Movies and Mixed Drinks!

Earlier this month, for our Brews ‘N’ Views series we screened The Big Lebowski, which I think is one of the funniest movies of my generation, and on a whim we added a secret drink special on the White Russian, which turned out to be a big hit.

I mean, White Russian is a cocktail that almost no one ever orders, so on any regular night I’d be shocked to hear we’d sold any, but on this particular night, we sold 459. So what gives?

In The Big Lebowski, for those who haven’t seen it, the Caucasian cocktail is the drink of choice for our central character, The Dude.  Throughout the movie we see him mix and enjoy the beverage, and then, as one of the key plot points, one of the villains uses the drink as a vehicle to drug him, which leads us into one of the most memorable and ridiculous dream sequences imaginable.  Love it or hate it, you will definitely never forget that scene.

So when we marketed our revival of this 1990s classic, instead of just saying we were showing the movie, we emailed to invite our guests to “Knock back a White Russian with the Dude.”  And a lot of people did just that.

Seeing the incredible demand for an oddball drink special reminded us:

Mixed drinks, when consumed appropriately, can make the adult movie going experience more fun.  Who wouldn’t want to have a martini shaken but not stirred with James Bond or perhaps a mint julep with Daisy and Gatsby?  Not every movie we love is going to have an adult beverage tie in, but when they do, and we can offer it at SMG, that’s just a little touch of movie magic.

Next Thursday for $1 Classics, we are cooking up a special on a featured beer cocktail called the Arnold Palmer Shandy you can enjoy at Caddyshack.

You can count on me to be on the lookout for the next great movie/cocktail combination to tickle your taste buds.

If you want to be in on the secret specials, sign up for our email newsletters at studiomoviegrill.com.

SMG Wheaton Chef Castano Penn on SMG Chefs for Children

SMG Chef Castano Penn initiated the SMG Chefs for Children program in April, 2013. 5% of the proceeds from Chefs for Children menu items are donated to nonprofits aiding families with special needs children.

Being a chef and feeding others isn’t just about food – for me, it’s also always been a way to nurture people. I can show someone I’m thinking about them by preparing their favorite dish, taking into account an allergy, or preparing a dish for someone who has recently been sick or stressed out.

This perspective is what spurred me to create the SMG Chefs for Children program. Chefs are creative and nurturing folks – what better way to combine the two than this program which allows our chefs to create their own specials all while helping kids in their own communities?

This program is personal to me. My five year old son is autistic. My wife and I are so fortunate that there has been so much more research done in this area and we are grateful for the programs that help our son reach his ultimate potential. Children deserve amazing opportunities and I thought this program could be my small way of saying, “You’re important, we care about you, and we’re going to do what we can to help!”

I’m thrilled that SMG home office was receptive to my idea and I am really happy with the energy with which this program has been greeted! I look forward to more charitable partnering in the future!

Jorie Meyer of WDSRA says…

Western DuPage Special Recreation Association

What has Studio Movie Grill-Wheaton done for us, you ask?

What have they not done for us!

SMG has supported the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association (WDSRA) since the day they opened. Creating a partnership together to help one another, we are happy to spread       the word about their Special Screenings for people with disabilities. An opportunity where parents can bring their child to a movie without worrying about them being disruptive, pacing the theatre, or laughing out loud at inappropriate times. WDSRA families our thrilled with these opportunities!

In addition, SMG has provided us with complimentary movie tickets for our day programs, day camps, and our Movie Critics and Cinema Cruisers movie programs. Our participants are constantly asking if we can go back to SMG. The atmosphere, the service, they have it all! Thank you SMG for supporting WDSRA, you are truly making a difference in the community!

Jorie A. Meyer, CTRS
WDSRA

The WDSRA Rec & Roll group enjoys an outing to SMG Wheaton.

Studio Movie Grill–Charlotte, NC {restaurant review}

See what Fervent Foodie had to say about SMG Epicentre!

Studio Movie Grill–Charlotte, NC {restaurant review}.

We’re In Absolute Puppy Love with the Pound Puppies On the Big Screen and Off!

