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6 Apr 2002 - Wiped!

For the fifth weekend in a row, I wasn't in a rush! This amazing streak continues!

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that two new films were playing at the Mission this week. These new films were "Van Wilder" and "E.T.". This was the first week of release for "Van Wilder". "E.T. - The Anniversary Edition" had previously opened in San Antonio.

With the addition of these two new films, I had seen 5 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. This is the second week in a row in which I have seen over half of the movies being exhibited. This is not the kind of streak we want to see continue!

I left my apartment at 6:30PM. I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 7:05PM. During the drive, I speculated about the level of attendance I would find. The weather was not good and it had already begun to rain.

Only one ticket booth was open and there were no lines. Past the ticket booths, I could see taillights in the distance. At least I wouldn't be the only patron on the property! I selected "Ice Age" as my movie for the evening. I am happy to report that the computerized ticket system is back on-line. After receiving my change, I proceeded on to the Screen 3 lot. I arrived without incident and parked my car in the fourth row. Why so far back? Since it was raining, I needed to place the car in such a position that the windshield wipers would keep the entire screen area clear of droplets. Given the shape and height of my car, the four row was the best choice.

I exited my vehicle and began my nightly patrol of the property. I've commented many times on the "sway" bridge. In truth, it really doesn't sway much anymore. No, the supports have finally sunk far enough into the ground to find a solid footing. Of course, the layers of the earth are not even. One side of the bridge remains very high. The other side is now very low. How low? I could easily touch the ground from the low side of the bridge. Something needs to be done about this bridge soon!

Feeling the drizzle on my exposed body parts, I terminated my examination of the bridge and moved on through the Screen 2 lot.

Before getting in line at the snack cart, I peeked into the windows of the concession stand. In addition to the previously reported water and drain lines, there are now a variety of metal pipes standing up above the level of the floor. These pipes are almost certainly electrical conduits. Concrete has now been poured into the trenches previously gouged into the floor. Clearly, this phase of construction is at an end. But what comes next?

After a short wait at the snack cart, I moved on through the Screen 1 lot to the Screen 4 lot. The lot was absolutely empty. Not a single car or truck. The reviews of "Van Wilder" had been universally negative and, at least this night, the Santikos team had made the correct choice to show it on Screen 4. Now, that doesn't mean that every film that opens on Screen 4 is a "loser". "Legally Blonde" immediately comes to mind as a "Screen 4 film" that did well.

Leaving the empty lot of Screen 4 behind, I returned to my car.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. Keep the rain in mind when evaluating these counts.

Screen 1 - "Blade 2" / "All About The Benjamins" - 8
Screen 2 - "Panic Room" / "Resident Evil" - 9
Screen 3 - "Ice Age" / "E.T" - 10
Screen 4 - "Van Wilder" / "Time Machine" - 0

I really enjoyed "Ice Age". Although I was forced to use the windshield wipers from time to time, this didn't detract from my movie experience. I had also learned my lesson from previous weeks and had a full tank of fuel.

Following the conclusion of "Ice Age", I started out on another patrol of the property. It was still raining so I made the trip as quickly as possible.

Here are the updated car counts:

Screen 1 - "Blade 2" / "All About The Benjamins" - 26
Screen 2 - "Panic Room" / "Resident Evil" - 19
Screen 3 - "Ice Age" / "E.T" - 15
Screen 4 - "Van Wilder" / "Time Machine" - 5

I was quite surprised at the total number of cars given the rain and the rather stale nature of the movie line-up.

Returning to my car, I drove out the exit lane behind the Screen 4 lot. I saw nothing unusual on the screen.

I returned home without incident.

13 Apr 2002 - Timed!

For the sixth weekend in a row, I wasn't in a rush! This amazing streak continues!

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that ONLY one new was playing at the Mission this week. This film being "The Sweetest Thing".

With the addition of this new film, I had seen 5 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. This is the third week in a row in which I have seen over half of the movies being exhibited. This is not the kind of streak we want to see continue!

I left my apartment at 6:00PM. I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 7:08PM. The weather was much better than the previous week and rain was not predicted.

When I turned on to the property, neither ticket booth was open but twelve cars were already waiting in line. The four lanes quickly filled up with cars and I was trapped! Getting bored, I got out of my car and walked over to the wall and looked inside the Screen 1 lot. What I saw sent a shiver up my spine!

A red "DANCO" truck was sitting outside the restroom portion of the snack bar. For those that don't know it, "DANCO" is a local plumbing company. After a quick analysis, I could think of only two reasons for having a plumber on property. One explanation would be work on the new concession stand. That would be a good thing! The other explanation would be toiletry woes! That would be a bad thing!

I got back into my car when the employees began walking over to the ticket booths. Clearly, 7:30PM is the current time that the box office opens.

I believe I've written previously on the issue of shutters. Before the ticket booths opened, each ticket booth had a large piece of wood over the front of the ticket booth. The wood panel is nearly large enough to cover the entire front glass. I can report that the side shutters have been painted in what looks like "primer white". These shutters swing open on hinges. I'm not sure how the front shutters are held in place. Moments after the employees arrived, the front shutters were down and carried away. I was just too far back to get the details on this one. Clearly the attendance the previous night had been very good as on-site security was back on the property. If I remember correctly, the security that evening was a San Antonio police officer.

Given my limited choices, I selected "Van Wilder" and "The Sweetest Thing" as my movies for the evening. I purchased a ticket without incident and moved on to the Screen 3 lot. I parked there and began my usual patrol of the property.

The initial rush of cars into the property made it difficult to walk safely and to count cars with accuracy.

As I started to move from the Screen 2 lot to the Screen 1 lot, I stopped inside the bathroom. It was immediately apparent that "DANCO" had been there to work on toiletry issues. All ten (I belive that is the correct number) urinals were out of service! Black plastic bags covered each like a shroud. Not good.

Exiting the bathroom, I moved on into the Screen 1 lot. Reaching the concession stand, I stopped to inspect the progress of the construction. Looking in the windows, I really didn't see much that had changed in the previous week. I did get a picture of the latest building permit. Seeing my interest, one of the assistant managers came over to talk to me. He was quite excited about the "progress" made in the last week. I clearly looked perplexed, as he felt compelled to point on the changes. All of the interior walls had been removed, opening up the entire space into a single room. Okay, I had noticed that one. The walls lining the exterior of the building had been removed and replaced. Okay, I hadn't noticed that. I asked if the construction was back on track. He just shook his head, smiled and walked away! What interior walls were removed? There were two interior rooms that I knew about. One was a small office and the other was a storage area. These are now gone.

Moving on to the snack cart, I made my now usual purchase of bagged popcorn and a large Diet Coke. The employees were quite energetic. I collected to bits of information. The snack cart would be leaving the middle of next week (the concession stand had originally been expected to reopen on 16 April 2002) and Friday night's attendance had been slightly over 900. Given the film selection, I believe 900 is a very good number!

After a quick car count, I started walking over to the Screen 4 lot to evaluate the action. Walking across the main entrance lanes, I noticed the lighted lane marker boxes had been repainted. They look much better than before! I also noticed that someone had started painting the bridge railing but only gotten half way done on the left side (towards Screen 3). The bridge has a cement "island" that divides it into lanes for Screen 3 and Screen 4. The curbs of that island had also been freshly painted. I always wonder, if I see these things, what have I missed?

Putting those self-doubts aside, I moved into the Screen 4 lot. I was standing just inside the entrance counting cars, when I noticed the security guard on patrol.

He slowed as he walked towards me. I knew that my threat potential was being evaluated. After staring at me for a few seconds, he exited the lot. It is with only a slight touch of vanity that I say that while I don't appear threatening, I am, in fact, far more dangerous than one would expect.

Returning to my car, I got out my chair for an evening of movie viewing. Here are the car counts for those that like them. For Screen 2, the first number reflects my initial count. The second number indicates the cars that I could see from the Screen 3 lot when I returned to my car. The first number for Screen 3 is the car count in the lot when I started my patrol. The second number is the car count at the end of my patrol.

Screen 1 - "Panic Room" / "Resident Evil" - 21
Screen 2 - "Blade 2" / "All About The Benjamins" /- /9/ // 21
Screen 3 - "The Sweetest Thing" // / "Van Wilder" /- /9 / 15
Screen 4 - "Ice Age" / "E.T" - 26

The car count for "Ice Age" supports my high opinion of the entertainment value of this film!

There has been some discussion regarding the exhibition start times at the Mission. I believe, like so many others, that the movies are starting too early. Let the darkness come! Let the darkness come! I decided that I would collect some analytical data to fire the debate! Below is a table of start times for each screen. Note that these are the start times for the trailers, and not the main features.

Screen 1 - 8:14
Screen 2 - 8:26
Screen 3 - 8:27
Screen 4 - 8:28

The main feature on Screen 1 started at approximately 8:30. The long gap between the start times between Screen 1 and the rest of the screens either indicates a projection problem or the belief that since the back of Screen 1 is towards the sun, the Screen 1 features can start sooner. Was it truly dark enough at this point to see a movie? Only barely with the existing projection system. I say again, let the darkness come!

During the movie, I saw a Santikos employee on patrol. The van in front of me got a particular looking over.

Following the conclusion of "The Sweetest Thing", I made yet another patrol of the property.

I counted the cars in the Screen 3 lot and then crossed the bridge to Screen 2. I quickly decided there were just too many cars to count. I then headed towards the bathroom. Entering the breezeway from the Screen 2 side, I couldn't help but notice a large, possibly four inch in diameter, black hose snaking through the Screen 1 breezeway entrance and then into the men's bathroom. Walking inside, I found the "DANCO" man was back! The large hose was connected to the top of a urinal where the flush handle would normally be located. Some of the urinals were already back in service. Was there a major problem with the plumbing or was this routine maintenance that had just run longer than expected? I have no idea.

Leaving the bathroom, I walked over to the snack cart. Screen 1 was also too busy to effectively count cars. I purchased a Tollhouse ice cream cookie and headed towards the Screen 4 lot. Since this lot is smaller, I made the effort to count the cars. Security was not sighted during this counting exercise.

I returned to my car without incident.

Here are the updated car counts:

Screen 3 - "The Sweetest Thing" / "Van Wilder" - 59
Screen 4 - "Ice Age" / "E.T" - 96

As you can see, the car count rose dramatically during the first features.

I might not have stayed to see "Van Wilder" if the weather hadn't been so nearly perfect for outdoor movie viewing. Normally, I give extra points to any movie that works the title of the film into the film itself. I refuse to grant extra points when the title of the film is the name of the main character and that name is used over, and over, and over again!

After "Van Wilder" was over, I considered another patrol but decided against it. I packed up my car and returned home without incident.

Note: Driving off the lot, I had now seen 7 of the 8 films being shown at the Mission. If I had any interest in seeing "E.T.", then I would have seen every film being exhibited.

20 Apr 2002 - Reflected!

A streak ends! This weekend, I was in the worst kind of rush. I was rushing to get to the box office before it closed! How did it come to this?

Friday, I had been out of town and didn't make it back in time to go to the Mission. Saturday, I had gone with Rick Stivers to Burton for the combination 2002 Texas Willys Meet and the Burton Cotton Gin Festival. Even before our near head-on collision outside San Marcos, I knew I wasn't going to be home in time.

When I arrived home, I took a hurried shower and rushed down to the Mission. I knew that my options were down to second features. Which would it be?

