Omaha, NE "I have a bad feeling about this...."

This was posted in the CR forum today by Kir Kanos, the Nashville cr:

I just got off the phone with Carmike's District office. The Corporate Rep for Carmike was in town last week and told my contact person that Lucasfilm told them that there would be NO Episode II Midnight showings in the U.S.. The reason being that Lucasfilm is going to try to coordinate a simultaneous world wide release....she said that the movie theaters bend over backwords for Lucasfilm. Our Fan Force group will have to submit a proposal for everything we are planning for the line-up to Carmike as it may not coincide with "Lucasfilm's" rules. They said if they break one of their rules as far as presentation, promotions, or anything else, that they will pull STAR WARS from their theater so fast it would make your head spin.

Mystery Sith, of NYC FF said the theater they had planned on attending will not let them line up without a letter from FOX. Its been 2 weeks and they have yet to hear back.

The Waco CR says they are not being allowed to line up AT ALL in Waco, the theater manager already having made plans with the local police to keep all fans away until 2 HOURS before the first showing.

And with LFL working to put tickets on sale online a whole month in advance, it looks like LFL and Fox are trying to kill the whole lineup tradition. We may want to make some back up plans....

 

I definately think we should contact the manager at AMC and find out whatever we can. It would totally suck if we don't get a midinight showing, or even line up for the first showing of the day. If there is no midnight showing for the movie, we're gonna have to find out form the AMC guy when the first showing is, and see where we go from there. We also need to get definate word on what is and isn't allowed, and if they're actually gonna enforce it. I personally can't imagine that Lucasfilm is going to police all 3000 or whatever showings. Somehow, I can't help but think that Omaha is low on their radar. We might want to start contacting ALL of the theater managers in Omaha and find out what's up. Mark, anyword on if there is going to be any kind of petition to Lucasfilm, or anything? Maybe you can suggest it, and then we can start the snowball rolling down the hill and maybe get them to change their minds. Maybe you guys could talk to TF.N and maybe get them interested in trying to get hings changed. I can't help but think that bad publicity might make for a PR nightmare for Lucasfilm. Any word on if this'll affect the midnight toy run?

 

I also think we need to wait for some kind of official word. I went forum hopping to find out about this, and after some reading, it's VERY unclear what is actually going on. The source thread seems to suggest that the problem is either for Digitally projected theaters, or for the Cinemark and Regal theater chains, neither of which is in Nebraska. It may also refer to new rules Lucasfilm is making thateres follow because Lucasfilm is going to sell advance tickets online. It may only mean we'll have to order our tickets from Lucasfilm, instead of AMC. We definately need to get some clarification, as some of those threads are more than 48 hours old. Mark can you use your CityRep connections to try and lube the machine that is TF.N, and have them pump Lucasfilm for info? It would indeed be major suckage if they did away with midnight showings. Can we get said CityReps with information to start a thread in Communications, heck get'em to start a thread on the official site's forums!

 

Well as of right now, your right Jeff, there isnt much info available. LFL wont give the theaters any information as to who will even get the the film, let alone when they can start showing it. There has been an attempt to contact both LFL and Fox. Neither have yet to reply. But I'll keep on it.

 

Thanks. I take back some of the nasty things I said about you behind your back!

 

I check back after a two or three month absence, and what do I find? George at his most appalling control freakiness.

Frankly, my response to George is, "Fine, let's just skip the whole thing." After the sheer bloody horribleness of TPM, George should be down on his hands and knees begging the fen to come see AotC, not setting all kinds of weird conditions and making his petty, egomaniacal demands.

George doesnt want the fen standing in line to see his film? Fine, let's all stay home. George doesn't want the theaters to sell tickets to his film? Fine, let's go see movies the theaters can sell us tickets to see.

LuneKell

 

LuneKell, no one is forcing you to go. Stay home. Prove you've got more willpower. I could care less what George does. He doesn't owe us any favors. If he wants to control HIS movie why shouldn't he be able to control any aspect of it? What if he wanted to release it in pan & scan only? Would I see it? Heck yeah I would. I'll take whatever I can get. Would I be disapointed? Yes but it wouldn't stop me. So I encourage you to stay home and be the better man. You show George who's boss.

