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The European and or Non American Movie Theatre


JoeinAR

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I was wondering what its like in theatre's around the world.

What are your theatres like.

Do they show previews and commercials,

what are the main snacks.

Are people allowed to smoke?

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

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I was wondering what its like in theatre's around the world.

What are your theatres like.

1- Do they show previews and commercials,

2- what are the main snacks.

3- Are people allowed to smoke?

4- Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

5- Do you still have grand movie palaces?

1-yes

2- popcorn.

3- hell no

4- stadium seating yes. Imax, not in my city. (and its the 5th largest city of spain...)

5- I dunno

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I was wondering what its like in theatre's around the world.

What are your theatres like. - Decent, but occasionally terrible, mostly with the chavs and lowlifes there to screw around.

Do they show previews and commercials, Yes, but not very good ones. TERRIBLE Orange commercials.

what are the main snacks. Hot dogs, popcorn, nachos. Ridiculously priced.

Are people allowed to smoke? Nope.

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc? In some cases. Stadium is usually a given, IMAX is dying a bit. My local one recently closed.

Do you still have grand movie palaces? We have, erm, multiplexes. I prefer the flea-pits really. But as long as the quality of print/projection is good, I'm okay with it.

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Do they show previews and commercials,

Yes. When going to a regular showing, you can count on the first 15 minutes of presentation to be made up of commercials and coming attactions. Steady advertisers include Coca-Cola, Magnum and Centraal Beheer (an insurance company). Tabacco commercials were outlawed many years ago and I think they banned commercials for alcoholic beverages a good while back as well. There used to be plenty of advertisements for those as well, but they seem to have disappeared.

what are the main snacks.

Popcorn or M&M's

For beverages, it's soda or bottled beer (Grolsch) .

Are people allowed to smoke?

No.

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

Stadium seating is standard. To my knowledge, there is only one IMAX venue in the Netherlands. It is located in Amsterdam.

Digital projection is slowly popping up here and there as well.

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

Amsterdam's Tuschinski theater is still running. It has a wonderful decor and shows all sorts of movies. It's run by the largest chain of cinema exploitants in the Netherlands (Pathé), but is not just designated to show merely the latest popcorn thrills. The decor of the place is gorgeous and there's a bar and lobby where you can wait for the film to start. It's also the theatre where the large premieres of both foreign and Dutch films are usually held.

You can view a picture and read some info on it here. Unfortunately, there's no pictures there of the interior. It's gorgeous. I'd love to see something like the original King Kong on that theatre's largest screen.

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What Marc said, mostly. Except I don't know what stadium seating is. The Austrian IMAX, which after the upgrade reportedly was the biggest in Europe, went bankrupt a year (or two?) ago and closed (I'd never been to the latest installment). Most of the big theatres of old have been converted into multiplexes, though some smaller ones survive in their more traditional forms. The two or three theatres I usually visit (the ones not showing dubs) are somewhat of a cross between the two... moderately slick and modern, but still with character - and without the hightech stuff they can't possibly afford... I guess we have to be glad they still exist at all. At one of those (my regular), ticket prices are really high, too; an overlong movie sets you back about 8 euros. Which is why I don't hesitate much anymore when buying a DVD of a movie I've always wanted to see for 7 or 8 euros.

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Except I don't know what stadium seating is.

Raised seats, like a sports stadium. I've only been able to go to theaters like that for 5 or 6 years, but I wouldn't have it any other way now.

I think it was at least a British, if not general European trend, to have lots of commercials before trailers. I've only seen them for a few years, before that it was always just those slideshow things.

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Marc that theatre is gorgeous on the outside, it looks like something from, honestly, a batman movie.

I'm pretty sure that someone has a theatre that people can smoke in.

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Oh, that, yes. Though the large hall in my regular theatre only has it in aft half. No real need for it in the front half anyway though. The other big English theatre here actually have *ascending* sets in the first three rows of their largest hall... you kinda lie in your seat looking upwards to the screen, which is way too big from such a close distance anyway. Mildly dizzying experience.

