Sonoma Movies - F.A.Q.

Prepared at no charge to anyone by Bert Towle, the Sonoma County movie geek.
Click on my name to ask questions or cheer or hiss about SonomaMovies.com.
Complaining about a theater or film is OK if it makes you feel better, but I don't work for the theaters or the studios.

Where's the prices?!

The theaters don't provide price information with the schedule information. Long ago when I used to do only Sonoma County I polled the theaters twice a year to get prices. Within 6 weeks some theater's price was incorrect. I'd rather have no prices than wrong prices, so no prices are reported.

What's a GAT, Pass, Gift book?!

Passes are issued by the studios, distributors, sometimes theaters and sponsors to allow free admission with restrictions. Most often, passes aren't accepted during the first 3 weeks of the typical film. Theaters can ignore pass restrictions, follow them, or even extend the restrictions.
GATs (Group Activity Tickets) are prepaid discount tickets generally offered through an employer or some other organization. The theaters participate in those programs to get cash in anticipation of a future movie-goer. Some are for specific theater chains, a few can be used at multiple theaters. GATs are generally restricted in the same way as passes, but are usually allowed for low-attendance shows.
The "Gift Book" could include GATs or it could be a gift certificate package depending on where it's purchased. If a gift book comes from a theater, it usually contains certificates for tickets or that can be used like cash in exchange for tickets or concessions. As a rule (again depending on the theater) gift certificates are accepted without restriction because they are treated like money.

Why list films before they open?!

In most case films are listed only when tickets go on sale. Major releases often pre-sell 3 or more weeks in advance. I list films when theaters say they're selling tickets. Some of the smaller theaters publish schedules far in advance and I try to help them out by showing their schedules as early as possible.

Where's the Coast Guard Training Center?!

Their distributor doesn't allow publicity outside the facility, so I had to remove their schedules. You can still get info from their site.

Where's the open captioned films?!

They aren't being scheduled in the North Bay any more. Open captioned films played irregularly for about 15 months but ended in October, 2002. I don't know details about the cancellation of these films, but I know attendance was not comparable to other films. If you want open captioned films shown at any of the theaters, you'll need to make it known to the theater management.

This site is funded solely by me, contains no advertising, and is intended for the amusement of the Sonoma County movie-goers.
Sonoma County has 87 public movie screens; 90 at the 11 commercial theaters and 1 at Sonoma State.
You have over 3000 show time choices each week in Sonoma County.
I get the information from the theaters by email, fax or phone.
Some theaters don't provide schedules consistently (or at all). That makes it tougher, but I usually still get the data.
Information reported here is updated whenever changes are reported by the theaters.
Not reported - not updated.
Show times, discounts, special performances, restrictions, and sound system are reported when provided by the theaters.
Food, video games and gift certificates will never be reported, I promise.
Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to the reader. I accept no responsibility for how much you age waiting for a link to show up on your browser.
When something's amok with my back-office environment, I try to post updates on the main page - look there first if things don't seem right.
Products used in the creation of this page include MS Access 2003, Coldfusion Studio 4.5, and Paint Shop Pro 7
The site is hosted at DreamHost - a young company with good service, features and prices.

Though I try to keep the schedule accurate, all showtimes are subject to change and the theaters don't always tell me. Call the theaters for their most current information!