Should movies have assigned seating?

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
Assigned seating is beneficial when you're dealing with a blockbuster movie, say, on opening day. Here in Westwood, I've seen lines for movies start days in advance and string several blocks away from the theater (Episode I, LOTR, etc. etc.) If I could buy a ticket in advance with an assigned seat, I wouldn't have to camp out for three days to see the movie.

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, then you'd have to camp out for 3 days in advance to be in line to buy the ticket when they first became available. Or, if you had half a brain, instead of camping out 3 days in advance, you could drive to some small little city the day of the show and buy your tickets late in the afternoon for the night show.

 

[DingDingDao]

I see your point, but there are plenty of other places that assign seating with no problems whatsoever. Concerts, plays, sporting events, etc. etc. I'm pretty sure if you assign seating, and some tuesday night you decide you want to go see a movie, you won't get some crap seat (it'll still be pretty empty, right?)...

 

[DingDingDao]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: DingDingDao
Assigned seating is beneficial when you're dealing with a blockbuster movie, say, on opening day. Here in Westwood, I've seen lines for movies start days in advance and string several blocks away from the theater (Episode I, LOTR, etc. etc.) If I could buy a ticket in advance with an assigned seat, I wouldn't have to camp out for three days to see the movie.

Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, then you'd have to camp out for 3 days in advance to be in line to buy the ticket when they first became available. Or, if you had half a brain, instead of camping out 3 days in advance, you could drive to some small little city the day of the show and buy your tickets late in the afternoon for the night show.

There's no reason why you'd have to actually go to the theater to buy tickets. You do realize that you can buy tickets for movies online now, right? Oh, to address your other issue, students go to see movies in Westwood because they don't have cars, plus the theaters are really nice (balconies, etc. etc.). Some people don't have the luxury of driving out of town to see a movie.

 

[DrPizza]

Uh oh...... if the movie theaters figure this one out, we're all in trouble. Tickets could be available online days in advance, but have a $10 handling fee attached to the price. Thus, they'll be able to more than double the cost of tickets.

Oh, and then for the super blockbuster hits (well, at least the movies that many fans will line up for hours to go see) the scalpers buy up a majority of the tickets online and resell them for a bit more than the $10 plus $10 handling fee... it would have cost $40 just to go see Episode 1 on opening night!

 

[DingDingDao]

There's nothing to stop people from doing that now. You can buy tickets for a movie days in advance now, so it doesn't have anything to do with assigning seats.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
It's assigned here in Japan, at least at one movie theater that I've been to off-base, but only for the busy weekend shows. During the week, it's just like the States, and it works just fine. However, it's very nice for busy movies to have an assigned seat (though the ticket prices suck -- $20 for the best seats on the weekends!).

It depends on the movie theater, the majority aren't. The one I used to go to all the time in Osaka had a movie club that was 5000yen/year or something and they had a block of seats you could reserve for an extra 500yen. My dad was in it so I used to use it sometimes, it was nice because if you were on a date you didn't need to show up early and wait around just to get good seats next to each other.

Other movie theater oddities of Japan:
You can stay for more than one showing (of the same movie)
They'll sell more tickets than seats so you can elect to stand and watch
Beer!
Sell pamplets (like PR releases)

 

[EmperorIQ]

Originally posted by: Xiety
WTF? WTF? WTF?

What the fvck is this sh!t about spiders going around? I know it has something to do with Syringer but what has he done? What did I miss? Somebody give me some light!

heh

syringer posted about a girl who asked him to handle a spider problem. then he never gave us an update

 

[ROTC1983]

Originally posted by: brigden
SPIDER!

 

[dmurray14]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Syringer

Originally posted by: Syringer
S

P

I

D

E

R

HAHAHAHAHAHAH THAT WAS MY LAUGH OF THE DAY!

 

[prvteye2003]

If I'm paying my good money to see a movie, I should be able to sit where I want to. So, I say HELL NO. As far as waiting in line for 3 days, out in 3 feet of snow, in only your underwear, having to eat cans of beans you brought becuase you won't leave line to walk across the street to micky d's for fear of losing your place in line and having to fight some young, punk kid for your place back........just wait another fvcking week to see the damn movie. It's not going anywhere!

 

[adelphi]

don't forget to raise yr hand and so the usher acknowledge u and he can signal the whole row to get up
for u to use the rest room

 

[badmouse]

A couple of the theaters in NYC have tried that. I remember it at the Ziegfeld for Amistad or something like that - but it didn't work very well, too many people didn't pay attention to the rules and there was no way for the staff to enforce seating in the dark after the movie started without annoying the hell out of people who payed extra to enjoy the film.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ

Originally posted by: Xiety
WTF? WTF? WTF?

