Shocker: The Pay-Us-Extra-For-Nothing Business Model Breaks Down
from the at-the-movies dept
Again and again, movie theater owners have chosen to point the finger at non-factors like piracy and shrinking DVD release windows as the biggest "threats" to their businesses, rather than realizing their biggest problem is their own failure to improve the movie-going experience. The real issue is one of value: with the ever-increasing cost of a movie ticket, going to the theater becomes less and less worthwhile as long as the experience doesn't improve. It's hardly surprising, then, to find that online ticket-selling services that tack on usage fees -- without adding much customer value in most cases -- aren't very popular. These sites tend to charge a dollar or so per ticket for booking, and while that might be worthwhile to moviegoers wanting to see the latest blockbuster on the Friday night of its release, it really isn't to most customers, who are content to walk up to the box-office window and buy a ticket with a pretty minimal, if any, wait. It's a simple equation -- for people wanting to see a movie that might sell out, the ability to buy a ticket in advance without going to the theater is worth the extra dollar. But for all the people seeing an older or unpopular movie that's not likely to sell out, or aren't going at a peak time, there's no real added value for that dollar. So, after only several years, the ticket sites are realizing they've got to tinker with their proposition to draw in more customers, with the biggest potential change being variable usage fees that would charge people less for tickets to unpopular movies or showings at unpopular times. Perhaps that's a start, but it's unclear why these sites should charge usage fees at all, particularly at a time when more and more industries are pushing customers to use automated systems as a way to cut costs, and actually charge them for transactions made face-to-face with a human employee. In any case, the situation is indicative of what seems to be the movie theater industry's current strategy: get customers to pay more, while offering no more value in return.
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It's Not Just The Theaters
Seriously, the business is controlled by the studios and they're not about to give up one penny. If they had it their way, admissions would be $25 and buying food would be mandatory.
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Support your local theater
Given all the stinkers that are out there (how the hell did Pirates 2 make 130 million in the first weekend????), we like this arrangement.
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movie theaters
Neither product costs very much. The cup cost was far more expensive than the soda, hence why we had to use our own.
This was almost 20 years ago - the price for a movie was about $2 for a matinee and $3.50 for an evening. Of course a soda was about $1.00 then and popcorn was only about $2 for a large.
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I would pay extra for.....
I have a larger family and we often go in groups of 5 or more. We sometimes have to sit separately if we don't make it to the movie really early. This is exacerbated by the fact that people have a tendency to leave an empty seat between them and people of another group.
So, if I could get reserved seating, I would pay a few bucks extra per ticket online.
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The movie going experience is FRUSTRATION
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One more thing....
In a world where the entertainment options just keep on growing, theaters have to do something to justify the increasing prices. Heck, even assuming zero price increases they should start thinking of offering more value.
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Re: movie theaters
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Still Standing in Line
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"I'd buy THAT for a dollar"
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clean it once in a while
also at the risk of sounding pompous, there are some people that are "less than desireable" at the thearers, not to mention people with cell phones, and loud talkers.
combine all that, with my 50" hdtv and 5.1 surround, comfy couch and $5 for a rental, and $3 for a box of microwave popcorn, and $3 for a 12 pack of sodas. its kind of a no-brainer.
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Extra Value
BRING BACK THE GUYS WITH THE FLASHLIGHTS.
Im so sick and tired of people thinking they can yell and scream their way through a movie and I have to miss part of the movie to go complain. We need ushers again to tell people to shut it or leave, turn off their cellphones, and generally be respectful of the other people who just spent their $7.50 a ticket to see whatever they are trying to see. Hell....when we went to see The Incredible Hulk (now that was a stinker), we started having problems with 4 guys. We asked nicely for them to chill, we later complained to the management 3...count them...3 times. At the end of the movie the guys were screaming out the ending, standing on the backs of the chairs, and jumped over us all to sling soda in all our faces. The management gave us movie passes, but that was it. And this was at the theater in the richest, snobby shopping area in town. And we got to enjoy all this for $7.50 a seat.
Raising ticket prices and lack of crowd control is making it so I see fewer and fewer movies in the theater. I used to go once a week because I enjoy films so much...now I'm down to only ones I just HAVE to seen on the big screen.
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$1.50 Service charge
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TIVO is same thing
The old adage that one cannot underestimate the stupitidy of the US consumer is true.
...Here's to hoping the populace demands value for their $$.
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I
They have assigned seating, and know how to manage a crowd, and have a minimal amount of previews.
