Hi there, Sydney O'Reilly here. We regret to inform you that the Rejection Podcast is back for its sixth season. And Terry and I have some fun episodes to share with you this year. We'll be telling the stories of Yellowstone, Josh Allen, Bill Hader, Monty Python, Billie Holiday, and Canada's own Alanis Morissette. It's Jagged Little Rejections this year on We Regret to Inform You. Hope you'll join us. How would you spend 200 million pounds?
I'm Sorrel and I'm back for season two of the insanely lavish rich beyond my wildest dreams podcast where hilarious guests get their hands on an imaginary 200 million pound jackpot on Euro millions from the national lock. I would buy tickets to go and see Backstreet Boys in the sphere. I'd buy the sphere? What are we talking about? The bougier, the better. Time to do a lunatic with all this money. I'm trying to buy Europe.
So get ready for confetti cannons, champagne, giant checks, and some of the most outrageous ways a person could possibly spend a 200 million pound fortune. Jacuzzi karaoke. Jacuzzi karaoke. You can get that Euromillions feeling every Friday by searching for Rich Beyond My Wildest Dreams on all podcasting apps. YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. BetterHelp Online Therapy bought this 30-second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw, relax your shoulders. And out.
Feels better, right? That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. For 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure just help but for now just relax Hi folks, it's Dan Snow here from the Dan Snow's History Hit podcast and we are currently sponsored by Audible. There's nothing quite like getting lost in great storytelling, something that totally immerses you in an extraordinary new world.
Well, that's where Audible comes in, folks. They offer an enormous selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and award-winning originals. And all on one easy-to-use app. There's more to imagine when you listen. Listen on Audible now. Subscription required. See audible.co.uk for terms. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Alka-Seltzer will Back in 2023, John Cleese made a startling admission. He said he had killed a man. Actually, he and actor Kevin Kline had killed a man together.
It happened in March of 1989. The deceased man in question was a 71-year-old doctor named Ole Benson, who lived in Denmark. He was an ear, nose, and throat specialist. The fatal blow that killed Dr. Benson involved french fries. In March of 89, Dr. Benson did what he often did. He went to see a movie. That movie was A Fish Called Wanda, written by John Cleese, starring Cleese, Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin.
Dr. Benson was known to have a big hearty laugh. As a matter of fact, his laugh was famous in the small Danish town he lived in. There is a scene early in the movie where Kevin Kline's character, Otto, tortures Michael Palin's character, Ken, by sticking french fries up Ken's nose. Well, Ken... I'm going to ask you some questions while I eat my chips. Who is the philosopher who developed the concept of the Superman in Also sprach Zarathustra? NO!
It's a chip up the nose, I'm afraid. When Dr. Benson watched that hilarious scene, he laughed so much his heart rate zoomed up between 250 and 500 beats per minute. He laughed so hard, his heart stopped. Many years before that night, Dr. Benson was at dinner at home and made his family a silly bet. He challenged them to stick a piece of broccoli up their nose and see who could eat the most carrots without the broccoli falling out.
So when the doctor saw the scene in A Fish Called Wanda where Otto sticks french fries up Ken's nose, he started laughing. Hysterically. And literally died laughing. Years later, Dr. Benson's son, Niels Benson, met John Cleese. Niels is a professor and has inherited his father's huge laugh. He now gives lectures titled Death and Humor, teaching doctors how to use humor when discussing death. Neil said, My father could hardly have wished for a better death.
When Cleese asked Professor Benson if he had ever seen a fish called Wanda, Niels looked at Cleese and said, No, I'm not ready to die. A lot of unusual and surprising things happen in movie theaters and with the arrival of home theater systems and streaming services, movie theaters now have to work hard to attract customers. To survive, cinemas now offer restaurants and bars and offer patrons atmospheric movie experiences. For theaters, it's do-or-die time.
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The Sofa With all the streaming options out there and the bewildering array of home theater equipment, it prompts the question, why bother getting off the sofa to go to a movie theater? According to reports, the average window of theatrical exclusivity, meaning the period of time when a movie is available only in theaters was just 32 days in 2024, down from 90 days before the pandemic. And a movie must earn over $50 million in its first weekend to get a 32-day theater exclusive.
