‘Rings’ Devotees Show Up for Debut of ‘King’

I don’t know that I could do a marathon in a theater. These movies are all very long, and they lack intermissions. This is an annoyance, frankly, since people consume refreshments and have the attendant bodily needs. In other words, monster-sized popcorn and a tankard of Pepsi ensure that you will have to dash out to use the restroom. It doesn’t help in this day and age where between the time you purchase your food and the movie starts you will have eaten all your refreshments during the 25 minutes of advertising, trailers and “Shh! Be quiet and throw away your litter” announcements.

Most of us are aware that theaters are getting the shaft from the movie companies. During the opening weeks those companies take almost all of the profits, and theaters only get to keep a greater percentage in the lagging weeks where most people stop going to the movie due to the DVD coming out next month. Theaters make their money on concession stands. Given that…wouldn’t a ten minute intermission in a 3-hour movie give people enough time to empty their bladders and then buy more food? Seems like good business sense to me.

Anyway, back to this “Marathon” discussion. I told my wife last night that my objective in the coming year is to sell our old furniture, remodel our living room and put in a widescreen projection TV in time to have an all-Saturday Extended Version party next November. You may want to pencil it in on your calendars if you’ll be around Rochester, MN.