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that three new films were playing at the Mission this week. Of these, only one, "The Scorpion King", was in its first week of release. The other two films, "Dragonfly" and "Clockstoppers" were released in San Antonio previously. "Dragonfly" is yet another odd case. It appeared at the Mission a few weeks ago and was gone after one week. Now, it was back for a return engagement. This has happened before. One example that comes to mind is "Driven". It too came and went and then returned as a second feature. Both "Clockstoppers" and "Dragonfly" were second features. Which would it be?

With the addition of these three new films, I had seen 5 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. This is the fourth week in a row in which I have seen over half of the movies being exhibited. This is not the kind of streak we want to see continue!

I left my apartment at 9:20PM. I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 10:00PM. I found only one ticket booth open. There were three cars ahead of me in line. Clearly, I wasn't the only one running late!

Given my limited choices, I selected "Clockstoppers" as my movie for the evening. I purchased a ticket without incident and moved on to the Screen 4 lot. The lot was packed and I was forced to park down on the right, two rows up from the fence. I got out of my car and turned to look at the picture. It appeared to be brighter than usual. I dismissed this as being my imagination. I decided to perform an aggressive count of the cars, row by row. I counted an even 100 cars! As you can see, "Ice Age" continues to have staying power.

My count complete, I walked across to the Screen 1 lot. I turned to look back towards Screen 4. I knew that I wasn't imagining it! The screen was brighter. Screen 2 also appeared to be very bright.

I noticed the manager over by the ticket booths. I walked over and asked him the essential question. No, that question didn't start with "Am I crazy"? That undermines the credibility of the questioner. No, I asked, "Screen 4 seems brighter. Is it"? The manager seemed very gratified that I had noticed the change. He explained that the "reflectors" in the projectors for Screens 1, 2 and 4 had been replaced. He then started into an explanation of why this was important. He was just getting started when he was interrupted by a radio call. He apologized and headed off towards the concession stand.

I did the same but at a slower rate. I studied Screen 1 closely. It was much brighter. But was it just the new reflectors or had something been done about the VFW lights?

I walked all the way across the lot to find the answer to this question. The VFW lights remained unchanged. As I watched "Dragonfly", I could, with effort, make out the shadows from the light poles. Most of the time though, they were not noticeable.

My question answered, I turned around and headed towards the concession stand. The snack cart was indeed gone. For those not in San Antonio, this is Fiesta week. The origin of Fiesta can be traced to the Texican victory over the Mexican Army at San Jacinto outside what is now Houston. Today, it is just another excuse to have a party. I imagine the snack cart was now working some Fiesta event in another part of town. This leads, of course, to another question, "How are snacks being sold at the Mission without a concession stand or a snack cart"? The answer may surprise you!

The "work in progress" concession stand has been opened up enough to allow the employees to stand inside the doors. The remaining snack fixtures, the ice cream cooler being one, were being uses as counters. Although the snack cart was gone, its drink dispenser had remained behind. Electrical power was being supplied from inside the building.

Business must have been bettered than expected as all the bagged popcorn was sold out. I was forced to purchase a Diet Coke and a Tollhouse ice cream cookie. Looking inside the concession stand, I was able to see that considerable progress had been made.

A false ceiling of sheet rock had been installed. It was covered with cut outs for electrical fixtures. Duct work for air conditioning was also present. This project is moving towards completion. Hopefully, it will be ready by the time "Spider-Man" reaches the Mission. While looking inside the concession stand, I saw the manager with yet another "mysterious visitor". At the time, I could think of three possible identities for this individual: building contractor, city building inspector or perhaps the Santikos Director of Operations. I was to learn the truth later!

Given how late it was, and the level of business in the theater, I decided to simply walk around the lots but not attempt to count the cars. Yes, I'm sure some will miss these counts. The count on Screen 4 will have to do for this week. Below are the actual screen assignments for the films.

Screen 1 - "Scorpion King" / "Dragonfly"
Screen 2 - "Blade 2" / "Resident Evil"
Screen 3 - "Panic Room" / "The Sweetest Thing"
Screen 4 - "Ice Age" / "Clockstoppers"

What can I say about "Clockstoppers"? It would have made a great Disney movie of the week if it had starred Kurt Russell. I kept finding myself distracted by the brightest of Screen 2. I had absolutely no problem following "Resident Evil" from my location in the Screen 4 lot.

When the movie was over, I decided to seek out the manager and compliment him again on the enhanced brightness.

Returning to the Screen 1 lot, I found him with the "mysterious visitor". I wouldn't have said anything since he was busy, but he greeted me with a warm, "Back again?". This provided me with the opening I needed to compliment him again on the improved picture quality.

The "mysterious visitor" found this to be interesting. I guess the ordinary theater doesn't have many patrons that seek out management to give out compliments! He wanted to know if I came to the Mission often. I laughed. Yes, I laughed. After explaining that this was week 51, he was extremely surprised. The manager joined in with "we see him here all the time".

It turns out that the "mysterious visitor" was the Santikos Director of Operations. We'll call him, DOps, for short.

What followed was an experience that can only be described as being a "focus group of one". For twenty minutes, I offered observations, suggestions and opinions on nearly every topic. I even lobbied for the return of the corn dog to the concession stand.

I did learn some interesting things. The marquee should be repainted some time during the coming week. New reflectors are also planned for the Screen 3 projectors. New antennas and cabling will soon be installed to improve the sound system. The old faux butter machine will not be returning to the snack bar. The Mission isn't listed in the weekly Santikos advertisement as part of an effort to save on advertising costs. The Mission isn't the only theater being treated this way. The Westlakes, an in-door theater on the other side of town, is also being cut from the weekday advertisement.

I must say again that Santikos employees are the friendliest theater employees in town. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to present the patron's views to higher management.

Returning to my vehicle, I decided that I was tired. I packed up and headed home. Once I got there, I sent a follow-up e-mail with all my suggestions to DOps. I even sent him Rick's annotated aerial photograph of the Mission! Will anything come of this encounter? Only time will tell!

Next week will be Week 52. Yes, the Mission has been open again for nearly a year! Look for my special analysis on year one in that report.

Here are a few additional items I forgot to add into my first report:

1) The Mission is now running the "come to the snack bar" reel on two screens each night. DOps told me that they are in the process of ordering at least one more. He is looking for a different reel, one with lighter colors, for use on Screens 3 & 4. The lighter colors would help compensate for the longer distances between these screens and the projection booth.

2) Life imitates art yet again! The manager told me that the first night after the new reflectors were installed, the KMOL helicopter circled the Mission for about ten minutes. I'm guessing that this was the first time in years that the lights of the theater were clearly visible from the sky. Why do I say this is yet another case of life imitating art? In "Alien Abduction", Young Captain Chicken is abducted by aliens after attending a showing of "Mystery Men" at the drive-in. At least one person asked, "How did the aliens discover the little chicken"? To answer that question, I created a prologue to the story in which a flying robotic eye (really a security camera at the San Antonio airport) was drawn to the lights of the drive-in where it saw the little chicken perched on a speaker pole.

3) I voiced my concerns that the new game room would become a "hang out" for undesirable elements. It seems that all involved are also concerned this could happen. I believe the revenue this will bring in won't be enough to offset the potential problems that it could create. Only if the entire game room is clearly visible to the staff, can trouble be avoided.

4) I repeatedly stressed the need to post more signs with the radio frequencies on them. Tonight, I heard "What radio station is this show on?" four different times.

5) I also suggested maps be displayed to show people the proper way to exit the property from the various screens.

6) The manager described changes to the marquee which he hoped would make it simpler for patrons to determine which movies were sold out and which were still available. On the marquee now are four lighted boxes. On the front of each box is a sheet of colored plastic -- green, yellow, red and blue. Each of these colors corresponds to a different screen. I'm speculating here, but I believe that at one time, each lane was meant to be used for only one screen. Lane 1 (Green) was for Screen 1 (Green). Lane 2 (Yellow) was for Screen 2 (Yellow). And so on. If this was true, the the colored box system might have been used to indicate if a movie was sold out. For example, if the green light were on then the movie the green screen was available for viewing. If it were turned off, the movie was sold out. (This is pure speculation, of course. There is no available evidence that proves the boxes were ever individually wired. The colored boxes may simply have been meant simply to indicate to the patrons what color entry lane box they should look for after passing the ticket booth.) Flash forward to the current system. Lanes no longer correspond strictly to Screens. Patrons use any ticket booth line and change lanes as required after passing the ticket booths. Under this system, the colored boxes now serve no purpose. Okay, strictly speaking, the colored plastic panels need to be replaced with clear panels with black numbers so that they correspond with the entry lane boxes. But I digress. If I understood the manager correctly, each box would become an individually controlled "sold out" sign. I suppose no light would indicate the movie was available and a lighted box, perhaps with the words "sold out" on the front, would indicate that a given movie was sold out. Regardless of how this works out, I found it interesting that dealing with "sell out" crowds is a priority for management. That is a very good sign for the future of the Mission!

27 Apr 2002 - Counted!

Unlike last week, I wasn't pressed for time and was able to plan my trip to the Mission in leisurely fashion.

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that two new films were playing at the Mission this week. These films being "Jason X" and "Frailty". This was the first week of release for "Jason X". "Frailty" falls into the "nearly new" category, having been released in San Antonio at other theaters in previous weeks.

With the addition of these new films, I had seen 5 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. This is the fifth week in a row in which I have seen over half of the movies being exhibited. Like it or not, this trend seems unstoppable!

I left my apartment at 6:50PM. I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 7:15PM.

When I turned on to the property, both ticket booths were open and twenty-two cars were waiting their turn to buy tickets. The scene was orderly when I first got into line but soon erupted into chaos! The computerized ticket system failed in one of the ticket booths, forcing runners to service all four lanes from a single ticket booth.

Looking up, I noticed that the marquee had been painted as promised last week. It looks much better now. Another set of letters would certainly be of help given the length of modern movie titles! I was also surprised to see "Jason X" had been assigned to Screen 4. Could the negative reviews have been a factor in this decision? Security was once again on-site. The larger grassy areas have now been mowed; however, edging has not been performed.

I purchased a ticket for "Jason X" and proceeded without incident to the Screen 4 lot. Parking the car, I left my vehicle behind for an extensive survey of the property. If you recall last week, I arrived too late to perform a comprehensive patrol.

Crossing over the bridge, I noticed "car counters" had been added to the entrances of the Screen 1, Screen 2 and Screen 4 lots. For those not familiar with "car counters", they are used to count the number of vehicles traveling through a specific point.

These counts are usually taken as part of a traffic study to project when a road will need paving or widening. In this case, the "car counters" are being used to count the number of cars entering each lot. Since management knows the approximate number of cars a lot can hold, it becomes much simpler to detect potential sellout conditions. I wrote last summer about the manager climbing onto the roof of the concession stand and using a pair of binoculars to estimate the number of vehicles in each lot. The "car counters" should be more accurate and less dangerous than taking rooftop observations. I do see one drawback to the current setup. Unless the "car counters" can report their counts by radio, an employee will need to manually sample the counts as the night progresses. This is more complicated than it sounds since the counter display portion of each "car counter" has been placed inside the corresponding lane marker box. These boxes now sport shiny news locks to keep the counters safe from prying eyes and idle hands. This may also explain why the entrance to the Screen 3 lot has no "car counter". Given the placement of the lane marker box for the Screen 3 lot, only an extra long "car counter" would be able to reach from the box, around the curb and then back along it to a point at which only vehicles entering the Screen 3 lot would be counted.

These "car counters" are even more evidence that Santikos expects, and is planning for, sellout crowds this summer.

