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Speaker 1: My next guest there on the phone right here, I

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Speaker 1: feel a timely show. When the middle of summer, when

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Speaker 1: box officers are exploding, that's when they really make Summer

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Speaker 1: and Christmas, and then they have Martin Luther King Weekend.

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Speaker 1: Now the spring and March is starting to become a

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Speaker 1: money making period too, but the summer has always been,

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Speaker 1: you know, the beast of the box office. My next

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Speaker 1: guests are in the movie theater business. They're the co

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Speaker 1: founders of Next Act Cinema. Movie theater in the Pike's Field,

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Speaker 1: I think there's near Baltimore, Maryland area. Next Act Centema

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Speaker 1: Theaters stadium seeding which I love, which is laid back

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Speaker 1: to go seat, you know, leather recliners. I remember the

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Speaker 1: first time I went to the movie here the letter recrome.

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Speaker 1: I saw the movie Frozen. Boy, that was that was

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Speaker 1: relaxing for me. In full service food, which I love

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Speaker 1: to eat. I love. I'm gonna ask them do they

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Speaker 1: have desserts, because you know, I gotta have my dessert

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Speaker 1: when I in the movie theater. Little Sunday or something

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Speaker 1: like that. Please welcome to Money Main Conversations. The co

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Speaker 1: founders of Next Act Cinema, Anthony Fikes and Robert Wright. Hey,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much for having us. How are you. I'm

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Speaker 1: very good, thank you for coming on the show. Let's

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Speaker 1: just before we didn't get into the whole next act.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about that menu at your movie theater. What

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Speaker 1: are you serving? What are you serving at the movie theater?

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Speaker 1: And before we go, where exactly you located. It's outside

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Speaker 1: the Baltimore, Maryland area, correct, Pikes, Yeah, that's that's that's correct.

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Speaker 1: We're actually in Baltimore County writing pipes still, so um

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Speaker 1: pretty much right in the middle between Bottomore City and

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Speaker 1: Baltimore County. Located absolutely. Now let's talk about that menu

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Speaker 1: because you know you're brag about it, and I when

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Speaker 1: I go to movie theaters, that changed my whole concept

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Speaker 1: when you get a put that little button and get

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Speaker 1: some food. So let's talk about that menu and what

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Speaker 1: was the concept of putting that particular menu to your theater. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: so Maryland is known for a couple of different um

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Speaker 1: um select cuisines, right, and one of the things that

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Speaker 1: Maryland is known for is crab. And so we we

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Speaker 1: we had to have crab. The crabs saying we're just

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Speaker 1: some variations of crab on that menu. So we have

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Speaker 1: a crab plot, um platter, we have a seafood um,

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Speaker 1: a Baltmore Club that's kind of a mix of like crab,

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Speaker 1: me trimp and everything you know that goes in between

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Speaker 1: um and Now when those those means are inspired really

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Speaker 1: by the restaurant that we kind of partner with as well,

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Speaker 1: and so um Crab is a staple, and we know

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Speaker 1: you're the pie guy. So any inspiration that you have

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Speaker 1: to help us out on the dessert side, definitely give

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Speaker 1: us a feedback. Well, I'm coming down there, man, and

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Speaker 1: this is your place because like I said, I'm always

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Speaker 1: going up because like I'll go to d C every week,

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Speaker 1: and I got officers up in uh town. Let's give

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Speaker 1: me a talent that representing the New York area. So

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Speaker 1: definitely we're going to connect after this call. So I

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Speaker 1: like to experience people to share some of some of

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Speaker 1: my advice when I go to their to their businesses.

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Speaker 1: You know that that I feel that can be relatable

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Speaker 1: and make you even more successful. Now we're talking about

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Speaker 1: the movie theater. Now, the box office pats came out

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Speaker 1: this weekend. They're saying that the box office is six

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Speaker 1: percent down of last year, which is always These numbers

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Speaker 1: are way incredible out there. So how does the box

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Speaker 1: office of the week the week box office? How do

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Speaker 1: you plan for the movies that come to your theater?

