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Author Topic: What have your experiences been with free admisison movies Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 08-08-2013 02:10 PM                        We're just wrapping up our second summer of a series of free admission kids movies. This year we had a slate of 10 movies - all animated movies from the past 3-4 years. We advertised for the doors opening at 9:00am with the show starting by 10:00am, but we start each auditorium as it fills - usually the first starts about 9:30. Then we wind up starting the last around 10:15am. During these shows we offered a fun pack for $4.00 ($1.00 off the normal price) but with soda only and no butter. If they wanted Icee it was our normal price of $5.50 ($0.50 upcharge for Icee). A few things we've found is that we seem to have a lot of people who show up late. We advertise the show starting by 10:00am, but the bulk of the people show up between 9:45am and 10:15am. We also find that filling the earlier auditoriums becomes a challenge because people know we'll open more. People will either wait in the lobby until we open the next auditorium, or they will take a seat and then move to the next auditorium. Almost every week I'll find the earlier auditoriums wind up with 20-30 people less than we had when we opened the next. We have made a point of thanking people for stopping at the snack bar because it supports the free movies. Our per capita averages $3.50-3.75. We're averaging ~550 people each week. As far as movie selection, we're finding that a popular movie does not translate to the most popular kids shows. This year our most popular was Escape from Planet Earth. Other movies were The Lorax, Despicable Me, Rio, Ice Age 4, Madagascar 3, The Smurfs, Rise of the Guardians, Hotel Transylvania, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Between last year and this year, our most popular movie was The Lorax last year, but we played it about a week before it came out on DVD. I'm just curious to hear thoughts and experiences from others who have run free shows/series. Including what movies were the most popular.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 08-08-2013 02:51 PM                        I used to do a free show every year on a Saturday around the first part of December for Santa Claus day. Santa would be here at the end of each show to hand out candy canes and talk to the kids as they left. The local Chamber of Commerce paid for the film rental cost and provided Santa and the candy canes. For the first two years after I first opened the theatre, I had two free admission shows each year, at 1pm and 3pm. But then the crowds got bigger and two shows weren't enough any more; I started having three shows, 11am, 1pm and 3pm. This continued up just that way until 2010, but over the course of time the crowds started getting less again and I went back to having just two shows in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 the Chamber didn't want to sponsor the free movie any more, so a local real estate agency paid for the film rental, put a sign in my lobby while the shows were on, and the agents shook paw with everyone on the way out after the show. The Chamber still provided Santa and the candy canes. However, once again the crowds were less than ever before and I could actually have done it all with one show instead of two. Last Christmas nobody from the Chamber or anywhere else bothered to ask about having a show for Santa, and to my surprise none of my customers or anyone else asked me about it either. So there was no free show in 2012, and I don't think anyone noticed. I guess that means I've played my last free show for Santa. Which doesn't really bother me since it was always a tremendous pile of work for very little gain anyway; I really did it for the "nice guy" factor. The biggest mistake that I made doing this was the first year when I gave away free popcorn. NEVER AGAIN will I give away free popcorn. People took it just because it was free, of course, and after the shows I was cleaning up popcorn with a snow shovel. Literally. I can't remember how many garbage bags I filled when shovelling popcorn, but it was more than just a few.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-08-2013 05:33 PM                        We had the exact same experience with free popcorn a long time ago, except it was worse: The sponsors wanted to have unlimited free popcorn AND soda. We just kept count of the number of cups we used and billed them accordingly. We made great money but I never saw such a mess in my whole life. We vowed that day to NEVER do that again. As for free shows.....we've had at least one every year during the Christmas season. We always have at least two matinees, but only one is free -- the other one is a dollar a seat usually. The crowds for these types of shows have been dwindling here, too. I couldn't figure out why, figuring nobody would want to turn down a free show....but then last summer, we were visiting some relatives and I overheard my nephew asking his daughter, "What do you want to watch? Toy Story, Brave, Wall-E, Despicable Me, Ice Age, etc.?" I thought, THAT's why the crowds are disappearing...they have a huge variety at home to watch for free, so why haul a two-year-old to the movie theater to watch one movie she doesn't even get to pick herself? So I guess we need to play up the angle of "Get the kids out of the house, Mom!" But not quite sure how to do that effectively.