Projectors and Showing Movies

[Lcox]

We are starting a Haunt this year, in our corral area we want to have a movie playing for entertainment. Its an outdoor site, we would like to make the screen about 20' diagonally. Does anyone know much about projectors? I was looking at a Sharp XR-32X-L.
Also if we wanted to play an old horror flick like Frankenstein or something, I think we need to get permission or buy rights to do that. Does anyone know the best way about doing this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

--Lucas Cox

[chuck weber]

those real old movies......

should be considered "public domain", which means they are probably over 20 years old and can be used by anybody for any reason without breaking the law. (others hopefully will reply to this post to correct me if I'm wrong) But, that's the word I got a few years ago. Good Luck with your haunt.... Chuck

[Lcox]

Nice. that makes my life so much easier! Thanks!

[Jim Warfield]

What I understand is most movies are still owned , with the proper legal work done still are items you will have to pay to show, with some noteable exceptions where somebody screwed up this legal work or a movie made 80 years ago.
Possibly the original "Texas Chainsaw" was one of those not correctly legally protectd?
The 80 to 90 yr. old horror movies from Germany might be fair game too?
"Nosferato" The Cabinent Of Doctor Caligary",.....?
"Carnival Of Souls" might also be available ?
Of course I could be wrong..........
To be safe, take a video camera and make your own horror movie.

[damon carson]

Night of the living dead. Romero's first zombie movie is in public domain it was never copywrited before the release of the movie. You can always show that one.
Damon

[SomeThingInTheIce]

We used 4 sheets of white board to make a screen 16' long and 8' high the screen itself was about 5' off the ground. The projector was put on a tower we made and was 25' away, with a small adjustment it filled the whole screen. We played a cgi movie that told the tale of our haunt. Not sure what the projector was but you can ask Shane, we sold it to him. It worked great and helped keep the Q happy as they waited to get in. Having a big movie screen out front will help bring people in too.

[Jim Warfield]

"Big Movie Screen"

"Helps."
Did it help sell some really BIG bags of popcorn too!?
"Stop eating the popcorn, the bag is bending over taking away half of our screen!"

[Kevin Dells]

Weve done the movie thing at our haunt for the past two season to keep people busy while waiting.

Our screen is bigger 16x16 and its 8 feet off the ground. We have a midway, no q lines, enter when ticket numbers called system and the crowd really does love it takes their mind off the wait.

And yes by doing this you sell a lot of concessions, be prepared.

As for the actual unit, that im not sure what were using we do have it hooked up to some high output speakers though.

[Mike Goff]

We use an Infocus 4805, at a 120" the picture looks great! and they are practically free on ebay. If the bulb ever goes bad, it sucks to be you, but for the money, they are a great projector.


Sell commercial time to sponsors to help pay for your equipment.

[damon carson]

How much are they selling the infocus for. My friend has a few projectors one he bought for about $250.00 and it only uses a 40 watt bulb. Picture is very dark and doesnt show up very well except in complete darkness. Then he has about a $1000.00 one which is just friggin awesome. Im not sure what wattage it has but Im hoping to borrow for this year.
Damon

[Mike Goff]

I paid $400 for the Infocus. It is true that there are far better projectors on the market, but for the money, the Infocus can't be beat. The fan is noisy, so it is not suitable for home theatre, but if you plan on backing it up with powered speakers you will never hear it.

For the screen, we bought a piece of projector screen ($30 on ebay) reinforced the edges with heavy vinyl and grommits. We stretch the screen over a steel frame and bungie. The whole thing is portable, we use for cookouts, parties, promotions, and every once in a while just for the heck of it a drunken guitar hero fest.

[SomeThingInTheIce]

Thats a great idea for the screen, makes it easy and portable.

I paid $400 for the Infocus. It is true that there are far better projectors on the market, but for the money, the Infocus can't be beat. The fan is noisy, so it is not suitable for home theatre, but if you plan on backing it up with powered speakers you will never hear it.

For the screen, we bought a piece of projector screen ($30 on ebay) reinforced the edges with heavy vinyl and grommits. We stretch the screen over a steel frame and bungie. The whole thing is portable, we use for cookouts, parties, promotions, and every once in a while just for the heck of it a drunken guitar hero fest.

[terrormasue]

Sanyo has a pretty good one for $750.00. 3000 lumens. Google outdoor projectors and check them out. There are several pretty good deals out there. As for showing old movies I think it is very legal. You are not "charging" people to watch the movie. In reality the movie is free the haunt is what you are charging for.

[Lcox]

Thanks so much to everybody for their input! I bought a Sharp Notevision XR-32X-L HD on ebay for $480. Its 2500 lumen. I'll post what i think of it after i get it. Thanks again!

[Scareview]

Wondering if rent-a-center or any place like that carries these?