If you're in a cinema which gives you a choice between buying a medium bag of popcorn and a large tub of popcorn, there's a greater-than-50% chance that the medium bag will actually contain more popcorn than the large tub.

Here's more of Professor McKenzie's thoughts on popcorn economics:

The prospects of getting more popcorn in the medium than the large is higher here, since the medium is a bag with flexible sides and the tub has rigged sides. Both mediums and large sizes in Winston-Salem are bags with flexible sizes. There I always got more in the large (not much more!). Here, a little more than half the time I got more in the medium. It all depends on the clerks, and how she/he holds the bags and then chooses to literally stuff the bags by pressing the popcorn down. But then the ounce measures are not a firm indicator of value, since a higher weight can mean more bottom of the popping cabinet crumbs and un-popped kernels.

"Richard McKenzie's Popcorn" [Portfolio] (Thanks to Jon!)
(Photo: SMN)

At the last place I worked, we unfortunately encouraged ushers to do whatever they could to get as much money as they could. Why? Because the theaters that collect the most get special bonuses, or some other sort of incentives (I forget what exactly). So, some of our staff became quite aggressive with the customers in asking for their coin. They'd make remarks behind the backs of people who didn't give, for instance, or otherwise attempt to make non-givers feel guilty in some way.

Campbell says he never saw any theft, but he confirms what we guessed, which is that the money collected is only as safe as the ushers and managers at the theater.

I've had a few experiences from the inside that should have me discouraging donating in this way even more. I've heard first-hand that fellow employees either stole from the cans or joked about stealing from the cans (not that the jokers were guilty, but at least it showed most people acknowledged the ease of such immoral theft). Some even referred to the cans as "the cigarette fund." Horrible, to be sure, and it probably didn't end with the minimum-wagers. Rumors abounded at all the cinemas I've worked at that managers also skimmed off the top.

Campbell points out that if you want to give money to the Will Rogers Institute or the Jimmy Fund, you can do it just as easily—and in private—via their websites.

"The Exhibitionist: Panhandling Fundraisers" [Cinematical]
(Photo: Getty)

• 1. Why pay anything? Many theaters offer free family film screenings on weekday mornings.
• 2. Keep an eye out for movie ticket coupons at grocery stores.

  Safeway's "Flicks for Free" promotion offers two free movie passes to shoppers who buy $40 worth of products from participating brands such as Coca-Cola and General Mills in one transaction.

  Perfect for that rowdy Soda & Cereal party you've been planning!

• 3. Seek out a drive-in. If you can find one, you'll be rewarded with $6 tickets.
• 4. Ditch the theater chains. Independents may take an extra few weeks to get the summer blockbusters, but the tickets can be 70% cheaper.
• 5. Sign up for reward programs. Unlike frequent flier miles, theaters aren't depreciating their rewards programs.

  AMC MovieWatcher Rewards offers coupons for a free small popcorn each week, plus two points per ticket purchased. After you've earned 30, you'll get a free ticket. The Regal Crown Club awards one point per $1 spent. Rack up 120 points and redeem them for a free ticket.

• 6. Buy in bulk with your friends. AMC sells blocks of 50 tickets at $6 apiece. The tickets don't expire, but they can't be redeemed until two weeks after a film debuts.
• 7. Don't go on Friday or Saturday night. Instantly halve the cost of tickets by checking out a matinee.
• 8. Skip online reservation sites. Save the $1.50 and spend a few minutes waiting on line.
• 9. Be careful with the concessions. Theaters make their profits on popcorn, so if you need to buy, buy big and share with your friends. Even better, buy your snacks at a convenience store for a fraction of the price.

• 9 Ways to Save on Movie Tickets [Smart Money]

  (Photo: Getty)

One reader, Karen, was particularly annoyed last week when the ushers walked around during the previews asking individual patrons for donations. Here's the letter she sent to Regal:

On Monday afternoon, my partner and I attended "The Strangers," at Regal, Union Square. In the past, our experiences here have been wonderful, with friendly staff and a comfortable environment. $12 a ticket is pricey, but it's worth it for an hour or two of pleasant, quiet escapism.

I was SHOCKED when a manager of this studio came into our auditorium after the trailers had started to panhandle from patrons. The manager said something about collecting pocket change for a charity that Regal believes in. Then the staff proceeded to go around, foisting a money-bag in patrons' faces and loudly asking, "Do you have anything you want to give?" It really put people on the spot, in front of others. The whole experience of being aggressively begged from in a space that we had paid to relax in was painfully awkward. It's rude, and it alienates customers.