Many movies only get 18 days in theaters before moving to streaming services. Back in 2023, Christopher Nolan struck a highly unusual deal for his blockbuster Oppenheimer. 122 days in theater. It was the longest theatrical window of the year. Last year, only Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine enjoyed theatrical windows of 67 days each. So, if movies move so quickly to PVOD, or premium video on demand, why schlep downtown to see a movie in a theater?
That question has dogged movie theater companies for years now. In 2019, over 1.2 billion movie tickets were sold in Canada and the US. During the pandemic year of 2020, the bottom dropped out. Only 200 million tickets were sold. In the US, over 3,000 movie theaters closed their doors for good. Last year, just under 800 million tickets were sold.
While those numbers have not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, 800 million tickets is still nothing to sneeze at. But movie theaters had to get creative to generate those sales. The key is to make the movie-going experience much more interesting than sitting at home on your comfy couch, in your sweatpants, watching a movie on your swanky home theater system. And that ain't easy.
Movie theaters, of course, have always been at the mercy of Hollywood blockbusters to survive, which explains all the superhero sequels and, occasionally, an Oppenheimer and a Barbie sneak through. But since the pandemic, theaters are relying less on Hollywood and are now more aggressive with their own marketing strategies.
As a matter of fact, the CEO of AMX Theaters, the world's largest cinema chain, said his company will no longer depend on, quote, noting that the pandemic pushed the industry into uncharted waters. Those turbulent waters are sometimes expensive and sometimes incredibly simple. A chain of U.S. theaters called Warehouse Cinemas doesn't have the deep pockets of its bigger rivals, so they use social media to invite patrons to special evenings. The CEO calls it eventicizing.
For example, they offer special daddy-daughter date night films. When it was showing the movie Unhinged, which revolves around a road rage incident, the theater hosted a car smashing event. customers who bought tickets could take a swing at a car to vent their frustrations. That led to an uptick in ticket sales. At a cinema chain in Australia and New Zealand, they began welcoming knitting clubs to special nights. People buy tickets to watch the movie while they knit.
A theater chain in California offers self-care Sundays. Patrons are given soothing, hydrating under-eye patches, and each showing has a 10-minute mindfulness meditation to relax patrons before they enjoy the film. As another way of generating revenue, many cinemas have started marketing live event streaming. Some stream NFL games, others show live streams of concerts, some stream Sunday religious services, and still others show filmed Broadway theatrical productions.
The New York Metropolitan Opera broadcasts live performances in over 2,000 cinemas, selling 2.4 million tickets. Some larger chains have transformed smaller screens into bars or bowling alleys so patrons can linger longer after or before the movie. Some theaters will have double feature nights, like showing Home Alone and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, so parents can introduce their kids to the hilarious world of John Hughes.
Cineplex has rented their screens to gamers. Twelve players can have the theater with its gigantic screen and thunderous sound. Gamers can bring their own games or use one provided by Cineplex. Some theaters even arrange special dungeons and dragons events for the gaming community. where fans can come and watch simulcasts of the role-playing campaign, which spans hundreds of episodes, some four or five hours long. Tickets sold out within an hour.
More than 100 years after its founding, AMC Theatres did something in 2021 that it had never done before. Advertise on television. AMC spent $25 million on a multimedia campaign featuring Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman. Traditionally, theaters rely on the studios to advertise with movie trailers. But again, the AMC CEO set its business as unusual now.
In the commercial, Nicole Kidman walks into an AMC theater, sits down, and watches a montage of great movie scenes. Because AMC wants us to fall in love with movie theaters again. place. We come to AMC Theatres to lie. To cry. To care. Because That indescribable feeling we get. somewhere. Somehow reborn. Together. Images. Sound that I can hear. Because here... They are. I am St. Perez.
In order for people to fall in love with movie theaters again, cinemas have to go well beyond the screen. In South Korea, some cinema chains have recreated bedrooms and forest scenes in the theaters. In Bangkok, there are luxury cinemas that offer you reclining day beds and cozy cocoon-like seats. You get a pillow and a blanket, minibar, snacks, alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks, a hook for your bag, a place to charge your phone, and a button to call for butler service.
In Greece, a cinema actually offers double beds instead of seats, complete with sheets and night tables. There are mobile apps now that can detect audio messages from the screen, so advertisers can offer patrons special deals before and after the movie. BMW recently invited male theater goers aged 25 to 44 a chance to take a simulated lap on the BMW test track using their mobile phones, which was triggered by a big-screen BMW ad.
