To Thine Own Self Be True: Truth and Moviegoing

One of my mother's favorite quotes is that old chestnut, “To thine own self be true”. I am pretty sure my mother was not aware she was quoting Hamlet, she just admired the quote. In the context of today, the expression ''to thine own self be true'' means that a person should be honest with oneself and do the right thing. It's generally used to describe authenticity and honesty as the essential attributes to being successful.

As our political system careens out of control and the falsehoods of modern media become more apparent, the word truth is gaining a sense of sacredness about it. It is becoming the hallmark by which excellence of a product and or experiences is judged.

When somebody has a problem with a product, or a message for that matter, it’s no longer a one-to-one irate conversation over the phone or some other form of correspondence. It’s broadcast and amplified thousands of times over. Any work you may have done building individual relationships can be undone with the right tweet to the right followers in the blink of an eye. How you treat the least of us is as important as any global campaign these days, so being honest and direct is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity.

This raises the issue with the modern movie theater. There is built into the facade of modern moviegoing, a lot of razzle dazzle and very little truth. There is a widespread knowledge of the base price of the concessions that the theater hawks to its customers is not honest. One minute a moviegoer can be cruising the aisle of a WalMart in Peoria and sees that theater sized candy is price at $.99 a box, later that night they can show up up at their local Regal Theater and see that the same box of candy is now selling for $3.99 to $4.59. Because of the deep discrepancy in price, chances are is that candy will not be purchased and the theater will gain a tarnished reputation for being a “rip-off”.

The way people view you and the way you present yourself is the impression you will leave behind. As you go about the business of carrying out your life people will make judgments about your appearance, personality, and capabilities.

Let's face it ,due to the pricing practices of the major chains, the movie exhibition business has gained the reputation for not being truthful. The exhibition industry is constantly in flux because as a rule, Hollywood insists on being first at the trough and does not really comprehend the fact that the movie they produce are the raw material for a base experience. Most restaurants want to ensure that their food costs run somewhere around 23-27%. Now if the food cost at an Applebees reached a level of 60% then there would be no more Applebees.

Let's face it though, the chains have no choice, the studios with their unbalanced pricing have skewed this whole industry into an unbalance and untruthful perception of product and of value.

I certainly have no problem paying average concession prices since I am aware of the position studios place theaters in. They do not understand or do not want to understand that their product is a raw product. The problem is that it is not. It is not something that comes into a store and is placed on a shelf and is immediately ready for sale. It was to be marketed, it has to be processed and it has to be presented. It requires expensive and specialized technical equipment in order to be presented to the consuming public.

On average most retailers benchmark their pricing decisions using keystone pricing, which is essentially doubling the cost of the product to arrive at a 50% markup. This of course can change based on the nature of the product. I knew a sporting good retailer who traditionally marked up his product 65% just due to hold nature of his product and the seasonality of the sporting goods market.

In today's box office studio revenue share is up to 60%. In 1987 it was just shy of 50%. When I first started running theaters, my studio rental could be as low as 25%. Today older titles charge a $250 guarantee against 35% of the box office with the exception of our dear friends at Disney who want 50%.

What is particularly galling to me is that the studio knows full well that it reaps so much financial reward from the exhibitors, not only from their efforts at the box office but the impact that box office has on foreign sales and sales for Netflix. A titles value for Netflix, if released theatrically is based on its box office performance. As mentioned before Amazon, Hulu and Netflix have come to the slow realization that a theatrical release drives both their marketing and market awareness of the product they are offering.

Let's put forward a wacky...almost zany idea. Mr. Studio Head , you finally admit the deep benefit a theatrical exhibition has on all phases of your product's revenue stream. If that misbegotten experiment known as MOVIEPASS has shown anything, consumers are looking for a value with their entertainment dollar. Now Mr. Studio head show the industry a little love by capping the box office rental to 40%, and it wouldn't hurt if you threw in a little co-op advertising. Okay, now as a condition of you lowering your rental by one third you ask the exhibitors to lower concessions by a third and ticket prices by a third.

The exhibition industry has had to endure decreasing ticket sales, even in the face of the promises of new technology and those ooh so cushy Lazyboy enabled auditoriums.

My guess is that there would be a new sense of value imbued into the exhibition business. A truthfulness that would compel consumers to re-introduce themselves to the practice of moviegoing.

I think it's time to forget all the razzle dazzle and the glitzy exterior and get down to the real truth in moviegoing. Entertainment for the masses at a reasonable price. That is the real truth behind movie going.