ALTERNATIVE CONTENT THEATERS ON DEMAND START-UP TUGG LETS MOVIEGOERS KICKSTART SCREENINGS by Annlee Ellingson Who determines which movies play at the neighborhood movie theater this weekend? Ideally, it’s the exhibitors themselves, local managers who screen movies in advance and curate their selection to please their surrounding demographic. More likely, it’s an executive who oversees several theaters in your region, if not throughout the country, blanketing auditoriums with the blockbusters with the broadest appeal. And although block booking was outlawed in 1948, it could also be a major distributor who bundles less attractive titles with sought-after tentpoles through creative pricing. The one player missing from this equation? The audience. What if movie-lovers with ticket money clenched in their hands could book a movie at your local moviehouse? With Tugg, they can. ■ Dubbed “theatrical on demand,” Tugg’s concept allows users, called “promoters,” to log on to www.tugg.com and select a program from 650- plus titles. Then they indicate the date they would like their event to take place and choose a local theater. (With deals with major chains including AMC, Cinemark, Rave and Regal, the Tugg network is composed of more than 75 percent of U.S. theaters). It’s up to the promoters to tout the event and get people to buy tickets in advance. If enough tickets are sold within a certain timeframe, Tugg schedules the screening; if not, ticket buyers get their money back. “Over the past many years, as a lot of other technologies have matured, obviously online, the ease with which people can find content they want to see when they want to see it [has increased],” says Tugg co-founder and CEO Nicolas Gonda, who has worked in distribution and as a producer for Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life, the upcoming To the Wonder), himself a Tugg board member. “There’s also been a growing trend of crowdsourcing, whether it’s something like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. … In a day and age where crowdsourcing of all kinds is so present, the movie theater is one of the most obvious destinations because it exists in almost every community, and it is intended for social assembly, for these shared experiences.” Just a few months into operation—the startup launched in March at South by Southwest—Tugg has facilitated the exhibition of all kinds of content, from repertory titles that allow moviegoers to relive their favorite movie theater experiences from classic crowd-pleasers to discussion-stirring documentaries to independent films that wouldn’t otherwise ever reach some smaller communities. Hosting these screenings is a win-win for exhibitors. “Most movie theaters, even really successful movie theaters, always have a little bit of excess inventory midweek,” says Tim League, founder and CEO of TUGG’S TITLES INCLUDE DOCUMENTARIES (AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE), CLASSICS (THE APARTMENT), ANIMATION (A CAT IN PARIS), INTERNATIONAL (DAS BOOT) AND RECENT HITS (CHRONICLE) Alamo Drafthouse, which has screened several dozen Tugg events. “What Tugg does without a huge amount of effort, it enables the theater to find programming for those slots and find a guaranteed audience for those slots. The show doesn’t go on unless it’s going to be a successful event for all parties involved, so it’s a fairly elegant solution.” Once the costs of the event are covered through minimum ticket sales, each of the participants—Tugg, the theater, the content owner and the promoter—get a cut of revenues. But more than supporting the bottom line, Gonda adds, Tugg screenings help theaters fulfill their role in the community. “The goal of most theater managers and most theater chains is for people to consider the movie theater an extension of their own community, reflecting the interests of that local community. I haven’t met one theater owner whose goal that isn’t,” he says. “Through Tugg, that becomes a daily ritual.” It’s not the case, though, of build-it-and-theywill-come. “A lot of people think, ‘Hey, this is a great movie! If I show it, people will come,’” says League. “That’s just not the reality for any side of the business, so you really have to do the hard work of promoting and advertising and leveraging your friends and building excitement and enthusiasm.” A good promoter, League adds, will offer added value like introductions and Q&As, stunts and games, and giveaways that enhance the experience. “Most people have profound memories of a movie theater when it projected something meaningful to them,” Gonda says. “Now we’re in a day and age where that can become a regular thing, a regular event where people can consider the movie theater to be a true reflection of their interests. And so with that capability, we’re very confident that we’re just at a dawn of a new era of moviegoing.” 32 BOXOFFICE PRO OCTOBER <strong>2012</strong>
CHRISTOPHER KIRBY AND JULIA DIETZE IN ONE OF TUGG’S MOST POPULAR OFFERINGS, THE DARK SCI-FI COMEDY IRON SKY OCTOBER <strong>2012</strong> BOXOFFICE PRO 33
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