The lap times were posted on a leaderboard, and the top-scoring patrons were offered the opportunity to win a test drive of each new BMW model on a real BMW test track. And that was all before the movie began. When we come back, fine dining in the dark. at GrosvenorCasinos.com we know casino is more than a We got We swipe with aura. You can feel the love Every time you pray. experience of a half a century of premium
expertise right at your fingertips, download the app, or play online. Gravelacasinos.com, the home of a real casino. BetterHelp Online Therapy bought this 30-second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in And out. Feels better, right? That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. For 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure. Just help. But for now, just relax.
Hello, it's Adam Buxton here from the Adam Buxton Podcast, which is currently being sponsored by Audible. There's over 700 and audio books audible now. required. See all the for times. One of the biggest innovations in the movie theater experience over the past decade has been fine dining. Stale popcorn and flat soft drinks just don't cut it anymore. AMC opened 50 dine-in theaters between 2009 and 2020. Dine-In Theaters. We're mixing up the way you see movies.
the button and your entrees and just your seat so you can enjoy the of something delicious. It's a movie theater and restaurant rolled into one. AMC Dine-In Theater near you. Larger chains have installed commercial grade kitchens. They now have executive chefs preparing dishes like lobster rolls, hot pepper fried calamari, turkey sliders, pizza topped with smoked bacon and goat cheese, and truffled parmesan popcorn.
There are gourmet snacks like artisanal cheese and charcuterie plates, hummus and nachos, and healthier gluten-free options are popping up. There are a variety of decadent desserts prepared by an in-house baking team. Afternoon showings at some cinemas offer brunch, with options like caramel brulee, french toast, fried egg BLTs, and mimosas. In many cinemas, patrons can order their food via a mobile app, or there are call buttons at their seats to alert staff that you're ready to order.
Cineplex offers VIP lounges with separate entrances, complete with reserved seating, appetizers, a three-course dinner, and dessert. Then, there's the drink menu. One theater chain in Arizona offers 25 different local beers to choose from. Not long ago, a cinema in New York offered a special cocktail to go with the showing of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
The cocktail was called a sandworm slayer. It was a sky blue vodka cocktail with a foam float and a crown of gummy worms perched on top. Cost? 25 bucks. How about a vanilla passion fruit martini, or a spicy blackberry margarita, or a feisty little cab sav? All this and more is available at your local Cineplex. Another cinema in Arizona offers a rooftop terrace where people can enjoy beer, wine, and cocktails and talk about the movie they just watched.
For the non-alcohol drinkers, there are honey milkshakes, apple cider and coconut water. Many theaters have loyalty programs offering perks in return for continued patronage. Benefits may include discounted or extra free tickets, free popcorn snacks or drinks, exclusive screenings and special events, early access to new releases and birthday rewards.
Some loyalty programs let you earn points for every dollar spent on tickets, and some give subscribers unlimited access to 2D movies with no restrictions on how many you want to see or when you want to see them. Research shows effective loyalty programs increase customer lifetime value by 200 to 300% on average. Members visit theaters more often, spend more per transaction through concessions and upgrades, and interestingly, are less sensitive to higher prices.
Back in 1973, The Exorcist hit theaters. Audiences were stunned by scenes in the film. Theater staff had to learn how to help traumatized patrons. My experience with this movie has been incredible, especially with people fainting. Halfway through the movie, the movie starts getting quite... violent and people get quite
unusual reactions and we have a lot of people throwing up and a lot of people shuddering. But the thing that really surprises me is people faint. I mean I've never in my life known a movie where people would faint. I mean it's hard to make people faint. In some theaters, staff had to help patrons restore their consciousness. Well, as soon as they faint, I get out the smelling salt.
And most of them, once they fainted, they don't go back into the picture. Ambulances and police were on hand to help in the event of larger medical emergencies. Imagine what would have happened if theaters back in 73 had the remarkable technology that is available today. Because if there's one aspect of moviegoing that theaters have revolutionized, It's the immersive experience. Once there was 3D. Now there's 4DX motion effects theaters.
