Local theater goes through complicated process to get movies

The smell of popcorn filled the Vermillion Coyote Twin Theater Friday night as movie watchers turned their attention to the big screen to see the first showing of “The Big Short.” What many of these movie goers didn’t know was the long process it took to get the movie from the studio to Vermillion.

Jason Theil, the interim executive director of the Vermillion Downtown Cultural Association (VDCA), is fairly new to the theater management business after only being on the job for a few weeks, but he’s quickly learning the ins and outs of the business.

Theil said in order to get movies to the theater, he has to order them multiple weeks in advance from a booker in Minneapolis. Then the theater is put on a waiting list depending on how well the movie studies believe a film will do. It is also essential that the video production equipment in the theater is installed and regularly inspected by a professional av technician and production company.

Cinemark, Carmike and Regal are what Theil describes as “the big dogs” which drive the movie market and get first dibs. When it comes to smaller movies, such as “The Big Short,” the companies don’t make as many prints or copies. Prints are hard drives that look like old VHS tapes. The studios then send the theaters electronic keys to unlock the movie.

“They only make a certain number of those prints and movie theaters like us don’t get them right away. That’s why ‘Joy’ came out at Christmas time and we just got done showing it. ‘The Big Short,’ again it’s been out for a few weeks, and we’re just now getting it,” Theil said.

In order to get a specific movie, the theater must agree to terms set by the movie studios.

“So if it’s a great big movie, like say Star Wars, Disney made a ton of copies so almost everybody got Star Wars. Now getting a movie like that comes with caveats,” Theil said.

These terms include everything from giving the studios a percentage of the ticket sales to promising to show the movie for a specified number of weeks.

“For a bigger movie, certainly they have bigger terms,” Theil said. “Say your terms are 50 percent and 1,000 people come and buy tickets, then you have to send the movie studios $500.”

Years ago theater managers would have to call the studio to tell them how many tickets had been sold. Now, everything is electronic, which allows for a digitalized report to be sent. It’s through this reporting system that box office numbers can be immediately reported.

What type of movies are shown at the theater depends solely on the discretion of Theil and others on the VDCA, and what movies they think will do well. So far Theil said he hasn’t received any complaints about the movies shown.

Junior Jared Nygaard was just one of a handful of USD students who went to see a movie Friday night. He said he and his friends choose the theater because of its accessibility.

“It’s local and it’s easier to get friends from Vermillion to movies rather than going to Sioux City or Sioux Falls,” he said.

Naveen Rokkam, a USD graduate student, said he thinks the theater does a good job of showing new and popular movies.

“I think the theater is good in the aspect of what they show,” he said. “The movies are good and the quality of audio system and everything is good.”

Rokkam said the reason he doesn’t travel to Sioux City of Sioux Falls to see a movie in a larger theater is because he likes the feeling of supporting a community-based business.

“It’s a feeling of developing our own community,” he said. “It’s like if we give back to the community, then the community will grow so more businesses will stay in Vermillion, which means more options for us so we don’t have to drive to Sioux Falls or Sioux City on a cold, windy night.”