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Wow! Beer at a movie! Would make the next resurrected 1980's movie alot more tolerable. I KID!!!

The movie theater I frequent actually has a full service restaurant you can order from during the movie in house. Pretty neat!

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Do they show previews and commercials,

Yes. Usually 15mins of those for new releases, and about 5-10mins for releases more than two weeks old.

what are the main snacks.

Popcorn and soda.

Are people allowed to smoke?

No.

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

We have one IMAX screen here, but what is stadium seating?

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

Not anymore. All the cineplexes are in shopping malls now (and Asian malls tend to be huge).

I couldn't find any bigger pics, but the average cinema theater looks like the pic captioned 'cinema hall' (although it must be said the one in the photo is an average sized one, not the bigger halls they use for newer movies). The other stuff is a bit classier than average, as its the newest branch of the GSC chain here.

windowslivewriternewgsccinemaopens-12ff2gsc1-2.jpg

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I was wondering what its like in theatre's around the world.

What are your theatres like.

Do they show previews and commercials,

what are the main snacks.

Are people allowed to smoke?

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

same thing as US .Probably the same commercials and previews. The candy brands might be a bit different. IMAX yes.I'll go see Dark Knight there

Of course I only go to English theaters

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Do they show previews and commercials,

Yes. Usually 15mins of those for new releases, and about 5-10mins for releases more than two weeks old.

what are the main snacks.

Popcorn and soda.

Are people allowed to smoke?

No.

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

We have one IMAX screen here, but what is stadium seating?

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

Not anymore. All the cineplexes are in shopping malls now (and Asian malls tend to be huge).

your pictures show you have stadium seating, rather than a gradual incline like in the past by the way other than the distance between seats I'm not a big fan of stadium seating

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your pictures show you have stadium seating, rather than a gradual incline like in the past by the way other than the distance between seats I'm not a big fan of stadium seating

There is a gradual incline. The degree of inclination varies between theaters though.

Marc has told me movies routinely have intermissions in The Netherlands. Is it like that elsewhere around the world?

Neil

I think its usual in Europe. My friend in Germany says its that way there too. We get no such interruptions here in Asia.

Oh and another thing, we don't get our movies dubbed into the local language here, but every movie comes with Chinese and Malay subtitles. Song lyrics are exempted.

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For the UK:

Do they show previews and commercials,

Yes, both. Can be for about 20 minutes on the new releases.

what are the main snacks.

Popcorn, and hot dogs and burgers.

Are people allowed to smoke?

No. There's no smoking allowed in any public buildings in the UK now.

Do you have stadium seating,

Mostly. Smaller cinemas sometimes don't, but nearly all the big ones do.

IMAX

Yep.

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

Sadly not. There are only a few I've come across, most of them have been knocked down or converted into multiplexes.

Marc has told me movies routinely have intermissions in The Netherlands. Is it like that elsewhere around the world?

Neil

I've heard about it happening in mainland Europe, but I've never seen it in the UK (fortunately).

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As far as I'm aware, the only difference between an English and American theatre is that in the former, the patrons do not whoop and hollar all the way through a movie like The Phantom Menace or Indy IV. Thank God.

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Britain

Beer is sold (albeit in plastic glasses) in one cinema near me. Smoking is banned in all cinemas now in the UK, as far as I know. As for intermissions, I remember the intermissions in the UK cinemas during the mid 70s and through the 1980s. Some movies would have as many as three intermissions, during which the lights would come on, the curtains would gracefully close across the big screen, and the woman who was eternally standing in the corner with the illuminated 'goodies' cart around her kneck would go on a walk about selling overpriced popcorn. Seating is of various types in the UK. Stadium type, and others.

