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Harkins Theatres is a family owned and operated business and the 6th largest theatre chain in North America. Founded and based in Arizona since 1933, it has 30 locations in five states. Harkins today announced on its Facebook page that it won’t play The Watch starting Friday because it couldn’t agree on financial terms with Fox:
The Official Page of Harkins Theatres
11 minutes ago
We regret to inform you that we will not be playing the upcoming film The Watch at any of our locations. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an equitable agreement with regards to the film’s licensing fee with Twentieth Century Fox. It is our goal to always provide Ultimate Moviegoing at an affordable price for our guests and we hope to resolve the situation as soon as possible. In the meantime, we regret any inconvenience that this may cause our guests. Moviegoers who have purchased advance tickets for the film may obtain a refund at the theatre box office.
Related: Red Band Outakes For ‘The Watch’: Video
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Go Harkins! Don’t let the fat cats push you around. Your the best!
Fortunately, no one will buy advance tickets to see this, so that part’s simple.
Yes, and keep marking up your three day old popcorn 800%. I have such sympathy for fellow corporations.
Actually they pop fresh so this is inaccurate..
Harkins is the best! The seats recline unlike AMC’s plus they have a loyalty cup that’s $4.75 which you can bring everytime and get a drink for only $1.00.
That sounds sanitary.
They’ll rinse your cup. You’re free to wash it yourself too, you know.
Anyone know what it was about this particular film to set off the dispute?
YES! Go Harkins! One of the best family owned movie theater franchises in America, they rock.
Let’s face it. They saw how bad the movie really is and decided not to waste their (or our) time.
this article is stupid harkins doesnt break the top ten theater chain in america
I work at Harkins and we definitely throw out our popcorn every night.
Actually at harkins you can watch them make the popcorn fresh all throughout the day right behind the counter. Not that this makes it good for you, but still fresh. As for price, it usually takes a few weeks for ticket sales to cover the licensing costs of a movie, and when a movie flops, the theaters eat that cost. Concessions are expensive because it’s the only thing that truly makes a profit. Harkins still provides the best moviegoing experience I have found out there yet, and I applaud them for standing up for a fair cut of something they do a lot of work to bring to the consumer. They keep ticket prices as reasonable as possible and just want to not be screwed over. And they are definitely large enough to make a statement.
Long time Harkins customer. Stand your ground. Fantastic theater company!
@Movie fan I absolutely agree with everything you just stated! Keep up the good work Harkins!
I used to work for Harkins. And I don’t know why people insist on saying we reuse the popcorn. Not once did we ever do that. Also, while Harkins isn’t a huge publicly owned company, it is still in the top 10. Good for them for not bowing to the pressure. And to address the loyalty cup sanitary issue, its a plastic cup that’s dishwasher safe.
just because you didnt doesnt mean i didnt at a different location its not widely common to reuse the popcorn but trust me it happens
The issue is that a studio charges a large percentage of the films ticket sales as rent for lack of a better term. It is usually about 60% of the box office. This goes up for larger films and down for films with lower expectations. I have heard Mr. Harkins at a press screener talk about what some studios wanted. There was a Bond film where he said they were asked to pay significantly more than the going rate which would mean that his chain would not see much income from the showings for the first few weeks. As such they declined not to show the film until a better deal was offered. I was at two of their AZ cinemas this weekend, and what they did was expand The Dark Knight Rises into more theaters. Its odd as “The Watch” was not that great and it was not the type of film that should require a huge fee. My guess is that Fox wanted a summer blockbuster cut, and Harkins said no, its a run of the mill bad comedy and is not worth the split your asking for. The movie is likely to tank at the box office.
You’re dumb. It’s a FACT that Harkins breaks the top 10 theater chains in the country. Not just in this article, but you kind find this very public information anywhere. Educate yourself before proving your stupidity by opening your mouth. Thank you.
Unfortunately my husband and I went to AMC because we wanted to see The Watch!! We are sorry Harkins. FIRST… The movie wasn’t even worth our time or money. Good move in not giving in on a price Harkins. Guess you KNOW a DUD when you see one. Too bad we didn’t see that coming.
HARKINS ROCKS!! My husband and I can go to the movies for the both of us for $15 TOTAL. That includes our 2 movie tickets , 2 large loyalty drinks, and our free MEDIUM size popcorn for wearing the loyalty T-Shirt. I have asked on more than one occasion to pop FRESH POPCORN if its a really slow movie time. They have ALWAYS HAPPILY done so. THANK YOU HARKINS!!
AMC’s prices are too high. They have NO loyalty anything and MOST importantly…. THEIR POPCORN SUCKS DONKEY BALLS!!! Thank you Harkins. That will be the LAST time we go to AMC.