I discussed this event with friends, one of whom said it happened to him when he went to the same theatre. If this is a case of corporate offices forcing managers to engage in the humiliating behavior of begging money from patrons who've already paid, please put a stop to that. A donation jar in the lobby for any causes corporate believes in would be much more appropriate. (Donating a portion of the ticket prices we've already paid rather than trying to milk customers for more would be even more appropriate.) If this is a case of a lone employee begging from customers in this location, then that's something corporate also needs to know about.

Is this sanctioned behavior? We're not sure we want to go back to this theater again. Are in-theater, aggressive solicitations now part of your regular movie going experience?

Look, we're not saying we're against people helping people, and we don't think that's what Karen's saying, either. For all we know, she pulled a wagon full of foster kids around Central Park earlier that day. What bothers us is when a business tries to force a donation at an inappropriate moment—that is, during a private business transaction.

As Karen points out, if the theater believes in this charity, they can donate a portion of ticket (or concession) profits, or screen PSAs during the previews, or make their employees wear slogan-filled t-shirts. (All of these things would also better serve the theater from a marketing perspective.) Just let us watch our crummy Hollywood summer movies in peace, Regal.

Brenden writes:

I went to see Indian Jones at the Showcase Cinemas in Woburn MA. I won't comment on the movie, for those who haven't seen it, but 10 minutes from the end, at the big climax the sound goes out. Totally. The movie is still playing, but now in silent mode. The house lights flicker for a second, then stay off. After a moment of audience murmurs someone comes in the back of the theater and announces "We just lost power for a minute. (there had been a storm going on), we're going to re-wind it to the point the sound shut off". That seemed to work for everyone, so we quieted down.

A minute later we started to realize they weren't shutting off the movie, they just let it play. The longer this went on the more people were talking. They let it play right to the credits, when someone finally got up and asked again. Then they told us they wouldn't be rewinding it. Luckily there was another theater that started a half hour after our show, so most of us went there, and afterwards lined up at the customer service counter and got a free ticket.. but still.. Come on!

Well, that's just not how you handle that at all. Boo.

The Entertainment Weekly scam is coming back.  Next week, the company is planning to roll out the EW "Free 8 issue, silence is acceptance" trial and force us to ask every guest if they'd like Entertainment Weekly.  This is a practice which requires 100 percent compliance, so they're firing and writing those people up who aren't asking, and cutting the hours of those who don't get people to sign up for it.

Here are more of the tipster's complaints, which may not upset those of you who haven't worked in retail—but those who have will feel his pain:

• Store-level employees are sometimes sent to cover shifts at other stores at the district manager's request. They're threatened with write-ups, reduced hours, or termination if they don't agree. The employees aren't reimbursed for mileage or gas, however.
• Quotas are being stringently enforced on upsells including the $10.99 bundle, movie sales, late fees, and Playguards (rental insurance).
• The Starlight Foundation no longer gets a cut of the Playguard fee ("The Playguards are pure profit to the company," he writes), but employees aren't allowed to mention that when pushing Playguard.
• Late fees are no longer "tracked," but dollars per ticket are, "so for people low in those numbers, forcing people to pay late fees is very helpful." Employees can no longer remove late fees.
• "If a guest returns a movie more than 12 days late, it goes to a separate screen, which serves to frustrate guests who believed that they'd paid all of their fees.  We're basically allowed to keep them confused to a certain point, as long as they're not outright lied to."
• "They've also stopped printing receipts in certain stores for certain purchases, so it's beneficial for those who choose to shop there to make sure the transaction happens on their account rather than on the Cash Sale account (MR. CASH)."
• And, finally, the magazine "offer" is supposedly coming back.

 
We don't know if these complaints pertain to every store or just the one where our tipster works. For the most part, they sound like the sorts of things a company does when it's desperately trying to generate revenue, so we're not really that surprised. But the magazine offer? Really? Has that ever been well-received by a customer who didn't expect to be signed up for it?

If you're in Hollywood Video next week, let us know if you get the magazine offer.

(Photo: Sister72)

Here's what he wrote:

Well, after I had blown through my 5 free in-store exchanges by mid-March (on the bottom of your Blockbuster receipt it tracks how many in-store exchanges you've done this month), I decided to see what happens if I go in and try a get 6th in-store exchange. Well, as to be presumed, I didn't get a free exchange, but the online movie did serve as a $3.00 coupon off the price of the rental ($4.99 movie), which just further confused me. Apparently, buried in their FAQs it says "If the pre-determined number of free in-store exchanges is met during the calendar month, you have the ability to exchange your Online DVDs for discounted movie rentals for the remainder of the month." The bummer is it doesn't mention how much of a discount it is. For a .99 rental, is there even a discount?

