2014 By the Numbers

I saw 388 "films" on a theater screen in 2014. For these purposes, a film is not just a feature length film but also includes programs (typically from film festivals) which consist of multiple short films. If it was categorized as a single program in a festival guide, it counts as one film entry on my list. Conversely, I saw several programs which consisted of a short film and a feature length film. For my counting purposes, those are counted a single film entry.

My annual film totals for the past few years are:

2010 - 385 films
2011 - 406 films
2012 - 436 films
2013 - 397 films
2014 - 388 films

For two consecutive years, I've seen less films than I did the year before.  With five years of data, it appears that 2012 was the outlier.  The five year average is 402.4 films per year.

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The top 10 venues in which I saw films in 2014 were:

1) Castro Theater (86 films) - primarily the result of Noir City (18 films) and the SF Silent Film Festival (20 films over three festivals).  The Castro Theater has been my #1 film-going destination for three of the past five years.  The Castro was #2 or #3 for the other two years.

2) Roxie Theater (56 films) - 25 films between two series programmed by Elliot Lavine and 16 films at IndieFest.  I'm counting the Roxie and Little Roxie as the same for these purposes.  The Roxie Theater has been my #1 film-going destination for two of the past five years and has been #1 or #2 for each of the past five years.

3) Landmark Theaters (31 films) - 12 films at the Embarcadero Center, 10 films at the Opera Plaza, 3 films at both the Guild and the Aquarius, 2 films at the Shattuck and 1 film at the Clay.  Unlike past years, the San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) did not hold any Fall Film Series at Landmark venues.  Everything I saw at the Landmark Theaters was a new release.  For the 2nd consecutive year, the Landmark Theaters finished at #3 on my list.

3) Vogue & Balboa (31 films) - 27 films at the Vogue and 4 at the Balboa.  The Vogue count was mainly due to the Mostly British Film Festival (12 films), SFFS' French Cinema Now (7 films), SFFS' Hong Kong Cinema (5 films) and SFFS' New Italian Cinema (2 films).  Although I think of them as separate theaters they are owned and operated by the same people.

5) Pacific Film Archive (29 films) - Hou Hsiao-hsien (11 films), Satyajit Ray (5 films) and Kenji Mizoguchi (5 films) series accounted from most of my visits.

6) Camera Cinemas (27 films) - 25 films at the Camera 12 and 2 films at the Camera 3.  I watched 22 films at the Camera 12 as part of Cinequest.

7) Stanford Theater (26 films) - I saw 6 films each at Frank Capra & Barbara Stanwyck series.

8) Kabuki Cinemas (20 films) - 17 films from SF International Film Festival (SFIFF) & 3 films at CAAMFest.

9) Viz (13 films) - 5 films from Another Hole in the Head, 3 films from SFIFF, 4 from the SF Japan Film Festival & 1 film from CAAMFest.

10) YBCA (11 films) - New Filipino Cinema (7 films) and Invasion of the Cinemaniacs (3 films) accounted for most of the activity.

The top 10 venues accounted for 85% of the films I saw this year.

Honorable Mentions:  4 Star (11 films), California Theater in San Jose (9 films), SJ Rep (7 films) and the Smith Rafael Film Center (6 films).

I visited the Los Gatos Theater, Vine Cinema & Alehouse and Magick Lantern for the first time in 2014.  I also saw a film at the Mechanics' Institute (Cinema Lit) for the first time.

In 2014, I did not visit Niles Essanay or Oddball.  

I haven't visited the Paramount Theater in Oakland since April Fool's Day 2012 (Napoléon)

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On 240 days in 2014, I saw at least one film. The 2014 breakdown is:

On 125 days, I saw zero films.

On 138 days, I saw one film.

On 72 days, I saw two films.

On 20 days, I saw three films.

On 4 days, I saw four films.

On 6 days, I saw five films.

On January 25 (Saturday), I saw five films at Noir City.  On March 8 (Saturday), March 12 (Wednesday), March 15 (Saturday) and March 16 (Sunday), I saw five films at Cinequest.  On June 1 (Sunday), I saw five films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

Breaking down the number of films by month:

January - 32 films

February - 41 films

March - 54 films

April - 26 films

May - 45 films

June - 25 films

July - 20 films

August - 30 films

September - 21 films

October - 26 films

November 38 films

December - 30 films

I'm surprised at how closely the numbers follow the same cyclical pattern as 2013.  July 2014 is noticeably lower than July 2013 but that is because the SF Silent Film Festival moved their festival from July to late May/early June in 2014.  However, I saw 45 films in May 2013 and May 2014 (the exact same number).

Breaking down the number of films by day of the week:

Sunday - 74 films

Monday - 33 films

Tuesday - 37 films

Wednesday - 42 films

Thursday - 62 films

Friday - 57 films

Saturday - 83 films

I would have expected Saturday & Sunday to have the most films but I'm surprised that Thursday came in third.  I'm a little surprised I saw more films on Saturday than Sunday as I am usually running errands on Saturdays.  I was expecting Friday to be the third place day but drop off from 2nd place to 3rd place (23%) is much greater than anticipated.

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The PFA is closing mid-year in 2015 to move to their new location so I don't think the PFA will make my top 10 list for 2015.

The SJ Rep has closed but it appears the building is still vacant.  I wonder if Cinequest will be able to use the space for their festival.

The Magick Lantern has closed but its reopening seems imminent (cross your fingers).

The Alamo Drafthouse is scheduled to open at the New Mission Theater in 2015.  I notice the website has changed the opening from the 2nd quarter of 2015 to just 2015.  They've started hiring staff according to their Facebook page.