Reaching the concession stand, I was happy to find that considerable progress has been made since the previous week. Interior walls have now been constructed on the south end of the room. I am happy to report that nearly all of the game room will be visible from inside the concession stand. That's good news for peace loving movie patrons! Even more important, at least some of the fixtures have been delivered. Green appears to be the primary color used in the fixtures. More important than the color is the shape of each fixture. The sides of each fixture are topped by a "fin" which rises up over the counter top of each unit. I was immediately struck by the resemblance between the "fins" on the fixtures and the "fin" on top of the screen tower. I have no idea if the use of the "fin" as unifying design element was planned, or if it is simply a coincidence. Either way, I like it!

My attempt to purchase a Diet Coke failed when the drink dispenser refused to dispense it. Instead, I purchased a regular Coke. My attempt to purchase a bag of popcorn also failed due to heavy sales on Friday night. Instead, I purchased yet another Tollhouse Ice Cream cookie. Can you say, "sugar buzz"?

Completing my transaction, I moved on into the Screen 2 lot. After counting the cars, I turned back to take another look at the concession stand. The staircase to the projection booth is located on the outside of the building on the Screen 2 side. The staircase leads to a small platform. Next to the platform is the door to the projection booth. It was from this platform that I took the famous "god view" photograph of Rick "Bigfoot" Stivers. A year ago, that platform seemed very sturdy and solid. A pair of 4x4 wooden beams have been installed as underneath the platform to provide it with additional support. Either it has weakened considerably in the last year, or something very heavy was recently carried up the stairs.

Moving on to the Screen 3 lot, I began to notice the "Do Not Exit" signs. Many of these signs have gone dark over the past year as the bulbs have burned out. Others had taken damage from the weather. I could be wrong -- I try to be wrong at least once per day -- but I believe these signs have been cleaned or repaired, and the bulbs behind them replaced. Regardless, they seemed much more noticeable than they have been in my previous visits.

Returning to my car, I made some quick notes of my observations. Here are the car counts for those that like them.

Screen 1 - "Scorpion King" / "Dragonfly" - 24
Screen 2 - "Blade 2" / "Resident Evil" - 11
Screen 3 - "Panic Room" / "The Sweetest Thing" - 3
Screen 4 - "Jason X" / "Frailty" - 7

I decided to take the movie start time discussion to the next level. The table below contains the trailer start times and the movie start times by screen. Don't look for this information again in the near future! I got too many strange looks from other patrons while gathering this information!

Screen 1 - 8:25 & 8:40
Screen 2 - 8:32 & 8:45
Screen 3 - 8:37 & 8:50
Screen 4 - 8:40 & 8:52

As you can see, the start times have slipped back quite a bit in recent weeks.

Since I was already looking back towards the other Screens, I decided I would also take car counting to the next level. Here are the car counts, at various time intervals for, for Screen 4.

7:15 - 7
7:30 - 11
8:10 - 24
8:15 - 34
8:25 - 45
8:30 - 51
8:35 - 57
8:40 - 62 (Trailers Begin)
8:45 - 69
8:50 - 74
8:52 - 76 (Movie Begins)

See above for why this information won't be available again in the near future! Humor aside, these numbers demonstrate that most of the patrons are trying to arrive as close to the start of the trailers as they can possibly can.

What about "Jason X"? Think "Alien" with Jason instead of an alien. Get the picture?

After "Jason X" was over, I made a quick sweep of the property. The number of cars in the Screen 1 and Screen 2 lots were large enough to dissuade me from attempting to count them. I did recount the Screen 3 and Screen 4 lots.

Screen 3 - "Panic Room" / "The Sweetest Thing" - 57
Screen 4 - "Jason X" / "Frailty" - 86

Given how long "Panic Room" has been at the Mission, I'm surprised it is doing this well.

After completing my patrol, I packed my car and returned home without incident.

3 May 2002 - Flame On!

This week marked the beginning of Year 2 at the Mission. Year 1 began with "The Mummy Returns". Year 2 would begin with "Spiderman". Who could ask for more? I could, of course. The only thing that can improve on the drive-in experience is the addition of good companionship. Okay, corn dogs make it better too, but corn dogs don't fit into this story!

Last year, Captain Chicken and Rick Stivers joined me for "The Mummy Returns". This year, Captain Chicken agreed to return to the Mission. Rick Stivers was unable to attend so I called in another Rick as a substitute. Early plans were for Rick Sambucini and his entire family to join me in this expedition. Due to events beyond Rick's control, the evening would turn into a "boy's night out" as his wife and kids were forced to stay home.

Rick and I agreed that I would meet him at his home on Friday evening as close to 7:30PM as possible. Although I was delayed leaving work, I still had plenty of time to perform the mandatory analysis of the weekly Mission advertisement.

This week brought two changes to the Mission exhibition schedule. One of these changes was the return of "The Mothman Prophecies". This film had played at the Mission several months ago to small audiences. The other change to the schedule was the addition of "Spider Man". These two films were paired together on Screen 1. Why bring back "The Mothman Prophecies"? I'm sure cost was the primary factor. Why pair an expensive movie with the most highly anticipated film of the year? Any film would do, so why not use an inexpensive film such as "The Mothman Prophecies"? Some would even suggest that a second feature wasn't even needed given the drawing power of "Spider Man". While it is true that the Mission has run single features before, that was primarily a reaction to the long running times of those features.

With the addition of these two films, I had seen 4 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. For the first time in six weeks, I've fallen back to having seen only half the movies on exhibition!

I left my apartment at 6:40PM. I made several stops along the way searching for a camp chair for Captain Chicken. Pressed for time, I was forced to give up on the search. Captain Chicken would simply have to sit in my lap during the film! I arrived at Rick's home at approximately 7:20PM. As expected, he was already on the scene. It was at this point, that I learned that Sylvia and the kids wouldn't be going with us. Oh well...

Given the smaller size of our expeditionary force, I offered to drive us to the Mission in my Escort. I find small, nimble vehicles are best for working the busy car rows of the summer movie season. Rick insisted that he would drive his new Durango to the Mission. I loaded my camp chair into the back of the Durango. Rick ran into his garage and returned with a solid green lawn chair made, no doubt, of recycled plastic. There was clearly a doubtful look on my face. Rick turned to me and said "What"? Actually, he repeated this several times. Finally, I said, "I'm sure you'll enjoy sitting in that chair for three hours without a break". He seemed relieved.

The chairs loaded, we started our journey. Rick had never been to the Mission before and needed directions at every turn. But that isn't the interesting part. No, the interesting part is that Rick's brother, Tony, was actually the manager of the Mission in the early 1990s. Sylvia, Rick's wife, had also been to the Mission many times in the past. Although he was a stranger to the Mission, Rick had visited the San Pedro Drive-In when it was located on what is now Bitters Road.

With only a few wrong turns, we reached the Mission at 7:45PM. As we rounded the Screen 1 tower, I was disappointed to see only a few cars waiting in line for tickets. Both ticket booths were open which was a good sign. I noticed immediately that there were a couple of security guards (perhaps even three) on the property and that they were actively engaged in directing cars so as to spread them out evenly across the ticket booth lanes.

I was very happy to see the return of my favorite security guard who is actually a Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy. I'm sure only his police training in facial recognition allowed him to recognize me after his long absence from the property. This was an omen and I failed to notice it at the time.

We purchased two tickets to "Spider Man" and drove on towards the entrance to the Screen 1 lot. I was stilled concerned about the evening's apparent low turnout. Why where the lines so empty? As we turned into the lot, I saw the reason why. No one was in line because they were already here! The center of the lot was already filled with cars. I think Rick gulped at this point. I'm not sure, but I believe he was actually expecting the lot to be empty. I'm sure he wasn't expecting such a large crowd!

At this point, the tires of the Durango "spun out". There is a time and a place for showing off but there is never a time when it is appropriate inside a drive-in theater. Was Rick fooling around with the accelerator of the Durango? Nope. The tires had simply lost traction when we hit a large pit full of gravel just inside the entrance to the lot. Regaining solid ground, the Durango leaped forward causing our brains to vibrate back and forth on our brain stems. Still able to form complete thoughts, I directed Rick to a spot in the second row towards the left side of the screen.

After parking the Durango, we left it behind to begin the customary patrol of the property.

As we crossed the Screen 1 lot, I decided there would be no car counting that night. At 7:50PM, the crowd was already too large and cars continued to enter the lot at a steady rate.

Arriving at the concession stand, I found that it was open! All of the fixtures I had seen the previous week had been installed. The color scheme is best described as light green accented with a dark blue-gray. The majority of the fixtures have been placed in a row across the north end of the concession stand. Behind them is the kitchen area. Six lanes lead up to the row of fixtures. Eventually, each lane will have its own cashier. If fully staffed, this should greatly improve service and reduce wait times. At this point, only two lanes are equipped with cash registers. I counted eight employees behind the fixtures.

Why did I count them? I couldn't help myself. I walked up to a cash register and started looking over the new menu. I only looked up for a few moments, but when I lowered my eyes, I found myself being stared at by the employees. Wonderful! After all these visits to the Mission, I finally found myself in an uncomfortable situation! I leaned forward and said very slowly to the cashier, "They...are...all...staring...at...me". This is the guy that always tries to sell me hot dogs and is one of the few employees that recognizes me each week. He clearly wanted to have some fun with me. He leaned over the register and replied very slowly, "Yes...they...are". I blinked my eyes several times. This was just too weird! I forced the situation to return to normal by ordering a Diet Coke and bag of popcorn. And I do mean a bag of popcorn. Although the new fixtures have been installed, the new kitchen equipment had not. As soon as I placed my order, things returned to normal. Paying for my items, I hurried away to find Rick.

Before I get off the subject of the concession stand, let me use this comparison to illustrate how the operation of the concession stand has changed. The old concession stand was set up cafeteria-style. Patrons moved along a line ordering and gathering snack items as they moved along towards the cashier. The entire line could easily be slowed by a slow or indecisive patron or by a patron with a large order. On busy nights, the Mission would open both lines to patrons. If you've been to a "Luby's" then you know this layout. In the new layout, patrons move through lines to serving stations. On reaching the head of the line, patrons place orders with the staff member assigned to that location. The staff members then prepare and gather the snack items for the patrons. In this setup, one slow patron can only slow down one serving line. Large orders will still impact all serving lines but I doubt the impact on customer throughput will be as heavy as it was before. The new concession stand layout supports six of these serving lanes. If you've been to a "McDonald's", then you know this layout.

Exiting to the Screen 2 lot, Rick and I discovered yet another pile of gravel. Why all this gravel? When it rains, water tends to gather at several locations on the Mission property. I think it is no coincidence that the gravel we discovered has been dumped in those same locations. The management clearly wants to reduce problems with mud at those locations most likely to be encountered by customers.

Rick and I spent some time examining the wooden braces that have been added to the exterior staircase to the projection booth. It is Rick's belief that the wooden braces are unnecessary for structural support but instead may be the first indication of a construction project to close off the underside of the stairwell. I'll continue to monitor this area on future patrols.

The portable toilets have returned to the Mission and are located in the same locations as last year. Rick expressed disbelief that they would ever be needed.

We crossed over the "fun house" bridge into the Screen 3 lot and then moved on to the Screen 4 lot. At the time, I was disappointed to find so few cars in these lots. Once the weekend box office numbers came out, I understood why!

Returning to the Durango, we got out our chairs. In the next spot over to the right, a man had two flaming cylinders sitting behind his car. I imagine these contained some type of chemical to drive away insects. Rick appeared to be vaguely uneasy.

