Watch a movie for free and get some free popcorn but then all of a sudden the movie you were seeing loses sound, starts running backwards or has the scenes in the wrong order.
If you have recently been to the DUPB’S Thursday night film showings, this probably sounds all too familiar.
DU Programs Board has had a long history of film glitches with the free movies it shows on Thursday nights.
Although to its credit, it has recently had some successful film showings.
Many students on campus, when asked about the quality of the films being shown, replied that until recently they could not remember the last time DUPB showed a movie without serious glitches.
Junior Heidi Hafenstine said that the DUPB movies not only have serious glitches, but also that the movie selections are older and “it’s just not worth going to see” them.
Sophomore Matt Seashore, new DUPB films director, said the difficulties are mainly due to the film distributor, Swank.
Swank, which acts as a middleman between production agencies and universities, has apparently been supplying DUPB with movies that are of poor quality.
One of the most recent examples was the Harry Potter movie in which Swank mislabeled one of the reels, which placed the final battle scene near the beginning.
With all of these issues, DUPB has had to reorganize the way members normally show the movies.
Instead of just reeling the movie the night before, now the film chair must run and reel the entire film on Tuesday nights so if there is a problem a new copy can be overnighted to the university.
Unfortunately Swank currently leads the industry so it is difficult to obtain a different provider.
Bad news for DUPB.
Many students have also been concerned about old movies being shown this quarter.
Seashore said that DUPB is showing these movies in an attempt to see if there is a genuine interest in older classics.
He said that there is no truth to the rumor that DUPB is low on money and cannot afford to show more recent movies. Renting films, even new films, is fairly cheap.
It is the rights to show the movie that is expensive and a classic movie such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” costs up to 80 percent of what a new movie costs.
