Its Monday, & time to do the numbers for The Senators 6th (FSS) weekend grosses following the 10/10 grand re-opening. Lets document & explore what our local media outlet wont dare venture to do in covering The Senator Theatre project within Baltimores taboo bubble of restricted information. Domestic first-run film grosses are public information, yet FOTS gets pilloried for posting readily available industry attendance figures on FB. Why is that? Theyd surely have been noted by now in The Sun or City Paper, if they werent so alarming. Thor II, following its hugely disappointing (FSS) $8,705 opening, dropped down to $4,960, dismal for the current #1 worldwide blockbuster film in release. Its not an isolated instance, by any means. For a few, back-in-the-day Rentrak comparisons, in September 2005 The Constant Gardener opened to a (FSS) gross of $33,000 (with $6 tix), Lord of the Rings in 2003 opened to a FSS gross of $71,000. The Matrix: Reloaded: did $53,000 opening weekend in 2003. Those are just a few representative figures, not the highest-grossing. Before we proceed, please be reminded that the Friends of the Senator (FOTS) organization is comprised of Senator Theatre advocates & boosters, overall-well-wishers, vigorously promoting the full slate of offerings on a daily basis to over three thousand FOTS members. The Senators former owner also follows suit, promoting the theatres weekly 4-plex slate of features to his five thousand FB friends. This weekend, Captain Phillips, dropped to $2172 from $2990, a *meh* weekend gross, to be kind. Enders Game fared even worse, dropping from $2,065, (itself a huge drop from an initial extremely low gross) now down to $1,339. A sub-run/move-over booking from The Charles (for full admission), an attempt to get something going with Redfords critically acclaimed All is Lost, drowned at $2,671. (an unfortunate, apropos title...) So there ya go, The Senators reported attendance to date is unspooling week to week as an objective numerical disaster in a first-run film market context, & 15 additional cutting edge Cinemark movie screens are only a year off 2.5 liles up the road. Somethings got to give. Our dismal local media can only pretend that this numerical disaster doesnt exist for so long, as the numbers confirm that despite the BDCs inept, head-in-the-sand, magical thinking, & its rejection of the industrys stats 4 years ago with millions in taxpayer funds subsequently invested, the projected attendance has not materialized to date, by a factor of 10. FOTS are film industry realists, and as we continue to vigorously promote The Senators film programming as much as possible, well will also post these numerical truths on a consistent, weekly basis in a vacuum. For comparison purposes (the medias job not ours..) note that this past weekend Rentrak reports the nearby 4-screen Rotunda Cinemas grossed a (FSS) total of $17,462, yet The Senator only reported a FSS total of $11,146. Does that stat help to clarify the picture no one wants to discuss? If you want The Senator to remain a taxpayer-funded, first-run movie house generating sufficient revenue and foot-traffic for an expanding commercial district, you better start showing up and buying tix in substantially larger numbers, and soon. If that influx does not occur, a failing plan will be forced to change substantially in the new year. That may be the only time youll hear about The Senator Theatre again from the media jackals, attracted to a fresh kill. Support your local independent theatres! friendsofthesenator.org
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 18:33:43 +0000