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Author Topic: Differential Ticket Pricing Michael Wilkinson The Entertainment King of Colusa and Beyond Posts: 89 From: Colusa, CA USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-20-2007 01:19 AM                        I am opening a second location and am considering experimenting with a higher Friday & Saturday evening ticket price and a lesser Sunday through Thursday ticket price. The theatre is located in San Francisco and my proposed evening pricing would be $10 on Friday & Saturday nights and $8.50 on Sunday through Thursday nights. I know that there are many schools of thought here and am curious to know if anyone else does something similar (I know that Cinemark does a 25-50cent variation) and if so has there been a substantial improvement of weeknight attendance or improved uniformity in attendance over the course of the entire week. Also from a movie goer perspective, would such a discount encourage some, who would otherwise not be concerned as to what day of the week he or she attended the film to come on a less expensive night? Any perspective would be appreciated! Thanks, Mike  |  IP: Logged Thomas Pitt Master Film Handler Posts: 266 From: Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: May 2007 posted 08-20-2007 01:44 AM                     I know that in this country, the Vue cinema chain has two 'tiers' of pricing. The lower tier applies during the day on weekdays, while the higher tier applies on weekday evenings, and all day weekends. Example: Vue Leeds Light: Lower tier adult ticket: £5.45 Higher tier adult ticket £6.25 In addition, ticket prices seem to be set differently depending on where in the country a cinema is located. It seems that cinemas in popular areas (big cities and tourist attractions) are priced the highest, getting cheaper in less popular areas. Again, a lower-tier adult ticket price comparison: London West End: £11.75 Oxford: £5.99 Birmingham: £5.70 Manchester: £5.00 Having higher prices when more people are likely to attend (evenings and weekends) may well increase revenue, but could discourage people from attending. On the other hand, lower ticket prices will bring in more customers, but each one will be paying less.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-20-2007 03:17 AM                     quote: Thomas Pitt Having higher prices when more people are likely to attend (evenings and weekends) may well increase revenue, but could discourage people from attending. On the other hand, lower ticket prices will bring in more customers, but each one will be paying less. I'm sure he knew this already. To the poster: Some chains, instead, have consistent prices but simply have the matinée starting at an earlier time on the weekend.  |  IP: Logged Joel N. Weber II Expert Film Handler Posts: 115 From: Somerville, MA, USA Registered: Dec 2005 posted 08-20-2007 05:53 AM                     Do you currently have enough seats to meet the current demand on Friday and Saturday? What is your current admission pricing? What is the nearby competition charging on Friday and Saturday night? Are there going to be people who come on a Sunday, pay for an $8.50 ticket, and then will be upset when they show up two months later on a Saturday expecting to pay $8.50?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-20-2007 10:04 AM                        I've never heard of differnt pricing for different days, but of course evening showtimes usually command higher prices. You could do what the Carmikes around here do. They'll have shows at 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 PM, and put a huge SUPER BARGAIN MATINEES! at the top of their ad, but if you use a microscope you can see faint parentheses around the "5:00" showtime and even smaller text under the matinee announcement saying the bargain prices are only good for showtimes in parentheses. Dan Klusmann of the IME (which many of us here subscribe to) has suggested different pricing for different movies. So if you're playing the big blockbuster, you charge more than you do for a "Daddy Day Care" or similar piece of crap.  |  IP: Logged Richard P. May Expert Film Handler Posts: 243 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jan 2006 posted 08-20-2007 10:13 AM                     The ArcLight in Hollywood CA has done this since its opening. I believe the prices are $11.00 matinees and weekdays, and $14.00 weekend evenings. This might not be exactly right, but you can check their website for details. RPM  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 08-20-2007 12:07 PM                     Regal uses differential pricing for weekends in Bakersfield. Their Edwards stadium is $9.25 Sun-Thurs and $9.75 Fri-Sat. The UA East Hills uses the same 50 cent difference, but their prices are $8.75 and $9.25. [ 08-20-2007, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Paul Linfesty ]  |  IP: Logged David Zylstra Master Film Handler Posts: 432 From: Novi, MI, USA Registered: Mar 2007 posted 08-20-2007 12:39 PM                     Loews did this before the AMC merger in several markets across the country - Friday night, Saturday night and nights before holidays all had higher evening prices than weekday evenings. The pricing policy was put in effect at locations that were very busy on weekend evenings - locations with mediocre weekend evening attendance had consistent evening prices. Obviously there may be some customers chased away to the competition, but if you have a popular location that is in demand it may serve to encourage some value minded customers to come during the matinee or weekday evenings thereby spreading the attendance out over the week. If memory serves the locations in MI that had "premium pricing" did not seem to suffer any loss in attendance.