Students searching for an alternative to weekend nights on Rugby Road need look no further than the University's student movie theater, which now consistently offers blockbuster entertainment.
But the Newcomb Hall Theater was not always able to pay the big bucks to secure movies before they reached the video store.
This year, Cinematheque, the University Programs Council committee that runs the Newcomb Hall Theater, fought to increase its ability to provide a safe and entertaining way for students to spend their weekends.
After UPC budgeting processes, allocations to Cinematheque rose from $13,400 in 2000-2001 to $23,540 this year.
Cinematheque "had an off-year last year [2000-2001], so it was interesting going through the budgeting process this year," Cinematheque Chairman Mark Ulrich said.
The University currently allots $14 per student from the student activities fee to the UPC budget. This allotment totaled about $210,000 this year.
UPC's 10 committees then vie for a portion of that money, which is distributed based on how beneficial each program will be to the students. Cinematheque proved itself to be a powerhouse contender this year in the budgeting process.
"This was the first time in awhile that Cinematheque came in armed with statistics, like attendance numbers, and had drawn up a budget taking into account inflation, average movie prices, movie shipping, advertising, staffing and actual operating costs," Ulrich said.
Not only did the new budgeting attempt to reflect realistic expenses, but it also factored in the costs of procuring better quality blockbuster movies for the theater.
The premise was that, if the theater showed more attractive movies, attendance would increase, proving that Cinematheque was better serving the University community.
In response to the increased budget allocations, Cinematheque has been able to increase revenues from approximately $28,000 for the 1999-2000 academic year to this year's projection of $32,500.
Yet, attracting more moviegoers with better films does not come without a hefty price.
Expenses rose from $49,600 in 1999-2000 to a present estimate of $56,000. Obtaining the movie rights to show films released several years ago typically range from $350 to $450 each, and recent releases average between $800 to $900.
"Moulin Rouge" recently topped the charts at an expense of $1,200 for movie rights alone. Undoubtedly, next quarter's movie lineup, which includes "Oceans 11," "Vanilla Sky" and "Black Hawk Down," will rival such top dollar expense figures.
Because of the weighty operating expenses, the Newcomb Hall Theater remains a non-profit service to the University community. The increased budget simply enables Cinematheque to provide an improved quality of service.
With its increased budget, the committee has been able to show newer movie releases, offer better advertising and feature free sneak previews every quarter, all at continued low ticket prices.
University students seem to agree these improved aspects have gone a long way in changing the quality of the theater for the better.
"I remember looking at some schedules and wanting to see them all," third-year College student Noah Egge said of the newer releases.
During the first quarter, coinciding with the beginning of the school year, Cinematheque was able to procure summertime blockbusters. Likewise, the movies are more popular at the end of the school year stemming from the winter holiday studio releases. Many times, however, movies are limited in availability, forcing Cinematheque to compensate by choosing what the committee believes to be quality movies even though they might not be new releases to second-run theaters.
Aside from higher quality movies, Cinematheque also has made its advertising more effective. With strategically placed newspaper announcements, flyers and a dynamic Web site, the Cinematheque committee is better able to inform the Charlottesville community about its services.
"The list of movies is up in my suite which makes it easy to find out what's showing, and, of course, the list is always up in Newcomb," first-year College student Alex Golden said.
The increased budget also allowed for improved special events. Numerous sneak previews, co-sponsorships with student organizations and special events, such as the upcoming live showing of this year's Academy Awards, effectively have served to increase the visibility of the theater.
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"The free sneak previews are great," fourth-year Commerce student Linda Nguyen said. "I will definitely visit Newcomb theater more often this semester."
While offering increased services, the Newcomb Hall Theater still is able to maintain lower ticket prices than other theaters, allowing it to compete with area theaters for money-conscious moviegoers.
Average ticket prices are approaching $10 in New York City, $9 in Los Angeles and average about $7.50 across the country. Because of such high prices, students and many others choose to rent videos or DVDs to see movies.
"I watch my DVD's more than I go to the theater," fourth-year College student Ansel Cox said.
Yet, despite decreasing attendance, box offices across the country still report record returns on first-run blockbusters because they continually increase ticket prices. In 1998, theaters sold about 1.48 billion tickets, totaling $6.95 billion. Only 1.42 billion tickets were sold in 2000, but earnings rose to $7.67 billion, according to movies.com.
Although advances in technology, such as widespread DVD rentals, have hurt attendance at movie theaters across the country, Cinematheque increasingly is able to mitigate what would otherwise be a decreasing number of patrons by increasing its budget to feature blockbusters that have not yet been released to video in addition to keeping its ticket prices low.
Although Cinematheque's committee has made changes in its operation quality as well as its future prostpects, it ultimately aims to keep the benefit of University students in mind.
"The biggest difference these days is deliberate focus on quality, meaning serving the students the best ways possible," UPC Program Advisor Dawn Gurganious said.
Cinematheque has made explicit goals this year to "provide the most quality at the lowest price," to "increase quality control and efficiency," and to "offer a safe, entertaining, and diverse way for students to spend their weekend," Ulrich added.
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