3 ms·
I worked at an ~independent (the owner had three fairly spread out and independently managed 'local' cinemas) cinema as a teenager, tickets were dirt cheap and
by OJFord 4y ago
I worked at an ~independent (the owner had three fairly spread out and independently managed 'local' cinemas) cinema as a teenager, tickets were dirt cheap and almost entirely went to the distributor. Food & drink was 'a rip off', yes, but a lot of people would be happy to to 'support' the local cinema, was pretty much exactly where it made money.
I imagine even mega chains charging literally up to 10x our ticket prices couldn't survive on tickets alone, the distributors still take the majority of admission, as I understood it.
There was a fair amount of distributor-driven quirks/'politics' that to a customer is a weird cinema decision - something else I recall is having to show a certain film, or for a certain length of time, even if it's not selling ('why don't they just stop showing it') under threat of not getting the upcoming blockbuster that definitely will. Sometimes it wasn't even that it wasn't doing well, manager would know in advance (by local demographics) that a film wouldn't do at all well, but basically not have a choice.
- ihateyouall123 4y agoSounds like they deserve to fail
- OJFord 4y agoI don't really understand how you got there, but sorry to disappoint - my experience was 10+ years ago and they're thriving.
- ihateyouall123 4y ago[flagged]
- OJFord 4y agoI mentioned one in particular saying nothing of the general market. (The big boy in town is absolutely not thriving, because where do you think locals go - the cheap independent that cares about stuff, or the expensive mega-chain with gormless staff with no reason to care at all?)
- Fargren 4y agoOK, I can see the point of buying the food as a way to support a cinema you like. Specially now that cinemas are mostly struggling. I feel somehow icky paying upwards or five or ten times the cost for something I don't really need. But that's just an internalized habit from growing up in a frugal household. I wish there was a more "honest" way for theaters to work.
- JohnFen 4y ago> a lot of people would be happy to to 'support' the local cinema This is why I buy at the concessions stand. I know that the theater itself makes almost nothing from the ticket sale.