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A Subscription-Based Movie Theater
When the local movie theater in Oakhurst, California went out of business, residents were stuck without a way to watch films on the big screen without driving for at least an hour beforehand. Now, three men are trying to resurrect the theater with one major change: instead of relying solely on ticket sales, their business model revolves around subscriptions. From the article: 'They ran models of Nelson's subscription-based theater idea, showing that to break even they would need 3,000 people, or 15% of the mountain communities, to sign up. For $19.95 per month, a member would be able to see each movie one time and buy individual tickets for friends. Non-members could buy a $16 day pass. While researching the theater business, Nelson learned that studios are transitioning to digital distribution. Thousands of independent theaters that couldn't afford equipment upgrades have closed over the last 10 years, according to industry experts. Hundreds of others — which, like the Met, still show print films — remain on the brink. The subscription business model could pay for the new equipment.'
$20 monthly pass pays for itself after 2 movies.
UGC (the AMC theatres in France) used to (maybe still have) memberships that allowed you to see evey movie they show as many times as you want for 15euros. Lots of people were subscribing to it. I am sure they can manage it. Thought the $16 day pass for non subscriber seems over the top. I hope they also have regular $8/10 ticket for one movie. (most people wont see two movies in one day)
I've been to theaters that sell monthly/yearly passes to frequent movie-goers. From what I've seen though the model is typically to offer a steep discount for tickets if you hold a pass.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
When you have a free "movie ticket for everything" you start going to see stuff you would not have seen otherwise. $20 a month is not a bad deal. I'd totaly take that.
Where I live in Australia it costs around $17 per adult to see a movie at the cinema. The last movie I went to had around 8 people watching it. If they charged $5 per adult I bet there would have been a lot more people watching that movie (that may have also purchased overpriced crappy food from the candy bar).
It is ridiculous to expect $17 from someone to watch a shitty movie, considering the majority of movies pumped out these days are pretty terrible.
Sounds like it would work for younger people then. The success of this model would depend on the age distribution in the target population.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
They'd have to give a discount on food as well. At least in the US popcorn and a drink run you as much as the ticket.
would be the Green Bay Packers model of community ownership. Keep the theater private but sell shares in the company; for $300 you would be part owner, and would be able to buy a subscription for either $15/month or get a $3 discount on individual tickets.
Don't kill your fuck buddy, they are very useful.
This is a way to have a movie theater in their town without driving an hour. You need to factor that into your estimations.
If I lived an hour away from any other movie theater, I would pay $20/month to keep my local theater alive. Sometimes it's fun to see a movie on the big screen, with your friends.
If that experience isn't something you care about, there's Netflix.
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
Wouldn't it be an even better idea to allow subscribers to see all the movies they want? a) it sounds like a better deal for potential customers and b) they are still likely to purchase overpriced refreshments, which is the real cash cow of a movie theater.
Not to mention not having to track who has seen what.
Duh.
expandfairuse.org
"Have to"? Why? Because you'd shrivel up and die if you don't have a dose of artificially-flavored popcorn with artificially-sweetened fizzy water within a 2-hour window?
Kid-proof tablet..
Life as a service. You don't own anything, you owe everyone.
That's where most of the theatres actually make their money on first-week releases, though, because of how much goes to the studio in ticket revenue.
Speak for yourself. While a quarter of the movies are so-so $20 isn't so much. I spend $20 minimum each time I got to the movies. I probably see a movie a week. This includes movie & pop corn. Now I don't waste my money on Netflix, DRM'd Cable TV, or other similar services. If you see four shows a month that is just $5 a ticket. Maybe half the price of a typical theater. Even if you see only two shows that is still about the price of a typical ticket. They should charge $12 to non-members to encourage people to get memberships. Even those who aren't members are going to use this theater because it is closer. A lot of older people hate driving to far away theaters. Even if they will do it they'd pay extra to see a movie locally. Plus the gas saved totally makes up for the slight premium anyway (at $12 a ticket).
I had another good idea (stolen) from a theater around here. They turned it into a dinner & show theater. So you can order dinner too. Instead of spending $10 on popcorn and soda people spend $20 on dinner plus $10 for a show. You don't have to do the dinner. You can still get the popcorn + soda or just a ticket if your not hungry. The point of this though is to give people something to spend more money on. And people do!
