The best TV show bar none is CBS’s Sunday Morning, an hour and a half of interesting content that informs, entertains, and engages the viewer with thoughtful, well-written commentary on a wide range of topics. Today’s theme was The Oscars, from obscurity to current predictions, beginning with a history lesson that was different from the usual historical context. The first motion picture to win an Oscar for Best Picture? A silent film about dogfights during the Big One, WWI. While the film played to packed houses, the sound tract was a phonograph recording of appropriate music and “war” sounds. But the real story is that the producer, a former fighter pilot himself, demanded realism, so he taught the actors to fly the planes and mounted a camera onto the front end for realism. Yeah, a couple of pilots died during the filming, but the movie was a hit for decades and the dogfight scenes were studied for choreographing fight scenes in the Tom Cruise film Top Gun!
The morning's discussion also questioned whether movie theaters can continue to operate as viewership (drastically) declines. Going to the movies used to be the most popular form of entertainment, and very affordable, but with today’s home theaters and big screens, as well as fast, easy and cheap movie rentals, people stay home and save the cost of a night out that currently includes $4.00/gal gas, $8.00 tickets even for the worst films, and an easy $15.00 at the refreshment stand for products that may cost as much as a dollar to pop and fizz! Oh, and don't forget the young people who earn $10/hour to ask, "Uh, do ya want butter?"
This conversation started me thinking about my own movie experiences because I love watching the films in a nicely darkened theater, on a really big screen, surrounded with Dolby sound system speakers. I know there won’t be interruptions, such as the neighbor ringing the doorbell, the phone summoning me, or the dogs barking loudly and long enough to wake the dead. I also know I can crunch popcorn in peace because it’s part of the experience, but if I make popcorn at home, somehow it seems like I'm just another couch potato who is eating junk food. Go figure.
Then the thought came to me: going to the movies should be more efficient, more like fast food service. Let’s say the theater schedules a Family Fun Nite, with “family pricing” that includes the typical family of four: tickets, popcorn and a medium soda for $25.00. No upselling; no surprises. Additionally, put an app on the smart phone so the family can purchase the “package deal” and save waiting in line to buy tickets by entering the theater through a specially-designated doorway, which also has the “special” family snack pack waiting for pick-up. The price is right, the service is efficient, and the emphasis is on something affordable and fun for the family.
What bugs me is how expensive it is per person to walk through the door – and I’m a single paying the $7.50 “senior” price, then another $6.00 for a special “senior snack pack” that includes a small popcorn and a small drink. Offer seniors the same deal for $10 and you’ll pack the theater weekly with lots of older folks who don’t have the $13.50 in their pockets (or $27.00 for two) more than once a month.
Take the idea to chick flicks with a Margarita Matinee for “the girls,” featuring non-alcoholic girlie drinks and an appropriate snack (veggies, fruit, or crackers/cheese) packaged with the ticket for $12.00. Include the guys with a Beer 'n Brat Bash, featuring a man’s movie, non-alcoholic beer and a brat with limited fixings. Encourage purchase ahead of arrival, check-in via the smart phone, package the refreshments, and voila: going to the movie becomes both efficient and cost effective.
Date night? Uh, I'm a bit rusty here, but some kind of "twofer" that includes faux champagne and chocolates, as well as a warm romantic feature film? Again, one price, one check-in, one romantic film experience and the opportunity once a week, rather than once in a blue moon!
First come; first served. When the seats are filled, shut the door and everyone who didn't take advantage of the "night out" feature pays full price, waits through endless lines, and wishes s/he had joined the crowds having fun in the other theater!
If theaters want to compete, they have to become competitive: they no longer have the luxury to believe that if people wind through endless lines to purchase an $8 ticket, then wait in line again for the ticket to be torn, and then stand in yet another line to buy refreshments, they will better appreciate the theater experience and keep coming back. Here’s a news flash: it isn’t working now and it isn’t going to work until changes are made that benefit the movie-goer, NOT the theater owner.
Can’t hurt to create innovative ways to fill up the seats and keep the doors open so today's generation can share the Big Screen Experience with their grandkids someday.
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What irritates me is that we have to put up with commercials now, too. Those were originally introduced "to keep costs down," yet the costs continue to creep up and up AND we have to watch commercials.
Our theater has a "cheap" night where every ticket is $8, instead of the usual $11. On Tuesdays, you have to get there really early, because nearly ever show is full. If I were a theater owner, I'd look at that and say, "Gee, if I were to change my prices to $8 all the time, I'd have nearly full theaters most of the time and would make up the difference in volume." But theater owners just don't think that way.
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