If It Was Cheaper Would You Go To More Movies?

[Jim Koepke]

Saw this story linked on another forum:

As movie theaters struggle with tepid sales, Mitch Lowe has an extreme proposal for how to get more people into seats: Let them come to all the showings they want for about the price of a single ticket each month.

Lowe, an early Netflix Inc. executive who now runs a startup called MoviePass, plans to drop the price of the company’s movie ticket subscriptions on Tuesday to $9.95. The fee will let customers get in to one showing every day at any theater in the U.S. that accepts debit cards. MoviePass will pay theaters the full price of each ticket used by subscribers, excluding 3D or Imax screens.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...s-all-you-want

The theaters would likely do better at the concession stand, but how the heck is Mitch Lowe going to make any money on this one?

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

They would still have to pay royalties for each movie, so that would not work. Also, I still wouldn't go see most movies even if they were free. In fact, every Friday they have free movies on the beach and I still don't go. The only movies we go to now are children's movies. The last "big person" movie we paid to see was Avatar. (I originally said "adult movie" but that kind of sounds like something else!!!)

[Frederick Skelly]

I cant see how that would make money. But it would be interesting to see what he thinks is the business case.

I went to the movies 2 weeks ago for the first time in a couple years. (Saw Dunkirk.) Took a date. Tickets, 2 cokes and popcorn cost me $50. Pfui! to that. Next time I'll buy the new LV marking gauge Derek posted instead and wait for the movie to hit Redbox.

[Terry Wawro]

Short answer. Yes. I would like to go to the movies occasionally but the currently the high priced tickets keep me away. If the tickets and concessions were cheaper I'd go.

[Larry Frank]

Going to the movies is just too expensive and the food outrageous.

I rent the movie on Netflix, Amazon or other and fix myself a good meal and still be cheaper.

[George Bokros]

Local theaters have lower priced matinee but the volume they use is deafening. We went to see Sully and it was so loud we thought our ear drums would rupture. We complained and the manager turned the volume down 3 decibels, yes three decibels. Never again!

[John K Jordan]

The local movie theater (Ritz, Clinton TN) always charges $5 per movie. We don't go often but when we do there are usually 10-25 people there, sometimes just me and my wife, grandson, etc. Unlike other theaters, drinks and snacks are reasonable. The theater itself is great - quite large inside, very high ceilings, with the same seats, lights, and interior as it had back in the 50s. It's "dated" but quite the retro experience.
https://www.facebook.com/Ritz-Theater-158010104510/

I wonder how much a theater actually has to pay for a movie.

Other theaters in the area around Knoxville charge $10-$15 and the snacks are outrageous. They are also crowded and noisy. If the Ritz theater can stay in business, I wonder just how much a theater makes on every ticket and every drink. Perhaps the Ritz owners are in this for fun and the neighborhood rather than to try to get rich.

This theater does have a low overhead - family run by just two people, one guy sells tickets and his daughter sells snacks. They don't do 3D, don't have IMax. No stadium seating but the view is great. No parking lot - six spaces on the street in front or park around the corner. There is only one movie playing and it changes every Friday. The theater also has a stage and is sometimes used for private events.

Also it's less than three miles from our farm. The small town itself is interesting - as businesses left over the years antique stores moved in. Next door to the theater is an "old-timey" drug store soda fountain cooking up hot food every day. They have the original swivel seats and booths installed in the 1940s. Great place for a real milkshake. Worth a visit! Service is not real fast - everything except for the soup is cooked up to order and the kitchen is not very big.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...Tennessee.html

JKJ

[Mike Null]

We haven't been to a movie in many years. We have NetFlix and Amazon Prime along with a kitchen and a bathroom seconds away. We can't find a reason to go to a theater.

Further, we can't see the need for the disgusting language, sex scenes, and violence that they think must be a part of today's movies. At 80 years of age, I remember when there was censorship and I liked it better than what we have today.