In the process of trying to figure out the limits of the system, I realized that different Blockbuster stores are keeping track of the in-store exchanges separately. Yes, that's right. After getting my free 5 in-store exchanges at one store, I simply took my next 5 online movies to another nearby Blockbuster and was able to get another 5 in-store exchanges during the same month.

Blockbuster tracks whether individuals are abusing their online subscription plan and "gaming" the system to exceed the number of in-store exchanges they are allowed per month.

If an online subscriber tries to circumvent the terms of their plan, and in this instance gain more free rentals than allowed, we'll know and ask them to stop if they want to remain an online subscriber, just as we're doing with Kevin.

Blockbuster Total Access Extra Movie Hack? [Hacking Netflix]
Blockbuster Warns Against "Gaming the System" [Hacking Netflix]
(Photo: Knowzy) (Thanks to Jeff!)

Prices will range from $9.95 to $19.95 plus shipping, which puts it in line with retail DVD prices but certainly not any cheaper, especially with shipping fees currently undisclosed. Still, the on-demand aspect brings ordering online that much closer to the retail experience—we wonder why Amazon hasn't considered a similar offering by combining its Unbox content with shrink-wrapped DVDs, especially since Unbox now streams directly to Tivo.

"Cablevision, Popcorn offer instant-gratification DVDs" [Reuters]
(Illustration: Getty)

(Thanks to David!)

"Mann Theatres owes you free tickets and popcorn" [Metroblogging Los Angeles]

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www.manntheatressettlement.com

Granted, Netflix only has about 6,000 movies available for download—but even if their library is missing some obscure or specialty titles, that's still not a bad price-per-movie if you watch a lot of flicks on your PC.

We hate to sound like a commercial for Netflix, a company this writer has hated and avoided since 2002 when I caught them throttling my rentals—and that craptastic 2006 "settlement" was even more offensive than TJX's offer to hold a "special sale" for its victims of identity theft. But hey, a deal's a deal, and $9 a month for unlimited movie and TV downloads is pretty sweet.

"Netflix Expands Internet Viewing Option" [Wired]

Representatives at the Blu-ray booth at CES told BetaNews that the PlayStation 3 is currently the only player they would recommend, due to upcoming changes to the platform. But Pioneer, Samsung, Panasonic and Sony have all been selling standalone Blu-ray players to customers.

When asked why current players were released to the market when in such a primitive state, manufacturers blamed the release of HD DVD and said it forced them to come to market too soon. "We should have waited another year to introduce Blu-ray to the public, but the format war changed the situation." Okay, well how about we just don't buy any Blu-ray players for a while (not counting the PS3) until you guys decide to get your act together?

"Blu-ray: Early adopters knew what they were getting into" [BetaNews]

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"Where Things Stand In The Hi-Def DVD Format War"
(Photo: Getty)

He more or less washes his hands of the practice, which isn't surprising since he has nothing to do with what goes into a trailer—it's all marketing drones and studio fat cats assembling it, using dailies that are sent in during shooting, writes Turteltaub.

But he also offers the industry a good business reason for not lying to consumers—it won't help move your product in the long run.

For me, the biggest problem that comes up is when the trailers and TV spots don't reflect the essence of the movie they are selling... The studio often feels that the movie they made isn't a movie they can sell... so they sell it as a different movie. What happens is that the wrong audience sees the movie on opening weekend, and the word of mouth is all wrong. Great movies can get lost because of this.

RELATED
"Can A Movie Trailer Be Accused Of False Advertising?"
(Photo: Kuckuck)

This one makes us shake our heads.

Stephen Holden, from the New York Times seemed to like Across the Universe, and was quoted as saying, "Extraordinary. Across the Universe captured my heart. I fell in love with this movie. It convinces you that love is all you need. Fantastic... gorgeous... delirious... oh-wow!"

Here's a portion of Stephen Holden's actual review of Across the Universe with the portions that made up the quote highlighted:

"Another extraordinary scene follows Joe to a United States Army induction center... [skip 10 paragraphs backward] Somewhere around its midpoint, 'Across the Universe' captured my heart, and I realized that falling in love with a movie is like falling in love with another person. Imperfections, however glaring, become endearing quirks once you've tumbled. ... [skip 15 paragraphs forward] during the time it lasts, the intoxicating passion of Jude and Lucy, both innocents by today's standards, convinces, for a moment, that love is all you need. ... [skip 14 paragraphs backward] a fantastic array of puppets, masks and synergistic effects... [skip seven paragraphs forward] A visceral peak arrives with 'Strawberry Fields Forever.' In this gorgeous production number... [skip three paragraphs forward] Bono appears as the acid guru, Dr. Robert, a Ken Kesey-Neal Cassady fusion who sings 'I Am the Walrus' at an acid-drenched party and conducts Jude, Lucy and a roiling band of Merry Pranksters on a delirious bus journey through a rainbow-colored countryside. ... [skip one paragraph ahead] its oh-wow aesthetic ..."