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 08-08-2013 05:47 PM                        So is is not longer "free movies for kids." It is "free time for Mom, take the kids away to the movies, Dad" Louis  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-09-2013 08:56 AM                        We've been doing $1 children's matinees for 30 years, so practically free. We also have 50¢ soda (9oz) and popcorn (2E box). We cater mostly to daycares. Shows are Thus & Fri at 10 & 1. As as single screen we don't have the luxury of an overflow house. We usually do about 200 per show (385 seats). Average audience is 3ft tall. This year AMC did not do the kids matinees, so we got all of the overflow and had to turn busloads away in the first few weeks. And yes, it is the biggest mess to clean up. We do between the shows and the janitor gets the real cleaning after the second show. Things I've learned: Daycares are not a good place to place your kids. The keepers rarely know how many kids they have. Many of them arrive 10-20mins late and expect to find 30 seats together--in the dark. They can't do simple math (20 kids plus 20 popcorn and soda=$40). As for the kids, besides being really messy, they would be perfectly happy if we just turned the lights on and off a few times. We've gotten more walkins this year, there must have been a birthing spree in the neighborhood a few years ago. In general, we treat this as a public service and the people who attend are usually happy we are doing it. It does turn a profit, but a very annoying profit.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-09-2013 09:24 AM                        My experience with free stuff in general is that people tend to not value it because it is free. It also tends to attract people who are "cheap" (i.e. free movies generally do low concession business) and people who have nothing better to do (resulting in mid-show walk-outs). Audiences at free screenings tend to be rude, too--I have never seen more cell phones lit up during a movie than at a free screening that I did a year or so ago (at an art museum, no less!). I like the $1 ticket thing better--it is essentially the same thing as "free," but the fact that it costs something probably helps to keep the riff-raff away. There is no doubt that this creates additional hassle with selling tickets, making change, and keeping boxoffice reports, though.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-09-2013 12:12 PM                        We have also done a promotion where we run a matinee of a hot new movie and it is sponsored by a local organization. We most recently did this with "Monsters U." We give them as many tickets as we have seats; they decide on a price at which to sell them (or they can give them away if they want to); and we bill them based on our actual ticket prices for the tickets we receive at the door. It's a win-win-win...the organization looks good for discounting or giving out the tickets, we get a full house of willing concession buyers, and people are happy.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 08-09-2013 12:25 PM                        What do you do when a group of people show up and say "I forgot to buy my ticket from Joe So-and-so, but I want to come to this show anyway."  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-09-2013 01:48 PM                        We don't advertise the showtime to the public -- it's up to the sponsoring organization to do that, so everybody is pretty much "in the know" about the tickets. What happens often is, people will bring in six or seven tickets but only have three or four people so they'll tell us to "donate" those extra tickets to people who need them. Gotta love small towns.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 08-09-2013 01:56 PM                        Mike We have done similar things in the past where a private group buys out a show and then hands out the tickets. What always amazes me is the people who are obviously not in need of a free ticket that show up. It's one thing when it's been a business doing this as a thank you to their customers. It's another when it's just about giving free tickets to people. The example that sticks out in my mind was The Passion of the Christ.  |  IP: Logged Jeff Taylor Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 601 From: Chatham, NJ/East Hampton, NY Registered: Apr 2000 posted 08-09-2013 02:49 PM                     One Showcase Cinemas District Manager used to do a monthly "senior citizen" matinee for $1, which included a small popcorn and small soda. I guess that qualifies as free. The films were generally 40's-50's classics, and there were drawings for small prizes. It was a total success, and being seniors the popcorn stayed off the floor. How many of them became regular moviegoers--the object of the exercise--is anyone's guess.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 08-09-2013 04:33 PM                     The Hollywood I work at does a "Canned film Festival" 6-7 weeks in the summer time. Older kids' movies, and it's a can of food to the local Second Harvest food bank per head for admission. We do ~500-600 a week typically. Tuesday mornings at 10am... normally 4-5 auditoriums worth. It's pretty much a disaster, but the concession profit is all gravy seeing as how the radio station pays the film rental  |  IP: Logged Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 08-09-2013 04:55 PM                     One problem with free, but still ticketed, events is that people obtain tickets but don't turn up. Since there is not disadvantage to them they don't cancel their ticket (and sign up before the fully know if they can attend). If the tickets are distributed via the internet few sites seem to have the equipment to prevent multiple copies of the same ticket being used.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 08-09-2013 10:22 PM                        Yeah we tried doing the "get your free ticket at local businesses" once, with a note on the ticket saying seating was limited, arrive early. We gave each participating store about 100 tickets, and some gave them all out, some only gave a few out. We were braced for having to turn a bunch of people away but wound up with only about half-a-house. So we decided not to do THAT again. If we're giving out actual tickets they have to be paid.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 08-10-2013 12:28 AM                     Not worth the trouble.  |  IP: Logged

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