Live data from Hacker News

Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

walzr.com

161–170 of 280 posts

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#161
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same! in the last couple of years i've seen these movies in a cinema: The Big Lebowski, Fargo, La Heine, Apocalypse Now, HEAT. and i already bought tickets for Run Lola Run, Clerks and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. it's especially cool as someone who's young and wasn't even born when some of these movies initially came to cinemas. at the same time it's unbelievably sad that in recent years about 70% of the movies i…

> at the same time it's unbelievably sad that in recent years about 70% of the movies i saw at a cinema were multiple decades old. There are literally thousands of good movies released between ~1890 and last year. It’s improbable more than a hundred or so will come out this year that’re worth your time, and they’ll be harder to sort from the junk this close to release. If anything, it’s amazing new movies have as lar…

good point i guess, time allows for the good stuff to be remembered and stay relevant.

kind of how some movies like The Big Lebowski were considered flops but nowadays are cherished cult classics.

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#163
post #154

Makes me wonder -- does it make any economic sense for a theater to have screenings before 2pm on a Tuesday? I get that some people can afford the leisure, but I'm almost certain the theater loses money on that

For the first few weeks of a film's release, all of the ticket sales goes to the studio. Pretty much the only revenue for the theatre is popcorn, candy and soda.

Since most theatres have gone full digital, the "projector" won't show the film if there have been no tickets sold. That eliminated the game of buying one ticket and then sneaking in to see a few more movies.

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the joys of having Moviepass in that brief period where it was very cheap but still worked was going to random late-night showings of stuff I'd have never otherwise seen, sometimes being the only person there. Of course you can still do that with the surviving "all you can eat" plans, but they're way more expensive and aren't quite as generous.

MoviePass was one of the most absurd ideas for a company ever. I don't know what they were thinking. Unlimited movies and they ate the entire cost? They didn't arrange any special deals or anything - they just paid the full price of the movie. It was insane.

1 movie per day I believe FWIW. I had it briefly as well. But they kept making changes it’s hard to remember exactly what the first iteration was.

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only film I saw in an empty theater was 'The Death of Stalin'. That was kind of odd but a decent film regardless.

On the one hand Its fun to watch movies alone on a big screen. My area of NJ apparently could care less about movies like Knock Down The House(Biography of AOC and other house candidates), Navalny (Movie about the murdered politician opposing Putin), The Imitation Machine: Movie about Alan Turing or Last Night in Soho (A wonderful Edgar Wright thriller) On the other hand, I feel sad that no one in my region seems to…

[deleted]

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#166
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But aren't they pricing based on how much it costs to show the film? Which in turn is how much the studios and distributors pay to make/market the film? Which is in turn driven by costs... Which are basically large bets on if a piece of art will have mass appeal.

It makes no sense from a classical economics perspective to keep the theater empty. Even if no one is buying at the break-even price, it can make sense to sell below cost just to recoup some of the investment - and adjust the investment in the future, of course. Now, in reality there are second-hand effects, of course - like people getting adjusted to the below-cost ticket prices and being even less incentivized to b…

Seems the same as a hotel - empty rooms benefit no one.

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen too many video projects that were supposed to be non fictional either have fictional material or a misleading slant such that I would not consider it a good use of my time.

Yeah, kind of defeats the purpose when you have to spend hours double-checking if every "fact" you just got "taught" was actually true or not afterwards...

There has to be some latitude given here. They can’t possibly, for instance, know exactly what was said or who interacted with who and when with any reasonable certainty. It’s usually “John met with Ted and I think Sally too, he told them to fuck off because it was a bad idea.” Now make that a scene and stay accurate.

Rarely are these things documented in the moment and human memory is fickle even when we think we recall something accurately. It may seem like I’m taking y’all too literally or being nitpicky but I’m just illustrating one component. These kinds of situations happen across every “fact” of the story, which is almost always a movie based on a written account that came after, often written by someone who wasn’t even involved in the subject matter. Degrees of separation, lack of information, some or all people involved may be dead, etc.

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#168

AMC should start showing Chinese and Korean dramas. That would help them a lot. I'm sure that they could work a deal with those studios that would let AMC set the ticket price. There hasn't been an American-made movie since Lord of the Rings that has compelled me to go see it in the theater. The movie studios seem to be pushing more extremes on immorality, violence, gore, etc, being completely disconnected from the a…

I go to the theater rarely, but recently watched Project Hail Mary in-theater and quite recommend it. There _have_ been some great films made in the last while, among a sea of derivatives.

(E.g., you may find the new Dune films too violent, but they were great. And the moral is not very subtle in them. :)

Re: Empty Screenings – Finds AMC movie screenings with few or no tickets sold

#170
post #7

This is cool. Something about dropping everything to go see a movie in an empty theater is sort of tempting.

The only film I saw in an empty theater was 'The Death of Stalin'. That was kind of odd but a decent film regardless.

A few years ago we decided to go see the movie Thanksgiving for my friend's birthday. We were the only ones in the theater (about 8 of us). It was such a blast. We occasionally talk about renting out a theater so we can have the same experience again.
Post reply on HN