After a few minutes, the man got up from his chair and walked towards the front of his car. He soon returned with a blue electrical cord. This was certainly new! He then opened up his trunk and pulled out an electric fan and a wooden chair. He placed the wooden chair between the flaming cylinders and plugged it into his blue electrical cord. The fan spun to life! The man sat down again. Rick now appeared to be even more ill at ease. He got out a paperback and continued to read it until it got too dark to see.

Oh yeah, someone asked if the man was running his car engine to power the electric fan. I can't say. The large truck next to us was playing KZEP at maximum volume and my ears had already grown too numb to hear a car motor. Did they continue to use this powerful sound system during the movie? Nope. They turned it off and leeched of the sound systems of other patrons.

Before I forget, here are the car counts for those that like them:

Screen 1 - "Spider Man" / "The Mothman Prophecies" - Too Many To Count!
Screen 2 - "The Scorpion King" / "Dragonfly" - 9
Screen 3 - "Blade 2" / "Resident Evil" - 5
Screen 4 - "Jason X" / "Frailty" - 3

Following the conclusion of "Spider Man", Rick expressed interest in staying to see "The Mothman Prophecies". With this in mind, I stopped at the concession stand for another Diet Coke and a Tollhouse Ice Cream cookie. As I was admiring the new concession stand, the manager walked in and greeted me BY NAME! Somehow, my secret identity had been leaked to the public. Not prepared for this revelation, I quickly exited the concession stand. I found Rick outside waiting for me. He announced that he was no longer interesting in staying for the second feature. He wanted to go home. Great! As my ice cream cookie slowly melted in my hand, we made a quick patrol of the property and returned to the Durango.

Here are the updated screen counts for those that like them:

Screen 1 - "Spider Man" / "The Mothman Prophecies" - Still Too Many!
Screen 2 - "The Scorpion King" / "Dragonfly" - 22
Screen 3 - "Blade 2" / "Resident Evil" - 35
Screen 4 - "Jason X" / "Frailty" - 17

After packing up the Durango, we started the journey home. I wrapped my ice cream cookie inside my hat and then placed it inside the bag in which I had brought Captain Chicken. Why was Captain Chicken in a bag? The Captain felt it best that the criminal element not know that he had forsaken his patrol that night to attend a movie.

Rick took the long way home. As the trip continued, I became more and more concerned that the integrity of the ice cream cookie bag would fail and the melted ice cream would be released into my hat. You can imagine the questions that went through my head as we drove first one-way and then the other. Could the hat hold the melted ice cream? If not, was the shirt in the bag absorbent enough to soak up any overflow? Was the bag itself "waterproof" enough to contain the spill?

As it turned out, I worried over nothing. Tollhouse uses high quality bags. Although it was completely melted by the time we got back to Rick's house, none of the ice cream escaped the bag! After a night in the refrigerator, I ate it for breakfast!

This was a great start to Year 2!

Addendum
I neglected to report that the reflector in the Screen 3 projector has now been replaced. The picture is much, much brighter than it was before.

11 May 2002 - Sold Out!

Unlike last week, I wasn't meeting anyone and was able to plan my trip to the Mission in leisurely fashion.

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that four new films were playing at the Mission this week. These films being "The New Guy", "Unfaithful", "High Crimes" and "Changing Lanes". This may have set the record for the most new films in a single week! This was the first week of release for "The New Guy" and "Unfaithful". "High Crimes" and "Changing Lanes" fall into the "nearly new" category, having been released in San Antonio at other theaters in previous weeks.

With the addition of these new films, I had seen 3 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. For the second week in a row, I've seen half, or less, of the movies being exhibited. With a summer of guaranteed blockbuster films, I wonder how long this trend can last!

I decided to leave later than usual for the Mission. Why? I wanted to see how long the wait times are for patrons that arrive close to the start of exhibition. I can tell you now, some experiments were not meant to be performed!

I left my apartment at 7:45PM. I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 8:15PM. I deliberately traveled at a leisurely pace to better approximate the average movie patron. Don't do this! I was able to turn from White into the Mission driveway after waiting only a few minutes. That's the good news. The bad news is that I did not reach the ticket booths until 8:30PM. Traffic was backed up on both sides of Roosevelt as far as the eye could see.

As I turned the curve around the screen tower, I noticed the signs advertising "Icy" slush drinks. Yes, the Mission now has an "Icy" machine and they are clearly very proud of it! I can't remember the brand name off hand. The logo features a polar bear. If you know, let me know!

After finally reaching the ticket booth, I purchased a ticket for "Scorpion King" and proceeded without incident to the Screen 2 lot. Parking the car, I left my vehicle behind to begin my nightly patrol. I moved with an unusual speed as the movie trailers had already begun on Screens 1 and 2.

My first destination was the concession stand. I am happy to report that at least some of the kitchen equipment has been installed. Fresh popcorn and hot dogs are once again available! Yea! I purchased a hot dog, bag of popcorn (oh, yeah, you now get free refills on popcorn if you return with your popcorn bag) and the mandatory Diet Coke. At this point, I need to revise my comments from last week about the layout of the snack bar. While their are six stations for cash registers, the floor is marked off into three "zones". Each "zone" leads up to two cash registers. On the subject of electronic equipment, all the cash registers have now been installed as well as five video games in the "game room" area.

Leaving the snack bar, I witnessed first hand the continuing appeal of "Spider Man". The movie trailers were still running and the lot was already sold out. The security guard (a Schertz police officer) had just finished putting up the barricades blocking the entrance to the Screen 1 lot.

I made a quick tour of the Screen 4 and Screen 3 lots before returning to my car. Although I had missed the first two or three minutes of "Scorpion King", my hot dog was still hot and fresh! That's just one of the perks of a warm summer evening!

Here are the car counts for those that like them:

Screen 1 - "Spider Man"/"The New Guy" - Sold Out!
Screen 2 - "Scorpion King"/"Changing Lanes" - 37
Screen 3 - "Unfaithful"/"High Crimes" - 33
Screen 4 - "Jason X"/"Blade 2" - 33

It was a great night to be sitting outside! The temperature moderated quickly and there was just enough breeze to cool the body but not so much as to chill it.

As the credits began to roll on "Scorpion King", I headed back to the concession stand for another hot dog. I was soon to find that "Spider Man" wasn't the only thing to sell out that night! All the hot dogs were gone! The lack of hot dogs left me feeling empty and I decided to head home. But don't worry, I still made the usual round of the property prior to my departure!

All of the lots had filled up during the course of the evening. I recounted the Screen 4 lot and found that it now contained a total of 130 cars. Wow!

As I walked through the Screen 4 and Screen 3 lots, I saw the occasional vehicle parked so as to be able to watch "Spider Man". Returning to the Screen 2 lot, I walked around enough to confirm my early observations. Nearly all of the vehicles in the last three rows of the Screen 2 lot were parked to allow the occupants to watch "Spider Man". In fact, it was impossible to hear "Scorpion King" in the last two rows. The sound of "Spider Man" filled that part of the lot. In the third row, the sounds of "Spider Man" battled with those of "Scorpion King" for access to the ears of the movie patrons! Only at the drive-in!

Back at my car, I packed up and returned how without incident!

Later:

I found the following estimated box office results on the Internet. I've noted each film that was being exhibited at the Mission. As you can see, of the eight films showing at the Mission, five were ranked in the top ten by sales. In fact, Mission actually had the top five films! If there is any interest, I'll continue this feature in future weeks.

Given that I plan to provide a comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films each week, I decided it would be best to start at the beginning of Year 2. Here are those results. This week, the Mission had only 3 of the top ten films.

For the weekend of May 3 - May 5, 2002.

Box office results for the weekend of May 10 - May 12, 2002.

18 May 2002 - Chokepoint!

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that only one new film was playing at the Mission this week. This film being "Murder By Numbers". "Murder By Numbers" falls into the "nearly new" category, having been released in San Antonio at other theaters in previous weeks.

With the addition of this new film, I had seen 4 of the 9 films being exhibited this week. Yes, that's right, nine films this week. The triple feature returned this weekend. For the third week in a row, I've seen half, or less, of the movies being exhibited.

I left my apartment at 7:00PM. I wanted no repeat of the events from last week! I made good time and arrived at the Mission at 7:20PM. Both ticket booths were already open and all four lanes were in service. Even so, there were ten cars waiting in line when I arrived. More on this later.

Of all the readers of this report, only one, Craig Morton in California, responded to my query about the name of the drink. It is, in fact, "ICEE".

On reaching the ticket booth, I purchased a ticket for "Murder By Numbers" and proceeded without incident to the Screen 4 lot. Parking the car, I left my vehicle behind to begin my nightly patrol. With nearly an hour and forty minutes to go before show time, I took my time!

Reaching the Screen 3 lot, I found that it no longer had a portable toilet. I found this to be odd. Could this be an attempt to force patrons towards the concession stand or could it simply be an indication that attendance in Screen 3 has been too low to offer this amenity? Or, could it be that the prices of portable toilets go up near holiday weekends? We may never know the truth. (Note: On reflection, I can't remember if Screen 4 had a portable toilet either.)

I took my time crossing the "fun house" bridge. Cars seemed to be packing up considerably at the ticket booths. More to come on that later!

Arriving at the concession stand, I purchased the usual snacks: a Diet Coke, large popcorn and a hot dog. Yes, just one hot dog. I've been cutting back! The number of video games in the "game room" has doubled since last week. I estimate there are now ten machines available to bored patrons. This area still isn't full. Look for a revised count next week. Talking to Matt Cooper, I realize I neglected to mention the purple lights in the snack bar. Who knew they made purple florescent bulbs? The waiting area is bathed in purple light. The area behind the service counter uses standard white florescent bulbs. It certainly looks eerie from the outside of the concession stand! Patrons seem to appear, as if by magic, when they reach the head of the line!

On the subject of the outside of the concession stand, here are two interesting items of note. As regular readers recall, the concession stand was closed and renovated. The internal configuration was changed from a "Lubys-style" layout to a "McDonalds-style" layout. This is a key point. Only the interior changed, the exterior remained the same. For employees to move from the kitchen area to the lobby area, they must exit the building! Yes, that's right, exit the building! The service counter stretches all the way across the width of the building, dividing the large interior space into to separate areas! The doors to the "kitchen area" use cypher locks. (For those that don't understand what that means, these doors don't use keys. Instead, a person seeking entry must use a keypad to enter a pass code.) While this may seem odd, or even comical, I see a very positive advantge to this cumbersome arrangement. Since employees must go outside to move from one side to the other, there is a much greater level of employee awareness to what goes on outside the concession stand.

I also noticed a propane tank on the "utility side" of the building. I can't remember if it was there before, or if it is a new addition to support the new kitchen equipment. New, or recently serviced, this tank has been freshly painted and the insulation on the gas line replaced. I thought it interesting that the lid of the tank is painted red.

Ending my investigation of the propane tank, I walked through the Screen 1 lot counting cars. Even this early, the number of cars was very large.

As I was crossing back over to the Screen 4 lot, I noticed the line of cars waiting to enter the property had grown considerably. I decided to loiter on the bridge to see when the line of cars would reach back up Roosevelt beyond the Screen 4 fence. (this would be the fence facing on the ticket booths - not the fence behind the actual screen.) I didn't have to wait long. At 8:04PM, the line of cars reached the edge of the Screen 4 fence. By the time I could walk over to the Screen 4 exit, the line of cars already stretched over the hill behind Screen 4. If it took me two minutes to reach this point, I'd be surprised. Take note people! If you arrive after 8:04PM, you will find yourself trapped in a long line of cars!

