A Growing indifference to Cinema Going

[BAYLOR]

Concession prices are self-defeating. Selling for less brings more customers. Less profit per customer, but more profit overall. I have no idea who decided to have the Concession make up costs, but it certainly wasn't someone from the restaurant community - nor, it seems, from the retail industry.

It makes no sense.

 

[Judderman]

As people are already coming for the film I suspect the high concession prices works very well. Not that I like it.
People get a coke and some popcorn. Several quid but better than not getting it for most people who have decided to go to the cinema. Margin on the drinks must be gigantic.

There is occasionally places with cheaper soft drinks etc. Usually artsy cinemas or ones showing older films, and they needs the cheaper offers to bring in enough people.

 

[Cathbad]

As people are already coming for the film I suspect the high concession prices works very well.

But they don't. As I've said before, when I was much younger, you had to arrive early to the theater, because the concession stands were long. If you didn't get in that line early enough, you risked missing some of the movie - which I sometimes did! Now, even though the seats are still full, there is never a long line at Concession. I can even risk going for a refill at a slow point in the movie, because I'll not have to wait.

It isn't a small difference - it's massive! And I've seen this at multiple theaters. Every movie I've went to see in the past 5 to 10 years has been quite full, if not sell-outs... but hardly anyone is standing at Concession.

The main reason that's been given for the outlandish prices is the cost the theaters are charged for each movie they show - which they don't want to add to the ticket prices. So, it's an effort to regain the loss in food sales.

That idea has utterly failed, but the theaters seem not to have realized! And many have went under!!

Margin on the drinks must be gigantic.

When I was managing a full-line Deli, a large soft drink was costing me 9 cents - 7 cents for the cup, 2 cents for the syrup. We sold them for 99 cents. Yeah - the mark-up is outrageous!

 

[Edward M. Grant]

I think I'll choose not to take this as an insult...

Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. They were the biggest group of people I've seen at a cinema recently, and the fart noises they were making were the most appropriate response to the movie on the screen.

 

[Judderman]

I think it is that people come in if ticket prices are reasonable. There is more margin on the concessions so ticket prices can be kept down to a reasonable level. Even if concessions are cheap each individual will only buy so much.
It goes back to the film making costs with production and actor fees etc.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think it is that people come in if ticket prices are reasonable. There is more margin on the concessions so ticket prices can be kept down to a reasonable level. Even if concessions are cheap each individual will only buy so much.
It goes back to the film making costs with production and actor fees etc.

6 dollars for a bag of popcorn ?

 

[Cathbad]

I think it is that people come in if ticket prices are reasonable. There is more margin on the concessions so ticket prices can be kept down to a reasonable level. Even if concessions are cheap each individual will only buy so much.
It goes back to the film making costs with production and actor fees etc.

The problem is, raising the Concession prices had the opposite affect, since most theaters are now losing money in that area.

 

[BAYLOR]

The problem is, raising the Concession prices had the opposite affect, since most theaters are now losing money in that area.

The end result of this kind of shortsighted thinking is that they will put themselves out of business.

 

[Dave]

The end result of this kind of shortsighted thinking is that they will put themselves out of business.

Well, surely that's their own business!

@BAYLOR You will be interested in the link to an article Comic Con panel about a new Netflix film called Bright in the thread here for that film. It seems a lot of people are worried that this film is the beginning of the end of cinema. Up to now, Netflix own-made films have been pretty dire, and at best at the level of the made-for-TV-movie. Bright is expensive, well-made, stars Will Smith and while not everyone will like it, it could easily have been a box-office success. Instead it has gone straight to paid-for-TV on a channel that doesn't even provide audience figures!

Personally, I think both can live together side by side, which is also Will Smith's view. However, there are a lot of voices crying, like yourself, that cinema is dying and paid-for-TV will replace it. Will Smith explains how they are different - his daughters watch Netflix during the week, but on Friday night they still go to the cinema because it is a social experience as well as watching the film.

Was that the Special Ed kids again?

You do realise that was quite offensive, right?*
I also have stopped going to the cinema on Friday nights or whenever it is "packed" because of the audience behaviour. I posted about that at length in another thread here on 'audience behaviour' and I think it is linked to earlier in this thread. I'd say cinemas should do something about it, but then I remember my father telling me of his experience of cinema in the 1940's when he was a boy and having to duck down to avoid the oranges being thrown around.