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Speaker 1: And before I say that, tell us what's in your

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Speaker 1: theater right now this weekend? What what movies are playing

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Speaker 1: in your theater this weekend? So Sean, internently we have

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Speaker 1: um Hobbin shaw um, and we also have Brian Banks. Okay, cool,

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Speaker 1: Now what what made the selection of those movies? So

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Speaker 1: I think you know, when we're making those decisions, we're

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Speaker 1: looking to see what movies are coming out, and we're

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Speaker 1: also taking into consideration our audience. Right, Um, So for example,

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Speaker 1: you know Lion King, Um, Tony, Now, we had a

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Speaker 1: conversation like Rob, Rob and Tony do do we get

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Speaker 1: Lion King? Because it's it's really a kid's movie. Tony said,

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Speaker 1: you know, Rob, I think everybody kind of wants to

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Speaker 1: see Lion King, And he was absolutely right because like

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Speaker 1: one of our policies is at the seven PM there's

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Speaker 1: no one under the age of right, we're really trying

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Speaker 1: to eather to that big night adults type of atmosphere

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Speaker 1: and things of that nature. Um. But that's pretty much

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Speaker 1: like how we're making those decisions around which movies. Um,

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Speaker 1: we're we're gonna select. Now here's I'm going down to

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Speaker 1: domestic box office. So far this year, the number one movie,

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Speaker 1: of course is Avengers End Game Beast almost a billion

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Speaker 1: dollars in sales. The second one domestically the line came

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Speaker 1: almost five hundred, you know, million dollars in box office.

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Speaker 1: Seat that's in that's in the United States. Then you

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Speaker 1: have Captain Marvels number three, tars Story number four, he

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Speaker 1: has Spider Man number five, and The Laddin is number six.

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Speaker 1: These are all Disney movies, right right, right, yeah, so

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Speaker 1: I think and earlier when we kind of explored, you know,

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Speaker 1: what movies we were going to get, we also, um,

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Speaker 1: you have to be willing to be extremely disciplined on

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Speaker 1: which which movies and just in business in general, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, you can experiment, but you have to be

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Speaker 1: highly disciplined. And so for us, you know, we wanted

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Speaker 1: to make sure that, I think to Robert's point, um,

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Speaker 1: we needed to cater to our audience. And that's kind

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Speaker 1: of how we select these movies. I mean, you have

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Speaker 1: these these domestic box office picket sales that are doing well,

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Speaker 1: I think, especially in the early part of the year,

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Speaker 1: especially like for example, with US coming Out, US did

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Speaker 1: extremely well at our theater. We also did, you know,

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Speaker 1: obviously The Avengers and Lion King. But then you know,

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Speaker 1: there's other movies as well that that performed well. For example,

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Speaker 1: Shaft did extremely well with US is um and resonated

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Speaker 1: with our audience. So so we're pretty disciplined when we

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Speaker 1: you know, every week when we try to select some

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Speaker 1: of these movies. Sometimes you know, you don't necessarily get

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Speaker 1: it right, especially because you know we're we're still kind

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Speaker 1: of new in this game. Um, but you know, we learn,

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Speaker 1: we learned each and every month. Kind of how we

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Speaker 1: select our our choices. We try to look at, you know,

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Speaker 1: what's gonna trend well with our audience, in addition to

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Speaker 1: what we think will perform well depending point you know

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Speaker 1: which and the actresses are in certain movies. So it's

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Speaker 1: a couple of different metrics that we look at when

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Speaker 1: we consider what we're gonna launch. It really is because

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Speaker 1: I in fifteen years in Los Angeles, a good friend

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Speaker 1: of mine, Magic Johnson, when he launched the Magic Johnson theaters.

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Speaker 1: You know, the hell the same thing. You know, his

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Speaker 1: his menu is a little bit diffrecated to that audience.

