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Topic: Print at Home Ticketing

Charles Lubner
Film Handler

Posts: 78
From: Milwaukee, WI USA
Registered: Sep 1999

posted 12-21-2001 06:45 PM

The Wall Street Journal today had a big article on print at home ticketing in their Weekend Journal section. Does anyone here have print at home tickets in their theatre? My circuit, Marcus Theatres, has it at all first run locations and it is quite popular, especially for big movies like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Anyone care to share their experiences with this latest fad in moviegoing?

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Ian Price
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1714
From: Denver, CO
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-21-2001 07:30 PM

A.C.Nielson/EDI did a study and found that less than 10% of people have ever bought movie tickets over the phone. The amount of people who have purchased movie tickets online is statistically insignificant. 50% get their information from the Newspapers, 28% Internet, 18% call the theatre and so on. I will wait for more people to get used to buying over the Internet. We still don't accept credit cards. I think we need to wait to see that security is tight as well.

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Scott D. Neff
Theatre Dork

Posts: 919
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Oct 1999

posted 12-22-2001 02:32 AM

All I know -- is when I'm at a location and half the tickets are sold for a 7:00pm show -- BEFORE the theatre opens -- I think internet ticketing is where it's at.

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Mike Blakesley
Film God

Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99

posted 12-24-2001 03:33 PM

Easy to see where this could lead.

People will eventually get sick of going to a theatre only to find that all the tix have been sold since early that morning via the Internet. This will eventually mean that ALL tickets will be sold over the net. That means everything will be done via credit cards. Result: no cashiers, and bookkeeping staff could be greatly reduced. New technology=less jobs, plus the loss of one more 'face' the public sees when coming to the theatre. Add vending machines to the lobby (which also take credit cards) and you could have a whole plex run by one guy in the booth, a janitorial staff, and a security guard or two in the lobby to keep people from trashing the automatic machines. We already know that nobody cares if people jump auditoriums so that's a non-issue.

I hope this doesn't happen but it sure seems a possibility!

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Charles Everett
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1470
From: New Jersey
Registered: May 2001

posted 12-27-2001 11:09 AM

Just another fad being hyped by Big Media.

Of course "Print at Home Ticketing" will be "quite popular" on every overhyped picture that breaks in 3,500-plus theaters. Check back when it's February and there's routine product or "Oscar Bait".

Another reason why I arrive at the theater well in advance and have my $ or Visa ready.

Ian: Funny that for showtimes you say "50% get their information from the Newspapers". In New Jersey almost every daily newspaper now buys its showtime listings from Hollywood.com.

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Frank Angel
Film God

Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999

posted 01-17-2002 11:01 PM

A parallel technology, printing postage at home seems to be catching on. Your printer prints the postage and a digital information block (not a barcode) that has the information that is unique to that piece of mail, thwarting duplication. I have used it myself (anything to avoid the lines at the Post Office), and I must admit, it works very well, easy enough for folks who are not necessarily computer geeks. If tickets could be purchased this way, it would avoid even the hassle of standing in line at the automated ticket machine. I have a feeling it might catch on, but like anything new, it may take some time before its use rises high enough on the graph to make it significant.

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