Posted on 10/07/2008 5:12:24 AM PDT by DogBarkTree
Mpower pictures and Vivendi are starting to hear complaints about sabotage of An American Carol by employees of theaters that are carrying the movie. So far, ten theaters have been implicated in outright fraud regarding this movie.
Obviously, the producers and distributors would like to get to the bottom of this and find out the extent of any fraud, but they need our help to determine whether the problem is systemic, or confined to a few theaters in a nationawide release.
What we know: in at least ten theaters nationwide, customers were sold tickets they were told were for An American Carol but turned out to be for other movies.
Obviously, this type of "error" sometimes requires collusion between employees--a way of marking the ticket so that you are sent to the correct theater, even though you've been sold the wrong ticket.
As the customer, you'd have to actually read your ticket to check and make sure you weren't an unwitting instrument of this fraud.
If you suspect that this might have happened when you went to see the movie, please go double-check your tickets. If they have the wrong movie title on them, please take a picture of them and send them to the investigative team at An American Carol: fraud -- AT -- AnAmericanCarol -- DOT -- com . Please place the original tickets in a safe place and fill out the info on the AAC fraud site. They may need your ticket as evidence.
For more details on the investigation of various types of fraud against/sabotage of this movie please monitor the AAC Fraud Site.
Here are some subtler things to be on the alert for, in terms of attempts to suppress viewership / the appearance of viewership / box office receipts for this film. If you have noticed these irregularities with the theatres in your area please fill in the form at the AAC Fraud site, and leave their investigative team details in the comments section.
Examples:
• The theater suggested that the movie was rated R (its true rating is PG-13);
• Posters for the film are not visible inside or outside the theater;
• An American Carol is not on the marquee, even though the movie is playing there;
• The film title not listed behind the clerk in the box office, so you have to ask if that movie is playing at that theater, never mind that you checked on the internet and called in advance (this actually happened to me);
• Showtimes are given on the theater's outgoing message machine for every movie playing except for An American Carol (this is also out of my personal experience: somehow the local four-plex only had showtimes listed on the phoneline for three movies . . . . hm);
• technical sabotage: image or focus issues, problems with sound, and the like.
Please check those tickets, check those movie houses where the movie is supposedly playing (but you have to ask about it if you want to see it), and document everything you can. Put those cell-phone cameras to use whenever possible.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Freedom of Speech - Ur doin’ it rong.
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They are getting ridiculous trying to figure out how 1700 theaters could only sell 3.8 million dollars....lol. Seriously, I have been to thousands of movies in my day and many times I have been given the wrong ticket for a different movie, but somehow I managed to get into the movie I wanted to see. Sometimes it is a lazy clerk, sometimes they did not print enough tickets for the movie I purchased, etc. I don’t recall conspiracy theories going on these other times. I seriously think this happens a lot.
Now there's a fine piece of perverted logic.
I'm sure Little Miss Atilla thinks she is quite the conservative as she rants about "all for one, and one for all".
We have a couple local bookstores that are always out of conservative author’s books too.
Do you relize that each theater owner is independent of the movie studios. I seriously don’t think 1700 theater owners decided to ruin this movie. I just don’t. Funny how all the movies had technical problems with sound and focus...could it be that the movie was poorly made?
Did you ever notice any of the other examples before?
We have a couple local bookstores that are always out of conservative author’s books too.
To me that sounds like good news for the authors. Many conservatives buying their books. I would hope as an author, they would be happy to hear this. I sincerely believe conservatives read more than liberals do and go to the bookstores more often.
The only example I have ever witnessed is that I was given a wrong ticket on occasion. I never question it because as long as I see the movie I want to see then I could care less about the ticket. None of the other examples I have witnessed. Perhaps a movie without a poster from time to time, but I can’t be 100 percent sure.
I hope that wasn’t me! LOL! I’m in Arizona.
Theaters sometimes sell tickets to “another” movie, because they get to keep more of the ticket price for that movie than for the one you are going to see. (It depends on how long the movie has been out on release.)
It’s not uncommon in the business (unfortunately).
And yes, movie makers have to keep track of that, otherwise they are the ones who lose money.
Do you know any theater owners? I do. They’re raging Libs.
Just as with the Print Media, the survival of the industry does not matter as long as oposition to the Glorious Red Dawn is squelched.
The theater owners have an agreement with the movie distributors to pay a share of ticket sales. If you are getting the wrong ticket it may be because the theater owner has to share $2 from the ticket you want but only $1 for the ticket they actually sold you.
No conspiracy just the usual fraud and greed.
I used to work at a movie theatre when I was a teenager. I don’t know if they can still do it - but there was a money-making scheme among workers at the theatre at that time. It was between the employee selling tickets out front & the usher tearing the ticket stubs when you go in.