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Speaker 1: The movies that he came were more catered to the

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Speaker 1: audience appeal. And but one thing he always sold what

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Speaker 1: you sell, you know, quality of service, cleaningness because you know,

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Speaker 1: we gotta be real a lot of things. When you

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Speaker 1: launched into an African American audience, sometimes the facilities aren't

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Speaker 1: up to the standards of the general market, and it

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Speaker 1: really is disappointing when a person like me would come

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Speaker 1: in and go, wow, why the bathrooms are right? And

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Speaker 1: you sell the fact that our menus outstanding, our facility looks,

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Speaker 1: you know, nice chairs, the stadium, c D. You're selling

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Speaker 1: your brain to say, hey, we're on far with the

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Speaker 1: general market theaters that you go out to come to us,

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Speaker 1: because you you will get the same level of entertainment

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Speaker 1: expectations on the big screen as well as the confort

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Speaker 1: as well as the food. That's a really big selling

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Speaker 1: point for you guys that you and that's why I

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Speaker 1: brought you on the show to talk about the business

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Speaker 1: side of selling your brand in this very competitive movie

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Speaker 1: theater market. Yeah, yeah, no, I think I think to

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Speaker 1: your point to you know, it was extremely important for

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Speaker 1: Robin I when we launched this to remember that with

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Speaker 1: any organization, you personally have to be held accountable for

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Speaker 1: the decisions that you make as well as for your people. Right. So,

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Speaker 1: you know, any good leader or manager, obviously you know,

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Speaker 1: UM encourage his accountability and the things that we do.

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Speaker 1: You know, when we're even when we're you know here,

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Speaker 1: UM and we're talking to our staff, we make sure

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Speaker 1: that we are part of the team. Right. So it's

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Speaker 1: not that you know, we try to lead from you know, necessarily,

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Speaker 1: you know, behind the podium, right, we leave from the side,

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Speaker 1: and we encourage them to constantly make sure that we're

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Speaker 1: catering to our guests always. And that's from as soon

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Speaker 1: as they walk in the door, they get greeted, as

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Speaker 1: soon as they get ready to go into the theater,

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Speaker 1: they get the the door held open for them because

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Speaker 1: we're gonna come back in the next break and continuous

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Speaker 1: conversation with a man Anthony Fikes and Robert Wright, co

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Speaker 1: founders of Next Act Cinema right there outside of right

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Speaker 1: in Baltimore, Maryland. Let's talk about it. I just with

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Speaker 1: Sean McDonald. I'm interviewing the co founders of Next Act

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Speaker 1: cinema right there in Baltimore, Maryland, Anthony Fikes and Robert Wright,

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Speaker 1: and we're talking about that. They were talking before we

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Speaker 1: ended at last break. They were talking about the experience,

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Speaker 1: the important part of being there to cater to your

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Speaker 1: custom making it feel like it's a special moment. And

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Speaker 1: you were saying that opening their doors for your customers

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Speaker 1: when they arrived, it is a very part of the

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Speaker 1: experience when they come to the next act cinema. Correct,

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Speaker 1: that's right, that's right. That that that experience for our

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Speaker 1: guests is extremely important. And I think you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: Robert and I when we first launched it, that was

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Speaker 1: important for us to kind of lead that and kind

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Speaker 1: of create that kind of culture where every one of

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Speaker 1: our employees, um, you know, feel feel that same kind

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Speaker 1: of way about making sure that they are they are

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Speaker 1: at the forefront of keeping our guests happy. We know.

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Speaker 1: It's really that's why I was you know, I got

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Speaker 1: two guests from the movie, Brian Banks movie that's on

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Speaker 1: the interviewing today. I'm interview just interviewed Sherry Shepard, and

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Speaker 1: I'm interviewing all this hard and I wanted to make

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Speaker 1: sure I had this theme together for you, Fellas, you

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Speaker 1: know coming on my show, I'm working with you, and

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Speaker 1: it gets what the movies in their theaters this weekend too.

