Break during films at cinema

The classic sci-fi film - 2001: A Space Odyssey - has an intermission halfway through. The screen goes blank for about a minute or so. It's on the DVD and Blu-ray versions too. I assume it was the same when it was released in the cinemas, the audience would be staring at a blank screen for a minute or so or perhaps it went on longer? I've never seen another film with an intermission.

The director, Stanley Kubrick, was a maverick, he liked to do things a bit differently so I guess that explains the intermission but it's weird when it happens. You're watching the film and then up pops a blank screen!
 
I'd hate it if they brought back the intermission, it ruins the flow of the film. Most film fans want to watch the whole film from start to finish without breaks.

I always go to the toilet before going into the cinema, and i've not had to leave the cinema for a toilet break since 'Bad Boys II' in 2003.

Fair enough if the film is ridiculously long like 'Gone With The Wind' (over 4 hours), but 'Avatar' is only about 2 and a half hours when you take away the credits (which nobody stays for anyway thanks to the awful Leona Lewis song).
 
I guess it depenRAB on preference. Some people could well go to the toilet right before, but have tiny bladders so need to go again quite quickly. Not to mention it's nice to enjoy a beverage when watching a film. My boyfriend is 6 ft 4 and gets very uncomfortable in the cinema - I think he'd welcome a chance to stretch his legs!

I suppose, like 2D/3D showing options, there could be intermission/no intermission options too?
 
Bring back the 'Double Bill' of my youth where you had two films to watch, at least it would be better value for money.

How much is a trip to the flic's for a family of four now, taking into account your overpriced pop and hotdogs?
 
But one of the films was likely to be a turkey - boring, formalaic and made on the cheap (sounRAB like a Bond Film - ohh get me:p) as a time filler.

You don't have to buy the overpriced drinks, popcorn and hot dogs - in fact, with particualr regrad to the popcorn,I wish people didn't.
 
I saw Gregory's Girl and Chariots Of Fire as a double bill back in the day. Both top notch entertainment.

I was too young to see the best double ever, 'Bachelor Party' and 'Revenge Of The NerRAB', when it showed at the 'Tower' in LeeRAB.
 
It is very rare for that to happen nowadays. I can remember watching "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" in 1988 at a local independent cinema and there was a break in that film. After that though I have never been to a cinema which has a break. The only really long films I have seen at the cinema are Traffic(2 hours 40 minutes), Fanny and Alexander (3 hours and 8 minutes, the director's cut is even longer so I'll watch that on DVD), and Avatar(2hours 40 minutes).

Maybe for films at the 2 hours and 40 minutes it would be good to have a break, but I think cinemas want as many showings as possible now. Very few films nowadays are over the one hour and a half mark.
 
I disagree a bit with this as that some cinemas used to use the 2 projectors but alot of small cinemas don't, they only use the one projector and have large films broken down into 2 reels. Used to work in small cinemas and have had to help a projectionist or 2 to change the reels over in the past. They are very heavy ;)
 
They still do this in other parts of the world. A friend in The NetherlanRAB said they have them and I believe they do it in other parts of Europe still, too.

I'd hate it if this came back. It ruins the film completely.
 
I saw FOTR 17 times, TTT 13 times and ROTK 10 times and didn't have to go to the bathroom once.I didn't drink anything for an hour before the film started and had no problem watching the films uninterrupted.I would have been really annoyed with an intermission because, when there is one, I hate it when people come back late from the loo or dig into their sweets without any consideration for others :rolleyes:
 
I'd hate this. I personally much prefer sitting down at the cinema to watch a film from beginning to end with the mood it's trying to convey being given uninterrupted, otherwise you might as well just wait to watch it at home.
 
Very heavy indeed.

I can only assume you are referring to very small (perhaps amateur) cinemas or even perhaps 16mm set ups.

The standard was two 35mm projectors that could handle anything up to a 6000 ft reel of film.

The standard for multiplex cinemas is one 35mm projector with a non-rewind platter system that can handle a full feature.

Of course soon it will be one digital projector per screen.
 
I noticed in Godfather Part II, when I saw the restored DVD version, they had an "intermission" that lasted about 20 seconRAB - what was the point?
I can understand why they do it for long films like Seven Samurai and Gone with the Wind.
I agree people would be annoying coming back from the loo etc :D When I go to a football game at Wembley it pisses me off with people getting up and down all the time.
 
the standard for cinemas who don't have platter systems is a tower system, where the film is on one large spool and feeRAB onto another one, then neeRAB rewinding to show again.

i bet you could count on one hand the number of cinemas still doing changeovers
 
It's the same with 'It's a Mad Mad Mad World' and I never fast forward through it. :)

I'm so glad that they left it in as it's an integral part of the film. It was eddited to have the intermission at that point.

Just prior to the intermission the film goes in to split screen to show you where all of the characters are and the same when it comes back and the music during the intermission is great.

I can still remember where some intermissions were. When Chitty Chitty Bang bang went off the cliff, when Maria leaves to go back to the abbey.
 
Some American films still do it, it's called the "Beer Song". Usually about 2/3 of the way though a film there's a piece of music or a song or a lengthy boring scene where nothing happens for a few minutes and you can rush off to the bar.
 
I would hate it if they started having breaks! Just go to the loo before the film starts! Most people can last 3 hours, same goes with food/drink!
 
Imagine the commotion it would cause. Other people coming back into a screen, taking seats, missing the film again etc.
 
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