Movie ticket pricing doesn't make any sense. Why do they charge the same for every movie? I mean in the case of the new Star Wars movie, I am sure theaters could charge $50 a seat on opening night, $20 for the next 2 weeks and then the normal $10 after that. Basically capitalize on the excess demand in the initial weeks of release.
Movie Theater Pricing
- Thread starter dgtatu01
- Start date
This article explains it.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/why-do-all-movie-tickets-cost-the-same/250762/
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/why-do-all-movie-tickets-cost-the-same/250762/
Do you want to pay even more to go to a movie? I know I don't. If I had my way I would rather all the movies go straight to bluray and bypass the movie theaters. Sure I would miss the big screen feel but I could deal with that over spending close to $40 for two people to go and get snacks.
Go to a Megaplex, pay your 10 bucks, then watch like 5 movies. Pretty sure everybody does that now.
Although I haven't been to the movies in a year, I would always sneak in my own snacks to not pay the high mark up.
But anyways, movie theaters, in my opinion, don't have a ton of leverage. Movies hit Red Box/DVD/Netflix in no time now not to mention you can download screeners so it's much easier to wait and I don't think movie theaters want to do anything to push customers further away.
But anyways, movie theaters, in my opinion, don't have a ton of leverage. Movies hit Red Box/DVD/Netflix in no time now not to mention you can download screeners so it's much easier to wait and I don't think movie theaters want to do anything to push customers further away.
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anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6
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I think this strategy would only work for something as anticipated as Star Wars. If this was implemented for every movie, it would probably kill the theater.
Uberesque surge pricing could possibly work, but it could be very frustrating and cause people to reserve their tickets very far in advance. Imagine a family of 4 on their way to see Minions without pre-buying their tickets, and when they got there tickets were 27$ / pop. They could either eat the extra 17, wait until the next showing with 2 grumpy kids, or see another movie with 2 grumpy kids . . . probably not worth the gamble.
Uberesque surge pricing could possibly work, but it could be very frustrating and cause people to reserve their tickets very far in advance. Imagine a family of 4 on their way to see Minions without pre-buying their tickets, and when they got there tickets were 27$ / pop. They could either eat the extra 17, wait until the next showing with 2 grumpy kids, or see another movie with 2 grumpy kids . . . probably not worth the gamble.
No. This isn't normal.
First, normal people don't have 13 hours to watch movies. Or would they want to. Plus, that's a hell of a lot of time (not work) to be sitting in one place. Maybe you should get some exercise.
$9 for a ticket at my local theatre. Not a chance. That's a month of Netflix. Not worth it. They do have cheap matinee prices, $6.50. They didn't use to have that so maybe I'll actually go see a movie once in a while then. Thew new Hunger Games movie is coming out in a couple weeks. Shoot, they still have The Martian, might just go tomorrow. Most of the NFL games I've been able to watch have been terrible anyways.
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You are making my point for me. Some movies might do much better if they just charged $5 for them.
The movie theater will get $10 bucks or so less from me than I would pay for most Marvel movies and Star Wars so they lose. There are some movies like Django Unchained that I would like to see, but would rather wait than pay the $10. If they charged $5 then they could get me in there for those so they are losing out IMO.
The movie theater will get $10 bucks or so less from me than I would pay for most Marvel movies and Star Wars so they lose. There are some movies like Django Unchained that I would like to see, but would rather wait than pay the $10. If they charged $5 then they could get me in there for those so they are losing out IMO.
Why are you wasting your time with us?
You have clearly figured out the secret to a multi-billion dollar industry and are set to make millions since you are clearly the lone genius capable of coming up with this scheme - especially since you are an industry outsider with no idea of the industry's internal financial analysis and resulting motivations and strategies.
Go west, young man!
You lone genius, you.
You have clearly figured out the secret to a multi-billion dollar industry and are set to make millions since you are clearly the lone genius capable of coming up with this scheme - especially since you are an industry outsider with no idea of the industry's internal financial analysis and resulting motivations and strategies.
Go west, young man!
You lone genius, you.
$9 is expensive relative to what else I can get with it. A whole month of unlimited Netflix or ~2 hours for one movie. All $6.50 will really get me is some cheap fast food. I only use at minimum 3-ply toilet paper at home, so now hotel toilet paper for me.
