1,167 Comments

1. Start the prices at $0 then increase as more viewers want to watch the movie.

   Comment by Bulls Fan — July 24, 2006 @ 4:55 am

2. If your goal is to sell as many tickets as possible to each showing why not offer a scaled tier of ticket prices tied into the number of tickets purchased. For example
   1-2 Tickets purchased = full price
   2-6 tickets purchased = 10% discount
   6-10 tickets purchased = 20% discount
   10+ Tickets = 30% discount.

   This would encourage people to organize and purchase tickets in bulk by rewarding them with lower ticket prices based on the number of friends they bring to a viewing. You could offer this promotion solely through your ticket purchasing website for your films or you could make it a universal deal.

   Comment by Matthew Patrick — July 25, 2006 @ 1:07 am

3. Mark,

   I know you’re looking for a way to get 5 million people to see a movie without spending a fortune on advertising, but I think that’s the wrong problem to solve. The challenge should be: “how do we change the economics of the movie business to make the most money possible?”

   The entertainment business is increasingly becoming about the niche. We’re seeing it in the music business with iTunes. We’re seeing it in the TV business with a million channels. Why should movies be any different?

   Currently we’ve got a situation where the movie industry is spending a ton making the movies, a ton advertising the movies, and they’re counting on us as the consumers to spend >$100M watching the movies in the theaters to make it a profitable venture. The problem I see is that it’s just tough to come up with enough good ideas to create movies that millions and millions of people want to see. I’m not sure there are enough ideas to do that, just as there aren’t enough great music acts out there for all of them to sell 5 million copies of their latest CD.

   First, the problems you as a movie maker face:

   -a movie ticket costs $10-12. This goes for all movies, from Star Wars to Gigli, opening weekend to 10th week, front row on the outside to perfect seat in the middle. This is insane.
   -while the cost of a ticket is rising far faster than the growth in inflation, the substitutes are staying at the same price or getting cheaper, and are improving in quality. This is a problem. 10 years ago if I wanted a great movie experience there was only one game in town, and it cost say $7. The alternatives were watching a VHS for $4 or something on cable. Today you’ve got a DVD on a big screen TV, also for $4, or a wide range of choices on cable packages and “on demand” programming. You’ve got to realize that the competition for the movie dollar has improved dramatically and you have to offer a much better option to pull in that consumer (whether it’s lower-priced tickets, an improved movie experience or a more-appealing movie to a consumer).

   My solutions aren’t very sexy, but I think they’d be great for both consumers and producers of movies:

   -Look at movie making like “Moneyball.” This is tough since the big studios don’t all collaborate (wink, wink), but every weekend try to shoot for 1-2 movies that are going to draw big crowds at multiple showings (with budgets of $100M+), and then make several other movies with much smaller budgets (<$25M) and smaller release windows that can sell out screens for a week or two. You can take bigger risks creatively with smaller budget films, they’re less of a risk to produce, and every now and then you hit a home run. With $100M+ budget movies I feel like there aren’t a whole lot of avenues you can take, and it’s tough to know ahead of time if you’re going to end up with an Independence Day or a Stealth.
   -increasingly drill down into viewing tendencies. Your goal is to fill every seat in every theater at all times. Is the 9pm showing of Stealth outdrawing the 1pm showing of Spiderman? If so, you’ve got to figure out a way of getting people to that 1pm showing, which probably means lowering costs at that end.
   -Vertical integration in the movie industry. I think this is inevitable, as the status quo clearly isn’t working, and at some point consolidation is going to be a necessity to try out new things. I have to say that Landmark is getting a larger and larger share of my theater dollars, because I know what I’m getting: a no hassle movie experience with nice theaters and movies I can’t see elsewhere. Only when studios and theaters stop trying to turn every movie into Star Wars do I think we can get some productive change.

   Comment by Conor Sen — July 25, 2006 @ 1:11 am

4. I would mix movie marketing with commercial advertising. Movies now have careful product placement (i.e. a character reaches for a Coca Cola.) I would contract with Coke to advertise the movie (in their own commercials or offering free movie tickets through purchasing their products) in exchange for key product placement and/or product giveaways at theaters (free bottle of coke to ticket buyers). This would allow movie/commerical advertising to have a mutually beneficial relationship while sharing/reducing costs.

   Comment by JC — July 25, 2006 @ 1:18 am

5. a lot of people are saying that a great movie sells itself, and i think that is part of it, but these days the “buzz” effect online is huge. positive reviews on sites like yahoo movies, blogs, myspace, etc… really influence opinion. figure out how to master the buzz.

   Comment by Joe — July 25, 2006 @ 1:26 am

6. The idea, which may already be posted (given the vast quantity of posts, I have not perused them bc I simply don’t have the time.) The idea mimics CVS or grocery store value programs, where you get a pass that gives the retailer your demographic information in return for small, but meaningful, savings or discounts or other value-added services.

   I tried to post it at length with all of the other intricacies, but keep getting an error. contact me if you’d like to discuss further, i know a bunch of people who could kickstart this thing.

   Comment by B — July 25, 2006 @ 1:34 am

7. First of all, the movie has to be not just good, but great. Good isn’t worth $9.50 admission and 2 hours of one’s life. You need to make people say to themselves “I really want to see that movie.” Not “That movie looks ok. I’ll wait for the DVD.” People don’t mind paying to see a great movie. They don’t like paying to see something that might just be alright.

   So let’s say you have a film that you know is great. Now you just need to get people to see it. You want a good balance when it comes to marketing. Don’t spend more money than you have to. TV spots, magazine ads, trailers, the usual. Not too much. It doesn’t matter how great a movie is. You cram it down people’s throats 6 months before it even hits theatre’s, you’re going to turn alot of people off. Don’t go overboard with promoting it, but do enough so people know about it to decide if it’s something they want to see.

   A movie has to stand out from the rest, otherwise it just gets lost in the shuffle. Take “Miami Vice”. This movie is going to bomb. Why? It isn’t doing anything new or different. You could slap any generic title onto it and it would make no difference. It’s an unoriginal cop movie that no one wants to see. All the marketing money in the world couldn’t help this film. This goes back to the “great” film idea.

   I could go on forever about this. You want to know more. I’ll gladly tell you. I know what people like and don’t like.

   Comment by Angry Ken — July 25, 2006 @ 1:44 am

8. mark,
   c’mon. the internet isnt the end-all here. internet marketing is cheap. you previously wrote about newspaper ads costing a fortune. yeah, thats true. they do, but that’s because they do work.

   If you confine the problem to an internet one, I have some great ideas, but not through user generated content sites. They tend to lack credibility. You need to use trusted sources, buy good adspace on good sites. I’d also go so far as to say you need to incent people to take risks with your films. i love your movies, but they require risks, give them something besides the movie.

   Comment by michael — July 25, 2006 @ 1:44 am

9. well, I think as new movies become readily available on DVD, television, the interent, almost as soon as they hit theatres, that for the most part the majority of people who will still go to movie theatres are the true film lovers. That’s why I would love to see more independant films shown in theatres. Like right now I am DYING to see “Four Eyed Monsters”. Arin and Susan’s podcasts’ are amazing! they are sooo talented…and I want to see their film soo much! please show Four Eyed Monsters in your theatres! THAT will bring people to the box office!

   Comment by Leslie — July 25, 2006 @ 1:45 am

10. There’s some incorrect assumptions floating around out there.

    1. Assumption: it’s hard to get people to the theater.

    While it’s true attendance is down (and ticket prices are up), Americans still spend about 8 billion dollars a year at the box office. Some one is still going to movies.

    And It’s way easier to convince people that already
    see movies in the theater to see your movie, than it is to find new movie goers. The focus of advertising should be on convincing people to see Good Night and Good Luck instead of Syriana

    2. Assumption: Good movies market themselves.

    If that were true, Mr. and Mrs. Smith ($186 million) was more than twice as good as Brokeback Mountain ($86 million). That movie was still 3 times better than Mark’s movie- Good Night, and Good Luck ($31 million). The best movie of last year by that standard was Star Wars Episode III ($380 million).

    Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a budget almost 8 times bigger than either Brokeback or Good Night and Good Luck. And with 110 million dollars, you can buy a whole lot of really effective advertising. The question is how Good Night and Good Luck does the same thing with a 7 million dollar budget.

    This is an efficiency problem. And so far, my space hasn’t done the trick.

    What’s “the tipping point” for a movie?

    Comment by Kyle Warneck — July 25, 2006 @ 1:46 am

11. In retrospect, maybe my first suggestion was a bit off-key.

    Just partner with Hooters, start serving beer and wings and you’re done.

    Comment by Chris — July 25, 2006 @ 1:48 am

12. Basically if I’m understanding you correctly you want to get more people into the theater to draw in a greater dollar amount for the producer of the film and not so much on the theater that is showing it. Well i think that would be kinda easy to accomplish if done in the right way. If you look at it from both perspectives a solution should present itself that both the producers and the theaters could market well.

    Let me break it down to a normal viewing weekend scenario. Lets say I go to a new movie on saturday and really like the movie and the enviroment that I saw it in. Well it was the movie that sold me and not where I was at. Being that it was a great movie I will want to possibly go see it again. This time I decide to go with another friend who has not viewed the movie yet. So we return to the same theater and watch it again.

    So here is where the marketing comes in. I present my ticket stubb from the previous visit and I get half off the second viewing and my friend pays full price for his. In comes the dollar amount. The theater eats the half they didn’t get since I came back to their theater to see the movie and the amount I did pay goes to the producers pockets and the second ticket gets split normally.