Cinema palaces, it wasn't long ago that quite a lot were around here and I watched many a film in such local ones in the UK during the 1990s. But most have succumed to the 'convenience' of multiplexes. In many cases, it was the difficulty of finding places to park that dealt the coup de grace for most of these older cinemas. Pity, because the screens in some cinemas were gigantic great things and I used to go out of my way to visit these old ones rather than the multi screen places, because films always looked so much better on those wide wide bendy screens with the curtains that went across. Below is a picture of one of the screens in the Plymouth Drake cinema that I think I saw Superman II and Temple of Doom in, during the 1980s. Another one nearby had a similar screen in. One central screen for big movies, and a secondary screen for less known ones.

f_tndrake74m_7795115.jpg

The Drake (main screen shown above) has now closed, along with the other one I visited in my area.

But the one selling beer not far from me, still runs as far as I know. I watched Jurassic Park there in 1993.

The two big old (now closed) cinemas I used to visit were made in the 40s. One of them was from the 1930s.

There was a small one in a town near me which was private owned, called the "Palladium" in Midsomer Norton.

Photo below in its now derelict state :

f_tn116098274m_dfbb2d0.jpg

Originally a brewery from the 1850s, it was converted into a cinema and used to show silent films early on. Yes it looks a right dive now on the outside, but it was like the tardis at the time. You went inside and it was ornate. A two level cinema of theatre style with an incredible carved ceiling and all the fancy trimmings. Old (and very uncomfortable) style seats from the 30s.

Somebody described it like so -

Norton Palladium used to be the last cinema in the country with the classic "Double" seats for snogging in the back row.

Sadly now shut. One of the last films shown was Jurassic Park.

I reckon the last film I saw there was something like Lawnmower man.

There has been talk now and again of buying it and making it into some kind of preteen club or something.

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Marc has told me movies routinely have intermissions in The Netherlands. Is it like that elsewhere around the world?

Not normally. They somewhat revived that with the Potter and LOTR movies, although those were really rude cuts. I don't recall if there was an intermission for King Kong, but it's likely. You can't count on a movie having an intermission, and I expect it varies from theatre to theatre, but with long movies, they like to take the extra chance to sell more food and drinks.

I've been to one of those big screen theatres (I don't recall the name) in London a few years ago to see ROTK. Screen was very big, but so was the distance to it (we were seated on the balcony), so it really wasn't that much different from the theatres here, or in fact a big screen at home. It's all about the viewing angle anyway, and with front row seats that's too big with pretty much every larger screen. So I usually pay more attention to a good seating position than screen size. Those tickets were ridiculously expensive though.

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Some movies would have as many as three intermissions, during which the lights would come on, the curtains would gracefully close across the big screen, and the woman who was eternally standing in the corner with the illuminated 'goodies' cart around her kneck would go on a walk about selling overpriced popcorn.

Albatross!

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Marc has told me movies routinely have intermissions in The Netherlands. Is it like that elsewhere around the world?

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that.

Pathé makes a point of showing movies without intermission (you'll find they also sell larger soda's than other theatres because of it), but the other chains still have intermissions (which continues to annoy me to a great extent).

Oh, and here's some pictures of the interior of Tuschinski Amsterdam:

tuschinski.jpg

The main lobby

Tuschinski1.jpg

Tuschinski 1, the main screen

08_tuschinskizaal.jpg

The seating in the same room

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Nope, it's a cinema. It opened as one in the early 1920s, although they did occasionally show varieté I believe.

The largest theater seats nearly 800, and I think you can understand why I'd love to see something like King Kong in that room.

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Somebody on YouTube

of the kind of crummy local adverts you tend to get in British cinemas for local Indian restaraunts and small time entertainers, with the famous Pearl and Dean intro music of course. It gave me a laugh :rolleyes:

And here is a genuine recording of the British intermission ice cream/hot dog kaleidoscope thingy :D

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I saw the 1997 SW re-releases there, and GOF together with Hitch.

Not to mention 2 Star Trek Marathon nights that premiered First Contact and Insurrection.

Also attended a film music concert there held by a Harmonic orchestra (no string section) years ago.

