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Im assuming (though rare) it’s the same with flights. They keep the schedule for movies in case someone joins half hour late. Plenty of people visit my the cine

Im assuming (though rare) it’s the same with flights. They keep the schedule for movies in case someone joins half hour late. Plenty of people visit my the cinema for all kinds of reasons other than the content (like sleeping in the AC among other things that come to your mind). Keeping the movie going rather than waiting for someone to show up and make it awkward would probably be better for customer service too.

danillonunes 5mo ago
This makes sense if someone bought a ticket and didn't showed up, but what if none was sold? They could just stop selling after a certain time and be sure nobody will be there late.
- nebula8804 5mo ago
  Studio contracts: The movies are delivered digitally on encrypted hard disks and when playing there is a ton of telemetry sent back to the studios. They are watching the theaters like its 1984. Studios have contracts indicating the play will play X times no more and probably no less(else studios might hold back the good movies). AMC keeps it simple. Play the movie even if no one shows up. AMC in particular uses laser projectors now so who cares. They ain't burning out any projector bulb.
- kombookcha 5mo ago
  When I worked at a small cinema we would set up the movie to run regardless, because sometimes you would get late-showers buying tickets at the front desk and it's much more trouble to have to speed-start a movie for the projectionist than to be able to do it at the regular schedule. If you start it too late without manually remembering to forward past ads and trailers, you can also risk spilling into the next timeslot causing a pileup of delays. It's far simpler to just start the movie for an empty hall, and let customers join after it's started if they want to. I'm unsure exactly how the deals with local businesses running ads before the movies are set up, but I could imagine that you're supposed to be running the ads an agreed upon number of times, regardless of ticket sales. Sometimes in the daytime we would get retirees who would watch a movie and basically loiter around, and occasionally ask if they could catch the end of a different movie running in an empty hall. You'd sometimes let a regular crash an empty screening like this if they bought an extra snack or coffee for it or something.
qq66 5mo ago
Well it's very different for flights, they need the plane at the destination so they have to fly it. With movies it's probably just simpler to start the movie than to try to manage the logistics of not starting it, just to save 2 hours on the projection bulb.
- c0_0p_ 5mo ago
  These days that's probably true, but when a projectionist needed to roll the film and babysit the equipment I doubt it would be worthwhile. Not to mention that film rolls do wear out overtime.
  - fho 5mo ago
    One of my student jobs was to transport film spools to theaters. They would arrive at my door in a box, I would walk them to the cinema on a small trolley and spend 2-3 hours in the projection rooms. The reels were spliced on site by a technician, projected, cut again and I transported them back home where they would be picked up again. The job was less to transport the spools, but to supervise that there was no copying happening. This was late 200x-ish, before digital protection became widespread iirc.
    - dnnddidiej 5mo ago
      Wow. Was there any premier viewings on the spools you moved?
      - fho 5mo ago
        Actually yes. It's been a while, but now that you mention that, that probably was the reason for somebody (me) bringing the reels to the cinemas for a single showing in the first place.
- thrownthatway 5mo ago
  > different for flights Maybe. Depends. I’m sure I’ve heard of the low cost carriers cancelling flights that are under-sold at the last minute. Would make sense if the destination has fewer tickets sold from there.

danillonunes 5mo ago

This makes sense if someone bought a ticket and didn't showed up, but what if none was sold? They could just stop selling after a certain time and be sure nobody will be there late.

nebula8804 5mo ago
Studio contracts: The movies are delivered digitally on encrypted hard disks and when playing there is a ton of telemetry sent back to the studios. They are watching the theaters like its 1984. Studios have contracts indicating the play will play X times no more and probably no less(else studios might hold back the good movies). AMC keeps it simple. Play the movie even if no one shows up. AMC in particular uses laser projectors now so who cares. They ain't burning out any projector bulb.
kombookcha 5mo ago
When I worked at a small cinema we would set up the movie to run regardless, because sometimes you would get late-showers buying tickets at the front desk and it's much more trouble to have to speed-start a movie for the projectionist than to be able to do it at the regular schedule. If you start it too late without manually remembering to forward past ads and trailers, you can also risk spilling into the next timeslot causing a pileup of delays. It's far simpler to just start the movie for an empty hall, and let customers join after it's started if they want to. I'm unsure exactly how the deals with local businesses running ads before the movies are set up, but I could imagine that you're supposed to be running the ads an agreed upon number of times, regardless of ticket sales. Sometimes in the daytime we would get retirees who would watch a movie and basically loiter around, and occasionally ask if they could catch the end of a different movie running in an empty hall. You'd sometimes let a regular crash an empty screening like this if they bought an extra snack or coffee for it or something.

qq66 5mo ago

Well it's very different for flights, they need the plane at the destination so they have to fly it. With movies it's probably just simpler to start the movie than to try to manage the logistics of not starting it, just to save 2 hours on the projection bulb.

c0_0p_ 5mo ago
These days that's probably true, but when a projectionist needed to roll the film and babysit the equipment I doubt it would be worthwhile. Not to mention that film rolls do wear out overtime.
- fho 5mo ago
  One of my student jobs was to transport film spools to theaters. They would arrive at my door in a box, I would walk them to the cinema on a small trolley and spend 2-3 hours in the projection rooms. The reels were spliced on site by a technician, projected, cut again and I transported them back home where they would be picked up again. The job was less to transport the spools, but to supervise that there was no copying happening. This was late 200x-ish, before digital protection became widespread iirc.
  - dnnddidiej 5mo ago
    Wow. Was there any premier viewings on the spools you moved?
    - fho 5mo ago
      Actually yes. It's been a while, but now that you mention that, that probably was the reason for somebody (me) bringing the reels to the cinemas for a single showing in the first place.
thrownthatway 5mo ago
> different for flights Maybe. Depends. I’m sure I’ve heard of the low cost carriers cancelling flights that are under-sold at the last minute. Would make sense if the destination has fewer tickets sold from there.