    Probably at this point you wonder how this could be beneficial for all parties involved. Basically I think it could lead to a growth in the theater industry. Sure they lose out some but they have more to gain. I came back to the same theater which means i must have enjoyed the first time. Its repeat busness. I get in cheaper and will have a few extra dollars to spend at the concession stand which i might not have before since I paid so much to get in. So they get back the money that they could have on the ticket to be split and instead get to pocket it all themselves. Also the overall theater experience should get better since they would want me to come back instead of going to another theater to see the same movie again.

    So basically by the theaters losing some on repeat ticket sales they have the potential to gain more. The Producers get more money back to them since peaople are more inclined to go see their movie more while in theaters throughout its full run. And as a consumer I get a break in ticket prices when taking a friend to a good movie instead of just telling him about it and waiting on the DVD to come out.

    Comment by Kody Stewart — July 25, 2006 @ 1:53 am

13. Mark,

    Better monetization of the 20 minute pre-show reduces ticket prices, fills seats and makes local merchants very happy. Best of all, your audience escapes the torture of the traditional 20 minute pre-show.

    see email for details.

    Comment by HighAnkleSprain — July 25, 2006 @ 1:55 am

14. See the general concensus Mark?

    As I stated earlier,in post 45, bring the content into the home, even fresh HQ content.

    **THEATRES ARE DEAD AND OF THE PAST**

    Most of the people that go to theatres, IMHO, just don’t have much of a choice.

    The rebates,vouchers,lotteries,etc are all OLD gimmicks…and just an indicator of trying push a bad OUTDATED product.

    PEOPLE ARE NOT STUPID, and these TACTICS WON’T WORK.

    Why do you think SO MANY people have purchased so many BILLIONS of dollars in HD equipment?

    Yes, we are lazy. Yes, we like our privacy, and yes, we like our homes.

    If we want to spend our time watching a movie, it had better be the enviroment we expect and enjoy…OUR HOME.

    The right volume, the right display, the snack and food is priced right and it is what we like, AT HOME.

    Why redesign theatre seats, when the perfect seat awaits you at home? Just the place you want to be after a hard days work.

    Many here have already commented on forgeting the theatres.

    Post 151 has it all wrong…

    The technology is HERE, IS easy to use, and is waiting for US to use it.

    I am one of the fools that threw down $5,000 on an entertainment system, just so it could collect dust. Yes, I rent an occasional DVD, but, the quality isn’t there, and it is NOT a new release.

    It dosen’t have to be a $5K setup either, many people are happy with the TV they own, and the lack of crappy theatre enviroment might more than make up for the big screen, but BIG Screens are getting cheaper by the MINUTE.

    If you don’t act on your opportunity, someone else WILL.

    Like the other guy said, 10 years later you don’t want to look back……

    It dosen’t HAVE to be 1080P. You far have more bandwidth available to consumers individually, than the internet could currently provide to each individual.

    No ticket stubs, no leases, no insurance, no property management, just data and boxes, of course if you played your cards right, the boxes are already there

    You are positioned perfectly for the NEW DIGITAL AGE. Put that Network to work, the consumers’ equipment is waiting!

    Oh, and I don’t need a movie theatre to leave the house and be social.

    Comment by jh dfgd — July 25, 2006 @ 2:00 am

15. FREE BUTTERED POPCORN – ALL THE TIME …
    =
    MORE CUSTOMERS ALL THE TIME!

    How’s that for out of the box thinking?

    Pretty corny eh?

    Simple

    Sometimes ya just gotta give a little to get alot.

    DR

    Comment by DR — July 25, 2006 @ 2:02 am

16. Hey, ok, first of all, I agree with the people who say “make better movies”. Sure you can spend outragious amounts of money marketing crap and people will go see it, but if you spent half of that money doing surveys on what people (especially young people) want to see, you would score big. People, like my friends “the four eyed monsters”, are marketing their films independantly. This makes them cool. They are doing it regardless of the system’s bullshit ignorant politics. This is the future of marketing and distribution. Giving people what they actually want to see, not what is oversaturated and shoved down people’s throats.

    Comment by Travis — July 25, 2006 @ 2:17 am

17. I think the movie business is just one of many businesses being affected by what is effectively procrastination. You, as one who owns a sports team, should realize the beauty and the security afforded by this. When there is a game, for example, that is the one and only time any given fan will be able to see that exact game; for, the exact same event will never happen again. This is how you get people to attend series-type championships. Moreover, one must plan ahead to see, what one would expect to be, “a great game.”

    Unfortunately, movies as they stand today are static, and can be seen by anyone at least 20 times a day at megatheater on opening week plus a couple weeks, and still at least 5 times a day throught the film’s box office run; but, even then, one can just, “wait for it to come out on dvd.”

    Thus, one has one of two options to increase demand for a movie: vary each screening of the movie (which is unfeasible– Clue tried this with their alternate ending stunt), or restrict showings of the movie in its original form. Clearly, the latter is the closest any producer or distributor can get to replicating the uniqueness factor of live events, while still retaining the inherently static nature of the film. Several methods arise to accomplish this, which could be used in-tandem or individually:

    1. Restrict opening month showing slots. This does not mean restrict theater rollout, but rather opening the film in all cities it would normally open in, but restrict showings to a couple a day. People wait in line for many midnight showings of movies simply because they want to be the first to see it for a variety of reasons, including the feeling of being special.

    However, this is counterintuitive to mainstream boxoffice rollout. A big fuss is always made about record weekend box office numbers without taking into account longer-term numbers, which clearly are a concern else you wouldn’t be writing this blog.

    Perhaps some of the best examples of this are Broadway musicals. Without referencing the diminishing popularity of conventional theatre, one must still admire that even with only showing two shows a day, they can still charge well upwards of $100 dollars a seat (for good seats), make pocketfuls, and still manage to run for years (as opposed to months). The result? It’s nearly impossible to buy a good ticket at the box office the same day of the performance.

    Of course, this works happily. It requires people to plan ahead if they want to go see the new hit movie. They end up having to buy their tickets online to reserve their spots. They may end up even forgetting to go or might have a scheduling conflict arise. In either of these cases, their seats will be released to the hungry crowd outside.

    2. Put less on the DVD. Increasingly, more and more features are being added to DVDs, which in turn, make the idea of buying/renting the DVD instead of simply watching something in the theatre considerably more attractive. Why pay $10 bucks to sit in a confined space, eating food that’s bad for me, with a massive guy behind me talking on his cell phone, with the sound too soft and a baby crying– all to see ONLY the film– when I could simply forego the whole “experience” of the the movie theater? I could sit in front of my MASSIVE 1-acre long big screen TV, eating a cucumber, watching the “behind the scenes” and listening to the director’s commentary.

    Want to get more people in the theaters? Nix all of that from the DVD and and maybe put it in seperate “artistic” showings of the film only (possibly at arthouse theaters that serve alcohol and have more comfortable chairs). That way, someone pays to go see the movie, and if they like it, they go and see the behind the scenes and director’s commentary, too. Plus, if the commentary is funny enough, they might even enjoy it.

    Comment by Kurt Radwanski — July 25, 2006 @ 2:19 am

18. That might have worked from say…oh, the beginning of time throught the ’90′s, but things have changed a little bit

    Comment by jh dfgd — July 25, 2006 @ 2:22 am

19. My post 350 was directed to post 349.

    I agree with post 351!

    Comment by jh dfgd — July 25, 2006 @ 2:25 am

20. Hey, ok, first of all, I agree with the people who say “make
    better movies”. Sure you can spend outragious amounts of money marketing crap
    and people will go see it, but if you spent half of that money doing surveys on
    what people (especially young people) want to see, you would score big. People,
    like my friends “the four eyed monsters”, are marketing their films
    independantly. This makes them cool. They are doing it regardless of the
    system’s bullshit ignorant politics. This is the future of marketing and
    distribution. Giving people what they actually want to see, not what is
    oversaturated and shoved down people’s throats.

    Comment by Travis — July 25, 2006 @ 2:25 am

21. In my opinion there should be more original films shown. there is a lot of indepentdent films out there that aren’t given the recogintion they deserve. for example there is a new indie film out called Four Eyed Monsters. the directors have brought a lot of the new, fresh creative qualities that people are looking for. the directors have a video podcast that is amazing and extremly entertaining. it is very popular and i guarantee that if you showed their film in your theaters you will be pleasantly suprised at the satisfction of your viewers. i know that if this film was in a theater in my area i would bring as many people as i could to see it.
    This is what your looking for if your looking for change. New, Creative, Artistic, Original, Indepentant film. something that we haven’t already seem a million times!

    Comment by Lauren Nunez — July 25, 2006 @ 2:31 am

22. i want my 4 eyed monsters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment by MattIE B. — July 25, 2006 @ 2:36 am

23. Hollywood is a fucking joke. It’s so simple. Good movies make GOOD money. You put out like 5,938484793579433 horror films a month that SUCK!!! The writing is shit. Lame ass rappers may be popular in tinsletown but middle america could care less about some thug in his acting debut. You can market a movie any way you want, that still won’t guarantee asses in the seats. So, what do you do? You let US, the audience decide. BEFORE you greenlight a script, test it out on opinion polls, see if people even care about seeing that type of film. Test audiences can only do so much, because then it’s pretty much too late without wasting more money. Your myspace idea, I’m sorry…but no. If I had one of my friends constantly trying to push or advertsise a movie that I had already made up my mind that I wasn’t going to see, it would just be obnoxious and annoying on their part. And, the major thing on why most adults don’t go to the movies is the price and the people…there are barely any movies out there for their age.

    Comment by Alicia — July 25, 2006 @ 2:37 am

24. There have been several posts “dissing” the younger generation, yet they have the most expendable income of any demographic. Overlooking them is perhaps the most foolish idea I’ve ever heard of.

