Paver of Yellow Brick Roads
Ted
The Hanson Brothers
"SlapShot" starring Paul Newman
Business Philosophy
In 1991, Bulthaup was the first person to develop and operate hybrid cinemas offering first run movies with full to your seat food and beverage service including beer, wine and cocktails.
Application of a Key Concept – The Theaters
Bulthaup well remembers the special days when his grandparents would take him to the few remaining cavernous single screen movie palaces. The show began just before the patron crossed the theaters threshold. Those venues and their ownership transmitted the wonders of the world as much as anything projected on the actual screen.
Bulthaup looked to bring that spirit back as part of the greater movie going experience with each theaters location being individually named and distinct, each auditorium being a different movie palace with its own color scheme and unique decorative themes, movies like The Wizard of Oz and Casablanca, tributes like the Silver Screen, the Oscars, and Animation, places like Egypt and China, the Jungle or the Deep Blue Sea all work. This effort is not nearly as expensive as people think.
The best way to analyze what most people call décor in the context of Hollywood is to consider the effort as marketing which just doesn’t apply to the average theater. Word of mouth is indeed the best marketing. The themed auditoriums make for a memorable, high impact experience that people share. A lot of money spent on broadcast or print advertising is gone in a flash and seldom generates impactful word of mouth. A little money spent wisely on appearances lasts forever and generates shared experiences. A little effort makes a forever impact.
With the advent of multiplexes, theaters screen the identical slate of films and compete for audiences solely on the basis of the convenience of showtimes and location. Other than seat count, one auditorium is genetically identical to all the others within a given multiplex; and regardless of ownership, one cinema is within the generic range of most everyone else’s cinemas– differences have tended to be a matter of nuance, concession offerings and price points.
In the big scheme of things – does anyone go to their job the next day and say anything more than what movie they just saw and how much they did or did not like the film? The answer is no. Does anyone ever identify the theater chain after they attend an AMC? Who cares? It is hard to conceive that a patron believes the existence of the button to push to make your ass warmer is truly considered value added.
Does anybody walk into typical theaters and think of them as a “Movie Palace”?
Bulthaup does not build cinemas – he builds Movie Palaces.
Value: With the Hollywood theaters, patrons invariably say, “I went to Hollywood Palms last night and watched X”, or “I saw X at Hollywood Blvd”. The theater is almost always identified in the same sentence as the movie title.
Price: There is a relatively common feeling that no matter how much a patron likes a movie – they did not quite, or at all, get their monies worth. Typically, with the Hollywoods no matter how bad they thought the movie was – they had a good time (aka monies worth).
Some Basics
The biggest expense for an operating theater is an empty seat.
Quality isn’t job one. Being totally fuck’n amazing is job one.
Bulthaup defines marketing as making a promise. Operations job is to fulfill the promise. A promise having been made, it must not be broken.
The Proof is in the Outcome
Hollywoods were believed to enjoy the highest per person, per auditorium, and per screening income of any cinema in the county.
Hollywood Blvd opened with four auditoriums, then bisected a large vacant auditorium the following year bringing the total to six. The 8-screen Lowes Theater directly across the street closed within six months of Blvd’s opening. The well-established 22-screen AMC at the intersection of two major expressways, both with on and off ramps, was less than three miles away from Hollywood and closed in less than two years.
Hollywood Palms opened with seven screens. The 30-screen AMC was directly North less than three miles away and had been the number one performing cinema in Illinois for decades. Within two months, that AMC started driving a large flatbed truck mounted with a large two-sided billboard up and down Palms street and through the parking lot from noon to midnight, seven days a week. Within the year, that AMC entirely walled off one of the two wings with raw plywood, reducing the screen count from 30 to 16. AMC did not even bother to paint or carpet the plywood.
Hollywood Blvd soon increased their screen count to ten and sat 1200 total patrons.
The first set of films on Monday thru Friday did not start before 4:00, and on Saturday and Sunday the first set of movies started between noon and 1:00. More movie fans were annually attending flicks at Blvd than there were Bears fans attending NFL games at Soldier Field.
Sysco dedicated one of their most senior salesmen exclusively to Hollywood Palms and Blvd. It was not unusual for Sysco to drop off two refrigerator-freezer semitruck trailers full of food for the weekend in addition to what was already in kitchen storage. The on-premise frozen food lockers were large enough to use for temporary morgues.
Hollywood Blvd was selling an annual average of 40,000 pizzas.
Hollywood Filmworks in downtown Indianapolis only had 365 seats spread over three auditoriums, yet . . . . the theater sold more chicken wings than any other establishment in the county, and sold more ice-cream than any non-institutional seller in the county.
