

Can Subscription Model Save Small-Town Movie Theaters? - klenwell
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-small-movie-theater-20121231,0,6750234.story

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reacocard
The theater in my hometown[1] took a different approach. About 3 years after
its original closing in 2000 due to money issues, it was reopened as a
nonprofit volunteer-run theater. Since then it has been successful enough to
have been able to refurnish the seating and other parts of the theater,
upgrade to a digital projector, and provide sponsorships and scholarships to
the community.

[1] - <http://www.lakecitycapri.org/>

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barking
This is an inspiring story

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jpatokal
And the missing answer to the obvious question: yes, they succeeded in getting
3000 people to sign up by Dec 31st.

<https://savethemet.com/?ref=metcinema.com>

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droithomme
So they say they need 3000 people to commit to $20 a month to work. That's
$60,000 a month or $720,000/yr it costs to run the theatre. It seems they
include the per seat royalties on the screenings by charging you extra if you
see each new movie more than once, and by being able to control how many new
releases they have each month.

The member price for extra viewings and guests is $7 a show, which is the
normal price for small town theaters. The price for non-members is $16, which
is exceptionally high and will likely dissuade almost all casual visitors. It
seems to be a decoy price whose intent is not to sell at that point but to
mask that $7 for member tickets is not a bargain, but a normal ticket price.

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ars
That figure is not what it costs to run the theater - that cost is royalties
to the studios.

Theaters make money on popcorn and soda, not tickets.

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stinky613
I see merit in this model. I also see a problem: I think people want to be
sure that they can get into the showing they want.

Under the classic box office model once you have your timed ticket purchased
you're guaranteed a seat in the theater. Under this subscription model if
there are 200 seats in the theater but 250 subscribers show up for the 5:30
showing then you're going to get some frustrated customers.

How the heck early would I as a subscriber need to arrive for a big box office
premier? For art-house/indie theaters I think this model might skirt that
problem, though.

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jbigelow76
They could do online time reservation, similar to online seat selection for
air travel. If you don't remember to login and claim a time when the schedule
for a given movie is released then you are forced to pick a less than desired
time. It doesn't have to be any different than buying a ticket on Fandango
without showing up to the box office.

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patd
In France (but probably in many other countries), UGC and others chains have
an unlimited subscription plan (at around 20€ per month).

According to Wikipedia [1] it has 200.000 subscribers and generates 25% of the
revenue.

[1]
[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_cin%C3...](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_cin%C3%A9matographique#Innovations_et_controverses)

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barking
My local old fashioned cinema closed about a year ago ending an unbroken
single family ownership dating back to the first world war. It had been dying
on its feet for a long time. Last film i watched there i almost froze to
death. The town's population is only about 7000 and there are modern cinemas
about a half hour drive away. This story suggests that the local population
would need to pledge a half million euro a year to re-open it and that's not
going to happen

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evoxed
There's a theater one town over, population about half of that (edit: 1/3- it
was 960 as of 2011). They've been doing pretty well, better than ten years ago
even! Their prices are the same as every other theater (the next one being 45
minutes away), but now they have a gallery and cafe upstairs. Before any
previews start, they play a slideshow of ads for local businesses. A
subscription sounds nice, but I think the only way it could really work is if
people actually _want to be there_ , in which case all those other
improvements become twice as helpful.

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barking
That's great, being able to sit, chat and have a drink (maybe even eat!)
beforehand turns a trip to the pictures into a perfect midweek night out.

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evoxed
Exactly! I didn't even mention that Monday/Wednesday (can't remember which) is
matinee price all night. It's really great for meeting up with friends or
multiple families going to see big releases (like the Hobbit) together. And of
course lastly there's the "screening studio", which is just one of the three
screens that sometimes shows local/regional productions or hosts forums.

And yet another update: I'm thee right now, waiting for the Hobbit. Apparently
they do 3d now, with all new projectors. They're doing even better than I
thought...

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timjahn
I think there could be something to models like this. I saw a startup trying
something like this recently (I think it was called MoviePass?).

My wife and I see around 2 movies a month on average, and we probably saw 3-4
a month before we had our 2 year old. If there was a subscription plan that
let you see new releases and actually saved you money, we'd most likely do it.

