Mel and some friends and I decided to go catch the 7:40 showing of Casino Royale last night at Metrotown. We knew we’d have to get there early to get tickets and decent seats, so Mel & I went at about 6, picked up tickets and then wandered through the Mall. Boy there’s nothing there I want to buy. Well, that’s true of anywhere that doesn’t have cheap widescreen Plasma TVs and maybe the Nintendo Wii in stock. But I digress…
We returned to the theatre just before 7, thinking we had plenty of time to get in line. 40 minutes, right? WRONG. Between us and the entrance to the theatre was a massive throng of humanity. Probably 80% of the theatre’s maximum population stood in a thick line that snaked back and forth.
Then I got a call from Pat, who had just arrived to find out they were sold out. And then Jen called, and she hadn’t even left yet!
We ended up selling off our tickets to an asian gentleman who was really excited that he got them. We even made a whopping 10 cent profit ($10.95/ticket and he gave us $22) so at least it wasn’t all bad.
I really do hate going out to see movies. I need to make enough money to justify buying a 50″ Plasma so we can just forget about going out except to the very finest of movies, and only then sneaking out on some weekday or during a matinee when we don’t have to get stuck in the crowd.
It’s odd, isn’t it? The crowd is profit for the industry, but it’s driving away further profit. I’m sure an economist somewhere is calculating the best middleground for crowdedness/comfort for maximum profit. Looking at it this way, I can see an argument that a lot of the DVD market is people who would have normally just given up completely on seeing movies because of the hassle involved.
I couldn’t agree more. I almost never go to movies now. I love going to see them, but the crowds and noise totally ruin it. Plus, it costs like 15 bucks for a movie, with no snacks, and I can rent three movies plus have all the pop and popcorn I want at home for the same price. And no one talks during the movie or fucks around with their cellphone or snorts when they laugh etc. Who wants to line up for an hour?
1) Casino Royale is a fantastic movie. Go see it.
2) In the US, this problem has been mostly alleviated, at least in reasonably dense population areas (i.e. as dense as Redmond) by having way more theaters showing a given popular movie than there are people likely to go see any given show.
I was surprised that I had to stand in line to see Borat, for example; but the line itself moved quickly, we saw a movie within :30 of our target start time, and we got fine seats.
I stood in a line for less than 10 minutes to see Casino Royale here in Vegas, which has a movie theater every 10 feet; but I was surprised to hear alter that CR had the biggest opening in Vegas of any movie ever. So apparently the buildout is sufficient to meet virtually any predictable level of demand.
Of course, most of the US based theater chains are either in bankruptcy, emerging from bankruptcy, or are likely to go bankrupt soon.
Lesson? Canadians need more unprofitable theaters.
My solution to the movie problem is not to go on opening week. Simple and elegant. I went to see Little Miss Sunshine 16 weeks after it had opened and I’m sure the movie was still as good as when it opened. No expiry dates on most movies!
ps - The new comments design needs a second look.