    Instead, embrace youth and technology by adding interactive component to your movies. This could be tiered to work with any movie.

    Blackberry type devices that allow for instant messaging, polling, and voting during the movie.

    Taken to the extreme, you could allow the audience to control the outcome of the movie.

    Think “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ or in the later case, a chose your own adventure game.

    I posted a little more on this idea on my blog at http://www.yugflog.com.

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Comment by Chris Rogers — July 25, 2006 @ 2:43 am

25. There have been several posts “dissing” the younger generation, yet they have the most expendable income of any demographic. Overlooking them is perhaps the most foolish idea I’ve ever heard of.

    Instead, embrace youth and technology by adding interactive component to your movies. This could be tiered to work with any movie.

    Blackberry type devices that allow for instant messaging, polling, and voting during the movie.

    Taken to the extreme, you could allow the audience to control the outcome of the movie.

    Think “Mystery Science Theater 3000″ or in the later case, a chose your own adventure game.

    I posted a little more on this idea on my blog at http://www.yugflog.com.

    Hope to hear from you soon.

    Comment by Chris Rogers — July 25, 2006 @ 2:44 am

26. I see your job offer is getting a lot of response, pretty cool. Anyway, here is the answer to your question.

    I like to watch formula one races, but I am busy like everyone else, so I missed a lot of the races on cable because I forget or don’t know when they are on. Then I signed up for the formula one email list, now they email me the day before each race and since then I have seen every single race that has been on cable…. Think for a second how powerful that is, for the price of a couple emails they converted a person who watched maybe 30% of their races into a person who now watches 100%.

    How did they get a 70% increase in what I watch, they send me information so I know who qualified and in what position, information that I didn’t have before but now that I have it I am interested and I want to see more.

    Ok, here is the million dollar idea, if you had a data base that knew why I watched movies, and could target me with specific information and deals, tell me more about what I want to know when I want to know it, then I probably would go to every movie you emailed me about.

    Set up a website so I can go there and check off the actors I like, the types of movies I am interested in, then send me information about the movies that no one else has. Tell me something interesting about Johnny Depp that happened while filming a couple weeks before his movie is release, build up my interest and get me involved in the process, then when you send me the email that the move is at the theater I will run down there to see it along with the other 200 million people in your email data base. Build the proper amount of suspense and anticipation along with the information that I want and you can fill your theatres for the price of some emails. Then you can take all that money you saved on advertising and buy yourself something nice.

    Comment by The Movie Man — July 25, 2006 @ 2:51 am

27. So funny to read you from where i live….Brussels (belgium).

    Nice blog, really !

    Regards.

    Reno

    Comment by reno — July 25, 2006 @ 3:01 am

28. Nowadays, people can recreate the movie experience at home with the technology that’s out there. But people still enjoy going to the movies for the big screen and shared experience with others.

    So why not try to bring the ‘home’ experience to the movies? As an experiment, build one theatre inside a megaplex that holds only 20-50 seats. Allow people to reserve the theatre during the day, to see the movie they want. Have menus waiting for them with the different snacks, either paper copies or interactive touch screens that accept credit cards. Position the seats so that people can order at anytime during the movie, and a server can reach them without disturbing others. Show a commercial with people lounging in recliners with their feet up, pushing a button and getting a tray of junk food, and watching the newest release, people will come out. Hell, just thinking about it makes me wanna drag a lay-z-boy into the nearest theatre.

    And don’t limit the movies to new and current releases. Let it be a true ‘on demand’ experience, and let the people order the movie they want. I’m sure there are a lot of older movies that younger and older people would love to see on a big screen. It would be easy to fill a 50 seat theatre with Lord of the Rings or Star Wars geeks all dressed up, or perhaps a smaller audience (book or movie club group) for an artsy-fartsy movie that leads to a post-show discussion in another room with comfy chairs (and an opportunity to purchase more concessions Beyond that, you could have birthday parties, wedding receptions, whatever, as long a minimum charge is set to make it worthwhile (10 tickets, 20 tickets, whatever the price break is). Offer limo service to those too lazy (or drunk) to make it out. How cool would it be for a guy or gal to surprise their significant other with a night for two at the movies in a real theatre, while being served, so that no one has to get up an go to the fridge?

    The possibilities are limitless, but the point is, the theatre experience has to change, and become more intimate. You’re more likely to remember the night you saw movie X with your wife/husband or 20 of your good friends, than worrying about getting to the theatre 30 minutes early so you don’t get stuck all the way in front or missing an important scene because of a loud kid or someone on their cell phone.

    And for those who say, “make better movies,” No shit. But even those don’t always do well. People either want to see a good story, or a lot of stuff blown up. That formula will never change. Word of mouth and affiliate programs aren’t enough to drag people out to the same old movie theatre. You have to change the experience.

    Comment by csr — July 25, 2006 @ 3:09 am

29. You own a TV station – so take Project Greenlight (with less corny scripts), but track from the slection process through to production.

    Throw in an element of Idol meets Snakes on a Plane, and by the time you come to market the invested community become the audience (and marketers) for the move. It’s not about creating buzz for it’s own sake. Create the interesting idea, and buzz will follow.

    Post release, your release at once sale in theater is both the film, but also the DVD of the making of series.

    Comment by Euan — July 25, 2006 @ 3:13 am

30. Hi, Someone has probably already said this (and if they get the job good luck to them)but I think there are probably two main points to take into consideration. First, more and more people want to watch good movies when they want and as soon as possible, therefore distributing movies on the net is a good start. Second, the success of movie theatres has been the social setting they provide, unfortunately less and less people are going to the movies so you need to establish a different kind of social environment or an entirely new setting. If you provide a new social setting you can make money. Of course if your movies are crap then there is no point. I have some other ideas but I would end up writing forever. In any case it sounds like an interesting challenge.

    Comment by Todd — July 25, 2006 @ 3:15 am

31. Everything studios think about movies is wrong. It all really boils down to that. Myopically concerned with the first 3 days as the measure of all things, studios create events out of thier films and are constantly swinging for the fences on every pitch.

    The truth is the economics of the motion picture industry are all wrong. We’re in the pre-salary cap era where studios spend without abandon to try to build the super team film and then are left clueless when they don’t even make the playoffs.

    What studios need to do is to diversify thier film offerings. Rather than spend 200 million on 1 film, look at doing 10 films at 20 million, or even 20 films at 10. And not all those films should have huge campaigns behind them. Some films need time to find their audiences. Time is the greatest asset you can give to a film. I’m a big fan of rolling good films out and letting the word build on them. The film The Puffy Chair has been running in Portland, OR for 6 weeks and each week has been strong… Why? Becuase it’s been given a chance to find that audience… Budget for the film under 50K

    It’s easy to say how bad many of the movies out suck, but the truth is… there are great films out there, but no one will touch them because they don’t know how to market them. Take Four Eyed Monsters. I saw the film 2 years ago at Slamdance, and it’s a film people are clamoring to see, yet no one will give the quirky modern love story a shot.

    The truth is, there isn’t a one size fits all way of marketing films. Each film might need a different path to find its audience and again some need more time than others. But I can tell you what doesn’t work… The same ole same ole marketing campagins. Audiences have been burned too many times by big hype and a less than stellar follow through. It’s tough, but the bridges to audiences are well singed over the past few years… And they need to be rebuilt.

    The best way to do this is to really focus marketing and promotion on the PEOPLE who make these films happen. People like to root for people, filmmakers… actors…people! So open the door between the world and the people who make the films. Look at Eli Roth and the way he’s reached out and connected with people about his films… Morgan Spurlock is a huge model of taking the show on the road and making a fan one person at a time. Same with Kevin Smith. Again I point to Erin and Susan with Four Eyed Monsters and how they’ve connected their world to that of the audience.

    People WILL go see movies in theaters and you don’t have to spend a fortune to get them there… But you do have to give them a reason, and more of the same isn’t enough… They want to connect and root for people… One could say that Pirates would have done that huge business even if they haddn’t spent a fortune marketing it, because people root for Johnny Depp.

    - Geoff Kleinman

    Comment by Geoff Kleinman — July 25, 2006 @ 3:39 am

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    and many more available in store and legit buyer needed.

    Comment by Missy Mary — July 25, 2006 @ 3:44 am

33. The money is not in movie theater anymore. Who wants to pay 9 bucks to have people chewing and drinking around you and not even being sure the movie is worth it.
    Solution : 3DVisor glasses
    http://3dvisor.com/
    People will buy or lease a package (3D glasses to plug on computer or portable hard drive + subscription to watch the movies + option of small portable hard drive like a MP4 Player)
    With the portable hard drive they can watch the movie anywhere (laying on the bed, on the beach, plane, commute trip…). Or the price is less expensive if they choose not to get the optional portable hard drive and to use their own portable hard drive (mp4) or to watch it on their own computer.
    The leased portable hard drive can be of just 4-5 Gigas.

    So this is for one person, for several people ? Wireless 3d glasses linked to the hard drive with a wireless router. A full household can be watching a movie at the same time in different part of the house or together and then they can all share their impressions in the comfort of their own home.

    All the right products are out there, someone just needs to put them together in a package to ensure convenience to the clients.

    Comment by Philippe — July 25, 2006 @ 3:50 am

34. I would like to see more money out of the movie budget given to charity. When Steven Spielberg did the movie “Munich”, I talked to his spokesman Marvin Levy about donating money to both the Israeli and Palestinian Olympic teams. I had recommended the bobsledding team called the Frozen Chosen. I would have gone to see the movie if that had happened.
    It would be nice if the the producers of a movie about Enron would donated money to the Enron families.
    When Charlize Theron does a movie about sexual harrassment in the mining industry, it would be more believable to me if she did not appear on Oprah but rather gave money to help those women.
    Going to the movies should be a feel good experience all around.