Why is this line so long? While waiting for the line to reach the Screen 4 fence, I entertained myself by monitoring the time between vehicles departing the ticket booths. These times are based on my perception of time passing. I did not have a stop watch with me. On average, a car was "ticketed" every 10 to 20 seconds. Since there are four ticket lanes, that implies a service time of 40 (4 lanes x 10 seconds) to 80 (4 lanes x 20 seconds) seconds. These times seem way too long. Even if a car left the ticket booths every 5 seconds, the service time would still be 20 seconds per car! It never takes me this amount of time to get a ticket once I reach the head of the line. Then again, I have the money out and know what film I plan to see. I'd say that I'm usually serviced (no pun intended) in about 5 seconds. On the other hand, if every car was serviced at this speed then a car would be leaving the ticket booths every 1.25 seconds!

Given that these observations are correct, what does tell us about the production rate of ticket cars? Here is a table I've created of the production rate of cars using two ticket booths serving four lanes. A ticketed event is a car receiving a ticket and pulling away from the ticket booth. I've seen estimates on the Internet that the Mission has a total car capacity of 1440. Based on that number, the last column is the amount of time required to fill the Mission to capacity. True, a four screen sell-out isn't very likely but the results are interesting.

Notice that even if a car leaves the ticket booths every five seconds, it still takes two hours to fill up the property. I think we can see why Santikos Theaters is considering adding another ticket booth and two more entry lanes. Given no traffic issues behind the ticket booths, a third ticket booth would improve the ticketed production rate by 50%. It would also add between 20 and 40 "parking spaces" (depending on the length of the entry lanes) which should shorten the line of cars on Roosevelt. Another option would be to improve the speed at which cars are serviced at the ticket booths. On a humorous note, the employees hired during the winter were having "panic attacks" over the number of cars waiting to be ticketed.

After my traffic analysis was complete, I returned to my car.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. This week, the counts are slightly more complicated. There are three numbers
listed for Screen 4. The first is the initial count, the second is the count when the car line first extended over the hill on Roosevelt and the third is the count when the trailers started to run. The Screen 1 count is a combination of a count in the lot plus all the cars I saw turn into the lot during my traffic analysis.

Screen 1 - "Spider Man"/"The New Guy" - 146 @ 8:04PM
Screen 2 - "Scorpion King"/"Changing Lanes" - 8
Screen 3 - "Jason X"/"Blade 2" - 5
Screen 4 - "Murder By Numbers"/"Unfaithful"/"High Crimes" - 15, 30, 44

A couple of months ago, Rick Stivers reported audio problems when he attended a showing in the Screen 4 lot. He described the problem as "a loud whirring sound - like the sound of something mechanical - maybe a gear turning" being superimposed over the movie sound track. This problem shouldn't be confused with a reception problem. Part way through the trailers, the "whirring sound" started. It continued throughout the first half of the film. I was one of many that made the effort to walk to the concession stand to complain to management. It was during this walk to the concession stand that I had a bizarre experience. Since I didn't attend a liberal northeastern university, it wasn't an LSD flashback. No, it really happened. I was about a 150 feet from the concession stand when I looked up and saw "Murder By Numbers" floating in the air approximately 15 feet above the ground. What caused this ghostly apparition? The Mission, like America, is melting pot of humanity. Many people arrive in their shiny new SUVs and their BMWs. Others arrived in beat up old junkers. As it turned out, an old car had just arrived that was burning more oil per mile that gasoline. The exhaust smoke was actually heavy enough to act as a screen for the movie being projected through it. I have no idea what the impact of this was on the picture seen on Screen 4.

As it turned out, management was aware of the sound problem. It was during this trip to the concession stand that I confirmed that "Spider-Man" had sold out again this week. Returning to my car, I concentrated on the film. I found it to be interesting enough to hold my attention despite the "whirring sound". I was having such a good time that I stayed to see "Unfaithful". By this time, it was getting late and cold. Yes, cold. I was forced to retrieve my emergency blanket from the trunk. Once again, I was wrapped in a blanket!

For those that are interested, I counted 163 cars during the intermission between "Murder By Numbers" and "Unfaithful".

I would have stayed to see "High Crimes" but it had become too cold to stay outside with just a blue blanket to keep me warm. I
debated turning the car around, but the lot was just too crowded. Instead, I drove home without incident.

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. In summary, six of the top ten were at the Mission this week.

WEEKEND BOXOFFICE
MAY 17 - 19, 2002

25 May 2002 - Timed Again

Friday, 24 May 2002, was the "Grand Reopening" of the Mission. Since I had pulled an "all nighter" at work on Thursday, I decided to pass on this event. This was one of those rare occasions in which I decided to "put safety first". Although I have stayed up without sleep for longer periods of time, it is a well known fact that my driving skills are dulled by lack sleep. But fear not, my consecutive streak of weekly attendance at the Mission continues! I got plenty of sleep on Friday night with the intention of seeing a double feature Saturday night!

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that only one new film was playing at the Mission this week. This film being "Enough". This was the first week of release for "Enough".

With the addition of this new film, I had seen 4 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. For the fourth week in a row, I've seen half, or less, of the movies being exhibited. The triple feature of last week disappeared without fanfare!

Delayed by a call from Rick Stivers, I finally left my apartment at 7:15PM. At the time, I was concerned that I was going to be late arriving at the Mission. I arrived at 7:45 to find both ticket booths were already open and all four lanes were in service. There were only about 10 cars waiting in line.

If you recall my report from last week, then you know what happened next! I had my money out and my watch ready. I placed my order quickly with the runner (the Mission management prefers to call them ushers) and handed the cash out the window. To get the best possible service time, I paid with a five dollar bill (no change required). How long did it take to get serviced? I measured 18 seconds from the moment at which I released my brakes to roll forward to the head of the line until I released my brakes again to drive past the ticket booth. If every car were serviced at this rate, a car would be leaving the ticket booths every 4.5 seconds. This translates to a ticketed rate of 800 cars per hour. Since I'm not the average Mission patron, I wouldn't expect the ticketed rate to ever reach this level. I'll continue taking observations for the next few weeks.

Having purchased a ticket for "Enough", I proceeded on to the Screen 2 lot. I parked my car in the second row and began my customary patrol of the property. I can now confirm that there are no portable toilets in either the Screen 3 or Screen 4 lots. I found the crowd to be quite large in the Screen 1 lot. It seems that more and more people are coming to the Mission early. That's good for all concerned. I saw several grills in operation in the Screen 1 lot. Over in the Screen 3 lot, I saw a "jam session" as three guys were playing guitars in the back of the lot. I've got no problem with that as long as they stop playing when the trailers begin to roll! Oh yes, trash cans have now been placed randomly throughout the Screen 1 and Screen 2 lots. I even used one myself although you couldn't tell it from the contents of my trunk!

Back at the concession stand, I purchased the usual items: Diet Coke, hot dogs and popcorn. No additional video games have been added to the game area. Leaving the building, I saw "DOps" - the Santikos Director Of Operations. He was leaning on a trash can watching the crowd. I still think he needs to walk the rows to learn more about the people that patronize the Mission. The concession stand was still covered with red, white and blue bunting from the night before.

Satisfied for the moment, I returned to my car to consume my hot dogs. For the first time this year, I encountered ants on the ground behind my car. Reaching into my drive-in deployment bag, I pulled out my ant spray. Death rained down on those tiny creatures! But, I am not unnecessarily cruel. I only sprayed an area big enough for my feet.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. This week, I've gone back to the simpler "one pass" counts. These counts were taken between 7:50PM and 8:05PM.

Screen 1 - "Spider Man"/"The New Guy" - 150
Screen 2 - "Enough"/"High Crimes" - 28
Screen 3 - "Scorpion King"/"Changing Lanes" - 22
Screen 4 - "Murder By Numbers"/"Unfaithful" - 18

By the time the trailers started, the Screen 2 lot appeared to be about a third full. I found "Enough" to be an entertaining film which held my interest all the way through to the end. Last year, "Angel Eyes", also starring Jennifer Lopez, did extremely good business at the Mission. I predict the same will happen this year with "Enough".

After the "Enough" was over, I went back to the concession stand. The number of items on the menu has expanded. I decided to give the chicken strips a try. My advice? Eat them while they are hot!

For unknown reasons, I found several employees wanting to shake hands with me. During these "grip and grin" sessions, I heard that the "grand reopening" the night before had been well attended but that business was even better this night. I can believe it! After a second patrol, I believe this may have been the best night the Mission has seen this year. "Spiderman" sold out yet again. "Enough" drew a very large crowd as did "Scorpion King" and "Murder By Numbers". I can't wait to see two films sell out at the same time!

As I had planned, I stayed to see "High Crimes". After it was over, I returned home without incident.

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. In summary, six of the top ten were at the Mission this week.

WEEKEND BOXOFFICE
MAY 24 - 27, 2002

31 May 2002 - Questioned Again!

The weekend of 31 May - 1 June 2002 was the 50th anniversary of the Brazos Drive-In Theater in Granbury, Texas. Having decided that I would visit the Brazos on Saturday, I knew that I would be at the Mission on Friday. You can learn more about my trip to the Brazos in my soon to be released special report.

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that two new films were playing at the Mission this week. These films being the highly anticipated "Undercover Brother" and "The Sum of All Fears". This was the first week of release for both films.

With the addition of these two new films, I had seen 4 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. For the fifth week in a row, I've seen half, or less, of the movies being exhibited.

I left my apartment at 7:00PM. After a brief stop for corn dogs, I arrived at 7:45 to find both ticket booths were already open and all four lanes were in service. There were only about 12 cars waiting in line. The security guards were aggressively directing traffic in an effort to keep the lines of cars as short as possible and to prevent a ticket booth from running out of customers. These is certainly a reaction to the traffic problems on Roosevelt on high attendance nights. Would this be a high attendance night?

As I waited for my turn to be serviced, I noticed that all the female employees, excluding the security guard, were dressed in "clam-digger" jeans. To me, these are jeans in which the pant leg ends about half to two-thirds of the way down the calf. I'm certain these have a better name, but given what happened with the "ICEE" question, I won't even ask for feedback! Was this a coincidence or the start of a new dress code? More on that later!

If you recall my report from two weeks ago, then you know what happened next! I had my money out and my watch ready. I placed my order quickly with the runner (the Mission management prefers to call them ushers) and handed the cash out the window. This time, I paid with a ten dollar bill which forced the runner to wait for the cashier to make change. How long did it take to get serviced this time? I measured 22 seconds from the moment at which I released my brakes to roll forward to the head of the line until I released my brakes again to drive past the ticket booth. If every car were serviced at this rate, a car would be leaving the ticket booths every 5.5 seconds. This translates to a ticketed rate of 654 cars per hour. Last week, with exact change, the ticketed rate was 800 cars per hour. A rate of 654 cars per hour seems much more realistic.

I purchased a ticket for "Undercover Brother" and proceeded to the Screen 1 lot without incident. Knowing that I would be leaving following the end of the film, I parked my car in the second row on the right near the exit. Leaving my car behind, I began my usual patrol of the property.

One thing became immediately obvious to me, the general level of attendance seemed down compared to prior weeks. (Note: The next night at the Brazos, one of the owners mentioned that Friday had also been slow there. Rick Stivers, who joined me on the trip at the last moment, made some mention of a play-off game on television. Perhaps this drove down attendance at both theaters?) I quickly visited the Screen 1, 4, 3 and 2 lots. As I made my rounds, I noticed that fence repair continues in various locations around the property. These repairs are extremely important to the general appearance of the property.

