European movie theaters

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OK, I admit it - I'm an uninformed American. I saw on a previous thread about how you can buy movie tickets in Europe well in advance of the movie, and I'm intrigued. Evidently, it is possible to go weeks in advance of a movie release and "reserve a seat".

By "reserving a seat" do you mean that the seats are actually numbered and you get a specific seat, or does it simply guarantee you A seat, not a specific one? Do you buy a ticket for a specific show time on a specific day - weeks in advance if you so wish? What are the specifics of how it works? You go to the theater, pay for the ticket and then show up on the proper day to pick up the ticket? If not, is it done online?

You have to underatnd that this is an entirely foreign concept for me. We don't do things like this in the U.S. Even for big movies like RotK, we won't be able to buy a ticket more than 24 hours in advance of the showing. They just don't sell them before that. We can buy tickets online, but we're buying them for use later that day, not several days in advance. The purpose isn't so much to make sure you get a seat, but to avoid waiting in line at the movie theater. You pay for your tickets online, you print them out, go to the theater, and walk right in. If this works in Europe, in should work here as well, and it seems like a very practical system to boot. Why has no one in the U.S. thought of this?

 

Yes.

Yes, I bought my RotK ticket 2 days ago.

Exactly. As far as online buy is concerned, I have never checked if it is done online, but I guess that it is possible since we can buy tickets for music concerts online.

 

Though i am not from Europe,
i am an uninformed Malaysian as well.

Few years ago, i went for the first movie in an American cinema in Berkeley. i was, too, surprised that seats are not numbered. How chaotic this is.

Similiar to Europe, here in Malaysia, we can reserve seats, choose seats and all seats are numbered. Some 20 years ago, we even had ushers in cinema, with annoying touch light pointing around during a movie. However, numbered seats system is not always true. For some afternoon schedule or some crappy movies, you get free seating.

For the handful of struggling small local cinemas, i think you can even buy a "season ticket". i did that once. For the whole year of my 18 years old, i watched almost every movie of the same cinema every sunday 9.30pm. i know the person that runs the cinema. So, i can watch my movie first then pay later, much much later.

As for the cineplex, you reserve ticket one week in advance. They have their schedule laid out, you can choose your time and pick your seat. We usually do this over telephone, internet-ing is still not a life style in malaysia. Names, phone number and national i.d. number were taken down to reserve a seat.

edit: actually reservation is not always true also. Big movies, you cannot reserve for debut of big movies like Lord of the Rings. This is to prevent re-selling for highier price.

[ December 03, 2003, 23:42: Message edited by: teekc ]

 

It works pretty much as you said and atleast here in Sweden you can both book and pay on the internet. You can even choose what specific seat you want on the internet. There is a little map over the hall where you can click on the seat you want.

There is however one big drawback with European or atleast Swedish cinemas, the chairs are tiny, itty bitty tiny and if the salon is full it feels like you are sitting in someones lap with someone else sitting in your.

BTW, is it true that you are not allowed to bring in foreign food or sweets in American cinemas? That you have to pay the overpriced badly stocked junk they sell at the theatre? I didnt really think about that when I was over but according to many web comics I read you get banned if you try to smuggle in a coke and a bag of candy. Is that really so?

 

If I want to make sure that I can walk straight into to a movie on a certain day, I book in advance.

Do you Americans (or whoever else doesn't use the 'advanced' system) not find that you might turn up at a showing for a movie and find that it's full? In which case you have wasted a trip etc. Pre-booking is the only surefire way to ensure that you get a seat, guaranteed.

Btw, I book, turn up on the day, give my name and few other details, I recieve my ticket and walk straight in. I avoid the queue (which rox )

 

Woah, you Europeans really like your movies! All this organization, I mean, whenever I go to the movies, me and my friends usually end up right in the front row! I swear, whoever owns the theatre we go to hates usm we once went an hour early, and we still had to sit in the front row! There was no room! The only time we got decent seats to a movie was to the third or fourth showing of Hulk at this particular theatre, and it was my friends party. There was seven of us, not three. Using that logic, the more people, the easier it is to get seats.

 

Wow, numbered seats for a movie!

It might be a cultural phenomenon. Most Americans usually go to the movies on the "spur of the moment" or at least with a minimal of planning.

The seating is typically first come first serve. People sit where they prefer - many like sitting in the back, some in the middle of the theater, etc...

I really seems strange to me that people would have assigned seating for movies.

Often there is not assigned seating for plays either.

Actually, the only time I can think of assigned seating is sports-games.

Morsmordre -

They only sell tickets if seats are available - they keep count of the number sold and the capacity of the theater. If someone gets to the theater and there are no seats available to their liking - too bad. It is their fault for not getting there sooner. (Americans have no compassion for the lazy)

 

I've never heard of that happening. I've never even heard of or seen an argument over seating.

I didn't mean its "cultural" in the respect that we don't need numbering - its just something that really isn't done. I didn't mean any of it as an insult.

When I think of numbered seats, I think of a very formal event or an event where the "good" seats are always in the same spot. For example, for sports games, the best seating is is up front - not so with movies.

Generally, people in the U.S. do the following:

• Buy a ticket
• Walk into the theater and find a seat they like.
• If there is more than one person, one person selects to go get popcorn, pretzels, etc... while the other "reserves" to the spot.
• Sit down, talk, wait for the movie to start

Its all a very mundane experience.

But back to "cultural"...