 

A 2 or 3 month abscence that wasn't noticed until today. I gotta agree with Jake. Lucas doesn't owe us anything. Let me ammend that- the only thing Lucas owes us is a quality product. It's his story he's telling. Not like any of us had a hand in creating it.

Maybe there's a reason for the "no line" specifications. Maybe there were complaints from theater owners over rowdy SW fans (I refuse to use the word "Fen". Stupid, friggin pretentious term). Maybe there's a method to the madness. Could be there's something else planned. There's going to be lines no matter what. There's no way to avoid that.

Do us all a favor and stick to your guns. Stay home and convince all your friends to do likewise. Leaves that many more seats from the rest of us.

 

Been eating too much red meat and gunpowder again, boys?

So George doesn't owe the fen anything? Were you around in '77 when Star Wars: A New Hope debuted? 20th Century Fox didn't know what to do with this thing, and they sure as heck weren't about to support it with a real advertising campaign. It was the fen who picked up on it and advertised it by word of mouth until there were lines at every theater for every showing. By coming back and coming back, the fen kept A New Hope at the theaters months longer than anyone -- most especially George -- anticipated. Without the fen shelling out money by the bucketsful, George would not have gotten the go-ahead for Empire. (And if you doubt that A New Hope was originally shot as a stand alone movie, I suggest you take another long look at it. Also, the subtitle "Episode IV, A New Hope" wasn't tagged in until about the third re-release. A lot of us were scratching our heads and wondering where THAT had suddenly come from.) Without the fen once more shelling out buckets and buckets of cash to see Empire and buy the toys, there would have been no RotJ -- and no Howard the Duck, and no Skywalker Ranch, and no Willow and no a lot of things. It's always been the willingness of the fen to spend their money on Star Wars and the associated sidelines that has financed George's other projects.

This I have no objection to. I'm just as ready to spend my money as the next fan -- when I find something I just can't live without.

What I truly object to -- and which obviously did not come through in my posting yesterday -- is George's contempt for the fen on the one hand, while attempting to wring every last dime out of us on the other hand. His shenanigans with the TPM DVD is a typical example. Coy as a blushing bride, he says there won't be any TPM DVD for years and years and years, so everybody trudges out to buy the VHS. Then, when sales on that start slacking off, suddenly it's, "Oh, wait! I guess I'll do a DVD right now after all!" He did that with the sound track, too. First he puts out a single CD version, then less than a year later puts put the wall-to-wall double CD set. Then there was his stunt with the video of TESB. For years, he said he would not release Empire on tape because Empire was meant to be experienced on the large screen, and that viewing it on the small screen would utterly destroy it. Then he needed money for some other project, and Empire came out as an $89.99 video -- and sold by the bazillions.

I'm sorry you find the word "fen" pretentious. It's been used by SW fandom since about the day after A New Hope debuted.

 

Wow! Got me there. Guess you told me, huh? Thank you for spitting out facts & figures damn near every SW fan knows and has known for a while now. Is that all from memory or did you copy & paste it?

Regarding the video & DVD- IT really doesn't take long to put together a DVD. Id be willing to bet the DVD was pout out to shut up the fans wanting one. Same goes for the soundtrack. The demand was there and it was filled. If the DVD hadn't had any extras, I would've waited to get it. If I wasn't into soundtraks & scores, in general, I would've stuck with the first soundtrack. If Lucas has so much comtempt for the fans, why does he cater so much to us? I stand by what I said before- all Lucas owes me is a quality product. End of story. No one made me sink a lot of money into books, figures, etc. I did it on my own. There's been plenty of stuff I've passed on, too.

Regardless of the word's origins, "fen" is one of those termed used by pseudo-intellectuals to try and impress people. Sorry, your intellect doesn't impress me.

 

LOL.....the fen.

'Bout ***t myself there with memories.

How you guys doin' there in Omaha?

-- Rusty

 

Ahh, you know us, eatin' too much red meat and gunpowder!!

 

There IS no such thing as too much red meat and gunpowder. The more, the better.