Discount on the food? You're kidding me, right? There's absolutely no reason why that should be a part of the deal. You subscribe, paying each month to renew your subscription, to see any movie at any time you want (when the theater is open). Anything else like food, candy, etc. is gonna cost you more. Of course, certain things are free, such as 3D glasses to watch 3D films and refills on certain sizes of popcorn and specific sizes and kinds of beverage-type items (not fountain sodas).
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.
Payphone booths and arcades are. Plain and simple. Too many other options.
I only go to the movies for the latest releases (so few that are worth it). The big players will hang on. I almost think the small theaters are being run out by design - because the longer a movie is out, the bigger cut the theater gets from ticket sales which start out at 100% for the studios.
Today, people can buy 70" flat led screen for around $1900, an 83" Mitsubishi dlp for $1800 (92" for $2800). Rent 3-6 month old movies at Redbox for a little over a buck, stream it from Netflix, etc.
It's a shame, because of the whole going out of the house thing (although, since I only view Matinees where it's empty - any potential social value dwindles to nothing). Speaking of social value, the only theater that's been built in my growing area the last 10 years has been one that is a restaurant and where you can order real food. So, added value options may grow from being a novelty to the norm.
Who knows, with TVs getting cheaper and cheaper all the time, in 30 years, huge A/Ced and heated theaters that sit empty most of the time may have largely become a thing of the past except in places like Las Vegas or the planetariums.
I view the 3D thing as largely a play to stay relevant, and it's probably not working all that well. I'm sure some theater owners are praying for Avatar 2 and 3 to come out soon.
I have a local 3 screen theater that shows first run movies for $5 (matinee is $4) and another small theater 15 miles away with one screen that is pretty cheap (can't remember ticket price off the top of my head though).
I couldn't imagine these theaters combined have gross receipts for a year coming close to $60,000, let alone having those costs per month.
The other theater is transitioning to digital soon, too.
What, me worry?
How the hell can this cost $60K? Even the highest resolution used on 70' screens is only 4096x2160. The only non off-the-shelf component would be the optical equipment, and couldn't they retrofit the optics of existing 35mm projectors?
Is there anything better than clicking through Microsoft ads on Slashdot?
How about having actual butter for the popcorn? I can no longer get the overpriced popcorn at theatres, not just due to the shitty taste of the stuff but because the "popcorn topping" is full of MSG and consistently gives me a migraine headache right around the time we're heading home. It used to be "butter" then "butter flavor" and now they don't even pretend it's that. And guess what? It's not just me that doesn't buy it any more.
Popcorn popped in real vegetable oil, with real butter and salt will give off a smell that will draw tons of people out to get some even at movie theatre prices.
Oakhurst, CA: Population 2829. Good luck getting 3000 paying customers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakhurst,_California
15% sounds great, but it's probably not attainable. $240/year per person is not very family friendly. And it's not very senior citizen friendly. I just don't see them hitting the number goals.
Well that depends. Are they playing never movies? Also some people, like teenagers especially, will go to the movies more often. I myself havent been to a movie theatre in over a year. There will be some people that like to go on regular occasion and others that don't go that often. It'll be interesting to see what the stats turn out to be on this idea. I do wish them luck though.
I book films for a local theatre. Unless there are major changes with film distribution terms, this won't fly. Films are rented to theatres with terms that require a minimum guarantee from the theatre versus a percentage of the boxoffice gross. For a first run title, the percentage will start high (think 90% or so) and drop each week until it gets to 35% or so. For a 90% title, the theatre gets $1 of your $10 ticket, and the distributor gets $9. Boxoffice reports are submitted daily and list the number of tickets sold for each price category and the total number of tickets sold and boxoffice take for the day for the film in question.
There is no way that a subscription pricing model would work under standard film rental terms, since there is no standard ticket price on which to base the percentages. Any theatre that tried this without first convincing the film distributors to all change their business models (ha!) would never be able to get films to show. This is an industry that does not really like innovation and which is reluctant to change a business model that has worked well (more or less) for the last hundred years (or so).
The D-cinema thing is an entirely different issue. Cost is about $60k per screen for the projector and server, assuming that a sound system already exists for 35mm and can be (mostly) re-used for D-cinema. Only DCI-compliant equipment can be used--this is not the same thing as a regular off-the-shelf video projector, as it contains specific crypto hardware to make movie piracy difficult (no doubt it will be cracked eventually, however). No one is actually forcing this conversion at the moment, so 35mm film is still viable for the time being. This conversion process has been discussed for the last ten years or so, but has only really started to speed up over the last two.
