Film Journal March 2018

From the Editor’s Desk
In Focus
Learning About Young Moviegoers
Ticketing Evolution
Recently, the International Cinema Technology
Association held a business session in Los Angeles as part
of their annual program, the L.A. Seminar Series, at the
Universal Hilton Hotel. The program usually attracts 200
to 250 attendees and is geared primarily to the technology
community of the motion picture industry. However, in the
past five years the programming has broadened its focus and
is now attracting film studios and theatrical exhibition.
One program that attracted attention and was favorably
received was a panel of students including a high-school
senior, film students and a 16-year-old student from Europe.
Most of the panel members were between 16 and 23 and
their comments were intriguing. Bear in mind that some of
the findings below are skewed, because each panelist enjoys
going to the movies and has little income and few spare
dollars for entertainment.
▶ Social media is most important in picking out a movie
to attend. Trailers are second, followed by YouTube and peer
recommendations.
▶ The quality of the cinema is important, depending on
the ticket cost. One individual said she would rather see a $5
movie in a plastic chair than a $15 movie in a luxury recliner.
▶ Food service is not important, but the theatre does
serve as a meeting place to network with friends.
▶ Tickets must be affordable for them to consider going
to the movies.
▶ Surprisingly, this group was not in favor of reserved
seating. They indicated that finding a seat is part of the film
experience.
▶ Most were not big fans of the pre-show and definitely
liked seeing trailers better.
▶ The panelists like going to the movies with friends
and are not fans of going alone.
▶ Price is most important for tickets and concessions.
▶ As a group, they thought MoviePass is the best deal
ever.
▶ 3D doesn’t make a difference, but all loved the 3D
in Avatar.
▶ This group was not interested in theatre service. They
just want to see the movie.
▶ All but one watches pirated movies but said they
would not do so if movies were cheaper.
▶ Several subscribe to Netflix but indicated that if they
could not find the movie, they would pirate it.
The session was eye-opening. But it would have been
even more productive if a few different age groups had been
represented, along with at least one person who does not go
the movies.
The traditional movie theatre box office hasn’t gone away,
but in recent years the industry has seen more and more alternatives
to longstanding face-to-face ticket sales. The ubiquity
of smartphones, the lure of the web, and the public’s comfort
with online transactions have all been factors in the growth of
Internet and mobile movie-ticket purchases. Still, online ticketing
accounts for only 25 percent of overall movie-ticket buys in
North America, compared to a massive 80 percent in China.
But the percentage is growing each year, spurred most
of all by the rise of luxury recliner seating in cinemas and the
public’s urge to reserve those extra-comfy and roomy chairs.
As Joel Davis, VP and chief operating officer at Premiere Cinema
Corp., explains in our FJI exhibitor survey in this issue,
“Patrons are quickly accepting the reserved model due to the
wide acceptance of recliners. It’s the law of supply versus demand,
due to the loss in chair inventory. It created a greater
occupancy and a higher revenue stream for advance tickets
that did not exist before.” Davis reports that since Premiere
converted to recliner seating, his advanced reserved-seating
sales have at least doubled.
No doubt about it, the movie-ticket landscape is changing.
Fandango recently acquired MovieTickets.com, expanding its
reach to all 40,000 screens across the U.S. Today’s Fandango
is much more than just a ticketing platform; it’s also a source
for information and trailers to encourage “movie discovery,”
in the company’s words. Fandango has also integrated its
ticketing into Apple’s Messages and Facebook’s Messenger
platforms, making group outings easier to coordinate. That
kind of social-media planning is also the raison d’être of Atom
Tickets, a growing app that streamlines the process of planning
a night out at the movies with friends.
Dynamic pricing is another hot trend. In this issue, Andreas
Fuchs talks with Claas Eimer, commercial director of German
circuit UCI Kinowelt, which recently announced it is deploying
Smart Pricer’s airfare-style pricing software in all 23 of its locations
(totaling 203 screens). Leading U.S. circuit Regal Entertainment
Group is also exploring the concept. And just before press
time, Missouri-based circuit B&B Theatres announced a new arrangement
with Dealflicks under which a varied amount of ticket
and concession deals will be available for movies on certain days.
Availability and prices will differ depending on time of day, day of
week, seat availability and other factors.
And let’s not forget the boldest experiment of all: Movie-
Pass, which just lowered its monthly fee from $9.95 to $7.95, if
paid as a yearly subscription bundled with the Fandor streaming
service. Some theatre circuits are embracing the scheme,
which gives the public unlimited access to movies, and others
like AMC Theatres are fighting it. Whatever the ultimate outcome,
this is no longer your parents’ ticketing world.
MARCH 2018 / FILMJOURNAL.COM 3
003-006.indd 3
2/12/18 3:34 PM