Movie theaters trying to spruce up and lure back in customers.

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Mainly with more food, better seating and better atmosphere.

Under pressure from viewers as well as movie-industry executives, the country's theater chains are trying to win back moviegoers—with food. Audiences at a growing number of theaters can order such dishes as chinois chicken salad rolls or limoncello-tossed shrimp. More middle-of-the-road fare is also available, like cheeseburgers and chicken caesar salads. Seats in these so-called "in-theater dining" cinemas are big and plush. Lobbies are luxurious, with art on the walls and mood lighting. Popcorn is often complimentary and a full bar is de rigueur.

Theater chains hope the new style of film-watching—which has previously been the realm chiefly of small independent theaters—will help boost the number of moviegoers after years of flat attendance. Other recent efforts to get more people in the doors include offering reserve seating online and more movies in 3D. But in-theater dining represents one of the movie-theater industry's biggest bets to expand its static audience size.

I don't think it's gonna work. I think theaters are a dying breed, they're not going to disappear overnight, but I think they are slowly slipping away.
 

childeroland

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How about luring back people by lowering the ticket prices?
 

Kitty Pryde

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Yeah, $14 for a matinee, and I have to put the butter on the popcorn myself? Pass. These days if it's not playing at the little $5 1-plex up the road, or promising to be the most amazing limited-release speshul indie film known to mankind evar, I can't be bothered to pay to go to the movies.

Consider that a paperback novel costs $8, and gives me around 8 or 10 hours of enjoyment (more if i reread later! even more shared enjoyment if I loan it out! and more future enjoyment if I sell it to a used bookstore!), whereas a movie costs $14+ and only entertains me for 2.5 hours max. And you know my imagination is a cooler place than anything on a screen, however 3D and computer-generated and high-def and explosion-ridden.
 

poetinahat

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I really like the in-theater dining thing. Huge lounge seats with tables between, and you can order the courses to be brought in when you want.

It's not the budget option, but it's not meant to be; it's a night out. I think it's a winner.
 

darkprincealain

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I think it's a huge loser until they lower ticket prices. Sorry, I've been to one of these things a bunch of times, and it can make even awful movies fun. But I can't afford to do it anymore. Not even as a special occasion thing. It's irresponsible in a recession.
 

JohnnyGottaKeyboard

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I think it's a huge loser until they lower ticket prices. Sorry, I've been to one of these things a bunch of times, and it can make even awful movies fun. But I can't afford to do it anymore. Not even as a special occasion thing. It's irresponsible in a recession.
And they are relegating themselves to special event status. How is that going to increase traffic? If anything, it is guaranteed to decrease traffic.

I'm old enough to remember when going to the movies could be a completely spontaneous event. Those days are definitely gone. Now it requires planning and often a second mortgage.
 

Satori1977

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I don't think food has anything to do with it. I love going to a movie theater and seeing amazing movies on that big screen. But the prices are too much, for tickets, and especially for the food. It is ridiculous.

Add that to rude moviegoers (I have seen people talking, phones ringing, throwing popcorn, kicking seats, shooting spitballs, and practically having sex - and never have I seen one of them get kicked out), and it just isn't as fun as it could be. Not for the price they demand.
 

CACTUSWENDY

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I agree about the ticket prices, they just way too high. I can rent a movie for a buck, sit in my own over stuffed chair, and eat all the buttered popcorn I want.

I don't know how the young ones can even do a movie on a date unless mom and dad are well off.
 

poetinahat

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Eh, I'm more put off by $200 for a rock concert ticket than $15 for a movie.
 

maestrowork

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How about luring back people by lowering the ticket prices?

They do. I just went to a Saturday matinee and it was only $5, and it's digital projection with 3D. So the theatre is really nice, and the screen is big, and it's only $5.