    Comment by Laura Goldman — July 25, 2006 @ 3:58 am

35. High School / College Gimmick.
    Market the movie to college campuses/high schools. Student presents ID at the door. School gets a point. Winning school wins a prize. Money donation, Meet & Greet with someone famous, whatever.

    Touring Band Gimmick.
    You make a bazillion glossy postcards. Touring bands go to your site to setup their account. They get a code. The code is put on the amount of postcards you give to them. They put the cards out at their shows. The card is good for $3 off the ticket price. Those cards get turned in. The movie theater sends them back to you. That band gets 10 cents a card. It’s a new revenue stream for them to tour on and it’s a way to grassroots promote your movie.

    Comment by Joe Cinocca — July 25, 2006 @ 4:18 am

36. how about selling DVD’s before the movie arrives. You could call it “Premeire Preview” I think people would spend at least $29.99 to get a copy before the movie even arrives. You could cross promote with pizza delivery national chains, many more options…my starting salary is 1 mil. per idea.

    Comment by Rene Guerrero — July 25, 2006 @ 4:19 am

37. Here my ideas. What would make me go more often to
    your theater for a movie? Something simple that does
    not break the system, but allows gradual improvement.
    We love free stuff, and the sense of getting more of
    it if we are loyal customers.

    1. Give each moviegoer a plastic stub like the
    ones you get from Blockbuster, CVS or your public
    library. It comes in two sizes, one for your
    keyholder, the other for your wallet. You get all the
    personal stuff when the customer fills the application
    to get one. You will link later with the number of
    credit card, zip and so for. Thats the membership,
    free, no photo, almost instantaneus. This plastic
    membership will allow you to collect all sorts of
    statistics.

    1.1. Every 12 (or the number you like) tickets bought
    under the membership, get the next one free. Just like
    that.

    1.2. Every year under the membership gets the member
    another 1/2 ticket for free. Until he or she gets a
    movie for every five tickets or so.

    1.3. Make national raffles for lifetime free movies
    between members. Give every member a chance
    proportional to the number of tickets accumulated
    during the year. You may elaborate a lot on this. A
    free movie prize will be reflected in the plastic
    membership. Maybe changing the stub to gold or silver
    to make it flashier. Lesser prizes like 5, 10, 20
    movies will be great to have too. Or even free 6
    months memberships for netflix, or free tivos or
    Xboxes.

    2. VIP Rooms. You enter the VIP room with the stub of
    your just watched movie. This could be anything, but
    here is an initial. I would start with a VIP room
    for teens and young adults, with cheap videogames,
    Dance Revolution contests, and XBox Tournaments on
    the big screen.

    2.1 Movie Rooms. This is just regular movie theater,
    with less seats and a big DVD Jukebox with the first
    10 or 20 minutes of every movie actually showing,
    extended advances for futures movies, short movies,
    sports highlights, videogame deep presentations, other short documentaries that are better showed on
    a big screen with a good sound system.

    3. Make popcorn free, absolutely free. You have to pay
    for everything else, but the popcorn is totally free.
    Wow.

    That would do it for me: progressive discount
    memberships, VIP/Movie rooms, and free popcorn.
    Thanks for the dream and the free popcorn!

    Comment by Rafael Salazar — July 25, 2006 @ 4:20 am

38. Here my ideas. What would make me go more often to
    your theater for a movie? Something simple that does
    not break the system, but allows gradual improvement.
    We love free stuff, and the sense of getting more of
    it if we are loyal customers.

    1. Give each moviegoer a plastic stub like the
    ones you get from Blockbuster, CVS or your public
    library. It comes in two sizes, one for your
    keyholder, the other for your wallet. You get all the
    personal stuff when the customer fills the application
    to get one. You will link later with the number of
    credit card, zip and so for. Thats the membership,
    free, no photo, almost instantaneus. This plastic
    membership will allow you to collect all sorts of
    statistics.

    1.1. Every 12 (or the number you like) tickets bought
    under the membership, get the next one free. Just like
    that.

    1.2. Every year under the membership gets the member
    another 1/2 ticket for free. Until he or she gets a
    movie for every five tickets or so.

    1.3. Make national raffles for lifetime free movies
    between members. Give every member a chance
    proportional to the number of tickets accumulated
    during the year. You may elaborate a lot on this. A
    free movie prize will be reflected in the plastic
    membership. Maybe changing the stub to gold or silver
    to make it flashier. Lesser prizes like 5, 10, 20
    movies will be great to have too. Or even free 6
    months memberships for netflix, or free tivos or
    Xboxes.

    2. VIP Rooms. You enter the VIP room with the stub of
    your just watched movie. This could be anything, but
    here is an initial. I would start with a VIP room
    for teens and young adults, with cheap videogames,
    Dance Revolution contests, and XBox Tournaments on
    the big screen.

    2.1 Movie Rooms. This is just regular movie theater,
    with less seats and a big DVD Jukebox with the first
    10 or 20 minutes of every movie actually showing,
    extended advances for futures movies, short movies,
    sports highlights, videogame deep presentations, other short documentaries that are better showed on
    a big screen with a good sound system.

    3. Make popcorn free, absolutely free. You have to pay
    for everything else, but the popcorn is totally free.
    Wow.

    That would do it for me: progressive discount
    memberships, VIP/Movie rooms, and free popcorn.
    Thanks for the dream and the free popcorn!

    Comment by Rafael Salazar — July 25, 2006 @ 4:27 am

39. I think you will always have problems trying to get people to come see movies. You dont own every movie theatre so all the discount ideas are not very feasible.

    A while back, I read about you trying the straight to DVD idea. I am not sure what ever happened with that, but I was certainly hoping you would start something in that area.

    Itunes has millions of customers actively looking for entertainment to buy. Recently they have been selling TV episodes. The obvious problem with that is if I really want to watch the show, I will watch it on TV for free.

    But, if I could buy a movie that is in the theatres, I would in a minute. I would love to watch Pirates on the plane but I’m not wasting my Friday night on it. I would sell the movies on Itunes, where millions of people with video Pods are searching for some good reason to use that damn video function.

    myspace is just a trend that will wear out but the portable entertainment device is here to stay.

    I’ll take any job you have, hell, id be happy to be an intern.

    Comment by matt — July 25, 2006 @ 4:28 am

40. I agree with the 1+ people (I noticed at least one of the 300+ comments mentioned it who suggested subscriptions for movie chains. They would need to rejig their relationships with the distribution companies though as there is no longer a $/ticket sale occuring.

    For a bonus $/yr I get free DVDs of movies I liked or didn’t get to see; from the theatre.

    BTW – I don’t want the job – I just want to go to the movies when I feel like.

    Comment by Dr Nic — July 25, 2006 @ 4:38 am

41. BTW – I do not believe that people want to watch things only at home. I’d rather watch sports at a pub or the stadium so I can cheer and complain with other supporters.

    Similarly, I like to go to the movies so I can share the emotional rollercoaster with others. I like to laugh with others around me. I don’t cry, so skip that one…

    Cheers
    Nic

    Comment by Dr Nic — July 25, 2006 @ 4:45 am

42. There are so many networking sites such as Myspace these days that you can basically tell who likes or doesn’t like what.
    It’s more than making a great movie, it’s selling it and making the customer wanting more, or in your case, making the potential customer counting down days until they can see the video.
    A perfect example that comes to mind would have to be “Four Eyed Monsters”. They created this film that I didn’t see until many many months after my initial visit to their Myspace. However they send out these podcasts that is not necessarily a trailer for their film, but a taste of what they are about. I made several trips to their site waiting for another ‘episode’ of their podcast to appear because I was so intrigued by them and their aura basically. By the time I heard it was coming to my city I was seriously counting down the days to see it and would have seen it every night of its showing if it didn’t cost 20 bucks in gas to get to the theater it showed at.
    How this can help you? Get what you can from videos, more than just trailers, that give the viewer something to crave more. Interviews with the actors, producers, directors, etc could show people just a taste of a behind the scenes look at the movie, but enough so that they come back looking for more.
    Don’t go over kill on the movie, but just before it. To the point where if they see much more they will be totally disinterested, but so they HAVE to see the movie to get the climax, or even a closing, of the subject.

    Comment by Chad — July 25, 2006 @ 4:46 am

43. I would suggest to enhance the user experience in movies theaters.
    Actual competition is home cinema. Ticket price is not a problem (how many movies tickets does make a full home cinema setup?)
    You need to find something new that can only be offered in theaters.

    Comment by Thiber — July 25, 2006 @ 4:47 am

44. Mark, I think what you’re doing here is a brilliant idea. Why NOT ask the public for ideas? OK, here’s my contribution.

    You start a Movie Club (perhaps with a better name). People buy a card for $50. or $100. or whatever price makes sense, business-wise. This allows them to attend a given number of movies. No expiration date and the card is transferable (after all, from your point of view, what difference does it make whose ass is in the seat?) If the price for movies happens to go up before the card is used up, well, bonus for the Club Member.

    The most immediately obvious advantage to this from your point of view is that you have their money upfront, which means that it’s sitting in the bank earning interest before the movies are even released. The cards are essentially gift certificates and could even be given as Christmas or birthday presents. A “premium” card might include free popcorn and Coke with attendance.

    These cards could be sold through Amazon.com and other online venues; there could even be a version that purchasers can print directly from their home computers; unique barcodes would make this practical.

