Dealing With Movie Theaters

We are going to rent out a theater for Prince Caspian.

Let me first say this. I’ve heard of guys criticizing this kind of event. Some because we are partnering with the ‘whore of Babylon’ called Hollywood. Others because they think it’s ‘bait and switch’ evangelism. For us – it’s neither. It’s an opportunity for a bunch of us that happen to go to the same church to watch a great movie together and discuss it afterwards.

But that really is neither here or there. What has been baffling to me is dealing with the movie theaters. In Little Rock, I actually new the movie theater manager. Apparently that greased the skids more than I could possibly imagine.

We called a certain theater in town and the conversation went like this…

“I’ll have to check with THE manager to see if you could do this.” LONG PAUSE

Well…then go check.

“He’s not here right now.”

When will he be in?

“I don’t know.”

Is this a hassle for you?

“Yes it is.”

Thanks, we’ll not be calling back.

Another theater was glad to help us. Buy 400 tickets plus a $10 concession package per ticket plus $100 processing fee. Made each ticket around $25 a pop. 20 Mile Theater in Parker finally helped us out. Let us buy all the tickets in their largest theater for $6 a pop. No fees. No additional concessions.

Here’s what I don’t get with the other theaters – how many times can they guarantee a sold out theater? The movie industry isn’t exactly tearing it up right now and I would think that the promise of a full theater would be appealing. Apparently not.