Theatres aren't stupid. They know they have to compete with DVDs, Netflix, iTunes, Hulu and piracy. They also know most people don't get the same quality of digital sounds, 3D, etc. at their homes, and there's that "first to see" aspects of great movies such as Inception or Toy Story 3, so there are still great reasons to go to the theater. Some theatres are doing the right thing: lowering their ticket prices (at least the matinees), lowering their concession prices, increasing the variety of concession food (that theatre I went to has ice cream, hot dogs, kettle corn, Vitamin Water, cookies, pies, chocolate, candy, etc... and they are BUSY).
 
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LOG

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Maybe if I stopped seeing black flickers on every movie screen I view...

That one you go to sounds nice maestro.
 

maestrowork

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Maybe if I stopped seeing black flickers on every movie screen I view...

That one you go to sounds nice maestro.

There are no black flickers on digital projection screens. ;)

I kind of do miss that blink-blink dot in the upper right corner when they change film reels, though. Ah, nostalgia.
 

Christine N.

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Yeah, I can no longer afford the movies. For $9 a month I get one DVD at a time and all the movies and TV I can stream into my own house or on my computer. Not that I don't WANT to go see the new Harry Potter (still haven't) or whatever, but it's just too expensive. Especially with gas prices going up too.
 

Rose de Guzman

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Meh, I feel icky eating in the dark, and I'd rather just watch the film anyhow. Personally, I've always thought eating during the show was odd.

I'd really like cleaner theaters, to be honest. I've been in several that are just gross, but there's always people standing around with brooms. There's one discount theater here that is DISGUSTING. I don't want to know what substance makes my shoes stick to the ground. But I would be willing to pay $3 instead of $1 so they could hire more people to make it less gross.
 

LOG

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There are no black flickers on digital projection screens. ;)

I kind of do miss that blink-blink dot in the upper right corner when they change film reels, though. Ah, nostalgia.
Apparently we don't have those at the theaters I go to, because I'm still seeing those dots...
 

Maryn

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Movie theatres need to do a lot to get my business back, and not everything is in their control.
  • Lower ticket prices, especially for matinees and poorest-attended evening shows. A discounted ticket makes more money than an empty seat.
  • Lose the advertising. If I wanted to see ads, I'd stay home and watch TV.
  • Move your box office so people standing in long lines for tickets are not standing in whatever the weather's doing. This was an issue in Arizona's heat and is now an issue in winter's wrath. Some new-ish theatres have addressed this.
  • Upgrade the seating in terms of comfort and space. I'm a big woman--not huge, but at the larger end of the adult sizes--and there are two theatres in my city in which the seats are so narrow I have to wriggle to get into them. In one, the same is true of the bathroom stalls. Is saving 3 or 4 inches per seat (or stall) worth the loss of my business because every time I see a movie there, I leave hating myself? Now, I simply will not go there.
  • Find the balance which allows everyone a decent view without climbing the Matterhorn to reach a seat. I don't go to the old theatre where I can't see over someone only an inch or two taller than me.
  • Incorporate seating for special needs patrons.
  • Deal with patrons who are noisy. No, asking them to be courteous and quiet before the movie begins is not sufficient. Consider the reintroduction of the glassed-in, soundproof crying room of yore, where parents could view the movie with their fussy baby without disturbing others. Now, people who can't shut the fuck up can be placed there. Please.
Maryn, who often leaves the movies fairly riled
 

AlexPiper

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(And if a small popcorn no longer costs $7 I might even buy some of that too.)

It would also be nice if they used a definition of 'small' that had any degree of relevance to actual humans.

"I'd like a small Coke please."
"Here you go. That'll be $7."
"Uh... this is like 42oz of soda. If I drink this, I'll exit the theater with type II diabetes!"
"Well, you said you wanted a small."
"Right."
"That is a small."
"Seriously? If this is a small, then what the hell is a large?"
"Well, our extra-large drink is the size of the extra-large popcorn bucket. It holds 320oz of soda."

I will still go see movies, sometimes, but a lot less often than I used to. We have a big-screen TV and surround sound here at home, and I can rent Blu-Ray or pick up HD videos from iTunes (on the Apple TV) or Amazon Video on Demand (on the TiVo), or the Zune Video Marketplace (on the Xbox 360). Plus, I can eat whatever I want, recline on our nice couch, and even have a fire in the fireplace and the corgi cuddled up on my lap. And if I need to go to the bathroom? I CAN PAUSE THE MOVIE.