    There should also be an online website that the customer can access which will reserve a seat at the selected showing at their local theater. The site would communicate with the theater to tell it to remove a seat from the inventory for that auditorium, ensuring that there actually IS a seat for the Club Member when they arrive.

    Upon arrival, a scanner would “read” the ticket’s barcode and let the customer avoid standing in line outside the theater, eliminating one of the biggest annoyances for moviegoers. Some multiplexes might even want to have special showings in designated theaters reserved for Club Members. No talkers, no annoying cell phone nonsense, etc. Certain showings might be “Adults Only,” meaning that the theater could serve beer or wine.

    Since you’d have the users’ email addresses, you could inform them of special free “VIP” screenings of new movies you wanted to promote, impending DVD releases, etc.

    Basically, what this idea would accomplish is getting movie lovers who have become disenchanted with the multiples experience back into the theater.

    Yes, I want the job! I have a lot of experience with out-of-the-box promotion. Take a look at this:
    crankymediaguy.com/vresume.html

    Comment by Bob Pagani — July 25, 2006 @ 5:19 am

45. Ok Mark.
    Idea One
    Forget the cinema – do something else. We are planning to do a film in a day, everyday, for a year. Check it out at http://www.365films.com. Its TV meets cinema meets the web. The best bits of all 3.

    Comment by Tim Clague — July 25, 2006 @ 5:40 am

46. Idea 2

    Give the film away for free. I’m in pre-production of a new feature film that will given away for free. Therefore I don’t need to worry about ticket prices or even piracy. The film is funded through adverts placed in the film. NOT product placement. This is more ‘honest’. This film contains proper full on ads presented by the main character. I get away with this approach as I have specifically written a plot and a central character who makes his living doing it.

    More about the film at: http://www.projector.demon.co.uk/circum.html

    Comment by Tim Clague — July 25, 2006 @ 5:46 am

47. Join the outsourcing parade. Nowadays, it is not necessary to hire high priced public relations talent in New York or Los Angeles. Somebody in Tel Aviv Israel or India would be glad to do it for a fifth of the price. Shari Arison, the richest women in the country, pays only the equivalent of 67 dollars for a thousand word article for her website Essence of Living. http://www.eolife.org. From Tel Aviv, I put several items a week in Page Six of the New York Post. I just send them by email. Richard Johnson loves the articles about Natalie Portman, Leo Di Caprio’s new Israeli girlfriend etc. Tomorrow, I will put an article in the Daily Telegraph of London.

    Comment by Laura Goldman — July 25, 2006 @ 6:29 am

48. I would simply reform the netflix model and make it one that sends direct email to those who participate in it. Develop a software interface where users intially enter a series of questions about their types of movie preferences(indie, horror etc…) Also have questions about storyline types, actors etc.. Then send emails to those people once a week with a list of five theater releases and five dvd releases that match their preferences. People go to movies that interest them, but only if they are aware that the movie exists, what the movie is about and where it lies in the movie genre spectrum. I have done some very small contract film marketing and distribution and I think this would be the best way to simply reach customers that already exist. Perfect example for me: Wordplay. I only went to this movie because a family member dragged me, but if I had a known this was a documentary, indie etc… I would have seen it long ago. So rather then trying to convince, one is trying to simply gather up happy customers that already exist. If they are informed they will go. Anyway the whole thing would be very cheap to develop and could only do good. I think the main reason why this isn’t done is because there is no unity amongst distribution companies, but in reality everyone would benefit because there is such variety in moviegoer preference that the gain of one distribution company over the other would be slim. However, if I’m a distribution company and I’m developing the software I’m doing some tweaking with it and putting my movies, if at all relevant, at the top of these email lists as they come out. Best regards.

    Comment by Kevin Lenane — July 25, 2006 @ 6:41 am

49. - Find your target audience. If the movie is about some farmers trying to grown corn, not too many people from NYC will be too interested. Then advertise in those locations only… maybe rent some billboards that have messages that keep people guessing… such as “It’s coming… August 29, 2005…” (the movie date.) If the movie is good enough, it will take off on its own.

    - Advertise on MySpace! I don’t know how much that costs, but just put a full-page advertisement on the front sign-in page and the ad for the movie will be seen by 40m+ people in just one day..

    - Send advertising postcards with catchy artwork to select locations that inclue your target audience. I’ve never found an ad for a movie in my mailbox before – I think it’d be an interesting way to go about it! Postage for postcards is relatively reasonable… sending out 20 million of them has some huge possibilities…

    - I’m not sure how the movie business works, but maybe contact certain companies about using their products in the movies to help cover costs, which will allow for bigger and better advertising methods? If there are going to be 10000 shots of a computer in the movie, and they all say “Dell” on them… well, you know.

    - Post flyers around college campuses.

    Comment by Jeff — July 25, 2006 @ 7:21 am

50. I believe paying 8-12 dollars for a movie is money well spent if you see a movie that leaves an impression on you. This is especially why you should showcase the Four Eyed Monsters film in your theaters. Not only would you be bringing in an amazing film, but you would be gaining popularity from the generation that is going to make the future of box office hits or misses.

    To personally see the podcasts that Four Eyed Monsters have posted, truely shows the devotion that these filmakers have in releasing a peice of art to the world. From these podcasts, hundreds and thousands have viewed them, and most of them would gladly come to your theater to see a screening. A movie like this would get a big response.

    I would gather everyone i know to a screening in my area, not only because I, like thousands of others, have been captivated by the podcasts, but because it would be great to see bigtime attention on an indie film which deserves the attention.

    Comment by Lisa — July 25, 2006 @ 7:40 am

51. Simple. Less ad spend, more word of mouth. Put the money into ‘kids for a quid’ (1GBP in English money) for opening weekend/weeks. As many as you like with at least one full paying adult.

    This a) fills the theatre on opening weekend, b) is spread word of mouth by the kids, c) gets the movie watched and more word of mouth – and word of mouth is king.

    Total cost = less than a traditional campaign. Full theatres. happy people.

    I’ve seen this work in sport. My home town football (soccer) club use this periodically and _always_ sell out the ground. These kids are future season ticket holders. The cheers are a little higher pitched but it works.

    Of course, you need to have good movies and believe in them for that to work – but I assume you are cool with that.

    Comment by Josh Hart — July 24, 2006 @ 5:57 am

52. Cool! I know some people from webdate.com who might be interested to take up your challenge!

    Comment by Elizabeth — July 24, 2006 @ 6:14 am

53. Mark,

    Quick Pitch

    I feel there is a variety of different ideas floating around too solve this problem. Many of the ideas are garbage and I feel innovation is the key to lower prices and better service in any sector or market in the United States. The U.S. in general is completely enthralled with personal computers and the convenience of using a Tivo to watch their favorite show. I feel that the growth of the internet is changing the way we watch TV. Some people watch news clips online, and others now use online T.V. players (TVU player) to watch content from anywhere in the world as long as the user has internet access. As a lazy/on the go culture in general, I feel the best way to lower marketing expenses while creating a new market would be to promote “Live Theatre” a new way to watch movies. It would allow for the movies to be seen in the home or from anywhere where a computer is connected.
    Basically, you could have the first ever simultaneous live movie link between the entire world. It would be impressive and could change the way we would watch movies in the future. There are a lot of ideas that can branch off of this to create different revenue flows and this idea could be implemented fast in variety of ways. Feel free to contact me to learn more or to work on a business plan, thanks Mark.

    Mark Smith (I.U. Grad)

    Comment by Mark Smith — July 24, 2006 @ 6:32 am

54. Try giving some extra value for their regular ticket (I take it that you cannot influence too much the price at which theaters will sell the tickets). Anyone who sends you a used ticket has the right to a discount on the DVD (whenever that is edited), on the VoD-edition through your platform and on any merchandise you might have with that movie. This may not increase too much your movie sales in theaters, but is a good way to spread the word a little, to sell more in later stages, to have satisfied consumers and to have their emails (since you will exchange those discounts for their ticket AND their email).

    Comment by AMRS — July 24, 2006 @ 6:58 am

55. I like the free baby sitting idea. The adults would drop the children off to watch a kids movie, while they watch their own. This is the number one reason we see less movies!

    Here’s another idea, send the movie’s main actors to a random theater(s). Make it like Country Music’s Fan Fair.

    Comment by Robert Gremillion — July 24, 2006 @ 7:11 am

56. To me it seems simple… you have to get people to that point where they absolutely have to see the movie. So, what about making the first 20 or 30 minutes available online. Or, what about some kind of lead in to the movie, so that watching those 20 or 30 minutes doesn’t kill the movie (because yeah, 20 or 30 minutes may be almost a 3rd of some movies) and then get the potential audience interested that way.

    I don’t think that doing advanced screenings is a great idea, because you turn the value of the movie into $0, and any time I missed an advanced screening in college, even when people said it was awesome, I waited until I could get the value as close to $0 as possible, which sometimes meant I didn’t watch it at all (sweet, I hit the $0 value of watching the movie) or I rented it.

    But, by maybe getting people where they have to see the movie, they’ll go out and watch it. Shoot, if you did it just right I know that my wife and I would try to leave the house immediately to go see the rest of the movie.

    Comment by Alan — July 24, 2006 @ 8:03 am

57. There are a lot of things you can do in order to attract more people to the movies and reduce your advertising budget. Here are a few:

    There will always be people who will go to a movie the first week it comes out (I was like that for quite some time). They are not your problem. The problem is the people who don’t care about watching the movie two months after its release.
    Solution: Build a steps based pricing system for movies. A movie should cost $12 at the first week. But after a month, his price should be lower. (In the back end system you can also tie the price to demand. When demand start to go down, the system automatically reduce the price of the movie). You can also do a promotion where if a person goes to a movie in the first week, he gets a discount or a free ticket for an older movie.
    Yes, it could mean that some people will wait a few weeks before going to the movie in order to get a reduced price, but it also mean that a lot more new people will go to see the movie. The backend pricing formula should find the right balance.
    (You can also run this idea on seating places. Like in concerts. The best seats costs more than the ones in the first rows.)

