Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Do you charge for babies?

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-04-2006, 03:23 PM:

...We currently let anyone under age 3 in free, but I'm wondering about others. My wife thinks we should charge for EVERYONE even if they're 1 day old, since babies cause such disruption. I'm thinking of compromising by lowering the age to 2.

What is your policy on this?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 12-04-2006, 03:29 PM:

If there big enough to occupy a seat, they pay. If they are small enough to require them to be held by mothers/fathers, they are free.

Posted by Mike Spaeth (Member # 524) on 12-04-2006, 03:59 PM:

Child 2-11

Cinemark charges at 1 for that very reason - they do not wish to encourage the bringing of children that small to the theatre.

Posted by Ron Curran (Member # 3631) on 12-04-2006, 05:41 PM:

That free child can disturb a whole audience and add to their reasons to give up cinema visits in favour of home theatre. Good value!
Parents of littlies become ferocious when they are asked to pay for them to see a kids’ film. “No other theatre charges,” they insist.
You have to stand up to a lot of abuse to enforce the policy of charging for 2 and up.
We do explain that, in case of emergency, it is our duty to account for every body and every body must have a ticket.
Babes in arms are an exception because they remain attached to the parent.
We do request that any upset child must be taken out to the foyer.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 12-04-2006, 07:15 PM:

If they can walk or talk they pay. It amazing me how many parents will try to get their kids in for free to a Disney or any other animated film.

Posted by Christopher Crouch (Member # 3784) on 12-04-2006, 08:27 PM:

The theatres I've worked at have tried to go with 2 and up. Of course, enforcing this has often proved problematic. Parents tend to automatically omit small children from ticket purchases, claim the child is under the required ticket age, and/or try saying the child will sit on their lap.

I've always been amazed by how many parents are angered with having to pay for their small children; especially when they are attending a childrens' film (ie. they don't want to pay for the very individuals that are the reason they are attending the film in question).

Posted by John T. Hendrickson, Jr (Member # 849) on 12-04-2006, 08:29 PM:

Infants are charged at the child price, for the disruption reasons previously cited. Everyone needs a ticket to get past the ticket taker- no exceptions. The "they'll sit on my lap" doesn't cut it.

Listen to your wife, Mike. [Wink]

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 12-05-2006, 11:55 AM:

We let children 3 and under (or is it 2 and under? I don't work box much and don't remember) in for free, of course since I work for a major chain, you know that's company policy rather than a house rule. Oh well, we don't seem to have a problem with it though, si it's one I won't complain about.

Posted by Chad M Calpito (Member # 3736) on 12-05-2006, 12:29 PM:

For us, it's 2 and under that get in free. Other than that, the parents have to pay the child's price. No exceptions! Of course, luckily, I haven't worked box office since June, so I don't have to deal with the upset parents who don't want to pay the child's price since I am now working booth 100% of the time.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 12-05-2006, 02:32 PM:

For the outdoor cinema we do 4 and under free. it's a big part of our business..families who can't afford (or don't want to subject others) to have their kids at a hard top.

We welcome them...but they can make a lot of noise and still not disturb the others too much.

If it's a big issue, why not advertise a matinee per weekend as kids 6 and under free? They'd most likely come to that and leave the other shows free of little 'uns making noise.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 12-05-2006, 02:59 PM:

No, we give them away free. [Smile]

Seriously, I've seen several cinemas recently that have special 'Babes in arms' shows, usually up to one year old.

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 12-05-2006, 05:20 PM:

The mother and baby screenings are becoming more common in the UK. Some distinguish between babes in arms and toddlers. I think that most put the sound down and have half lights on for the feature.

The chain I worked for had a policy that if the parent wanted a separate seat for their child they had to pay for it.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-05-2006, 06:26 PM:

quote: Stephen Furley
No, we give them away free.

Yeah yeah yeah, I thought about that after I posted it but figured someone would make that joke, so decided to leave it. I'm just surprised it took this long! [Big Grin]

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 12-05-2006, 10:18 PM:

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan
The mother and baby screenings are becoming more common in the UK. Some distinguish between babes in arms and toddlers.

Dejavu, the feeling you've read this thread before.

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 12-05-2006, 10:38 PM:

Were 2 and under is free.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 12-06-2006, 07:36 AM:

Do you charge for babies?

Yes, and we charge extra for buttered babies...

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 12-06-2006, 11:55 AM:

Naw, butter is complimentary here. The new theatre that opened up here has self serve butter, so you can more easily control how much butter you put on your baby. But ours is full service, meaning, we do it for you. However have comp. salt, so you can powder your baby when needed, it is self serve.