Back at the concession stand, I purchased some of the usual items: a Diet Coke and a large popcorn. No hot dogs? That's right. Those corn dogs I got earlier had taken the edge of my hot dog craving. No traces remained of the decorations from last week's "Grand Re-Opening". I noticed that all the employees in the snack bar were wearing name tags. As at the ticket booths, the female employees were all wearing "clam-digger" jeans and most were wearing scarfs in their hair. Early last year, a similar attempt was made institute a "retro" uniform standard. I'll be interested to see how long the uniform standard lasts this time.

Satisfied for the moment, I returned to my car to wait for the movie to begin. Getting my chair out of the trunk, I sat it down on the ground behind my car. I sat down but after a few moments, I realized that I wasn't comfortable. Was it ants? Not this week. The problem this week was the chair itself. The metal struts have, for unknown reasons, started to bend and deform. It is no longer possible for all four legs to rest on the ground if the ground is reasonably flat. Annoyed, I moved the chair around until all four legs made contact with the ground. Problem solved, right? Nope. Sitting back down in the chair, I realized that I was no longer sitting level with the screen. Attempts to use force to repair the chair failed. I became frustrated and decided to walk over to the fence to check out the traffic levels.

I reached the fence near the Screen 1 entrance without incident. I was watching the cars go by when I noticed the security guard heading towards me. As a dedicated watcher of "COPS", I knew immediately what to do next. I followed the rules for a successful encounter with law enforcement. Here are the rules in case you need to know them:

1) Remain calm.
2) Remain still. Do not attempt to run. Do not walk towards law enforcement agents unless directed to do so.
3) Make certain your hands are visible at all times.
4) Do not avoid eye contact.
5) Answer questions truthfully but do not add any unnecessary information to your reply.

I have absolutely no idea what could have attracted the attention of this lady to me. She seemed extremely interested in what I was doing and why I was doing it. I found the incident to be very appropriate given that I was waiting to see "Undercover Brother". Could "the man" be trying to keep me "down"? Is this just the first step in a program of harassment in retaliation for these reports? Or could I simply be paranoid? Could it be that this lady was just doing her job? Time will tell! Time will tell!

After the security guard returned to her post, I monitored the traffic for a few more minutes and then returned to the concession stand for another Diet Coke. As I was exiting back into the Screen 1 lot, the assistant manager paused to ask me, "What's new"? I replied, "Not much except for being questioned by security". He seemed to be more shocked by the incident than I was! After we discussed this issue, I once again returned to my car.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. The first set of counts were taken immediately after I arrived during my initial patrol. The second set were taken at various times as noted. These counts are based solely on the cars I could see from the Screen 1 lot. They are at best an indicator of the growth in attendance at each film. They should not be considered as being an accurate count of all the cars in the lots. Got it?

Screen 1 - "Undercover Brother"/"Scorpion King" - 17, 30 @ 8:05
Screen 2 - "Spiderman"/"The New Guy" - 20, 37 @ 8:12
Screen 3 - "Sum Of All Fears"/"Changing Lanes" - 9, 26 @ 8:14
Screen 4 - "Enough"/"Murder By Numbers" - 9, 17 @ 8:23

I enjoyed "Undercover Brother". It was able to hold my interest despite the trailer having revealed all the best parts of the film. From time to time, I would look over to the left to see if there were any cars backed up on Roosevelt. From where I was sitting, any line of cars would have had to have reached back to the middle of the Screen 4 lot for me to have been able to see them. At no time did I ever see a line. This supports my observations about lower attendance than last week.

Following the conclusion of "Undercover Brother", I walked over to the concession stand to visit the restroom. Concluding my business there, I walked through the breeze way to the Screen 2 lot. As I was standing there watching "Spider-Man", the security guard emerged from the darkness in front of me. I am a strong believer in the cliche "what is good for the goose is good for gander". As she neared me, I greeted her. She stopped and we talked for a few minutes before she resumed her patrol.

Knowing that I had a long drive ahead of me the next day, I made a quick sweep through the Screen 3 and 4 lots and then returned to my car. My impression at the time was that "The Sum Of All Fears" was doing extremely well for a Screen 3 film. (Check below to see my observation confirmed!) Having parked near the exit, I was able to leave without annoying any of the other patrons. After exiting the theater, I proceeded home without incident.

One last observation: I can now confirm that the exterior speakers on the concession stand are operational on the Screen 2 side. Although I had originally been told they would not be used during film exhibition, these plans appear to have changed. The sound track to "Spider-Man" was being played through them at a moderate volume.

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. In summary, five of the top ten were at the Mission this week.

WEEKEND BOXOFFICE
MAY 31 - 02, 2002

8 June 2002 - Identified!

Having no particular plans for the weekend, I returned to my regular routine of visiting the Mission on Saturday.

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that only one new film was playing at the Mission this week. This film being "Bad Company". This was the first week of release for this film.

With the addition of this new film, I had seen 5 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. This breaks the five week run of weeks that I've seen half, or less, of the movies being exhibited.

Given the negative reviews of "Bad Company", I didn't feel the need to leave my apartment as early as usual. I waited until 7:15PM to leave. Having eaten supper earlier in the evening, I decided not to stop for corn dogs during the drive to the Mission. On the other hand, the recent increase in evening temperatures left me with a desire to pick up a 3 liter bottle of Diet Coke. Nothing works better when you need to replace critical electrolytes! I even gave in to temptation and purchased a bag of cherry sours.

I arrived at 7:50 to find only one ticket booth open. The line of cars was also very short. The lack of new "must see" films had clearly reduced the number of patrons arriving early. Since my watch had failed earlier in the week, I was unable to record my service time. I did notice an addition to the ticket booths. At the top of each front window, there is now a sign advertising the current movie schedule. Given how small the letters are, I suspect this sign is more for the runners than the patrons. I was only able to clearly read the lettering on the sign when I reached the head of the line. The sign itself is of the standard "slotted" variety. The face of the sign is white and the letters are red. If I recall correctly, the sign is a "co-op" sign with a large Coca-Cola label in the center.

I purchased a ticket for "The Sum Of All Fears" and proceeded to the Screen 4 lot without incident. I parked on the left sign of the screen to reduce the glare from the lights of the apartment complex on the other side of Roosevelt. Leaving my car behind, I began my usual patrol of the property.

I quickly made my rounds through the Screen 4, Screen 3 and Screen 2 lots. Attendance appeared to be up from the previous week. The garbage cans continue to be deployed in the Screen 2 lot. Clearly, enough trash is being placed in the cans to justify keeping them in the lots.

Inside the concession stand, I purchased some of the usual items: a Diet Coke and a large popcorn. No hot dogs? That's right. I still wasn't hungry. I know that several people read these reports simply to see how many hot dogs or corn dogs I will eat in a given trip. I hope my failure to consume any this week won't cause you to lose interest. I vow to eat them in the future! Nay, not just eat them! I'll eat them with gusto!

Last week, I commented on the new employee uniforms. This topic inspired more feedback than any other topic I've previously reported on. I had seven people contact me with the correct nomenclature for the women's pants. It seems I'm the only one that didn't know this particular cut of jeans is know as "Capri". I also want to point out that there is an alternative style that meets the dress code. It is permissible to roll up the cuffs of the jeans three to four inches. That would be an "outside" roll that reveals the "inside" of pant leg. Think about it for a few moments. Picture the pant leg turning in your mind. Get it? I should point out that this is the only style I've observed the male employees wearing. The male employees also wear t-shirts. If it wasn't politically incorrect, I'd suggest they complete this look with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in one sleeve or the other.

Leaving the concession stand, I loitered in front of the it long enough to "strip mine" the top layer of popcorn out of the bag. I can now confirm that the speakers on the Screen 1 side of the concession stand are operational.

The top layer of popcorn consumed, I returned to my car to wait for the movie to begin. As I crossed over between the Screen 1 and Screen 4 lots, I could see that both ticket booths were now open and that a steady stream of cars had begun to arrive. Reaching my car, I got out my chair and sat down to wait for the movie to begin.

Here are the car counts for those that like them:

Screen 1 - "Bad Company"/"Murder By Numbers" - 11
Screen 2 - "Spiderman"/"Enough" - 42
Screen 3 - "Undercover Brother"/"Scorpion King" - 20
Screen 4 - "Sum Of All Fears"/"Changing Lanes" - 22

I continue to be pleased with the brighter picture on Screen 4. I found "The Sum Of All Fears" to be entertaining. When the credits started to roll, I did a quick car count. I counted 132 cars in the lot.

After completing the count, I made a quick round of the other lots. I was extremely pleased by the number of people that selected "Undercover Brother" as their movie for the evening. On the way back, I stopped at the concession stand for another bag of popcorn. I am very impressed with the new layout of the concession stand. Customer service times have improved greatly.

With my bag of popcorn in hand (no Diet Coke was required as I had a three liter bottle in the car), I returned to my car. I decided to stay for "Changing Lanes". I'll only say that I can't see how this movie generated so much passion, both positive and negative, in my co-workers. I'm not sure I like the primary message of the film - "Multiple wrongs can make a right". If you've seen this picture, then you know what I mean.

At the conclusion of "Changing Lanes", I returned home without incident. It is important to note here that at the conclusion of the evening, I had now seen 7 of the 8 films being exhibited. This will become important in my next report!

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. In summary, five of the top ten were at the Mission this week.

Weekend Box Office
7-9 June 2002

13 June 2002 - Revealed!

Knowing that I would be attending a family reunion at Lake Jacksonville on 14-15 June 2002, I made alternate plans for visiting the Mission. While there remained the possibility that I would arrive home early enough on Saturday, the 15th, to attend a showing of a second feature, I felt the risk of ending my streak of consecutive weeks of attendance was simply too great. Instead, I decided to go to the Mission on Thursday, the 13th.

I think I need to point that my consecutive weeks of attendance are based on the calendar week - Sunday to Saturday. Movies are released based on the movie week - Friday to Thursday, in most cases. Why is this important now? Although Year 2, Week 6 and Year 2, Week 7 fall in different calendar weeks (thus keeping my streak alive), they fall into the same movie week. In short, the same movies were playing on Saturday, 8 June 2002, as on Thursday, 13 June 2002. When I left the Mission on 8 June 2002, I had seen 7 of the 8 movies being exhibited. That left me with only one movie choice, and that is no choice at all, on 13 June 2002. No analysis of the weekly Mission advertisement was required prior to this trip. I knew that I would be seeing "Bad Company" before I even walked out the door.

Although it has been some time since I attended a movie exhibition at the Mission on a Thursday night, I was quite confident that I didn't need to arrive more than a few minutes before show time. I loitered around my apartment and finally left for the Mission at 8:30PM. For the fourth week in a row, I used my new route to the Mission. A new route? Yes, a new route. Instead of driving down IH-37 South and exiting at New Braunfels, I discovered, through experimentation, that it was possible to get to the Mission by exiting from IH-37 South at Fair Avenue. After exiting off IH-37 South, you must turn right onto Fair Avenue. You then proceed down Fair Avenue until it intersects with South Presa. Turn left onto South Presa and continue down until you reach White. After turning right onto White, you need only drive until you the Mission. This route is five to ten minutes faster than the New Braunfels route. It is faster but it isn't perfect. Here are three reasons you need to be cautious if you take this route. First, the area contains a large number of senior citizens who feel the need to operate motor vehicles. Be wary of this type of driver! Second, there is a traffic light on Fair Avenue about halfway down to South Presa. Be very careful at this light! The building on the corner limits visibility towards the left. When the light turns green, wait a few extra seconds to allow any traffic you can't see to pass safely across Fair Avenue. Lastly, there is no traffic light at South Presa and Fair Avenue. You will be making a left hand turn at a stop sign. Don't try to "thread the needle". Wait for any cars on South Presa to go by before attempting to make the turn.

