As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options
Why is numbered seating not popular at Movie Theaters?
krapst78
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Recently I've been trying to purchase movie tickets for the 3D showing of Avatar for my girlfriend and I. Christmas is a huge date day in Korea (basically like Valentines Day in the US) and the movie is basically sold out at all nearby theaters for the next few days. However, the theater next to my home has 3 tickets left for the 1am show but all the seats are individual seats. How do I know the seats are individual seats? It's because all the major movie theaters in Seoul have numbered seating and I can check ticket availability for every theater by going online and checking in real-time. Even if I didn't have access to the internet, I can go to the theater in person and have the person at the box office show me exactly which seats are open for every showing.
I was chatting with my buddy in San Jose, CA who talked about how difficult it was for him to watch Avatar. He had gone to the AMC Theater on Sunday night assuming it wouldn't be too difficult to acquire tickets for him and his wife. He arrived an hour early for the 11:30pm showing, figuring there wouldn't be much of a turnout because the next day was a work day. Nope, all the tickets were sold out. The next day he tried to reserve tickets over the phone but again the tickets were sold out. He was finally able to purchase ticket for the Tuesday showing and had to arrive to the theater an hour and half early to stand around in line. Once the ushers opened the doors people rushed to theater in a dash for the best seats. Even though he arrived an hour and a half early he was relegated to sitting in seats that he wasn't completely satisfied with.
My question is, why don't more theaters change to the numbered seating system? Giving customers more information about their seats give them more control over their movie-going experience. If a customer who is picky about their seats knows that the only seats remaining are at the very front of the theater they may choose to watch the movie on another showing. It can also save customers a lot of time because they'd no longer need to arrive super early to wait in large queues just to ensure they get the seat they want. It also helps people that go watch a movie as a couple or a group sit together to share the movie experience. Is there a commercial reason why movie theaters in the US are reluctant to adopt such a system? I mean many high demand events such as musicals, sporting events, and concerts use this system, why don't movie theaters do the same?
I was chatting with my buddy in San Jose, CA who talked about how difficult it was for him to watch Avatar. He had gone to the AMC Theater on Sunday night assuming it wouldn't be too difficult to acquire tickets for him and his wife. He arrived an hour early for the 11:30pm showing, figuring there wouldn't be much of a turnout because the next day was a work day. Nope, all the tickets were sold out. The next day he tried to reserve tickets over the phone but again the tickets were sold out. He was finally able to purchase ticket for the Tuesday showing and had to arrive to the theater an hour and half early to stand around in line. Once the ushers opened the doors people rushed to theater in a dash for the best seats. Even though he arrived an hour and a half early he was relegated to sitting in seats that he wasn't completely satisfied with.
My question is, why don't more theaters change to the numbered seating system? Giving customers more information about their seats give them more control over their movie-going experience. If a customer who is picky about their seats knows that the only seats remaining are at the very front of the theater they may choose to watch the movie on another showing. It can also save customers a lot of time because they'd no longer need to arrive super early to wait in large queues just to ensure they get the seat they want. It also helps people that go watch a movie as a couple or a group sit together to share the movie experience. Is there a commercial reason why movie theaters in the US are reluctant to adopt such a system? I mean many high demand events such as musicals, sporting events, and concerts use this system, why don't movie theaters do the same?
Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father prepare to die!
Looking for a Hardcore Fantasy Extraction Shooter? - Dark and Darker
Looking for a Hardcore Fantasy Extraction Shooter? - Dark and Darker
krapst78 on
0
Posts
Pretty much this, numbered seats is additional overhead, and hassle, for what amounts to very little gain. If you know only nosebleed seats, or the front row are left you might go to a later showing. However you might decide to not go at all, or visit another theater. They would rather you be standing there, popcorn in tow, looking at your shitty seating options, and deciding to just suffer.
Also putting people in long queues will often times result in them hitting the concession stand, especially if the line is near it. The longer you are just standing around the more likely you are to send a friend to grab some sodas.
Real Answer: I dunno I always saw movie places to be far more casual than say tickets to some show. It's just a movie and if you really have that hard of a time trying to catch it in theaters, it's going to come out on DVD. I wouldn't want to see numbered seating in a cinema unless they were doing a special thing. It would come off as awfully pretentious if it was just some regular night.
Also the movie theater doesn't have to worry itself about "Well what if ticket seat holder 12B doesn't show up?" If I'm not the only person that sees going to the theater as a casual thing to do a lot of people wouldn't think twice of changing their plans. Of course I'm imagining that this would be handled a lot like a play or a stadium event.
