Malco Theatres Centennial Welcome Animation
WEEK 41 – Southaven Malco (Feature Presentation)
Finally – here’s the thing I’ve been waiting the whole album to share with you! Malco celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015, and to celebrate, they released a new little animation intro that played before all of its feature presentations. It was very well done, and continued to air for a number of years after the centennial; I think it was finally replaced only within the past year and a half or so. That’s unfortunate, too, as it was so cleverly made that I think it could have lasted a heck of a lot longer without any complaints. I was a good boy and never recorded any footage while inside the theater, even of this welcome animation; but I definitely couldn’t let it go past without getting some photos of it, and creating a little makeshift “film reel” for you :)
The animation begins at the top left, and the scenes progress from left to right, row by row. It starts, to fanfare music, with a screen showing “WELCOME” and the Malco and Coca-Cola logos (Coke having been Malco’s soft drink of choice for all 100 years), as well as a bag of popcorn and a cup of soda. Then, it suddenly zooms out to the friendly little blue guy waving at you (cute flapping arm noise included).
His happiness doesn’t last long. Almost immediately, a boulder descends from out of nowhere, undoubtedly intent on bringing our friend to his doom. He hastily takes off running, passing a screen that reads, “Please refrain from talking and texting during the feature.” Action music plays throughout. I never thought to consider others taking pictures of this animation as well, but sure enough at least one person did; here is a missing frame showing the moment where the boulder first appears.
Our hero escapes the boulder by turning around and jumping up on, and then over, it, allowing it to roll past and leaving him safe. I believe there were triumphant “hi-ya” sound effects during this bit. (Unfortunately, I don’t have it pictured.) But his safety lasts only for a moment, as immediately after that, a flying spaceship starts shooting lasers at him. Naturally, he runs away from that, too, passing a giant cell phone along the way, which is knocked over by the wind trail from his run. The camera pans out and the audience sees the message “Please silence your cellphone” to the right of the fallen device. The music similarly dims into silence during this portion.
We are led to believe that the blue guy ran off-screen, but that was a misdirection, as a zoom into the bottom right of that message reveals he had sneakily hidden himself behind the word “phone,” falling out of sight of the lasers. But he probably would’ve been better off not revealing himself to us again. That action makes him the target of another attack, this time from low-flying popcorn-on-coils (accompanied by slow-motion firing sounds), which he has to bend backwards to dodge. After that barrage is over, he does what I think any of us would do in a similar situation: runs away screaming.
Our buddy runs past the popcorn and soda from earlier, which the camera pauses on… for good reason, as he quickly doubles back and begins gulping down the soda (emitting a refreshed “ah” once he’s done). Next, the camera pans slowly upward to reveal the Malco logo, shining in a mystical light, but curiously missing its “M.” Our friend glances in awe up at the logo, then down at himself, and realizes… it is his destiny. He scrunches his head inward, extends his arms outward, and ultimately transforms himself into the letter, floating slowly upward and completing the logo (and our scene).
I would absolutely *love* if this were posted somewhere online for y’all to see in full – or heck, even just for me to relive again (not least for the cool action music and sound effects too, which there’s no way I can convey properly) – but for now, this is the best I can do. Hopefully, even with me simply having to describe it to you, you guys found it as cool and fun as I did! (I can’t help but feel like I’m recreating one of the lost Doctor Who episodes with all this though, lol XD )
Now, something that’s probably relevant for me to mention in this album documenting a movie theater is that I am not, in fact, a big movie buff. To the contrary, I rarely have any desire to watch movies, and those that I do, I often forget afterwards (although I think that’s just a personal problem, as I forget most of the books I read as well). Anyway, point being, I had to ask my parents to confirm which movies were being emulated here because I am a horrible moviegoer with zero knowledge of critical cultural hits. I got the first one right; the boulder is, of course, Indiana Jones. The lasers are Star Wars, and the backbend is from The Matrix. If you got all those from my pictures and description alone, then you win 100 power user points. Go buy yourself an imaginary movie ticket on me.