Developed in South Korea, these theaters are made to stimulate all five senses. They put the motion in motion pictures. Cineplex offers seven 4DX cinemas in Canada right now. First, the seats are comfortable loungers, so that's nice. They heave up and down in sync with the action on the screen. They roll left to right. They sway and twist, pitch forward and back. So good luck holding on to that premium martini. Four DX theaters generate wind.
So your hair blows back. If you have hair, it can generate fog. Strobes simulate lightning bolts and flashes. The theater walls can release bubbles into the air. and sprinkle snow onto the audience. There is a tickler at your feet. Fun if you're watching a horror movie. The seats vibrate and can spray you with a fine mist. Water effects roll off the screen as the theater can shower rain down on the audience. Seats emit scents that link to the storyline.
and all the seats are heated to correspond to warm scenes on the screen. Add to all this Screen X. It's a multi-projection wraparound screen that appears on three walls, giving you a 270-degree panoramic viewing experience, which can extend all the way to the back of the theater. In India, a leading movie theater company is using 3D, 270 degree on-screen commercials. Hmm, maybe you do want to stay home. When we come back, movie theaters use AI to determine dynamic pricing.
BetterHelp Online Therapy bought this 30-second ad to remind you right now, wherever you are, to unclench your jaw. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in. and out. Feels better right? That's 15 seconds of self-care. Imagine what you could do with more. For 10% off your first month of therapy. No pressure, just help. But for now, just relax. at GrosvenorCasinos.com we know casino is more Every day I love the cards Every spin of the slot. and every swine winner.
feel the love every time you play. Experience over half a century of pre Write in your fingertips, download the app, or play online. Drive to the casino. Hello, it's Adam Buxton here from the Adam Buxton Podcast, which is currently being sponsored by Audible. It's over. required see audible.com Movie theaters are also employing AI in their marketing. Like Netflix, theaters are leveraging AI algorithms to suggest films based on past viewing habits.
So, if you used your phone or computer to buy the tickets, AI grabs your data, analyzes it, and can send you personalized marketing messages, which leads to increased ticket sales. Like Uber, theaters are starting to embrace AI dynamic pricing to optimize ticket sales by adjusting prices based on demand, time of day, and even seating preferences.
Like your car, theaters are using AI for equipment maintenance. By monitoring the performance data of projectors, bulbs, and sound systems, AI can predict when maintenance is required. Theaters are also using AI as a crowd management tool. AI surveillance systems analyze foot traffic and crowd patterns to enhance safety at peak times and optimize staffing. So, AI is not only being used to make movies, it's now being used to manage movie goers.
From the dawn of the first movie palaces, theaters have had to battle the march of technology. First, there was radio. People could stay home and listen to soap operas, variety shows, and exciting detective serials, especially during the Depression. Then came television, the ultimate Kingslayer, a universe of channels in the comfort of your own living room. Next came a little gizmo called a remote control. Now you never had to leave your lazy boy or your home to enjoy a night's entertainment.
As technology kept evolving, the VCR appeared in our homes. Now you could tape shows and watch them on your schedule. And if that wasn't enough, enter the home theater system. Surround sound and big screens became more and more affordable over time. Now, there are streaming services, arguably the toughest rival yet. Endless movies and TV series, all available for the cost of a single movie ticket every month.
Then, the world was blindsided with a pandemic, shutting cinemas down all over the world for an entire year. But through it all, theaters have always fought back. They have become restaurants and bars and atmospheric pleasure domes. Theaters don't just want you to come to the movies. They want you to be part of the movies. They want to shake, rattle, and roll you, send wind through your hair, tickle your feet, and send you home soaking wet.
That's an experience you probably won't get in your living room when you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the TearStream mobile recording studio. It doesn't tickle our feet, but it does move. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Chief Sound Engineer, Jeff Devine. Under the Influence theme by Casey Pick, Jeremiah Pick, and James Aiton. Tunes provided by APM Music. Hey, let's be social. Follow me at Terry O. Influence. This podcast is powered by Acast.
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The world of sport is filled with scintillating scandals. Like when porn stars crashed Riyad Mahrez's Eid party. I was not dressed for a family gathering whatsoever. And Shane Warne's mid-match threesomes. Smoked. I drank. I bowled. Little legs. You can hear all these stories. and more on shot podcast your guide to the funniest stories in sport search for the upshot wherever you get your podcasts to hear episodes like david beckham the stories netflix won't tell and the one you