Previews: Why Some Cinemas & Not Others In Same Chain?

[a_person]

I would have thought it's to do with location and which cinemas are easily accessible to get to. I don't know either.

[Lewisthewestie]

As an add on to this does anyone know why there seems to be 'sets' of cinemas within the same company eg. if Whitelys is listed on the available VUE cinemas list I know that Basingstoke won't be as they and several other cinemas never appear together.

[AYBG]

I think they try to spread the cinemas out across the country so as many people as possible can get tickets

[Ms Thrifty]

Actually, I think this is just what they don't do and part of my orginal point! For instance, have you ever seen Cineworld Newport (Isle Of Wight) appear on a list? Or any cinema in the Dover/Folkestone area, or the far south-west? There seem to be whole swathes of the country that are just in a sort of screening black hole.

[AYBG]

The Isle of Wight has a population density of 368/km squared.
London's is almost 13 times that.
Makes perfect sense to me.

[Ms Thrifty]

No, but the Cineworld in Newport is as big as any, so why shouldn't it feature? And it must be very galling for anyone on the island who does know about previews to see that they're happening just across the water, e.g. in Port Solent and Southampton, as was the case last week with "500 Days Of Summer". I reckon that, as I said earlier, the distributors (or whoever it is who organises the free previews) cynically think they needn't bother with places like that because people have no choice about where to go if they do go.

[deancuk]

I suspect it's population related. There's a HUGE odeon cinema at a shopping centre about 30minutes from me but they've never had a screening there. They always have it in Birmingham Odeon again (which have crappy screening rooms, and when I say crappy I mean crappy).

[Ms Thrifty]

I would try asking (e.g. SFF or Tellten), but they would probably just ignore such an enquiry, as I've noticed them do in the past if asked a question which they presumably thought beneath their dignity to answer. A long time ago, before I joined FMUK, I asked them why I never received codes even though I was registered. Of course they didn't reply, but why not, it's a genuine and reasonable question?