Local Theater Rant... About This Page:

[DebiDebiDebi]

Today we decided today to go see a movie. While I was checking the movie/time listings, I noticed Sweeney Todd was not at our theaters. I checked neighboring towns and they all had it listed. DD #2 saw it on Friday in Southern California, so I was truly puzzled as to why our town wasn't showing it. We went to one of the 3 theaters in town (All owned by the same Company). When I inquired about Sweeney Todd, I was told, "Sweeney Todd has not been released yet." When I politely told the gal that it is currently playing in nearby towns and that DD had seen it, she again said, "No, I am sorry, Sweeney Todd has not been released yet. It premieres on Christmas Day."
Honestly, I get soooo frustrated with the theaters in our town. They are owned by the same family. This makes them quite the monopoly, and they demand cash only, no advance ticket sales, and have exorbitant ticket/snack bar prices (we have been to theaters in many states and cities, and our town rates nearly highest of all we have visited, with Orlando at the top of the list). Now they are behind on the movies...I told DH I am tempted to drive 25 miles South to watch it at another theater just so I don't have to give the local theaters my money!!!!!!

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry you couldn't see the movie Debbie

[RobDVC]

Hope they do decide to exhibit it when they find out it has been released.

[Lemap760]

Sometimes it is worth the drive to not give business your hard earned cash. They probably charge higher prices because they know people will keep coming to the theater if it's the only one close by.

[wvugrrrl]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the ticket lady was right, in a sense - Sweeney Todd has only been released in a limited amount of theaters. The nation-wide release is on Christmas day.

However, I definitely feel your pain. There have been certain movies to come out (Brokeback Mountain was one; Sicko was another), that none of the 3 movie theaters in our town got until MONTHS after they came out. I had to go to a small "Art House" theater in Pittsburgh to see them. In issues like that, I feel like there's plenty of people in our college town that want to see these movies, so whether or not the theater "morally" agrees with the movie, shouldn't be a decision they're allowed to make. The worst thing is, after they see how much $$$ these movies make, then they decide, "Well, we'll go ahead and bring them in." I'm not sure that I think that viewpoint is "morally" sound myself - either you have convictions, or you don't.

However, I can't really complain about ticket prices - we have 3 theaters - one shows mainly independent movies and only charges $4; the other two both do university discounts, so we pay about $6 a ticket.

[DebiDebiDebi]

Originally Posted by wvugrrrl

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the ticket lady was right, in a sense - Sweeney Todd has only been released in a limited amount of theaters. The nation-wide release is on Christmas day.

I would be ok with that, but literally every theater within 100 miles of us is showing it...seems a bit odd that our theater is the stand alone one in this. There is a small college town 34 miles north of us; they have it. Another even smaller town 25 miles south has it. The largest town (90 miles away) has it. Even the small one screen theater in a mountain town 55 miles away has it. Personally, I think the Local theater is purposely holding off to boost those Christmas Day ticket sales. And at $8.75 a ticket (no kidding!!!!!) they stand to bring in big bucks!

[loobyoxlip]

Cash only?!? GEEZ! That's crazy in this day and age!!

[DebiDebiDebi]

Originally Posted by loobyoxlip

Cash only?!? GEEZ! That's crazy in this day and age!!

Oh but they do have a ATM (at $3.00 a transaction) in the lobby "for your convenience".

[Shell_of_the_South]

Our local movie theater also takes cash only - too bad I can't add to my Disney points there by using my Disney Visa.

[Carousel96]

Some of the theaters here aren't showing Sweeney Todd because of a dispute with the distributor. Apparently they want a bigger cut off ST than is standard.

[PamelaK]

After reading this thread (2 days after Christmas), i had to double check the movie times I was looking at earlier. Our only theater (12 screens) doesn't have Sweeney Todd yet. Although they do have 2 screens each for I m Legend and National Treasure. THey do have a large cardboard advertisement for the movie though, so I assume we will be getting it soon.

[jimmymac]

I'm sorry your town is like that. We're kind of spoiled here in NYC- we get all the first releases

[mrsmac2001]

That was surely a bummer!

[TMWIlson7196]

I would have called another theater and had her talk to someone there and have them tell her it was already out. I hope you get to see it.

[wvugrrrl]

I checked our theater listings for tomorrow - still no Sweeney Todd!

It's ridiculous! We have 3 theaters in this town. Someone needs to get on the ball!