Pound Puppies: Mission Adoption Day at SMG Copperfield. Photo supplied by DJ Hochstetler.

Last month with the SMG Toons series showing of Pound Puppies:  Mission Adoption, we were engaged with a sweet story about the Pound Puppies gang on a mission to find the perfect home for every pup, so we felt inspired to invite our local dog rescues to our theaters to help find homes for real life pound puppies.

Little did I know how incredibly powerful that experience would be.  It’s a no brainer – anyone in his or her right mind loves puppies, and if they don’t, then those folks are just plain mean!  So why then are there so many sweet adorable homeless pups out there?

Let’s face it.  Our economy has been through a rough and tumble couple of years and employment hasn’t been what we’d hoped.  Lots of people became upside down on mortgages and lost their houses, which means our nation has seen an influx of people moving into apartments, which were predominantly occupied historically by single people, so the multifamily housing industry was ill equipped to accommodate families, especially those with pets.

When I began contacting rescues to pair them up with theaters for our Mission Adoption event, I was surprised at how incredibly eager they were to take on our theaters as a venue for an adoption day.  If you think about it – most of the time we see rescues camped out in front of pet supply stores, and how effective can that be?  Aren’t most people headed there because they already have a pet?  So bringing puppies to SMG was an exciting prospect.

So exciting that once my campaign to find rescues to partner with us for Mission Adoption their demand exceeded our supply of space for them to use!  SMG Scottsdale took their Mission Adoption Day and turned it into an Adoption Weekend so that they could accommodate three dog rescues.

As the organizer of the event, I traveled to a few different SMG locations to see how things were going, and got to meet some pretty amazing people and puppies.

This puppy, Iggy, only fourteen weeks old was part of Ginny’s litter saved from her potential euthenization at the shelter where Stephen found her.

At SMG Royal, Stephen Foster from Furgotten Friends had brought in a dachshund named Ginny that had recently given birth and one of her pups.  Stephen had rescued Ginny from the pound before she had her litter, because pregnant females are often the first dogs that get euthanized in public shelters.  If they give birth in the shelter, the newborn puppies are not strong enough to survive long enough to get the vaccinations and medicines they would need live in that environment, and the mother’s weakened immune system after giving birth can make it dangerous for her as well.

An SMG employee plays with Sadie while she recovers from hip surgery. Funds raised at this event will help pay for her second hip surgery.

We also met a dog named Sadie who had just had surgery to correct hip dysplasia, a common ailment in puppies bred in puppy mills that causes their hip bones to be malformed, and therefore walking and standing is painful.  I learned that this is the result of unscrupulous breeders cranking out hordes of puppies to supply pet shops, breeding the same dogs so closely together that they become inbred and have poor genetics and all kinds of health issues.

As SMG Royal, Stephen found homes for 3 dogs, and possible parents for two more, and was able to collect a nice sum of money toward Sadie’s final surgery.

Staked out at SMG Plano for Pound Puppies: Mission Adoption, Texas Little Cuties brought tons of pups in need of new homes.

At SMG Plano, we played host to Texas Little Cuties, a rescue run by our own Executive Chef, Thad Kelley and his wife Melissa.  Melissa told me that she and Thad are currently fostering 78 dogs at their home!

At SMG, Lewisville, I met the folks from A Different Breed and they had brought several small dogs in that needed homes.  The shelter was so happy to work with SMG that they had driven from two and a half hours outside the city to come show their pups that day.

At SMG Lewisville, a young patron gives some love to sweet puppy Toby, who is recovering nicely from surgery to rebuild his mouth after he was found electrocuted from chewing on a live electrical wire.

And, as many rescues do, they had another sweet puppy in need of surgery.  A tiny three lb. dog named Toby had been abandoned by his owners after he had chewed on an electrical wire and gotten stuck to it.  The shock had severely burned one side of his mouth and blown out some of his teeth, but A Different Breed had gotten him two surgeries to restore his face and he was almost ready to move on to a new home.

I only made it to four theaters that day, but I was so proud of the fact that SMG had 10 out of our 12 theaters participating in this event, because I know that there were so many sweet puppies out there in need of homes, food and supplies and I am so thankful we were able to help these organizations that take care of them.

