Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Higher ticket prices on weekends?

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Operations » Ground Level » Higher ticket prices on weekends? (Page 2)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Author

Topic: Higher ticket prices on weekends?

Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 02-03-2012 10:06 AM

quote: Mark Hajducki
Many people have standard 09:00 - 17:00 work days and would be able to go to evening shows any night of the week.

If they save half the cost of the ticket it may encourage them to go on one of the discount days, rather than on Friday/Saturday night.

9 to 5 jobs here in the States I find is a cliche and grossly overstated - I don't have a job at the moment so it's very interesting when I'm out and about doing errands and everything at odd hours of the day just how many people are driving in and around the DC metropolitan area - don't you people have jobs? [Big Grin]

I went and saw a movie last Monday at noon at the Egyptian in Hanover Maryland and I was really surprised how many people were going to the movies (at noon and the 2-3pm showings) - and they weren't just retirees.

| IP: Logged

James Westbrook
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1133
From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa
Registered: Mar 2006

posted 02-03-2012 10:41 AM

Friday afternoons bring about more adults whom I suspect are "playing hookey" from work to see a new movie.

| IP: Logged

Mike Frese
Master Film Handler

Posts: 465
From: Holts Summit, MO
Registered: Jun 2007

posted 02-03-2012 07:38 PM

quote: Mark Hajducki
Many people have standard 09:00 - 17:00 work days and would be able to go to evening shows any night of the week.

If they save half the cost of the ticket it may encourage them to go on one of the discount days, rather than on Friday/Saturday night.

The average person (assuming they have to work the next day) only has 3-4 hours of spare time at night. Much less if they children and dealing with feeding, homework, & getting them to bed. Plus weeknight television is much better.

| IP: Logged

Christopher Crouch
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 128
From: Holywood, ca, usa
Registered: May 2006

posted 02-04-2012 05:24 AM

quote: Jonathan Goeldner
9 to 5 jobs here in the States I find is a cliche and grossly overstated

I have to agree. 9 to 5 may have been the norm for decades. However, these days, there are an increasing number of people with non traditional work schedules; especially in large metropolitan areas. This growing trend also shows up in the number of restaurants/retail outlets that are rethinking their hours of operation; moving to expanded hours or full 24 hour schedules.

As for discounted times/days/weekends. While the practice obviously increases attendance for traditionally "off" time periods, there is a negative flip side to such a pricing strategy. While operators hope the ticket savings will be spent on concession, more often than not, the people who make a special effort to attend discount periods are less likely to make a concession purchase (i.e. if you are looking to save .50 or $1, you probably aren't going to be interested in buying a $5 popcorn). This behavior can be extreme at the discount theatre level, with per caps falling in to the sub $1 range during "value" days. At some point, the extra volume almost becomes moot.

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-04-2012 02:36 PM

quote: Christopher Crouch
9 to 5 may have been the norm for decades. However, these days, there are an increasing number of people with non traditional work schedules; especially in large metropolitan areas.

I would say around here, the people with 9-to-5 schedules are actually in the minority. Our biggest industries in this area are the railroad, where they work whenever they work (there is no set schedule for them) and coal-mining, where many of the workers are on split shifts or rotating shifts. Then there are lots of farmers and ranchers, whose workday starts before sunrise and ends "whenever."

| IP: Logged

Joseph Hernandez
Film Handler

Posts: 4
From: Chicago Heights, IL
Registered: Dec 2011

posted 02-04-2012 03:31 PM

I just started doing this at my theater. We raised our weekend matinee price by fifty cents and our evening by one dollar.

We did this mostly to raise our average ticket price and help us book movies faster as we consider ourselves "intermediate" run.

| IP: Logged

Justin Hamaker
Film God

Posts: 2253
From: Lakeport, CA USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-04-2012 03:50 PM

In my area, the day job (or "9-5") is more the normal. We don't have and big industries like mining, railroads, manufacturing, and so forth. The majority of small businesses are closed by no later than 6:00pm. We don't have a ton of restaurants or other traditional night businesses.

