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Do enough people buy tickets in advance now that this really indicates anything of value? I'm old and have never pre-purchased a movie ticket in my life. I assu
by caymanjim 5mo ago
Do enough people buy tickets in advance now that this really indicates anything of value? I'm old and have never pre-purchased a movie ticket in my life. I assume a lot of people do, but the few times I've been to the movies lately, it seems people are buying tickets at the theater.
- dewey 5mo agoI don’t remember the last time I bought a ticket at the cinema. I like picking my own seats online.
- pjmlp 5mo agoIn most European countries you only get reserved seats at big multiplex cinemas, stuff like Cinestar, NOS and so on. On the European Cinema network [0], reserved seats is a long gone concept. So not always a given that seats can be reserved online for cinema, depends on ones location. [0] - https://www.europa-cinemas.org https://www.europa-cinemas.org
- sixhobbits 5mo agoI've been to several European Network cinemas and always gotten reserved seats
- pjmlp 5mo agoI can assert that none of those I usually go have reserved seats, what they do have is reserved tickets. I guess it depends then.
- arrrg 5mo agoDresden is truly blessed with cinemas and has four European Network cinemas. Three of those have assigned seating, though none do price discrimination based on where you sit. Culturally the assigned seating isn’t taken very seriously in those four cinemas, though, to the point where staff in one cinema sometimes tells visitors that they can sit somewhere else if they want to. In practice we still try to get seats where we want to sit and stick to them (front/middle, away from other people), though if people come in and sit right behind us we might change rows. With new ticketing systems and online booking being introduced I think there has been a shift towards assigned seating. I remember the first time I was in a Dresden European Network cinema (Schauburg in 2015, that’s the oldest cinema in Dresden, 1927) and there either being no assigned seating or a seat printed on the ticket that no one cared about. We also weren’t asked where we wanted to sit. That has changed with a new ticketing system and now we are always asked about where we want to sit. I think these ticketing systems come with assigned seating and that’s also a factor in assigned seating being introduced. Notably, the one cinema that doesn’t have assigned seating also doesn’t offer online booking or reservations at all. The four big multiplex cinemas in the city have assigned seating and do price discrimination based on where you sit – so it’s taken somewhat more seriously there. So, yeah, my guess would be that the role online ticketing and the respective software/service/devices those cinemas use for that do all play a role in what role assigned seating plays and those can also trigger a cultural shift from sit where you want to assigned seating. (I have vivid childhood memories of my hometown long before online booking with price discrimination sections but no assigned seating in cinemas.)
- delusional 5mo agoI don't recall having been to any cinema in denmark ever that did not do assigned seats. They won't check if nobody complains, but is is printed on the ticket.
- kuboble 5mo agoIn Switzerland it's a mix. The theater we use most frequently doesn't have assigned seats.
- dewey 5mo agoThat's not true, I frequently reserve seats at the "Yorck" cinema chain in Berlin which is part of Europa Cinemas and has seat reservation.
- magicalhippo 5mo agoHere in Oslo, Norway I only know of the local cinematheque which doesn't do reserved seats. All commercial theaters have reserved seats, even for the small screens with just a dozen or so seats. Been so as long as I can remember, so several decades. So yea, location dependent.
- hombre_fatal 5mo agoYeah, whether I go hinges on the seats available.
- SwellJoe 5mo agoI'm the same way, as I'm terrible at scheduling and often don't arrive on time for things I book in advance. So, I'll tend to show up at the theater and see whatever looks good that's coming up soon. But, I get the impression a lot of people do buy in advance these days. But, I love the idea of a theater almost entirely to myself.
- pjmlp 5mo agoSame here, gen-x, in what concerns cinema, sometimes I do reserve if it is in high demand, but that is about it.
- yieldcrv 5mo agoI haven’t bought a seat at the theater in over a decade And the online process shows you which seats are already filled and I base my decision on that when there is assigned seating. One thing peculiar is that the theatres are not often as filled as the seat map shows, makes me think that an even newer generation of the movie ticket subscribers (AMC A-List) are reserving seats and changing plans
- m463 5mo agoI'm finding that more and more, when I impulsively go to the theater and try to buy tickets at the door... I always find the only tickets available are horrible, like in the front row to the side. You want like F-6 and F-7 and get A-2 and B-2. And if I even accept this, the people in the choice seats invariably show up right when all the trailers are wrapping up. so - people buy tickets ahead of time, and it might be the only way to watch it from a reasonable seat. This probably doesn't apply to off-hours like tuesday afternoon or whatever.
- sbrother 5mo agowait... I don't think I've ever experienced assigned seats in a movie theatre. Is that a thing?
