Inside B&B Theaters: The Business Behind the Big Screen in Topeka | Paul Farnsworth

Family-Owned Cinemas And Big Stakes

We're family owned, have been since 1924. You're the fifth largest theater brand in America. Yeah. That's amazing. They operate in the red probably eight, nine months out of the year.

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Meeting B&B’s Marketing Lead

What's up? Welcome to Topeka Insider. Today we've got Paul Farnsworth who made the new Marvel movie in the studio with the guy. He Greenland, the film. Yeah, he's well.

It's me first. I'll bring him in after.

Yeah. No, I'm just kidding. Uh regional director of media and content for BB Theaters. Come on, man. Thanks for being here. The big dog, BB Theaters in the house.

He's in charge of marketing the movies.

That's right. Super cool.

Yeah, so maybe just tell us what your role is. What do you do for BB? Sure, man. I work out of the corporate office of BB Theaters, which is in Liberty, Missouri, in the Kansas City Northland, so not too far from here. I've been with him now for almost 20 years. Wow, come on, guys. That's awesome. It is awesome, man. I don't know where how it happened or where the time goes, but I started as a theater manager in my hometown of Neosho, Missouri. Neosho? Yeah. Just south of the house. Is that On? Okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And uh was managed that location for a year and a half, then moved to our flagship location in the St. Louis suburbs in 2010. So I have a little bit of operational experience, but really found that I loved like talking about the movies, planning out sort of how the experience should be, which you can do to a limited degree, I think, as a as a manager. But they created a position for me in the corporate office. One thing led to another. I don't know if you guys remember Dickinson Theaters. They had kind of a big Kansas City regional presence.

I'm gonna nod in my head like, yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Paul. Yeah, yeah.

Bought Dickinson in 2014. Okay. And so our regional footprint doubled overnight. They created space in the corporate office for like new people. They're like, oh my gosh, we're big now. We need to kind of check some new boxes. And uh so I came in, joined the creative team, and now oversee communications for the company generally, which is like working with the press, the media, doing this kind of thing. Podcasts, let's go. Um, vendor relationships, studio relationships, the premier podcast in the area. Yeah, that's right. I don't say yes to just anything. Yeah. Um, but then also uh I oversee our content creation. So that's our social media presence and have a little videography team, and we just kind of have fun, do what we can to get butts and seats and talk about the magic of the movies. That's awesome, man.

We were just talking about that before we uh we hopped on air. So you were the one of the ones part of the team that uh ran the ad that you see before every movie at the end. I was about to ask that, yes. Magic at the movie that's got Paul's fingerprints on

What Family-Owned Changes

it.

It does. Well, and certainly we're family-owned, have been since 1924. So there's a lot of input from our ownership, which is as it should be. Uh, they're protective of the brand, and they kind of want that to be a visible part of our identity. You know, we're not a big uh swollen corporate entity. Yep. I mean, we kind of are, I guess. But at the end of the day, it's just a bunch of people who are have been in this business for generations and who really love it.

Well, you're doing a good job because I the one thing I take away from a B B theater, like I knew you were family owned.

Yeah.

You know, what that means and the details of it, I don't know, but it makes me feel good.

What's the how does being family owned compare to like an AMC regal? Like, what's the difference in how you run things? You talking about from an internal perspective? Sure, yeah, yeah.

Man, big question. I mean, I think at the end of the day, we don't have a board of directors. We're not accountable in the same like to investors in the same way or to shareholders, okay. Uh which uh makes us nimble, I think. It's probably the best answer. So, like the it's good and bad, you know, because decisions can be made at with the our family ownership over dinner some night. Yeah. And then on Monday they're like, hey, by the way, uh, this is changing, or we bought this location, or we're pivoting this direction. This is very fun, super dynamic. Um, but also they're really approachable. I mean, cool. It's it's it's an interesting situation. Our CEO is his name's Bob Bagby, he's third generation owner. He has four adult children. Whoa. Bobby, Brittany, and Brock. Whoa. Oh, wow. Who are all co-presidents. Okay. And so when I say that to some people, they're like, oh my gosh, how does that work? Do they fight all the time? They don't. Uh, it's a pretty remarkable arrangement. And so they kind of each oversee a division of the company, but really work hand in glove to kind of run the place. Um, and all their offices are right together. They have like a suite that's like their family meeting. This is gonna be like that uh is it HBO show, succession?

It has come up a time or two, man.

Fortunately, we're not quite to that point.

The family meetings start with the theme song of succession, yeah, yeah. The Roys. Yeah, exactly.

We're not quite that deep. Um, and I mean I I you kind of need to know sort of how who you've hitched your wagon to. I mean, it's it's a very specific kind of vibe. Yeah. And I think for some people they'd be like, man, I need I need the hierarchy, I need the structure, I need whatever. Uh I think those of us that have stayed the course for a long time, it's a really fun place to be. The ground is pretty great. Yeah.

How does uh just the how does breaking into a market uh with competitors like AMC, how does that work? Like, do you feel like you're you're the underdog trying to kind of break into that or are you guys pretty on equal grounds?

Yeah, I mean I think we all feel like that at BB. I don't even know if we are though anymore. Yeah. Uh we're the largest privately held. We're really the fifth largest overall. Wow.

You're the fifth largest theater brand in America. Yeah.

That's amazing. I think it's AMC, Regal, Cinemar, uh Marcus, and then uh Marcus, okay. And uh Marcus is Marcus is family owned, I think, but still not it's like there's a there's a public share, so I'm not exactly sure how that operates. Um anyway, uh what was the question? I totally spit. There's how we're meeting with them. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we we definitely lean into family ownership as a differentiator, right? And it's a huge part of our sort of introduction to the community. We got our start and still operate dozens of hometown theaters. I mean, small four, five, six screen locations that are still the bread and butter of the BB company. And so we're like, man, all we want to do is come in here and be the movie theater. I mean, we're not, it's not about like I don't, I I we want it to be spectacular and beautiful and appealing, but also homey and feel like our guests have ownership. Yeah. And so that's a big part of what we've we've tried to build out. You know, we want our locations to feel special and premier, but also like they have always kind of been there that they built this place.

The chairs definitely make it feel premiere. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't know if other theaters have gotten on board with the chairs, but for in my mind, B and B is like the only one that does that. Like it's just that's how it's in my brain. Keep feeling. You know, you know what I'm saying? Because were they guys the first ones, or maybe the first ones I think we were aggressive about

Recliners And Digital Projection Shift

it for sure.

