Regal Trust Report September 2016

Regal Trust Report September 2016

Attendance figures

September 2012 1703 patrons

September 2013 975 patrons

September 2014 1026 patrons

September 2015 993 patrons

September 2016 980 patrons

A fairly unremarkable month, with many of our core audience taking their holidays.

Predictably disappointing results for a couple of blockbusters, especially Finding Dory which Disney wouldn’t allow us to screen in the school holiday, where results would have been significantly better.

A lot of broadcast content was shown during the month, with three in the space of a few days.  All were profitable, but attracted quite small audiences, however they certainly ticked the diversity box, with The Penny Opera at one end of the scale, Norma and Cyberline at the other end and Micheal Bublé somewhere in between.  We also have a spectacular performance of Turandot that was staged on Sydney Harbour.  A huge undertaking, but with great results.

There were also two very different live shows. The first a tribute to Bob Dylan was performed on the stage in the Function room to an audience of 40.  A thoroughly enjoyable show, with seating set out in cabaret style.  The second was a sold out performance by Ruby Turner.

Regal Trust Report July/August 2016

Regal Trust Report July/August 2016

Attendance figures

July 2013    786 patrons

July 2014    898 patrons

July 2015  1287 patrons

July 2016  1839 patrons

August 2013 1352 patrons

August 2014 1398 patrons

August 2015 1117 patrons

August 2016 1797 patrons

Another great year at the Regal, and the best ever figures for July & August.

31st August was the end of the fourth year that the Regal has been under the management of the Regal Tenbury Trust.  It was also the busiest year on record with 227 Film screenings, 53 Event Cinema Screenings and 49 Live performances, a total audience of over 21,500 people.  In addition we hosted a number of public and private events, parties, conferences and rehearsals.

Type	2016	2015
Film	227	217
Event	53	36
Live	49	36
Audience	21616	19016

This time last year we reported on the plans to redevelop the service block in the function room.  Unfortunately there has been no further progress with this project will all requests for funding being turned down.

During the Summer both the current General Manager and the Deputy General Manager have resigned.

The Deputy GM will be leaving at the end of September and the GM at the end of October.

The Trustees have decided to change the management structure, and recruitment of a Theatre Manager is underway with interviews this week.  The hope is that someone will be in post by early October. The recruitment of a Theatre Administrator and a Caretaker will commence shortly.

Regal Trust Report June 2016

Regal Trust Report June 2016

Attendance figures

June 2013 1438 patrons

June 2014   726 patrons

June 2015   789 patrons

June 2016   871 patrons

June was a month of surprises and disappointments.  Eddie the Eagle and Florence Foster Jenkins performed below expectations, whereas Jungle Book, Eye in the Sky and Angry Birds exceeded our expectations.  Our final film of the month, The Train, a 1964 war thriller starring Burt Lancaster was a great success. The local audience was swelled by the arrival of two vintage bus loads of re-enactors from the Severn Valley Railway in authentic costumes.

We had four live shows this month, all were thoroughly enjoyed by those that attended, but all had disappointing tickets sales, which does seem to be a slightly worrying trend at the moment.

We now wait in anticipation to see how well our packed summer season performs.  We kick off the school holidays with The BFG, which is our first ever “first run” film, and follow with numerous family friendly presentations throughout the holiday season.

Regal Trust Report May 2016

Regal Trust Report May 2016

Attendance figures

May 2013 1516 patrons

May 2014 1358 patrons

May 2015 1061 patrons

May 2016 1108 patrons

A rather unremarkable month.  Some films, such as Batman v Superman failed to deliver, and whilst Eddie the Eagle and Eye in the Sky were successful they still failed to live up to expectations.  Only Jungle Book exceeded our expectations, but perhaps only because we had revised those expectations downwards.  We are seeing smaller audiences for family films as more people are now seeing films on release with the much improved offering in Hereford.

As our report was not on the agenda for the last meeting so I thought it was worth repeating this section from the report that was prepared.

We have just finished booking films for our summer season, and perhaps as an indication of the fragmentation in the marketplace, this has been the most time consuming and complicated process of all the seasons we have booked so far.  