[Karl Andersson]

I might go more if it were cheaper (we go about once a month) but I'd go more often regardless of cost if they would exercise more control over the rude talkers/ texters in the audience (limits us to early shows) and also if Hollywood would start writing better original movies and stop making 'blockbuster' movies based on old TV shows, 8th-grade humor, and/ or 3rd-string comic book entities. Although I did like Deadpool a lot.

I also hate it when I go and the trailers for upcoming movies seem better than the movie I am watching - then they say "coming this November" and the movie never materializes. Or it looks nothing like the trailer.

Truth be told, our favorite theater has a couple of special 'cinemas' that have reserved seating in the balcony at about $18 a seat...we've been known to get those so we get good seats (that recline with leg rests) and are further removed from the rude people. Plus there's a bar just outside. However, they still have to present a movie that's worth a darn, and they seem to have trouble with that IMHO.

OK, back to keeping kids and groundhogs off my grass.
Karl

[Mark Blatter]

We lived in Laurel, MT for many years. Small railroad town of about 8000 that is 11 miles from Billings which is small city too, but the largest in Montana. We had a theater that showed movies for $2 with reasonable concession prices. Didn't get the first run movies, but that was OK. Saturdays during the summer they showed kid/family movies for a buck. They would also do passes during the summer where you could buy a pack of tickets to see all of them for less. It was a great deal and the place was always busy. Family owned and run. Then a welder was working on the place next door and burned it to the ground. The entire place was a pile of rubble. They tried to rebuild but the insurance would only pay them about $.40 on the dollar for the cost to rebuild so they never did. Sad to see yet another piece of history and small town America die.

My wife and I seldom go to a theater to see movies. Mostly because of prices, but also because of migraine issues she has made worse by smells (perfumes/colognes) and bright flashing lights. Paying $10 per ticket is just too much and don't get me started on paying $6 or more for a drink, or $10 for a popcorn. Stay home and watch an old movie or a rerun of a good TV show.

[Stan Calow]

There is article in today's KC Star about this MoviePass program. AMC (the large theater chain) saying its not sustainable and customers are likely to get burned when MoviePass fails. The theaters get paid full price by MoviePass, so if you are paying $9.95 a month, and you see more than one movie in a month, MoviePass will be losing money.

We like going to see first run movies in a real theater, but agree that rude and disruptive audiences, high concession prices and lack of good films keeps us from going more frequently. I am tired of comic book superhero movies, fast cars and special effects movies, and sequels to sequels. The good stuff is all on cable TV.

[Brian Henderson]

Nope. The last movie I saw in a theater was back in the 90s with the first Transformers and that was only because it was hot and we wanted to get out of the house. Theaters simply have nothing to offer. I'd much rather enjoy a movie in the comfort of my own home, where I control everything about the experience, I don't have to deal with people talking on their cell phones, kicking the back of my chair, having my feet stick to the floor, etc. If I want to pause the movie, I can. If I want to watch it again, I can. It's all in my control, not the theater's.

So no, I will never step foot in a theater again as long as I live. They've got nothing for me.

[Charles Wiggins]

When I was younger, sure thing. Now, not so much.
I'm patient - even in jr. high, I didn't see the original Star Wars until it had been out for months - sometime in the late fall I think - and I have a 55" LED TV with a PS3 that gets Netflix, Amazon Prime, and functions as a DVD/Blu Ray player. I can pause, rewind, and restart as often as I like, AND I don't have to put up with rude people.

[Mel Fulks]

They let people talk and throw stuff now,and most of the buildings look like warehouses. They used to throw people out for talking. I still remember going to see a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie with my parents....and being denied entrance !
And I was one of their biggest small fans! We had several fine movie palaces and wore coat and tie. Dates always wore dresses.

[Steve Peterson]

My wife likes to take the kids to anything that is playing. She usually goes to the matinee for around $7 each, but then buys $5 sodas, $4 candy, and $10 popcorn. That is way too much for me, especially since most movies are so bland. I usually pass.

I think I would go to more movies if the quality was better.

Steve