By
Benjamin Kim
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Movies to be shown less often this year due to lose
After losing $44,000 last year, the University Activities Board films committee will show movies less frequently while increasing the advertisements for the films they will show.
UAB has shown movies at the Social Sciences building, Room 100, since Gallagher Theatre was demolished as a part of the construction of a new Memorial Student Union last year.
Fewer people went to the movies when the showings were switched to the classroom building, causing the $44,000 debt, said Mindy Griffith, senior coordinator of campus activities.
Each second-run film UAB shows costs between $800 to $1,000, Griffith said.
UAB was not able to regain the costs of these movies mostly because of the lower ticket sales and the inability to sell concession products, Griffith said. When movies were shown at Gallagher, revenues typically matched the costs of showing those movies.
"It's been a tougher sell because it's not as convenient as being in the main student union," said Dan Adams, student union director. "(Social Sciences 100) doesn't have quite the same feel."
The committee does receive money from outside sponsors, but they receive most of their funding through the Student Union and from ticket purchases, said Brendan O'Connell, UAB films chairman.
"Part of the issue last year was trying to get students to go to an academic building, which a more sterile setting," Adams said.
The committee decided to show less second-run movies but more sneak previews because of the loss, Griffith said.
UAB is showing a sneak preview of a re-released version of "Spinal Tap" tomorrow at 8 p.m. in Social Sciences 100.
In the past, films have been shown on Wednesdays through Fridays every week, but this year the committee hopes to show movies about every other week, O'Connell said.
"All in all, it was a pretty rough transition," O'Connell said. "(Students) knew about the films committee and that they were showing movies on campus, but they just didn't know where.
"After Gallagher closed down, a lot of people thought that it was the end of showing films on campus," O'Connell said. "So we didn't get the amount of people that we needed to continue showing movies every week."
Changing the location to a classroom created additional advertising expenses. "When the movies were shown at Gallagher, you pretty much had the marquee, and we didn't do a lot of outside advertising," Griffith said.
O'Connell hopes to publicize the films more this year to increase the turnout.
Generally, sneak previews drew the largest audiences to movies such as "American Beauty," but because these movies were free to students, they were not successful money-makers.
Another possible reason for the low turnout could be the change in setting and atmosphere.
"Going from a nice theater with a really nice sound system to an auditorium, you lose a lot of ambiance," O'Connell said.
A multi-purpose room complete with top-quality sound and projection will be able to show movies once construction is completed by fall 2002, Adams said.
"We're designing the new multi-purpose room in such a way so that it's a lot more flexible than Gallagher ever was," Adams said.
The sound system at Gallagher Theatre may have been adequate for movies, but it was insufficient for other uses such as hosting speakers, Adams said.
The room, which will seat up to 350 people, will be built as part of phase two of the Memorial Student Union construction. This second phase of construction will begin in March 2001, Adams said.