Most movie theaters in the U.S. are very young and were built completely for the purpose of showing films. The industry started with both drive-ins and walk-ins. People in the 50's went to drive-ins to have a place for a little privacy with a date. Drive-ins cannot have reserved spots - it just doesn't work.

It may be the case, that the walk-ins followed the course set by drive-ins. For Europeans, it might be the case that they are following the age-old standards of formal theater. I really can't say.

Fandango? I never used it, but I've heard good things. One aspect that may be at play here is the number of theaters. I live in Sacramento - which is a medium sized city (about 2 million). I go to approximately 5 different theater complexes around the city to see a movie - it all depends if they have it or not and generally my mood.

Each theater complex has about a dozen theaters - and I couldn't possibly remember the seating arrangements of each.

Yup. Each theater complex is a business and they often set standards for behavior, dress, cleaniness, and, of course, cutting into their profits!

Its not a criminal act, you will not get arrested. But they can ask you to leave. If you don't, you can get escorted out for trespassing.

[ December 04, 2003, 06:14: Message edited by: Blackhawk ]

 

We can book tickets in advance here in New Zealand as well. Although here, in all but the top movie theaters, you are not given a seat number. There is just a first come first serve bases. I haven't heard of a fight been caused before, although us Kiwi's are non-violent like the rest of the world

The usual way here is that you phone up the movie theater and book the ticket that way, using a credit card. Then at a later date you would have to go along to the movie theater to pick up your tickets.

This way you saving lining up and you get a seat. But these, like I said, are only a problem in the bigger theaters and with popular movies. Usually the theater is half empty and there is little to no line.

 

There is a movie theater here, which hasn't numbered seats either and you find your seat yourself. It' a special movie cinema, i.e. specialiezed on some fancy art movies and martial action, which is quite a mix. Not having numbered seats in itself belongs to the stylish concept, I think. Well, having no numbered seats sucks in my view, as I can't chose where to sit and to get a decent seat, I ended always up in the front row. It's quite laborious to have no numbered seats, as you have to be there and stay there about an hour earlier, instead of just showing up 5 minutes before the film starts. This is why I think that must be different cultures of going out. Not numbered seats take a lot more time, so my guess is, that where you don't have them, going to the cinema is the one thing you do in the evening, as it is so time consuming.

 

In Australia you can reserve seats, yet without numbers. Th eonly fighting I've heard of was yesterday, when both years 8 and 9 went to the movies, hellish mess, but it's not like numbered seats would solve the chaos.

 

It sounds like going to the movies in Europe is much like going to the theatre, for a play or ballet. It actually sounds pretty nice.

We have cattle stampedes into the theatre, and everyone makes a mad rush for the "best" seats. It is possible to "save" seats next to you for others, but if they are considered good seats, and the movie house is getting crowded - I've asked people to scooch over.

Food and beverages are where the theatres in the US make their money. They double the price on everything - a medium bag of popcorn is $3.75 USD, a medium drink is about the same. Because of this price gouging, you can expect to pay at least as much for snacks as you do for the film. When I was a kid, I would sneak food in from outside...Just bring a date with a big pocketbook, or wear cargo pants.

Are the seats in Europe different prices? Do the "better" seats cost more than the ones down in front? I like this concept of paying for a specific seat - Much more civilized!

 

Here's how it works for me. I telephone the multiplex cinema of my choice, specify the film that I want to see and how many tickets I want. I then enter my debit card details. I do all this using the telephone keypad - there is no human at the other end of the line. I then walk into the cinema past the queue of people and put my debit card into a ticket machine which then gives me my tickets.

The tickets are in theory for numbered seats but this doesn't usually matter. In Cardiff we have three multiplexes with forty-odd screens between them. They're rarely more than a third full so you can sit pretty much wherever you like (and put your coat on the seat next to you as well). In fact, because there are so many screens I don't often bother ordering my tickets in advance.

 

I must reiterate my initial point. If this system works in Europe it has to work in the U.S. Why has no one in the U.S. thought of this? Damn, that just settles it. This mean I have to either learn a foreign language or move to England...

 

Well Aldeth, there are things in america that I have never seen in Europe. Like prepayment for gas. You walk in, pay 20 bucks to the cassier and the machine will give you 20 bucks worth of gas.

Back here, I have to constantly watch people to see wether they're gonna drive off without paying after they've gotten their gas.

So the not thinking of obviously easier systems works both ways.

 

Canada is basically the same as the U.S. (big surprise) - no reserved seats, ridiculously high concession stand prices, etc.

Personally, I usually wait for a few weeks after a movie is released to see it. I'm never so desperate to see a movie that I have to go immediately. That way, the crowds are smaller and as long as I get there about 20 minutes in advance, seating isn't a problem. And I've never really been into the food scene at a theatre either, so it's not really that expensive, especially now that prices have decreased.

 

I usually don't bathe for up to a week before a big premiere...That way I usually get to pick any seat I want, and I have the ones next to me free as well.

 

Although it is possible to reserve tickets, the seats aren't numbered. You reserve access to the theatre not to a specific seat (although they don't sell more tickets than there are seats).

Actually, in the complex where I go to the movie, you're better of going to the first day of release (except for really big and largely promoted movies) since most people belief it will be crowded and so they don't go the first day. It's worse the rest of the week after the release.

Even though for large productions (like Lord of the Rings) you have the very little phenomenon of "camping" for 1-2 hours before the entrance of the boot where your ticket is checked so you are well in advance of the others at the theatre and have good seats (but only on the first day)