orangerunner

What's the next "Dynamic Pricing" model? Pay by the running-minute of the movie?

Ash Ketchum

"R-rated and over two hours" through the roof!

Goat3001

I like the idea of dynamic pricing as long as they don't raise current prices. I don't know how this method will work but I always thought the best way to go about it would be to vary the price based on showtime and amount of weeks it's been out.

TomOpus

It'll be interesting what the prices look like for The Last Jedi.

rw2516

Back when all theaters were single screen this was pretty common. A lot of movies were exclusive to one screen in a metro area. Often theaters had to bid on big releases and the winner got an exclusive to a geographic area for a particular time.
When a theater got a big new movie like James Bond, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, etc. they would raise prices for that engagement. Later when the movie got a wider distribution the newspaper ads would read "now at popular prices".

In the 70s, when multi-screen theaters were limited to 4-6 screens, often one screen per theater would be significantly larger with a large curved 70 millimeter screen. Big movies would get booked into just one of these theaters with an exclusive at higher prices, then later open all across town in all the other multi-cinemas.
It was like if a movie was exclusive to a single IMAX screen in each market for several weeks then opened everywhere else.
I remember one theater had Indiana Jones and Last Crusade on two screens, one 70mm and the other 35mm. That's the only instance I can recall a movie in two formats in the same theater. Can't remember if prices were the same.

Nothing to do with pricing, but if you wanted to see a big 2:35 movie in the big theater, on the bigger screen, it was best to go the first week. As soon as the next blockbuster got released the theater would shove the movie into one of the smaller shoebox theaters to make room for the new one.

Don't know if this is still done or not. Theaters used to refuse to honor generic free passes at big movies. Newspaper ads and box office would have notice NO PASSES ALLOWED.

Alan Smithee

This has been standard since at least the 90s if not earlier. Unless it's a huge movie like Star Wars or a big hit with staying power (Forrest Gump for example) then usually the theaters with the most seats would get the newest movies the first week they were out. In plexes with 16 screens or more, some of the smallest theaters are absolutely pathetic- it's like playing "Let's Make A Deal" and getting stuck with the booby prize. There have been some theaters I've avoided that had a few good screens, but since I could never tell which screen which movie was playing on I just avoided them altogether because I MIGHT get stuck with a small one.

Most people in the theater business have no idea what they're doing nowadays- proof in that is the installation of 1.85 ratio screens with no masking, so 2.35 movies get shown letterboxed. Basically a glorified home video projection system. Bring back proper WIDE screens and 70mm projection if you want me back as a customer.

Abob Teff

Dynamic pricing actually goes back much further than that. We had this conversation in another thread awhile back. I want to say it was the norm in the 1920s and 1930s.

Regarding the passes, those are generally restrictions put on the by the studios not the theaters.

asianxcore

Agreed. Closest Regal to where I live is about 60-65 miles away. Went to that particular Regal once since they were Screening the 4K Restoration of Suspiria last month.

JimRochester

That was my thought. If the movie has already been out several weeks and is a few weeks from hitting the $1 theater why not discount and try to get a few more asses in the seats before they leave? Regal is already the most expensive I have gone to. Fortunately I have a Cinemark 10 minutes down the road from me. But even for Cinemark, we've gone to movies late in the cycle only to have them show up at the $1 theater 2 weeks later. At least throw me a discount on the popcorn if the thing is on it's last few showings.

orangerunner

I remember as a kid cutting-out the newspaper ad for Warren Beatty's "Reds" which opened in theatres in 1981 with the disclaimer "Free List Suspended" and "All Seats $5.00". I think at the time adults were normally $3.00 and kids/golden age were $1.50.

I guess the model made sense. The old newspaper ad I have for "Reds" shows one evening show and a matinee on Saturday and Sunday only.

For 3-hour epics you can't screen the film as often per day, and there is the added wear-n-tear on the projector, life on the bulb etc. It all adds-up after a while.

Toddarino

We had a Regal until Marcus swallowed it up. Guess I should be glad now.

fumanstan

Mostly Regal Theaters near me, but I actually like all of them since they're pretty nice and clean. Something like this probably only hurts me, because I know what I want to see and a lower price isn't going to convince me to see a movie I was iffy on and price doesn't really deter me from seeing the blockbusters I'm interested in since i'm used to paying more for fancy theaters anyway.

candyrocket786

Stopped going to Regal years ago since I don't care for the assholish crowd my theater attracts.

I guess it's only a matter of time before they close up shop.

digidoh

Mad magazine had something like this (#191, June 1977, Lou Silverstone & Jack Davis) in an article titled "We'd Like to See the Day When..."

"... theaters that raise prices when they show biggies like "The Godfather" cut prices when they show a bomb."

The cartoon shows a man standing outside a theater, whose marquee reads:

"LUCKY LADY" ALL SEATS 75 CENTS

Abob Teff

You still have $1 theaters in your area?! I haven’t seen one of those in over a decade.

Trevor

My dollar theater is $6, cash only, snacks just as expensive at the big chains, equipment from the 90s, and hasn't been cleaned since then.

bluetoast

It’s funny how old Mad Magazine jokes end up being reality. There was an Aragones image from the 80s focused on the Walkman, with a couple sharing either side of a pair of headphones, listening together, and that was the gag, but that has since been used as a romantic display in media/real life with people sharing earbuds, etc.

faust69

F**k Regal. If I'm going to pay more, I'll go to Arclight in Bethesda, IPic in Rockville, or the Cinebistro up in Baltimore when visiting friends downtown B'more. Otherwise, I have my pickings of AMC, Angelika, Alamo or other chains I'll go visit instead.

Why So Blu?

A dollar theater in my area -- haven't seen a film here since Borat.

General Admission $3.50
Matinee $2.50 All films starting before 6:00pm
Flashback Film Series $8.00 Thursday Night Classic Films

https://regencymovies.com/main.php?theaterId=8

movieguru

How are they going to predict which movies will be hits and which ones will be flops? It will be easy for something like a Star Wars movie to assume it is going to be a hit. But what happens when something that you might expect to be a hit like Batman Vs. Superman flops.

It would really hurt movies like this as people won't want to pay more for bad movies or movies that have bad word of mouth. People also may just wait on movies that will be a hit to go on straming or DVD rather than pay an upcharge. Do they start everything out at a standard price and then adjust the prices up or down after the weekend. Or do they decide in advance of the movies coming out which ones to charge more for? As long as MoviePass is still $10 per month, it really makes no difference to me.

Giantrobo

Shit! Those prices are awesome. Of course, nothing close to me, but still...

TomOpus

I would think pre-sales would be a good indication.

fujishig

I'd also ink dynamic pricing would change things on the fly based on how sold out viewings are, which would be a nightmare because if I had a more expensive ticket, and somehow a new ticket became cheaper, I'd not only be ticked I'd probably just refund and rebuy anyway. And I'd think under a system like this all new movies would start off higher.

Why So Blu?

The bad news is that they're cheap enough for the random homeless person to come in and crash your screening. The cool enough perk is that you will see a random celebrity in there every now and then catching a show, because it's definitely a "downlow" place. Years ago and ex-gf that used to work there said that Gary Sinise used go in there all the time.

Supermallet

Regal is the most common chain in my area, but we do have Cinemark and AMC and some independents. These days I mostly go to the independent $4 theaters that serve booze and pizza. I can live with never going to Regal again.