April 3, 2016  | Julia Becerra

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES!   But before we do, let’s answer two questions:

• Is it going to the movies still a glamorous invitation?
• Would you go the movies more often if the ticket prices dropped dramatically?

As the Tribeca film festival (https://tribecafilm.com/) is approaching, I saw my nephew acting surprised when checking for the ticket prices: Evening tickets starting at $20!

“What?” He said.  “I have paid $15 dollar for a ticket but $20?”

“Probably the law of supply and demand” I commented.  And then we went into a whole discussion about how this is a film festival and there are movies that would be playing there and only for a few days etc. But nothing convinced him.  His argument was strong. “So that means that if I go to the theater for a movie that has been playing already for 3 or 6 weeks the price of the ticket would be cheaper?”.

The truth is that it’s not the case.  On various weekends, I have recently gone to see good movies even Oscar winning ones, just to find quarter empty or half empty theaters; of course the price of the entrance ticket was the same.

I have done the same on a weeknight, and the theater has been so empty that it almost feels as if you are watching it in your den.  Your ticket cost? The same.

There have been times where I have gone when a movie had just opened; I had to stand in a long line to get a ticket, and I was barely able to get a seat in the third row; the price for this hot ticket? The same.

This did not help much for my argument with my nephew.  Although the Tribeca film festival does fit better on the way the American economy works, it does not fit in the way the Hollywood industry works these days.

Perhaps Tribeca Film Festival is a good model for the Theater industry to follow; to bring in the laws of supply and demand.   Prices lower for those times where there is less demand and regular baseline prices ($9 to $15) to stay in for the rest of the time.  These changes have been long overdue, and some theaters had started to implement them.  There are a few theaters now that have implemented “Super Tuesday’s “not for primary voters but for moviegoers that watch their wallets.

A tough job for the industry would be putting different prices on different movies.  Just imagine if a theater cut the price of a movie on its opening weekend or shortly after, it would turn off the audience and offend the studio. So perhaps the simple law of supply and demand seems to be the fastest effective way to go.

There are some other recent attempts to motivate people to go the theaters: offering ‘special price for group sales’ ; there are actually a couple of Smartphone apps for it. We still don’t know how effective they would be.

It is true that the theaters make their money out of the pricey popcorn and other drinks, but wouldn’t more people attending imply more popcorn sales as well?

Also there is the part of it that has to do with comfort and glamour.  Theaters need to be renovated to be more comfortable and to serve and handle food in a more entertaining way.   Last year I was in a movie theater in South America, where for a few extra dollars you could get a spacious reserved seat with extended leg option and delicious food and drinks (including a good Cappuccino) served to your seat by friendly waiters.  That really made going to the movies a fun and glamorous treat.

The theater industry has been late to compete with the not-so-new anymore landscape of DVD’s, UHD TV’s, NETFLIX,  Movies on Demand, etc.  Family night at the movies, or the famous “Dinner and a Movie” dating program, has become perhaps an exception instead of a rule within the rituals of American life.

Any new ticket-pricing system along with a reinvention of the movie-going program may have its flaws and critics; there would be an additional logistics needed for implementing the system, but it is totally needed and required for the film industry; otherwise the moviegoing thing may become a thing of the past.

A good question to ask is : do people stopped going to the movies because they don’t want o spend so much for it, or because going to the movies is no longer an attractive activity  to spend the time in.

So is it still glamorous to be invited to go to the movies? Well it all depends.. Is it to go to the Tribeca Film festival? Then it certainly is.   Is it to go to a “Super Tuesday” show? Then , not so much.   Then again, there is the element of the company and of course of the comfort of the theater.

See you at the movies!

 

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