I saw Superman Returns on the I-MAX 3D for $15- may seem a bit high, but it was worth every penny. Granted the movie was only so-so, but the visual experience alone of the cutting edge effects made it worth the price of admission.
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Pay-Us-Extra-For-Nothing
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Value
They should have less adversising and more previews. I go to the movies, I'm there, make me interested in coming back.
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Assigned Seating
Another idea I just got would solve the problem of the "spacer seat" that vexes so many people. If cinemas would mount the seats on movable rails movie-goers could have the freedom of putting a few inches between themselves and the person sitting next to them. These days most people don't like sharing an armrest with a perfect stranger anyway.
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counter service...
Often the line takes 5 minutes - it's almost always longer than the ticket line. If there is more than one person ahead of me I simply don't bother. That is one place they could get an immediate return on investment from a small improvement in management and training.
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Arclight gets it right
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The REAL Catch
I'd be concerned about the result of flexible pricing.
Furthermore, I'd like to rant on the hollywood business model: how can they cry about bootleggers stealing all their profit, when Pirates just did so well with its opening weekend sales? It seems obvious to me that they just aren't producing what people want to see, or perhaps just plain producing too much... going to a movie just isn't as exciting anymore, especially when you weigh the crappy and overpriced experience versus waiting to view in your own home theatre.
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Ticketmaster is proof this won't change
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Most of you young punks on here don't remember when ATM machines first came around. They were great at first. Then the banks started charging money to do things like make a deposit at the teller instead of using the ATM. My old bank, Mellon Bank, actually wanted to charge me $2.00 to go in to the teller and make an $18,000 deposit! I said so you want to charge me to give you my money to use until I withdraw it? They said yes, or I could use the machine outside for free. I said FU, closed my account and went to a different bank.
Damn punk banks!
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Re: Pay-Us-Extra-For-Nothing
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What's not to understand?
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hollywood's attitude
hollywood acts like they are doing us a favor with it's very existence. they are all overpaid (talent, crew, and management) and way too self absorbed. it's been that way since the 70's and i am willing to put up with it to watch movies and TV.
the thing i can't stand is the shift in attitude in the last 10 years or so. hollywood used to be this place of risk taking and big dreams, now it's like an investment bank. there's no creativity, it's all just formulas now.
maybe wallstreet should start making movies and TV shows.
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Never had much problems
I think DLP projection is worth going to the theater for, at least now that I've seen it.
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Things are a bit different here...
They do tend to charge a booking fee, which is pretty annoying, but the cinemas all have reserved seating with live online 'maps', so you can see exactly what you're buying. I have ruled a showing out before because while there were available seats, they were all either singles or right at the front or side of the room. Also, most cinemas have automated ticket machines for online bookings, which normally have a much shorter queue (if any) than the regular box office, and except maybe for a popular showing of a popular new film at the most expensive cinema in town (in one of the poshest malls), you'd struggle to pay more than US$10 for a ticket, even including the booking fee. Okay, different value of money, but in pure cash terms, the prices are pretty decent...
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Some Free Ideas for Movie Theater Owners
1. First realize we are in a ADHD society. Movie times like 7:40, 7:55, etc are for the 1960's, not the year 2010. First theater owner who can GUARANTEE that every movie starts on EVERY top of the hour wins the city. No more calling those ridiculous recordings, looking at tiny invisible newspapers ads (who reads the papers?), and surfing your favorite ticket site (which is sometimes wrong). You just show up at 4:00 and pick a movie. Simple - and no advance planning needed.
2. Fee-based movies. Superman Returns should be $10.00. Waking Ned Devine - $3.00. Also simple. Why in the world a theater would sell $4.50 matinee tickets for a blockbuster (no pun intended) like Mission Impossible III the day after its midnight release which was sold out on four screens is beyond any logical business sense. Then, movies could pull people in long after a release - "Superman Returns now only $2.00!".
3. Keep the ads in the pre-movie slideshows. We don't mind them and if we get there a bit early, no problem. But having to watch ads from Verizon and Coke for 6 minutes before the previews even start - that is kind of lame and makes us think twice about our time commitments -- and our nice DVD players back home.
4. Play a few classics. I hate going to a theater to see a movie to discover that I've seen the only two "good" movies out - and the rest are children's movies, lame movies, a few low-budget horror flicks, and a documentary. I'd rather see a really good film from 10 or 20 years ago on the big screen than that stuff. Run a few oldie's but goodies (especially ones that would benefit from a big screen). Don't tell me Braveheart wouldn't sell out a few shows.