- IncreasePosts 5mo agoYes for higher end theaters like imax and the kind where everyone had a recliner chair
- jb1991 5mo agoOr just about any movie theater of any kind outside of North America.
- Lindby 5mo agoI've never been to a theater without assigned seats. Maybe it's a regional difference?
- JoshTriplett 5mo agoI exclusively buy tickets online, and whatever seats show up as empty online are empty when we show up.
- vidarh 5mo agoYeah, unless it's just me, and on a whim, which doesn't happen often, I'd always reserve online.
- JoshGlazebrook 5mo agoDo people really just show up and hope for the best anymore? The "box office" is not even really a thing anymore at most theaters. And the single person you talk to inside that is the "box office" just uses the same system you can reserve seats yourself on your own time? Pretty much every theater is reserved seating these days. Why would I risk showing up last minute on a whim and end up in a horrible seat near the front of the screen?
- MattGaiser 5mo agoMostly because unless it is a really desirable movie, hoping for the best has an expected outcome close to the best.I am a planner in most things, but for movies, it often simply does not matter.
- linsomniac 5mo agoCurious... Unless it's a really desirable movie, I typically won't go to the theater to see it. ;-)
- robinsonb5 5mo agoIn the small town where I live we have a small cinema with three screens. They always start the movie at the advertised time - no adverts, just a few trailers in the preceding 10 minutes. You can book online, but I usually just walk in and buy a ticket at the desk. The seats aren't assigned, so you can pick whichever you like. Occasionally I have a "private screening" where I'm the only one in the auditorium. The most recent example was "The Mummy". I hadn't fully thought throught the implications of watching a horror movie alone in the middle of a darkened 65-seat auditorium! There's another town a few miles away where a similar cinema has both assigned seating and 20 minutes of adverts before the movie.
- myself248 5mo agoThis is surreal. I've never pre-purchased a movie ticket in my life. I show up, buy a ticket and a box of Milk Duds, wander down the dark hall, find a seat, turn off my phone, and the lights go dark. Exactly the same as it's always been, and it works beautifully. I can't imagine a reason to mess with it.
- stingraycharles 5mo ago> I'm old and have never pre-purchased a movie ticket in my life. I’m old and have always pre-purchased tickets, even in the 90s, as that’s the way to get better seats.
- WillPostForFood 5mo agoYou sure about the 90s? Not saying it was impossible, but must have been extremely rare. Arclight was one of the first theaters to do assigned seats in 2002. AMC only started trialing in 2008, but didn't start rolling it out until 2016 in NYC.
- magicalhippo 5mo agoIn the US perhaps. Seat reservation has been the norm here in Norway since at least the 80s.
- stingraycharles 5mo agoTotally possible, was through a central phone number in The Netherlands called "BelBios" ("CallCinema"). You were guided through the different movies and showtimes, pressed the numbers, and got a booking code. You then went to the cinema, provided your booking code and paid.
- lisp2240 5mo agoI assume everyone is using something like MoviePass because it’s way cheaper than paying full price. And they don’t allow you to pre-purchase tickets.
- BikiniPrince 5mo agoQuite a bit in the early showing for good movies. Project Heil Mary has continued to sell all the good seats out and I’m bad at planning ahead for entertainment. It usually isn’t obvious because most of the movies have been atrocious in the last several years.
- kelnos 5mo agoI'm "old" (mid-40s) and cannot remember the last time I didn't pre-purchase a movie ticket. The movie theater I go to the most (Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco) rarely has anyone in line at the box office when I walk through there. That box office is usually only staffed by one person, which should tell us something about how many people need in-person service.
- sschueller 5mo agoLast time I was in a US theater the tickets where not numbered and you could sit anywhere. There was no point in pre purchasing a ticket because if you wanted a good seat you needed to show up early either way. In Switzerland the seats have always been numbered and even if the cinema is empty people wouldn't dare move into another seat. People do show up right before the film starts and try to avoid the ads. Some also hang in the lobby until the film actually starts.
- pjmlp 5mo agoMy experience in Geneva and Lausanne was certainly a bit more flexible regarding moving around the seats, unless this changed in the last 20 years.
- sschueller 5mo agoI guess I should have been more specific. I was talking about Zürich.
- dnnddidiej 5mo agoA mix. Prebuying is useful for your Barbie or Oppenheimer. Also good idea for kids birthday parties.
- fg137 5mo agoFor theaters with reserved seats, if you don't buy early, you only end up with the worst seat. That said, for "general admission" theaters, if you want to get good seats, you'd have to show up early and waste time watching all those trailers.
- redwall_hp 5mo agoI never do it in person. Alamo Season Pass -> select the reserved seats -> go sit down when you get to the theater. You have to reserve tickets for classic films or big releases because they often sell out, anyway.