The Best Worst Blurbs of 2007 [Gelf]

Comcast has set up a site called Fancast.com where viewers can watch more than 3,000 hours of television shows from NBC, Fox, CBS and MTV and where they will soon be able to remotely program the digital video recorders in their homes. The shows on Fancast are available free. Comcast has yet to say how it will price the rest of the content as its plan moves forward.

Also on Tuesday, Comcast will show off a technology called wideband that significantly reduces the amount of time it takes to download a movie from the Internet

. Mr. Roberts will take the stage with Ryan Seacrest, the television and radio host, to download the two-and-a-half-hour film "Batman Begins" in less than four minutes, rather than the six hours it would take using a standard broadband connection. Comcast plans to introduce wideband to millions of homes in select markets in 2008 before making it available in all of its areas.

Comcast Plans to Offer a Huge Menu of Films [New York Times]
Fancast

Consumers spent $16 billion buying DVDs, about $600 million less than in 2006. But rentals matched last year's total of $7.5 billion.Hollywood shipped 1.7 billion discs — about 30 million more than in 2006 — a sign that DVD remains strong, Smith says. "There is a natural progression to lower price points due to the maturing market," she says. "But there are still titles — big blockbuster releases, collector sets and, mostly, TV DVD compilations — that are generating high price points."

The average selling price of a DVD dropped 0.5% to $14.63.

Despite the downturn in DVD sales, the $23.7 billion total spending on home video dwarfs Hollywood's $9.6 billion box-office total for 2007.

DVD feels first sting of slipping sales [USAToday]
(Photo:feverblue)

20th Century Fox Walt Disney Lionsgate Warner Bros Sony     - MGM/UA     - Columbia TriStar New Line & Fine Line		Paramount NBC Universal

So the future is tilting more and more toward Sony's Blu-ray format, it seems. Honestly, though, will anyone be buying movies on discs by the time this is all settled?

[8:14pm 1/4/08: Updated to include more studios pointed out in the comments below.]

In that case, reviewers got the word out to unwary parents fairly well—pretty much every review hinted that viewers should make sure they understood the content before seeing the movie. But shouldn't studios be more honest in representing the content of their films?

In this case, those lines from Riley made the movie seem funnier than it was, the president's line made the dramatic stakes seem higher than they were, and the scenes at the Lincoln Memorial made the historical conspiracy seem more ingenious than it was (historical clues hidden right under our noses!). I can say with confidence that some of those elements played a part in my wanting to see the movie.
Rearranging scenes in the trailer is one thing. But what about this business of putting stuff in the trailer — a *lot* of stuff — that isn't in the movie at all? If they can get away with "National Treasure"-style misrepresentation, what's to stop other moviemakers from putting special effects, witty lines, exotic locales and hot-looking actors into *their* trailers, just to get us to go to a movie that doesn't have any of those things?

MILF continues to make its way unchecked into our national lexicon, so maybe it's time we all agree there's a kid-friendly definition, something like "Mom I'd Like as a Friend." Unfortunately, that won't keep us from immediately thinking of Mary Kay Letourneau if we ever hear a 10-year-old innocently say his best friend's mom is a MILF.

For the record, Angelina Jolie is winning.


(Thanks to Kory!)

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Spirit Airlines Holds "MILF Sale," Denies Having Seen "American Pie"

1. Call 1-800-333-DISH
2. Go to Billing
3. Ask rep about a promotional Cinemax deal for 1 Cent for signing up for autopay and paperless billing.

People posting in various forums caution that this won't work if you've had Cinemax in the past 6 months. Also, the Cinemax will be canceled if you cancel the autopay and paperless billing. Deal ends 1/31/08.

(Photo: Tubes.)

"Taking real-life Brawndo for a test drive" [CalorieLab]

PREVIOUSLY: The $307.06 Harry Potter DVD

Needless to say the theater emptied as if someone had yelled Fire! After less than 2 minutes the movie was stopped & we returned to the theater to sit through more coming attractions and finally BEE Movie. Now between the two movies a manager & two other workers came into the theater apologized over & over and handed each person in the theater 2 Free Passes 1 Free Coke & 1 Free Popcorn coupon. WOW I think they handled the situation tremendously.......Kudos to the AMC/Framingham. Also, on the way out of the movie the manager was waiting, apologizing again & handing out free BEE Movie posters. How refreshing........Congratulations AMC on a job WELL DONE!!!!