I would tend to agree, but there are technical differences. A DCP (digital cinema package) is a frame sequence with a soundtrack. By contrast, a "video" signal contains blanking and sync information, which does not exist in D-cinema. So it isn't quite the same thing, but it still sucks compared to a good photochemical print.
I have managed theaters for two large chains. Frankly the concept of a movie theater is dead meat. The hang on, improve and survive executives simply have lost the battle.
Early on the theaters were huge. The cost of admission was trivial. Theaters relied on candy, popcorn and sodas as well as more complete menus the further back one goes. That was the profit gimmick. One need not make a penny on film if one sells enough food. Sadly theaters lost the ability to serve decent snack food as management types cut back on food expenses and quality. That alone was enough to kill the industry but inflation and the invention of TV and then cable were the death songs of the theater industry. One can easily have a first rate movie experience at home and the cost is trivial as it is wrapped in bundled services. For about $5. per day i can have thousands of movies and shows, my phone service and a high speed net connection that dwarfs a wired connection and use these features all day, every day. For another buck or so my home alarm service can also come by cable. Compared to that why would i go to a theater?
I haven't gone to the movies in years.
I remember prices for tickets were like $12-$16 or so in Australia and New Zealand per adult. And that's before you even add in the stupid overpriced cost of popcorn and coke, etc.
Combined with the fact there's very good movies coming out anymore, whats the honest point? I can see why movie theatres/cinema's are going broke.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
They'd have to give a discount on food as well. At least in the US popcorn and a drink run you as much as the ticket.
We hardly ever buy movie food, we just bring our own. The local (Australia) cinema won't let you bring a backpack or other large bag in (tripping hazard) but they haven't batted an eyelid when we've put the backpack in their lockers and taken in our own popcorn etc. Three of my kids and my wife can't have gluten so buying the food there isn't really an option - too much risk of contamination (who knows what they put in that 'butter'!).
I prefer not to have food at all in the cinema, but when you have young kids it's a great way to keep them still while they get interested in the movie.
If we are talking a movie theater with 6 screens, then sure, sounds like a great deal if you like going to movies. At least that way you are going to get a variety of different movies in, if we are talking 1 or 2 screens, then no, sounds like a rip off, seeing as you probably won't get more then 3 or 4 movies a month.
Now the problem with movie theaters is the Movie Industry takes too big of a cut of the ticket sales, without giving back. Considering they are taking in most the profit, they should be doing the refitting to digital, if that is how they are going to be distributing them.
I find movies going to be a horrible experience unless you are talking a very old theater with 1 screen. I'd much rather watch stuff at home, sure on a smaller screen, but cheaper food, I'm free to drink/smoke and be in my underwear. If i have to go to the bathroom, I can pause it.
I try not to contribute to the Movie Industries profits anyways, since not only do they not put stuff into public domain, but since they treat customers like criminals, on the hunt for "supposed" profit, while doing tricky accounting to make sure the actors, producers, etc on a film doesn't make any profit either.
Be seeing you...
Why is that movie theaters seem to be about the only business that not only doesn't understand or even attempt to follow supply and demand with their pricing of both the attractions and the food, but seem to publicly admit that they don't think supply/demand makes sense? If nobody wants to buy something I'm selling, the price is too high. Any sane person in the world would lower their price. That's the whole idea behind supply and demand. But what do movie theaters do? Jack up the price even more, and claim that they need to do so to survive. On what crazy planet does that even begin to make sense?
Popcorn is CHEAP. Why would you charge $7 for it and then complain that nobody buys it?
Sodas are CHEAP. Why would you charge $5 for it and then complain that nobody buys it?
I don't know about theaters around the country, but where I live we have "cheap nights" on Tuesdays, where movie tickets are a good deal cheaper than usual. And typically the theaters are packed full on that night. Every other night? You could count patrons in a given theater without running out of digits on your hands/feet. And even *THAT* doesn't tell theater owners that their regular prices are too high?! Your theaters are packed full on cheap nights because the price is easier to swallow. It shouldn't cost a family of four over $80 to go have a movie night, yet that's exactly what it cost a friend of mine to take his family to a movie on the weekend. Hell, it cost me and a friend, just two of us, almost $50 to go see 48 fps Hobbits a couple weeks ago. Almost $50 for two tickets and one popcorn/drink/chocolate combo. That's way too much money, and that is exactly the reason movie theaters are struggling, yet they just don't get it.