Uh and there were two really two meaningful industry revolutions. Okay. Seating and projection. And that's within the last 10 or 15 years, like the conversion from 35 millimeter to digital. Right. So we're like, oh my gosh, we got to get on this. And that started with Avatar, of course, in 20, geez, when was that? 2012. 2012, maybe something, 11 or 12, yeah. Yeah, I think that's right. Because I would have been, I would have been in Neosho, like small theater, because I remember our digital projector was trucked in from Iola, Kansas. No way. Yeah, so it was like this big deal, like this brand new fancy thing. But the seating is is another one. Wow. Where it's like it's become sort of an expectation now, guests of like, oh, you have like you have those old rocker seats. I don't know. Yeah. Um, but we were really aggressive to try to get the whole circuit as as quick as close to converted as possible. Because it it limits, like you have less seats in in the theater, right? Sure. Yeah, it's it seems almost a little counterintuitive. Um I managed to build a theater in in Wildwood in St. Louis, and we opened with rockers and then converted to recliners a couple years later, and it reduced our seat count in the building by like 60%. Whoa. Like, how does this make any sense, you guys? Yeah. But I mean, occupancy rates with traditional seating were comparably low. Right. You're in filling in every seat. There aren't really bad seats anymore. People's overall experience is way higher. They feel like they're in luxury for sure.

You know, speaking of that, uh when BB was first coming to Topeka, and you know, it's being built, it's right there in you know what's now Wheatfield Village. You drive on the highway. I remember driving past it all the time and thinking, that's dumb. You know, we already have Regal. You know, this isn't gonna work. And, you know, I know nothing about nothing in the movie theater world, but I'm thinking this is this isn't gonna work. You know, I don't know what they're doing. We're too small of a town. We're too small of a town. There's no way, you know, this is gonna work. It's gonna be more expensive. And I was the first one to I remember saying it out loud and thinking, I was so wrong. When Regal and B B were still both going, I remember thinking, I'm not going to Regal. This is you know, this is Avengers. I'm gonna go to B B. You know, I'm gonna spend the buck. I'm going to B. Do this right. Yeah. And I don't think since B B has been in town, I ever I went back to Regal. Yeah. And now Regal's not here anymore. R I think.

Yeah. I think that's not an uncommon sort of initial sentiment. Uh we opened a big location in in Joplin a few years ago, and that was kind of it too. It's like, can this, does this city really need this? Because there was a big, it was a Hollywood theater that Regal had purchased. It was kind of dated. Yeah. And they're like, man, I don't know, can the community support this? But I feel like it's it serves as a reminder of what going to the movies is supposed to be. Yeah. Especially when the place that you've been going to hasn't been that well taken care of, neglected, or whatever. It's just a refresher that this is something special, but it's also a community thing. So it we've we really endeavor, and I think you know, we're sort of certainly graciated when our buildings become community, like hubs. People like, do this is a place to be.

Yeah.

And I think that you can achieve that when you build a nice building, you take care of it, you try to employ good people, and you allow your community to kind of have

COVID Shutdown And Staying Transparent

a voice in it.

Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about because you were on staff with B during COVID. Yeah. Talk to us a little bit about that. Uh what was that like?

Uh PTSD. It was super weird, man. Like it was weird for everybody. Like nobody knew what was gonna happen. Right. Uh it was the first time in B was well, okay, give you a little bit more context. Tell me, shut up if you guys like time goes over or whatever. Nope. But the company was founded officially in 1980, but really started in 1924 when this guy uh Elmer Bills Sr. bought a single screen theater in Salisbury. Long story, very, very short. There were two families, the Bills and Bagbeys. One owned a theater company in Kansas, one owned a theater company in Missouri. In 1980, Bob Bagby married Bridget Bills. Oh. And they formed B theaters. Okay, yeah. Uh, this is relevant because over the course, yeah, that's what B is. So over the course of that hundred years, we'd never had to shut down. Whoa. Never. I mean, there have been like um, you know, what do they call it? Uh, when the governor declares a state of emergency due to weather or whatever, we might shut a building down. But we're open on Christmas, we're open on New Year's Day, we're open on Thanksgiving. Wow. So COVID was like, we're not open for the first time ever. Crazy. So, and it was months. Yeah. Um they did incredible things. You know, I I've always kind of I've always really loved and respected the people I worked for. During that time, our owners were taking out like second and third mortgages on their personal homes to continue to pay our health insurance. So I was like, good people, yeah, let's stay the course. Yeah. So they they kept us around as long as we they could, but then they're like, hey, uh we gotta furlough you guys.

Yeah.

So everyone in our office, with the exception of like five or six people, started pulling unemployment. So, like, never in a million years. I was like on unemployment. It was it was crazy. Yeah. Um, and so we just kind of waited. A couple of important things happened during that time. The first was that we did not discontinue our communication with our guests online. We just kept stayed like super transparent. So I was making videos from my house, being like, Well, I still don't have a job officially, but I'm still making content from BB. I don't I don't have anything else to do. I was like building a chicken coop. I was like, I don't even know what is happening in my life. But it it created an incredibly strong relationship. Oh, that's cool. Of just like honesty. We started selling curbside popcorn. I know. We could do that. Yeah. People were buying gift cards. Yep. They're like, I can't use it. Um, but here. Right. Like, does this help? Yeah. So they're like, maybe I'll use it if we ever come out of this thing.

Can Paul go get a job again?

So that was great. And and continues, I think, to pay dividends. The fact that we didn't cut anybody off, we were really honest about how we were feeling and like how hopeful we were that we would come out of it. But then also our corporate office, we we continue to answer the phones. Yeah. So during that time, a lot of mom and pop theaters were going under. Sure. And bigger chains were also taking the an opportunity to get out of bad leases.

Yep.

So these like building owners or bankers were left with theaters and no one to operate them. So they presumably were like, I guess let's call AMC. I guess let's call Regal. I guess let's call Cinemark. Nobody's answering the phone. So, but we did. And they're like, Will you come in and run this building? This is the deal that never in a million years would make sense for anyone to offer to a theater company. Will you please come do it? We're like, sure. So we were the only top 10 theater company that grew during COVID. No way. We acquired like a dozen locations. Right. That's crazy. So now we're like pretty well positioned coming out of it. Uh, still kind of writing some of the sweetheart deals that I mean, it sounds exploitative, but I mean it was like they called you. They called us and they're like, Will you please do this? And we did. So you're not like loan sharking, like calling like hey man, man. Integrity is a core value. And I say that with I mean it's for real. Yeah, we don't want to take advantage of people. But it stretched us really thin. Yep. Sure. Um when when things became nor more normal again, we were like, oh my gosh, can we can we actually do this? So like our ops had to really tighten the screws, but we discovered how to operate super lean and really responsibly. And so now that things are better, I think we're we're about as strong as we've ever been. Wow.

Yeah.

Wow.

Can I ask about the timeline? Like, so yeah, is the main company's headquartered in St. Louis? No, we're in Liberty. Oh. Why did I hear St. Louis? That's where that's where I was for a while. Managing it. Okay, yeah, yeah. Okay. So uh how many locations do you have now? 56. And how how spread out are those?

Well, we're we're fairly well centralized in the Midwest, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, uh, Iowa, Texas. But we are nationwide now. We have outliers in like Washington State, Florida on the East Coast. We have one um that'll be opening in Jersey at American Dream, which is like the sister facility of the Mall of America. Okay, yeah. So we're kind of all over. That's cool.

Uh it is. What does it take just relationally to run locations so far away?

