Boxoffice-January.2000

SPECIAL REPORT: Industry Add! ass
THE HUMAN SIDE
OF THE MOVIE
BUSINESS
these pages last year,
OnMichael Campbell, president
of Regal Cinema's
3,400-plus screens, gave us a very
insightful analysis of exhibition
from his view at the top of the
nation's biggest theatre circuit. At
almost the opposite end of the
spectrum is Fridley Theatres—
family-owned and -operated business
comprised of 92 screens
throughout the Midwest in towns
with populations ranging from
2,000 to about 30,000.
What follows are my observations
of being in exhibition for 63
years—a career that started with
a jackrabbit circuit during the
Depression, which was not the
easiest way to learn the business.
With the advent of television
50 years ago. reasonable people
were predicting the end of the
motion picture theatre. There
were others whose predictions were not so
dire; they said that the only theatres that
would remain would be the big downtown
movie palaces. The latter observers were
almost right about the small town cinema—
at least 75 percent of those theatres
closed by 1960.
However, the predictions could not have
been more wrong about the big downtown
theatres. Instead of being in the hearts of
cities, the first-run theatres have moved to
ELEMENT: Robert Fridley, president of R.L. Fridley Theatres,
hard at work.
the suburbs, and they are quite different
from the old time movie palaces. They are
big in a different way, with many screens
all in one complex—a phenomenon that
leads one to wonder why someone didn't
think of the multiple-screen theatre sooner.
We can all thank the late Stan Durwood
for leading the way.
Today the competition for the entertainment
dollar is so keen, one would have to
be a little crazy to stick with the business.
But. despite the competition
from television, sporting events
and movies on video, college
campuses and hotel rooms,
we're still
here.
Either we are a hardy lot or
just backwards. Could we have
perhaps done better in the fields
of real estate, accounting or
insurance? Maybe, but how
dull. We exhibitors have
endured, even forged ahead
against the odds. There must be
many stories of why you fellow
exhibitors have chosen running
theatres as your career. For me
it was the fun (like in the old
Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland
musicals) of "putting on the
show"—hardly a rational, profound
or practical reason for
choosing one's life work, but it
has worked out.
Whether you are a giant like Regal
or small by comparison like
Fridley Theatres, there are certain
simple, fundamental procedures that
apply to every theatre operation. It is not
enough to have an attractive, inviting
spotlessly clean facility with state-of-theart
projection, Dolby Digital Sound and
stadium seating. There is also the human
element: It is the managers and their staff.
They are the first contact with your
Des Moines, Iowa-based Fridley Theatres
Topper and 60-Year Exhibition Business
Veteran Gives BOXOFFICE'S Second Annual
State of the Industry Address
by Robert L.
Fridley
.38 BOXOF1 l< t