Supply and demand. This is an insanely old concept that pretty much everyone seems to understand. Except movie theater owners. WHY?!
Look at video games, and Valve's Steam store in particular. They've publicly discussed a few times over the past few years how they have seen insane increases in revenue whenever they have big sales on games, on the order or 40x increase in revenue in one case! Here's what I think was the first article discussing it back in 2009: http://www.edge-online.com/features/valve-are-games-too-expensive/
Movie theaters' own cheap nights prove that supply and demand is warranted in their market, just like any other. If they would lower prices of everything, tickets and refreshments/food, they'd see way more people, and way more money, come their way. If only they'd take their heads out of their asses.
I for one regularly visit my local Hoyts to go to the movies and bring in a normal shopping bag filled with junk food bought from the nearby Coles or Woolies and they haven't stopped me.
I even went to see the third Lord of the Rings film when I was in Brisbane and had a large suitcase with me and they didn't care when I brought said suitcase into the theater.
Movie theaters serve absolutely no purpose, except as a gate through which films must pass as a delay to everyone else watching them. Unless you absolutely have to watch a movie the month it comes out, there's no reason to deal with the costs, the sticky floors, the shitty seats, the noisy assholes, the crying children, the lines, the driving there and back, the parking, the treats. Save all the money and save making it an all-night event and just watch shit at home. Maybe that wasn't feasible in the 90s, but 50" and 65" HD televisions are common place, movies are cheap to buy or rent, and the sound system that you'd want to experience could be covered after the years of money you'd save from seeing films in theaters and all the associated costs (even if you only payed $20/mo for some subscription).
Frankly, let 'em die out and lets get on with same-day-everywhere-releases.
Besides, at $20 and you can only see each film one time? You'd need three movies to make up for just the savings on tickets and there aren't three movies worth seeing in the theater every month.
I don't get it. You want billionaires to rescue theaters under the guise of some "cultural" value to everyone packing theaters to watch Meet the Spartans and the Fockers?
It would make sense to use a supply and demand model and start movies off at a set starting price and raise/lower the price based on attendance. More than half the seats filled (or some other threshold), raise it $1 or vice versa. Once the movie gets down to $1 (or free) it gets replaced with a different one. This model would allow for more people to afford them and even if there was a free showing, at least the studios don't get a cut of the vending revenue, so it may even be more profitable.
If the pricing depended on how many tickets were already purchased for a given showing, it would reduce overcrowding on opening weekends while maximizing profit.
"Lets go see if there is a free movie worth watching... Crap! Those all suck. Oh well, we are already here, wanna watch something anyways?"
A certain (IMHO evil) business philosophy will always, with **certainty**, try to take something that people purchase and own indefinitely and make it a 'subscription-based service'...it's 100% predictable and not in any way 'innovative' or 'new'
It's just feature bottlenecking...it's how drug dealers (and drug companies) make their money and it's ruining tech.
If TFA is correct and the theater is in demand in the community and fails anyway, it is **bad business practices** that caused the theater to close...no 'innovation' needed, just a person with the business sense of any stall shopkeeper in an Asian market.
American business has gotten so twisted, many businesspeople and investors really can't conceive of making a profit by any other means than the 'software as service' model. I have seen real, capital building business concepts laughed at in tech settings.
Thank you Dave Raggett
This is my local theater.
Last night they announced that they hit the 3,000 subscriber mark they were shooting for and will make a go at opening.
I wish them the best, though I think there are still some very big questions to be answered about the viability of the business model. Will the studios go along with it? Will subscriptions _remain_ high enough after the buzz fades away to be a viable business? I hope so, but only time will tell. The local economy is almost entirely tourism based, and their model effectively shuts out tourists who I think will be reluctant to shell out $16 for a day pass - so long-term local support is essential.
That experience has become less and less.
As the size of the silver screen has gone down, the size and resolution of TV sets have gone up.
When I was young, I loved to go to the movie theatre. The screen was a hefty 10x22 meters, or a little over 79' diagonal.