    Print on the movie ticket a code users can enter when they back home in an Internet site in order to get some value. For example:
    - Access to screen savers, desktop background, ringtones etc.
    - Free download from iTunes of the movie theme song.
    - On line chats with the movie actors, producers, etc
    - A possibility to register to a lottery with some cool prizes
    - Access to director comments about the movie, behind the scene footage and interviews (could be even scraps from the material already made for the DVD)
    - Discount code for another movie
    - A discount on the movie soundtrack (via partnership with iTunes, Rhapsody, etc)

    As comments here can’t be formatted using HTML, i posted my complete answer to your question in my blog:
    http://www.nechmads.com/blog/blogs/shahar_nechmad_-_diaries_of_a_startup/archive/2006/07/24/32.aspx

    Comment by Shahar Nechmad — July 24, 2006 @ 8:05 am

58. Mr. Cuban,
    Take a look at my blog, especially the “MMM’s Greatest Hits” series of links off to the right. I think you’ll see I’ve given a lot of thought as to how to change the marketing of movies. If you think my stuff is strong enough I’d love to brainstorm with you.
    –Chris Thilk

    Comment by Chris Thilk — July 24, 2006 @ 8:20 am

59. tie it into kids fundraising. almost any activity has some sort of fundraiser(candy, carwash etc). sell them in the spring for a fall opening with the kids getting a buck for each one sold and some free tickets if certain goals are met. just an idea, but remember, almost any fundraiser is a beating for parents.

    Comment by john acton — July 24, 2006 @ 8:28 am

60. Television is very developed in our modern world. Practically a television set costs in every house. Therefore people which inlay a money in development of television will never remain in a loss.
    The more so young men very carries with this

    Comment by Puhanov Roman — July 24, 2006 @ 8:35 am

61. Mark, this suggestion may help.

    When you buy a ticket for a movie for the theater you should receive a ‘credit’ for 1/4 off the DVD when released. If you buy two tickets, you receive a ‘credit’ for 1/2 off the DVD. Set that as the maximum you can get off of a DVD though, 1/2 off. If you buy 100 tickets, you can only get credits for 1/2 off the movie you just saw in DVD format.

    This should only be redeemable directly after the movie has played in the theater though. Have a little stand in the theater where customers can redeem their credits directly after the movie. The DVD should be shipped directly to the customer’s home. (This will also help theaters market directly to their customer base with email notifications and snail mail marketing to YOUR CUSTOMER BASE!)

    By doing this, you’ll eliminate the issue of folks not going to the theater because they can buy the DVD when it comes out. Lots of folks say ‘We’ll get it when it comes out on DVD.’ They’ll feel like they’re not throwing away $20 to see a movie (if it’s crummy) if they can see the movie in the theater and buy the DVD both for about $30. Also, I rarely want to see a movie just once! This would allow me to see the movie and purchase the DVD together.

    To make this ‘really’ work, and if you really want to hit a home run on this, ship those DVDs to ‘preferred’ customers a week before the DVDs are released in retail stores. You’d have to work with the studios on this though!

    You see a movie and say, I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD when you’re walking out of a good movie. Then you are able to order the DVD there, have it shipped to your house and receive it a week before those who didn’t go to the theater to see it. It’s a win, win situation!

    I think one or more of these suggestions could really benefit the theater business. With a little tweaking to this module it could really improve sales.

    So, when do I start?

    Comment by Aaron — July 24, 2006 @ 8:42 am

62. It is about the product, Mr. Cuban.
    A company should not need to spend the retail price of the product in order to attract customers to purchase it.

    I work in the Detroit auto industry.
    (And I’m staying, but thanks for the job opportunity.)
    We are on the wrong end of the economy of selling cars right now because we have been making product that the customer doesn’t want. We’ve been listening to ourselves, not the people with the checkbook. Over the decades, competitors have come along and eaten our lunch. If we (the US Auto Industry) had taken care of our customers by listening to them and providing for their most basic wants, there would have been no opening for other products. So now we offer huge incentives in flailing attempts to attract customers. Does that sound familiar?

    Similarly, the movie industry has been paying attention to it’s own internal voices but not to the voice of it’s customers. And now there is competition for our entertainment dollars.
    Virus Marketing (which is one of your suggestions) is not going to get more people into movie theatres any more than “rebates” and “gas cards” get people to buy products customers don’t want.

    I can assure you of this – produce a good product and people will pay a fair price for it.

    I’ll tell ya what, here’s a good idea for you: How about you form a movie production company here in Michigan. We have lots of hard-working people who will compete for those jobs. We have plenty of big buildings to create indoor sets and use CGI for the rest. Production can run nearly year-round because without the distraction of nice weather – shows can create more content.
    But in order to make it work, you have to start by structuring the company as a business – with business people at the help. Not with “entertainment” people. This problem Hollywood faces is similar to the problems of the US Auto Industry in this way too. We have gone through cycles where we put an “engineer” in charge and the company would make exciting products but lose money. So we would switch to a “bean counter” and the company would make a profit but have boring products.

    Does this seem familiar to Hollywood’s current problem? Lots of incentives to purchase the product? Lots of creative output but nobody holding the purse-strings?

    I’ve read that some of the best “inventions” are where someone applies a concept from one field into an entirely different field. Well, here’s an idea and a chance to apply it. Study what the non-US auto companies have done to become such juggernaughts in the US auto industry. Then apply those concepts to the US movie industry.

    Good luck.
    I look forward to sitting in a theatre someday, enjoying your success.

    Comment by _Jon — July 24, 2006 @ 8:46 am

63. Idea #1:
    Have your engineering staff devise a mobile movie theatre. Whether by land, sea, or air… as long as you make the setup of the theatre itself as “cool” and as RubeGoldbergish as possible, that, itself, will become part of the show — and the public knows a good show when they see one. Strike one and only one print of a given movie, then have your mobile theatre tour the U.S. — if not the world — with it before the “real” run. Gasoline is not cheap right now, of course, but I bet that changes in a hurry once we put down the insurgency in Iraq.
    * * *
    Idea #2:
    Bring back the serial. Produce an action-heavy/FX-heavy/funny/weird serial, have each chapter play before an at least semi-appropriate new feature, and of course don’t release the serial on DVD until all the chapters have been shown theatrically. You might have noticed that quality special effects keep getting more affordable. You also might have noticed that people have been spotted paying for just the trailer of a much-anticipated movie and then walking out. In this way, you may well get the same people coming out to see 12 or 14 or 18 of your movies instead of just one. Since the Landmark audience tends to skew older, you might find it a fine idea to produce the first new Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers serial in about 60 years.

    Comment by Jack Maxfield — July 24, 2006 @ 8:58 am

64. I think we have to look at the world of sports entertainment to guide us in this process. So many sporting events now are just one piece of a much larger puzzle around them. Take a look at few examples.

    College Football- We no longer arrive at the game 30 before it starts then leave for home after the final second. It is an entire day’s event. RV’s role in the night before. There’s food, recreation, pre-game rituals. The stuff around the game has become bigger than the game. But thats okay, it still helps college football.

    NASCAR- Same thing on even an bigger scale. People arrive days before the event, campout, eat food. Some people do not even go to the acutal race, but watch it from their motorhome. Again, great for NASCAR.

    This idea also hold true for other entertainment venues. People and families want the “big” event, lots of things to do, see, eat, experience. Festivals, fairs, amusement parks, water parks, theme parks, all day events. That’s where the money is being spent.

    So, the big question is- How do we take this philosophy and tie it into movies.

    First, it is already being done in the form of film festivals. Film Festivals, once for the wierd, odd, indie crowd, are now become more mainstream. However, we’re not taking about more film festivals as being the solution.

    The answer is in how we surround the movie with things that attract people to see the film. This is where a radical approach needs to happen. The stand alone theater is outdated. Theaters need to attach themselves to other entertainment venues, and I’m not talking about a mall. Imagine if the major theme and water parks had large theaters within thier walls and were part of the park experience. A family walks around in the heat for 5 or 6 hours doing the rides. The kids are getting cranky and the parents are hot. Maybe it’s time to hit the theater in the park to see the new Cars movie. I know some parks already have a theater or two, but that’s not what I’m talking about. This would be an entire theater complex with all the new releases, not a movie about the history of bubble gum.

    The bottom line is there has to be an attraction for the family. There has to be more. It has to be part of an “all day event.”

    Just my thoughts.

    Comment by Scott Engbrecht — July 24, 2006 @ 9:17 am

65. Comments 59. and 63. are on the right track (try to use a market mechanism to determine the correct pricing for a ticket), but haven’t gone into enough detail to come up with a workable solution.

    If we are looking at the movie theater business as a revenue-maximizing problem (and assume more-or-less fixed marketing costs), one obvious potential solution is to use a multi-unit auction format that attempts to maximize the revenue from each screening of a movie, rather than maximizing the revenue per ticket. Movie seats are perishable items, so (within limits) it makes sense to try and fill the theater for every screening. Of course, filling the theater also increases the number of people that have seen the movie and can generate buzz around it.

    The fairest multi-unit auction (and the one with the best chance of filling the theater) would work as follows: assume a screening with n seats. Customers bid by indicating how much they’d be willing to pay for a ticket to that screening. Then you take the nth highest bid, and everyone who bid *above* that number gets a ticket, at the price of the nth bid.

