Hacker News Reader

Comment by libertine | Hacker News Reader

I still remember when movie theaters provided a different experience - and I'm in my late 20's, so it was not that long ago.

Movie theaters became just another living room - people go there chat, comment and eat during the movie just like they were at home. It became such an obnoxious experience, where people are shoved into a room and door is closed.

This goes to say: movie theaters had a lot of distribution costs reduced over the years, and probably even the reform of projectors isn't such a big deal today due to digital distribution.

MoviePass is aiming to give them volume, at a reduced margin - that's how.

View on HN

It depends on the theatre. I only go to a regular movie theatre when I'm back home seeing my parents. I enjoy the theatre experience where you get reclining seats and you get to reserve your seat beforehand. The next step is the dinner and movie experience where you get to both enjoy reserved seating and get food served while you're eating. Those theatres by necessity aren't as crowded and you have a much better experience. The ticket costs for the movie and dinner type places are usually cheaper since they can make it up on food.

We also still have a decent drive in in our area where the sound comes through your fm radio. You can see two new releases there for like $8 a person. You can bring your own food - usually we do take out.

Movie pass is a no go for popular movies for us because you can't use it to reserve movies in advance online.

> The ticket costs for the movie and dinner type places are usually cheaper since they can make it up on food

For some of them, this may be true. However, one I visited in the Midwest put their 'eat & watch' section in an exclusive balcony above the standard seating area and was charging almost double per ticket (along with sub-Applebee's food at Chili's prices). They have apparently been in business for over five years doing this.

I enjoyed the experience, but I ultimately didn't feel it was worth the extra cost, and the sound of silverware on ceramic plates & bowls was a bit distracting. Handheld food and fancy paper/plastic plates and utensils would be how I'd run that operation.

I have seen both. I went to a theatre in Miami where you had to pay more for the eat and dine experience and just to be in the lobby.

Where we usually go - Studio Movie Grill - you can usually get a ticket for $5. The prices of the food and the quality is around AppleBeds like you said.

That's true about the silverware, it's never been distracting but another place we go - a small place with about a capacity of 70 that has live music uses paper plates and utensils.

moviepass works for new movies, you just have to show up first thing in the morning and reserve a night show. Never had problems getting a good seat myself at a regal with reclining/reserved seats.

That's weird — here, the more full-service a theater is, the more expensive it is. Some theaters have more extensive food selections and serve booze, and those are more expensive than normal theaters. Others actually have servers take your order and bring it to you in the theater, and those are more expensive still. I figured it was a sort of price discrimination — the people who want to eat expensive food while watching a movie are less likely to care if the ticket cost an extra $5 because that's a tiny fraction of the evening's total cost.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I've seen the price difference in other cities, but in Atlanta.

Studio Movie Grill.

https://www.studiomoviegrill.com/Ticketing/Tickets

Adult ticket $11.25

They are always offering $5 Groupon deals.

https://www.groupon.com/biz/alpharetta-ga/studio-movie-grill

Https://Cinebistro.com

Adult tickets $16.50

Random Regal Cinema in a non upscale part of town (South metro Atlanta) - $12.85

I've seen that kind of behaviour in the US (and that was 10 years ago already).

I've never seen it in Europe however, I just thought that's the way Americans enjoy a movie in a theater (a way that really turns me off, actually).

Where in the US have you been watching movies? I’ve never experienced this. The worst I’ve seen (and it bugs the heck out of me still) is people clapping when something big happens, but that is still quite rare.

I’ve seen films in upstate NY, SF, SD, LA area, and beautiful New Hampshire.

That was in the Bay Area (SF, Mountain View, San Mateo...)

I've noticed a huge difference between movie behavior based on city. It makes sense that it would vary by regional culture. In Los Angeles, clapping was semi-common, particularly during the early days of a big new release; it seemed to vary in direct proportion to how many people were in the theater. I consider that extremely obnoxious. I've almost never seen clapping during a movie anywhere on the east coast however.

Same here - and I've been to theatres in multiple EU countries. People definitely don't talk, absolutely don't talk on their phones(they would be kicked out if they did), and eating - meh, just the standard popcorn stuff. I've been to one theatre which also served proper food but you actually sat at a table not in a theatre seat, it felt more like a restaurant with the film playing in the background.

For me "the standard popcorn stuff" is already enough to ruin my experience. I'd gladly pay more to go to a cinema where eating or drinking anything is strictly prohibited (as it still is, for example, in my hometown's best cinema, which sells absolutely nothing apart from tickets and subscriptions).

Hummm I have not experienced this, atleast in big amc type theaters. What I like about movie theater is that its one of the last places that exist where nobody is on the phone and you are enjoying distraction free.

If the main business model works (see my other comment), then theaters' margins needn't be reduced.

I guess MoviePass thinks they deserve a cut of concessions since they're saving theaters - which might be true - but theaters control the end product, so I doubt they'd share revenue. They're more likely to compete against MoviePass if the plan works.

I've seen your post - it does make sense to be that way indeed.

>but theaters control the end product, so I doubt they'd share revenue. They're more likely to compete against MoviePass if the plan works.

This seems the most likely to me; I mean, if I were to buy a ticket subscription, I'd want that at the theaters that I go to often; I am happy to pay full price when I go somewhere unusual.

This means there's almost no network effect... my favorite theater could put up a subscription service that only worked at that one location, and it would instantly have more value than MoviePass that might or might not include access to that theater next month. Even better would be a regional service, but in this case, at least on the customer end, I don't think making the service national adds very much value at all.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com