Boxoffice - October 2016

y Jeff Logan, President, Logan Theatres
Don’t you love it when a customer
calls and asks what time
tonight’s matinee starts? Or if
you’re giving a customer a tour
of the projection booth and they
say, “Wow, that’s a big camera!”
Admittedly, show business has a
language of its own. The origins
of some of those terms are as
interesting as the terms themselves.
There’s a lot for industry
professionals to learn. No wonder
the public gets confused! Here’s a
list of some of the most misused
and misunderstood terms, along
with their correct definitions.
MATINEE is an afternoon (or morning) showing. Many studios and theater chains set different
cutoffs, but traditionally a matinee is any showing starting before 6 p.m. Since most theaters started
promoting bargain matinees, many customers now mistakenly think a matinee refers to a showing
with a discount price. Hence questions like, “Is tonight’s show a matinee?” That would be a no.
VAUDEVILLE was a variety show performed live onstage. It
usually consisted of eight acts of singers, comedians, jugglers,
magicians, acrobats, etc. Vaudeville started in the 1880s and was
popular until the increasing attractiveness and lower cost of movies
put it out of business in the 1920s. Many old, large downtown
single-screen theaters started as vaudeville theaters. There were
vaudeville theaters in towns with populations as small as 2,000.
Vaudeville struggled on as many leading big city theaters ran combined
silent movie and vaudeville programs until sound movies
came along in 1927, and the Depression made the cost of putting
on live shows too expensive. Many of the great comedians like Jack
Benny, Bob Hope (left), and Morey Amsterdam (Buddy Sorrell on
The Dick Van Dyke Show) were already famous vaudeville stars before
switching to radio, movies, and TV. Today’s America’s Got Talent is basically an amateur vaudeville
show. Cool movies to watch about that era are Yankee Doodle Dandy, Seven Little Foys, and Gypsy.
SNEAK PREVIEW is an advance showing of a new movie from a day to a week or two before its
announced opening date. These showings are used to build awareness and positive word of mouth
about a new movie. Sometimes, in the old days, the title wasn’t advertised. The studio would pick a
similar picture and advertise a sneak preview of “a major new motion picture” along with the regular
feature. The public got to see two movies for the price of one and be the first to see a major new hit.
Sneak Previews have always been common in Hollywood and in major cities. Nowadays studios
encourage all theaters to run Sneak Previews of major films on the Thursday night before a Friday
opening. But if you advertise a Thursday showing as a Sneak Preview, small town locals will ask, “Do we
get to see the whole movie or just the preview?” Yeah, like we’re going to charge you full price to watch
a two-and-a-half-minute preview. To avoid this confusion, my company advertises a Thursday night
showing as a “Special Advance Showing.” Other theaters just refer to the Thursday night showing as a
32 BoxOffice ® OCTOBER 2016