    Assume a theater with three seats. Ten people enter bids for tickets, at $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, $8, $9, and $10. We take the third bid from the top ($8), and the top three bidders pay $8 each for tickets (and no one pays more than he/she bid). We now have revenue of $24, more than the revenue ($18) of pricing tickets at $9 (we have only two people willing to pay that price, so we won’t sell all the seats). Lowering the price to $7 makes no sense, as we can already fill the theater at $8 a ticket. If we have five seats to sell, the price per ticket is $6, which although lower than our original $8 ticket, still yields more revenue ($30 for five tickets) than the $8 price ($24 because we sell only three of our five seats).

    A multi-unit auction format also solves the problem of what to charge for matinee tickets, what to charge for tickets after a movie has been in the theaters for a while, how to maximize revenue for the opening week-end, etc.

    Obviously there are issues with this plan, among them the simple fact that it might be hard to explain how the auction works to the average consumer. But if used for select screenings (especially for geek-friendly movies), I think it’d be worth a try (and just the buzz from the first auction could help promote the film).

    Comment by Jack DeNeut — July 24, 2006 @ 9:18 am

66. The industry is shifting from a ‘one size fits all’ to a niche mentality.

    There is less and less ability for the customer to be forced to adapt to you and more of adapting to what the customers want.

    There will not be a give 20% discount and all will be well answer.

    You will have to make it be different things to different people.

    For example:
    My wife will get a group of friends to see a $1 movie and bring all of the kids at 12:00 in the summer. The movie is not important, it just has to be a kids movie. And actually seeing a movie that the kids have already seen is safer.

    Teenagers, yea they are influenced by advertisement. The latest movie and late at night and a ‘hip’ atmosphere that is important. Thier goal is to get out of the house, and be part of what is exciting.

    When we go on a date night, there are several different attractions. The whole goal is to get out of the house. Sometimes a quiet evening with not much concern for the movie, and sometimes as group, sometimes we go for a specific movie.

    Other groups that we are involved in would be a huge oppertunity to go see something relavant to that group.

    Comment by Mike — July 24, 2006 @ 9:19 am

67. Mark Cuban, there is no way you will get people like my father out of the house, none. He watches a few movies per month from the comfort of his easy chair and has no interest in social networking, movie theatre memberships, or affiliate promotion. My suggestion is keep movie prices high and to cohabitate a theatre with an office building so as to receive regular rents on the building when movies are not being shown.

    Comment by Earle — July 24, 2006 @ 9:25 am

68. When I was young, movies were not as expensive, and on Saturday afternoon the theater ran 3 of them, back to back. We took the bus or sometimes our parents drove us, and every seat in the theatre was filled. The popcorn and pop was the same price in the theatre that it was outside, or a little, but not much more. Parents dropped their kids off, and did their shopping, and we sat there hugely amused. Your industry has raised your standards so that going to the movies is now an event. To go for a movie and a hamburger costs teenagers $50.00 here in Canada. They can see DVD’s at home so much cheaper. Your industry needs for it to be something lots of people do almost every night. For a while in Canada they had 2 Dollar Tuesdays, they made quite a bit of money, so they raised the prices, and cheap Tuesday dissappeared.
    Take a city, your choice, and run kids movies4 hours worth on Saturday afternoons. Lower the price of candy bars to something like the people pay in the super markets, and the price of pop to something more realistic. Put on movies that the kids know, and sometimes if you have a hot new first run kids movie, toss it in, fill the theatres, and teach young people that this is a good way to spend some time.

    On hot days have heat wave specials where you charge a few dollars for admission and as always make people thing they got a deal on popcorn and soda. Too many people view your food and beverages as a rip off, and well they are, stop being so greedy. Recently there was a heat wave in Ontario Canada, how much money could have been made if during the hottest part of the day the Theaters were running double bills at a reasonable price, heck it’s summer, and it’s hot, how many mom’s would have given anything to have a safe entertaining place to get their kids out of the heat. There should be childrens favourites running every afternoon in every theatre in North America. and they should change every three days so the kids can spend 2 afternoons a week paying you money. Maybe not a lot of money, but you are showing them old favourites, and are already in the black for them. A movie theatre filled with squealing little bums at 3.50 a head Saturday afternoon is better than a theater with 10 people at $12.00

    Good Luck with this, Owning theatres used to be a gold mine, you guys have really screwed it up.

    Comment by Peter — July 24, 2006 @ 9:30 am

69. The issue here is not that new movies suck (they do.) There’s a reason for that…people spend millions on shitty movies every weekend (You can thank the Bays and Ratners for that.) It’s buzz. Plain and simple. I’m not talking about over-the-top spending on McD’s promotions and $10 million trailers. This can be achieved with intelligent promotion to target audiences.

    You’ll see an example of how effective “buzz” is later this summer with “Snakes on a Plane”. Yes, Snakes will probably top $100 mill. in a few weeks with the help on a little thing called the Internet. (I haven’t really seen any promotion for this movie at all) The thing is, internet geeks love getting excited about medocrity. Snakes will not be a ‘good’ movie, but will entertain geeks en masse.

    This model could potentially be applied to every movie. Create a demographic-friendly buzz, and you’ll put assses in your seats. BTW, if it does top 100 million, you owe me a job.

    Go Mavs,
    Geoff

    Comment by Geoff Scott — July 24, 2006 @ 9:31 am

70. I see a theme: Everyone wants you to solve the thing they like least about theaters.

    - bad movies
    - no babysitters
    - ticket prices
    - no “Netflix” like database recording their preferences, predicting movies back to them
    - no streaming release (for those who don’t leave home)

    I hear complex solutions to a simple problem. The problem—no cheap way to market films—is connected to another problem: movie theaters and movie marketing are as focused on community as Wal-Mart. The result is where we’re at today, people go to the theater to connect to beautiful movie stars, not the people around them.

    It wasn’t hard to market films back when theaters were neighborhood hubs for social activity. Neighborhoods have changed but the desire to connect remains. Now we see a trend of people connecting through smaller, tighter groups built around more refined interests. If somebody were to survey, “Where do you connect with your friends?” I don’t think “The local multiplex” would hit even the top ten.

    Imagine ten little theaters packed out with ten different films from all over the spectrum and history, most of them one night events hosted by the person who coordinated and marketed the screening. Why did they coordinate and market a screening? The same reason people sacrifice a Saturday to clean and cook for a party. Imagine theaters returning to their previous state as gathering points for people in relationship. The movie-lovers at the center of those relationships know what their people want to watch and when they want to watch it. So give them what they need (charge them if you want to) and let them do your marketing.

    Your challenge is to build a brand that represents that experience. People’s expectations are jaded toward a multiplex. Change expectations. Don’t nickle and dime ticket prices and online rating systems. Obliterate what people expect to experience from movie theaters, and be something different.

    That’s what we’re working toward at http://spout.com

    Comment by paul@spout — July 24, 2006 @ 9:37 am

71. Lots of great ideas have already been mentioned…the industry doesn’t need a bandaid, it needs to be torn down and reconstructed

    -movie theaters with beer and food (the paramount in Oakland is busy…they even have baby brigade where you can bring your infant on Monday nights)
    -zap cell phones in the theater (legislation to allow them to be used by theater owners)
    -variable pricing – a movie that cost a million to make should not cost as much as a blockbuster
    -reserved seating – charge more for the best tickets and then you don’t have to get there 30 minutes before the show
    -more 2nd run theaters, between first run and dvd/cable release
    -tie movie stubs with discounted purchase of dvd

    I hope these are the ideas you are looking for, because there is no small fix and no amount of social networking is going to get people to movies under the current paradigm.

    Comment by M — July 24, 2006 @ 9:48 am

72. Change 2929 Entertainment and Magnolia Pictures websites into more than just information about upcoming and released films. It should make the process more transparent and interactive. Release information about projects that you are considering and get the feedback from movie fans. Gather opinions about possible cast and crew. Release information about progress as you go and build interest without the advertising hype that often leads to anticipointment.

    Most movie websites are only useful to determine if you want to see a movie after it has been released and you’ve already heard about it. Make your websites into places where people can go to find out what movies are in production and let them have input into the process. That will give them some ownership of the movie and incentive to see the movie when it is released.

    Comment by Steven T. Cameron — July 24, 2006 @ 9:56 am

73. You need better posters. You need dynamic images. You need trailers that properly tease people into the theater.

    What’s the biggest film going right now? Snakes on a Plane. Why? Because the poster looks great with the snakes wrapped around the plane. The trailer teases us with snakes on a plane.

    Here’s another thought – dress up your theaters to excite folks to come down and see that film that you own. Look at what Hitchcock did to theaters for Psycho.

    Arresting images. Teasing trailers and an atmosphere that screams “Be Here Now!” Don’t appeal to the old people. They’ll come if they come. Don’t appeal to families. They always complain about why Hollywood doesn’t make nice simple family films and then they don’t show up (outside of the blockbusters). Appeal to the people in your theaters. Bring ‘em back, alive.

    Quit being polite with your ad campaigns. Sam Arkoff didn’t make AIP work by being polite. Don’t be afraid to be a carny. Temptation isn’t a bad thing.

    What could I do for HDNet? Review materials and scream “And I’m going to withdraw $10 from my kid’s college fund for this!” Don’t play it safe and normal. People can stay it home and play it safe and normal. And those are the people you don’t need to appeal to.

