The University Programming Board spent between $18,000 and $20,000 the last two school years to bring movies on campus for the UPB movie nights.

UPB movie nights are weekly movie screenings hosted in Russell Union Theatre that show recently released movies to students.

Screenings Last Year

The average cost to screen a single movie last year was just over $1,250 with prices ranging from $500 to $1,300, according to an open records request.

The most expensive movies included, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Finding Dory, Dr. Strange and Sing, each costing over $1,300 to screen.

The cheapest screening last year was Beetlejuice at just over $500, which was a special Halloween screening.

The Previous Year

These numbers are down, however, when compared to the 2015-2016 school year.

In the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 school year UPB spent over $19,000 to screen movies.

The most expensive single movie to screen was Jurassic World at just over $1,400, but the most expensive screening was a double screening of Insidious 2 and Insidious 3 that cost $1,800.

Who Picks the Movies?

Before any movie is screened they go through a multi-step vetting process.

First UPB is provided with a catalog of movies, including both new and soon to be released movies. Included in the catalog are runtimes, a brief synopsis, ratings and a list of popular movies on other campuses.

From the catalog the late night committee chair researches the movies, focusing on box office results and reviews and considers the campus culture. With all this information, the chair creates a list of potential movies.

This list is either approved or amended in a one on one meeting between the late night chair and the Activities Coordinator for Programming.

The approved list is then taken to the late night committee where they watch trailers for all the proposed movies and vote on the final list which will be ordered.

Why Attend?

UPB is entirely funded by students fees, with each student paying about $101 a semester in activity fees, so every student has already contributed to

Rebeccah Kinz, freshmen business management major, has never attended a movie night, but is excited to go to meet new people.

“Me and my roommates actually plan to go because because it’s a good way to meet new people,” Kinz said.

Brian Reynolds, sophomore manufacturing and engineering major likes the timelines of the movies selected.

“I like the movie nights,” Reynolds said. “I like how the movies are kind of current. They’re in there before when they come out on DVD, so . . . you can see those movies before you actually have to buy them.”

Reynolds added that he did wish there were more movie nights during the semester and wished there were some screenings on week days as well as the normal Friday showings.

UPB president, Juan Bernal, encourages all students to attend UPB events.

“Students should attend these events because it provides a way for students to meet new people and enjoy a fun filled event with free food and activities,” Bernal said. “These events are paid for by the student activity fees so they technically already paid for the event so might as well come and enjoy the event.”

What is UPB?

UPB is a student organization funded by completely student activity fees that provides entertainment to the Georgia Southern University students.

Some of their events include the before mentioned movie nights, the yearly parents weekend block party, karaoke and open mic nights, skate nights, the silent disco last year, as well as the end of the year lantern walk and the lighting of Sweetheart Circle.

UPB has an executive board made up of the president, vice president of membership, the vice president of public relations and a chair for each of its committees.

The general body is broken up into committees that plan and execute different events based on their designation.

Three of the committees focus on programing. These include: the late night, special events and traditions committees.

The late night committee that puts on movie nights and open mic nights, as well as skate nights.

The special events committee puts on pageants, concerts and other once a year events that occur during the school year.

Finally the spirit and traditions committee plans homecoming week and all the events of the week, as well as the yearly lantern walk, the lighting of Sweetheart Circle and family weekend.

UPB also has a public relations committee and a membership committee.

Joining UPB

If students are interested in joining UPB they can find an application in the University Programming Boards’ page under MyInvolvement. Applications are due by Thursday, August 24 by noon.

UPB requires all members to pay student fees and to maintain a 2.5 GPA.

“UPB is a great way to meet new people and network,”  Bernal said. “It is also a great way to get involved on campus since we do work with other student organizations and departments.”

Upcoming UPB Events

The late night committee will continue the UPB movie nights, as well as the Unplugged series and a night at Jumpshot, an indoor trampoline park and paintball arena in Statesboro, previously called Flight Factory.

Some of the movies being screened this year include, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which was shown already, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Baby Driver and Wonder Woman.

The special events committee is planning to bring a currently unannounced speaker for the Weeks of Welcome as well as other performers later in the year.

The traditions committee will be holding their annual events: Homecoming week, the senior lantern walk and the lighting of Sweetheart Circle again this year.

Students can keep up on upcoming events as well as see newly announced events by following UPB on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook at @GSUPB and Snapchat at @GSU_UPB. UPB is also offering text reminders this year, which can be subscirbed to by texting “@GSU-UPB’ to 81010.

The next screening will be Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Friday, Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

*All costs gathered from University documents