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Speaker 1: You know that's what we do. Money make conversation. Fellas,

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Speaker 1: you know that very well, absolutely, because of the thing

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Speaker 1: is that you know, first of all, thank you for

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Speaker 1: coming on my show, but more importantly your your your groundbreaker,

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Speaker 1: your groundbreakers. And because we all know when urban movies

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Speaker 1: coming out, they always go out to a limited screens. Anyway,

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Speaker 1: I think this movie may have been like screens. So

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Speaker 1: you get that movie. How is the process? Explain it

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Speaker 1: to my listeners and my viewers. How do you go

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Speaker 1: about selecting movies? And then how does the movie get

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Speaker 1: to your theater? How does that work? So we have

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Speaker 1: a movie buyer that we work with, and um, you

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Speaker 1: bring up a really valid point. Some of these movies

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Speaker 1: that we want to show, like a Brian Banks, right,

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Speaker 1: they are limited, so we really have to sell it

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Speaker 1: to our buyer. So this way they can sell it

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Speaker 1: to these film manufacturers to ensure that we actually get

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Speaker 1: these movies. So Brian Banks was one of them, and

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Speaker 1: we talked about, like, for example, how successful we were

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Speaker 1: with the movie US, So why would we not have

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Speaker 1: a movie like Brian Banks, and so far it's not

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Speaker 1: doing too bad. Now are there different fees applied to

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Speaker 1: a different like, you know, like an Avengers of Blockbuster movie?

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Speaker 1: Do the fees differ on what they say? I guess

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Speaker 1: rental fees. I guess to get these movies in your

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Speaker 1: theaters because my history is that like the first weekend,

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Speaker 1: the studio owns the all the box officers receeach and

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Speaker 1: each weekend the local theater gets to keep more and

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Speaker 1: more of the of the local box office dollars. Is

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Speaker 1: that correct? Yeah, that is correct. I mean that when

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Speaker 1: you get a movie off the break, so that first

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Speaker 1: week that it comes up comes out, those percentages are

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Speaker 1: pretty pretty significant. They're pretty hot, and you know, as

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Speaker 1: the movie is out for two weeks, percentages can decrease.

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Speaker 1: So it's very important that the popcorn sales, very important,

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Speaker 1: to drink sales, very important. That men you get gets moved.

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Speaker 1: So when talking to your staff that you you have

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Speaker 1: to motivate them to understand that, okay, we can be

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Speaker 1: packed because a lot of people I know from a

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Speaker 1: promoter standpoint, where your talent people will walk into a

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Speaker 1: Souldi concert or talent and they just see a Souldia concert.

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Speaker 1: They forget that I had to promote it. They forget

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Speaker 1: that I had to pay for the staff. They forget

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Speaker 1: that I had to buy the venue, that car that

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Speaker 1: you rolled in on, that hotel, you that airplane, if

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Speaker 1: if you get all that, they forget all the choir,

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Speaker 1: they forget all that. Doing this for a couple of times,

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Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, And so when they see a pack movie

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Speaker 1: theater the next act centem, then they go they making money,

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Speaker 1: They're making money, and they forget, no, No, what we're

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Speaker 1: gonna make our money is the concession stands, T shirt sales,

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. That's the brand. So how do you

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Speaker 1: constantly it's the constant motivational factor that for them not

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Speaker 1: to become lax that when you get the big box

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Speaker 1: office movies in there that the turnstyle move, this is

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Speaker 1: our time to jump it and get the local the

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Speaker 1: sales at the at the concession stands correct. It is,

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Speaker 1: And I think I think for us, you know, the

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Speaker 1: way we kind of think about that, um that that

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Speaker 1: kind of that that whole offering obviously with the movie

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Speaker 1: as well as kind of the services and product that

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Speaker 1: we sell. We think about them kind of collectively. And