The good news is our summer programme is much stronger than last years and for the first time we have been able to secure a film on a first run basis so we will be screening  Steven Spielberg’s The BFG at the same time as the big cinemas.  

As an indication of the fragmentation.  The BFG  is a Spielberg production, Spielberg productions are owned by Disney, so this is a Disney Film, but we are negotiating with Entertainment One (EOne) who have the UK rights.  The trailer is being distributed by MPD via the Lansat system, how we will receive the DCP or digital package is at yet unknown but will probably be via the Unique system.  As the different distribution platforms roll out I’m sure there will be further confusion until a dominant player emerges.

Regal Trust Report April 2016

Regal Trust Report April 2016

Attendance figures

April 2013 1298 patrons

April 2014 1902 patrons

April 2015 1497 patrons

April 2016 639 patrons

Our worst month for patrons since our launch in September 2012.

This was partly due to a lack of live shows. This time had originally been planned as a period for remodelling the function room service block.

Film sales were particularly weak with no blockbuster in this month’s available films.  First run cinemas were reporting a strong month, but only time will tell if we will see better figures for those films or whether they will be a spent force by the time we screen them.

We have just finished booking films for our summer season, and perhaps as an indication of the fragmentation in the marketplace, this has been the most time consuming and complicated process of all the seasons we have booked so far.  The good news is our summer programme is much stronger than last years and for the first time we have been able to secure a film on a first run basis so we we be screening  Steven Spielberg’s The BFG at the same time as the big cinemas.  As an indication of the fragmentation.  The BFG  is a Spielberg production, Spielberg productions are owned by Disney, so this is a Disney Film, but we are negotiating with Entertainment One (EOne) who have the UK rights.  The trailer is being distributed by MPD via the Lansat system, how we will receive the DCP or digital package is at yet unknown.  As the different distribution platforms roll out I’m sure there will be further confusion until a dominant player emerges.

Regal Trust Report March 2016

Regal Trust Report March 2016

Attendance figures

March 2013 3074 patrons

March 2014 2058 patrons

March 2015 2164 patrons

March 2016 2351 patrons

Although we increased the number of patrons this month, only a few films performed well.  The best was Dad’s Army but even this failed to deliver the numbers that had been expected.

We only hosted one live show this month, The Sounds of Simon, a Simon and Garfunkel Tribute show.  The show was excellent and did perform better than our target. Broadcast shows were poorly supported and there may now be an oversupply in the market, with less popular titles and events being screened.  The award winning adaptation of the Railway Children wasn’t as well attended as we had hoped.  Sales across the country had been very good and we gave it maximum exposure so we are at a bit of a loss to understand this.

Lindridge School held their Oscar’s evening at the Regal, screening a selection of short films shot by and featuring the Children from the school.  We did have a small technical problem with the media supplied, but experience has now taught us to have a back-up copy, so we were able to switch with a very short delay.  After the screening, the children were presented with awards.  From the exit chatter, I think we can conclude that the evening was very successful.

The newly formed Regal Theatre Company for adults are to host an open day at the Regal on Saturday 9th April.  They are encouraging anyone with the slightest interest in Theatre to come along and find out more about the Regal and how they can “Make Theatre Happen”.

Regal Trust Report Feb 2016

Regal Trust Report Feb 2016

Attendance figures

Feb 2013 1261 patrons

Feb 2014 1698 patrons

Feb 2015 2074 patrons

Feb 2016 1498 patrons

A disappointing month with a limited choice of good titles available to us.  Although Danish Girl and Revenant performed better than expected they were no match for last years The Theory of Everything.  

The half term films (Snoopy & Pan) were also less popular titles than last years (Penguins of Madagascar & Annie).  

The Musical Theatre School has now restarted with new tutors and the numbers attending are close to our maximum capacity in the older age group.

We have also announced our intention to form the Regal Theatre Company for adults and are in the process of collating information about what people want.

February saw a number of electrical failures in the building.  The Aisle lighting system had to be repaired as a section of the cable had corroded leading to short circuits.  The fire shutter control mechanism also overloaded blowing its fuses.  Also the Community Centre emergency lighting charging system developed a fault and the control switch was replaced.