain continued experimenting with pro football broadcasts, as well as a Mike Tyson fight and weekend replays of local college football games, events Greater Cincinnati should have in a year or two.
The nation's largest theater chain, Regal (which does not have outlets in Cincinnati), is leading the way in finding new applications for its Digital Content Network (DCN). Since the rollout of the network two years ago, Regal has hosted events ranging from live professional soccer and college football games to corporate presentations and live and taped concerts by Kiss, Korn, Tom Petty and Beyonce.
Regal recently coordinated a nationwide teaching event for 20,000 children centered on the book and film, Holes.
The chain has begun renting out more than 60 theaters across the country on Sunday mornings for church services, with some hosting more than 500 parishioners a week.
'Cinema De Lux'
New programming aside, after correcting decades of sticky floors, uncomfortable seats and subpar sound, National Amusements is not only changing what you see on movie screens, it is transforming the movie-going experience in other ways as well, Hanson said.
In addition to broadcasting VH1 programming on plasma screens in theater lobbies, a number of high-end theaters in Virginia, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York have been christened "Cinema De Lux." These refurbished theaters include such elements as a bar/lounge, Starbucks coffee stands and concierge services for ordering cabs or restaurant reservations.
The new theaters also include "Director's Halls," which feature leather rocking recliners and the option to reserve seats in advance, as well as express concession services. Hanson said plans call for the Springdale Theater to be transformed into a "Cinema De Lux" outlet in early 2004.
As an example of the kinds of events that patrons might soon be seeing at the remodeled Springdale theater, Hanson pointed to a Sept. 5 screening of a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game in Randolph, Mass., that drew a packed house on an otherwise slow weeknight.
Fans were treated to a theater transformed with baseball-themed murals, 25-foot-tall foul poles framing the screen, a live organist playing baseball-themed tunes and ballpark concessions being sold up and down the aisles.
While fans will have to wait to see if the Reds merit silver-screen time next season, after a test run in Boston during Survivor's first season finale, the nation's No. 1 Survivor market was pegged by several chains as the perfect spot to show the next finale of the reality hit.
So, while Lillian Morris may have missed her chance, who knows if the next Cincinnati Survivor could become a matinee idol?