At home we had a 20" TV - we couldn't afford the new huge 26" ones that had just came out.
Nowadays, a typical movie theatre has a screen only a fraction of that size, while the standard TV size this holiday was 55".
Your field of view is going to be filled about as much by your TV at home as the movie screen. And you probably have a better sound system than the utter miscalibrated crap they foist on people these days.
Never mind that you and your friends can imbibe whatever you like. No crying children or idiots who left their cell phone on.
Back in the old days, you also bought numbered seats, and knew that you and your friends would be able to sit together. Now, you have to gamble on that. Whoever runs fastest gets the best seats.
The death of movie theatre going started for me back when LaserDiscs came out, and has continued as movies have become crappier and TVs better. I probably wouldn't go often even if it was free.
Heck, a BD movie on my laptop gives me a more immersive experience.
Let the movie theatres die. They had their time, which was great, but that time is over. Keep a few as living museums in the big cities, and let the rest go.
I'll fondly remember them, but don't need them back any more than I need photo booths and telegrams.
Why don't they lower the prices, you asked. You then mentioned they do lower the prices, especially on Tuesday. Weekdays cost less than weekend nights. A movie without popcorn costs a lot less than one with popcorn. Their web site has coupons. You can spend $5 going to the movie, or $25.
Theatres are very good at letting you spend as much or as little as you want. Some people will spend $25 or more for Saturday night ticket, candy, and large soda. The theatres have pricing where they'll accept that $25 from those people. They ALSO sell to the $5 crowd, on weekdays.
I once tried to take in a container of chocolate covered raisins and a small thing of popcorn into my local theater only for them to tell me that I couldn't because any food brought in might "bother" the other guests. Never mind that the theater sells the exact things at the concession stand.
I stopped going to movies in early 90's
around here we had 1 theater for the longest now 2, 1 shows old movies only and the other shows new movies. Problem is they jacked the price so high it costs the same price to buy the DVD that it does to buy a movie ticket.
Tickets here are 14.99 for after 5pm 12.99 before 5pm / small drink is 3.99 / small popcorn is 4.99 / if I bring my family it's $80 for 1 movie, and I said fuck that.
I started pirating immediately and haven't looked back, with all the spam on television and movie prices soo out of whack it's cheaper to own the movie than see it in theaters, I still buy blurays of movies I really enjoy for the extras. But I now enjoy pirated movies on my big screen with my family, we make our own snacks and enjoy together. And for the economy as is, sorry to say it's about the only way.
I wouldn't watch new movies if there was no alternative.
Plus movies have changed over the decades, if you look back 50s, 60s, 70s, and even into the 80's going out to the movies was a social event, many people even dressed up went out to dinner and to a movie and it was a social event.
but the 90's and 2000's culture environment has sorta turned to more intimate settings, people want more privacy, and we deal with people annoying us all day long in work spaces we want our entertainment to be a bit more intimate in the new decades.
So now watching first run movies at home instead of going to theaters is becoming the norm. Who wants to go spend the same price to buy the dvd that a ticket costs and have to put up with so many people? noise, lip smacking, crunching, coughs, snorts, sneezes, whispers, glow of lcd's, giggles, talking back to screen, talking in general... fuck that
ill pirate from now on, until they offer first run movies in the home on a streaming basis that is affordable and streaming the 1 movie once does not cost as much as the fucking dvd then I'll reconsider.
If they rolled out a way for people to watch films the day they're released on their home theater for $10, it'd be huge.
http://primacinema.com/
$35k plus $500 a pop ...
"Oh, you hate your job? There's a support group for that, it's called everyone, they meet at the bar."
They'd have to give a discount on food as well. At least in the US popcorn and a drink run you as much as the ticket.
I used to go the cinema a few times a month, never once bought any snacks or drinks there. I might take in a water bottle in my bag in hot weather. If it's the evening, I might be going to eat out after and don't want to be full of junk food. If you can't enjoy just watching the film, it isn't worth seeing at all.
I grew up on movies in movie theatres. There is no comparison to movies at home no matter what kind of money you spent. 2001 a Space Odessa in the Stanley theatre, Apocalypse Now in the same theatre renovated to Lucas Thx, and Star Wars in iMax. Not to mention Drive In movies, I feel sorry for todays generation that will never know that experience. I myself have abandoned movie theatres, mostly because of rudeness, people using cell phones silly conversation, etc, and for me the last straw was car commercials inserted before the main feature. I was so angry at paying full price for the movie and also expected to submit to brainwashing that I never returned.