[ 12-12-2006, 03:28 AM: Message edited by: Charles Greenlee ]

Posted by Christopher Neill (Member # 3745) on 12-10-2006, 12:41 PM:

While kids under 6 are not generally admitted, when they are, we usually dont charge for them

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 12-10-2006, 03:48 PM:

FWIW, at the drive-ins around Central Kentucky where I grew up, it was always kids 12 and under admitted free.

The indoors had child's prices for 12 and under, but I don't know what the cutoff age was for free admission, if any. Probably, they just figured on counting the toddlers, I'd say.

Over 12, was full price.

Posted by Ian Bailey (Member # 1752) on 12-11-2006, 05:52 AM:

We let 3 & under in for free but let the parent know that the child is not to take a seat.
I suppose a better approach could be not to have any free tickets for kids movies.
That could stop a lot of hassle.....it's easy...No Free Tickets!!
Cheers Ian

Posted by David Graves (Member # 4069) on 12-16-2006, 12:15 AM:

We specialize in foreign films, so our policy is strict-

-All babies require a ticket.
-No children under 12 after 6 for R or unrated films, babies included
-No child's discount for any film after 6pm, again including babies

For every person that complains, we get thank yous from at least 2 or 3. We haven't had a problem with a crying baby in months- it's heaven.

Posted by DeeAnn Little (Member # 4040) on 12-16-2006, 04:23 PM:

We had an additional problem when I was working at the dollar house. Sometimes an adult would buy tickets for both them and one or more kids and go in with them, then the adult would later leave to go shopping (or something) and the kids were left in the theatre. We were cheaper than a real babysitter, and what were we going to do if the parent/adult in charge didn't pick them up after the showing, kick them out? Some of them left their kids there all day. Or they'd put an older one in "charge" of the younger one(s) who'd then leave to go to the nearby arcade. It was worse on weekends and during the summer.

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 12-17-2006, 09:06 PM:

If it's human and alive we require a ticket. Even at $2 it minimizes the number of bawling brats that the other patrons have to hear. We have two signs in boxoffice window to that effect.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 12-17-2006, 10:21 PM:

quote: Tim Reed
FWIW, at the drive-ins around Central Kentucky where I grew up, it was always kids 12 and under admitted free.

When I was just a kid I remember drive in movie theaters charging admission by the car load. Our family of four watched Jaws at the Crest Drive-In in Yuma, AZ in 1975 for just $2 for the whole car load. Now that's a bargain!

Posted by Jeff Logan (Member # 1163) on 12-17-2006, 10:48 PM:

Hi Mike, I agree with your wife. For over 40 years we had a kids under 3 free policy. We just changed a few months ago. We now charge for all ages. We explain that by contract, we must charge for every seat. "Everyone who takes a seat, must have a ticket."
The real reason is that with modern, smaller auditoriums we were often filling up on Disney and family movies and turning away paying customers. The computer would show around 30 seats still available. Most of those were those seats were really free "babies." Parents would even bring in a car carrier to sit on a seat for their child (yes, we have Booster seats) and still expect to get them in free.
We had a few complaints but those were invariably from the slob and cheapskate parents who didn't supervise their toddlers and who wouldn't remove their crying babies until we asked.
We now are able to sell almost every seat and turn away fewer people due to full houses. The auditoriums are quieter because the few families we might have lost were the ones who drove away everyone else.
Like someone said earlier, family and Disney movies are aimed at children. Why should we give the product that's made for children to children for free?
I recommend to drop a minimum age for charging for kids as soon as possible. It's worked well for us.
Think of it the same way as a live theatre with reserved seats; no one asks for a free reserved seat ticket for their young child at a concert or play. Why do they when attending a movie theatre? All you have to sell is seats, you can't afford to give them away to the target market.
It was good to see you at the Rocky Mountain convention.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 12-18-2006, 10:16 AM:

quote:
We had an additional problem when I was working at the dollar house. Sometimes an adult would buy tickets for both them and one or more kids and go in with them, then the adult would later leave to go shopping... Some of them left their kids there all day.

We had a pretty good fix for that. First, we posted signs at the boxoffice... something like "Children under 12 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian, who must sit with them". If our staff discovered something like what DeeAnn described, we'd just bring them out to the lobby and have them sit on a bench until their parent came by... no movie, no popcorn, no video games... just sit.

We found that there were a lot fewer parents doing this than we thought... and the problem went away pretty quickly.