For more photos and details on the event you can check out our Pound Puppies:  Mission Adoption Report.

It’s Blockbuster Time!

It’s that time of year… blockbuster season. May is the official kick-off of the blockbuster summer extravaganza and this year Marvel kicks off the season with Iron Man 3. You have to love Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man, not only does he bring charm & wit to the role, he plays a super hero who is so cool he doesn’t have to hide his true identity from the public. Who wouldn’t want to be him? And who doesn’t want to be associated with him? His face is adorning magazines everywhere this month, not only does he save the world from super villains he is the purveyor of fine fashion onscreen and off. In the immortal words of Justin Timberlake…  he is ‘bringing sexy back’.

By the way do you know what film was considered the first blockbuster? It was Spielberg’s Jaws. The term refers to the size & cost of the production but also ties in the financial success of the film. For example Waterworld may have had a big budget, but it flopped so it didn’t earn the term blockbuster, whereas Avengers definitely did last year. I wonder if any records will be broken this year?

When it comes to sexy onscreen Robert Downey Jr is rivaled by Leonardo DiCaprio in this month’s Great Gatsby. And who better to modernize the timeless novel than Baz Luhrmann. Recently while I was in Vegas I heard Todd Phillips (director of the Hangover series) comment that he always imagines Baz Luhrmann as attending the most outrageous parties. If you’ve seen Moulin Rouge you know exactly what he is referring to. But those parties pale in comparison to what he has depicted in Great Gatsby which hits screens a week after Iron Man. I have to admit I’m partial to Luhrmann’s work, being a big fan of his since Strictly Ballroom, but the latest trailer has definitely got me stoked about this film (

). I got to have drinks one time with his music director and that guy is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to pop music. The soundtracks to his movies are often as good as the films themselves. The same week as Great Gatsby we also have Peeples, Tyler Perry’s latest. Similar to Ben Stiller’s Meet The Parents this film depicts the hilarious talents of Craig Robinson opposite the beautiful Kerry Washington. Tyler Perry films are always big at Studio Movie Grill and we expect this film to follow in that tradition.

The next blockbuster hitting the screen in May is Star Trek: Into Darkness. This film is the most highly anticipated film of the month. In the film business we use tracking data to gauge a film’s success and this film is tracking with an 80% must-see rating. Not only was the reboot of the franchise in 2009 a huge success, the studio has definitely kept us waiting a long time for the next installment… four years. And the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain has audiences in a tither. The first movie was about Kirk earning his command, this movie is about proving he deserved it. Paramount recently showed us some extended clips from the film and they were terrific. I’m definitely looking forward to this one.

Then we have the Memorial Day weekend inferno. Squaring off against each other we have the final Hangover movie and Fast & Furious 6. I got to see one of the action sequences from fast & Furious 6 in its entirety, the one with the tank you see in the trailer, and it was phenomenal. Did you know that the Fast & Furious 6 has 4 times more likes than Iron Man 3 on facebook? This film is one of the most exciting films that will be released this summer. But we can’t forget Hangover III. At Studio Movie Grill we love the Hangover movies. What could be better than a movie that should be enjoyed with an alcoholic beverage? And this time they’re returning to Vegas! Throw into the weekend mix the film Epic from Fox Animation. We love family movies at SMG, it’s a great opportunity for families to entertain and feed their children at the same time. And when it’s a great film like Epic it makes it even better.

Yep, it’s going to be a great May…

 

Barbie in the Pink Shoes at SMG

Barbie in the Pink Shoes showed at select SMG Theaters across the United States as part of the SMG Toons Program, with $2 screenings every Saturday and Sunday at 11am and additional showings throughout the week.

As part of the promotion, on March 23, participating locations invited children for Bring Your Own Barbie Day when they got to show us their favorite Barbie toy or clothing item for a chance to win an authentic Barbie in the Pink Shoes doll.

For more information, check out the cool marketing report in the presentation below!

Opening Our Doors to a New Community!

