Mockup only. Nothing here is wired up. Same fragment repeated five times: the checklist (underline, no star), three schedule rows (star + row background), and a Gantt strip (row + day-cell tint, film bars untouched).
Films are shown at level 1 / 2 / 3 in that order each time.
Exactly what you suggested. Instantly readable — everyone knows it. But that red is the same red as a "new film" title on Listings, so a red star and a red title will sit two rows apart meaning different things. Green at the bottom also means your default must-see is the quietest thing on the page.
Same idea, but sage instead of signal-green and coral instead of pillar-box red — the "hideous" comes off it and it stops fighting the new-film red quite so directly. Top level also gets a thicker underline, so it still shouts in a screenshot printed in black and white. Closest thing here to "what you asked for, but nicer".
No new colours at all — just your existing gold, dimmed / normal / lit up (top level gets a faint glow). Nothing can clash with anything, because nothing new was introduced. The cost: level 1 vs level 2 is a subtle call at a glance, and this is the one variant where the Gantt tint has nowhere warm to go, so top level goes olive — see for yourself whether that reads as urgent or just muddy.
Skips red entirely, so nothing collides with new-film red and nothing looks like a warning triangle. Magenta appears nowhere else on the site, so a magenta star can only ever mean one thing. It's the loudest option here — which is either exactly right for "this is about to vanish", or too much for a cinema listing. Your call; I genuinely can't predict which way you'll go on this one.
The odd one out, and the one I'd argue for. How much you want it is one star, two, or three — all gold, no new colours. Running out of time is a separate red flag the app works out on its own, from the schedule data it already holds: last screening within a few days, flag goes up, row goes red. You never have to remember to escalate anything — which matters, because the moment a film is about to vanish is exactly the moment you're not thinking about it. Cost: three stars eat more width than one, and that width is precious in the checklist (so the checklist still just underlines).
Notice the Gantt row above: the red isn't decoration, it's the shape of the problem — bars on the left, nothing on the right. The film runs out mid-week and the row says so without you reading a single date.
#e05050 is already the "new film" title colour on Listings. A red
Must See star sits inches from a red film title meaning something completely different. A, and to a
lesser extent B, have to live with that. D and E sidestep it.