If the only movie theater I had access to had numbered seating, I wouldn't go on opening day. A numbered seat is something I would have to commit to, and I want to be sure I'm seeing a good movie. I wouldn't want to go out of my way to preorder a seat if the movie is horrible because I'd only be getting up to leave anyways. It would also give the theater an excuse to drive up the prices because there are bad seats and there are special seats.
Of course in the UK (most) people know how to keep quiet during the film too.
Edit: I guess this is another area where the US seems to be a bit backwards.
Allocated seating is a must for me as it means I can make sure to get the seats with none/few stairs, decent amount of leg room but also not so close I get a migraine.
I'm pretty sure Vue (at least in Reading) is only allocated. Then again, I don't go to the cinema all that often.
There was also someone the "No texting(wht don't you call it sms like rest of the civilised world?) please" thread that was angry when people sat in front of them in a lightly attended cinema. I can't remember when I was last in a cinema that didn't have the seats arranged so you never get someone sitting in front of you.
This might just be because ticket prices in Denmark are so high that we expect a minimum level of comfort.
.
Island. Being on fire.
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Basic politeness?
To tell the truth, I've never really seen much problem with people sitting ion the wrong seats when I've gone to the cinema.
I think part of the reason seats are still first come first server is that it is apart of the experience, more time to eat food, more commercials to throw at people, more time to bullshit. The system would not be hard at all to implement, the theater I worked at had numbered seats but did not use them, and they tracked ticket sales to see how full a movie was. They already have the tools they just have not implemented it yet. It would not cost anymore money (excluding lost ticket and concession sales) or time really.
I think Odeon has a few rows at the back where the chair fabric is different and you pay an extra couple of quid per ticket.
Well, if that seat was sold to someone else then that someone else would just come up and say, "Hey you're sitting in my seat" and that's that. If that seat wasn't sold, well, no harm no foul.
All seats are the same price here. The crappy seats just... don't get sold, generally, unless it's a huge hit that everybody just HAS to see. (I don't think I've ever seen a movie where the first three rows had more than or or two people there, but then I generally don't see blockbusters on opening weekend.) This fact is built into their business models I guess.
but i would hate having set seats.
Picking your seats in the theatre is a dynamic function of the group your seeing it with. some people like the front row, some people like the back. some people want to be in the middle, some people prefer the aisle. still, the group generally wants to sit together... what will work for everyone.
not to mention:
look at those loud looking 12 year olds, lets not sit by them.
that lady has huge hair, lets not sit behind her.
etc.
i guess i submit that finding your seats in a movie theatre is at least as fun as half the movies out there. I do not condone numbered seating.
Yeah every cinema I've ever been to in Europe has had numbered seats and it works out really well.
I always book my cinema tickets a couple of days in advance anyways.
Bingo. I tend not to go to big releases on opening night, and so I would pretty much never see any advantage to numbered seating. Nor would the majority of people the majority of times. More likely, I would wind up having to sit behind some tall guy who wanted to keep talking on his cell phone even though we were the only two people in the theater because my movie ticket said so.
Numbered seating only makes sense when you have sold-out theaters, which accounts for maybe 1% of all showings.
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't get sent to cinema prison for not sitting in your allocated seat in this situation though.
No, but my point is that numbered seating would wind up in far more situations where it screwed me over than situations in which it was awesome, assuming I followed it. Especially since I would assume the logistics of numbered seating would tend to cluster people close together in the middle of the theater, since those are "the best" seats. I trust I'm not the only one who specifically tries not to sit immediately in front of, behind, or next to other people in a theater?
Generally, if it's a busy showing I will book in advance and get allocated seats. If it's a film though that I'm pretty sure will have plenty of spare seats I don't bother and just sit wherever (kind of how Bob described come to think of it, so ignore my incorrect response to that).
Theatres aren't going to spend the money to hire a whole bunch more staff to deal with this issue.
I rarely go to theatres these days. Rude teenagers, assholes texting and talking on their cell phones, $7 sodas and all the other bullshit isn't worth it. I've got a 60 inch TV at home and I can wait a few months to see a movie in the comfort of my living room. This whole concept of watching a movie in an auditorium with 200 strangers is so 1950's.
Rigorous Scholarship
I dunno, I've never had to turf someone out of my seat in a cinema as far as I can remember. And I haven't witnessed any arguments regarding that once tickets have been checked by the relevant members of the public. As far as I can tell there are no extra staff or anything on hand to enforce the correct seating.
