I’ve been banned from seeing anymore movies at the Majestic 11 in Vero! Say it ain’t so! Boo hoo!
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009Hey all. Michael here. Well, you know me. I’m a connoisseur of movies and film in general. So, I couldn’t let this go because they are wrong, and I’m (mostly) right. 
For a little backstory, last year, when they opened, the Majestic 11 was advertising DLP Projection in every theater. There was a big sign out in front of Luria’s Plaza that was advertising this, as well as this BIG picture on the website:
So, I called them out on this, and…well let’s just post the original email chain as well so you know the entire story:
From: mrhardaway@gmail.com [mailto:mrhardaway@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 5:16 PM
To: feedback@cinemaworldonline.com
Subject: Feedback and Comments – vero
From:Michael D. Denninger
Message:Hello. My name is Michael Denninger. I am writing about my experience last week at the Majestic Theater. As a former employee for three different movie chains, including the Cobb Cinemas that used to be where the Majestic is and the AMC Theatres across town, I know a lot about movie theaters. I am so dissatisfied with the AMC in town that I urged everyone I know via email and in person to go to the new Majestic Theater that would have all screens DLP and great seats and wall-to-wall screens! However, after last wwek’s experience, I can and will no longer support or patron your theater. I went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with my parents, my wife, my friend and his mother. I told them all that it was going to be glorious and in DLP and whatnot. I get to the theater. First thing I see is it does not say free refills for popcorn or, more importantly, soda, anywhere on your concession boards. I figure that you just don’t advertise this, and I buy $12 worth of concession in addition to the $20 my parents purchased. We go inside the theater. I actually see a co-worker of mine who I told that this theater was going to be all DLP in the screening with his wife and in-laws. He looks at me and says “Hey Mike, what gives?” I have no idea what he is talking about until I look in the projection booth and see film running down through the projector. Now, I enjoy film sometimes, but when a theater advertises state-of-the-art DLP projection and whatnot, I expect that. Needless to say, it made me seem like a liar to all my friends and family, and I was not pleased. The entire trailer pack was badly scratched, including all snipes. I was praying the movie wasn’t scratched, and it wasn’t, but it was still film. The projectionists did not remove any of the chemical splices in the film, as I did when I was a projectionist at all my theaters. In addition to the chemical splices being plainly visible, there were many other problems that a theater open less than a month shouldn’t have. The aperture plate was slightly open, causing a dark edge on the screen. The bulb was not focused correctly, and dark spots were visible in various areas on the screen. My friend, who, like me, was a manager at Rave Motion Pictures, noticed this immediately. To top it all off, the bottom-right corner of the screen was out of focus and dark. To top it all off, my wife goes to the restroom, so I ask her to get me a refill on my EXTRA LARGE Coke that I purchased, and she comes back and says they don’t do refills. I paid almost $5 for a soda, and I do not get a refill? Even AMC does refills! So, if I had no car, I would be stuck choosing between AMC and Majestic, neither of which have DLP. AMC is older now and it smells bad, but at least they do refills when they are raking you over the coals for concessions. If I had to choose between either of you, which thankfully I do not have to do since I have a car and am willing to make the drive to Port St. Lucie to see a real theatrical experience with DLP and refills, it would be a tough choice. Needless to say, you have disappointed this potential life-long customer, and you will disappoint many more in Vero Beach with your false claims of digital projection. Thanks for bringing nothing new to the table, CinemaWorld. Sincerely, Michael D. Denninger
On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 9:04 AM, Jim Deal <feedback@cinemaworldonline.com> wrote:
Dear Mr. Denninger,
Thank you for your feedback. We are working with our digital provider, Technicolor Digital Cinema, to provide the most advanced DLP projection equipment available to our remaining film-equipped theaters by the end of the year. Both Technicolor and AccessIT, Technicolor’s major competitor and the provider of digital cinema for Rave Motion Pictures, are awaiting the financing necessary to equip the remainder of the partner’s screens.
While we had anticipated the Majestic opening with DLP equipment, it simply did not work with our provider’s availability. As a result, our Vero location is equipped with the finest film projectors available, along with all of the sound equipment necessary for both film and digital presentations. I have reviewed all of the ‘Indiana Jones’ screens at our Majestic location and, other than the trailer package being scratched, was not able to reproduce the bulb problem you had mentioned.
I would be cautious about discounting movies presented on film. Many of Hollywood’s finest directors, including Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, have publicly stated that they prefer the experience of watching a movie on film to that of watching a movie on a DLP digital projector. While Cinemaworld has always been at the forefront of digital projection (we were one of the first 85 screens in the US to feature the technology), we still feel that a properly projected film presentation is at least as good as a digital presentation.
Our concessionist obviously made an error in not giving you a refill on your jumbo drink. Both our Jumbo drink and our large popcorn include free refills on the day of the show.
