Now this is a clever idea - digital theaters

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Now that most movie theaters are all digital, this makes perfect sense to get some revenue flowing while people are avoiding the 'rona.  From the Beeb:

The cinemas now hiring out their screens to gamers
Eui Jeong Lee and three of her friends sit in an otherwise empty 200-seat cinema auditorium and play a video game on the giant screen.

As Ms Lee blasts her gaming opponents with her wireless controller, the sound whips loudly around the dark room from the numerous cinema speakers.

"The sound quality is particularly amazing," says the 25-year-old student. "The sound of the gunshots is just so vivid, and when something flew directly at me from the screen I even screamed."

Ms Lee and her mates had hired the screen for two hours at a branch of South Korea's largest cinema chain, CGV.

With many cinemas across the country closed due to coronavirus restrictions meaning that they can only open with 50% capacity, and far fewer movies being released to tempt cinemagoers, CGV came up with the idea of renting out its auditoriums to gamers to bring in a new revenue stream.

Some numbers:

Before 6pm up to four people can hire a screen for two hours for around $90 (£65). This then rises to $135 in the evening. Users have to bring their consoles, games and controllers with them.

The auditoriums being hired out have between 100 and 200 seats, and by comparison CGV movie tickets cost around $12 each. So a 100-seat screen half filled for a film would bring in revenues of $600, rising to $1,200 for a 200-seat one at 50% capacity. And that is before the filmgoers buy their drinks and popcorn.

This actually works out really well as when the theater shows a movie, a chunck of each ticket goes to the movie distributor so the theater is not pocketing the whole $12. I would bet that fewer people need to be employed by the theater. I do not know what the labor laws are but they might not even be required to hire a "projectionist" as they are not showing movies.

Surprised that this has not taken off here.

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This page contains a single entry by DaveH published on February 12, 2021 8:02 PM.

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