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my role as Director of Public Relations and Outreach for Studio Movie Grill is being present for the birth of each new SMG location as we open our doors to meet a new community, and see first-hand and appreciate the impact we can bring.

Each theater we open impacts the local economy, not just directly through employees hired to join our team, but also through the business we bring to local contractors and technicians that either build our theaters from the ground up or remodel/upgrade existing locations.  Our presence allows us to benefit and drive traffic to surrounding areas and developments by offering entertainment services that attract additional consumers and thus income to the businesses around us.

Just over a week ago, we opened our doors at SMG Epicentre in Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, hiring over 125 new employees from the local community, about whom the local paper reported, “Staff…is astounding-attentive, prompt, not just courteous, but downright warm….In the halls and lounge area you can’t walk 10 feet without being smiled at or asked if you’re doing OK by an employee.” Reading that, I can’t help but be proud of our new NC staff who have already fully embraced one of our most important pillars – being of service to guests.

SMG Epicentre opened in Charlotte, NC on February 26, 2013.

Connecting with and becoming good citizens of each new community is so important to SMG as a company, that we have internally mandated that Outreach be a large part of our Marketing and PR efforts, and a reflection of that is the “Cans Film Festival” we hold for the opening of every new location, where we offer free admission to a movie in exchange for the donation of canned goods for a local food bank.

SMG Epicentre’s grand opening brought our most successful food drive to date with more than 1020 pounds of food donated to Second Harvest of Metrolina.  That’s enough to feed more than 685 individuals or 170 families of four.  What an amazing statement about the people of Charlotte and the way they care for this community!

In addition to the Cans Film Festival, Charlotte residents got to literally follow the yellow brick road to a special grand opening advance screening of Oz, The Great and Powerful following a film cutting ceremony performed by the Mayor of Charlotte.  (Film cutting is another SMG tradition and our spin on a regular ribbon cutting ceremony.)

Mayor Foxx cuts the film with SMG’s CEO, Brian Schultz to mark the Grand Opening of SMG Epicentre.

But this is only the beginning of our efforts to embrace our new community in Charlotte, NC.  Saturday, March 15, we will host a Charlotte Checkers Foundation fundraising effort as part of Old Time Hockey Weekend with a screening of SLAPSHOT with special guests, hockey sensations, the Hanson Brothers.

We feel good when local press says, ”Studio Movie Grill fills an enormous void uptown, is trying to set itself apart….and is eager to please its customer.”

Stay tuned for more doors opening at an SMG near you!

SMG Helps SafeHaven of Tarrant County by Donating Movie Proceeds

Sunday, March 3, 2013, Studio Movie Grill in Arlington, TX has committed to donate $1 from every ticket sold to screenings of the romantic film Safe Haven, starring Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough   to Tarrant County’s own SafeHaven organization.

Based on a best selling novel by Nicholas Sparks, Safe Haven (the film) stars Julianne Hough who portrays a troubled woman seeking to escape an abusive relationship with her alcoholic husband who starts over in a small town.  In a Q&A promoting the film, Hough said that her performance was inspired by her own experiences with abusive relationships.

SafeHaven of Tarrant County provides resources for battered women and children to free themselves from their abusive relationships by offering clothing, shelter and education resources.

The two emergency shelter facilities have a 174 bed capacity and provide 24-hour care to families fleeing life-threatening situations. The shelters provide living quarters, meals, clothing, transportation, counseling, children’s recreational and therapeutic activities, medical and dental care, and case management.

In 2006, SafeHaven answered almost 44,000 hotline calls; sheltered 1,095 abused women and 1,624 children; provided 150,036 meals; 100,024 snacks; housed 128 clients through the agency’s transitional housing programs where stays range from 3 months to 2 years; and educated over 60,000 community members on domestic violence and shelter services.

To support SafeHaven of Tarrant County, simply buy a ticket to any screening of Safe Haven at SMG Arlington on Sunday, March 3.

What Is An Actor?

When Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar for best actor and Jennifer Lawrence won for best actress this past Sunday, I began to ask what makes a performance worthy of such an accolade? In the workplace, we use the term acting to refer to people temporarily doing the duties of another person – such as an acting CEO. In plays, movies and television, acting refers to a profession… or to put it in other terms: assuming the role of another (i.e. performing his or her duties).

