Regular Movie Blog reader David Terry posted a comment in the article “The Price of Going to the Movies: An Open Letter to the Theater Chains” that rings with something I’ve been thinking for a long time, but didn’t know anyone was actually doing yet. David wrote this:
UCG however do an unlimited film card. For £12.99 a month you can visit any of their cinemas (including the West End of London) as many times as you like. For £9.99 you can go to any cinema (excluding the West End of London). The only downside is the minimum year subscription, but I think this is a great deal.
Yes yes yes. Give people the option of buying a “membership” for say, I don’t know, $25/month and I think they’d sell like hot cakes. This is a fantastic idea and it needs to be implemented here in North America. Does anyone know if this is already being done in any North American Markets?
babycoloneldirectly
They will probably deactivate my UGC card when I watch Episode III in May. And I wont complain! LOL
Whant gambling? Online gambling at http://online-gambling-123.biz is your way!!!
$25 a month and you get to enter a movie complex and see as many films as you want during that month? You MUST be joking. Won’t happen in America. Numbers matter over here and like “nova” says there’s no way to calculate box office business on that system. They either have to limit the number of available such passes or those who didn’t have a pass would have to pay $20 a ticket or some nonsense.
What they have at the Arclight in Hollywood a Membership system that costs $10. You accumulate points with every ticket purchase which you can use for free and/or reduced rate tickets if you purchase two or 30%-60% off merchandise including magazines (which actually comes in handy because they get the top items from the studios and you can get a $5 magazine for $3)or their food. Plush seating, wrap-around screens, it works.
This pass has actually been going with UGC in UK just before they took over the Virgin cinemas. Virgin introduced it into their cinemas and you didn’t have to buy it for a year, you could buy it in month passes.
Brilliant. Wait for a slew of new releases, and good ones at that, then buy a pass.
…and perhaps for that very reason, when UGC bought them over, they started the “sign up for a year deal”.
Still, great value if you can make the movies and don’t get upset by the poor sound systems in your local UGC or Mr Noisy beating his minstrels to death before eating them…with his mouth open…and only at the quiet bits. Breath and relax.
Mr Campea, I love the fact you inserted and edited London Travel card at the top of the post, just to add to the British theme of the post. Oh and yes I should have typed UGC and not UCG (the first time a statement I make gets front page billing and it contains a typo! Note to self:- Proof read more!)
Hi,
First, i apologise for my bad english.
Second, i apologise for being french.
In France, we have “La F√™te du Cin√©ma”.
Each year, during a 3 days week-end, you buy one ticket at normal price (8‚Ǩ, 9.5$) and you can see all the movie you want. You pay only 1‚Ǩ for the other movies you want to see. May be you could do that in US, it’s a great way to bring people who haven’t got a lot of money in theaters.
My wife and I started last month doing that same thing with Blockbuster….Blockbuster is trying to do the Netflix thing now….It’s a sweeeeeeeetttt deal but Blockbuster probably HATES me by now….First weekend I rented 10 movies in 2 days….The math works great….$19.99 per month no late fees no more fees PERIOD, just swap out your movies….Normally 10 movies @ $3.99 a pop = 40 bucks….Dave get movies, Dave pay no more money, Dave happy man…
how would the thespians get paid?
if everyone is paying the same amount but using the pass differently, how would they be able to calculate box office totals? It wouldn’t be enough to know what movie was “viewed” the most, but also what movie “made” the most.
They (UGC) have been doing that in France for a while now (over three years) and it had such a tremendous success at first that rival multiplex companies sued them and got they membership enrollements temporarily suspended by order of court on the basis of unfair competition. The price was around 150 francs (25 euros) / month at the time if I recall correctly. Since it resumed it has had a steady but solid growth, especially being successful among teenagers and young adults. Rival companies never quite matched UGC’s unlimited film plan, and although UGC raised their prices a bit after the lawsuit settlement, they are the untouched leaders of the ‘unlimited movie plan’ business in France.
That same concept has catapulted Netflix into a multimillion dollar company, and I agree that it’s a great idea.
Vic