This is topic How full do you sell your theatres? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 09-02-2001, 12:13 PM:
I was wondering how full you let your theatres get before you consider them sold out.
Do you sell every seat in the house, or do youleave a certain percentage open to make it easier for those last few people to find seats and to account for people who manage to sneak in?My theatre just recently started selling out every seat which makes it diffucult to help people who arrive late find seats.
In the past, we cut out a few seats from the seat count when it was entered in the computer.
What do you guys do?
Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 09-02-2001, 01:09 PM:
It really depends on a number of factors, like:The movie, how much time until showtime, anticipated number of sneak ins, multiple prints, etc..
Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 09-02-2001, 01:19 PM:
Used to have a mangager at one theater I worked at that we nicknamed the seat natzi....he would make sure that every seat had someone in it. that is one way we found out that the seat count of a couple of auditoriums did not include two seats. the computer had 236 but the house contained 238 seats. we had a negative 2 seats on the computer screen.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-02-2001, 02:10 PM:
We always leave a buffer of 20 seats, sometimes 30 if its a kids movie (2 year olds get in free so don't count against the seating capacity).
Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 09-02-2001, 02:37 PM:
When I've set up box office computers, I've always set it up as "low seats" = 80% capacity and "sold out" = 90% capacity. Then, depending on a multitude of factors like time till show start, etc., the manager's code will allow negative seats to fill it up if necessary.One company I worked for refused to use anything but hard tickets for passes, so the computer never knew about the passes until the end of the night. I swear they were up to something with that one.
Posted by Andy Muirhead (Member # 712) on 09-02-2001, 06:49 PM:
We have a stop limit, usually 10 percent of capacity. Once that limit is reached, the box office then have to phone up to a senior member of staff and notify them. We don't want to have to split up familys, our groups of friends, into single seats. Once we know the situation, we become actively involved in going into the screen and 'creating' spaces for them. We don't actually have allocated seating - you sit where you want - so its relatively easy to create spaces by moving people. We rarely totally sell out a show. our No1 has 356 seats, we consider it a sell out at just over 310, maybe 320. There's seats in there nobody should pay for, like front row hard left, hard right etc.
Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 09-02-2001, 11:41 PM:
We have 916 seats on the main floor, the balcony is opened at 600 and sales are cut off at 1200, at around 900 tbey are warned that seating will be tight. Refunds are given if satisfactory seats can't be found before the feature starts. Capacity is 1392, there are 476 is the bacony.
Posted by Aldo Baez (Member # 790) on 09-03-2001, 03:01 AM:
Wow, we don't give refunds if people don't like their seats. Only exchanges. We have signs everywhere to come early for big movies, on the phone, paper, box office, we also inform them that the seating will be seperate and towards the front before they buy their tickets. No refunds are ever given. Sometimes some customers get so bad that we have to call the police, but most people realize that we aren't going to let them have their way, and if they want good seats, they come early, it's not our fault you decide to come 10 minutes after the movie starts on the opening weekend of Pearl Harbor, you sit in the very front seperately thank you very much. And no, buying your tickets yesterday does not mean you can come 10 minutes after showtime and still have a good seat.
Posted by JC Cowles (Member # 914) on 09-03-2001, 05:39 AM:
Does anyone's theater here actually SEAT people? Not necissarily buy tickets for a certain seat, but force people to sit in a designated way. I know the Omni/Imax theater near me requires patrons start seating in the middle and are not allowed to have empty chairs between themselves.
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 09-04-2001, 12:12 AM:
Seat Nazi? How bout good businessman. I sell em to ZERO. I also seat the auditorium and make sure I help every last customer find a seat. They are informed at the box office when it is single seating only.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-04-2001, 01:57 AM:
quote:
Seat Nazi? How bout good businessman. I sell em to ZERO. I also seat the auditorium and make sure I help every last customer find a seat. They are informed at the box office when it is single seating only.
