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Think those annoying pre show commercials are a recent addition to the movie going experience? Well, here is a 1947 trade publication advertisement for the Movie Advertising Bureau, promoting the benefits of running sixty to eighty second spots in movie theatres. Yes, even in the “good old days”, there were television style commercials, hawking everything […]

This week, the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) convenes in Las Vegas for the organization’s yearly meeting/trade show/schmooze fest, Cinema Con. Eighty-two years ago, one of NATO’s predecessors, The Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America, came together at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, for the day’s premiere industry convention. While separated by some nine decades, there […]

In roughly a month (12/14), movie going will experience what could prove to be the “next big thing”, as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is shown in high frame rate, at select theatres. For those unfamiliar with high frame rate; this advancement involves a movie being shot and playing at forty-eight frames per second, as […]

Today’s picture, from a 1978 edition of Box Office Magazine, captures that dark time when exhibitors felt compelled to “economically” plex their single screen holdings. One hates to even contemplate how many formerly grand auditoriums were hacked up with “TWINNING, TRIPLEXING, or QUADING” after this advertisement ran.

Time was, today marked the start of “National Relaxation Week” and the opportunity for theatres to advertise their relaxing amenities. Holding true to the fast paced lifestyles and short attention spans of today, “National Relaxation Week” has been whittled down to “National Relaxation Day” (recognized on August 15).

The sad ending to the once powerful Mann chain looks to have reached its final act. This past week, Regency Theatres took over the Janss Marketplace 9, leaving Mann with one operating theatre. With a lineage that stretches back to the Fox theatre chain of the late 1920’s, Mann’s decline, over the past two decades, […]

Pictured below is an advertisement which ran somewhat regularly in “Popular Mechanics” throughout 1907. Capturing the novice, “do it yourself”, attitude, which drove the early years of film exhibition, the ad promotes one of the many outfits that offered “start your own motion picture business” packages. Companies like Amusement Supply and the Miles Brothers (profiled […]

Corporate mascots have long been utilized as a marketing tool, to aid in creating a brand identity and accessible “face” for, otherwise, sterile business entities. While theatre operators have never managed to establish a mascot persona as recognizable as Ronald McDonald or the Geico Gecko, many have certainly attempted to place a colorful character at the helm […]

If you have ever attended a movie in February, you’ve likely encountered Variety, the Children’s Charity. Prior to the mid 90’s, you may have seen a celebrity endorsed trailer for the charity, followed by a donation basket being passed through the audience. In more recent years, you’ve probably noted your theatre of choice selling gold, heart shaped, […]

Pictured below is a promotional foldout postcard, sent to a San Bernadino theatre operator in 1907, from the Miles Brothers Exchange. The Miles Brothers Exchange was an industry defining business model that both revolutionized film distribution and made full time movie theatres possible. In the early 1900’s there was an exploding interest in motion pictures, but exhibitors […]