Movie chain chops prices as it battles home theatres: $9.95 a ticket, down from $13.95

by Kevin Restivo
The National Post
Jan 27, 2005

Famous Players chopped ticket prices for its Toronto-area cinemas yesterday, an acknowledgement that more people are staying at home to watch movies.

Canada's largest cinema chain said it is now charging $9.95, down from $13.95, to see a movie at one of its 10 locations in the city. The company also dropped ticket prices for its cinemas in Hamilton, St. Catharines, Windsor, Sarnia and Belleville.

The Famous Players announcement comes as movie houses struggle with flagging attendance.

"It is a lot tougher to convince people to get off the couch these days," said Kaan Yigit, president of Solutions Research Group Inc., a Toronto-based market research firm.

Admissions, or the number of tickets actually sold, in Canada and the United States were expected to fall to roughly 1.5-billion in 2004 from 1.53-billion in 2003 and 1.6-billion in 2002, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., a box office tracking service.

Mr. Yigit said souped-up home theatre systems and falling DVD prices make it easier for moviewatchers to stay at home.

Robb Chase, Famous Players' chief executive, said aggressive pricing strategies by large rental chains such as Blockbuster Inc. have compounded the attendance problem for movie chains over the past three years. Last month, Blockbuster said it would waive late fees for its customers in a bid to stem falling rental sales.

"It is nipping around the edges of our business," he said. "We needed to give our guests incentives to get out and go see the movies again."

Online movie rentals and Internet piracy are expected to become bigger factors that will adversely affect attendance for movie houses in the near future.

In the meantime, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is selling low-cost DVDs and video-on-demand is emerging as an alternative for moviewatchers who want to stay at home.

Mr. Chase said the company decided to drop ticket prices in the Toronto-area after successful pilot projects in Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal over the past three years. He said the company was able to generate about 10-15% more traffic in each city after it dropped prices.

Famous Players first lowered the cost of admission to $7.95 in Winnipeg three years ago.

Mr. Chase said the company will keep the new prices for Torontonians in effect for the next couple of months.

Mr. Yigit said the Toronto-based company probably wants to offset lower revenue from ticket prices by bringing more people into the cinemas who will, presumably, buy popcorn and other concessions.

AMC, Famous Players' main competitor in Canada, did not say whether it will drop prices in Canada as well.

At least one Toronto-area moviegoer liked the Famous Players idea.

Janice Hatch, 27, said she will "absolutely" see more movies now.

"It's like the no-late-fees policy from Blockbuster," she said. "Anyone who watches movies regularly will probably be excited about these types of initiatives."

To the top