*My wife and daughter both work in education for children with special educational needs. Some do have challenging behaviours too, others are extremely well behaved. All suffer from discrimination attending events and ignorance about them. I very much doubt any badly behaved children at the cinema have need of anything other than some parental discipline.

 

[Judderman]

I just watched "I, Tonya" at the cinema. Another very good film. I think even without any special effects the large screen and going to a film in a public setting is still worthwhile over waiting for it to be available on DVD/tv.
I think part of the issue with people who go occasionally to the cinema is that they usually go and see the big budget, most publicised films. The effects benefit from the big screen but they tend to have poor plot so the adult viewers then say it is a waste of time to go to the cinema as it wasn't enjoyable. Go and actually see high quality films, of which there are many for anyone who goes less than once a week, and it is a different experience. Star Wars/superhero sagas/Avatar/Fast and the Furious X etc are fun but they are basically kids/teen movies. No surprise that adults can be indifferent to them.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

I've got my eye on Three Billboards outside Ebbings, Missouri. That looks awesome!

 

[AlexH]

I had some hours to spare in Manchester early yesterday evening, and was delighted to see the Vue Printworks cinema is only £4.99 for all showings (£3.99 on a Monday). I hoped to squeeze two films in at that price, but could only squeeze one film in - Coco - before I had to be somewhere else.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

Oh, that reminds me. Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, was excellent!

 

[EJDeBrun]

I don't think the issue is the theaters. I think the issues are in the films themselves. Frankly most of them aren't interesting enough for me to make the effort to go to the theater. And not because of VFX or anything. They're just not piquing my interested I can't wait until it's easier for me to watch at home.

All those industry professionals who are wailing about Netflix and Amazon taking their viewership away should really take a hard look at their own products. Both of those companies are pioneering a lot of stuff and they deserve credit for getting where they are.

The fact of the matter is that people are consuming the same amount of media as ever. It's not that audiences aren't willing to put the time and effort in. It is, and always has been, an issue of content. Make the right thing and people will flock to the theaters. Continue producing dribble and that's what you'll get.

PS: my local theater lets me bring ANYTHING I WANT into the theater without charge. Burrito? Sandwich? Coffee? they don't bat an eye, so concessions hasn't been an issue for me in years.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

Make the right thing and people will flock to the theaters.

I think an excellent case in point is the record-breaking pre-order ticket sales for Black Panther

 

[EJDeBrun]

I think an excellent case in point is the record-breaking pre-order ticket sales for Black Panther

It's the same debate in every era of film since its inception. 50's had it with the advent of TV. and then there was a huge slump in the 70s and then the threat of VHS in the 80s. It's like talking about photographs replacing paintings or comics replacing books etc etc. When really all it comes down to is content. Boring is boring is boring and that's not entertainment. The end.

 

[Dave]

I just listened to a guest from the ONS (Office for National Statistics - independent, but set up by and advises UK Government) on the BBC Radio 2 Steve Wright show. He said that we are buying exactly the same number of cinema tickets in the UK as we were 10 years ago. We are paying more for them, but cinema going has remained unchanged.

 

[HanaBi]

I went to my local Empire Cinemas IMAX last night to watch "Tomb Raider". This is my first visit in over a year, and the first thing I noticed were the increase in prices for Premium seats. Last year it was something like £11.99, but last night it was £14.95. I can't comment on the prices for food and drink because we ate before coming out. And despite the expensive seats, the place was packed (this was the 9:20pm viewing), and to be honest audience behaviour was quite good, and barely a shining smart phone in sight.

The film itself was just okay, and certainly seems more in tune to the Lara Croft computer games from the 90s than the awful Angelina Jolie version 15 years or so ago.

So despite inflated prices, and home-network streaming demand for cinema still remains strong - at least for the first few days or weeks after a film premiers.

 

[SilentRoamer]

I think an excellent case in point is the record-breaking pre-order ticket sales for Black Panther

I've been told it's a very good Superhero movie. Looking forward to it as I love a good Superhero flick.

 

[BAYLOR]

I think Solo might be the next film I go to see.