Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Regal Announces Admission Prices To Rise 3% to 4%

This is topic Regal Announces Admission Prices To Rise 3% to 4% in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=002677

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 05-23-2013, 01:33 PM:

Press Release

quote: Deadline.com

CEO Amy Miles seems confident that consumers will continue to flock to theaters, even with the higher admission costs. “Sometimes we joke and say we are an industry that has been dying for the past 50 years,” she told investors today at Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference. But “as long as we continue to provide that great, affordable out-of-home experience…people are going to continue to go to the movies.” What’s “affordable” is in the eye of the beholder: Regal CFO David Ownby told the group that his company’s ticket prices for 2D movies “will go up in that 3% to 4% range” that’s been the pattern over the last few years. He notes that for IMAX movies Regal adds as much as $6.50 to the price of the basic 2D ticket. The chain’s own RPX large-screen venues have as much as a $5.00 upcharge while regular 3D films cost about $3.50 more than conventional 2D. This year’s potential blockbusters should help the cause.“When you start with Iron Man 3 a couple of weekends ago and you just look at the film slate over the balance of the summer, it’s hard not to get excited about what’s to come,” Miles says. “And it doesn’t stop when the summer” is over. Indeed, Ownby says that for the end of 2013 “we again have a film slate that I think stacks up pretty well” against the strong releases from the last quarter of 2012. On other matters the execs said that they continue to see opportunities to acquire theaters. And they’ve yet to see a significant change at AMC Entertainment since last year when it was acquired by China’s Wanda Group. “We’re partnered a lot with AMC, and we have a lot of ventures where we work together and we can say from that perspective it seems to us that it’s business as usual,” Miles says.

To a certain point, they are correct, people will pay whatever they need to if they want to see it badly enough. What they seem to be missing is people will skip going out for those films that they might like to have seen, but not a must see.

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 05-23-2013, 05:52 PM:

What's the big deal? 3-4% is what ... 25-50 cents on a regular admission?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-23-2013, 06:26 PM:

I never can understand why every other thing on the earth is allowed to increase in price and not make headlines, but if movie tickets go up ... HOLY CRAP THE SKY IS FALLING I WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE ANY MORE MOVIES IF THIS KEEPS UP!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-23-2013, 06:28 PM:

Adam's right on the calculation. The Reg down the street from me has $11 evening price and 3 and 4% would lead to an increase of $0.33 and $0.44, which either way would be rounded to $0.50 to make the box office easier to manage...

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-23-2013, 11:28 PM:

Regal will raise the prices and every other chain will follow. This really isn't news as it's been happening in the industry a lot over the last 15 years or so. I would love to see a ticket price of $11.46 or something like that. I would love seeing the box office cashiers deal with pennies. It would be worth the extra cost. And you just KNOW that when they make change they'll hand you the bills first and put the coins on top of the bills which ensures they slide down to the ground.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-24-2013, 05:32 AM:

Mike...do you mean like the computer industry where things tend to get cheaper with time (in both real costs as well as dollar amount for essentially the same item or one that is even more capable)?

One reason movie theatres are targeted is that they are typically held up as the "cheap entertainment". They are used as that bottom bar of going out.

An issue with theatre is that they really do have to compete with the home. Like it or not, people now really do look at movies as ones that will see in theatres and others will be "wait until home video." As movie ticket prices go up, the threshold for seeing in the theatre gets higher.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-24-2013, 11:56 AM:

OK, you got me on computer related stuff. Although there are certain aspects of THAT world that are ridiculously priced (if you do the math on printer ink, for one example, it hovers around $3500 a gallon) and you never see any hand-wringing headlines about that.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-24-2013, 09:42 PM:

Actually, I don't know of anyone that things toner/ink prices are reasonable (nor are replacement batteries for drills and such). Hence there is a huge market for after-market ink, toner, batteries.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-24-2013, 09:46 PM:

We can even go far as Campbell's Chicken Noodle and Chunky Soups in general ... the cost per pound of the meat per each can - serious profit margin here for Campbells.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-25-2013, 05:40 AM:

How about P-touch replacement cassettes?