5. Someone has to think of a better admissions system than the present one. It was developed over 50 years ago. Standing in line to buy a ticket, to stand in line to hand it to some kid (who tells us to go "right" or "left" - like we can't read), so that we can stand in line at the concession stand? Come on. Where's the innovation? One local theater finally combined the ticket line with the concession line (a decent improvement - buy everything at once), but we still have to take out tickets for them to tear - while holding popcorn and a drink. How often do they REALLY want us to come visit? Make your guests comfortable.
6. Do you know how much time and money is spent... counting money? Theaters have only slightly less cash than a large grocery store. If they want to save money, stop taking cash. Give people an incentive to pay with debit or credit cards. $1.00 more for cash tickets. Easy. You'll be counting $50 each day - instead of $5,000. No risk of theft, either.
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Whaddaya mean, the times are wrong?
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Re: I would pay extra for.....
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Re:
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How To Bring People Back to the Theaters
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Europe: seating & time
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City Passes vs. movie tickets
You buy the pass one time, the face value is 50% off the price of the attractions (if you visit them all, of course. If you visit half of them then you've paid full price). But the biggest advantage is that you already have your ticket so you bypass the entire line. This saved us more than an hour each at some of the bigger attractions. That means more time 'doing' and less time 'standing' so you either get to see more of the attraction, or more total attractions.
Even the airlines let me print my boarding pass ahead of time. This isn't rocket science, if those guys can figure it out then why not theatre owners?
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One theatre that's got a clue is the Alamo Drafthouse. Not only do they serve beer & meals instead of just over-priced soda & popcorn, they create all kinds of interesting events. That's about the only place we go anymore unless we just wait for the DVD.
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Most Movie Theaters Are Doomed - Can't Wait! Amen!
There's a small private chain of theaters in Austin, TX that offers an example.
1. No one under 21 allowed regardless of the movie shown for a) see #3, and b) to assure a quiet, pleasant movie experience without kids, teens and adult yahoos!
2. No rows of theater seats in the normal sense, more like cocktail table in a comedy club
3. They serve alcohol at your table (waiters)
4. They serve good dinner (not hot dogs, etc.) at your table (waiters)
The experience actually works for anyone over the age of 21 who wants to have a nice evening with a movie and not have to do it at home.
*Every* time I go to a theater I'm disappointed and ask myself "when will I learn". These theaters in Austin changed my mind about what it should be like.
Simply stated: segment the market and tailor theaters to one-and-only-one segment rather than trying to be all-things-to-all-people, or more commonly least-common-denominator-in-everything!
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Re: Some Free Ideas for Movie Theater Owners
Where is the innovation? My local theaters still hand out buggy whips as promotional items when you buy a large popcorn and a large drink!
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Online Ticket Purchase
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Indian Theatres
1) Your seat is always guaranteed. There are seat numbers on all the tickets that are sold and many theatres will actually give you an option of picking the seats that you want from a chart. I am unclear on why the seat numbers cannot be assigned upfront in the movie theatres in US
2) You can buy tickets ahead of time and it's called "Advanced Booking" and you show up few minutes before the show starts and enjoy the movie. Look at http://chennai.metblogs.com/archives/2006/04/redefine_your_movie_plans.phtml
3) These days theatres have started selling tickets on-line but not via one common site such as Ticketmaster - may be that's the next step. As far as I recollect, they do charge the shipping, which is equivalent to a transaction fee but it is not significant
4) Few theatres got creative and started selling e-tickets where you don't pay anything upfront but tickets are reserved for you as long as you can pick them up an hour early. If you don't they will sell them to other people - no transaction fees for you and theatres don't loose anything. Now, what’s wrong with this approach? As Carlo said, why the site should charge a transaction fee. SMS is very popular in India and you can book tickets via SMS http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=53798 We are still looking for a killer application for cell phones and look what these guys have done.
5) There is a concept of an "Interval" for India movies, which is a break for 5-10 minutes in the *middle* of a movie. I love this break as you can go out, take a leak, get popcorn or some other snacks and go back to the movie. I think I need a break if I am watching Lord Of The Rings! I always found it a little weird to buy popcorn and soda upfront in US and then find out that you ate all the popcorn only few minutes in the movie as you had nothing better to do but eating popcorn while watching commercials!
6) Some new theatres have couches where you can sit and order food without getting up and they will bring food to you - just awesome! This is an idea of tiered pricing. I am a regular Techdirt reader and Mike says that movie is about a social experience and I could not agree any more. Provide the experience at a premium price and people will come. If you just want to get in, watch a movie, and get out, you have that option too and that should not cost a fortune.
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Re: I AGREE WITH YOU TOTALLY!!!
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save ur money
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