LookAtThisRhino

Definitely whenever we screen older blockbuster films like the original Star Wars trilogy. Not too many fans these days had the opportunity to see it on the big screen when it first came out, so it's such a treat to be able to see those older films again in their original format. What's cool is that our theatre is so old that it probably played all those same films when they originally screened! Thanks for the question :)

I'm actually only in my 20s - I started out as regular staff (serving popcorn, selling tickets) and worked my way up. What helped was just being casual. Because it's not a big chain theatre, the community is very attached to the place. It's important to ditch the corporate uniform-bearing smile and the "can I take your order" attitude and switch it out for just being yourself with the guests. A film enthusiast will keep returning if you're able to discuss their favourite film with them in detail while you're serving, so I suppose a healthy knowledge of film doesn't hurt :) Relating to the black and white management stuff, it's important to be able to deal with every situation under the sun. I won't go into the nitty gritty but we had a mentally ill guest have a severe breakdown in the theatre while we were putting through a very busy show. Everything turned out OK and they still come around sometimes, but it was definitely a management challenge. Thanks for the questions!

Very fresh. We usually start off a show with a fresh batch and make more through the show when we need it. It all gets tossed out at the end of the night so we never have day old popcorn. I hear some of the larger cinemas use day old popcorn though, gross!

The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn :)

I've PM'd you with some details! We play a little of everything, while trying to keep with our historical movie house roots. We play indie films, older films, as well as newer films. Just last weekend we played The Neverending Story on both Saturday and Sunday. A couple months ago we did an 80s week. We also do a silent film festival once or twice a year with live piano accompaniment. On the flip side, we also play all the big blockbusters and a few of the lesser known ones, like Enemy or We Need to Talk About Kevin. Thanks for the question!