A night out at the movies can get very

costly, especially when you factor in traffic,

parking and concessions. It all adds up, and
many prefer binge-watching movies and TV
shows in the comfort of their homes. It’s
less expensive and less of a hassle to just
Netflix and chill.
Theater chains have to fill empty seats, and
they’re pulling out all the stops: full-service
restaurant-quality food and drinks served to
patrons’ luxurious reclining seats, with an
up-charge. But still, some of those seats
remain empty. So what does it take to get
movie lovers off their couches and into the
theater?
Theaters have to fight back against Netflix
by becoming more like Netflix. The
streamer is not only changing the playing
field for at-home entertainment but also
how movie theater chains run their
businesses, and they are fighting back
against Netflix and other streaming
platforms with monthly subscription plans
that are in many ways similar to the
streamers'.
Regal Cinemas just announced an unlimited
movie ticket subscription plan, Regal
Unlimited, a program that is expected to
officially start within the next few days.
Regal’s customers will pay $18 to $23.50 a
month in what is considered the boldest
subscription offering to date among the top
three theater chains in the U.S.: AMC, Regal
and Cinemark. Customers can see as many
films as they want on a standard format
screen depending on their location—the
bigger the city, the more expensive it will
be. Los Angeles and New York are among
the cities that will pay more. And customers
will have to commit to 12 months.
Members paying $18 will have access to
200 of Regal's 564-plus locations across the
country that are in smaller markets. The
middle-tier customers will pay $21 for entry
into 400 cinemas, and the top-paying
customers will shell out $23.50 to go to any
Regal theater, including L.A. Live in Los
Angeles and New York’s Regal Union
Square. Additional perks include a 10%
discount on concessions and a free popcorn
on your birthday.

In June, AMC, the largest theater chain in

the U.S., reported a hefty uptick with its
monthly subscription service, AMC Stubs
A-List. Not only did the service just
celebrate its first birthday, but it did so
with 860,000 subscribers, which was much
higher than the 500,000 subscribers it
expected. With AMC Stubs A-List,
moviegoers can see three movies per week,
in premium IMAX and 3-D formats, for $20
to $24 a month depending upon location.
The app allows users to choose their
showtime and seats from their phone and
makes choosing a movie as easy as finding
something to watch on Netflix, Hulu or
Amazon Prime Video. Besides the ease and
convenience with the service is the ease on
the pocketbook.
Cinemark, the third-largest theater chain in
the U.S., allows its moviegoers to pay $8.99
a month for one free ticket, as well as
discounts at the concession stand and other
perks.
Netflix got us hooked on paying for our
entertainment à la carte on a monthly basis
and this is what younger generations are
now used to. Amazon Prime Video, Hulu
and the soon-to-be streaming services from
Apple and Disney, in addition to the fact
home setups are becoming more affordable,
is forcing theater chains to update the way
in which they do business.
“Netflix has proven that the American
appetite for subscription-based
entertainment has only just begun and is
actually lagging behind China, Spain, Italy,
Singapore and New Zealand,” says Chief
Attribution Officer at C3 Metrics, Jeff
Greenfield. “Theater chain revenues will
soar with subscriptions and also bring the
potential to sell analytics data and fulfill the
failed MoviePass business plan.”
In 2018, analysts at eMarketer researched
how many internet users worldwide
believed they'd be using more subscription
services within two years. In China, 53% of
respondents said they would. This was
followed by Spain (42%), Italy (40%) and
Singapore (38%). Stateside, 34% of
respondents said they planned to go with
more subscription services by 2020.
Netflix started the streaming ball rolling
with at-home streaming services in 2007
and then in July 2011, MoviePass started its
service with an initial beta test in San
Francisco, with the hopes of letting people
see a movie a day for a monthly fee in an
effort to become the “Netflix of movie
theaters.”
Though box office revenue in North
America last year hit an all-time high of
nearly $12 billion, it has declined this year,
with cost and content quality a factor. To
combat this, theater chains have realized
the monthly subscription model could also
work for them.
“Everyone is moving to subscriptions in
entertainment,” says Stephan Paternot, co-
founder and CEO of online film finance
marketplace Slated. “It’s a total win-win.
For the distributors and theater chains it’s a
much more stable, predictable revenue
stream, which in turn, smooths out the
revenue bumpiness of big-hit movies versus
big bombs. This, in turn, helps reduce risk
and subsidizes the riskier, less commercial
independent movies. This is a huge win for
filmmakers everywhere. Not to mention,
it will increase butts in seats and hugely
increase concession sales, which is the
theaters’ biggest profit center. This leads to
better unit economics. MoviePass was loved
to death in part because they couldn’t
implement additional revenue streams
quickly enough to offset their losses on
ticket sales.”
Paternot sees an additional plus for
theaters. “Another very big advantage in the
context of theater subscriptions is the direct
relationship the theaters will be able to
build with individual audience members.
It’s hard to overstate how powerful a
marketing tool that can be. Theater chains
will know what movies I’ve seen, and thus
be able to anticipate what movies I’ll be
likely to see in the future and promote them
to me in time to get me out to the theater to
see them.”
And, Paternot explains the big advantage
Disney+ is going to have. “That one-to-one
relationship with their customers will
enable them leverage to drive additional
downstream purchases, whether by offering
Disney+ for free with a purchase of a cruise
or promoting theme park events or what
have you.”
However, Paternot sees one major obstacle.
“Most people tend to go to the same local
theater chains to see all their favorite
movies, and they will already be subscribing
to a few streaming services, so most people
will likely end up only subscribing to one
(or max two) theater chains. So, likely a big
consolidation of theater chains will happen
until there are just two or three in each
city.” 
Now, it will be interesting to see what
happens with Netflix as a filmmaker when it
releases the new Martin Scorsese film, The
Irishman, which is expected to be out later
this year. The question is, will it be released
only on its streaming platform, or also in
the theater like Roma?