How do you time this just right? It seems even with walkie talkies, there would still be a few customers waiting in the concession line who had not been informed of the single seating status. And what about people who sneak in? Not nescessarily getting by with no ticket, but buying a ticket to a different movie and auditorium hoping. Do you post ushers on both doors of the theatres that are going to sell out to check tickets? Not calling you a liar, just curious how you manage this.
Posted by Joshua Voorhies (Member # 824) on 09-04-2001, 03:53 AM:
Here's the situation my theatre is faced with: we'll get multiple prints of a big movie. When customers see that the theatre for their showtime is running low on seats (we'll have seaters in there), they'll try to go into the next showtime. If we let them in, the people who arrived early for the later showtime can't find ANY seats, since box office shows all those seats available and continues to sell.
We make people exchange their tickets if they want a later showtime for the same movie, since there are still seats in their original showtime. Maybe not the seats they want, but we shouldn't penalize everyone at the later movie because the people at the earlier movie didn't want to show up ahead of time.
Then they act like we're being assholes because we'll only let them into the theatre for which they have the proper ticket.
Posted by Paul Konen (Member # 41) on 09-04-2001, 09:30 AM:
Generally around 90%.When it gets to about 75-80% we notify the appropriate usher manager to get someone into the theatre to help seat people. Hopefully, this person will actually do something other than stand at the side at parade rest until start time.
Posted by Wes Hughes (Member # 981) on 09-04-2001, 03:46 PM:
I only have 5 BIG screens, so this is only sometimes (not much this year!) a problem. Every customer is informed when there are about 50-75 seats left that seating is limited and NO REFUNDS will be given for people that have to split up, sit in the front, etc. DON'T GIVE PEOPLE REFUNDS IF THEY WERE WARNED OF A LOW SEAT STATUS ! That just causes people to think they will get their ass kissed everywhere.
Also, if we have a big feature, like Pearl Harbor or Planet of the Apes, I will force seat people. If they don't comply they are excused with refunds. Sometimes, if I am in an adventurous mood, I will tell people who were refused admission (due to 0 seats) that they can wait for about 10 minutes to see if any seats "open up". If I see an unoccupied seats I will approach empty seats and ask the neighboring people if anyone is sitting there...if not, SOLD to the people waiting outside. If someone comes later than 10 minutes on a big film, even with a legitimate ticket, they are welcome to get a ticket to a later film, get a PASS, or maybe come to the theatre on time next trip.
Every theatre will have to handle this differently though. I am not bound by big corporate customer service bullcrap like a lot of people are. We WANT bad customers to go to the other theatres, and send them off there often. Our customers know this and expect this when they come to our theatres. I only have 5 screens though. I cannot imagine even attempting to worry about selling to 0 if I had 10 or more screens to worry about.
Posted by Paul Turner (Member # 832) on 09-04-2001, 05:27 PM:
We only have 116 seats. We sell to 99 (since that's what the fire dept has as our capacity). You want to be careful about "Over Selling." If there's ever a claim against the theater and you have sold beyond capacity, both your insurance company and the litigious swine's lawyer might have a field day: "There were people standing in the aisles because there were no seats. That's when that rogue pop lid leapt from the floor and cut me about my face and hands . . . ."
Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 09-04-2001, 07:07 PM:
Dustin - How I do this is quite simple. First, it requires an alert podium usher. The usher keeps track of people going into their correct movie (a one-hall 8-screen). Second, if it is a big R-rated movie, I post an usher on the door to simply check for ticket stubs. Third, usually when seating is necessary ... one person will go in and hold seats while the rest of the group goes to the concession stand. I'm not saying that this method would work everywhere, but it works at my theater.
Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 09-04-2001, 09:33 PM:
Our computers are set up to be able to sell all but twenty seats in the house, what they call "limited seating."But in my experience, the house is filled up when there's only thirty seats left unsold (In a 262 seat house).