I arrived at the Mission at 8:50PM to find only one ticket booth was open. There were no cars in line waiting for tickets. I drove up to the ticket booth to wait for a runner to take my order. My favorite security guard walked over. As he leaned over towards the window, I expected a friendly greeting. Instead, he asked, "What movie tonight"? Huh? I was certainly taken aback by this turn of events! But I recovered quickly and replied, "Bad Company". He laughed and took my money. After he handed my ticket stub, I proceeded into the Screen 1 lot without incident. Knowing that I would only be staying for a single feature, I parked on the right side of the lot near the exit.

I have no idea if the security guard was really working as a runner or if he just wanted to acknowledge that he had seen me.

I've received two different opinions about this from the people at work. One group believes that having the security guard sell tickets more effectively advertises the presence of law enforcement to customers with unhealthy impulses. The other group believes that the security guard should be distanced from the customers so that they can more monitored more effectively.

Given the level of attendance that night, the security guard, if he was selling tickets all night long, would have had been able to interact with every single patron. No one would have been able to escape scrutiny. One advantage to using the security guard as a runner on slow nights is that reduces the total manpower cost by eliminating the cost of a runner. It could even be that the only way to justify the cost of security guard on a slow night is to put that guard to work performing other duties. If I had to chose between having a runner serve me, or the security guard serve me, I'd go with the security guard. What about patrolling the lot? I'm guessing that after the "pre-movie" rush is over at the snack bar, one the people working there could be moved over to the ticket booth to serve as a runner, thus freeing the security guard up for patrol duties. We may learn more about this in the future or this could simply be an isolated incident. Only time will tell.

Leaving my car behind, I began my usual patrol of the property. With only a few minutes to go before the movie started, I moved at a rapid rate through the lots. After going through Lots 4, 3 and 2, I ended up at the snack bar. Could this be yet another night without hot dogs? Yes! I purchased a Diet Coke and a large bag of popcorn and returned to my car. Just as I settled into my chair, the trailers began to run.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. I was surprised to see approximately the same number of vehicles in each of the lots.

Screen 1 - "Bad Company"/"Murder By Numbers" - 14
Screen 2 - "Spiderman"/"Enough" - 17
Screen 3 - "Undercover Brother"/"Scorpion King" - 17
Screen 4 - "Sum Of All Fears"/"Changing Lanes" - 15

Following the conclusion of "Bad Company", I walked over to the concession stand to visit the restroom. On the way, I recounted the cars in the Screen 1 lot. The count had grown to 24 during the film. Given the lateness of the hour, and the knowledge that I would be driving nearly the entire next day, I did not revisit the other lots. I returned to my car and proceeded home without incident. Arriving home, I realized that I had now seen all of the movies currently showing at the Mission! Although I can't be sure without consulting my records, I believe this is only the second time this has happened!

Bonus Feature 1:

Even though I was not at the Mission during the weekend of 14 to 16 June 2002, I have included the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. In summary, six of the top ten were at the Mission this week.

WEEKEND BOXOFFICE
JUNE 14 - 16, 2002

Bonus Feature 2:

If I return to my weekend Mission attendance schedule, I will have missed an entire "movie week" at the Mission. But that doesn't mean that I didn't perform my usual analysis of the weekly Mission advertisement! Had I gone to the Mission during that movie week, here is what I would have written. This is as close to a "alternate scene" as you are going to get in this newsletter.

"A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that two new films were playing at the Mission this week. These films being the highly anticipated "Scooby Doo" and "The Bourne Identity". This was the first week of release for both films."

Commentary:
I just received a call from Rick Sambucini. He expressed his desire to return to the Mission soon to see "The Bourne Identity". Although this is good news, it saddens me to think that we live in such a twisted world that it is easier to recruit suicide bombers than is to recruit drive-in movie patrons.

22 June 2002 - It's Back!

My friend Rick Stivers bought a house last year. In need of extra storage space, he conceived a bold plan to build a shed in his backyard. Not just any shed, mind you, but a large shed, 10 foot by 16 foot, engineered to withstand the elements. He had spent the last few weeks getting ready for the final assembly of this monument to over-engineering. He spent hours and hours designing a plan of construction. He pondered angels and pitches. He considered the sublime mathematics of the roof and the walls. With a delicate grace and particular attention to detail, he drew the diagrams that would guide the process to completion. Next, he built a foundation and pre-built as many parts of the shed as he possibly could. Finally, the day came when it would all come together. That day would be Saturday, 22 June 2002.

I had volunteered to help Rick with the final assembly of his shed. Knowing this adventure might consume the entire day, I considered the possibility that I would not make it to the Mission that night in time for the first feature. What second features were available for viewing? Had I already seen them?

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that three new films were playing at the Mission this week. These films being "Minority Report", "Lilo and Stitch" and "The Rookie". This was the first week of release for "Minority Report" and "Lilo and "Stitch". "The Rookie" falls into the "nearly new" category, having been released in San Antonio at other theaters in previous weeks.

With the addition of these three new films, I had only seen 3 of the 8 films being exhibited this week. Whoa! If you recall the previous report, you may be wondering how I went from having seen all 8 films being exhibited, to having seen only 3 of the films being exhibited. Keep in mind that although my calendar week streak continues, I missed the previous "movie" week. In the week I missed, two new films were added, "Scooby Doo" and "The Bourne Identity". Those two films plus this week's three new films equal five new films I haven't seen (yet). I know its tricky but if you stay with me, we'll make it through this report safely!

Construction began early on Rick's shed and continued until late into the evening. I finally left his house at 9:30PM. I rushed home to take a shower and change clothes. I left my apartment at 10:15PM. As I drove to the Mission, I considered the possibility that the box office might be closed. Of course, that wouldn't end my streak. I'd simply write a report titled "Closed!".

I arrived at 10:45PM to find only one ticket booth open. The line of cars was also very short. I was immediately concerned. Had attendance dropped? Moving forward in the line, I noticed the Mission marquee had changed yet again. The radio frequencies and the ticket prices had been removed. In their place, where the phrases "Any Lane, Any Show" and "Open Daily". The abbreviated street address of the Mission, "3100 RSVLT AVE", had also been added to the sign. The purpose behind "Any Lane, Any Show" is obvious. The management hopes to even out the lines across the four traffic lanes and thus keep both ticket booths as busy as possible. I like "Open Daily" as it sends the message that the Mission isn't just open on the weekends. Although July isn't even here yet, I'd advise the management to start making plans to change "Open Daily" to "Open Year Round". It does little good to make this change after the Labor Day holiday. The addition of the street address is odd. You can't see it from the road. Could the Postal Service have required them to post their address?

By this time, the first features were either over or nearly over. There was only one second feature that I hadn't already seen. That movie being "The Rookie". When I reached the head of the line, I declared my selection to the runner. I was slightly shocked to hear that it was "sold out". Wow! Before I could make another selection, the runner declared that "Spider-Man" was also sold out. Double wow! A double sell-out! As far as I know, that has NEVER happened before. (Note: Just to make certain this is clear, the second features really didn't sell-out. The first features, "Scooby-Doo" and "Lilo And Stitch", had sold out. It is a minor point, but one worth noting.) Stunned, I purchased a ticket for "The Sum Of All Fears" and headed towards the Screen 1 lot. As I turned into the lot, I could see that although "Minority Report" hadn't sold out, it must have come very, very close to it. The pile of gravel just inside the entrance has been rebuilt. As my car attempted to fishtail, I pondered what I would do next.

Having already seen "The Sum Of All Fears", I decided that I would park the car, walk around and then return home. I should also point out that I had suffered a foot injury earlier in the week. Although I was able to walk, I found it to be quite uncomfortable. I was actually concerned that I wouldn't be able to make it all the way around the lots. What happened later surprised even me.

Regaining control of my vehicle, I parked it in the "snack bar row", nose forward. Why nose forward? I knew I wouldn't be watching the Screen 1 movie although there was a slim chance that I might return to the car and watch the movie on Screen 2. Leaving my car behind, I began my patrol of the property.

Inside the concession stand, I purchased some of the usual items: a Diet Coke and a large popcorn. That's right, still no hot dogs! I noticed that a few patrons were playing video games but that the number of people in the area was not excessive.

Leaving the concession stand, I made my best speed towards the Screen 3 lot. The Screen 2 lot was packed. I've never seen it this full. Reaching the foot of the "fun house" bridge, I noticed a familiar shape ahead of me in the darkness. It appeared to be a snack cart. Yes, a snack cart. Could the Mission have known that "Lilo And Stitch" would sell out? If so, had they planned to exploit that sell out by opening a satellite concession stand?

Limping across the bridge, I was shocked to see a sea of cars in the Screen 3 lot. Even after "Lilo And Stitch" had ended, the lot was nearly full. It was truly amazing!

Turning right, I moved towards the snack cart. It was clearly NOT being used as a satellite concession stand. It was just sitting there for no apparent reason. I stood there for a few moments developing alternative scenarios to explain the cart being there. Although many bizarre and fantastic explanations came to mind, none of them seemed plausible.

Giving up, I turned slightly with the intention of moving on to the Screen 4 lot. Just as I started walking forward, "The Rookie" began to play. On impulse, I decided to watch at least the first few minutes of the film. I sat down on the tongue of the snack cart to rest my feet. (Note: For those that don't know it, "tongue" is used here to mean the structure extending forward from the snack cart which is used to connect to vehicle for towing. Yes, it could be called a "hitch" but that would be confusing when there is a moving playing called "Lilo and Stitch". Plus, describing it as a "tongue" allows for a play on words. Get it? Tongue? Snack cart?)

Sitting at the very back of the Screen 3 lot, I was very pleased with the brightest of the picture and the quality of the focus. How good was the focus? I call it "98% of perfect". About ten minutes into the movie, the projectionist began to adjust the focus. I'm sure I blurted out, "What the hell"? Why bother adjusting the focus? It was already "98% of perfect"! After a few adjustments, the picture settled down. I had to admit it. The picture looked even better. Now, It had to be "99% of perfect". A few minutes later, the adjustments began again. Could the picture quality go beyond "99% of perfect"? After the adjustments stopped, I had to admit it. The picture seemed absolutely perfect! Yes, nay-sayers, absolutely perfect!

About thirty minutes into the movie, I could no longer sit on the hard, cold steel of the snack cart's tongue. I stood up. I didn't even consider returning to my car, I was too caught up in "The Rookie". I stood there throughout the remainder of the film, shifting my weight from one foot to the other in a valiant effort minimize the pain in my left foot.

The mystery of the snack cart was solved when a pickup truck full of Mission employees arrived on the scene. They opened up the snack cart and began to place its contents inside the bed of the truck. The snack cart was being used as extra storage space for the concession stand! Why would they need extra storage space? During the renovation of the concession stand, the area previously used for storage was removed. I'm sure there remains some storage space inside the building but it certainly can't be enough to support the concession stand on a busy night.

After "The Rookie" was over, I hobbled around through the Screen 4 lot back to my car in the Screen 1 lot. This was the first time that I've parked my car in one lot and watched a movie in another lot. Had I planned on doing that, I would have carried my camp chair with me!

Excited, but tired, I started my car and proceeded home without incident.

Sadly, there are no car counts this week. Below are the screen assignments. I've marked the sell-outs for easy reference.

