Rush Hour 2 is not at Regal Cinemas

[JonathanLB]

That will definitely hurt. I'm not sure if it will do as well as I thought, now, but hopefully it doesn't hurt too much.

Portland was the capital city of Act III theaters, which Regal bought a few years ago, and that essentially means we don't have other theaters here. It's Regal or it's your TV set.

There is, luckily, ONE theater that Regal doesn't own, and that's the Century 16 Theater. Rush Hour 2 will be playing on five screens there, basically unprecedented for them, and showings are every 20 to 30 minutes. Even cooler, the first showing begins at 11, pretty early for any theater here, and the last showing begins at 11:50 p.m. They're definitely going to take full advantage of the total lack of competition.

On Variety, I read a while back that some other film Regal didn't play did play at the Century here and the theater was the nation's highest grossing engagement, so I wouldn't be surprised if Portland's Century is the most busy theater in the nation for RH2 this weekend.

Still, I gotta drive forever to get there, so that's pretty annoying.

Dumb Regal. I hate them.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I don't think it will hurt it, it is still on over 3000 screens. Luckily Regal is no the only movie chain. They are doing the same thing with LOTR I hear it has to do with something that New Line is doing, I didn't really understand it when I first read it. Regal is really stupid they will lose a lot of money especially from the LOTR, I doubt they will be #1 by the end of the year.

[JonathanLB]

No, they are automatically number one because they own the most theaters. That MAKES them the #1 exhibitor, unless another company buys more theaters, which is definitely not going to happen with market conditions as they are.

As for it not hurting, well yes it will hurt, but it's just how much. Obviously there are a lot of moviegoers in Portland and not all of them will have the opportunity to see Rush Hour 2 on opening weekend, or at all in theaters, so even if this was the only city in the nation dominated by Regal (which it isn't), then it would still hurt.

The only reason the theater count is still fairly high (though it would be higher definitely) is because the rival theaters have mostly picked up the slack in competitive markets. In other markets, though, like Portland, it will have a significant impact on ticket sales. There are at least five markets like this where Regal is the sole exhibitor, more or less.

[CMJ]

Man...I guess we're spoiler in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex...no distributor owns a majority of screens. There's about 8 that have a big piece of the pie.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I thought Carmical(sp) owened the most theaters. And I was speaking of profits which is where it matters the most sure they may own the most theaters but I am sure Carmical and AMC have more combined so when they boycott a big movie like LOTR it will hurt them. LOTR will make a lot of money IMO and Regal will lose out in the long run. Does anybody know what New line is doing that is making Regal so mad. It sounds similar to the demands that Lucas made last time around. If so you think Regal might go as far as boycotting the biggest movie of next year.

[CMJ]

I believe they are the nations 4th largest chain...but they control most small town movie markets. I actually have a Carmike Cinema here in Denton...it's pretty rundown(I usually don't go there but go to the UA or the Rave, another SMALL chain, theatre).

[Jedi Master Carr]

I remember when Carmike was #1, I guess they have fallen pretty bad in the last ten years. Who is #2 now AMC?

[JonathanLB]

Carmike is definitely not first. I'd have to check again, but United Artists was up there, General Cinemas, Edwards, all of those declared bankruptcy, but they're big chains.

Regal is by far the biggest in the nation as well as the world. They were backed by rich investors who purchased enough other chains to push them to first. Regal was fairly mid-sized, but has experienced the most rapid expansion of any theater chain and in its very young history now controls the most screens and theaters. Act III was the 11th biggest theater chain just before Regal bought them, so that helped significantly, plus their other acquisitions.

Regal blows, though, honestly they are terrible. Biggest does not mean best. It means worst with Regal.

I went to Rush Hour 2 Friday night at the Century Eastport 16 here in Portland and that is honestly the best theater I have ever seen. They have SO MUCH candy and they have bags where you can fill them with as much or as little as you want, then you can get hot dogs, pizza, and the variety is incredible. Ticket prices are CHEAP!!! $5.50 for a night showing, which is amazing, a full $2.25 cheaper than any Regal cinema in Portland. That's pretty stunning. The theaters themselves are better quality and they show the THX logo before the films, unlike Regal's cinemas here.

Also, Rush Hour 2 is an awesome movie!!! Definitely not at all even just a little bit disappointing. No way. It was much better than the first film. Funnier, action was just as good if not better, and it was just a better film. Any critic who says otherwise is just being moronic with their "anti-sequel" disease or whatever. The film was frickin' GREAT. Clearly the audiences just ate it up, and my friends (I went with three other people) all loved it. We were just cracking up. The theater was applauding on the last line, which I will not spoil, but it is an outtake and alludes to "Rush Hour 3," hehe. I think there is NO QUESTION this will be a trilogy, and I can't wait, because the first two films are just great movies.

Action-wise, of course, they're both inferior to any of Chan's earlier films, most of Li's stuff, etc, but they're action-comedy's of course so that is different. Really funny films.

[CMJ]

DO I sense that Jon is gonna go out of his way to see films at this new theatre? :) As far as the THX thing goes...it's really strange. Here in the DFW area there are very few theatres that are THX certified...and we're a huge market(I think DFW is the 5th largest market in the US). Then when I visited my folks in Phoenix over Christmas...practically every theatre was THX certified. I mean Phoenix is a pretty large city...but they aren't in the same ballpark as this area, but ALL of their theatres were THX. Very wierd how that works.....

[JonathanLB]

hehe, I love that Century. Although, my friends would never go all the way over there every week for movies, nor would I, just because it is so far and the theater next to me is still nice.

I thought that Evergreen was THX certified, but they never show any THX trailers. So... maybe they're not, but I know under Act III most of these theaters WERE THX certified. Ugg, Regal doesn't much care, though.

When I'm down in Los Angeles in three weeks or so, though, then I'll be in the center of the best theaters around! Hehe. Although, without a car, you can bet your butt I'll be going to the one two miles away. I swear, I'll probably end up frickin' walking there at first because I don't know anyone with a car and I don't know anyone in general. Two miles isn't bad, though, I can walk that in 20 minutes maybe, and it's good exercise I suppose :)

[CMJ]

It's near Hollywood(maybe West Hollywood). It's an old style movie theatre...kind of like one you'd see in the 20's and 30's. The sound was great too....but the real sweet thing was the atmosphere of the place. Of course The Chinese is that way too. The great thing about LA is there's alot of 1 screen movie theatres....just like they used to make. Most of them are pretty old, but they rock!

[JonathanLB]

Yeah, well for a while I'll just have to be happy with that theater that is really close, I think, unless someone has a car and will go a ways...

My dad said I could get a car at some point, he has offered several times, so maybe at least by the time I'm a junior, if not earlier...

[ReaperFett]

I hate popcorn in cinemas. All through the film, all you can hear behind you is the crunching

[JonathanLB]

Not for me. I've never been to a movie that I didn't finish whatever I was having long before the film started. I don't eat during movies, but I buy snacks before them. I either finish them in line, like Rush Hour 2, or I finish them before the movie starts, like almost every other movie (or sometimes during the trailers, but that is rare).