Old Mill vs Rialto
 

We are blessed with a lot of wonderful entertainment opportunities here in The Villages. This includes the movie theaters in Lake Sumter Landing and Spanish Springs. I am sure that Brownwood will have a wonderful theater as well. While I understand that when the Rialto Theater was built nobody could foresee the future growth in The Villages population and the switch to stadium seating in theaters around the country, I still enjoy the theater because of the comfort of the seats. The only problem I have is the size of the individual theaters and what movies are selected to be in each movie complex. I would love to know how movies are delegated to the theaters. There have been so many times when I have read the paper to see the new movie times and have been disappointed to find that a really popular movie is at the Rialto theater instead of Old Mill. The theaters are so small at the Rialto theater that we have often found that the only seats left are in the first few rows or against the wall. We have sometimes arrived 30-40 minutes early so that we can get a decent seat. The most recent examples were "The Help," where we had to wait in line for 40 minutes and "J. Edgar," which looks to be a popular, Oscar possibilities film. I wish more of these popular movies would be shown at Old Mill, where there is so much more seating.

Did you pose these questions to the manager?

I love both. I usually wait at least a week after a movie is released to attend. Never had a problem getting a good seat.

I have stood in line for about two hours before if there is a really popular movie here in the Villages. That has been at both the Old Mill Playhouse and the Rialto.

That is after I had purchased a ticket a few days in advance as well for the movie.

It would be interesting to find out though why some of the really draw worthy movies for Villagers wind up at the Rialto rather than at the Old Mill Playhouse.

seniority perhaps?

:angel:

Take a walk on the wild side
 

Have you all ever thought of leaving your comfort zone?
Instead of standing in line for an hour, drive to Ocala, a pleasant 35 minute ride, where you will find a nice
theatre with ample seating and all the first run movies. They also have a rewards program.
Same holds true for the theatre in Leesburg.

Please understand that I am not trying to be tacky, but my question on this would be: Why should the "really draw worthy movies for Villagers" all go to the Old Mill Playhouse? Some of the people I know here have only their carts for transportation or don't drive a car at night and for them, the distance would be prohibitive. The same holds true for some closer to Old Mill.

Seems that the current practice favors neither theater and for that reason seems fair to all. Hopefully, the practice will continue when Brownwood is built (assuming there will be an offering there).

Maybe a better alternative would be to offer the really high draw movies at both venues simultaneously (hope I spelled that right...duh).

movies
 

I believe the reason for more popular movies at SP is it is closer to gereral public 27/441 and will draw move people.

movies at SP
 

I totally agree that they should either show the newer movies at Old Mill or show them at both theatres at the same time. We live near 466A and don't enjoy driving all the way to SP when we are only 2 or 3 miles from both Old Mill and Brownwood. I really with they would make a few changes there. I did ask the ticket taker why SP got more of the new movies, but he had no idea......and I forgot to ask for the mgr. on the way out.