-William

Not surprisingly, analysts aren't exactly bowled over by Fox's take on the future of digital commerce.

"If it doesn't work on the iPod, then it doesn't exist," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at New York-based analyst firm Jupiter Research. "It's the right idea and they're taking steps, but it's just not enough," he said. "Consumers want to do the right thing, but they are dealing with a plethora of devices."

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"Die Hard DVD Will Ship With Ripped Movie File Included"

What Would Jesus Buy? is a new documentary from producer Morgan Spurlock, who made Supersize Me, and director Rob VanAlkemade, following Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir "on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt.)"

God help us, we're excited to see this. Reverend Billy cracks us up. Stop the Shopocalypse!

This also opens the possibility that movie-download services from companies like Netflix and Blockbuster may be able to offer a way to purchase and create your own DVD hard copy. However, it's likely that in order to do this, you'd need to purchase special software and/or equipment and/or supplies—and since "studios are not likely to discount DVDs," we're curious to see whether they'll come up with competitive price structures (compared to Amazon, for instance) or choke off yet another possible revenue stream.

"Walgreen sees movie-burning DVD kiosks at stores" [Reuters]
(Photo: randomthoughts)

(Photo: Getty)

Although novel, we're not sure how much of an added value this really is since special edition sets are more expensive than regular DVDs anyway. (Amazon reports the list price for the Special Edition "Live Free or Die Hard" DVD is $34.98, discounted to $23.99. By comparison, they list the regular old ugly DVD release at $29.99, discounted to $15.99.) And yes, the semi-tech-savvy can rip DVDs and compress them for playback without the studio's help. Still, they win points for convenience, and we're impressed and surprised that a studio isn't running screaming from a movie file for once.

We'll reserve final opinion until after we hear more about how easy the process is, and just what "DRM-free" really means to a movie studio, but here's how Hollywood Reporter describes the process:

To utilize the Digital Copy feature, consumers can insert Disc 2 of the "Live Free" DVD into their computer. A menu will pop up, giving users the choice of either executing the Digital Copy application or launching the DVD special features. If the Digital Copy application is selected, the computer will verify the proper requirements and ask the user to enter a 16-digit serial code, found inside the DVD case. After selecting a destination — either the computer's hard drive or a connected PlaysForSure video player — the transfer will begin, and the program will be ready for playback after about five minutes.

""Die Hard" DVD will include computer file" [Reuters]

That is nothing compared to the other night. We went to see "Balls of Fury" and found out we were the ONLY people who came to see it. Instead of canceling the show due to low attendance (or establishing a house minimum) the owner, Jerry, greeted us and talked about how he'll run the shows for just one person. He figures that if someone has planned their day around a movie at the Bijou then the Bijou should fulfill that plan. Also, even though we were the only two people in the crowd he still gave us the prize (medium soft drink and popcorn)! We left smiling and it wasn't because the movie was that good.

Ah, the heartland. Nothing rivals small-town person-to-person customer service. To us, family-owned businesses led by a gracious, good-natured owners were dreamt up by Madison Ave fluff-masters and bottled in 30-second segments; something rarely seen flourishing in the wild. Every business should strive to emulate Jerry's exceptional consumer-centric philosophy.

Bijou Movie Theater

"Rights management" software would allow the movie to be played on either an iPod or iPhone for the duration of the rental period. CNNMoney points out that Video On Demand has proved lucrative for cable and satellite providers—and none of them have as many customers as Apple.

That being said, we've never really understood the desire to watch a whole movie on an iPod. To each his own, we guess.

iTunes movie rentals? Maybe soon [CNNMoney]
(Photo:Earth2Kim)

Can we please get a straight answer about what the hell is going on with Blockbuster? They are definitely screwing you, but apparently they're doing it in about 9 different ways, making it hard for us to write the headline.

(Photo:Maulleigh)

We're sorry that Google's video retail experience turn out profitably for them, but this sure sounds like a load of "do some evil" to us. As Cory Doctorow puts it:

The terms that Google sold its video on were similar to those laid down by other downloadable video "stores," like Amazon Unbox. These stores claim to "sell" you things, but you can never truly 0wn the things they sell — they are your theoretical property only, liable to confiscation at any time.

Google Video robs customers of the videos they "own" [BoingBoing.net]

(Photo: Getty)

Blockbuster buys download service [Mercury News]
(Photo: Magic Lantern Shows)