State of The Moxie #4 - December 2005
Written by Dan
Well, I guess I've made you guys wait long enough... it's finally time to delve into our December numbers. I know it was barely two months ago, but December seems like a far gone memory in the mind of The Moxie, especially since February is trying hard to steal away the title of "Worst Month Ever." Unlike February, however, December had all kinds of excuses for being a terrible month: students were studying for finals then heading out of town, people were broke from holiday shopping, everyone was rushing around. We did, however, sell a TON of gift certificates. In fact, during the third week of December our gift certificate sales surpassed our gross ticket and concession sales... COMBINED! Pretty impressive, eh? Well, it won't be after you see the numbers we posted that week.
Ok, enough of my yakkin'... let's jump right in, shall we:
Week 11 - November 30 - December 6
Movies: JUNEBUG and MIRRORMASK
We: 44 (75 goal) = -31
Th: 16 (75 goal) = -59
Fr: 92 (100 goal) = -8
Sa: 98 (100 goal) = -2
Su: 56 (75 goal) = -19
Mo: 75 (75 goal) = 0
Tu: 34 (75 goal) = -41
Week: 415 (575 goal)
We immediately knew something was wrong when we noticed that JUNEBUG was having a hard time bringing in more than 10 people per show. JUNEBUG was supposed to be one of our crowning gems of the month, along with THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, but no one was coming. Despite all the requests we had, despite all the awards buzz, despite the glowing reviews, no one came to see this wonderful movie. Surprisingly, MIRRORMASK carried this entire week with a respectable 25 people per show average. JUNEBUG limped through with an average of 11 people per show, including TWO shows where no one showed up at all. Shame on everyone who missed JUNEBUG. Shame on you! Myself included.
Week 12 - December 7 - December 13
Movies: HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, 2046, and THE BEARDED CHILD FILM FESTIVAL
We: 35 (75 goal) = -40
Th: 13 (75 goal) = -62
Fr: 103 (100 goal) = +3
Sa: 77 (100 goal) = -23
Su: 42 (75 goal) = -33
Mo: 64 (75 goal) = -11
Tu: 58 (75 goal) = -17
Week: 392 (575 goal)
The slippery slope of December continued with a paltry turnout for both HOWL'S and 2046. A few die-hard Miyazaki fans trickled in, but the majority of our audience stream had all but dried up. We were hoping that a family-friendly cartoon like HOWL'S would entice in a few new faces, but we wrong. This week marked our first visit below the 400 line in attendance, and the beginning of a practice we like to call "ALL PART-TIMERS STAY HOME WHILE DAN AND NICOLE TRY TO SALVAGE THEIR SINKING THEATER." Had it not been for THE BEARDED CHILD FILM FESTIVAL bringing in two decent crowds on Friday, we wouldn't have hit goal ONCE. As far as records go, the 13 people we received on Thursday (which had THREE shows, by the way) holds the record for the lowest attended day in our history. It was a fun week.
Week 13 - December 14 - December 20
Movies: THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL, WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE, THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL, and NEVER BEEN THAWED
We: 23 (75 goal) = -52
Th: 68 (75 goal) = -7
Fr: 30 (100 goal) = -70
Sa: 39 (125 goal) = -86
Su: 27 (75 goal) = -48
Mo: 94 (75 goal) = +19
Tu: 73 (75 goal) = -27
Week: 354 (625 goal)
Good ol' lucky week thirteen. It seriously makes me sick to my stomach when I think back on it. And if you think 354 people isn't that bad, wait until I subtract all the free tickets for the WAL-MART documentary! During the third week of December, we had 160 paying customers. Just stop for a minute and think about that. I seriously started wondering how much worse it could possibly get. Had people completely lost the urge to see good movies? The only way we could get people through our doors was to lure them in with free tickets, and even then it was difficult. I mean, we were showing FOUR different movies in the span of ONE week and this was the best we could do! I'm almost 100% certain that we'll be closed during this week in 2006. I can't even talk about it anymore. It makes me sick!
Week 14 - December 21 - December 27
Movies: THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL, NEVER BEEN THAWED, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, and A PIANO BY CHRISTMAS
We: 40 (100 goal) = -60
Th: 41 (50 goal) = -9
Fr: 151 (100 goal) = +51
Sa: 41 (75 goal) = -34
Su: Closed for Christmas
Mo: 81 (100 goal) = -19
Tu: 64 (75 goal) = -11
Week: 418 (500 goal)
Thank you END OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON! As soon as Christmas rolled up, our numbers immediately changed, which proves, at least for me, that Santa Claus really does exist. Thursday's numbers should've been stronger, but the projector coupling had other plans. Even still, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE did what no other movie could throughout the entire month of December: bring people in. A PIANO BY CHRISTMAS did incredibly well too, selling out its slot on the Friday before Christmas. Speaking of Christmas... it felt good to have another day off. Really, really good. We needed it after this month.
Week 15 - December 28 - January 3
Movies: THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and EL CRIMEN PERFECTO
We: 45 (75 goal) = -30
Th: 82 (75 goal) = +7
Fr: 94 (100 goal) = -6
Sa: 65 (75 goal) = -10
Su: 42 (75 goal) = -33
Mo: 75 (75 goal) = 0
Tu: 35 (75 goal) = -40
Week: 438 (550 goal)
Not much to talk about here. Our convalescence continued due in large part to the success and growing buzz over THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. I'd like to say that EL CRIMEN PERFECTO did incredibly well too, but it didn't (at least compared to THE SQUID). I, however, REALLY enjoyed it! And isn't The Moxie just a big Netflix for Nicole and I that we happen to share with the rest of Springfield? You see, even crappy months like December wind up with happy endings... (that would've been a great joke for November, when we actually played HAPPY ENDINGS). Unfortunately, I don't think February is going to change course this week... but you never know.
So, here's a title by title run-down of why most distributors think our theater is the lowest grossing single screen in the nation:
- JUNEBUG: 136 tickets over 12 shows (11 per show)
- MIRRORMASK: 279 tickets over 11 shows (25 per show)
- HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE: 188 tickets over 14 shows (13 per show)
- 2046: 117 tickets over 7 shows (17 per show)
- BEARDED CHILD FILM FESTIVAL: 87 tickets over 2 shows (44 per show)
- THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL: 113 tickets over 16 shows (7 per show)
- WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE: 194 tickets over 3 shows (65 per show)
- THE UNTOLD STORY OF EMMETT LOUIS TILL: 25 tickets over 5 shows (5 per show)
- NEVER BEEN THAWED: 64 tickets over 5 shows (13 per show)
- THE SQUID AND THE WHALE: 610 tickets over 29 shows (21 per show)
- EL CRIMEN PERFECTO: 129 tickets over 9 shows (14 per show)
And that's all there is to say about December, folks.