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Author Topic: Disney booking conditions changed? Mike Frese Master Film Handler Posts: 465 From: Holts Summit, MO Registered: Jun 2007 posted 04-26-2015 10:37 AM                        I believe any independent US theater would be tickled to death happy with paying only 53% as this will probably be a 64% movie (that is the top % for Disney, correct?). Melanie, if you waited 5 weeks you will be paying that 64% too. I think I would play the 3 weeks or ask for a holdover number on that 3rd week. This movie is expected to break the opening weekend box office number (I am sure Stars Wars 7 months later will break that record). Disney has what people want and those people also spend a great deal at the concession stand.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-26-2015 11:35 AM                        That's exactly our rationale for playing a lot of movies on the break... the percentage never goes down, or at least it doesn't go down until the movie this "thisclose" to video. I look at those quiet final days of a long engagement as sort of a "break" from the usual chaos.  |  IP: Logged Terry Lynn-Stevens Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1081 From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Registered: Dec 2012 posted 04-26-2015 03:10 PM                     quote: The Hollywood blockbuster won't be shown on 686 screens in 193 small towns. I would like to know how many of these theaters usually open new release movies on a regular basis, its seem like everyone is going to be booking Avengers 2. If every theater is planning to open the movie, then the distributor has all the power and will dictate the terms.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-26-2015 09:52 PM                        The distributors always dictate the terms. If exhibitors don't want to abide by those terms they can decide not to play the picture. But, considering this is probably going to be the #1 movie of the year (until December that is), most will opt to play it. There is a fine line between "intolerable" and "pain in the butt, but workable" and Disney is expert at treading just at the edge of that line.  |  IP: Logged Melanie Loggins Expert Film Handler Posts: 154 From: Wayne, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 04-27-2015 04:37 PM                        I hear you, and I've done the math, and the concessions makes all the difference financially. But, ultimately, I will not show a movie for three weeks. I did it once and it was a bit of a nightmare. For me, having one title on my screen for that long moves into the intolerable. I've taken a deep breath and decided to embrace my small-townness and I'm ready to skip this movie altogether.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 04-27-2015 05:16 PM                        Melanie, I'm curious how far you are from a market where they will be playing The Avengers? Mike seems to be able to play things off the break and still do business, but I assume that has to do with how far it is to the next town with the movie. I know how much grief I get from customers when I can't get the limited Oscar films at the end of the year. I don't envy you for not being able to play Avengers.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-27-2015 07:25 PM                        We can play off the break and still do business but it's about half (or less if the movie is super-hyped) of what it would do if we play on the break. My biggest problem is, almost everybody in town makes regular shopping trips to Billings, where they have 24 Carmike screens, so if we're not playing the movie they want to see, and if it's one of those "HOLYCRAPWEHAVETOSEEITNOW-NOW-NOW" movies, they're more likely to see it there. The category of movies where this problem is the worst is women-centric movies like "Twilight."  |  IP: Logged Melanie Loggins Expert Film Handler Posts: 154 From: Wayne, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 05-05-2015 12:39 PM                        Justin, my sitaution is like Mikes: 30 minutes west is a town with a mutliplex and shopping, and 45 minutes east is a much larger town with 3 multiplexes and better shopping. It's routine for most people around here to leave town at least once week. (I did twice just this past weekend, and I was working!) There is not much shopping and even less eating in my town, so it's easy to make a day of the mall, Wal-Mart, eating and movie. I can open a movie (and still just charge $4) and still hear about people going out of town to see it, simply because they were already going to be out of town anyway. I wasn't 100% full with Iron Man 3, Thor 2, or Captain America 2. And having seen the reviews of Age of Ultron, I feel pretty comfortable not counting on three weeks. If my average holds up, and last weekend was already above average, I'll end up depositing more money this way.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-05-2015 03:08 PM                        I'm curious Melanie, if you're running new (or almost new) movies, why are you only charging $4? If you're making it on that, that's great but it seems like you're leaving a lot of money on the table. Our adult price is $7.75 and people always compliment us on our nice low price compared to the city theaters.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 05-05-2015 03:32 PM                        Melanie: I worked as a service technician for 40+ years. Many of my small town customers tried to hold prices down to help their customers; a noble pursuit. Problem is that they developed an inferiority complex toward their local helpful theatre. Profit is your friend and the friend of your customers, too. It allows you to keep up your theatre and give the locals a very decent place to go to be entertained. Hope this helps. $7.50 is a low reality these days.