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 09-05-2001, 12:07 AM:
Ahh, I understand Mike. Unfortunately we couldn't do that, we aren't allowed enough ushering staff. I might give it a try come Thanksgiving, but until then no need to worry 
.
Posted by Joel Michalec (Member # 995) on 09-09-2001, 10:19 AM:
We sell our auditoriums down to 20 empty seats. This way, we have the overcrowding situation down. I hate doing this because my largest house is only 166 seats.Joel
Posted by Sherry Legare (Member # 671) on 09-10-2001, 09:44 AM:
We set 90% capacity as being a sell out point. At that time our box office computers display low seating. If possible someone announces that the show is sold out and signs are put out. If it is a children's show during a matinee where there are lots of infants and toddlers being taken in without tickets, we stop earlier.If everyone has cleared from the concession and the show is not too far into it, we will sell to people that come in with a warning that seating is limited and they may not get to sit together.
Posted by System Notices (Member # 2357) on 11-08-2004, 11:44 PM:
It has been 1155 days since the last post.
Posted by Chris Brown (Member # 2800) on 11-08-2004, 11:44 PM:
Typically depending on auditorium size, we sell down to 15-20. If its a big release in a big auditorium, I may have an usher go in an help with seating. We've tried the sell every seat approach and it didnt go so well, so after that we went back to leaving some space. Interesting ideas though everyone!
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 11-09-2004, 12:16 AM:
Another factor that enters into the equation has to do with the placement of the aisles and seats. Most of our bigger auditoriums have a main seating section with an aisle on either side and then a section of seats 3-5 wide between the aisle and the wall. Some of our smaller screens don't have these outside sections though. With the '3 section' auditoriums you end up with a lot of single seats. There are of course the 'bookers seats' to deal with-hard left and right, front row. I genuinly feel bad when people have to sit in those seats, they really suck ass. However, with the 'single section' auditoriums it is much easier to comfortably fill every seat. Since only our smaller auditoriums have this arrangement (for now) this normally would not happen but occasionaly we make a placement mistake or some fluke of business will sell one of the small theatres out.
Posted by David Yauch (Member # 2754) on 11-15-2004, 02:10 AM:
We sell to 96%. Generally the biggest problem movies with theatre-hopping are the popular teen movies. We have no problem going in to these when every seat is full(an impossibility with our computers) and asking to see every ticket. The customers who paid have no problems pulling out their tickets and usually thank us because they get better seats. Meanwhile a lot of people were suddenly and miraculously given the wrong tickets at the box office all of the sudden or suddenly remembered that all of their tickets are with their friend in another theatre... Sometimes the dog in our courtyard eats their tickets as well.
We usually don't have any problems with people jumping in to our bigger shows. Not sure why, but we dont.
Posted by Chase Hanson (Member # 2779) on 11-15-2004, 10:09 PM:
I think we lock at between 2 and 20 seats under max capacity, depending on the situation.
Occasionally they will run shows down to absoluete zero, at which point I smack my forehead and request that a manager assist in seating patrons.
Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 11-16-2004, 02:37 PM:
Depending on the movie we sell up to between 85%-90%.
It tends to varry depending on the movie.
We check tickets inside the auditorium so there's usually a wall of people in the hallway coming in but it limits sneak-ins, at least durring the pre-show and trailers.
If it were my call I'd put an extra person in the theater seating patrons as needed.
Most of the time if it's a sold out movie like Spiderman-2's midnight show was or something to that effect the manager or I stand inside the auditorium durring most of the feature.
Posted by Robert L. Fischer (Member # 2424) on 11-17-2004, 12:34 AM:
We have two auditoriums with 245 seats, one with 165 seats, and two with 125 seats. I haven't seen one of the smaller auditoriums sell out in a long time, and I wasn't a member of management then, so I've never really had to deal with that. But in the two 245-seat auditoriums, we usually call it a sell-out around 230 and offer re-admission tickets to those who are unsatisfied with seating.