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SCHENECTADY
New theater draws large crowds
Movieland 2nd in attendance
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Movieland is consistently beating out all but one of the movie theaters in the Capital Region, coming in second only to Crossgates Mall’s 18-screen Regal Cinema, officials said Friday.
    It appears that Movieland will bring in more than 200,000 customers over the course of its first year. Attendance is so high that Movieland has become a victim of its own success — its lease is going up because so many customers are visiting the theater.
    Movieland’s lease contract specifies that it must pay more each year if attendance exceeds expectations. Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen confirmed Friday that Movieland’s attendance has triggered that provision, although he said the lease won’t go up until May, Movieland’s first anniversary.
    But officials from Bowtie Cinemas, which operates Movieland, aren’t complaining.
    “The theater has been a smashing success,” said Chief Operating Officer Joseph Masher.
    He’s been closely watching Movieland’s attendance figures in comparison to the AMC Theatres at Rotterdam Square mall and the Regal theaters in Latham, Clifton Park and East Greenbush. Usually, Movieland beats them all.
    “A lot of weekends, we are second,” Masher said.
    Crossgates is still the undisputed champion of the Capital Region. That’s no surprise — Masher said he never expected to beat the 18-screen theater on per-movie attendance, since Crossgates can place the same movie on several screens.
    But Masher said he also didn’t think the new cinema in Schenectady would immediately blow away the established six-screen theaters in Clifton Park, Latham, East Greenbush and Rotterdam.
    He was surprised when Movieland outdid everyone but Crossgates on its opening weekend eight months ago. More people saw “Shrek the Third” in Albany and Schenectady than anywhere else.
    “We expected to do well, but we didn’t know we’d do this well,” Masher said when the first weekend’s numbers came in.
    He’s thrilled that the success has continued since then, he said Friday. “We are performing very well against our competition.”
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    Gillen added that the figures indicate M ovieland is holding its own against Crossgates on a screen-toscreen comparison.
    “They’re even giving Crossgates a run for their money,” he said. “But you can’t compare gross revenue from 18 screens to 6.”
    Movieland is required to share its attendance figures annually with Metroplex under its lease, although cinemas normally keep that data secret. Attendance figures are used to negotiate for better lease rates on new films, and since cinema companies are negotiating against each other, they try to hide their data from their competitors.
    Bowtie Cinemas is a relatively small company, which means it can end up paying more than Regal for the same movies. Given the competition issue, Masher said, he would not publicly disclose movieby-movie attendance.
    Gillen, who has the figures, said he would respect Masher’s privacy. But before he received the figures on Friday, he said he’d expected the theater to bring in about 3,800 patrons a week, or roughly 200,000 people a year. That’s an average of 22 people per show, although the average is skewed because evening and weekend shows draw bigger crowds than the morning shows. Still, Gillen said he would be pleased by a report of 3,800 patrons a week.
“That would be an excellent performance,” he said. “For six screens, in a new theater, that would be great numbers.”
Once he got the figures, he would only say that Movieland is doing better than he’d hoped.
“I have the numbers in front of me. They are good,” he said. “The cinema is exceeding expectations.”
    He added that previous reports from Proctors officials, who estimated the cinema brought in 2,000 patrons a week, were incorrect. It’s possible those reports were referring to weekends only.
    There is one bit of disappointing news from Movieland. Independent films aren’t doing as well as some enthusiasts had hoped.
    “They’ve performed fairly,” Masher said, adding later, “They perform as well as they do elsewhere.”
    Still, he’s going to keep sending independent films to Schenectady. “There Will Be Blood” will be showing there soon.
    “Bowtie always employs a mix of product,” he said.
    But some of the independent movies are just too expensive for Bowtie to get, Gillen said.
    “They bid on stuff and they sometimes don’t win it,” Gillen said.
ANA N. ZANGRONIZ/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER
From left, Kent Molino, his wife Carol, Nora Molino, 8, Katelyn Woolley, 8, Tim Molino, 11, and Danny Goldfaro, 11, of Niskayuna, start snacking before heading in to see “National Treasure” Friday afternoon at Movieland in Schenectady.

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That’s an average of 22 people per show, although the average is skewed because evening and weekend shows draw bigger crowds than the morning shows.

22 people per show?  How can a cinema be profitable with such LOW attendance?

Well, i guess it's because it only takes one person to start the projector.  I don't see how a movie theater COULDN'T make money.  I just love the fact that Schenectady put the screws to Bowtie, whereas if they are a success, they have to pay up an additional amount.  Whoever heard of such a thing?  That would be enough for me to not bring my business anywhere, reading that in a contract.

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Movieland’s lease contract specifies that it must pay more each year if attendance exceeds expectations. Metroplex Development Authority Chairman Ray Gillen confirmed Friday that Movieland’s attendance has triggered that provision, although he said the lease won’t go up until May, Movieland’s first anniversary.

Congratulations, Bowtie, you're a success.  What are you going to do now?  Well, we can't afford to go to Disneyland, e need to pay Metroplex more now.

I can't believe they'd lie about the amount of customers the movie theater actually attracts. But somethings just don't seem to add up. 22 customers/day is nothing to write home about. Perhaps that is the average. But I'm sure those numbers will change once the theater opens at Colonie Center.

The two blocks of State Street created by the Metroplex are going to have to do a bit better than it has on stepping things up, since most people go to Colonie these days. Almost everyone I talk to goes to Wolf Road/Colonie Center for their dinners and shopping. Not to mention that I did go down State Street the other day just to check it out. And I am NOT impressed in the least. The street is way too narrow. Where they came up with a two lane highway is beyond me. And still nothing down there to make me go. I mean I can eat and get drunk just about anywhere. And it wouldn't be down there!!

Oh well, so much for a return on our tax dollar.....

I think this is great news, actually.  I was odd-man out way back when this project started (and still apparently) and always believed it would be a good fit.

Patrons get free parking at the garage.  It's brand new stadium seating.  I'd much rather go downtown to see a movie and have dinner than travel to Colonie.

Actually, Bumble, that's 22 customers per SHOW, not day.  And they have, what, 6 screens, showing movies most of the time?  I guess it's ok, if you count empty matinees.

Point taken. That does sound a bit better.

And unlike Michael, I haven't been to the new theater and probably won't. I'm a 'buy the movie and watch it at home on my DVD' kind of person.