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-05-2015 08:31 PM                        Looks like Disney actually gave in. I wish I could have a personal conversation with Bob Iger and be able to say "Yes, Bob, you DO create great value for the theaters, but why do you (and other studios) insist on torpedoing that value almost immediately by releasing the video too soon?" Disney Backs Down on New 'Avengers' Matinee Rule in Wake of Theater Complaints by Pamela McClintock 5/5/2015 1:49pm PDT About a month ago, as Avengers: Age of Ultron prepared to open, Disney sent a note to theater owners updating its master licensing agreement, which governs the terms by which an exhibitor can play a film. Looking to get even more back from the box office, the studio wanted discounted matinees to end at 5 p.m., versus 6 p.m., the traditional cut-off time. The directive prompted an immediate response from National Association of Theater Owners John Fithian, who wrote a letter to Disney stating he had received "an avalanche of complaints, concerns and fears" from his members. Those concerns also included Disney's intention to use NATO's average ticket price (currently $8.12) as the minumum mark for splitting box office revenue, even though ticket prices could be lower in smaller cities and towns. If cinema operators discount tickets below whatever a studio minimum is, they must make up it up and chip in the difference to the overall pool. Every studio has a minimum, but they fluctuate market to market. Though Disney itself didn't get barraged with individual complaints, it has decided to abandon the idea of cutting matinees off at 5 p.m. The studio also will revisit using the average ticket price across all markets, even though it has never invoked the directive, which has been on the books for more than a year. For years, Disney wasn't as aggressive as other studio in terms of revenue splits with theaters. But two years ago, just before Iron Man 3 opened, the studio renegotiated its terms and is getting as much as 60 percent back on its big tentpoles, Avengers: Age of Ultron. That's in line with other big event pics from rival studios. "We have obviously with our film strategy created and will continue to create huge value for the theater owners here in the United States and around the world," said Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger when asked about the revenue split during an earnings call Tuesday morning. "And clearly with the hand that we have got -- Disney and Pixar and Marvel and Star Wars -- our discussions in terms of the rates that we get paid or the splits have factored in the films that we release." Iger said he would not discuss specifics but that, "I want to emphasize, again, the investment this company has made in its motion pictures and the results are evident in terms of the value ... to the theater owners." The Wall Street Journal first reported the dispute. Hollywood Reporter article  |  IP: Logged Melanie Loggins Expert Film Handler Posts: 154 From: Wayne, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2011 posted 05-07-2015 09:33 AM                        The $4 ticket price was NOT my idea! (Neither was the split week schedule we keep.) When fundraising started (almost) 6 years ago, that was the price that was chosen. We're coming up on our 5-year anniversary, and I'm looking at raising prices. But we all know: a $1 increase in ticket price still nets me less than $0.50. To make a real difference, I'd have to go up to $6, and can you think of the reaction if we raised our prices $2?!?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-07-2015 12:14 PM                        Well like I said above, if you are making it at your current price then that's great -- if you don't NEED to raise them, don't. There is something to be said for the "volume price" model. Wal-Mart does quite well with that! But if an increase is needed, I would say a P.R. campaign is in order. Nobody is going to fault you if you explain that the increase is necessary. Just point out the facts - - The average ticket price nationwide is over $8.00 - You need to bring in more money in order to continue to make improvements (include the fact that digital projectors don't last forever) - Your costs have gone up (wages, insurance, the cost of digital, well you know the list!) - Even if you went to $6, you are probably still at least $2 or $3 less than the chain multiplexes (and I'll bet your concessions are lower too, and you probably have better service) There is also the thought that someday, Disney and the rest might decide to enforce that per-cap thing to the letter, which would mean you'd have no choice but to raise prices dramatically to keep from losing money. If they start using the national average, that'd mean you'd be paying over $4 in film rental for every ticket you sell assuming the rent is 50%. This might not ever happen if you don't play many films on the break, but you never know. Hope this helps!  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 05-07-2015 10:18 PM                        You might want to go up 50c anyway; sregular mall increases over a longer period of time attract less static than a single big increase "when it is necessary".  |  IP: Logged Manny Montes Master Film Handler Posts: 270 From: United States Registered: Feb 2010 posted 05-09-2015 05:23 PM                     Fundraising... hopefully there weren't any promises about length of time you'd keep those prices.  |  IP: Logged

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