What the fvck is this sh!t about spiders going around? I know it has something to do with Syringer but what has he done? What did I miss? Somebody give me some light!

heh

syringer posted about a girl who asked him to handle a spider problem. then he never gave us an update

is that the only reason people hate him for?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: Xiety

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ

Originally posted by: Xiety
WTF? WTF? WTF?

What the fvck is this sh!t about spiders going around? I know it has something to do with Syringer but what has he done? What did I miss? Somebody give me some light!

heh

syringer posted about a girl who asked him to handle a spider problem. then he never gave us an update

is that the only reason people hate him for?

Only? It's one of thousands

 

[TitanDiddly]

1. Babies, toddlers, anything likely to cry during the movie is not allowed in under any circumstances. Charge $20-50 for a movie-length of babysitting, and give the parent a vibrating pager like in restaurants in case there's a problem.
2. If you can't read, you cannot see a movie with any text in it that you will have to read. Little kids + subtitled movies + mom reading to them = STFU
3. A 'problem notification' system. You can key in a row and approxmate location where there is a problem, and an attendant will slip up there to supervise or intervene. This will be abused, of course. Maybe have it be that 3-5 people have to report an issue before the alarm sounds.
4. EMP upon entry. If you have a cell phone, leave it in a conveniently placed locker by the door. If anybody enters with a cell phone, it's now fried. I'm serious. Big red signs for liability. If you have a pacemaker... well, you'd probably have a heart attack from the loud noise anyways, so don't see movies.
5. Self-cleaning floors. Just make it work, or give people little slip covers for their shoes OR-style. Don't be suprised when there are covers stuck to the floor all over the place. Not so serious on this one.

 

[MrDingleDangle]

What if a spider is sitting in your seat? Can u make it move or do you have to kill it?

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
2. If you can't read, you cannot see a movie with any text in it that you will have to read. Little kids + subtitled movies + mom reading to them = STFU

LOL

 

[Soybomb]

This is the worst idea i've ever heard. </office space> Seriously though no, I like to sit abour 1/3rd of the way back on the aisle, some prefer center, others want closer. The other events you listed are generally booked well in advance as well, movies are like that.

 

[KeithP]

It would be interesting if they pegged the cost of the ticket to location of the seat in the theater. So the best seats get charged a bit more and the cheap seats would be in the crappy locations.

-Keith

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: kami333

Originally posted by: AndrewR
It's assigned here in Japan, at least at one movie theater that I've been to off-base, but only for the busy weekend shows. During the week, it's just like the States, and it works just fine. However, it's very nice for busy movies to have an assigned seat (though the ticket prices suck -- $20 for the best seats on the weekends!).

It depends on the movie theater, the majority aren't. The one I used to go to all the time in Osaka had a movie club that was 5000yen/year or something and they had a block of seats you could reserve for an extra 500yen. My dad was in it so I used to use it sometimes, it was nice because if you were on a date you didn't need to show up early and wait around just to get good seats next to each other.

Other movie theater oddities of Japan:
You can stay for more than one showing (of the same movie)
They'll sell more tickets than seats so you can elect to stand and watch
Beer!
Sell pamplets (like PR releases)

Even though the ticket prices are terrible, the food prices are fantastic. I feel like I have to buy food to make up for the ripoff at the ticket booth -- hot dog, popcorn and large coke is about Y400, compared to $10+ in the States.

 

[mugs]

Yeah I agree with you Syringer. I hate it when the best seats are only 75% filled, but there's no place to sit because there's no open seats next to each other.

I also wish teenagers were banned from going to the movies when I'm there.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
It's assigned here in Japan, at least at one movie theater that I've been to off-base, but only for the busy weekend shows. During the week, it's just like the States, and it works just fine. However, it's very nice for busy movies to have an assigned seat (though the ticket prices suck -- $20 for the best seats on the weekends!).

Only some theatres.

Some theatres on the 1st do cheap tickets....only drawback is it's unlimited selling and many will have to stand during the show.

 

[Chaotic42]

Yes.

Children should sit outside in the parking lot and anyone with a cell phone or pager turned on should sit in a tank of water.

 

[SilentZero]

Originally posted by: mugs
Yeah I agree with you Syringer. I hate it when the best seats are only 75% filled, but there's no place to sit because there's no open seats next to each other.

I also wish teenagers were banned from going to the movies when I'm there.

Thats cheap? Here in Hawaii you get a large popcorn and large drink for $10.

 

[K1052]

No.

The general admissions seating works just fine. Many of the same problems would still exist anyway. If all the 'good' seats sold out fror the weekend people would still settle for whatever is available.

Another consideration is what is callled 'spillover'. If a certain movie is sold out for the night some people choose to see another film playing at the same theatre, thereby creating extra revenue.

A theatre is 'sold out' when it reaches a certain number of seats remaining based on the size of the auditorium. There is nearly always a small number of seats that are empty, though I have seen some shows filled to capacity.