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 08-20-2007 02:01 PM                        Cinemark has been doing that forever here. Evening shows weekdays are $7.25; $7.75 on Fri-Sat. The Cinemark subrun is $1.50 weekdays; $2.00 on Fri-Sat (maybe Sun too, not sure). I'm pretty sure the new Regal is doing this too. $8.25 normal weekday evening; I want to say $9.00 weekend evenings, not positive about that.  |  IP: Logged Michael Wilkinson The Entertainment King of Colusa and Beyond Posts: 89 From: Colusa, CA USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-20-2007 09:13 PM                        Thanks for the input everybody. A little more background: The Vogue is a 240 seat single screen and easily has the potential to sell out on Friday and Saturday opening weekends. It would be nice to move a little bit of that business over to the other nights. Up till now this theatre had been a Regal house and their evening rate was $10.25. Chris: I have considered reducing the matinee hours on weekends but the only strong showtimes now are the 7PM shows. Joel: My neighbors charge 9.25 general/7.00 mat and 9.50 general/7.50 mat. The lowest first run evening price in the city is $8.50. Since the theatre is already established above the $10 mark for evening prices I was thinking than rather to match everyone else that I would stick with the $10 program on Friday and Saturday nights and then have the lowest evening price of $8.50 on Sunday through Thursday. I would like to accomplish two things by doing this: 1st ease the current demand on Friday and Saturday nights a little bit (perhaps making room for potential new customers) and 2nd boost sales on the sluggish weeknights (through a certain percentage of my existing clientele shifting to weeknights and reaching new customers by being more competitively price when I have the seats available) This would only be worth doing if at least 10-15% of the theatre's existing customers as well as potential customers would eventually be motivated to alter their viewing habits based on this price break. Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Mike Croaro Master Film Handler Posts: 394 From: Millbrae, CA Registered: Apr 2005 posted 08-20-2007 09:37 PM                     Hi Michael; Folks: The Vogue must have more than 240 seats. Was this a typo? I know that a few rows were removed to create a handicap section. The best thing about a $10.00 evening ticket is the ease in accepting payment without the hassles of giving change. Mike  |  IP: Logged Paul Linfesty Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1383 From: Bakersfield, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 08-21-2007 12:42 AM                     I think the Vogue sat around 300 seats when I visited it in the mid 70's (if I remember correctly, they only had 8 seats in the center section, maybe 4 in each of the side sections. (it had a smoking loge section that went for $4.00 with $3.50 general seats). UA ran it back then. I saw THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH in 4-track magnetic stereo. San Francisco had quite a few tiny single screens back then. It seems rather odd today to think of a 300 seat auditorium as being tiny.  |  IP: Logged Michael Wilkinson The Entertainment King of Colusa and Beyond Posts: 89 From: Colusa, CA USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-21-2007 01:45 AM                        No Typo. Wider chairs & wheelchair seating have substantially reduced the auditorium seating capacity. Paul-With the way the big releases are hitting now it seems that one can ever have enough seats on the opening Friday! I know that, this summer, on more than one opening night I could have nearly filled to double the 400 capacity in my Colusa Theatre. (BTW The capacity used to be 560 before wider chairs and wheelchair seating) Any more thoughts on the pricing structure?  |  IP: Logged Michael Wilkinson The Entertainment King of Colusa and Beyond Posts: 89 From: Colusa, CA USA Registered: Apr 2004 posted 08-29-2007 12:56 AM                        I guess that I get to be the guinea pig. My evening pricing is $10 Fri & Sat and $8.50 Sun-Thu. Seniors, Kids, & Matinee < 6PM are $7.50. Thanks for the input, I'll let you know what happens.  |  IP: Logged Dustin Mitchell Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1865 From: Mondovi, WI, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 08-29-2007 01:36 AM                     My guess is its not going to move business away from Friday/Saturday. People go to the movies when they want to go out, not when its cheapest for them (usually). Many people lead busy lives and just because they are free on Friday doesn't mean they'll be free on Sudnay. HOWEVER, promote it properly and you might get people coming in on the cheaper days who might not have come at all before. Time will tell I guess.  |  IP: Logged

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