Yeah. Yeah, trust. Yeah. Um, we have district managers who are like, well, I guess I'm flying to Airway Heights, Washington for a week. But uh open communication, we try to have, I mean, we have all company calls almost every week. Just really open dialogue with managers, and then I think empowering them with autonomy to just do their thing.

Studio Rules And Marketing No-Gos

Yeah.

Um, that's a good question. How do you manage the line between the excellence of what you want your brand to look like and the flexibility of a manager to do what he thinks is best in that location? I don't know.

Uh it's a it's an ongoing conversation. Because man, the bigger the company has gotten, I think the more protective we are of our brand. You know, we we have 56 Facebook pages. Wow, yeah. And 56 random chances, something crazy. We were like, it would be great if a local manager could post on all these pages, but we're like, man, I just don't know that we can keep a handle on that. Right. Yeah. So we took a lot of that stuff in-house, but also there's greater scrutiny on us from from studios. Sure. I mean, they're they're watching us in ways that they, you know, they didn't care when we were. Because you're a top five, top ten, yeah. When we were the 30th largest, they're like, whatever, if the show times are wrong, fine.

You mean scrutiny as far as like what you're putting out advertising these movies?

Yeah, I mean, they're protective of their IP justifiably. And so the way that it's talked about or represented, I mean, they're paying attention because like Disney is paying attention. Hey, man, how are you gonna handle Mario? We get millions of eyeballs on the stuff that we make, and if it's not in line with their brand or with their promotional efforts, they're like, uh, you you can't do that. Yeah. And so we have alignment calls with them all the time. Oh, really? Oh my gosh, for sure. Yeah. Well, most of the time they're trying to get out in front of it. Can you so like you know, Doomsday's coming out? Here's a thousand things you can't do, which is helpful. Yeah. Um, but also, you know, we're kind of really trying to promote this aspect of it. What can you do to strengthen this part of the promotional life?

If you could tell us what's an example of something you put out and they were like, no, you didn't do that right.

We don't like that. We don't like that. Yeah. That's pretty easy.

Okay.

Um, we had a super fun idea to for Deadpool and Wolverine to recreate like iconic sort of Americana as Deadpool. Uh-huh. And so, like, we we replicated uh what was the name of that magazine? The Kim Kardashian cover where she's got like the Coke bottle. I don't know if you remember this image. The Coke's like shooting over her body and like landing in a glass. Or it's champagne. We did it with Coke. Uh the Born of the USA cover. Oh, okay. Um the Janet Jackson Rolling Stone cover, like these sort of sure. You would recognize these images, even if I'm saying. And so I'm like, man, okay, if we ask Disney for this, they'll say no. Um, let's just do it. And then show them how to finish thing, and they're gonna be like, okay, cool. It's clear that you guys worked really hard on this. And that's not how we play it out. We did work really hard on it, though. And they're like, hard no. You you just can't do this. And sometimes it's uh the the talent, too, is like, I don't want to be represented, or I don't want like uh for Digger recently, that's a Warner Brothers title. Yeah, they're like Tom doesn't want anybody dressing up as his character. So that's like okay, well, we we won't do that then. Or sometimes they have preferences about food and beverage. Apparently, he doesn't drink alcohol. Oh so he was really particular about any like special promotional tie-ins for cocktails or whatever.

Is that a Scientology thing? It might be no alcohol? I don't know.

Yeah, interesting, or just to keep himself in like tip top stunted shape.

Can we talk about Digger for just a sec?

Yeah, man.

Digger, I saw I haven't seen it. Yeah, I've heard since it came out just online, people have said it's one of the most phenomenal movies, but the way they marketed it, like the way Warner Brothers like put things out, it was like so unclear what is this even about. And then everyone online was like, bro, like it's so much better than the way the trailers made it look, you know. Like, I don't know. Did that come through in the box office?

Everything you said is accurate. Okay, yeah. Um, and I like genuinely, it's not just because like I don't know who's gonna hear this. I I don't want to be critical of anybody's ideas. Sure. Because like, no, you never know, man, yeah, what's gonna what's gonna work. And so when they started promoting Digger, it was esoteric and uh sort of sneaky. Yes, like you almost don't know what this is. Yes, and then there was a rumor that it was a musical, no, like and that they didn't want to admit that because like the Timothy Chalamet Wonka, right? They were like, no, it's not a musical, like it's not real. It totally was.

So there's Wait, Digger was a musical?

No, no, no, oh yeah, Wonka was, but they didn't promote it as one because they it's like they're afraid that people don't want musicals or something. Yeah, so there was kind of this ambiguity surrounding it that was kind of like crowdfunded of people like, what even is this? Yeah, and I I will say like it's harder to get audiences to take a risk at the theater now. Okay, yeah, yeah. It's it's a little bit price prohibitive. I mean, I'll be honest, man. Like, people can't gamble 50 bucks or whatever on a movie that they might that they don't know anything about. Right. And so it was funny watching Warner Brothers pivot after that first week of Diggle. Really? Because their their promotional tact completely changed. Like some of the some of the comments from critics or whatever were like, this is an incredible piece of cinema, everybody has to see this. And the other ones were like, do not watch this movie. And they they put both of that stuff, those comments, into their thing. It's like a polarizing thing, you love it or you hate it. Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, I thought it was great. Yeah. And um, what's the the director? Uh Alejandro um inoritu, I think, is how you say his last name. Directed The Revenant, yeah, directed Birdman. Yeah. I love those two movies. Those very artistic movies, yeah. And so it's a style that I'm really down for. Yeah. But I think a lot of the criticism to kind of put a bow on it was like everybody's claiming they're clamoring for original films, and then they get one and they're all hanging on.

So it's like, man, the the public is fickle. It is so true. People are like, we don't want another remake, but then they don't go see a really like edgy artistic film.

Right. And this is that's so funny. The the burden, the cross that we have to bear is like we don't have anything to do with these movies. Right. Right. But we are completely subject to the public's perception of them. Oh, right. So it's like if they've decided that a movie is going to be Hit great for us, like Obsession. Yeah, yeah. You know, like when Obsession came out, our film buyer, who's like a little bit younger than I am, he was like, Bro, this movie's gonna be it. He's like best movie, he's like the best movie I've seen this year so far. And our old an older generation of film buyer was like, What are you talking about, man? Like, what are you talking about? Yeah, and of course it became this huge thing. But so we have to pivot in real time. Like, can we get more screens? How do we make this work? Oh, and then the kind of inverse of that is when a movie that we're expecting to be huge doesn't deliver, we got to figure out how to deal with that too. Right.

So obviously this wouldn't happen, but if Doomsday didn't, then you'd be like, Oh, take it from six to one theater or something like that. Like, uh, yeah, I guess. I mean, yeah. You just have to be flexible. I didn't think about how that works. So you have a film buyer who's like you have a Gen Z film buyer.

Film Buying, Terms, And Trailers

Yeah. Who just goes and checks out movies and says, Man, we need to get this one. Yeah, he's awesome. Um, and that's a lot of what he does every week.

