Movies Are Fighting For Fans
Nick Karidoyanes is a movie fan. On a good month, he goes to the movies about five times. He’s got all his theaters mapped out: AMC Loews for advanced screenings, Regal Fenway for the mainstream movies, and Coolidge Corner in Brookline for indie films.
“The movie theater is the only place where it is accepted that you must be quiet and pay attention,’’ said Karidoyanes. “All too often, our attention is pulled elsewhere when watching movies at home or somewhere else.’’
Karidoyanes, 22, is part of the “frequent moviegoer’’ demographic slipping away from movie theaters. The Motion Picture Association of America found the number of people aged 18 to 39 who go to the movies at least once a month dropped 17 percent from last year. Considering the frequent moviegoing audience is the driving force behind ticket sales, this is a decline theaters can’t ignore.
Movie theaters are racing to attract the most movie fanatics: the ones who will keep coming back for more rather than those who only make an appearance when the blockbusters are in town.
It’s not enough to just release the latest films. Theaters are feeling the pressure to renovate, according to the latest report from media advisory group Redwood Capital:
The concentrated nature of movie exhibition industry is likely to further intensify, as smaller players become acquisition targets given the expected rise in funding requirements, driven by higher spending on technology and improving the movie-going experience.
That “movie-going experience’’ must compete with the convenience of Netflix. Smaller theaters that aren’t able to keep up financially will be left behind.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
AMC is testing a trial subscription service for audiences in Boston and Denver starting this month. For a monthly fee of $45 (or $35 excluding 3D films), a subscriber can see a movie a day. This is the first time a massive movie theater chain has partnered with subscription service, MoviePass.
For Karidoyanes, he’d get his money’s worth, however he said he would want to wait to use it for a month when “better’’ movies came out.
“I do think that $45 a month is a little steep,’’ said Karidoyanes. “It’s one of those situations where I just don’t want to put the money out up front just in case I wasn’t able to use it.’’
Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline is an independent art house that’s been around for more than 80 years. Katherine Tallman, executive director of Coolidge Corner Theater, says they are not seeing the same effects as the MPAA is suggesting. In fact, she says their revenues are up by 20 percent.
“We’re all subject to what films are available,’’ said Tallman. “We carefully select the films for our audience. People come here for the experience. They’re going to look around the audience and see someone they know because they are part of a community.’’
As a nonprofit, Coolidge generates over 80 percent of revenue from the theater and the rest comes from members and donors.
Tallman recently learned that Coolidge is an affiliate with MoviePass, the same subscription service that AMC uses. Tallman says they had no idea the theater was part of MoviePass until the AMC story broke and people started tweeting at them that they were part of the service.
“On a business front, it works for us because the person buying the ticket at the movie theater at the moviepass is paying full price, it could generate more activity,’’ said Tallman. “But it’s not necessarily a technique I would pick.’’
The theater still accepts tickets bought through MoviePass.
RENOVATIONS
Aside from subscriptions, theaters have also made major renovations to restructuring the theaters. This past summer, AMC built a theater at Assembly Row in Somerville, one of the 1,800 theaters to feature new recliners. AMC is planning to spend $600 million over the next five years to replace the seats across all locations.
Then, soon after the developments in Somerville, Showcase cinemas in Revere changed their floor plan by ripping out the old seats. As Showcase Cinemas said in a statement to Boston.com:
Every seat will now be a plush, extra-wide, fully-powered recliner, giving every guest a luxurious, relaxing experience. The recliners are currently installed in 10 auditoriums, with the remaining 10 auditoriums expected to be completed by spring. With the touch of a button, you can fully recline in the most comfortable chair available…
These renovations reduce the number of seats in the theater, but since “frequent moviegoers’’ only make up 11 percent of the population, the reduction doesn’t matter as much.
What really matters is the quality of the seats and services that theaters are hoping will bring them back.
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