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-25-2013, 10:04 AM:

Joe--as a customer, I would hate that. Actually, if I owned a theatre, I would set prices to end in $.50 so that I could give change in half-dollars. Or set them so that I could easily give change in $2 bills. It sounds stupid, but customers eat that stuff up and remember business that do that sort of thing.

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 05-25-2013, 11:48 AM:

The thing about the computer/electronics industry is that as integrated circuit technology progresses, the components on the silicon wafers get smaller and the yield goes up. Therefore, the cost to produce the ICs keeps going down.

In most other industries (including movie theatres), costs to provide products and services go up over time. Don't forget, most (if not all) leases have rent increases over time and for certain the the taxes and CAM charge share of the lease goes up every year. Also, payroll cost continues to increase somewhat as well.

Unless the studios lowered the film rental percentage (which is about as likely as me discovering cold fusion tomorrow) theatres will have to increase ticket costs slightly over time.

10 years ago, if I went to a casual dining (Fridays, Olive Garden) restaurant with my wife, our meal including tip would always be about $30. Now it ends up $36 or so. That's around 2% a year increase.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 05-25-2013, 12:55 PM:

All of my prices, including sales tax, end up in even fifty-cent or dollar amounts. My prices are posted as "sales taxes included", as well.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-25-2013, 08:07 PM:

quote: Scott Norwood
I would set prices to end in $.50 so that I could give change in half-dollars. Or set them so that I could easily give change in $2 bills. It sounds stupid, but customers eat that stuff up and remember business that do that sort of thing.

That's for sure. We have an antique change holder that has a slot for 50 cent coins so we give them for change. People LOVE it. I think we're the only business in town that uses them.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 05-25-2013, 11:06 PM:

Do other businesses in your town accept them? I imagine you might get the occasional customer who flips out because he thinks he can't spend them.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 05-26-2013, 01:04 PM:

I can't recall the last time I had a 50 cent coin come through at my theater. They could have easily done so when I wasn't there.
In the early 80s, when admission was $3.50 for adults and $1.50 for children, the Winchester Twin doled out 50 cent coins for change at box office. The cashier had a roll of them on the counter.
That may have been the last time I've seen a roll of 50 cent coins...

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 05-26-2013, 06:04 PM:

I really liked the Kennedy half-dollar. As coins go...it had the right combination of size/weight (for what it was/is) and the look of it was good too. You wouldn't really want a pocket of them but you don't really want a wallet full of $1 either.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-26-2013, 09:22 PM:

Joe: I've never heard of any stores not taking them. We do get the occasional person who doesn't want to take them because they don't fit into a vending machine but most people love them.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 05-27-2013, 02:35 PM:

Two weeks ago or so, I had a guest come in and pay for a ticket entirely with Kennedy half-dollars. Every chance I got to give one back to another guest as change, I did, until they were all gone. At the end of the night, as I was doing the closing drops, I noticed not a single one was used at the snack bar.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-27-2013, 06:29 PM:

On a busy weekend we'll go through up to six rolls or more of them but it's rare that we get more than a couple back at the concession.

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 05-28-2013, 02:28 AM:

[quote: Joe] And you just KNOW that when they make change they'll hand you the bills first and put the coins on top of the bills which ensures they slide down to the ground. [/quote]

I laughed out loud! I do this when working box office. But in my defense, I don't 'release' the pile until the dazed customer actually realizes they have to actively take something. It's very rare that it spills onto the ground, and when it does, it's typically a 15 year old boy who just leaves it on the ground anyways... Haha

Overall it's quite a bit quicker. Not saying speed is everything, but with a vestibule that's not climate controlled, they just want to gtfo.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 05-28-2013, 02:42 AM:

How could it be "quicker"? When taking change out of the cash drawer, you always count it up and not down, so you take the smallest denominations out of the drawer first.

I remember being taught how to make change in elementary school, way back when, but that's apparently a lost skill today since I've never yet hired a concession person to work here that I didn't have to teach the proper way to make change.

NEVER SUBTRACT. Always count up. I can always tell if someone is trying to subtract when making change since they take the larger denominations out of the drawer first.

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 05-28-2013, 06:07 AM:

The problem with making change today is that the computer/cash register tells the operator what the proper amount should be. The operator then takes the prescribed change from the drawer in the order it is displayed, bills first, coins last.