He watches like four or five movies. That's a sick job. How do you get that job, right? Man, you say that, but like the the phone calls he has with the studios, because it's it's a fight over placement. So it's figuring out how many screens, which markets, how long it's gonna run. And then to a lesser degree, him and and our our program, like Brock Bagby, who oversees uh programming, has to negotiate film terms. So like the rental rates that we pay.

So like it's pretty cool when you get like early access, but man, it's cutthroat too. Okay, so it's not just art and film, and it's like, man, you gotta be business and savvy and politics.

Yeah. Like, do this, like play this, give us this extended run, and then we'll give you better rates down the line or whatever. And I like I'm talking out of my because I like this is not a world that I live in specifically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, not that I've been offered a job, but I would absolutely not take it. It's just like it's hairy.

Watching five movies a week is not worth it. So I can do that anyway.

Explain this to me because I think I'm understanding, but I'm sure there's maybe some people that aren't fully you have someone at BB who negotiates with like Disney on how many times this is going to be shown, uh, how long, you know, month-wise this is gonna be shown, and then you work out deals with them, and then you charge obviously ticket prices uh to the consumer.

Is that how that works? Yeah, more or less. We we don't own the movies, obviously. We we have to rent them. Yep. Um so they they'll charge us whatever. I mean, uh that depends on the studio, depends on the title, depends on the relationship with the film buyer. Gotcha. So they're they're and by film buyer, you mean you guys.

That's what that means.

Um you mean like the actual person. Could be both. I mean, with So if they really like your Gen Z film buyer, they'll give you a little discount. Maybe I don't know. I mean, I don't know that it's that granular.

Yeah, but I mean I think it kind of is. That's all I think. I think that's part that's true, I think, in any industry. Sure. And so it's in your best interest to get to know people, to to try to work. Suck up if it well, maybe to scratch backs, you know. Yeah, yeah. I think because it it it does happen downline where you'll be like, oh, remember we gave you guys an extra week on that independent title that you were trying to put some muscle behind, yeah, work with us on this, or don't slap our wrist for what X, Y, or Z. For our cool Deadpool ad uh Deadpool ads we made. Well, but it's all part of a bigger conversation, too. A lot of it has to do with trailer placements. So they're like, we want to make sure that we get Doomsday on every title for two months leading up to the release.

In the movies that are currently in the world. Yeah, so those are hotly contested spots also.

Is there a limit how many trailers get shown? Like, do you have a standard? Yeah, I mean, shoot, I don't even I don't know what it is. Um but I mean, probably honestly six to eight, it's a lot. Yeah. But the closer you get to showtime, the more premiere the spot. Right. So you want to get as many eyeballs as you can. Yeah. So that's part of it. We have uh some supplemental agreements too where we agree to create X amount of pieces of short form content to promote their title because we get you know eight million views across platforms, and so that's become part of the negotiation conversation as well. So it's cool to see a little bit of some of the weight coming from exhibition back toward studios and distribution because they've held all the cards for a long time, and it's it's it's fun to grow up and have a little bit of you know bargaining power at

IMAX Versus Grand Screen Reality

the table.

Well, before we maybe transition into December and what that's gonna look like for you guys, you just had a one of those surge months with the Odyssey.

Yeah.

And talk to us a little bit about that.

Spider Man helped too.

Yes, yes, it did. Uh did those come out in the same month?

Uh yeah.

Brand new day. Spider-Man may have held through Odyssey, I think. They're very close. Yeah, yeah.

Talk to us a little bit about the Odyssey. How many IMAX theaters does BB have? What does how does that play a role? Zero. Zero.

Yeah, okay. We can talk about this. Yeah, let's do it. Um, we have there are premium large formats, PLF screens. Uh IMAX is its own brand. Uh, but a lot of independent or even you know, large significant theater companies will create their own premium large format.

Okay.

Because then you have terrible. Or even better in some cases. I mean, IMAX is a is a format 70 millimeter film. Right. And so it's not necessarily about the size of the screen or the presentation. They do tend to be great. Yeah. Um, but in our own grand screens, in many cases, are larger than IMAX screens. Right. Really? The the projection, the audio rivals what you would find in an IMAX. It's just not that specific format. Sure. And so that created an interesting opportunity for us because the Odyssey was promoted so heavily as a must-see in IMAX. Right. And so we and other contemporaries of ours were like, man, how can we combat this? Right. Because it's not the only way to see the Odyssey. There are other ways that I that are just as good, in some cases better or preferable. Um, and so that was kind of part of that conversation. But at the end of the day, rising tide or whatever lifts all ships. I mean, it got so many people to the theater to experience an incredible movie in an incredible way. Yeah. And which is what we need. Um, Spider-Man was that, Top Gun Maverick was that. Yeah. It's like people who haven't been to the movie theater. Like, we had we had people show up and be like, oh, last time I was in movie theater was for Top Gun. I wouldn't miss this. Be like, bro, are you serious? Like, has it been 40 years? That's why for some people, I think they might have been like honest. So they didn't realize how much had changed. Yeah. And to see some something as spectacular as the Odyssey in that way, it was like a major win for the industry.

Okay, so now you got me, now you got me a whole new line of questions. Uh take the Topeka grand screen.

Are all your grand screens the same and across B and B or they No, they have to meet a s a certain size minimum.

Okay.

Um, but it's not based on seed count, it's based on screen size.

Okay. So what what is the Topeka grand screen? How does that compare to an IMAX screen? I don't know.

You don't know. And if I did know, I don't know that I'd want I don't know, like because I don't think all IMAX screens are the same size.

No, they're not.

Yeah. Uh because it's about the projection primarily. Is that it's 70 millimeter? The IMAX is, yeah, 70 millimeter film.

Because like uh what you just said about how you know they're very comparable, if not sometimes better. I wish I would have known. Yeah I didn't know that. Uh IMAX, I feel like, is maybe the name brand of I don't know, big screens. And so in my when I went to go see the Odyssey, I'm like, I want to go see it in IMAX. Sure. I'm like, I'm not gonna go see it at the grand screen. But if I wouldn't, if I would have known that, okay, they're they're very comparable, it's just a different, you know, name of the screen, that would have changed my perception a lot. Yeah. So I guess am I understanding that right?

That you know you are, and IMAX has done a great job. I mean, they're like the Kleenex or Tylenol or whatever. It's kind of like that means it's big. Exactly. And to be fair, their brand is great, man. I mean, they yeah, their presentation is great. I feel like, if nothing else, it has uh incentivized us and other operators to make sure that our premium large formats are good. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that if if we're saying this, be like, nah, come here, man. It's comparable to IMAX, people be like, I don't know that it is. We want, I mean, they have to be like, dude, you're totally right. Yep, yeah, you know, and that's really the experience because I mean it's a it's a it's working with another very, very particular, very demanding third-party provider. And so we've we've consciously not linked arms with them because it it affords us a ton of freedom in terms of what we book on our grant screens. We can we can play pretty much whatever movie we want there. Right.

If we're running it on the street, IMAX will partner with IMAX on a on a theater, yeah, and then you play what they tell you to play.

