I’ve got some time off work so I figured I’d spend part of this week checking out some of the summer movies I missed. However, I find it strange that no one at the first run theatre will tell me which movies are on their last week. Why is this such a secret? I guess they figure the “uncertain” factor will cause me to want to watch them all by Thursday.
Umm, no…I can wait for the DVD or run over to the dollar theatre.
I’m sure they know which movies will be gone on Friday and what the schedule will be for the next week.
If it’s a national chain, they will usually have a website (often to buy tix online) that will announce what shows are available for purchase starting on that Friday.
However, even with national chains, film offices are often in last-minute negotiations with studios for how screens are going to be juggled and distributed to incorporate new releases while determining which existing films stay or go. When I worked for AMC as a manager, we wouldn’t know until late Tuesday what we were opening Friday, so I wouldn’t expect them to be in the position to tell you until Wed.
Your best bet is to do a theater count of how many screens a film you want to see is currently on–the more, the safer, the fewer, the more urgent. Also, if you have second-run houses, you can often ask them what they’ll be opening, because often they’ll know what they’re getting, it’s more of a mystery where (which theater) the print will come from.