That makes it a lot more fun than going and being packed into small seats. So mostly the movies worth going and seeing in the theater are the ones where it's an Event, and you want to see it before others spoil the movie for you.
 

Jess Haines

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$14? I paid $16 to see Tangled on Saturday. Then another $20 on a soda, a water, and popcorn.

Though Tangled was freakin' adorable and I'm glad that I saw it, that little outing reminded me why I never go to the movie theaters anymore.
 

darkprincealain

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It would also be nice if they used a definition of 'small' that had any degree of relevance to actual humans.

"I'd like a small Coke please."
"Here you go. That'll be $7."
"Uh... this is like 42oz of soda. If I drink this, I'll exit the theater with type II diabetes!"
"Well, you said you wanted a small."
"Right."
"That is a small."
"Seriously? If this is a small, then what the hell is a large?"
"Well, our extra-large drink is the size of the extra-large popcorn bucket. It holds 320oz of soda."

Thank you. When I ask for a small, I don't intend to carry a cup that in earlier years, used to be a large. I find it suspicious that you can't get 12 or 16 ounces of soda in any of the theatres near here, except for maybe the indie movie house. I wonder what parents of small children do. Order a diet and split it with their kid?
 

ChaosTitan

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Sadly, the bulk of money that a theater makes is from concession sales, not from ticket sales.

I went to the theater this weekend because I really wanted to see Black Swan. The food and ticket prices didn't really bother me, because I hit the theater so rarely; I was treating myself. The thing I hate about going to the theater is exactly what happened this weekend--two teenagers whispering and giggling behind me during the entire damn movie.

Rude patrons are what keeps me away.
 

Grrarrgh

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I'm another one that stays away because of the rudeness of other people. There's a theater here that does the same kind of $5 matinee deal that Maestro mentioned, but the last time I went there for it, I had to deal with a crying 6-year old (at a horror movie), a teenager behind me loudly complaining to her mother that this was "like, so totally stupid. What kind of dumbass would go in there?" in a normal conversation voice, and 3 ringing cell phones that were answered, also in normal conversation voices. Until theaters do a better job of making sure people can actually enjoy the movie they've paid to see, I won't go more than once or twice a year, no matter what the ticket prices are.
 

AdamH

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Lowering the ticket prices would do it for me. When a price for a movie is rivalling the price for a good piece of actual theater (at least in my city), I'd rather go to the theater.

I see that unless there's a turn around that movie theaters will go the way of the drive-ins. It'll become a novelty from an older time.

Besides, the ease of accessing and downloading movies online (both legally and illegally) is what's going to lead to the true demise of movie theaters. Especially since you can connect a laptop to any entertainment system which are sometimes as good as the movie theatre and you're in the comfort of your own home.
 

Jcomp

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Theaters are doing pretty well though. Attendance is down compared to decades ago, but that goes for virtually everything these days. Attendance at sporting events, attendance at theme parks, etc. There are simply more options for the consumer's dollar. Slices of the pie have been divided in ways that will never be undone. That said, this past year's ticket income is virtually identical to 2009's, and 2009's was up 10% on 2008. The last year that saw a significant dip in gross theater income was 2005, which was pre-recession. So basically, in a generally bad economy, theater revenues are increasing. The idea that theaters have to "lure" anyone back is sort of silly. What they're trying to do is what every business tries to do: increase profits instead of remaining stagnant.

The main thing hurting theater attendance is basically a lack of films people want to shell out dough to see. Whether you like them or not, the likes of Avatar, The Dark Knight and the Twilight flicks have shown that people are more than willing to go to the theater to check out movies that are well marketed and look attractive to them. When you open the year with a terrible Fockers sequel that can't even hold off a Cohen brothers flick (great guys, but they don't make commercial movies) for the number one box office spot, then it's easy for people to say in the immediate moment, "Uh oh, theaters are in trouble."

Theaters are doing well and won't be going anywhere anytime soon...
 
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