Yeah, exactly. For as long as they tell you to play it. Wow. And that's that's not a dig, man. That's just the nature of their model. Yeah. Um, but but by our operating outside of that, we have a lot more freedom from a programming standpoint. Yeah. Wow.

What uh so you said like the huge bumps you had were like um the Spider-Man Odyssey, you said uh Top Gun. What what were some of the other, in the last couple of years, major bumps in the theater world? Washburn University, a proud sponsor of your favorite podcast in the world, wants to keep its homegrown talent here at home.

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Box Office Bumps And Movie Moments

That's a great question. Uh, it's hard, it's hard to even remember off the top of my head. We, you know, we operate in the red probably eight, nine months out of the year. Yeah. And then like summer and holidays is like harvest time. Yeah. So it's a lot of what we're kind of looking forward to this December, November, December, are are ones where we know we're gonna get them. I'm trying to think of what he's doing.

How about this? What's what's the biggest one in your memory since you've worked at the theater? What was like the most like the biggest deal, like movie weekend or I mean probably probably endgame. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And and obviously it made a ton of money. Yeah. But like Avatar did too. Yeah. Yeah. But the vibe was different. I think maybe that's why I remember it is like it was just such a celebration. Yeah. And to have people just like losing their minds in appropriate, productive, communal ways. Like nothing got damaged. It wasn't like a soccer riot or whatever.

Dude, the way people cheered when all those portals opened and everybody walked through like losing their mind.

And people came back for endgame encore because they wanted to do that again. Yes. And that that was a huge testimonial to me because like you can watch that at home. Yeah. I've watched that movie with my son like a dozen times at my house. Yeah. But when you're in the theater, you're like, let's go. It's different. It feels better. People are really excited about it. I think another one that I guess kind of that just occurred to me that was sort of out of nowhere was the whole Minecraft thing.

Yeah. Yes, that is similar.

So people were cheering in the theaters for Well, and coming back to see it over and over and over again. Wow. So unexpected, like, but a very welcome, like, oh my gosh, we'll take it. And so, like, in real time, we're scrambling to figure out can we get more screens? Can we get more people? I think we stayed open later, like we had like midnight, one o'clock, two o'clock. Whoa. Just because we were selling out.

That's crazy. Is that something you can just do on the fly? Like, hey, let's add a few more next weekend.

I mean, yeah, we can open them up super easily from an operational standpoint, but then it's like communicating it out to people, make sure that they know. Yeah. So we we we do want to try and get in front of it. And I think for Doomsday, we are doing that. And for Dune, it's like you can watch this three-hour movie starting at two in the morning if you want. Yeah. Yeah. Like those days are behind me, man. I'll be pulling out asleep for like six hours. Okay, let's talk about that.

Preparing For Dune 3 And Doomsday

You've got a massive December coming up. It's December 18th. Yeah, right. December 18th, Dune 3. Doomsday is coming out, calling it Dune's Day. Dune's what it's being. Are you allowed to market it like that as the theater?

Hard no. No.

But you are on December. Dunes Day. Well, and that's what's crazy too. It's like, I listen, I get it, man. These are enormous companies. But like work together, guys. Make t-shirts, you know.

Wait, I have a great idea for marketing strategy. You get Paul Traides in some iconic Americana magazine covers. I think they would really go for it. That's right. We already have like half of the backdrops, bro.

So, what is the preparation for that look like? I mean, it's going to be a massive bump, holidays, two massive films.

What's going on? Right. Fortunately, we have Thanksgiving as sort of a runway, which is going to be busy, but not that kind of busy. I mean, we've got Hunger Games coming out over Thanksgiving. Oh, the movie. So that's like a movie. It's like a it's not a prequel. Well, it is. Oh, it's the middle. It's the Hamish one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sunrise on the Reaping. Oh, is that what it's called? Yeah. Okay. So like that'll be a great, hey guys, it's gonna be crazy. Yeah. This is sort of moderately crazy. Let's practice. Yeah. Well, yeah. And so a lot of it has to do with, I mean, our people are well trained, they're highly competent. We believe in them. But you still can get caught with your pants down. So it's like having appropriate uh payroll, like staffing appropriately, making sure you have stock.

Yeah.

It's like you run out of things, man. And it's like there's blood in the streets of like, oh, uh, we ran out of popcorn kernels, guys. Like, yeah, this is a problem.

Let's say, let's just say there's a run on popcorn, it's 8 p.m., they're halfway through the night. Where do they go get popcorn?

We have had DMs truck it in from other locations. Let's go. We've that's that's frankly kind of the ideal because then we know it's the same quality of product that we're popping elsewhere. Yeah. I mean, in a pinch, we've had to go to like Sam's. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and be like, we need 600 pounds of popcorn purple. Um which we don't like to do, but we have. Yeah. But also it's it's kind of like um staging your inventory, your concession buys. Yeah. Because our delivery guys, our our concession providers, if it's like every location is ordering 10 times what they normally do, they're like, Yeah, we can't meet this this week. Right. So we're like, how about you start preparing your inventory for for doomsday, for doomsday. Right. Uh four weeks early.

That makes sense. It's like, you know, it's gonna be busy, you know you're gonna need more. You can't do that to your inventory.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's also kind of prepping our guests. Like, get your tickets. This is coming. Maybe arrive early. It's gonna be different than when you come on a Wednesday night in October. It's kind of not gonna be a last-minute movie going experience. Yeah, yeah. And I think people who show up being like, I'll just give my tickets at the door, it might be tricky. Yeah.

Yeah.

Those things are on sale.

I've heard uh like some of the opening nights are all booked already.

Yeah, that's pretty much true. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, and that was another thing, too, that the Odyssey was really great for, is they put those IMAX tickets on sale. It was like a year early. Yeah. And sold out like immediately. And so whether or not you could get a ticket, you're like, I guess this is something. Yeah. Even if you're sort of tangentially aware of this movie, you're like, that's a thing that we need to be aware of. Right. Yeah.

My uh, my brother, he got married this summer, and I asked, we were I'm planning his bachelor party, and I asked him what he wanted to do. And keep in mind he's 19, very, very young for a bachelor party.

He's getting started early.

Yeah, getting started early. And so I'm asking him, like, hey, you know, what what's the vibe? What are we what are you what are you expecting out of this? What should we go do? So all of his buddies are 19 and 20 as well. He says, I'm gonna be honest. He goes, I just want to go see the Odyssey. He goes, if I do, if we do that for my bachelor party, he goes, everything else would be gravy. And so sure enough, yeah. I I booked IMAX tickets in Wichita. We went down, had an Airbnb down there. Oh, cool. Booked tickets three or four months in advance, got primetime seating for an IMAX showing on opening night. That's crazy. Made his bachelor party. There you go. It was pretty easy to plan. Yeah.

Well, Paul, I saw the Odyssey at the BB in Topeka, and it was way better than his stupid IMAX experience. Right. Thank you so much. That's so funny. Uh has anyone ever told you you look like a certain celebrity? I do get that sometimes, yeah. Which celebrity do you get? I get Ryan Reynolds occasionally. That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, yeah. Ryan Reynolds.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah.