In any case, I have taken the liberty of sharing your email with Alishia Colimon, Vero Beach’s general manager. She will be sharing it with her projection staff to ensure they know of importance of good film presentations.
If you are so inclined, please send me your physical address so I can treat you and your guests to another viewing at the Majestic. I am confident you will enjoy all of the new features we have brought to Vero Beach.
Jim Deal
Director of Operations
Cinemaworld of Florida, Inc.
From: Michael D. Denninger [mailto:mrhardaway@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2008 9:46 AM
To: Jim Deal
Jim – Thank you for your email back. Both my friend and I emailed the feedback@cinemaworldonline.com address the night of or the day after the movie we watched, and neither of us had received an email back. I finally just resubmitted it on your website.
I understand I may be a projection perfectionist, having been in the position for so many years, and the bulb issue that both my friend and I saw was not one that the public may have noticed, it is one that my friend and I, both former managers at Rave Motion Pictures, both noticed and felt that a theater open less than a month should not have. Focusing of bulbs and keeping track of bulb hours is an extremely important thing to do.
The other projection issues (the aperture plate and the focus) are easy to correct, but it seems that your projectionist just did not take the 15-30 seconds you should take after a film starts to ensure that it looks great, in addition to coming back when the movie itself starts. Again, these two are probably not something a normal customer that has never worked in movie theaters may have noticed, but it was noticeable enough.
I just think if you are going to try and compete with AMC and Rave, you need to not do things in this way. I know you know that Cobb failed to beat AMC, as did Regal and Zota, and everyone expects you to be the next to fall. After my experience last week, I am in that camp. I do appreciate your emailing me back, and I hope you can change my mind, but, as you know, it only takes one experience to sour one’s attitude towards an establishment.
Regarding Spielberg and Jackson, I agree. I personally love the look of film, but DLP is much better in many ways. I know I quit AMC three years ago because prints were being scratched, chemical splices were being left in, projectionists were working in booth that just did not care. My booth manager, who was also one of my best friends, refused to do anything about it, as did that management staff at AMC. They claimed it would be too hard to replace the booth staff, even though I ran the booth by myself at another AMC theater and could have done it again until people were trained. I also know that you hired at least two people that I know of from AMC. One is my former best friend who is apparently a manager at your theater part-time, and the other is a person who I saw working the floor. She may be a supervisor of some sort now. Hiring someone who I know does not care about presentation quality the way someone should as management does sully my opinion of your theater even further. In all honesty, it makes me feel if I registered a complaint with the theater management personally, I would not get a fair shake due to my personal relationship with him.
In any case, I just realized that I am replying to the feedback address again, so I hope this reaches you. I will also submit it on your website as it seems I had to do that the last time to get a message across. I will give your theater another chance, but, in all honesty, I do not mind driving to Rave in Port St. Lucie to get the experience that I know is going to be great (excluding the annoying teens that get into an R-rated movie such as THE STRANGERS, as happened to me last weekend). I would love to not have to drive 30 miles each way to see a movie, but as it stands right now, Rave is my number on choice. I sincerely hope that my next experience at your theater helps me drift more in your direction.
My physical address is below. Please feel free to contact me again if you would like, and I look forward to giving the Majestic one more chance.
Sincerely,
Michael D. Denninger
305 20th Avenue
Vero Beach, FL 32962
772-559-6258
mrhardaway@gmail.com
P.S. – I also happened to go to the midnight showing of THE GOONIES last Friday. While I expected it to be a scratched print and whatnot, and again, it was not bad enough for the other customers to notice, I did notice the credits and titles and some images were out of focus. This was my first experience at your Melbourne location, and I am definitely going back for more midnight showings, but I don’t know if it is a lack of training for projectionists or a lack of caring on their part, but it takes all of five seconds to focus correctly, especially on the white lettering and black background of THE GOONIES titles. Also, even though an announcement was made at the beginning of the film that it would be monitored, it was not, and there were several people in the front section of the theater that were making the movie unenjoyable for others. This might be something to look at as well.
Michael.
Thank you for your additional feedback. I have dispatched 6 passes to your mailing address in the hope that you will give the Majestic another opportunity to win your business.
I would note that the web site you mentioned was no longer live and was only accessible by using an old bookmark or manually typing in the page itself. I have, however, had it removed.
Thanks again.
Jim Deal
Director of Operations
Cinemaworld of Florida, Inc.
Soooooo there’s what happened last year. The guy was blatantly wrong, but he didn’t want to admit to it, so he sent me passes and whatnot. Whatever.
This led to last night when I went to watch 24 at the Majestic. It was advertised on the website as being shown in HD! Well, I figured I should check it out.
As SOON as the projector was started at 7:55pm, I knew it was in SD. SD is standard definition, what you all know as regular television in case you don’t wanna have to think to much. The picture stayed in SD for AN HOUR AND A HALF. Meanwhile, I had emailed them through their website on my BlackBerry. At 9:27pm, it switched over to HD somehow magically. Maybe a gnome?