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Speaker 1: one of the things that that we we do on

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Speaker 1: purpose is trying to be really thoughtful about what we

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Speaker 1: what kind of selections of food, you know, concession items

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Speaker 1: that we do have. That again, that's kind to cater

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Speaker 1: to the audience that we and so we don't necessarily

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Speaker 1: always constantly think that or talk to our people about

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Speaker 1: you know, dripping after drop concessions. It's more, you know,

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Speaker 1: let's bring in the options right for our guests so

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Speaker 1: that when they do come in, they're they're gonna say, oh,

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Speaker 1: you know what that that definitely that signature drink. And

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Speaker 1: when we launched the Fact and Furious, we had a

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Speaker 1: signature drink called it some more on Sunrise um that

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Speaker 1: one of our marketing on people put together. And so,

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Speaker 1: you know, those type of ideas kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: bring in people and then that brings them into into

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Speaker 1: the concession. So so you know, we just make sure

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Speaker 1: that we have enough of an option for our guests

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Speaker 1: so that when they do see it, they say, you

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Speaker 1: know what, absolutely I want to I want to have

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Speaker 1: a small popform with this more on Sunrise with chicken tenders.

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Speaker 1: So that's kind of how we think about it. There

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Speaker 1: you go, There you go. Now let's talk about you

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Speaker 1: going into the fall, going into the Christmas. What movies

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Speaker 1: do we can we expect to see our projecting to

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Speaker 1: be uh brought to your theater uh in the fall

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Speaker 1: and also that that that that's amazing Christmas run that

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Speaker 1: you have to do. What movies are we looking at?

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Speaker 1: So so we're actually and rocking us also talking on this.

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Speaker 1: We also are now I can thinking about kind of

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Speaker 1: what are the next election is going to be, right,

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Speaker 1: because there's a there's also a pure the time right

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Speaker 1: when a lot of movie theaters there's not a big

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Speaker 1: blockbuster that's gonna launch, and so we have to be

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Speaker 1: very thoughtful in how do we prepare for those times?

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Speaker 1: And so we're thinking about different you know, everything that's

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Speaker 1: happened around Baltimore. For example, right now, one of the

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Speaker 1: things that we're trying to do the launched kind of

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Speaker 1: a week or two of like Baltimore based movies, Baltimore

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Speaker 1: based actresses and actors for example Jada Pinkett Smith right, um,

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Speaker 1: And so you know we're gonna make a theme it

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Speaker 1: around kind of Baltimore proud, right. And then in the

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Speaker 1: in the in the the latter part of the month.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the one movie that we cannot wait to

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Speaker 1: get is Harriet, for example, because we know that that's

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Speaker 1: going to resonate with our audience as well as the

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Speaker 1: message behind it. So and Rob can speak a little

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Speaker 1: bit more about, you know, other options that we're that

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Speaker 1: we're considering. So Star Wars is coming out in UM

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Speaker 1: around the Christians Holiday. UM. I would imagine that's going

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Speaker 1: to be another blockbuster. It's going to try to be

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Speaker 1: added to that list that you kind of went down

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Speaker 1: one of the top movies that's when to be out

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Speaker 1: for this UM for this year, you know. And then

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Speaker 1: you um, you also have a lot of other African

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Speaker 1: American movies that are coming out with American UM, African

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Speaker 1: American actors that are gonna be um be in and

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Speaker 1: we're definitely targeting those those movies as well. Well. That's important.