That's a compliment. Yeah. I'd take that anyway.

You look like uh uh an older Danny DeVito, is kind of what you get. So yeah, I'll take it. Uh I I have heard often the comments are like bargain bin Ryan Reynolds, uh Timu. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I think it is, though, is like you know the Pokemon evolutions? Yeah. I think he's like my max form.

Yeah, you're working your way there.

Yeah.

That's a great way to say it. That's so December 18th. Uh gosh, that's interesting that you said, which I anyone that's you know in the business world whatsoever can kind of read through the lines, but you're in the red eight or nine months out of the year, and it's those big surges that make all the money. Um that just

Why Releases Should Spread Out

makes sense.

Yeah, well, it's it's it's honestly a little frustrating that that's the way it is. Yeah, you know, we have a trade organization called Cinema United. Used to be called NATO, the National Association of Theater Owners. That's hilarious. And they changed it to Cinema United. Uh largely because it's an international organization. But we're pushing theaters to release their titles throughout the year. Because they seemingly too are kind of locked into this tradition of pushing out the biggest titles during the summer and during the holiday season. But we were seeing constantly that when there's a good movie on screen, no matter when it's released, people show up to watch it. Yeah. Really? So if they would push movies out in January, February, sure, you know, August, October, that would be helpful for us and frankly for them. Yeah. But it's just it's a it's a hard thing to kind of break through with. Yeah, why don't they do that? Is it like an awards season thing? There's probably some of that. And and pressure. I mean, they want to own dates. Okay. And then there's probably some pride of like, well, then let's go to head head to head with Doomsday. Let's release Doom the same day. Let's see, let's let the guests decide. But I think there are a lot of people who are gonna see both of those movies. Right. But there are also a lot of people who have to budget to do. I mean, they budget to go out to eat, you know, going out to the movies is is a thing. It's a special occasion.

I gotta imagine if you're betting on families with kids, you're probably gonna win out. That's probably true, right? Like, what'd you say? Like Marvel is geared towards families with kids. Uh as a at a lie at a hard higher percentage than Dune is. Sure. Like my eight-year-old's not gonna go see Dune. Right. But we're probably gonna go see Doomsday. Yeah, you know. Yeah, I could see that. And that's a that's a big, I gotta imagine that's a big share of the market, is it particularly for us.

Yeah, uh, a lot of our demos are families.

Yeah.

You know, we're we're getting into larger sort of metropolitan areas, but so many of our locations are in, I mean, towns, like residential communities. So it's we do get a lot of families, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

All right, here's a question. What is in your career at B, um, what is the most underrated movie that like popped off that you're like, this was not supposed to be that good, or this was not supposed to do that well, but it was so much better. Yeah. Uh and think about it. I don't want to rush dancer here. Uh but maybe maybe looking back hindsight, it's like, yeah, that was awesome. I that was, you know, I know that's awesome, but when it was coming out, it wasn't supposed to be.

Yeah, I mean, I hate to say two of the ones I've kind of already mentioned, Minecraft and Obsession were both. Right, that's Minecraft, yeah. Yeah. And Minecraft we knew would be uh big. Sure. Like because like that's one of those, you're like, every kid, it's like a Roblox movie came out or whatever. Like, okay, cool, the millions of people are gonna see it. But just the way that it built up Steam. Obsession, though, is a better example because what was the stat? It was like the first movie since E.T. that made more money the second week than it did the first, right? And more money the third week than it did the second. No way. So, like, that was one that's like the social media response was yeah pushing it. It was the perfect storm because it was an original film, it was made by a YouTuber who was as surprised by its success as anybody else was. Like, I've seen it's like Troy Barker, he was like, he was like, dude, I'm famous in like Norway. People know who I am, yeah, all over the world. This is crazy. So it was just a great, like, I mean, that's like a Cinderella thing, man. Yeah. Like this kid who had like a dream and no budget. But I think that that came through in the in the film of just like we're doing this for the love of the game. Yeah. And it found this audience, but like that just doesn't happen. Wow. And so for a movie to make money like to crescendo over the course of its run, because another interesting thing is normally like the film rental that we pay goes down the longer we keep a movie on screen. So it's in our best interest. If a movie's still people are still coming to see it, if we can hold it for a third or fourth week, we might only be paying 30 or 40 percent film rental. So like if a movie's making more money but we're paying less, that's great. It's like such a magical thing. Yeah. You just want to replicate. Yeah. Um, but it's it there's always a movie like that, I feel like every year that's like, wow, this thing just kind of came out of nowhere. Wow, yeah. Uh what about the opposite?

Movie thought, man, this was gonna kill, and no one came to see it. Or, or, how about this? Not uh not necessarily heavily publicized, but what's a an underrated movie people should have seen, but no one did in the theaters. Does that make sense? Yeah. It's a good question. Like it, man, that was a great film. Maybe it wasn't marketed well, you know. Boy, that's a great question.

I I wish I had a great answer for it. Let me let me stew on it. Yeah, because there are there are those. And honestly, I feel like those are the kinds of movies that I tend to love. You know, yeah, yeah. It's like, man, this is I don't think anybody's not gonna make any money for us. Do you see?

Screenings, Junkets, And Early Access

I don't. I I used to when I I was a manager, especially during the days of 35mm, because we had to physically build them. Oh, yeah. Like we'd get film canisters, we'd have to assemble it, and then we'd screen it basically to make sure we put it together right. Yeah. Um, I'll go to trade screenings now because I I get to go to press junkets and like go to premieres and go to red carpets and stuff.

What's trade screening?

Um, they're hosted by the studios often for film buyers. So it's like, have a look at this movie to help inform you where you want to place it. Gotcha. Okay. Um and so if I know that I'm going to a junket or a carpet, I'll try to watch the movie at a screening ahead of time. Okay. Okay. Occasionally they'll they'll send out screeners, which is great. Um, because then if I'm on the road or whatever, I still get to watch it. It's not anywhere as good as watching it on the big screen, of course. But it is kind of awesome. You're like, you get like a screening link from Sony or whatever, and it's got like Paul Farnsworth printed across it for like copyright. So it's like, don't steal this or don't pirate it. But I'm like, I've made it, man. Like they're sending this screening with my own name. Oh no, no, no, I sure don't. And Disney even they're getting like we used to be able to watch, they're like, you can watch this movie like four hours early for your employees. Uh so like before the the day of its release, it would open at like you know, four in the morning. You can have a screening then, and then you're open to the public. They're not even doing that anymore. For movies like Doomsday, it's like no one's like we know someone's gonna see it.

Like, we don't care if you see it or not, yeah.

Well, and you we have to sign like NDAs and stuff, so it's like go like ruin all the stuff, man, all the spoilers. Go like uh what's his name? Tom Holland. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, shoot. I wonder how much of that is like staying. Just let him spill a little bit, because man, billions of people share that content. Yeah, that's so funny.

