My theater WON'T get Iron Man 2 next week! :-(

I need to vent.
I have waited for Iron Man 2 premiere with anxiety.
Got my TMP suit...tweaked it, perfected it...works VERY well in public situations.
I moonlight as part-time projectionist at my hometown theater and we'd planned on my suiting up and greeting patrons (not paying me of course).
This theater has a specific demographic and does well for being "the small guy" against two, 12 screen Carmike theaters.

We found out that freaking PARAMOUNT wants a freaking $15,000, yes, $15,000 deposit one week prior to receiving your film cans.

WHAT THE ______ !?

$15,000? SERIOUSLY?

Film deposits for us are typically $2,000-$6,000....this was a total blindside for the owner.

As of today, he has no choice but to throw his hands up and not run the show.

There is NOOOOOO way in heck I can take my suit to either of the Carmike theaters. The place is a wreck, staff is pathetic, teenage patrons are BRUTALLY immature.

:angry:angry:angry:angry

That sucks mate.

(Although I see your in Decatur, I'll actualy be up there fairly soon for a quick visit.)

I guess you'll have to send it to me! :lol

You should contact the other theaters and give them a "You can have Iron Man in person at your theater during the premier" price and see what they say.

Funky Jedi said:

I guess you'll have to send it to me! :lol

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You're the second person to say that to me :lol

Betamin said:

You should contact the other theaters and give them a "You can have Iron Man in person at your theater during the premier" price and see what they say.

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This wasn't about me "charging a fee" to appear as IM...I wouldn't charge to show up at a premiere anyway. My theater is moreless like family, and when they knew about my suit; everyone was excited. I can imagine once the waters cool down, we might get the film as a second run....then I can suit up for everyone, but it won't be like opening weekend. Heck, we'd probably ran a Midnight showing....that's when the diehard fans show up and have the chance to see a TMP suit. It just enhances their experience.

Ohhh, I could go suit up for one of the Carmike theaters in town, but frankly, I wouldn't step foot on their property. My last experiences there were pathetic and there is no way I'd give them the opportunity to have the extra publicity. Plus, suiting up would be a nightmare. Back when The Phantom Menace came out, I let them know I had Stormtrooper armor and I asked if I could suit up inside then greek ticket buyers. These people had no clue - even threatened to have me arrested IF i showed up and bothered their customer base. WTH? Arrested? Seriously? They just could not grasp the concept I was a "fan" and doing this for "free" and was not "selling" anything. Ohhh I said to hell with them anyway, suited up in some random back parking lot in privacy - walked around that building corner and ticket buyers freaked out. The press was called, and in about 20 minutes we had the local news channel and newspaper covering.

I just cannot believe Paramount's unrealistic deposit request. I am hoping my thread gets other theater owners/employees here to chime in - I'd be interested if this is happening to anyone else and/or what their deposit is.

Well, I'd say that the deposit simply reflects the fact that they're confident that this will be one of, if not THE, biggest movie of the summer. Yes, it sucks that they didn't give you guys any indication that the deposit they'd be requesting was so much higher than normal, but I'd say it's pretty much guaranteed that it'll be made back several times over by the time the film is returned, particularly if your theater caters to an older group who doesn't have to deal with the unruly youngsters that you mentioned.

You think those print fees are expensive... whew, we've got an IMAX here and those 70mm prints ain't cheap either. Depending on the title it could be double that, or more.

A shame studios are doing this... its just one more way they can squeeze a little more money out of something they already do on a regular basis. Funny story, IMAX tried doing this with their digital features. This means you would have to pay a print fee on what is essentially a small hard drive shipped in a box for less than $20. Ridiculous.