Many a long talk since then I have had with the man in the moon; he had my confidence on the voyage. Joshua Slocum
I've had this idea for a while. Set up a theather that shows old movies. I've talked to quite a few peiple and a lot of people would love to see shows they missed in the movie theather when they were kids or teenages or whatever. I got the idea when thinking how cool it would have been to see Hackers on the big screen.
I'm sure the movie studios wouldn't go for it, can't take their cashflow from the new shit that passes for a movie these days.
Or a pirate movie theather. Rent out a small warehouse/shop set up a nice projector and audio system then invite people to see the shows.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
They ran models of Nelson's subscription-based theater idea, showing that to break even they would need 3,000 people, or 15% of the mountain communities, to sign up
For them this is a good deal and saves them a lot of driving. For other people $16 for a day pass is also a good deal
On Directv with a DRV is nice new movies are pushed to the drv they are in 1080P with no ad's and FULL DVR control.
Both big cinema conglomerates In France still do this, and have for years.
Unlimited movies in all cinemas. No blackout times. 20EU per month, or 35EU per month for a couple.
It's a great idea, and lots of people use it - considering normal adult tickets are 10 - 12EU.
The 'gotchya' is that it's a pain in the ass to unsubscribe - it's auto-debited from your bank account each month, so to cancel you need to send a letter via registered post etc to close your membership.
Small price to pay, however!
I wish the cinemas would finally drop dead. Perhaps then i would get the movies on DVD/Blu-Ray at the release date. I sincerely dislikes cinemas.
Why shell i watch a movie at a fixed times with several (sometimes unpleasent) strangers in a room that cannot compete with my living room in terms of comfiness? To purchase overprices soda? To have a very, very small collections of food stuff to buy? To get the brother of Hulk sitting in front of you and block 20% of the image?
Picture quality and sound at home can compete with 90% of all cinemas and i have enough space for my friends to join.
Interesting. So if my rent is 2000 per month and I get 11 subscribers @ 20 each the rest is gravy?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I'd never even heard of numbered seats except in airplanes. The concept is foreign to me.
The 3D becomes inclusive once you've been a member for a year as well, but you still have to pay the IMAX upgrade cost (about £4.50 I think).
You do realize that theatres are a highly profitable and multi billion dollar business right?
So were the record industry, wired phone industry, HiFi industry, discoteques and chemical film industry.
And drive-in movies, for that matter.
Things change, and seldom overnight. But that it's dying is beyond doubt - that's the whole reason for TFA. Formerly successful big screens losing out to consolidated centers with numerous small screens is part of the process.
Will it be gone within my lifetime? Doubtful. There are still people who listen to vinyl records and drive to one of the (very) few remaining drive-in theaters. But cinema's days of glory are over.
Given the tight control Hollywood and other studios have on governing movie theaters and their sales I do not see this being something they will go for. Hollywood uses 'box office smash' sales numbers to advertise. A subscription model will not benefit that.
"Build It And They Will Come." Field Of Dreams
"Have to"? Why? Because you'd shrivel up and die if you don't have a dose of artificially-flavored popcorn with artificially-sweetened fizzy water within a 2-hour window?
There's likely an "insensitive clod" joke in there....
Do you have ESP?
This kind of sounds like Moviepass only moviepass is better because it works at almost all theater chains. I pay $35/month (price varies depending on location) and can see any movie once, one per movie day. www.moviepass.com. My referral link: http://movi.ps/Tudu57 I get a free month if I get 3 people to sign up. Its worth it it me, but wouldn't be worth it to everyone. We also have a new Alamo Drafthouse that took over an old AMC theater in an entertainment district in Kansas City. They have an interesting model that seems to be breaking away from normal theaters. They show cult classics, saw a Back to the Future marathon last night, reserved seating, and all dine in theaters. They also are very strict about talking and texting during movies which I love. Theaters are going to have to do new things to get people to spend money.
Subject: Movie Theaters are dying for the same reason
Payphone booths and arcades are. Plain and simple. Too many other options.