Favorite Films And Nolan Debates

Personal top three favorite films. I think I do have one for this. Ah, top three is tough. Off top of your brain. Top three, top five, whatever's easier. Rewatchability. So it's like if I come across this movie, am I going to watch it? So the matrix is there for me. Oh, for sure. Come on. Let's go. That's the right answer to that question. I mean, I saw that 1999, I was like 15. Yeah, yeah. I I watched it with my brother, who's two years older than I was. I was like, bro, I don't think I get it. Yeah. Which is crazy because it's not like that deep a concept. But whatever you're like, you know, but we went back and watched it over and over and over. I I dressed up for those premieres. My friends and I bought like the karate geese or whatever. We gotta dress up for this. So The Matrix is definitely up there. Jurassic Park, I think, is another perfect movie.

What do you think about the new ones?

The original is that. Oh, yeah. 1993 original. 1993, yeah. Um I love School of Rock, which is a weird out of nowhere, like left field call, but I just think it's like in infinitely quotable. I think every line is pretty funny, everybody's well cast.

Oh man. He's been asked this question before. You can tell. He had a he had those three locked and loaded. Yeah.

The first two are definites, though, for sure. Those movies are, they don't need any work, they're perfect the way they go.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Do you have a favorite movie? Do you have a favorite movie? I'm trying to think about what my number three would be. Uh my number one would be Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Wow. Have you seen that movie? For sure. Yeah. I love that movie. Yeah. It's a remake. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, there it's so different though. Um, like the original is not the same story at all. For sure. Um, well, I got it because my mom likes it. And so she uh Danny Kay is in the original. She loves Danny Kay. So I got she's like, this is not the same movie. No, yeah. Uh and then our family favorite is probably a Knight's Tale. Okay. Um Heath Ledger. Sure. A Night's Tale. Huh. Um, and then I don't know, number three. Personally, I love The Matrix.

Um, I have like personal deep cuts. Like, I love the never-ending story. Dude, yeah. I love it. I'm just a I'm a baby of the 80s. Like I love the Ninja Turtles movie. Yes. So like those are the live action one? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I level three of them, actually. But like, I mean, those are I wouldn't say those are like Mount Rushmore movies for me, but I do absolutely love them. Yeah. Man, yeah. I don't know.

What are your uh not probably not a great answer? Uh my number one is Locked in Stone, and it's the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Fair. Oh, that's great. Those are my favorite movies of all time. And I feel it's cheating.

You're counting that as one movie. Yeah, it's a cheat. It is one movie. Actually, my favorite is actually the Hobbit trilogy. No.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Lord of the Rings trilogy. And then I want to say anything, Christopher Nolan. I I'm a sucker for his movies. I love I love movies that I have to think on and uh favorite?

Nolan film. Okay, that's what I was gonna ask. Yeah. Um I certainly have maybe. Are you going Deep Cut or are you going to I might say Memento? I was gonna say, I thought you might say Memento. Memento's a great movie. And then probably Inception. Yeah, Inception Fire.

I think I'm gonna go, and it changes every day. It changes every day. I'm gonna go prestige. Prestige They're re-releasing that. I know, I saw that.

That movie's incredible.

That movie is fantastic.

Have you heard? I heard a theory in the comments of some video that I resonated so well. The the reason because I'm I've always been shocked by how many people have not seen The Prestige. Yeah, and it's such a good film, and the twist is so incredible. And the theory was basically like, hey, uh when you think Interstellar, you can hear the music of Interstellar, it is so intertwined with the plot and the the vibe of the film. Prestige doesn't have that. Prestige, you I could not tell you what the soundtrack sounds like. When I listen to it, it's not stuck in my brain for a couple hours afterward. And they said, if Prestige had something like that that matched and amplified the story with the soundtrack, maybe it would have been. I feel this, you know.

You can totally do that with Inception, you can do that with the Dark Knight. Dark Knight, yeah. Yep, yep.

Yeah, I watched the Prestige a couple nights ago, and I can't tell you the soundtrack. And I've seen it several times, no idea.

But Interstellar, Interstellar. Everybody knows the Interstellar soundtrack. Yep.

He's so good, man, because incredibly well written, obviously. Yes, incredibly well directed, incredibly well shot, but there's the performances too. Everybody's so great in all those movies. Yeah.

And how do you beat the top two leads in that movie together? Just what an incredible cast. What are we talking about? Prestige.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Well, and then like the side cast is like Michael Cain, David Bowie. Are you kidding me? Like incredible. Yeah.

Yeah, dude. Yeah, David Bowie, he gets slept on in that movie. Well, I remember watching it the first time. I was like, what? Like he just comes out of nowhere. Are there gonna be some puppets off to the side? Yeah.

Okay. One of the most complicated movies I've ever seen in my life. The Tenet. Christopher Nolan. Is it The Tenant? Is it the Tenant? What did you think about that movie?

Uh I have mixed feelings about that movie. Okay. Part of it is because of its the timing of its release. Oh, really? It was like COVID era. And it was like, this is the movie that's gonna pull everybody back to theaters. And it was like people weren't ready for it. Yeah. They're like, what? I feel like maybe if it was Inception, maybe it would have been. Maybe, but they're like, I'm they're like, I'm tired and I don't I can't think of anything. And you're asking me, you're asking so much of me. Right. Because that is a demanding movie.

It's so you can't check out at all.

I watched it on a plane not that long ago because I hadn't seen it in a while. And I was like, oh, right, there's like an art heist component. I'm like, right, I need to know about this. You can't check out at all.

Yeah.

Do you feel like you get it?

Do you feel like you get the whole like backwards, forwards?

I feel like I want to. Yeah. You know?

I want to be smart enough to understand it.

And like I would never say that Nolan was kind of like high on his own supply a little bit. No, okay. No, but that was like kind of the thing though. Well, I think there was pressure because like coming out of Inception, he's like, How can I ramp this up? Yeah, yeah. Interstellar, cool. Like, let's introduce some black holes and like that makes some sense. And he's like, How can I, what can I? Oh, let's go backwards. We need to go forward and backward at the same time. Yeah. I think I can figure out how to do that. And to his credit, he kind of did. Yeah, he did truly remarkable. But I mean, part of I want to enjoy an experience too. Yeah. And not feel like an idiot. And I think when I watched Tenant, I was like, dude, am I stupid? Yeah. That was just what it did to me.

That movie is so funny. So I I turned on uh the movie one night, and my wife's sitting there and said, Hey, do you want to watch this movie with me? My wife, not a big movie junkie, you know, especially one that's gonna require you to be off your phone. Yeah, and so I I push pause before it even starts and said, Hey, this movie's complicated. I know it. I haven't seen it. If you're gonna watch this with me, you gotta watch it. Right. And she goes, I'm in. I'm gonna need a commitment as well. Yes, exactly. She goes, I'm in, no problem. Push play. Ten minutes in, she just gets up and leaves. She goes, I'm lost. I'm done. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna give it a still give it a go. And I watched it and then I walk uh made it all the way through. And like any good Nolan movie, you watched again. Sure. Yeah, and I started it over and I watched about same day. Same day, same like right there. Like at mid at midnight, at midnight, I'm watching it again. And I ran it back and watched about half of it. And I'm like, I think I understand it now.