It's quite a place. Of course it's surrounded by a few sex shops and Planet Hollywood used to be opposite it, I think. :rolleyes:

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It does look amazing, I must say .

Of course it's surrounded by a few sex shops

I can imagine the intermission ads - "Fancy a shag after the movie is over? Go to 'Lars Knocking Shop, next door" :rolleyes:

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the only intermission i have suffered was in King Kong

But i think that other long movies have sessions with intermissions, specially if they are for children. Small bladders, i suppose.

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The same here. We used to have some nice, old-school cinemas, but they didn't survive the competition with multiplexes which look like everywhere in the World thesedays. I wish to watch a movie in the theater like this Dutch opera-like one!

We don't have intermissions in Poland. I think we gave this up somewhere in the 70s or 80s.

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Just got back from my local cinema. Funnily, I was reminded of this thread. I always thought we had stadium seating, but only the last row is raised. The floor does slant though, so each row further back is a bit higher than the one in front, but not by much. You sit directly behind the person in front of you.

We do have stadium seating in the more recent theatres though.

Also, I saw a commercial for Grolsch, a Dutch beer brand. So apparently alcohol hasn't been banned altogether. There used to be a lot more though (Heineken, Brand, Dommelsch, Bacardi and Martini were all regular advertisers once). Maybe Grolsch found a loophole, because the commercial shown seemed to be more about their new bottle than the actual beer, even though you still come away thinking about beer rather than the bottle.

The intermission (which was right in the middle of a scene for :lol: sake) also started with a Grolsch advert, which they've used at that theatre for at least half a decade now.

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(...)

The intermission (which was right in the middle of a scene for :lol: sake) also started with a Grolsch advert, which they've used at that theatre for at least half a decade now.

That's intolerable. I am so glad no one here came up with the idea to interrupt movies with adverts in the theatres.

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Yes, it was rubbish. I was watching Hancock. The movie is only a little over 90 minutes long, so they stuck the intermission at the end of the second reel. Unfortunately, by that time the movie is just getting underway and we're in the middle of a scene. If you go to see it, check for the reel change right after

Ray opens the box containing Hancock's suit

. That's where the intermission was.

Also, because there's always one intermission, I got to watch Hancock in two roughly 45-minute chunks, but I got to see The Return of the King in two roughly 90-minute chunks.

Crazy.

Oh well, I guess they've got to sell those drinks to stay afloat.

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I remember when I saw Titanic I was begging for an intermission because I drank too much before the film. I finally caved in and ran to the bathroom during a moment I thought the film was slowing down.

Anything under 2hrs 30 min shouldn't have an intermission and if it does it shouldn't be a forced one. It should be done like they were in the past, with exit and entrance music.

I love when they put that on the DVD's for the older films that had intermissions.

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I like that the DC of Kingdom of Heaven has it. It adds to the experience and makes the disc change a lot less jarring.

Unlike the LotR EEs where the movie just abruptly stops at the end of disc 1, cutting the audio off as well. The break in RotK is really jarring because of this.

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I love intermissions on DVDs as well. I loved it in King Kong, and particularly for the DVD of the DE of Kingdom of Heaven, where it was created special for the DVD (with score).

Do they show previews and commercials,

Previews yes, commercials vary.

what are the main snacks.

Popcorn, beverages, candy bars. One has nachos.

Are people allowed to smoke?

No sir. No smoking in public buildings allowed.

Do you have stadium seating, IMAX, etc?

One has 2 theaters with stadium seating. In general, there are only two huge multiplexes in the country, and they have stadium seating (in general, they feel just like the AMC on 42nd st., but less impersonal).

Do you still have grand movie palaces?

Never did. Though the exception to most of the above is the Cinematheque, which does have own huge, grand theater, no commercials, no intermissions, no snacks.

In general, I feel rather spoiled whenever I go to the US in this regard. I mean, obviously in a palace like the Ziegfeld....but even the least impressive theater I went to in NYC was far better than the multiplexes here.

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