SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY
Most people unwilling to pay a higher theatre ticket price for more security, survey says
Despite recent U.S. shootings, 75 per cent of moviegoers feel safe, survey says,
With two shootings this summer, cinema owners are back in the security spotlight, but a recent poll found few American moviegoers willing to pay more for enhanced measures.
A masked, axe-wielding gunman was shot dead by police Wednesday after he opened fire at a Nashvillearea theatre showing of the movie Mad Max: Fury Road.
He was the only fatality in the incident which was the latest in a string of cinema shootings since 2012 when 12 people were slain and dozens wounded by a gunman at an Aurora, Colo., theatre during a midnight screening of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
Last year, a retired police officer fatally shot a fellow moviegoer whom he confronted over texting during the screening.
And on July 23, three people were killed and nine were wounded when a man opened fire with a .40 calibre handgun in a movie theatre in Lafayette, La., about 20 minutes into the comedy film Trainwreck. The man killed himself as police closed in.
Despite these incidents, in a U.S. survey conducted by film and motion picture-based market research firm C4 the week after the Louisiana shooting, 75 per cent of moviegoers said they felt extremely safe or very safe in theatres, on the same level as an airport, despite having less security in place.
“I’m happy that as of last week you don’t have this fear running through people (that) they’re going to stop going to movies,” said Ben Spergel, L.A.-based C4’s executive VP of consumer insights.
He believes patrons consider thea- tres “a safe haven” where they go to “escape the bad news around them.”
Still, about a third of respondents believed that bags/purses should be searched for guns and weapons upon entry; that people should pass through metal detectors; and there should be armed security in the lobbies. However, only 13 per cent of the 250 person sample of people who go to at least six movies annually, were willing to pay up to $3 more for these measures in the form of higher ticket prices.
“As a society we have gotten used to metal detectors and bag searches in certain places and for the most part the cost of implementing those procedures gets lost in the cost of the concert ticket, or sporting event ticket or airplane ticket,” said Spergel.
“On an $8, $9, $10 movie ticket a $2-$3 up charge is going to be felt. We probably have to do this and like anything else the consumer will eventually have to foot the bill.”
Neither Cineplex Entertainment, AMC Entertainment nor Regal Entertainment Group, among the continent’s biggest cinema companies, responded to the Star’s request for comment.
The Cinemark theatre chain is scheduled to be in court next year to defend civil lawsuits brought by survivors and relatives of the Colorado shooter James Holmes who was found guilty of 24 counts of first- degree murder last month.
Industry analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations, said while theatres might consider installing private security for late night showings, he doesn’t believe the safety burden should rest completely with them.
“The outcry needs to come from the citizens and that needs to be pushed on to the legislators; it’s not going to be as simple as leaving this to theatre owners,” he said.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to why this is happening. Obviously the people that have done it are mentally unstable. And the problem there is: how do we get guns out of their hands? That should be the place to start; not theatre owners need to do a, b, c. The mental health system and the way that guns are given to people have to be changed. A cultural change has to happen and that’s much bigger than theatre owners and studios.” With Star wire services