I think I did go see it in the theater with a buddy. Oh wow. But then the next night, uh, it was just me and a friend. So then the next night, my I did the same thing. It was me and my wife. I watched it two nights in a row. She fell asleep, and I watched it again, and I still was like, I think I get it. I want to get it. I want to get it. I don't think I really get it.

I think I just don't want to admit I'm stupid. I know.

There's a lot to track. But there are there are good movies that ride the line that are very intelligent and they require a lot of you, but you do feel smarter at the end. It's the opposite. Yeah. You feel like, I think I got it, you know? Yeah. They're enriching in some way. Yeah. It's like, oh, I figured it out. And you feel like you're really smart, you know, at the end of it. Sure. Yeah.

Snacks, Bad Behavior, And 3D

Well, do we want to transition to some movie theater rapid fire? Sure. Uh boy. We don't have these. Usually we have some Topeka rapid fires planned, but you're not from Topeka, you're from Liberty. So we're going to go movie theater. Favorite movie theater snack. What is the go-to?

I mean, like, I gotta get popcorn, of course. Okay. I'm gonna say, though, Mike and Ice. Mike and Ike. Just because they remind me of a bygone era. That was my candy of choice as a child. Yeah.

I'm gonna like it. Are you a guy who puts candy in your popcorn? I'm not. Yeah. I put hot tamali's my popcorn. That's what that's the go- the go-to. People tell me about it. Yeah, people do that.

People I've seen it all. Yeah. People put nacho cheese on their popcorn. Ew. Which is crazy. That's crazy.

Okay. Most uh, how do I ask this? Worst movie attendee behavior in a BB you've ever heard of.

Well. I mean, most anything that you can think of happening in a theater has happened.

What about over the course of my not maybe the obvious, you know, something not R-rated.

Yeah. But just like, man, that was crazy. What was that guy thinking? We have had a man, I don't even know. I don't want to suggest that this is a common occurrence. But somebody hacked off an armrest with some kind of large bladed. They brought a katana and like a machete or something. Because it was like cheered off.

So Bro, do you send in like employees to go get that guy? He's got a sword. No.

Um so yeah, I guess my answer would be people destroying things. Yeah, okay, yeah. That happens, cutting up seats and stuff. I'll never understand it. Yeah. That's crazy.

What I'm not gonna I'm not gonna ask you for a favorite, but what's a BB location that's unique, or if someone's traveling the country and they're happen to be in this city, you should go that you should really think about going there.

Oh my gosh. Well, we we operate the theater at the Mall of America, which is pretty awesome. I mean, I'd never been there until we opened that theater, and I was like, is it just like a big mall? And they're like, Yeah, but it's kind of awesome. And it is kind of awesome. If you haven't I've never been. It's cool, man. There's like an amusement park in the mall, like a fair station. Yeah, Minneapolis. Yeah, okay. So that's a great one. Um our our current flagship is in Red Oak, Texas, which is a Dallas suburb. So we got like bowling alley there, huge arcade, huge kitchen, pickleball courts.

Yeah. Wow.

Every way that you can watch a movie at any B is all in that building, along with some that are exclusive to that place. Yeah. So that's pretty rad. What's like an exclusive thing that only they have? Um we have one called HDR by Barco. So it's high definition or high dynamic range, so it's like ramped up, super high contrast laser projection. Okay. Yeah. Which is really, really remarkable. That's cool. Um, really noticeable, especially in like animated titles. Yeah. Where just like real functionally, the the most noticeable difference is instead of like blacks being an absence of light, it projects like a dark color. Interesting. And so they have like OLED TVs that are kind of similar. Right. Um, so you just notice, man, it's super crispy and really bright. That's very cool.

What uh what was the thought on the there? Our theater has a lounge, like a bar and live music. Yeah, live music there. How many BB theaters have that?

Uh, probably, probably a dozen. I mean, part of it is just sort of this endeavor to make the place like always something happening there.

Yeah.

And so, and I like to be, you don't have to pay or whatever. You just go and like listen to music, and it's kind of there by the bar, or like sometimes there'll be a game on on the TVs in there. We've hosted trivia and stuff. We do bingo nights in these spaces. It's free to play. It's just kind of like show up, man. This is kind of the place to be. And I mean, we leverage those opportunities to be like, by the way, since you're here, yeah, get your tickets for Doomsday. Yeah, um, but part of it is just, yeah, like we have the space, it's an attractive venue. And if there's not another spot close by, we're like, ah, let's try to fill that void as well.

The live music makes it, it almost elevates the experience. It feels pretty.

It feels like this, you know, this is you walk out of a theater and there's someone playing live, like blues guitar or something, yeah. Dude, I'm fancy. Yep, absolutely. That's exactly what it is.

Well, and like, you know, in cities like Liberty, because we have a a place at Johnny's, which is like our jazz bar kind of adjacent to the theater, or Topeka, there are artists who are looking for places to play. Yeah, and so it's cool, kind of be like, hey man, like we're here for that too, like to support that community. That's awesome.

What's your opinion on 3D movies?

Um I think I'm generally a fan. Okay. It it depends. I feel like, man, that that's just up and down, like what a secular uh model kind of within the industry. I think that avatar was a huge thing. Uh it reminded people that there's something new and special about it. And then what that led to was like retrofit conversions. Right. So people were like, oh, like let's take this existing movie and make it 3D. And then people were like, wait, this isn't good. Yeah. And it it wasn't good. Yeah. And it was also really dark.

Yeah.

Because the technology at that point required that a screen roll in front of the lens to create the 3D effect, which reduced uh the like potency of the bulb, right? So we had this high with Avatar and then this dip again. It's coming back again, largely, frankly, because of James Cameron. He's just like insistent that it is the best way, and he keeps funneling all of his like life and resources into that technology. It's it's pretty, it's pretty cool, man. Like they did re-release Terminator 2 in 3D, which is I I love that movie too. Yeah. And so I went and watched it, I was like, this is freaking awesome. That's awesome. And like, especially when it's done right, watching a movie that you already love for the first time in 3D, it was sick, man. Yeah. So for me, it's situational, it needs to be the right tech on the right title. And then I think then I think it is an additive thing. Otherwise, I don't. I try to, I kind of gravitate more toward the conventional presentation. That's great. Yeah. Well, man, this is incredible. Thank you so much. It was fun.

So fun. Yeah. Uh, maybe final question. Do you have your tickets for Doomsday already? Do you know what I don't? Unbelievably. He's gonna get that employee.

I am, I am hoping. He's got it in his email. Can you pull it up?

Can we just watch it on your phone? On my phone. Yeah, that'd be great. So funny. Paul, thanks for being here.

We got tickets for you guys. Give them away at a couple of things. Okay.

We'll do a big giveaway. So this will come out leading up to doomsday, and yeah, dude. We'll do a big giveaway. Yeah, that'll be so awesome. Thanks, Paul. Thanks for being back, guys. My pleasure. See you in the movies.