Comedy keeps movie theater owners smiling
The slump in business for local movie theaters is no laughing matter - unless, of course, you happen to be in the audience.
To combat flat ticket sales, the Showcase Cinemas in Randolph has added a comedy night to its menu of attractions. The Thursday evening "Stand-up Showcase" features four comics performing a 100-minute show. The first was held in a 180-seat auditorium in the theater May 15, and the series is expected to continue every Thursday night.
Comedy joins other innovations as regional cinema evolves. There are high-definition telecasts of Red Sox or Celtics games, and even performances of the Metropolitan Opera. It's part of adapting to a new economic reality.
Ticket sales at North American movie theaters in 2007 totaled $9.6 billion, a $500 million increase over the previous year, based on numbers provided by the National Association of Theatre Owners, an industry tracker. But attendance was flat, after a narrow increase in 2006 and three previous years of sharp declines.
Movie fans bought about 1.4 billion tickets last year, according to the association. The best of the last 10 years was 2002, when moviegoers bought about 1.6 billion tickets.
Randolph is among the first Showcase Cinemas to get a comedy show. It joins cinemas in Woburn, the Blackstone Valley 14 in Millbury, and the Showcase Cinemas in Buckland Hills, Conn., outside Hartford.
"This is part of [chief executive officer] Shari E. Redstone's goal of turning our 122 locations worldwide into community entertainment centers," said Wanda Whitson, a spokeswoman for Dedham-based National Amusements, which operates Showcase Cinemas worldwide.
Other local theaters, such as the Dedham Community Theater, also have experimented with comedy nights. But the Dedham theater did not continue live entertainment because it would have required the installation of a sprinkler system - prohibitively expensive in an 80-year-old building, said owner Paul McMurtry, a state representative.
Scott Bernstein, vice president of marketing for National Amusements, said his firm has led the way when it comes to offering alternative entertainment at theater complexes.
"We can't control the product that comes out of Hollywood and how many people that might attract to our theaters," he said. "But we can control the portfolio of other entertainment we offer."
Select Boston Red Sox games shown in HD on large screens have drawn 50,000 people to date. Bernstein said recreating the stadium experience with such things as hawkers in the aisles selling ballpark-style food has been an important part of the success. Two Boston Celtics game were also telecast this year on a test basis, and Bernstein said he expects more next year.
But perhaps the unlikeliest success story has been the telecasts of live performances of New York City's Metropolitan Opera. Four Met performances sold out in Randolph during the opera season, and attendance was strong at other sites.
"We had tremendous feedback on the opera," Bernstein said. "It's a passionate audience, and they demand quality."
David Murphy, executive secretary of the Randolph Board of Selectmen, said the board granted licenses for four comedy nights after positive feedback from some past live entertainment events, such as celebrity impersonators the Edwards Twins.
"From what we've heard, the live events have gone fairly well," Murphy said. "They were discussed by the board before granting these licenses."
He said the board recognizes Showcase Cinemas as an important taxpayer and employer and generally supports its efforts to expand its business.
National Amusements was granted a beer and wine license for the Randolph Showcase Cinemas in April of last year. Bernstein said the sale of alcoholic beverages was one of the reasons to restrict attendance at the comedy nights to those 21 and older.
Comics have not been asked to tone down their acts for suburban audiences, he said. It is "a true, live stand-up experience."
Rich Fahey can be reached at Faheywrite@yahoo.com.