If you take the case of Daniel Day Lewis, acting is the ability to not only assume the role of another; it is also the ability to become another. In taking on the persona of Lincoln, he not only changes himself physically to look like Lincoln, he also assumes the mannerisms that we accept Lincoln possessed (bowed back, speech idiosyncrasies, a sense of weariness). In essence he becomes Lincoln. Lewis has throughout his career become others, whether it be Cecil in A Room With A View, or Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, or the role that brought him to the attention of the world as Christy Brown in My Left Foot.

The British appear to be more strongly rooted in the art of acting, but America has its great actors. Meryl Streep comes to mind. Whether she is playing Margaret Thatcher, Julia Child or Miranda Priestley, she assumes another’s persona with a level of perfection rarely seen in the movies throughout an individual’s career. With 17 nominations for either Best Actress or Best Actress in a Supporting Role, every time she is on screen she becomes a new character.

An actor is different than a movie star. In his essay ‘Charisma,’ Richard Dyer refers to the star image. A star has his or her own distinct persona, but unlike an actor the star’s persona remains consistent throughout all his or her films. The audience knows what to expect from the star in each film, and it provides a level of familiarity to the star that allows us to develop an audience/star relationship. What makes a great movie star? Stardom is based on the appropriateness of a star’s persona to the contemporary social situation. Or in other words, a star reflects the needs and desires of contemporary society. This may be because of a political persona/persuasion or it may be something as simple as beauty. In order to be successful, the audience must identify with the star as well as desire to be him or her.

The idea of identification with a star/character in a film is reflected in the line from Tropic Thunder by Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.) to Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller): “Everybody knows you never go full retard.” On the surface, this comment may seem to contradict my interpretation of great acting but it actually reinforces another tenet of what makes a great character/star. Kirk’s follow up included this reference:

 ‘You know Tom Hanks’s, Forrest Gump. Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain’t retarded.’

We enjoy these characters because they remain accessible to us as an audience. It is also because we see their flaws as a mirror image to our own flaws. In the case of Forrest Gump, we struggled alongside him as he tried to love Jenny. On the other extreme from the mentally or physically challenged, we have the superhero persona. The reason we enjoy superhero films is because we want to be the hero, and the hero remains accessible to us as an audience because they possess flaws. Perfection in a character cuts us off as an audience. Would Superman remain an interesting character if he didn’t struggle with his feelings for Lois Lane, had no weakness for kryptonite, or was able to easily overcome all odds? The Dark Knight is a popular character because his persona allows us to identify with the darkness that exists within all of us.

Lacanian psychoanalytical film theory attempts to explain this system of identification. The audience, through the characters/stars on screen, is offered particular identifications to choose from. The theory stresses the subject’s longing for a completeness which the film may appear to offer through identification with an image. In essence, when we are watching a movie we are attempting to place ourselves in the film, almost as if we desire the film/character/stars to be mirror images of our own lives/self. However there is a catch–Lacanian theory also indicates that identification with the image is never anything but an illusion; the mirror isn’t real.

In my last blog entry, I referred to the implicit contract between a filmmaker and the audience. Our identification with those depicted in cinema is also part of this implicit contract. We have to agree with their values. The difference is that a star’s value system carries through all his or her films, while an actor becomes a character who possess new values in each film. Interestingly, regardless of whether someone is an actor or a star, film theorists will refer to a character’s name and not the actor when describing a scene in a film (see my reference to Forrest Gump and Jenny above), because film theorists believe that there is always distinction, albeit sometimes small, between the person playing the character and the actual character.

Regardless of the distinction, can’t a truly great actor become a star? Is Meryl Streep a star? Possibly yes. I know I would be kinda gaga if I ever met her.

But have you ever noticed that many of the great actors are reticent to give live interviews?  Streep says she suffers great anxiety during live interviews. A star, on the other hand, is as comfortable on screen as they are on a late night TV show couch. They appear so much more self –assured, which makes me wonder:

Would I prefer to be a star or a great actor?