Thread: Why don't movie theatres ever discount ticket

prices? Often ties you go to a movie a few weeks after it's released and the theatre is almost empty. Why not cut the ticket price and fill it up? Don't they make all their money off of concessions anyway?

Theaters have to pay certain royalties for every single viewer, so if they have certain deal with the distributor, they cannot change the price based on the public interest. What they can do is stop showing that movie. (or change deal with distributor - unlikely)

They do discount tickets - there are matinee prices during the day to encourage attendance during slow hours. There are also senior citizen and student/kids discounts, and sometimes even discounts on traditionally slow days like Wednesdays.Some cinemas offer "second" releases in theatres called "Dollar Cinemas" where a movie that was released anywhere from 1+ month ago is shown at a discount.The one key thing though is that prices are consistent - you know that if you go at a certain time, at a certain day, you will pay the same price for whichever movie you want to see. The problem with variable pricing by movie, as you may be suggesting, is that it adds a degree of uncertainty to the experience.However, like airline tickets which have a yield management system with pricing to maximise attendance, movie cinemas could go this route once a majority of the ticketing is booked in advance (over the phone or internet), so you know the price before you show up to the cinema. However, at the moment, most of the tickets are purchased at the location.And yes, cinemas make most of their money (profit) off concessions - popcorn is the most profitable thing they sell. One final thing about ticket prices - many times the studio will not allow cinemas to cut prices because they demand a minimum price per head. Also, if one cinema cuts prices indiscriminately, then a price war will erupt causing cinemas to lose money (likely).