Monday, February 18, 2002 (Presidents’ Day)
Presidents’ Day
Do kids still want to be President when they grow up? In 1999, ABC asked the question and 8 out of 10 kids said they would not want the job. What do children think Presidents do all day?
In a country where a growing percentage of our population is foreign born, should we still have a provision in our Constitution that requires a person to have born in America to be President? (Being naturalized is not enough — Article 2, Section 1 of The Constitution was drafted when the framers were worried that some foreign born King or Prince could come over and become President.)
Find Billions of Web Sites as they Were
Several months ago I told Al’s Morning Meeting readers about a website that had archived 10-billion (that is not a typo-Billion!) web pages reaching as far back as 1996. With this remarkable site, you can look up websites as they were on a particular date. The site, in its early days, ran slowly and crashed often. It is much better now and trust me, you should take a look. If I gave out awards, this one would win one for being so interesting and easy to use.
Too Many Movie Screens
Alexander Coolidge, a Morning Meeting reader, sent me another terrific story. This one about the tough times in the past and ahead for movie theatres. He writes, “During the past two years, a dozen top theater companies sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and shuttered hundreds of box offices across the country. Experts said the industry over-extended itself by building too many megaplexes. A crisis set in when fewer moviegoers visited older theaters, which the companies were still locked into renting.”
The Decatur Daily reported “According to the National Association of Theatre Owners, the number of movie theater screens in the United States rose by 52 percent since 1990, while annual attendance grew by 19 percent. In short, there are too many theaters vying for the money of the movie-going public. The problem is especially obvious in larger metropolitan areas, where megaplex theaters are common. Megaplexes — the industry term for theaters with 14 or more screens — became popular in the mid-1990s, said Kevin Skislock, an entertainment analyst at Laguna Research Partners in Irvine, Calif. Once movie-chain owners saw that people were driving past the smaller multiplex theaters to get to the new megaplexes, which offered more choices in movies and concessions, a phenomenon was born, he said.”
The Hollywood Reporter says, “Movie theater operators will see further net screen reductions this year and next through consolidation and downsizing, leaving the total screen count at a five-year low of about 33,000 by the end of 2003, Lehman Bros. analyst Stuart Linde predicted Tuesday. “
The HR also said, “Exhibitors ended 2001 with about 34,700 screens, representing a two-year decline of 5% from the 1999 peak of 36,500, Linde estimated in a research note. Through the end of 2003, the analyst projects a similar decline.”
The Herald Tribune reports, “Now, Regal and, most recently, Carmike Cinemas have emerged from their bankruptcy proceedings with new ownership, less debt and overhauled operations. AMC Entertainment, the only top exhibitor that avoided bankruptcy, has signed deals to buy out two premium rivals. While the picture on the silver screen looks brighter for industry leaders, a horror show for smaller operators and their commercial landlords might be the next drama. Wall Street analysts suggest that the nation still has about 5,000, or 17 percent, too many screens. They predict many will close amid tougher competition and a series of mergers. “The industry is getting healthier, but it will take a while to get there,” said John Maxwell, an analyst with BNP Paribas in New York. “There’s still too many screens.”
– During the past two years, the total number of the nation’s screens shrank from about 37,000 to 35,000.
– In the past 25 months, Regal Cinemas closed 128 — or 30 percent — of its theaters, darkening 758 screens.
-Since December 1999, Carmike Cinemas closed 135 — or 29 percent of its theaters, for a total of 520 screens.
– AMC Entertainment, which avoided bankruptcy by selling 60 percent of its equity to a New York investment business, shed less weight during the purges.
Ripple Effect for Shopping Centers: Cooledge reports, “The closing of a movie theater, like the loss of any major anchor tenant, is traumatic for owners of shopping centers, said Jeff Warren, a Tampa bankruptcy attorney. “It can be devastating to landlords,” Warren said. “You can even have a domino effect with these bankruptcies. It puts the landlord at risk because they still have to pay mortgages.” Theaters are particularly burdensome for shopping centers because they are not easily converted into a different kind of store, added Maxwell, the BNP Paribas analyst.
Story ideas: This is an important story for your community. Big malls, restaurants, and strip shopping centers rely on the traffic movie theatres generate. Recently I have been hearing newspaper execs grumble about giving movie and TV listings free space in the paper. It is an interesting question, why are the listings free? Is it reader service or free ads?
IRS Issues Scam Alert
In the heat of tax season, I usually cruise the IRS site once a week to see what the latest scam is. I spotted this alert, “The Internal Revenue Service issued a nationwide warning for taxpayers not to be misled into filing slavery reparation claims. The IRS has recently seen a significant surge in these false filings, and the agency urged taxpayers not to fall victim to this tax refund scam. There is no provision in the tax law that allows African-Americans to get tax credits or refunds related to slavery reparations. Unscrupulous promoters are deceiving people into paying money for advice on how to file these false claims, in which they generally seek $40,000 to $80,000. Recently, the IRS has seen an increase in the number of people filing false claims for reparations. In 2001, the agency received nearly 80,000 returns claiming more than $2.7 billion in false reparation refunds.”