I'll be more willing to accept your illustration if you plug the leaks. What's the alternative to a movie theater if you don't want to have to avoid spoilers for a year while waiting for a movie to come out on home video and pay-per-view? What's the alternative to a phone booth for calling a cab if you don't spend hundreds of dollars per year for a cell phone plan or for stripping off your mundane clothes to reveal your superhero uniform? What's the alternative to an arcade for lag-free multiplayer or for trying games that use expensive specialized controllers?
Rent 3-6 month old movies at Redbox for a little over a buck
3-6 months? Hop wasn't at Redbox until about 13 months after theatrical release.
So was the buggy manufacturing industry at the turn of the 20th century.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
On the contrary, they should offer more and better types of snacks. Craft beers, cocktails, mini pizzas and things like that, and like other movie theaters, they shouldn't be afraid to charge a price that will make a substantial profit.
Make going to a movie an event, like flying on a big airliner was in the 60's and 70's, something people actually look forward to. Change the dynamic, in contrast to today where people are treated like cattle, crammed in tight seats and fed garbage food. Break the mold.
Offer good food and drink specials, not just stuff that is good relative to other theaters, but something that would bring people in on its own whether you were showing a film or not. Have clean floors and facilities, big comfy seats, and perhaps love seats so couples be closer to each-other. Have some special events for subscribers, and more than anything else, make it a adult-oriented social experience people can't get at home with an HDTV and surround sound system. Maybe consider individual screening rooms which segregate couples with noisy kids from everyone else. Dating couples would travel great distances and would be the biggest advocates for something like that.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
They'd have to give a discount on food as well. At least in the US popcorn and a drink run you as much as the ticket.
We hardly ever buy movie food, we just bring our own. The local (Australia) cinema won't let you bring a backpack or other large bag in (tripping hazard) but they haven't batted an eyelid when we've put the backpack in their lockers and taken in our own popcorn etc. Three of my kids and my wife can't have gluten so buying the food there isn't really an option - too much risk of contamination (who knows what they put in that 'butter'!).
I prefer not to have food at all in the cinema, but when you have young kids it's a great way to keep them still while they get interested in the movie.
This is pretty much a no-go in the US. Most theaters have a "no outside food or drink" policy posted on the door and they try to enforce it-- as the GP stated, a popcorn and drink can easily cost $10-$12 and, being popcorn and sugar water, is a huge profit for them.
You're assuming that only one person watches the TV, and that every movie goer lives in walking distance of the theatre. Face it, we have a TV anyhow. Then subtract the cost of going to a movie theatre, including tickets, concession prices versus home prices, travel, and extra time.
You're assuming that "we" have a TV. I don't, and I'm hardly alone; many people have a junky old CRT TV, mostly for news. Many don't have any sort of cable TV beyond the minimum included with internet service (mostly the local broadcast stations.) It costs me nothing to travel to the theater, because I already have a monthly transit pass I use for commuting. It's a 30 minute trip each way, but only because I live in one of the outlying areas; if I lived in almost any other part of the city, it'd be a 15 minute trip.
I spend less than $200/year on movies, and that's seeing at least one film a month. I estimate I'd have to see nearly 50 movies a year for two years to match the cost of a home system, and I'd piss off the neighbors if I turned it up as loud as a theater.
Please help metamoderate.
o Expensive, limited snacks
o Crying children
o The slob next to you, sneezing out his disease for you to inhale
o idiots with cellphones
o inability to pause, coupled with missing stuff when you take a whiz
o the need to meet someone else's schedule instead of your own
o uncomfortable seating with 1 arm per person
o sitting with people... you wouldn't choose to meet
o sitting through local commercials
o getting your shoes washed with coke when the moron behind you spills theirs
o standing in line
o spending money to benefit someone else
o "bragging" rights because you saw something a little bit earlier
o No media copy for you
o no replays
o no showing friends and family
o no resale value
o no subtitles
o no special features
o no image adjustment
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
On the other hand, for shitty movies, its ridiculous to even contemplate watching them in a theater, no matter the price.
Speaking for myself, it isn't just "shitty" movies that I don't bother to see in a theater. I go to the theater to see movies where the visuals and special effects are enhanced by a big screen. Action movies, sci-fi, etc. I see little point in going to a theater for some chick-flick emo sob fest that could be equally enjoyed at home on my TV.
