Friday, December 12, 2008


Going to the movies is truly an experience. There’s nothing quite like ducking into a cinema on a rainy night, standing in line with your date while pointing at the various titles, purchasing a popcorn, soda and candy at the concession stand, filing into the dark theater for two hours with complete strangers, and afterwards, acting as a critic and sharing your opinion.

Unfortunately, movie attendance has been steadily decreasing. Whether the decline is due to an increase in watching movies at home, or from the escalating costs of tickets, Americans are only making an average of 5 trips to the movies per year.

The Idea: movie theater memberships.

Movie theater prices have become quite bloated over the past couple of years, with an average ticket jumping from $6.75 in 2000 to the $10+ adult price we see today. And while people may be frequenting the movies less often, the theaters are still showing the same number of movies, still maintaining the same operating costs, and still offering the same concessions.

By offering movie theater memberships, you would be guaranteeing revenue, and the system in place would give members the perk of being able to reserve seats in advance, thus driving up the demand for tickets as well. More tickets equal more trips to the concession stand, where movie theaters can continue with their giant markups: this also translates into a profit which does not need to be shared with the motion picture industry.

Those who become members would receive membership cards, which could be swiped before the purchase of tickets, concessions, or even arcade games at the theater. The membership could come with a special member discount on certain food items and arcade games, enticing people to buy something or play something they previously would not have. More importantly, this swiping could also be used to produce valuable information, such as member’s movie preferences, time preferences, and even concession preferences – such information would be useful research for both marketing and advertising agencies.

To learn more about movie theater economics, check out

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