Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Sub run question

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Posted by Stephen LaPadula (Member # 3050) on 02-25-2006, 06:47 PM:

Say I run a 25 screen theatre; would I be able to show 1st run movies on 20 of the screens and charge $10.00, and then use 5 of the screens to show titles that have slipped in to the sub run eand charge $2.50?

I'm thinking probably not, but maybe not a bad way to attract attendance during slow months or an incentive to watch something else when popular titles sell out as opposed to leaving.

Posted by Brian Michael Weidemann (Member # 2243) on 02-25-2006, 07:34 PM:

My guess would be whatever you are able to book, you can show. The price tier I would hope wouldn't cause any extra complications, as sub-runs would probably be contracted that way by definition.

My first theatre was an 8-plex discount house that had five of the auditoriums at a dollar a ticket, earning us the unofficial title of "dollar theatre" among patrons, inaccurately. This was because our three "premium" auditoriums had relatively newer movies, sometimes even first-run--though we never opened a movie on its opening day--and we charged $3 adults, $2 others.

Of course, we had our booking done at a corporate level.

The only problem we had, in practice, was having the proper staff/security on hand to check tickets and make sure that dollar-ticket holders weren't sneaking into the prem-o houses. That was NOT fun, as our indignant and poor, cheap-ass regulars were ALWAYS trying to pull the "I dropped my ticket/threw it away" routine over on us.

(Edit: Post 600! Hello, and welcome to post 600. Yay me.)

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 02-26-2006, 01:08 AM:

I know nothing about your market... but isn't that a rather drastic pricing difference? I wonder if it might not cause people to wait, knowing a good show will probably stay at your theatre and drop to the sub-run rate. At $2.50 admit might also gain you a class of customer you'd rather not have in the building. Over here, the dollar-discount admission was popular when one of our area theatres first started it... but the building was soon trashed by people who could care less about the place. A lot of other stuff was going on in the auditoriums... none of which had anything to do with what was on the screen.

At $10.50 for premium admission, half that would still seem a good deal... at least looking at it from the other side of the country!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 02-26-2006, 02:05 AM:

something that you'd have to work with the booker and the film companies to ensure the split. But unfortunately, it really doesn't work in the long run especially you have to "babysit" the customers to ensure that they're in the right houses.

Plus, on the first runs and with hot movies, there might be checkers to make sure that your attendance matches the ticket sales for that one house..and if the numbers don't rightly match up and since they have to report all of this, you could get into big, big trouble with the film companies...

..they "control" you, you know.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 02-26-2006, 04:22 AM:

It would make more sense to me to just hold the product longer. Many people would rather just watch it later when the crowds die down, regardless of the price.
That's what Bargain Tuesday is for.

Posted by Phil Blake (Member # 2012) on 02-28-2006, 04:20 AM:

I agree with Dominic, we run 1 release and sub run mix depending on whats out there and what will work in our town , we charge the same price for both and discounts on tuesday.

Posted by Mike Croaro (Member # 3123) on 02-28-2006, 09:26 PM:

Another option would be to offer double features on the second run product while maintaining full admision prices.

Mike

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 03-01-2006, 02:54 PM:

In some markets, studios will not make the title available for sub-run in a general area until all the first-run sites take it off screen. There are exceptions, depending on the number of prints they want to keep on screens. You have to ask.