Honestly though, once I can afford a 70+ inch HDTV for home I doubt I'll go to the movies much after that...
You mean not until the next Shrek movie?
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
The theatre in Yuma AZ, charges $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for seniors and youths, sells all you can eat/drink popcorn and sodas for $2.50, all the while showing top of the line flicks and packing the house daily. The theatre I sometimes go to in Concord CA, charges $9.50 to $12.00 and an arm and a leg for a kernel of popcorn and a thimble of soda, and is deserted even on Friday nights. Seems like there is a lesson to be learned about the economics of supply and demand, but corporations are very slow learners...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
You mean not until the next Shrek movie?
More like the next Slade album...
Does anyone happen to know how f-ing cheap soda is to produce it's like $.25 to make that glass you pay $5 for in theaters that's where you give your discounts (and also why there are free refills on soda in restaurants)
It's enforced but easy to get around I have seen a guy smuggle a 12 pack of Budweiser in to the theater with no bag just in random pockets.
Drive in >>> regular theaters. There's a little park for the kids to play in nice privacy in the back of your car less kids crying better sound and bigger screens why the hell did we ever invent not drive in theaters?
You're thinking of Gold Class Theaters. They're incredible, and offer a real premium experience with huge recliners, meal and drink service, and a cool lounge. However, that costs a lot to provide and fits significantly fewer people per screen. Oakhurst doesn't have the numbers or money to support a theater like that.
While their local supermarket (Raleys) is pretty awesome, I can't imagine them being able to keep a theater like this going... let alone what you suggest.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
With a financial risk like this, I'm sure there is some caution being exerted.
Sure, soda may be cheap to produce, but add packaging and distribution costs, which include the labor costs. Then you figure that with all of the expensive equipment and the movies themselves, a theater needs to make a decent profit to be able to handle everything, which is one reason why you have such overpriced snacks.
You may not even buy anything from the snack bar (a.k.a. "concession stand" here in the US, where you concede and buy things despite the fact that you can get the same items at less than 1/4 of the cost outside the theater). A theater still needs to make money, and tickets actually provide very little profit, if any at all. That's where all of the snacks come in. You can mark up the cost of a bag of popcorn or a paper cup* of fountain soda to help offset the costs, which allows for buying new equipment as well as maintaining current equipment.
* "Cup" as used here is not 8 fluid ounces (8 fl. oz.) It is simply a vessel for a liquid as in "tea cup". One might say "glass", but to say that you have a paper or plastic glass is rather silly since a glass is made of glass, not paper glass or plastic glass, both of which are not materials that exist with which to make a cup.
I have been a captive in America my entire life. Everybody and everything uses customary units instead of metric.
Just saying if you're going to give discounts on products pick the highest markup product you have.
That's pretty freaking awesome, I had no idea such a thing existed. I'll have to make it a point to visit one when I'm near one of their locations. Yeah, you'd definitely have to be in substantial population center to make something like that viable.
However, that's really on the other end of the spectrum from what I envisioned, thoughâ"for the most part it could just be a regular theater, without most of the suck associated with movie theaters, and a few interesting perks on the side. For example, it would be fairly inexpensive to implement, and high profit (relative to the capital investment in a building, fixtures like seating, sound and projectors) to have some fancy tasting, but cheap to make flatbread mini-pizzas at the concessions stand, panino sandwiches, a few local draught / craft beers, things like that in addition to the high fructose gut rot you'd usually find in a movie house.
Example: Here in Colorado, there is a great restaurant in a town of about 500, tops, which just happens to be on one of the best motorcycle canyon routes nearest the metro area. Fly fishers, hikers, other sportsmen, and residents of larger surrounding mountain towns are their main customers during the week, and they stay busy despite the odd location. On weekends with reasonably good weather, they very nearly have to beat people away with a stick. It's a destination. High quality eats, regional wines and beers, they flow freely, and it's not inexpensive. When seasonally available, they serve wild game meats, and generally, everything is done exceptionally well, and that keeps them coming.
As an independent theater, it would be easier to be nimble. You could have a calendar of special events where you're going to show a marathon of oldies but goodies and cult classics that are inexpensive to license, and use social media to spread the word. If there was a quirky but attractive theater like I describe, just a little closer to the metro area, I'd bet it would bring the people in from dozens of miles away.
Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.