Boxoffice-March.2000

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CINEMA SERVICES, INC.
Equipment Sales
Parts & Supplies
Equipment Installation
Xenon Bulbs
Turnkey FF&E Packages
Design Consultation
"Cinema Equipment Specialists"
1205 Corporate Drive East
Arlington, TX 76006 U.SA
Tel:817-633'2180
Toll Free: 888«600«6775
Fax: 817*633'2190
E-mail: CustServ@goUCS.com
years ago, they were experimenting
with making screens that were
giants, that would fill a room wallto-wall,
floor-to-ceiling. At the
time, the technology didn't exist to
get the image there with clarity."
A similar attempt was made in
the '80s by AMC, Jacobsen recalls.
"They had all these whiz-bang
ideas—'Let's make screens real
big!'... The technology existed, but
they didn't know how to do it.
"All of a sudden, AMC had the
same problem as 40 years ago: a
huge screen, but they can't get an
image on it," he says. "So those
regressions over past history are
going to happen again."
STADIUM SEATING:
DOWNHILL INCLINE?
Stadium seating is the sport utility
vehicle of '90s cinema design;
everyone who's anyone has it. But,
just as with the SUV, complaints
about safety and expense have
begun rumbling on the horizon, and
some predict this fixture of contemporary
cinema design will go the
way of the earlier gas guzzlers.
Stadium seating is too expensive,
they say. The steps it requires present
the possibility of accidents and,
thus, lawsuits. It limits seating configurations
for optimal sightlines.
"It's such a hassle—so much money
and time and space wasted in those
buildings," Jacobsen says.
Lawrence Dworkin, whose New
York, N.Y. construction firm has
built General Cinemas' sites, says
the end of the rake is near. "It's
going to be phased out, because it's
twice as expensive to build."
The Canadian-based Mesbur and
Smith aren't quite as adamant on
the subject, but the partners do see a
relaxation of American building
codes that will give seating designers
more leeway. Mesbur says that,
outside of the United States, where
codes are more liberal, one can
achieve a stadium theatre with better
visibility, more consistent sightlines,
and a less precipitous rake of
the floor. The result is viewing that
is more comfortable for the audience,
particularly for elderly or disabled
patrons who have difficulty
negotiating stairs.
"It becomes much more audiencefriendly,"
he says.
Specifically, current building
code, Smith says, is too restrictive in
terms of tread and riser heights. "In
DESIGNER
PREDICTIONS
& PROPHECIES
In our conversations, we came
across a few especially notable
forecasts of the cinema's future.
We present four of them below.
• Portable theatres. Some
movie theatres could eventually
break from their moorings and
hit the road, according to architect
Thomas Berkes, just like
the oldtimers of the 1910s and
1920s. But this time out it would
not be a jalopy and a sheet; it
would resemble a motor home,
traveling to remote locations,
where collapsible bleachers
would be assembled on-site. "It
can go on a freeway or a highway,"
he says. "You set it up
anywhere and run a film for a
few days...and then move on."
• Internet transactions. "You
will be able to sit in your house
and decide the time you want to
go to a particular film, pick the
seat you want to sit in, and
order your menu off the web,"
says Andrew Youngquist, president
of Birtcher Construction,
who expects internet transactions
to free up cinema space in
several ways.
You won't, for example, need
as large a lobby area or as many
concession stands. "You walk in,
merely say your name, and they
know what time you're going to
be there—so your food service is
already prepared, and you just
walk into theatre," he says.
• Motorized seats. Youngquist
also pictures the theatres of the
near future being equipped with
chairs from which vibrations and
sounds will emanate. "You will
actually become a part of the cinema
itself," he says.
• Crying rooms. Youngquist
sees a resurrection of soundproof
rooms, where mothers can
watch the film with their babies
without disturbing other patrons.
"I think people want that
privacy of not having a baby
crying in their ear when they're
viewing a love story."
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