FAMILY OUTING
Why not book an entire theater for family and friends?
As movie theater chains put into place safetymeasures such as staggered seating and seat sanitizing between showtimes, reps say they recognize there are families who aren’t comfortable returning to a traditional auditorium setting.
In response, VIP-style fulltheater booking is being offered at new, more approachable price points.
Chanda Brashears, Cinemark’s vice president of investor and public relations, says that while private auditorium booking has long been an option for corporate events and other gatherings, the average family has likely never experienced the big screen in such amanner.
Cinemark’s new private-theater booking starts at $99 and accommodates 10 to 50 people. It is priced to be “a tremendous bargain” compared to pre-pandemic moviegoing, Brashears says, referencing how families are sharing the cost and taking advantage of the chain’s current discounted pricing on concessions.
“You maintain your trusted bubble, and you have this very luxurious upscale celebrity experience that you likely would not have been able to justify having before COVID,” she says.
Parents tell her the novelty of booking a private theater allows their children to experience cult film classics for the first time on the big screen, such as “Back to the Future” and “Jurassic Park.”
In addition to sports teams that have booked theaters to livestream games, she says private bookings are popular with groups of teens who “dress up like the red-carpet experience.” .
Popcorn for two
Booking a private screening of 1996’s “Romeo + Juliet,” one couple recently celebrated their wedding anniversary by rewatching their first date movie, says Robert Saucedo of Alamo Drafthouse in Katy.
Others are using the chain’s new private-theater pricing, which starts at $150, for karaoke nights, family reunions, kids’ birthday parties and video game challenges.
For the latter, guests bring their own game consoles, laptops and controllers to face off with one another “on a huge, gigantic screen in a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Saucedo says.
Families reserve theaters to screen a film in private or with their “pods,” he says— those families and neighbors with whom they have isolated throughout quarantine.
Rolling out the red carpet
At iPic, located in River Oaks District, pricing for a private-cinema experience through the end of the year is $150 Monday through Friday for a party of 20, plus a $20 per person food and beverage minimum. The promotion includes a complimentary popcorn per guest.
Families can choose from more than 500 titles for “a luxury experience you cannot replicate at home when watching amovie,” says Meaghan Troast, senior director of marketing.
For her part, Tonya Mangels of Studio Movie Grill says while the chain’s new private-theater pricing has been booked for groups of two up to 100, the average party size is 20.
What that tells her is “it’s less about price and more about … feeling comfortable,” she says.
“I think the main factor that’s driving the interest is the safety, social distancing and the access to a VIP experience that the average person hasn’t been able to reserve before,” Mangels says.
“People want to have less stops or less outings,” she says, referencing the Citycentre theater’s full dinner menu.
Private-theater booking is here to stay, she thinks, beyond the health crisis.
“I think it will be part of the new normal,” she says. “We’re preparing for general changes in consumer behavior and how we can continue to evolve as a brand … to meet customers where they’re at.”