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Speaker 1: Like the Harrys they're talking about the movie Harriet Tubman

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Speaker 1: that's coming out. I definitely will uh you know, I'll

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Speaker 1: tell you what we're gonna do. We're gonna create relationship

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Speaker 1: because important movies like that. I want to use my

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Speaker 1: national force. In fact, I'm syndicating this show and it

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Speaker 1: probably is going to be coming on in Baltimore in

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Speaker 1: the fall to be able to bring you guys on

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Speaker 1: regular because I know what you're trying to do. You're

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Speaker 1: trying to build your brand, promote your brand. And the

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Speaker 1: way you get there is why through relationships. And consider

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Speaker 1: my relationships. As you know, as I talk, I understand

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Speaker 1: what you're going through. You know you can't bring every

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Speaker 1: movie there. You know you can't bring Frozen there. It

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Speaker 1: might not get there actually, so you gotta you gotta

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Speaker 1: empty theater even though Frozen gonna make it's gonna make

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Speaker 1: a billion dollars, but it might not make a billion

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Speaker 1: dollars at your theater. And so you have to be small.

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Speaker 1: You have to be able to, like you said, get

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Speaker 1: the local local. First of all, you have to make

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Speaker 1: your their awareness to the local community that you're there.

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Speaker 1: What better way to do that by featuring local successful

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Speaker 1: or Baltimore or residents who are now thriving in the

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Speaker 1: movie and television industry. That's smart because you've gotta be

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Speaker 1: able to have a base, and the base has to

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Speaker 1: know you exist. And so that's what you're doing right now.

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Speaker 1: Because the thing about it you you you you you

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Speaker 1: went to the bank. The bank said, no, what they

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Speaker 1: generally do because you know, you put out a business model,

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Speaker 1: they look at you and they go, okay, tree black

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Speaker 1: dudes about to open a movie theater. Okay, okay, uh key,

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Speaker 1: you keep back with us next year. And and it's

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Speaker 1: and it's tragic. It's tragic, you know. And and that

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Speaker 1: because of the fact that because of the fact that

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Speaker 1: it's not enough of us out there to say that

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Speaker 1: this model will work and I have the expertise to

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Speaker 1: do it. Don't look at my background, don't look at

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Speaker 1: my color, look at my plan, and look at the

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Speaker 1: fact that my my, my experience, this is what I do, right,

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Speaker 1: And so that's why I know, you know that when

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Speaker 1: when that you're probably gonna talk to me maybe a

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Speaker 1: couple of times on this show. Each time, the goal

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Speaker 1: is to promote your brand. Each time is to localize

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Speaker 1: your brand, because in the end, you know, people are

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Speaker 1: hearing this show in Los Angeles, hearing the show in Chicago.

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Speaker 1: It's important that they're here to show where they can

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Speaker 1: drive through your movie theater. And that's all. And that's

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Speaker 1: why I really appreciate what you're doing. And well, I

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Speaker 1: just want to say this one thing about this, the

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Speaker 1: trade off of what you're doing. What would tell anybody

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Speaker 1: who's listening what separate you from the normal movie theater experience. Um.

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Speaker 1: I think it's one of the things that that you

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Speaker 1: talked about is that customer service. I mean, that's one

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Speaker 1: of the things that we're always driving home with our

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Speaker 1: employees and the good things on this we're seeing interviews,

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Speaker 1: like if you've read some of the reviews, a lot

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Speaker 1: of them are talking about the level of customer service

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Speaker 1: that we're giving. Yeah, we we we serve food, we

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Speaker 1: have for playing seats, um, you know, nice picture quality.

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Speaker 1: But they're also noticing, you know, the effort that we're

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Speaker 1: putting into into customer service. And also I like the

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Speaker 1: fact you said, Rushwan, it's after seven o'clock is an

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Speaker 1: adult couple driven theater. Because the worst thing in the

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Speaker 1: world be sitting over there and join the theory and go,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, okay, what why are you in here

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Speaker 1: watching us with your four year old kid? What's going on?

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Speaker 1: The kids? Trauba died. But but the great thing that

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Speaker 1: we're about to wrap up the endview, Hey, fellas you

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Speaker 1: hear this is Rashan McDonald. You got a home I'm

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Speaker 1: here to promote you guys, your brands fantastic, and know

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Speaker 1: that this journey will not be alone. Rashan McDonald's on

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Speaker 1: your team now