Obviously we have the normal medical personnel and police, but I think the only employers who have large staffs working swing shifts or graveyards are the indian casinos. If I had to guess, I would say less than 5% of the local population works outside of traditional business hours.

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-06-2012 12:18 AM

quote: Edward Havens
The Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood is notorious for this practice. On Mondays through Thursdays, their Adult pricing (or, as they call them, "Adult Non-Peak") is $13.75 for 2D and $17.25 for 3D. On Friday nights and all day Saturday and Sunday, Adult Peak prices are $16.00 for 2D and $19.50 for 3D. But, if you are an Arclight member, you save a buck per ticket if you buy your tickets online.

Wow. I didn't think they could possibly charge more. Wow.

As I recall, they charged an additional "convenience fee" if you bought your tix online.

And do they still charge for parking? They were charging $2 extra for parking.

I should say, they charged $2 for "VALIDATED" parking... :roll eyes:

| IP: Logged

Jason Black
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1723
From: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 02-09-2012 02:20 AM

It's no wonder the theatre business, as a whole, is suffering. Between the exorbitant ticket prices, ridiculous concession prices, typically rude staffing, even ruder patrons.... it's a wonder anyone goes to the theatre anymore.. It certainly can't be for the modern "experience" they are getting. It's sad. Very sad.

| IP: Logged

Edward Havens
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 614
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Mar 2008

posted 02-09-2012 09:11 AM

Actually, the theatre business as a whole is not suffering. Breaking 2011 down week by week in comparison to 2010, one notices that the second, third and fourth quarters of 2011 saw higher attendance than 2010. The only quarter that was off was the first quarter, and the only reason why that was off? No Avatar-like holdover. Cameron's movie made 2/3 of its gross in the first quarter of 2011.

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-09-2012 09:29 AM

What if we examine long-term change? How does the industry look compared to, say, the 1980's? My gut tells me that more people went to the movies back then. I know I did. And I felt better about the overall experience back then.

| IP: Logged

Jonathan Althaus
Master Film Handler

Posts: 435
From: Bedford, TX
Registered: Dec 2008

posted 02-09-2012 09:50 AM

I went to buy 10 tickets for a midnight 3d show in a premium format.....$152.50, but then i remembered I'm a corporate employee and got them for $0

| IP: Logged

Jonathan Goeldner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1360
From: Washington, District of Columbia
Registered: Jun 2008

posted 02-09-2012 10:08 AM

^ heehee - that's funny

| IP: Logged

Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 02-09-2012 10:56 AM

quote: Manny Knowles
What if we examine long-term change? How does the industry look compared to, say, the 1980's?

Here are the stats from the NATO website. Note that this is # of admissions, not dollars. Edward is right, the sky is not falling. The media just loves to say it is.

It would be nice if we could get back to the figures of the early 2000s, but there is a lot more competition for the leisure dollar (and leisure time) now than there was then, and if you figure in the crap economy and the crap movies we've had lately, plus the shrinking window, plus presentation and audience problems in SOME (not all) cinemas, none of this is surprising.

Year Admissions
2010 1.339
2009 1.414
2008 1.341
2007 1.4
2006 1.401
2005 1.376
2004 1.484
2003 1.521
2002 1.57
2001 1.438
2000 1.383
1999 1.440
1998~ 1.438
1997 1.354
1996 1.319
1995 1.211
1994 1.240
1993 1.182
1992† 1.099
1991 1.14
1990 1.19
1989 1.26
1988 1.08
1987 1.09

| IP: Logged

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-09-2012 11:19 AM

Okay. Interesting to know that more people are buying tickets than in the 80s. But there are also more screens, aren't there?

What would these "overall" numbers look like if the per screen averages remained constant?

What I'm getting at is that I've sat almost totally alone in theatres a lot in recent years. And it doesn't seem to matter if I'm in a "big city" like Los Angeles, or a small college town like Bloomington, IN. The industry *appears* to be under-performing somehow.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.