Film records are configured with Opening Dates which correspond to the day on which the film is released. Different kinds of opening dates can be set up within your system.

• In Head Office and Film Programming, films are configured with a single Opening Date that should reflect the general date for the circuit.
• In CInema Manager, films have an Opening Date which may reflect the date on which the film is released at that cinema, and a National Opening Date which reflects the opening date configured at Head Office.

It is possible to set different Opening Dates and National Opening Dates for each cinema by using Site Variable Data from Head Office.

Advance Booking Rules can be configured as relative to either the site Opening Date, or the National Opening Date.

Configuring the opening date for a film

1. Open a Film record in Maintenance > Films.
   • If you are using Head Office, enter the Opening Date as required. The Opening Date and the National Opening Date of the film record at the cinema will both default to this value. Use Site Variable Data to vary the cinema opening dates if required.
   • If you only use Back Office, configure the Opening Date and National Opening Date as required.
2. If you want a film to be listed as Coming Soon on sales channels, select Include in Coming Soon Films in the Box Office tab.
3. Click Save.

Varying the opening date by site

If your organisation runs Head Office, it is possible to configure different Opening Dates and National Opening Dates for the same Film record at different sites.

For example:

• Tier 1 sites in your circuit might have an Opening Date for a film that is slightly earlier than Tier 2 sites.
• If your circuit operates in multiple territories, some sites might have different National Opening Dates for a film, especially if the film has a different Distributor in each territory which set different opening dates.

1. Open Head Office > Maintenance > Linking and Site Variable Data.
2. Select the Films View.
3. Expand the Film you wish to edit dates for.
4. Enter a different Opening Date/National Opening Date for the required cinema(s) in the table. Any cinemas with no value entered here use the default value downloaded from Head Office.
5. Repeat steps 2–4 for any other required films.
6. Click Save.

See also:

• Configuring Advance Booking Periods