00:30in just over 14 weeks, 10,000 subscribers and 1,500 actual members that are loyal to
00:43us.
00:44So, that shows in itself how good we are really doing, but we want more, we want everyone
00:50to be a member.
00:51So, that's why we've been pushing our membership with the FY postcode and the whole idea of
00:57the backlot is really to bring back to Blackpool.
01:00We don't want to play just the blockbusters.
01:02We don't want to be just another, you know, chain cinema, we want to be different.
01:08So we've shown hits like the Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, clearly Inside
01:14Out which did really, really well, still playing, which is great.
01:20But we also brought back some, you know, some Danny Boyle season, Harry Potter, we did the
01:2530th anniversary of the Crow, which did really well.
01:30I managed to put the first live event, which was the live TT race, which, thank you, welcome
01:37Joe.
01:38Anybody that likes motorcycles.
01:39So, that as well in itself shows that we're trying to do something really different here.
01:47We played the season finale of Doctor Who at midnight, that did really, really well.
01:51Something about Blackpool, about the night.
01:54Yeah, it goes at midnight, we fool, which is great.
01:58What else did we do for, as you probably know, the capital of dance now.
02:03So we brought the 25th anniversary of the Riverdance, which also performed really well.
02:11We did a marathon of Lord of the Rings.
02:14I couldn't stay.
02:15I did half of the first one and then three, six hours later, I was done.
02:22Ghost as the live concert, if you like rock and roll.
02:26So, you know, all in all, it's just been non-stop trying to activate different things.
02:34We also sold six and a half thousand popcorns in the concession alone.
02:38We did 3,000 burgers downstairs.
02:41I think you're going to taste some sliders tonight, which would be great to have some
02:45feedback on those.
02:47And one and a half thousand milkshakes already sold.
02:54So next coming in, of course, you're going to be watching some trailers.
02:59We would like to keep going with this and invite everyone to see what's coming up.
03:03I think it's really well to get everybody engaged and see before everybody else does.
03:16Yeah, I thought it was a really good, amazing, really nice when you walk in.
03:31The actual IMAX cinema itself is incredible.
03:35The films look amazing on it.
03:38And yeah, first impression's great.
03:42How have you found the diner as well?
03:44Because it's what, if I may have to talk about it, it's like a space for everything, like
03:49events and all that kind of stuff.
03:50Yeah, I mean, it's really nice for a start and the food that they've given us to try
03:54tonight has been really nice.
03:56But the menu also looks incredible.
03:59So I think I definitely want to come back and give the menu a try because there's lots
04:03on there that I want to have a taste of.
04:06What were any of the films that stood out to you?
04:11The films that I really want to see.
04:13I loved the first Twister.
04:15So I want to come back and remind myself of my youth and watch the second one, I think.
04:22So Twisters, the new Lion King, the Mufasa movie looked great as well.
04:27And I think the Joker one, probably.
04:30What did you think about the new screenplay that's going to be introduced for audiences?
04:36Yeah, it sounded really good.
04:39Weird to think of it like a Tinder for films, but I think it could be really great, like
04:45matching you up to films that actually you do want to see.
04:49And yeah, it's something that I'm going to download as soon as I get home.
05:00Thank you.
05:31Can you tell me a little bit about the summer showcase at the Backlot?
05:35Yeah, so today we clearly we invite a lot of influencers, a lot of businesses to say
05:41hello and just to showcase a little bit of what we are trying to achieve with Backlot.
05:46We're going to try to do this on a regular basis.
05:49We clearly had a good reception.
05:53We're going to play some trailers from the upcoming films and have some really good food
06:00here in the diner.
06:01And just a bit of a flavour of what to expect when you come to Backlot.
06:06Yeah, so obviously a lot of people are struggling with the cost of living prices at the moment.
06:11And the way you're trying to tackle that is with the FY membership.
06:18Can you tell me a little bit about that?
06:19So yeah, the FY really was made for Blackpool, just like the Backlot.
06:23So we really try hard to put something together for everybody that is in FY.
06:29So the membership is £5 for the year.
06:32You have 20% discount on pretty much everything apart from the drinks and in the diner as well.
06:39So you don't have to be a cinema goer to come to the diner and vice versa.
06:43So just to use the venue.
06:47And we also have the car park in Hounds Hill, which is just £1 for three hours.
06:52If you have a ticket.
06:54So it's really trying to work together with the community to bring something different.
07:00So talk to us a bit about today, about event spaces.
07:03Can you tell me a little bit about that at the Backlot?
07:05So yeah, we have three main screens that are specifically designed for events.
07:10We have power, data, Wi-Fi inside the auditorium.
07:16Again, we have studio upstairs, which is an event space, private high air.
07:22We don't see ourselves as a cinema.
07:24We see ourselves as an entertainment, a cultural hub, an event space.
07:29And that's what we want to try to do.
07:31And on the back of that, we launch our Screenwave app on the App Store.
07:36And it's trying to get everybody to log into the app, choose the films that they like, share with their friends.
07:42And then in the back end, we can see how many people are sharing, are liking the films.
07:46And once we have a lot of people looking for them, we can start playing them and creating the events for everyone.
07:53So it really is about the people, not about the films itself.
07:58Yeah, I think that would be good.
08:00I've just talked about the Screenwave app.
08:05Are there any more future plans that you'd like to see at the Backlot?
08:09Oh, absolutely.
08:10There's so many activations still to do.
08:12I mean, it's only been three months, and we've done so much.
08:15You know, Marathon for Lord of the Rings.
08:18We had midnight shows, 20th anniversaries, 25th anniversaries.
08:24So there's so much happening.
08:26We don't want to be locked to the mainstream, you know, to the blockbusters.
08:30We want to really challenge the studios and bring different things.
08:36And I think we're going to achieve that just with the community.
08:40You know, listening to what people want to do, want to see, and creating different events.
08:46You know, like we're going to have, clearly we're going to have a really good summer.
08:50We're already starting to pick up business.
08:52We can see how the town starts to change.
08:56And it's just looking at those little niche parts and see what we can do to help.
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