mwynn

Marcus Theatres Turning Auditorium Into Sports Bar With Big Screen TVs, No Rights Issues, As Industry Experiments

https://deadline.com/2022/03/marcus-...ce-1234969904/

TomOpus

As long as drunk patrons aren't allowed in the movie theater.

And what is the "no rights issues" thing?

mwynn

“I can’t think of a better place to watch these games,” said CEO Greg Marcus. Plans call for 12 big screen monitors with one game broadcast over speakers but up to eight events at a time available to select and watch by downloading an app. It’s not theatrical content and avoids the issue of sports rights. The exhibitor may pull out some theater seats to make room for a few high-tops, but will keep most of them in “because that’s what makes it special,” Marcus said on a call after the company’s latest earnings. Food and beverages will be delivered to seats.

JayTL

All my favorite theaters serve alcohol.

TomOpus

That's fine for all the noisy drunk jerks but I'd rather be able to enjoy the actual movie. Which is why I paid money to be there.

Wolf359

It's very possible to enjoy a drink or two and not be a noisy drunk jerk.

mwynn

I always found it weird to server alcohol at Theme Parks and Chuck E Cheese.

jjcool

They have to have something for the parents to tolerate being with their kids for so long.

candyrocket786

The studios/theaters/media just can't seem to grasp that concept, even in it's most basic form.

JayTL

Hey look that describes movie theaters too

Trevor

My local shop had some sort of deal with one of the local theaters (Warehouse, sort of an Alamo thing) where he set up a few tables with Batman graphic novels in the eating area of the theater.

I helped him set up, but didn’t stick around to hear how it went. I’ll ask Wednesday.

Wolf359

One thing that kind of irritates me when people complain about theater prices for soda and popcorn....have they not been to a concert, a sports game or anything similar? It's not like the movies is the only place where stuff is heavily marked up. It's just the one that people want to single out.

Alan Smithee

When I worked the snack bar I would hate it when people complained about the prices but then paid them anyways. If people would vote with their dollars and simply refuse to be price gouged, then theaters would have to find another way to make money. Theaters report the snack bar income along with the tickets sold for that day and calculate the average amount spent per patron, so if you go and not buy any snacks you can mess that up for them.

A movie can’t be compared to a game or concert either- at a concert the band is right there playing their music. Unless the actors also come in and do the movie there live along with real time special effects, it’s not much different than watching the same movie at home, especially if it isn’t even on film.

Draven

I’ve always heard that if you don’t like the price of concessions, blame the studios as they don’t want the theaters to make any money from tickets on opening weekend. Everyone bitches about commercials too. So what does anyone expect theaters to do?

In the beforetime, I’d go to the movies 2-3 times a month. I could afford the expensive prices for those few visits.

candyrocket786

Probably because more people frequent a movie theater (well.. at least they use to ) more so than seasonal events like a concert, game or even The Rodeo.

When a particular band is on tour, I'll attend a few shows, but we are talking a handful of days here or less.

I use to see a movie weekly back in the old days.

mwynn

Same at most conventions. I think the difference is in those other examples is those are outside vendors hired by the venue.

JayTL

The difference is conventions don't make most of those profits with expensive shitty food.

What if they made a restaurant/sports bar type of event for big movies? Imagine going to a Buffalo Wild Wings and instead of sports it's a movie playing. You pay a cover (that goes towards the box office for the studios) but everything else goes right to the venue. Would anyone here do something like that?

I do think for movie theaters to succeed, they need to be more social friendly

Draven

Sounds like a goddamn nightmare

The last thing I want to do at a movie is socialize.

Spiderbite

I have no issues with charging premium prices for movies, concessions, particular seats or whatever they need to do. You can choose what you want to pay for. No one is making you go to the movie theater at a certain time.

You want to see the movie on opening weekend in a particular seat and eat high end food or overpriced M&Ms...then you can choose to do that.

Personally, I hate seeing a movie in a packed theater. So, I don't mind waiting a week or two to see a movie until attendance has calmed down or see it on a weekday during an earlier afternoon/evening show. I also don't usually snack during a movie because of the crazy prices. But if I forgot to smuggle some M&Ms in or really want a $13 beer, then I buy it. My choice.

Honestly, they are just following what concerts have done over the last 20 years. Increase ticket prices, charge a premium on all snacks/drinks and now apparently charging for better seats. I have no problem with this. The market will bear what the market will bear.

A concert is typically a one time show that you are stuck either not attending or paying a premium for all of the above. At least with movies, as showings of a film dies down, prices will fall with it.

And hell, let me know when a concert venue gives you a deal like the AMC A-List does. It is the best value for movies period. Better deal than any streaming service, in my opinion.

DJariya

I bring up AMC A-List or Regal Unlimited every now and then to the people here in this forum who complain about ticket prices. But, I don't know it seems to fall on deaf ears. Either they don't understand it, don't care enough to know more or they just don't want to subscribe to something. Or maybe the casual movie-goers here just don't have the time to see that many movies? I don't know. $23/month for 12 movies per month including premium screens is an amazing deal. Even Regal is $23 for Unlimited movies and you pay a small surcharge for a premium screen is great. It's the best thing to happen to movie theaters ever.

I saw The Batman on Thursday on a premium Dolby screen. $19 for the ticket if I paid out of pocket. I pay $23 for my subscription and don't have to pay an extra dime and I can 11 more. I'm already ahead if I see one more movie this month and I plan to see at least 3-4 more this month.

Draven

I see most movies opening night/weekend because in my experience, those are the people who actually want to see it and put forth some effort. They aren't people who are just there to look at their phones and bring their infants along. Not always, mind you, but I have had far worse luck seeing a movie during the week after things die down. At that point I swear it's just people who wandered in off the streets because they were bored.

My AMC sucks so this has never been worth it to me.

Trevor

I think the vast majority of people can’t imagine seeing more than a couple movies a month, so those subscriptions don’t pay off. I used to see maybe 10 some months with RU and people thought I was insane.

mwynn

Exactly, the business model is pretty bad.
They need to market themselves, and get out of the studio system.

fujishig

It's true that both are a great deal for moviegoers. But both at least on the surface seemed to be in response to the insane business plan of "old" moviepass, it wasn't something that the theater chains seemed eager to implement on their own, and I have no doubt that those prices will soar soon enough.

Wolf359

One ticket pays for my entire month.




I've been a member since May 2017 and haven't had one price increase. Even if it "soars" by a buck or two it's still great.