(c) 2020 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
Malco Theatres Centennial Welcome Animation
WEEK 41 – Southaven Malco (Feature Presentation)
Finally – here’s the thing I’ve been waiting the whole album to share with you! Malco celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015, and to celebrate, they released a new little animation intro that played before all of its feature presentations. It was very well done, and continued to air for a number of years after the centennial; I think it was finally replaced only within the past year and a half or so. That’s unfortunate, too, as it was so cleverly made that I think it could have lasted a heck of a lot longer without any complaints. I was a good boy and never recorded any footage while inside the theater, even of this welcome animation; but I definitely couldn’t let it go past without getting some photos of it, and creating a little makeshift “film reel” for you :)
The animation begins at the top left, and the scenes progress from left to right, row by row. It starts, to fanfare music, with a screen showing “WELCOME” and the Malco and Coca-Cola logos (Coke having been Malco’s soft drink of choice for all 100 years), as well as a bag of popcorn and a cup of soda. Then, it suddenly zooms out to the friendly little blue guy waving at you (cute flapping arm noise included).
His happiness doesn’t last long. Almost immediately, a boulder descends from out of nowhere, undoubtedly intent on bringing our friend to his doom. He hastily takes off running, passing a screen that reads, “Please refrain from talking and texting during the feature.” Action music plays throughout. I never thought to consider others taking pictures of this animation as well, but sure enough at least one person did; here is a missing frame showing the moment where the boulder first appears.
Our hero escapes the boulder by turning around and jumping up on, and then over, it, allowing it to roll past and leaving him safe. I believe there were triumphant “hi-ya” sound effects during this bit. (Unfortunately, I don’t have it pictured.) But his safety lasts only for a moment, as immediately after that, a flying spaceship starts shooting lasers at him. Naturally, he runs away from that, too, passing a giant cell phone along the way, which is knocked over by the wind trail from his run. The camera pans out and the audience sees the message “Please silence your cellphone” to the right of the fallen device. The music similarly dims into silence during this portion.
We are led to believe that the blue guy ran off-screen, but that was a misdirection, as a zoom into the bottom right of that message reveals he had sneakily hidden himself behind the word “phone,” falling out of sight of the lasers. But he probably would’ve been better off not revealing himself to us again. That action makes him the target of another attack, this time from low-flying popcorn-on-coils (accompanied by slow-motion firing sounds), which he has to bend backwards to dodge. After that barrage is over, he does what I think any of us would do in a similar situation: runs away screaming.
Our buddy runs past the popcorn and soda from earlier, which the camera pauses on… for good reason, as he quickly doubles back and begins gulping down the soda (emitting a refreshed “ah” once he’s done). Next, the camera pans slowly upward to reveal the Malco logo, shining in a mystical light, but curiously missing its “M.” Our friend glances in awe up at the logo, then down at himself, and realizes… it is his destiny. He scrunches his head inward, extends his arms outward, and ultimately transforms himself into the letter, floating slowly upward and completing the logo (and our scene).
I would absolutely *love* if this were posted somewhere online for y’all to see in full – or heck, even just for me to relive again (not least for the cool action music and sound effects too, which there’s no way I can convey properly) – but for now, this is the best I can do. Hopefully, even with me simply having to describe it to you, you guys found it as cool and fun as I did! (I can’t help but feel like I’m recreating one of the lost Doctor Who episodes with all this though, lol XD )
Now, something that’s probably relevant for me to mention in this album documenting a movie theater is that I am not, in fact, a big movie buff. To the contrary, I rarely have any desire to watch movies, and those that I do, I often forget afterwards (although I think that’s just a personal problem, as I forget most of the books I read as well). Anyway, point being, I had to ask my parents to confirm which movies were being emulated here because I am a horrible moviegoer with zero knowledge of critical cultural hits. I got the first one right; the boulder is, of course, Indiana Jones. The lasers are Star Wars, and the backbend is from The Matrix. If you got all those from my pictures and description alone, then you win 100 power user points. Go buy yourself an imaginary movie ticket on me.
(c) 2020 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)