They would sell two tickets to a couple, when given the two tickets to tear - the usher would just tear one of them in half & give the two pieces back to the couple. The usher would keep the other whole ticket & return it to the cashier to “sell” again. They would then split the proceeds of “their” ticket sales. The only thing they had to be careful of was not selling more tickets than there were seats available.
Probably "W"...
By dispensing the WRONG tickets for a given film, the theater owners can significantly REDUCE the box-office stats for that film, making the film appear far less popular that it actually is.
The box-office revenue to the distributor and production company is thereby also REDUCED.
No conspiracy??
We shall see.
The theatre owners must be behind this because around here all the theatre employees are teenagers, and not very bright teeangers at that.
Reports of these ticket swaps are nothing new here. Freepers also reported such at showings of ( IIRC ) “The Passion Of The Christ.” They're not accidents.
As alluded too the percentage of ticket sale revenue which the theater owner gets to keep will vary with the movie and with how long the movie has been out.
I am not sure what the current deals are;but in the past it was not uncommon for the distributors of blockbuster movies to keep 90-100% of ticket sales for the first two weeks and then in later weeks their percentage declines.
When we went, the ticket taker told us “We’re not seating for that movie.” I think it was an attempt at humor. However, during the film there was a large fly squished in the lens and was right in the middle of the large screen. A little annoying.
Spike Lee alleges this kind of stuff with his movies when they don’t do well.
I’m not saying it isn’t happening with American Carol, but there is a precedent.
To Naps—I saw the movie. There were no technical, sound or focus problems. But one thing that it was—was funny. Not only to me and my son, but also to my fellow theater mates.
I’m not sure there was a concerted attempt to hold the numbers down. My tickets were for the correct movie. Also, actual attendance can probably be gauged by taking the “take” and dividing it by average ticket price. Maybe there is someone out there who knows what that might be.
In any case, me thinks you protesteth too much.
I don’t think I had that problem here. However I use Fandango, so I never go to the boxoffice. I’m pretty sure I saw a marquee, though.
There are four theaters with in 10 miles of home, and all them were showing An Americal Carol. Granted, the larger cinemas had limited showtimes and in their smallest theater.
The longer a film plays at a given theater, the higher the percentage of the box office the theater owner gets. So, if the theater gives you a ticket for a film that’s been playing for three weeks instead of a ticket to this film that’s in it first week, the theater gets to keep more of the ticket price.
Plus, the rest of the ticket price is paid to the distributors of a different film than the one you thought you were buying the ticket for.
It doesn’t matter which film you actually see. It matters what film the ticket is for.
Huh?
We bought ours from one of those kiosks that dispense the ticket automatically so we got the right ticket.
Im also from the Easton area, owned by Les Wexner, republican and founder of Limited Brands so im assuming there is no shenanigans going on here.
I know of a group of about 40 persons who went to see Passion of the Christ and were given tickets to the Dirty Dancing sequel. The clerk came right out and told a couple of people that he "Would not sell any tickets to that Jesus movie." They spoke to a manager and were told that she'd take care of it.
I easily could believe that there could be some underground, internet driven monkeywrenching going on. I don't believe that the impact would be significant. But I am only guessing at the level of impact.
Okay ... Film making is private enterprise ... a capitalistic adventure if you will.
Since when is it all of our responsibility (" ... they need our help to determine whether the problem is systemic" ... bla, bla, bla) to ensure the theater is getting a square deal on ticket sales?
Can you hear me now?
Try # 37 Mr. Engineer.
Yes I can hear you. You’re coming in loud and stupid.
I loved Red Dawn. Patrick Swazye, mmm.
Yet another make believe conservative.
When you get done helping those film makers, stop by my place. My lawn needs mowing.
We go to a bookstore where the conservative books where there but you just couldn’t find them. One day I finally got mad and I followed the manager around chewing his ear off about it (loudly so everyone in the store heard me). Things have been better ever since.
Ah, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
I saw it Friday. The film broke four times and the audio was messed up. It was also out of focus.
I shall guess for whom the projectionist is voting.
I thought it was strange that AC was put in the last theatre on the left where movies usually go after the first rush of showings. It was on the marquee, and the tickets were okay, but I thought the location was a bit of a dis.
LOL The one we saw was in the last theater on the right.
The longer a film plays at a given theater, the higher the percentage of the box office the theater owner gets. So, if the theater gives you a ticket for a film that’s been playing for three weeks instead of a ticket to this film that’s in it first week, the theater gets to keep more of the ticket price.
That is a good point. Holy crap! lol.
In any case, me thinks you protesteth too much.
Could be. I have done so before. lol.
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