When last we went to the local cinema, we found that we had to pay extra for “Director’s Hall” seating. The only showing at the time we wanted to see Baby Mama was in a new class of theater. The seats are supposed to be nicer, and they’re assigned, like in a “legitimate” theater. And they cost more.
it’s the first time I’ve encountered assigned seating in a US theater. I encountered sectional seating in London thirty years ago, but even that didn’t have assigned indiidual seats. Since then, i hadn’t even encountered that when I’ve visited other countries. Now here it is, in spades, right in my backyard.
Is this the Wave of the Future?
Good Og I hope not! One of the reasons movies are my favorite art form is how egalitarian the experience is. You want a good seat? Show up early. My wife and I love to sit right up front and there’s rarely any competition for our favorite seats, but still - charging for assigned seating is not anything I want to see happen to US theaters.
Can you give us a better description? How exactly do they differ from regular movie theater seats?
Some chains have “Luxury” theaters, usually a single screen in a multiplex. They’ll generally have wide recliners with a table next to each and feature an attached bar. I’ve never seen a film in one. I suppose it’s a good place to take a date.
The only movie-going experience I would pay more for would be at a theater that totally enforced a no-cellphone/no talking rule.
So, were they nicer?
There are theaters in the L.A. area with assigned seating, most notably the Arclight theaters (there’s one in Hollywood and another in Sherman Oaks). The seats are assigned and you can reserve them ahead of time. Before the film, an employee comes out and introduces the film to you and gives you a lecture about cell phones, PDAs, and such.
There will be theatrical trailers before the film, but no ads.
It is not cheap. Even a bargain matinee will run over $12 I believe. However, the theaters all have great sound. The seats themselves aren’t overly special.
All movie theaters here in Israel have assigned seating and alwasy have.
Nowadays, you can even order specific seats when buying tickets online. It’s great - you can show up at the theater 2 minutes before the show starts, and still sit were you want.
The point of the “Director’s Hall” is that it is a way for the theater itself to make money on your ticket. When Indiana Jones is released next weekend, the film will cost you something like 12 to see at the average cinema, but the theater itself will only get about .75 to $1 of that - maybe. All the rest of the money goes to the filmmakers.
The “Director’s Hall”, on the other hand, costs a couple bucks extra, but the theater gets to keep most or all of that money (depends on a lot of factors). Obviously they need to offer something worth an extra couple bucks - reserved seating, waiter service in some cases, and 21 and over shows with alcohol are all available in some places. It works in LA… I don’t know if it’ll play in Peoria.
We have assigned seating here in Australia. I can’t recall exactly how long this has been going on, but I’d say at least 20 years.
Most of the time it doesn’t matter, if the cinema is relatively empty (as it so often is at certain times of day) you can pretty much sit anywhere you like, anyway. Though some people doggedly adhere to what the ticket says anyway, which I find frustratingly anally retentive of them.
When you buy the tickets (or order them online) you can choose the seat numbers you want, unless they’re already nearly sold out, so there is still a lot of choice available to you and “earlier is better” can therefore still apply.
But when the cinema is jam-packed full, then you have to sit where your ticket tells you. But really, it’s no big deal to do so. It’s as much of a crapshoot as choosing them yourself anyway.
Is the seating better? They claimed they were better recliners, but I didn’t notice. The cup-holder on the seat was better quality (the stuff I put in it didn’t fall to the floor). There was a snack cart in the theater itself (offering things you could buy) and the ushers said that they’d run and get me something if I asked for it. We didn’t ask. (I bought pizza on the way in, because we hadn’t had anything to eat, and I could eat it in the theater – but I think they let you eat it in the non-DH theaters, too.)
So – not much different, really. My cynical self suspects that the extra amenities will disappear gradually over the years, and eventualy nothing will differemntiate the DH seating except maybe the assigned seating and the extra cost.
How is showing up early to wait in line at the cashier (for an assigned seat) less egalitarian than showing up early to wait in line to get into the theater? At least in the former, you can buy your ticket and then hang out in the mall until the show starts.
Just wait until you have to pay the Ticketmaster fee.
I remember an attempt at this in the St. Louis area about 10 years ago. I don’t recall that the tickets cost any extra and there definitely weren’t any additional amenities, just that you had an assigned seat. Maybe there were problems with people arguing over where to sit, or they could assign latecomers to a seat that they could take without climbing over people once the movie had started? I don’t know.
Anyhow, I think the experiment lasted all of 6 months.
I do recall having assigned seats and luxury theatres when I visited Australia. There were about 5 people in the theater, and all of us were crammed into 5 adjacent seats, which I thought was odd. I wanted to go sit wherever I felt like, but I wasn’t sure how strictly enforced the policy was, so I just took it as local flavor.
Cal, what theater was it? I seem to recall we’ve patronized the same establishments a time or two, though I’ve never heard of this.
Showcase Cinemas in Revere. I think some other theaters asre doing this, too.
If you google “Director’s Hall”, you find that Showcase Cinemas elsewhere in the US are certainly giving it a trial run.
They tried this at a couple places here in NYC. It didn’t work. People sat wherever they felt like. End of experiment, I hope.
Incorrect on a few counts.
Actually the days of of the 90/10 split are nearing an end. Larger circuits now do a circuit wide, full run, payment of rental. Meaning that all the money that Iron Man has made at every AMC is then negoitiated out to about 50 to 55%.
Now a 90/10 split, still used some I’m sure, the highest grossing week, generally the opening week, is split 90/10 with 90 going to the studio and 10 going to the theatre. But those are percentages of the ticket price. If the ticket price is 8 dollars or 80 dollars it’s 90% of the gross. So if it is $8 then the studio gets $7.20 and if the ticket is $12 then the studio gets $10.80 or the theatre gets .80 or $1.20 a diffence of 40 cents.
But don’t feel too bad for the theatres. Theatres in big markets have a ‘house allowance’ that reflects the ammount needed to run the theatre for a week. The house allowance is taken off the top. Some circuits charge a ‘sell out’ fee. If your movie sells out, they take a charge off the top for the ‘extra expense’ of incurred. Circuits also get reimbursed for their ads in the newspaper, as well as having their theatre pushed in the ad bought by the studio.
How is “hanging out in the mall” in any way difficult, or egalitarian? As opposed to putting up with the boredom of waiting in line? It’s the sacrifice of your time to get a specific seat that makes it egalitarian. Everyone has the same chance of getting a specific seat if they show up early enough. If one could buy a specific seat via the web site for a particular movie, that opens the door for the situation we have with concerts with scalpers buying and selling at a tremendous markup.
You guys need Alamo Drafthouses in your town. All the nice amenities (waiter service, alcohol, good food, no little kids) with no assigned seats and normal ticket prices ($8.50 for adults). Whenever possible, I watch movies there.