Teaching the art of "counting back" has been lost to the digital equipment age. "Your purchase was $4.75 from $5.00 and your change is $4.75 (handing back $.25) and $.25 makes $5.00. Thank You.

Placing the customer's large bill on the cash drawer rather than feeding it into the proper bin also eliminates the scam of receiving a $10.00 bill and the patron asking for change from the $20.00 allegedly given to you.

While in Germany, I noticed that all of the clerks that helped us did count the money back to us even though the amount was clearly displayed on the cash register screen.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 05-28-2013, 06:18 AM:

As a customer, I don't really care how the cashier makes change, as long as he does it correctly. An understanding of basic math is kind of important, though. I hate pennies and will often give a cashier, say, $4.02 when the total $3.97 and, most of the time, the cashier will become totally confused, even though the cash register is right there to indicate thta I should get $.05 in change.

Agreed with the comment above about not handing back coins and bills at the same time. Always give the customer his coins first, and then his bills.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 05-28-2013, 08:30 PM:

quote: Frank Cox
I can always tell if someone is trying to subtract when making change since they take the larger denominations out of the drawer first.

The computer did the subtraction for them.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 05-28-2013, 09:46 PM:

No computers here. Just cash drawers.

Anyone working here needs to be able to add and make change.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 05-28-2013, 10:37 PM:

We use computers, but our employees are trained to count change back. I don't like them to say "$4.50 is your change" and just hand the cash back in a pile, unless we are really busy. We like them to count it to the customer in most cases.

The first and easiest step in bringing back this long-dead tradition to any 21st century business is to disable the "amount tendered" function on your computer, cash register or whatever. In RTS this can be done by simply deleting the "tender" button from the register layout and replacing it with just a total button (or sometimes called "exact change.")

The bigger challenge is weaning the employees off of the amount-tendered method. Modern teenagers might sometimes seem stupid (considering some of their piercings, tattoos and fashion choices it's not surprising) but we have never had one yet who can't be trained to count change. When you show them that you basically count it to yourself as you're pulling the coins, then bills, out of the drawer, after a few tries they marvel at how simple it is. It's just like counting on your fingers, one girl told me. We have the kids practice making change with each other. In most cases they can master it in about 10 minutes.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 05-29-2013, 12:30 PM:

Every now and again I will order thru my bank a few hundred dollars in $2 bills, and spend them everywhere. I only once had a problem, where the teenage cashier did not know that $2 bills were real currency, and called a manager to verify that she could take them.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 05-29-2013, 08:43 PM:

Along similar lines, I once had a $5 silver certificate that I brought to the bank and the cashiers felt the need to call the local headquarters to make sure it was real US Currency. My cashier decided to "buy" the bill because she thought it was so odd.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 06-12-2013, 04:24 PM:

The cost of movie tickets have gone up about .25 cents per summer for the last 25 years I have been in this business. This is definately NOT news.

Sometimes, Regal likes to pull the 'ole raise the prices right before the winter too. So sometimes, they have been known to raise their prices .50 cents to .75 cents in one year.

You ever notice that when they raise their concession prices- that ain't news?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 06-12-2013, 08:52 PM:

Hmmm, I've been here 34 years...adult tickets were selling at 2.75 when we bought the place, so at 25¢ a year that means we SHOULD be getting $11.25 now instead of the paltry $7.25 we are charging.

To be fair, we did just raise the concession prices but our tickets have been the same since 2009 (before we switched to digital). I am probably overdue for an increase, admittedly.

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 06-13-2013, 12:24 AM:

I use those Regal 6.50 discount tickets whose prices have not gone up as much as the full ticket value. Maybe as a percentage, they are comparable in increase. I rarely ever pay full price for a movie ticket.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 06-13-2013, 03:16 AM:

quote: Pravin Ratnam
I rarely ever pay full price for a movie ticket.

After having just put 1/4 million + into my projection booth, I'd have no problem paying myself the $9 I charge to watch a movie here.

Still, it's an interesting fact of human nature. I'd get complaints if I charged $5... and it's a double feature.

[Roll Eyes]