There are deep monthly discounts for large purchases of beer and liquor, not to mention occasional sales discounts and specials. By way of example, Palms and Blvd would each take advantage of the annual year end two-for-one cases of Cuervo, minimum of a 100-case purchase. The two hundred cases were generally sufficient for the entire year, especially since the theaters offered eight to ten other brands of tequila. There are similar discounts on food items.
Timing is Everything - Lifestyle Showtimes
A very important component of cinema operations is showtimes. The majority of cinemas offer the same start times seven days a week with an hour or two between the end of credits and a titles next screening.
Bulthaup’s philosophy is to collapse showtimes to increase effient
Bulthaup practices what he calls lifestyle programing which is time-sensitive to the days of the week and traditional meal-times in order to fill as many seats as possible given these considerations and the run time of a particular movie.
Bulthaup traditionally brings house lights up when the credits hit the screen and seats for the following showtime no later than 15 minutes after credits end.
Fridays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 7:15-7:30 as is practicable. The last matinee should roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. The late show should not begin later than 10:00. Earlier matinees, if any, can be considered while still adhering to the 15-minute lights-up intervals.
Saturdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. Matinees can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should still not begin later than 10:00.
Weekdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. The last matinee can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should not begin later than 9:00. Typically, the first and only matinee’ start time should target 4:00 with earlier showtimes based solely on demand for food and beverages. No need to dissipate audiences when they can be consolidated - labor per person goes down, sales go up and if the facility and food is special enough they will come.
Naturally accommodation longer titles
Ridiculous for any weekday movie to begin after 9
Ridiculous any kid movies to ever start after 9. That’s nuts.
Marketing Philosphy
In Hitchcock terms the theater is the McGuffen
Business Philosophy
Concept
Business Philosophy
Concept
Bulthaup operates on the largest expense of hybrid cinemas offering full-service dinners, xxxxxx is an empty seat.
Quality isn’t job one. Being totally fuck’n amazing is job one.
Facility
Too often going to the movies has been a way to get out of the house, while going to Hollywood has become a night out on the town.
Bulthaup defines marketing as making a promise. Operations job is to fulfill the promise. A promise having been made must not be broken.
Showtimes
An important component of cinema operations is showtimes. The majority of cinemas offer the same start times seven days a week with an hour or more between the end of a title and its next screening. Bulthaup practices what he calls lifestyle programing which is extra-sensitive to the days of the week, traditional meal-times in order to fill as many seats as possible given these considerations and the run time of a particular movie.
Bulthaup traditionally brings up house lights at the end of a script and seats the next screening no later than 15 minutes after credits end.
Fridays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 7:15-7:30 as is practicable. The last matinee should roll anytime before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. The late show should not begin later than 10:00. Earlier matinees can be considered while still adhering to the 15 minute intervals.
Saturdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. Matinees can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should still not begin later than 10:00.
Weekdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. The last matinee can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should not begin later than 9:00. Typically the first and only matinee’ start time should target 4:00.
Naturally accommodation longer titles
Ridiculous for any weekday movie to begin after 9
Ridiculous any kids movies to ever start after 9Food & Beverage - Pricing & Costs – Bulk pricing – Food-upselling
Bulthaup operates on the largest expense of hybrid cinemas offering full-service dinners, xxxxxx is an empty seat.
Quality isn’t job one. Being totally fuck’n amazing is job one.
Facility
Too often going to the movies has been a way to get out of the house, while going to Hollywood has become an actual night out on the town.
Bulthaup defines marketing as making a promise. Operations job is to fulfill the promise. A promise having been made must not be broken.
Showtimes
An important component of cinema operations is showtimes. The majority of cinemas offer the same start times seven days a week with an hour or more between the end of a title and its next screening. Bulthaup practices what he calls lifestyle programing which is extra-sensitive to the days of the week, traditional meal-times in order to fill as many seats as possible given these considerations and the run time of a particular movie.
Bulthaup traditionally brings up house lights at the end of a script and seats the next screening no later than 15 minutes after credits end.
Fridays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 7:15-7:30 as is practicable. The last matinee should roll anytime before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. The late show should not begin later than 10:00. Earlier matinees can be considered while still adhering to the 15 minute intervals.
Saturdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. Matinees can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should still not begin later than 10:00.
Weekdays – the dinner show should roll trailers as close to 6:45-7:00 as is practicable. The last matinee can roll any time before the dinner show while still adhering to the 15-minute rule. It is not desirable to start the first matinee earlier than 1:00. The late show should not begin later than 9:00. Typically the first and only matinee’ start time should target 4:00.
Naturally accommodation longer titles
Ridiculous for any weekday movie to begin after 9
Ridiculous any kids movies to ever start after 9Food & Beverage - Pricing & Costs – Bulk pricing – Food-upselling
All long lines lead to Hollywood
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