I thought it was a good question, and if you read the article it explains that variable pricing increased profitability in Japan. However, at the end of the article it makes some good points why theaters don't do it here. The most interesting one to me is increased policing it would require the theater to perform to make sure some nerd doesn't pay to see some crap movie and then sneaks into Star Wars (which is probably crap too, but whatever).
I think they could and should do this for blockbusters. A ticket to Star Wars should be $40 opening weekend, and then normal price after that. Same for almost all big budget films where they all but know sales are going to go bonkers. It makes business sense, and it would even be good for the consumer, as the people who REALLY want to see the flick the opening weekend would be willing to pay the $40, while the people who are fine to wait a week would stay home and wait for a cheaper price.
That's because you're obviously fat and lack imagination as well. In the new megaplexes they don't have seating all the way up to the screen as that would not be fair so they always have about 15 feet of open space in front of the screen. I use this area to perform interpretive dance while I am enjoying the movie.
I've noticed from your posting that you seem a tad anal? As if your life is miserable and you take it out on your keyboard? Perhaps you should try not being a jerk more often? Maybe mix in a little humility and manners into the stew. Give it a shot. You've got nowhere to go but up.
13 free hours a day sitting on your ***.
Remember when you told us you ate an entire Pizza Hut family deal solo?
Even if I did that rather impractical thing, it would still only drop it down to $6.50, I can just go to a showing an hour earlier and get in for that price without having to hope I get a gigantic moron at the ticket window haha
Charge you dad gas money to go with you then maybe you can get it down to 4-5 bucks.
You my friend are a true cheap ***. Good work. We need more people like you willing to save that 2.50 on movies and use it on a couple of cheap fast food sandwiches you can smuggle into the theater. But seriously, I am the same way, movies are too expensive at non-matinee times.
I actually never take food or buy it at the theater. I figure I can handle not eating for ~2-3 hours (once you throw in travel time) if I eat lunch at the house before taking off for the movie, or dinner on the rare occasion I go at night. Cheaper and healthier that way.
Whoever wrote that article isn't very smart. They have the same problem that most who think tax rate increases bring equivalent tax revenue increases, the old "all other things remain constant" argument which almost never holds true.
In thier point #2 they say you can't cut prices after opening weekend, then people wouldn't go to opening weekend, it would destroy the meaning of opening weekend. "The meaning of opening weekend". Who cares, other than maybe the movie studio for bragging rights about the meaning of opening weekend. The theaters and movie studios #1 priority is & should be to make the most profit possible. Now we already have discounted movie prices, if you want to wait X weeks for a movie to go to the discount theater, or a couple weeks more to get the DVD or watch it online. You should set the price that maximizes your profit, and most who watch a movie opening weekend, are there because they want to be the first to see the movie and tell there friends about it, and you can likely charge more without losing many of them. I don't know about $50, but I bet a $20 ticket for big movies wouldn't affect attendence.
Point #3, their concern that people wouldn't attend the cheaper movies. Why do they care. Again, maximize profits. Just like many people ignore (if not go opposite) movie critic ratings, many would also ignore the pricing structure as a guide for the quality of the movie. I actually expect there are many that don't watch movies at the theater because a $12 ticket isn't worth it to them, but a $6 ticket would be. So in reality, the $6 movies would probably sell better than they do as $12 movies.
And, the article doesn't mention the biggest drawback to variable movie prices. The potential of people buying a $6 ticket, and then going to the $20 movie. So instead of having a single ticket check station, they would have to have one at every movie room (or at least at every higher priced movie room. I still think they could make a profit though. A theater with 20 screens, at any given time could have 5 $20 movies, 10 $12 movies, and 5 $6 movies. They could locate them, from cheapest to most expensive, so would need 3 ticket stub checks instead of 1, so would have to hire 3 times as many people for that one job.
i took my kids to see the Peanuts movie this past weekend. I should have invested in their college education. But i figure they'll be better people remembering the peanuts movie than learning crazy college stuff.
Literally everyone here already knew you're too cheap to go watch a movie
The martian....meh. 10 minutes in you knew he was going to make it - then it was a 2 hour drag fest waiting for his *** to get home. Should have had an alien attack or something for god's sake.
I pretty assumed that going in but it was still interesting to see how the it got there.
I'm probably hitting up this theater for a matinee showing of Hunger games when it comes out in two weeks.