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Want beer with your popcorn?

Written by: | 6 Mar 2009

The movie industry is a continuously evolving business.

New advances in how movies are shown continue to be made, while the prices of marketing, production, tickets and every other measurable cost constantly fluctuate.

Theaters seem to keep advancing but home entertainment seems to be moving at an even faster rate. The cost of creating a “home theater” gets cheaper every day while the quality and especially quantity of what can be accomplished keeps expanding.

Yet traditional movie theaters have still managed to survive — even thrive. “The movie industry is doing pretty well,” says Chris Baker, a six-year manager at the independently owned Frontier Village Cinema 10 in Prescott. “Our market share has actually increased 5 percent this year,” he says.

Industry is in good shape

The numbers for the overall industry tell a similar story. The total domestic box office gross in the United States and Canada continued to rise from previous years, reaching $9.8 billion in 2008, according to the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO).

That’s more than double the $4.5 billion made 20 years ago. The total number of admissions rose from the past few years as well, although it’s still a lower number than it was a few years ago. However, at 1.4 billion in 2007 alone it’s still an astounding number. That means that for every citizen in the United States and Canada about four tickets were purchased in just one year.

“You come into a theater, it’s an experience,” Baker says, which he believes is the main reason people keep going to the movies. “I’d like to see you cram a 25-foot screen in your house,” he adds.

Attracting customers

Theaters are doing plenty of other things to attract customers. They’re “using every avenue they can” to make money and to make the most of their huge lobbies, says Baker, admitting that his theater is no exception.

I’d like to see you cram a 25-foot screen in your house,” he adds.

Frontier Village Cinema will be adding a pizzeria in the lobby, with sporting events shown on a big screen, as well as tables in the lobby before the movie. They’ve also started serving beer and wine in half of the auditoriums. Baker explains that the “Platinum 21 Auditoriums” are “to cater to an older audience.”

Any theater can pack people in,” says Baker. “We’re trying to give people an actual experience.”

Whether it’s just the unique experience or all the perks theaters are adding, Baker says “There’s a lot of drive to [go to the theater] still.”

Ticket prices

This is even as ticket prices continue to rise around the country. According to NATO the average price for a single ticket in 2008 in the United States was $7.18, more than ten times the mere 68 cents it would have cost 50 years ago.

The only number that seems to have decreased is the number of cinema sites. As of 2007 in the United States there were 5,545 indoor sites, according to NATO, down from just over 7,000 in 1995. However, the actual number of screens has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. As of 2007 there were 38,159 indoor movie screens in the United States, compared to 20,595 in 1987.

While the numbers paint a pretty encouraging picture for the industry as a whole and Baker agrees that it’s in good shape right now, his view of the not-too-distant future isn’t a bright one.

“Movie theaters will eventually be done, there’s no question,” he says, since “[people] don’t want to cram in with a million sweaty people, when they can see the same thing a month later… [or] a week earlier if you download.”

As for when, he wonders out loud if it will be in the next ten years, but answers confidently: “no.”
“I’ll give ‘em 20.”