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I attempt to provide correct information on my site, and be fair to every theatre and theatre chain when I write information. If anyone in the theatre industry (local or not) believes that I have provided any unfair or incorrect information, either due to incorrect assumptions, incorrect observations, incorrect sources, or information becoming outdated, I want to hear about it immediately so that I may correct it or remedy the problem as soon as possible if my information is unfair or incorrect. The last thing I want to do is misrepresent an individual, a theatre, a theatre chain, or other related company or organization.
The theatre ratings on this site are generated from my visits to the theatres that are rated. For each movie attended, any problems are noted and presentations are graded based on any problems noticed. The grading system is one that I began using years ago in and have been using with little modification. Deductions are based on the seriousness of a problem, how distracting a problem is, as well as the duration of a problem. Problems that are noticeable to customers in the auditorium during a presentation are the only problems noted, and the noting of problems and the deduction amounts are at my discretion. Since this can be the most subjective part of the entire grading process, I make every attempt to be consistent and fair in that way that I note and deduct for problems, regardless of the theatre, theatre chain, specific auditorium used, or staff present at time of attendance.
When I first started the rating system, I compiled a list of fairness issues in relation to movie presentation grading. Many issues in the original list have been resolved, but here is an updated version of the list.
Since I cannot attend every movie shown by all theatres, I must take samples, by attending movies, typically when a movie has been released that I want to see. I attempt to keep my visits to theatres reasonably distributed among the local theatres. Since sampling is used, there is always the chance that my ratings do not reflect the actual presentation quality rating that would exist if I could attend every movie shown. However, reasonable margins of error can be calculated to reflect how accurate the rating for any given theatre is likely to be. Standard deviations are provided for the ratings for each theatre in the ratings table, along with the number of visits, to allow anyone who wishes to compute "confidence intervals" for the ratings.
Ticket stubs from the visits are kept, and occasionally, the scans of the stubs are updated, to prove that I attended the movie presentations rated.
There is no advertising on this site and I receive no income from the site. It is simply a hobby, and is no way associated with my current employment. I do not work for any theatre or theatre chain that is rated on this site, and receive no income from any such theatre or theatre chain (ratings cannot be bought). It is important to note that theatre staff letting me into a movie for free does not affect the way I rate the presentation. I attempt to show no favoritism toward any particular theatre or theatre chain.
THX certification, or absence of it, has no bearing on the scoring system, and neither does audio system type, as long as the audio system is functioning as is should and producing sufficient audio for the audience. Having all digital sound in every auditorium may increase the facility rating indication, but not the presentation quality rating.
The theatre ratings system and associated data are the intellectual property of Evans A Criswell, and so is the compilation of historical theatre information. Ask for permission before publishing or mirroring any information from this site.
Evans A Criswell, August 5, 2000
Evans A Criswell, July 30, 2001 (modification)
Evans A Criswell, June 3, 2004 (modification)