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Author
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Topic: The fifty dollar movie ticket
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Allan Young
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 125
From: EGHAM, Surrey UK
Registered: Jun 2011
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posted 12-15-2018 09:56 AM
Odeon defends £40 hi-tech cinema prices
Odeon has responded to criticism over the prices it is charging for seats at its new hi-tech cinema in London, where tickets will cost up to £40.
It told the BBC the prices were similar to tickets for theatre or live sports.
The newly refurbished Odeon Leicester Square will re-open later this month, showing Mary Poppins Returns.
It has had a multi-million pound facelift in partnership with Dolby, which is providing cutting-edge audio-visual technology.
"With tickets starting at just £10 for every show... it offers fantastic value compared to tickets for other popular destinations like the theatre, concerts or live sports," Odeon said in a statement.
"Price choices vary and flex depending on a number of factors including seat type and location in the auditorium, what we're showing, time of day, and the number of people booking at one time.
"The first week of the biggest film of the year during the festive season is obviously peak, and guests can expect prices will flex throughout the year."
Cinema-goers were less than impressed with many taking to Twitter to express anger over the inflated prices.
The central London cinema has had an 11-month refurbishment and promises to offer fans "the ultimate cinema experience" which includes enhanced vision via laser projection and immersive audio provided by Dolby's Atmos technology.
Alongside the 800-seat cinema, there are four further smaller screens.
According to market research firm Statista, the average price of a cinema ticket in the UK in 2017 was £7.49.
BBC News
The Odeon Leicester Square has always been the most expensive cinema in the UK, but forty quid? That's really taking the piss.
And attempting to justify it by comparing it to the cost of "theatre, concerts or live sports" really smacks of desperation.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-15-2018 11:52 AM
It's also missing the point, which is that cinema has always positioned itself as a cheaper alternative form of "get out of the house" entertainment than live ones such as theatre, music and sports. The reason why cinema exploded in popularity in the 1920s and '30s was that for the first time, people could afford to go more often than they could to, say, Music Hall (Vaudeville) or football (soccer) matches.
That having been said, they'll probably get away with it in this place. The roadshows of the 1950s set the precedent of a small number of prestige, high end city center venues trying to market themselves more like live entertainment venues (numbered seats, intermissions, expecting smart dress from customers, etc.), and although that business model is limited in size, it seems that there is a steady market for it.
I remember in the early '90s paying something like £15 to see Terminator 2 at the Odeon Leicester Square, because I was curious to hear what CDS sounded like (the cinema where I was working a weekend job while still in high school, an Odeon in South London, charged roughly between £2.50 and £4.50 a ticket, depending on the showtime). I though it was an absolute ripoff at the time, but was prepared to pay it out of geeky curiosity. And it has to be admitted that the Odeon Leicester Square is a very impressive space and atmosphere in which to see a movie.
A theater I recently worked on installing on the border of Santa Monica and Malibu is (I am told) charging $27 a seat now it's open. Again, that is one of very few places in the world where they will probably get away with it. Given the costs of running a business in that neck of the woods, they probably aren't making a humongous margin.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 12-15-2018 10:51 PM
Uber-style surge pricing, in other words. This is the first I've heard of it being done in our business. My guess is that it will cause an increase in advance bookings and a decrease in walk-ups. For a prestige, city center location like the Odeon Leicester Square, I wouldn't be surprised if a large proportion of their ticket sales are advance even before they moved to this pricing approach. Almost no-one lives within walking distance of the place (and anyone who does can probably afford a high end home theater anyways) and there is nowhere to park at a sane price and with guaranteed availability anywhere near it (and furthermore, it's inside the C-charge zone). Therefore, almost everyone who goes to see a movie there will be getting there by public transportation, which takes planning and thought in advance. I'd want to be sure of getting seats (and therefore, buying my tickets in advance), before making the trip.
As a side thought, I wonder what, if any, implications such a pricing model has for the contractual arrangements between the distributor and exhibitor? For example, in the unlikely event that the Odeon Leicester Square signs up to play a 2019 equivalent of Howard the Duck, it plays to near empty houses for a week, and their dynamic pricing model causes the computer to sell prime seats in the dress circle (balcony) on the Saturday evening for 50p, will the distributor only get a few pennies, or will there be a minimum guarantee that would cause the theater to lose a huge amount of money? If so, programming is going to get a lot more conservative (which it always was at that theater to begin with, given that it's the London showcase for Hollywood's blockbuster du jour).
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Martin Brooks
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 900
From: Forest Hills, NY, USA
Registered: May 2002
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posted 12-16-2018 12:01 PM
When Camelot played as a reserved seat roadshow in 1967 at the Warner Theatre in NYC, ticket prices ranged from $2 to $4.25. Adjusted for inflation at the official inflation rates, that's $15.14 to $32.17.
But even high-end theaters today cannot compare to roadshows back then. Even aside from the quality of presentation, the dress and decorum of the staff in those days and the plush and clean theaters all added to the feeling of grandeur. In addition, people used to dress and act like these were very special events and there was formality to the whole thing, much like attending a Broadway show in those days. Patrons used to be dressed in suits and dresses and there was no drinking and eating at seats.
Today, people even show up to Broadway shows or classical concerts at Lincoln Center dressed like they just came from the beach or rolled out of bed. So it's never going to be like the roadshows of the past no matter what a theater does unless they actually started enforcing dress and behavior codes. And even though Camelot wasn't a very good movie, it attracted a very different audience than the people who would go see an Avengers movie today.
Back in the 80's to 2002, I used to travel to London on business and would sometimes see a movie. I remember the theatres in Leicester or Picadilly Square being pricy, but not outrageous as compared to NYC. But $50? I can't think of a single film that I would consider paying that price for.
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