Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Who Has Cry Rooms And/Or Mothers Shows

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Posted by Marc Hansen (Member # 705) on 05-13-2006, 06:34 PM:

How many people still have cry rooms in thier theaters and how many run daytime shows for mothers to bring babies along?
Is it popular? Does it do any business at all?

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 05-13-2006, 07:03 PM:

At certain theatres our company operates there are special showings designated for mothers and babies. They usually are the ones doing the most terrible of business (Munich and The New World were both advertised as such). We claim to lower the sound and heighten the light setting, but I've never actually done that unless somebody complains (which they don't).

As for cry rooms the answer is no, but we do have party rooms which are asked about quite frequently.

Posted by Matt Kerekes (Member # 2777) on 05-13-2006, 11:16 PM:

We have started doing Movies for Moms on Tuesdays because the local Muvico stopped doing them. So far the response has been good, but little attendance, maybe 5 max. The moms assure me that they will get others to come. Heres hoping. We lower the volume and keep the lights up at half.

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 05-14-2006, 01:02 AM:

We tried the 'Mommy Shows' last summer and again right around Thanksgiving, hardly anyone showed.

Whether we try it again this summer remains to be seen.

-Aaron

Posted by Nick Scott (Member # 2850) on 05-14-2006, 08:19 PM:

At a complex im at we have four cry rooms and they do rather well. They have six seats with bins and baby changer tables. We do charge a bit extra for them but the costumers are happy to pay.
We also try and swap the movies around so they all get a run in the cry room cinemas so people dont miss out. [Smile]

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 05-14-2006, 08:39 PM:

We tried Babes In Arms sessions and gave up after a year. They are difficult in a single screen. A Cry Room would be preferable but we can't fit one in.

Posted by Dominic Espinosa (Member # 2122) on 05-15-2006, 03:19 PM:

You can provide cry rooms and special shows but it's hard to make them work. People just don't do what they're not used to.
If they're used to bringing jr. to the movies and letting him wail his lungs out to everyone's chagrin no amount of special treatment will change it.

Although...Given the appropriate marketing a kids summer movie special can work. I've seen it done a couple places, but they really push it. A lot of grass roots effort goes into it at the theater level.

Posted by Steve Scott (Member # 630) on 05-16-2006, 01:28 PM:

Summer kids' shows at Lakeville were excellent (except for Thunderbirds, but y'all know that). We had Elf in the weekend before its video release, to outstanding results. But without FG, most of those prints would've tripped platter failsafes constantly. The first time they tried such a venture, no attention was paid to the prints & plenty of people complained as the movie became start & stop during bad spots. It's a shame that the titles booked for summer events are already in such bad print condition & so many megaplex booth people just build the print like any other. Makes you long for the dedicated rep houses' days.

I always thought Marcus Theatres were too cheesy with their "Mommy's Matinees" graphic in their showtimes. It was unsettling

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-16-2006, 03:13 PM:

If you're thinking about creating a cry room, forget it, unless you can make it large and plush. We used to have one and people would simply refuse to take Junior in there because it was "too small." (It had four regular theatre seats, a large window and a speaker. This was before the advent of stereo.)

It's now a cup/bucket storage room. A much more efficient use of the space.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-31-2006, 02:51 AM:

a lot of the older houses, especially some of the smaller ones had two cry rooms - one per each bathroom...on each side..

But, as Mike mentioned, they have seen their days and the usage is more important now for storage..

And...I've heard that some new megaplexes, and in their large houses are going back to being equipped with quite the cry rooms..and are doing extremely well with them..

As for the MOM's day...it's quite the waste of time...in many venues...

-Monte

Posted by Christopher Crouch (Member # 3784) on 05-31-2006, 07:39 PM:

I worked at a chain that had morning "mommy" shows at select locations. While there was a lot of interest voiced when the idea was announced, the actual turn out proved disapointing (isn't that always the case with alternative programing?).

I know a few chains have begun offering childcare "play centers". Perhaps, that idea will catch on.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 06-01-2006, 07:19 PM:

Somehow certain London cinemas do mother and baby shows for adult-rated films that the infants aren't allowed in.

Posted by Steve Maggs (Member # 444) on 07-31-2006, 08:59 PM:

I worked in a 5 plex in the central west NSW (Australia) town of Dubbo and it had a cry room in one cinema. The complex was not very old either. It was very popular but also caused problems with other people trying to get in there to misbehave. Many cinema chains in Australia have mothers sessions more as a community service. Some of the locations I have worked at gave up as they were often getting no babies along and having more "general public" people arriving to that session.

Posted by Robert John Jeromson (Member # 2559) on 08-01-2006, 04:13 PM:

We run this type of session on a weekly basis, first thing on a Wednesday morning and always using first run product (Dupree this week). Our "Spit the Dummy" sessions are gearing towards "parents" not just mothers, they do reasonabley well (by comparison to other Wednesday morning product anyway). We are however restricted to the types of films we show as New Zealand classification laws won't permit children to anything rated above an M.