Usually as I recall in the UK the good seats are like $20, and the bad seats are $18. At least at the places I went you didn't pick your seats (other than in IMAX) just the quality of seat you were getting.
Oh and in the USA it's just like people say. There is zero incentive to do so. Once you sold out about the first 10% of seats, people very likely wouldn't come since they knew they'd be getting a bad seat. Since the USA is also the only place I've ever been to a movie theater and had it be busy (other than hook on opening night in the UK, where I had to sit in the Aisle...) , it's the only place where the problem really applies
As for increasing overhead, I'm not exactly sure how it would cost more to operate a numbered system than a free for all system if you rely on self regulation by the customers. The numbered system I've seen don't actually require enforcement by the workers to function. The social pressure of taking another person's seat is enough to resolve any conflicts that may arise between two customers.
Looking for a Hardcore Fantasy Extraction Shooter? - Dark and Darker
If I'm going on opening night it's probably because It's something like Star Trek or Lord of the Rings that I've been looking forward to and I'm happy to wait in line and chat with whoever I'm going with. It's part of the movie experience.
Yeah, that works in the UK most of the time, but not always.
Agreed. Midnight showings and waiting in line is part of the experience.
Cinema experience is very different in the US. The hell of not knowing where I would be sitting would mean I would go to the flicks even less than I do already. Meh.
Understandable. It's been conditioned. I suppose how "shitty" our experience is has given us a relatively different perspective of a good time at the movies. My only complaint is that theaters never have coffee. NEVER. And they don't allow me to bring my own.
i have never had an issue bringing food and drink into movies.
I didn't think I would, but there's a new AMC theater and the guys there are relentlessly stopping me from bringing my coffee into the theater. Yeah, sure, stop me from my coffee. But let my wife in with the 5 things of candy in her purse.
I noticed that oftentimes my western preferences really threw off the employees at the theaters in Asia I'd do this with. For example I would intentionally leave one seat between me and a group of people next to me. I'm a tall guy so the extra room is important to me, but I don't think its the kind of request they get very often.
Might cause problems.
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
It was recently declared illegal in Taiwan for movie theaters to stop patrons from bringing in food and drink. The big chain multiplexes used to be obnoxious dicks about it, but they've quieted down.
I don't understand why people apparently think that assigned seating will require armies of ushers and other employees to maintain order? Self-regulation works well enough for this, like many other posters said. If the theater's half-empty you can sit somewhere else you like and nobody would care. If the theater's full you save yourself an hour of time.
EDIT: Everything Cauld said is true, right down to the part where I find it unspeakably bizarre for people to leave empty seats between them and their friends.
The Hell would only apply to opening night showings, for the most part, and even then you can guarantee good seats by getting there, say, 60-90 minutes in advance. And that's for big movies. You're not going to have too much difficulty snagging a good seat for Hugh Grant Plays a Neurotic Guy even on opening night five minutes before the flick starts.
As to food pricing, I don't mind it too much, because it keeps the cost of tickets down. Someone mentioned $20 for ticket prices in the UK? Jesus fuck.
That said, my experience has been that theater staff doesn't give a shit about you bringing in your own food as long as you go to some respectable effort to at least make it look like you're trying to hide it. If you walk in swinging your bag of Burger King food, they'll ask you to dump it, but if you go in there with a conspicuous soda-can-shaped bulge in your pants, they won't say boo.
Also, most places around here sell coffee. Usually just plain stuff, but some have full-on Starbucks-type endeavors that have respectable espresso drinks.
I think the average price is somewhere around £5-6, so about $10 maybe?
1- If you were going with a group, you had to buy a block of seats together to sit together. This means not only is it more difficult to get seats but you have a whole new amount of information that has to be transmitted if you're not buying them in one transaction (as is common with any group larger than two).
2- It was inefficient. If you were stuck behind someone who was tall or a group that was talking or even just right next to someone with no gap, you can move in a general admission theater. In a seating assigned theater you have to find a seat that someone doesn't have a ticket for or hope that his person isn't going to cause problems if they find you in their seat.
If you don't want to risk getting a bad angle to a movie, either don't go to one that is going to be sold out/packed to the gills or get there early. Adding a level of complexity to seat assignment that has to be enforced and adds barriers to entry for little gain isn't going to improve your business model and doesn't improve the viewer experience appreciably.
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+