Screen 1 - "Minority Report"/"The Sum Of All Fears"
Screen 2 - "Scooby-Doo"/"Spider-Man" - Sold Out!
Screen 3 - "Lilo And Stitch"/"The Rookie" - Sold Out!
Screen 4 - "The Bourne Identity"/"Enough"

Of all the movies I've seen at the Mission, I would have to rank "The Rookie" at the top of the list. I truly enjoyed it.

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. Six of the top ten films were showing at the Mission this week including the ENTIRE TOP 5! No wonder the Mission had a double sell out!

Weekend Box-office
JUNE 21 - 23, 2002

29 June 2002 - From Boom To Bust!

One last thing before I conclude this report. Many people have heard me describe the drive-in as the "modern day Stonehenge" not so much because it predicts the seasons but because drive-ins are controlled by the seasons. The summer solstice occurred on 21 June 2002. That was the longest day of the year. From here on, to the start of winter, the days will get shorter and shorter and the movies will start earlier and earlier!

This Saturday, I had agreed to help my friend Rick Sambucini upgrade his son's computer to Windows 2000. Why the upgrade? The mouse port on the motherboard had ceased to function. Rather than trash the computer, Rick decided he would install a USB card so that he could then attach a USB mouse to the computer. Rick also liked the idea of being able to create multiple user accounts. His son would get a regular account for playing games. Rick would then use the administrator account to control the configuration of the computer. This arrangement certainly minimizes the possibility of the computer getting "messed up" by Richard, his four year old son.

From previous experience, I knew this adventure might consume the entire day! To prevent a repeat of the previous week, I simply told Rick that work on the computer would be discontinued no later than 7:30PM. If work still remained, we could complete it after we got back from the Mission. We? Yes, Rick Sambucini had agreed to return to the Mission to see "The Bourne Identity".

A study of the weekly Mission advertisement revealed that only one new film was playing at the Mission this week. This film being "Mr Deeds". This was the first week of release for "Mr Deeds". More important, "The Bourne Identity" was still on the schedule and paired with another film I hadn't seen yet, "Minority Report".

With the addition of this new film, I had only seen 3 of the 8 films being exhibited this week.

I arrived at Rick's house at 10:30AM. We then immediately left for Best Buy. Once there, Rick purchased a USB card and a USB mouse. After 45 minutes of browsing, he also purchased four DVDs. Back at his house, my worst fear was realized! I became bored! Why? It took nearly 2 hours for the Windows 2000 installation to complete. Success! The USB card and mouse worked perfectly. Rick carried the computer back to his son's room and hooked it up. Failure! There was no sound coming out of the computer! Nearly an hour was consumed searching the Internet for a suitable driver for the sound chip on the computer's motherboard. We never found one that worked properly! We then consumed another half hour rehashing everything that had ever happened to this particular computer. Once we got that out of our systems, we returned to Best Buy. Rick quickly selected the least expensive Sound Blaster card available in the store. He then made the mistake of attempting to purchase memory for his primary computer, an HP Pavilion 8750. After standing in two different lines and talking to two different clerks, he learned that Best Buy has no capability to research the type of memory required for any given computer. How do they do it? They just keep trying various memory chips until they find one that works! To say Rick was frustrated puts it mildly! Only one thing could calm him down! We headed back to the DVD section for another half hour of browsing! Finally, a stack of DVDs in his hands, Rick was ready to leave the store. He made one last shuffle of the disc boxes in his hands and then looked towards me. He said, very seriously, "Do you remember what DVDs I bought in here this morning"? Unlike George Washington, I can tell a lie. But this time, I told the truth. I had absolutely no idea what he had purchased just hours before. He stared at me in a hard way and then shoved the DVDs back onto nearest shelf. We checked out in silence and then returned once again to Rick's home. We quickly gave voice to the mute computer. All seemed well until we realized the ZIP drive had stopped working. After yet another "tear down, build up" cycle, we had that fixed. Were we done? Nope. Now it was "configuration time". This part actually went very quickly. We got all the critical software reinstalled. The Internet configuration was recreated and Rick was back on-line! We installed a couple of Richard's games and they seemed to work fine with Windows 2000. Was all well? It was until his monitor decided to "freak out". It seemed to me that one of the electron projection guns had gone out and as a result we weren't getting in "red" on the screen. The problem was intermittent -- clearly there was a short circuit in the monitor. Rick wasn't happy with this situation. He went primitive on me, or rather on the monitor. He began to pound on the top of the monitor with his hand. With each strike, he increased the force behind the next blow. After the sixth blow was struck, the electrical fault was somehow corrected. Rick vowed to use more force in the future if necessary. The time was now 7:30PM. We had to go! (Note: Ordinarily, I wouldn't have written such a long paragraph but this time I wanted to convey to you, the reader, that this was one non-stop exercise.)

As we walked out the door, Rick asked me if he looked any different. He didn't. Annoyed, he announced that he had lost 15 pounds in the last few weeks on his new miracle diet. How does it work? He stopped drinking regular Coke. Okay, fine. During the trip to Jacksonville a few weeks ago, I had purchased two additional camp chairs. I got these out of my car and put them in the back of the Durango. Rick gunned the motor and we were off! We didn't get far though. Rick decided to stop at Eckerd's to purchase a twelve pack of Diet Coke. That's reasonable. Once inside, we found that all of the Diet Coke was sold out. I thought this strange until Rick told me about the sale - "10 twelve packs for $12". That's an amazing deal! Suspicious, I asked more questions about the sale. It turns out the sale had actually started on Friday and had been limited to the stock on hand. No wonder the racks were empty! Back in the Durango, we started out again for the Mission. We didn't get to far this time either. Rick, who hadn't eaten all day, decided that "he would die" if we didn't stop for food. And no, a corn dog wouldn't do! After much discussion and debate, we ended up at the "Jack In The Box" on IH-35. This took much longer than expected. It was 8:36PM when we finally arrived at the Mission.

When we drove up, only the right ticket booth was open. The two security guards were working aggressively to keep the lines of equal length. Were the lines that long? No. The threat of rainfall seemed to be keeping the patrons away. Just before we reached the head of the line, the second ticket booth opened. There didn't seem to be any reason for this except that it allowed all four traffic lanes to be opened. The primary advantage of being a passenger, instead of a driver, is the ability to concentrate fully on things other than the roadway. As Rick was buying our tickets, I saw a sign inside the ticket booth which I hadn't noticed before. It read simply, "Please keep your box office clean". After completing the transaction, Rick drove us into the Screen 3 lot with only minor navigational assistance. I directed him to a suitable location and he parked the Durango. Leaving it behind, we began our patrol of the property.

We moved with dispatch across the Screen 3 lot. This was Rick's first experience with the "fun house" bridge. I suppose I shouldn't have mentioned how dangerous the bridge could be during rainy weather. Rick made what appeared to be a "white knuckle" crossing, always keeping at least one hand wrapped around the bridge railing. Sometimes, I forget how suggestible people can be! The sky was heavily overcast and the smell of rain was in the air. We were able to count cars in the Screen 2 lot, but only just barely. The pile of gravel on the Screen 2 side of the concession stand has also been refreshed. Walking through wet gravel is very difficult indeed!

Inside the concession stand, I purchased some of the usual items: a Diet Coke and a large popcorn. That's right, still no hot dogs! Rick also made a purchase although I can't recall what he bought.

Leaving the concession stand, we walked briskly through the Screen 1 lot towards the Screen 4 lot. There was now a very fine mist in the air, just slightly heavier than a dense fog. I couldn't see all the way across the Screen 1 lot. Keep this in mind when you get to the car counts below!

Once we arrived at the Screen 4 lot, Rick suggested we split up. He took one set of rows and I took the rest. We met up again in the last row of the lot. As we were walking back towards Screen 3, Rick kicked something with his foot. We both looked down to see a pair of children's sandals. Rick declared, "Richard loves sandals. I bet he'll like these. I'm going to take them back home with me". At this point, Rick grew quiet. I couldn't make out his face well in the fog but it appeared to have lost some color. He looked at me and said, "You're going to write about this, aren't you"? I confirmed that I would. Now embarrassed, Rick considered throwing the sandals away. I interjected, "If you do that, I'll just write about that too"! Accepting the inevitable, Rick started walking back towards the Screen 3 lot. And, yes, he still had the sandals!

Arriving back at the Durango, we go out the camp chairs and settled down to watch the movie trailers. After the "Crocodile Hunter" trailer, Rick declared, "These are great chairs. This has to be the most comfortable camp chair I've ever sat in". My response? "That's because the seats on these chairs are 25% wider than ordinary chairs". Clearly, this was not the right thing to say to someone on a diet. Rick made a grumbling sound and then went quiet.

Here are the car counts for those that like them. Keep in mind that the rainy weather limited my ability to count cars effectively in the Screen 1 lot.

Screen 1 - "Mr Deeds"/"Sum Of All Fears" - 37+
Screen 2 - "Scooby-Doo"/"Spider-Man" - 38
Screen 3 - "Minority Report"/"The Bourne Identity" - 33
Screen 4 - "Lilo And Stitch"/"The Rookie" - 48

Here the impact of the rainy weather can clearly be seen. Last week, the Mission had two sell-outs with very heavy attendance in the other two lots. That night the weather had been absolutely perfect. This week, attendance was way, way down. It had rained intermittently throughout the day and the rainfall was predicted to continue throughout the evening. (Note: It turned out later that this was just the beginning of a period of heavy rainfall in San Antonio. Records would fall as fast as the rain came down! The heavy rainfall resulted in massive flooding in the surrounding areas.)

Part way through the "Minority Report", it began to drizzle. We pulled our chairs closer together underneath the Durango's rear hatch. Perhaps15 minutes later, the drizzle turned into a light rain. We climbed up into the back of the Durango, abandoning the camp chairs to the night. At this point, Rick began to talk about wanting to "just go home". Oh, no! This talk had to be "nipped in the bud"! Rick likes to go camping. Could this outdoor interest be used to my advantage? I hoped so! I said to Rick, "If you go camping, and it starts raining, do you "just go home" or do you stick it out"? He replied in an indignant - "I can't believe you even have to ask" - tone, "No! I'd stay"! A few moments passed and then Rick added, "I get it". With those three words, I knew we'd being staying to the end of the film! Did the rain detract from the movie experience? No, I thought the sights and sounds of the rain added to the ambiance surrounding the film. "Minority Report" is a dark film which even contains a critical rain scene. As always, the "Minority Report" gets bonus points for working the title into the film.

During the intermission, we walked back to the concession stand. The number of cars seemed to have increased. We returned directly to the Screen 3 lot where I recounted the cars. There were now 50 cars in the lot. Since the rain had stopped, we returned to the camp chairs. They weren't as wet as I had expected them to be.

Part way through "The Bourne Identity", "The Rookie" ended on Screen 4. I thought it odd that "Lilo and Stitch" wasn't repeated. Perhaps it was because there shouldn't be any kids up after midnight to see it?

When "The Bourne Identity" concluded, Rick demanded that I include his comment on the film. Here it is - "The chairs were comfortable". We took "the long way home" and arrived back at Rick's house without incident. Did I go straight home? Nope. We spent the next couple of hours taking digital pictures of items Rick plans to sell on Ebay. I finally got home at 04:00AM.

Here is the weekly comparison between the Mission exhibition schedule and the top ten grossing films. Six of the top ten films were showing at the Mission this week including the five top grossing films of the week. This was also the case last week, which supports my theory that the inclement weather was the reason for the reduced attendance.

WEEKEND BOXOFFICE
JUNE 28 - 30, 2002

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