Anyways, let the email war begin!
From: michaeldenninger@gmail.com [mailto:michaeldenninger@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 8:41 PM
To: feedback@cinemaworldonline.com
Subject: Feedback & Comments from CinemaworldOnline.com
Location: Vero Beach, FL
Name: Michael Denninger
Email: michaeldenninger@gmail.com
Message: I am sitting in the theater watching the season finale of 24. I just want to know why you feel it necessary to advertise falsely about things. First, it was that you have digal projectors when you opened. That was not true. Now, you advertised on the website and newsletter that 24 would be broadcast in HD. What I am watching is. Clearly SD. I just don’t like that you people either don’t know what you are doing or lie to get people who may not know the difference.
From: “Feedback”
Date: Tue, 19 May 2009 09:38:12 -0400
To: <michaeldenninger@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Feedback & Comments from CinemaworldOnline.com
Dear Michael,
The show you watched last night was broadcast in HD, via Comcast channel 183. The resolution Comcast, and Fox supplies is 720p, still HD. The image was put on screen by our NEC 2500 digital projector.
Rick Starr II
Vice President / COO
Cinemaworld of FL, Inc.
From: Michael D. Denninger [mailto:michaeldenninger@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 9:42 AM
To: Feedback@cinemaworldonline.com
Subject: Re: Feedback & Comments from CinemaworldOnline.com
It was not broadcast in HD until 9:27pm when your projectionist or a manager must have realized, “Hey, this isn’t HD.” And flipped a switch. Trust me, unless you were there, you don’t know. It was SD. I don’t really care if you believe me or not, because I know what actually occurred. My entire point is that maybe you should get someone competent to run your booth. Thanks.
Michael D. Denninger
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 1:50 PM, Jim Deal <feedback@cinemaworldonline.com> wrote:
Dear Michael.
We have confirmed with the projectionist and managers working last evening that nothing was touched after the show started. The HD box was tuned to the correct channel for the entire broadcast. I have seen times when TV channels were unable to receive the HD broadcast and instead ‘switched’ to the SD version. Given the weather that occurred last night, it would not surprise me if this was the case. Regardless, we were able to provide the best broadcast locally possible.
I would be very hesitant, in the future, about discounting the ‘competence’ of our employees prior to knowing the facts. Many of the systems we have in place at the Majestic are at the very leading edge of what is available. On occasion these technologies result in technical problems that are not the result of management or staff ‘incompetence’. If you have a question or concern about one of our events or features, please feel free to address that concern with the management on duty. I’m confident you will find them receptive, willing to help, and extremely competent.
Jim Deal
Director of Operations
Cinemaworld of Florida, Inc.
From: Michael D. Denninger [mailto:michaeldenninger@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 2:01 PM
To: Jim Deal
Subject: Re: Feedback & Comments from CinemaworldOnline.com
No, I know the managers you have working at Majestic, so I know their level of competency. However, you are possibly correct that Comcast provided bad service as usual. However, cables run under ground, so since you say you use cable and not satellite, I’d think the reception should have been just fine. That could be a Comcast issue.
As a customer, I can discount the competency of your employees as much as I feel is necessary. If you disagree, that is your opinion. Thanks for your time, Jim!
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Feedback <feedback@cinemaworldonline.com> wrote:
Dear Michael,
Please know that in the future, we will not respond to any of your emails, comments or issues.
Rick Starr II
Vice President / COO
Cinemaworld of FL, Inc.
From: Michael D. Denninger [mailto:michaeldenninger@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 2:17 PM
Dear Rick -
If by respond you mean no longer email me with excuses and whatnot, AWESOME! Though, I do find them hilarious to read. 
Stay classy, Ricky!
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 2:21 PM, Feedback <feedback@cinemaworldonline.com> wrote:
Also, please know that if you ever return to the Majestic, you will kindly be asked to leave. Should you refuse, you will be arrested for trespassing. As this is a privately owned business, we have every right to choose who our customers are.
Rick Starr II
Vice President / COO
Cinemaworld of FL, Inc.
From: Michael D. Denninger <michaeldenninger@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Feedback & Comments from CinemaworldOnline.com
Cc: Alishia Colimon <acolimon@cinemaworldonline.com>, jdeal <jdeal@cinemaworldonline.com>
If by “choose” you mean “people who won’t complain because of false advertising about every theater having a digital projector and 24 being broadcast in HD,” then feel free to have them. I prefer going to Rave Motion Pictures anyways. They are all digital, and they don’t just advertise that and not deliver.
Also, I thought you weren’t going to respond to any more of my emails, Rick II? Geez. Make up your mind.
I attached a JPEG of the ad you had on your website last year advertising all-digital projection. Figured you’d get a laugh out of it like I do now.
Thanks guys and gals!
Sincerely,
Michael D. Denninger
Banned from the Majestic 11
Boo hoo.
