Parkade Cinemas in Manchester, which has been the Hartford area’s only second-run movie theater for about 10 years, is converting to first-run starting March 31, owner Ali Davis says.
First-run theaters show films as soon as they open. Second-run theaters show films that have been in theaters for several weeks already, at lower prices than first-run theaters.
Davis said starting on Friday, two new releases, “The Boss Baby” and “The Ghost in the Shell,” will fill two screens, along with “Logan,” which has been in theaters for just a few weeks. Older films probably will be shown on the other screens, he said, but over the next several weeks, gradually all of the cinema’s six screens will be showing newer films.
First-run prices will begin this weekend on all screens. Those prices will be $9, $7 for matinees, $7 for children and seniors, a $2-per-ticket increase across the board. Admission on Wednesdays is $5.
Davis said shifting trends in film distribution have made this move necessary at the theater located at 416 W. Middle Turnpike. “We started having to compete with On Demand and the movies just coming out on DVD. A movie could end up being on the internet before we even have it,” Davis said. “We used to be the only game in town. We had movies before video stores but while they were still in some theaters. But they’re coming out [on home video] so much sooner. That makes it a little tougher.”
He added that his theater used to pay less of a percentage of the box office receipts to the studios to run the film, and that is changing.
“Our terms and conditions are now the same as terms as conditions as first run,” he said. “When movies are first released [the studios] may receive 60 percent of the box office and the theater 40 percent. With us normally they got 35 and we got 65. Now they changed it to the same amount as first run.”
Davis added that after a hefty investment converting four of his six screens into digital projection — with the other two slated for conversion in the future — he needs to increase his revenue. “Our numbers are OK but not improving. We’re staying steady but we should be always increasing,” he said.
The theater has 3-D capability, Davis said, but he will not be using that capability yet.
Davis’ new admission prices are still lower than local multiplexes — the nearby Cinemark Buckland Hills charges $10.75 general admission, $8.25 child and senior, $8.45 and $8.25 for matinees — but he acknowledged that their amenities are superior to his. “We realize we don’t have some of the glitz and glamour other first-run theaters have, so we will not raise prices to what they go to. You’ll still get the movie for two, three, four dollars less a ticket,” he said.
Davis said the theater would continue to host its special screenings, including “Rocky Horror Picture Show” events, senior movies, family films and “Dinner and a Movie” nights.
Patrick Corcoran of the National Association of Theater Owners said second-run theaters — he used the term “sub-run” — are feeling the pressure from the home video-availability window nationwide. Corcoran added that another factor fuels some theaters’ transition from sub- to first-run: the mass transition to digital, which allows studios to digitally transmit copies of the film to infinite numbers of screens.
Corcoran said “repertory” theaters, which show classic films, have declined in numbers nationwide, due to the increasing availability of those films on video. “The economics have shifted toward first-run,” he said.