    Comment by Joe Corey — July 24, 2006 @ 9:57 am

74. How about a club and membership account. For $19.99/month or $3.99 per DVD, you can join and get the latest movie releases automatically sent to your home (mail date is each Tuesday). The DVD is a special technology that allows you to watch the DVD twice and then recycle the disc. No need to ship the disc back. It’s fully recyclable. Plus, the disc does not need to be sent back to get new movies. If you can watch the movie now, or simply store the disc until it’s convenient to watch. People don’t have to leave the house OR spend a fortune.

    Comment by DVD Dude — July 24, 2006 @ 10:01 am

75. Don’t charge for showings on opening weekend.

    Or, better yet, go direct to the public on the internet, bypassing the theaters for a few weeks.

    Comment by Jeremy Zawodny — July 24, 2006 @ 10:20 am

76. Mark its like this (and if someone has already mentioned it, I apologize, there are just too many other comments to read): Its all about radio. First of all radio is free, it doesn’t cost you anything except for time. Get actors, directors, producers, to go on air and promote the movie. Will Ferrill has been doing it to promote his new movie and it really can be done with any movie. You can even give stations movie premiere passes and they will inturn make 30 second promos for the movie or 10 second liners. Clearly you can’t promote every movie you make on every radio station in the country, but thats where the rest of your marketing team comes in. Target certain demographics and call producers/promotion managers and you have yourself a successful movie premiere.

    Comment by Andrew Brooks — July 24, 2006 @ 10:24 am

77. The Question

    Mark Cuban: – “How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune.”

    The Answer

    The answer to this “Holy Grail” caliber question can be found by breaking down the question to it’s very basic element.

    First, I believe the question is posed incorrectly: It’s not about you “getting” people to do anything. It’s about understanding the process of why people choose / elect to see your product. So, the new question would read…”Why do people get out of the house to see my movie?”

    Possible answers:

    -Because the theatre is the only place to see the movie
    -Because there’s a ton of hype
    -Becasue my friend said it was good
    -Because it was rated well on Yahoo! movies
    -Because it was raining out and there was nothing else to do

    The end goal is to totally eliminate all of the top answers, you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.”

    What would make people finally start to say that about the theatre experience? I think that the process will take some time, but there are number things you can do to jump start the industry, here are a just a handful I think would work immediately:

    1) GPS Meets WI-FI – I am facinated with the idea of using cell GPS data to deliver internet relevent advertising. Example – I walk around or drive around all day. My phone records the GPS coordinates I follow through the day. i get home, hop on the computer..now my cell phone links to the net via wi-fi, all of the gps coordinates are comminicated toan advertising network…maybe “Ad Maverick”…ads begin to display in banners and in search results based on where I was that day…Now imagine the possibilities of incorporating movie trailers and info based on my daily activity.

    2) Integrate Ice Rocket with Your Database System – This is among the most innovative ideas I have. Imagine being able to rank pages on the net, possibly even MySpaces pages, based on the number / or quality of specific movie references. So I could go to ice rocket, select this new movie tab, type in a movie, and research it on ranked pages. The owners of the sites could get some sorta kick-back. This data could then be appended to database info you keep at theaters to specific customers.

    3) If individual customers could benefit from the success of a movie: I am a fan of promotions, I think if done right promotions are the most powerful form of advertising. Instead of spending 40mm advertising a movie, offer a $1-2 cash prize to a couple movie goers. Or a $10k prize awarded to each or your theatres.

    4) If tech savy folks could get an instant (time sensative) upload to IPOD-like devices @ the theatre only: Imagine being able to offer the new release movie for upload only @ the theatre. The movie file could be protected to prevent copying, editing, or distribution. The customer could use a theater kiosk or approach the ticket counter for the uplaod. Pricing would have to be thought about.

    4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks: The number one barrier to theater adoption is prices, Food prices, ticket prices…Encourage people to bring snacks, lower the barrier to adoption. Sure you may lose some consession sales, but you would sell more theater tickets. People already sneak food in as it is…Maybe put up microwaves and allow people to heat-up snacks for a price…

    5) Utilize Database Information to Identify Movie “Influencers” – I like the idea that someone posed on this thread, where you could keep data on customers and use it for personaliztion of services / products. I propose to take this idea 1 step further…use the data to identify “Movie Influencers” and provide the people free access to your theater. These types of people would include: Moms who take their kids to movies 2+ a month, college age kids who visit the theater 2+ a month, etc…

    These are just some initial ideas..but remember you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.” This challenge will take more than one off ideas. It’s going to take a group of creative, imaginitive folks who are driven by the challenge.

    Thanks Mark…good luck

    Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 10:26 am

78. Hey Mark,

    Two thing I love: The Mavs and movies. And yes, I am sucking up! Great challenge though. Coincidentally, I emailed your company on Friday in regards to job opportunities. Anyway, here is my idea.

    The question you posed is a good one and certainly a growing problem for studios and theater chains. How do you get people to spend money and go to the movies? I’m gonna cut to the chase here and just throw it out there. People most likely will spend money when they think they can “win” money. Look at Las Vegas. As the old adage goes, it was not a city built on winners. Also, look at the lottery. Some people spend $100 a week, money they should probably be saving for the kid’s college fund, in hopes of hitting it big. Their thinking is low risk investment, high reward. So how does this tie into the movie biz?

    When someone buys a ticket to a movie, maybe make this online purchases only, their name is submitted into a drawing to win “the Godsend lottery” for example. Give this promotion 3 weeks so your movie has some “legs” and then draw a winner. The first couple could be on your smaller budget movies and might be $25,000-$50,000 just to get the grassroots campaign in motion. As the media begins to catch wind of this and you have your winners proudly displaying a check for $25,000 there will be a public ground swell for your next movie, which will have a bigger payout. The bigger the movie’s budget for you, the more money that’s offered in the “lottery”. Now, I realize the word “lottery” might be illegal in some states so week can call it “contest”, “windfall”, sweepstakes”, whatever….It’s the like the Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka…

    It’s a win win for everyone. Quality entertainment and a chance to win big $$$ for the consumer, theater chains are packed and your company makes money and gets publicity before, during and after the movie’s release.

    Honestly Mark, this is the way to go. I have lots of little things that would go into this concept. If you’re interested in expanding this let me know.

    Thanks,
    Craig

    Comment by Craig — July 24, 2006 @ 10:27 am

79. Mark, I would say to increase more people coming to movies, make the movies more interactive. Meaning make the audience part of the movie… Think Treasure Hunter, but in a movie.. During the pre release of any movie, inform the public that they have to look for clues in the movie to solve a particular question or complete a particular task related too the movie.

    Each ticket could be pre printed with a registration code inviting the user to sign up and answer the question, (crack the case so to speak). Instant Participation. Extend the movie experience online, consumers will continue to play along with various tasks. For example, for those of us who have seen the Pirates of the Carribean, we know how it ends, but wouldn’t it be cool if you could go online and contine the quest for Jack Sparrow?

    The studio could feed the consumers trivia and clues to his whereabouts encouraging them to “find” jack, the only way they find out what truly happens is by seeing the sequel!Movie goers who have played along online will be hungry to see if they won, or how smart they were… Do you see where I’m going with this?

    Get Back to me, I have a dream! Do you?

    Comment by Steffon Brown — July 24, 2006 @ 10:28 am

80. Embed your movie company in a larger company that delivers the most lucrative complements.

    Specifically, a company that:

    * delivers a public website that facilitates the production, distribution and monetization of video content

    * leverages the website and proprietary content (e.g., movies) to establish the most liquid transparent online market for the advertisement spaces on single-creator media (e.g., blogs, podcasts)

    * leverages this market to establish the most liquid online market for customized education and career services (CECS)

    Of course, the ad-space market will enable precise movie-ad buys, and otherwise create enormous buzz for your movies in the blogosphere. The CECS market is likely to be the next huge online market, not least because the CECS industry can be expected to create millions of good jobs for U.S. residents, and these job-holders can be expected to dramatically increase educational and economic opportunity for all.

    Much more about the above is online at http://landof.opportunitv.com.

    Thanks kindly for your consideration.

    Best,

    Frank Ruscica

    Comment by Frank Ruscica — July 24, 2006 @ 10:28 am

81. I’m not going into any long rant about my personal views on the subject, I’m just gonna tell you about someone already having success. The Alamo Drafthouse 3 hours south of you in Austin, TX, http://www.drafthouse.com/. This is a theatre that allows you to eat dinner and drink a beer while you watch a movie, they have very unique screenings and really enhances the movie experience, they’re Downtown Austin location is legendary. They have opened new theatres and are thriving while most Movie Theatres have just upped the price of popcorn.

    Comment by Matthew Dinan — July 24, 2006 @ 10:32 am

82. movie-going and theaters have become the expected. just as everything, at some time, becomes just another part of our complex lives, movies have done the same. there is nothing in the experience of going to the theater that attracts people anymore. only a truly hyped, one-a-year-type movie can still do that. otherwise, it’s the same experience you’ve been having your entire life. i have myself become bored with the drive to the theater, buying a ticket, sitting, watching, then leaving. and i absolutely love movies. but, now, i would rather watch at home. a place where expected is, well, expected.

    setting that stage, my suggestion for getting people to go see movies is to stop expecting the same formula to keep working. theaters don’t offer enough excitement in repetition, such as sports, to continue to bank on things.

    we need different foods. different attitudes. different layouts. different emotions from the experience. actually, it isn’t even an experience anymore. it’s a routine. that needs to break. people need to feel, not just act.

    movies are still pretty decent if you filter through all the crap. it’s the seats we sit in that don’t work anymore.

    Comment by timmothy — July 24, 2006 @ 10:33 am

83. Do not charge an admission fee to the movie. Setup the theater, so that people are forced to go through the snack bar and if they buy something, the movie will be free to them. Some people will buy the cheapest thing to see the movie for free, but you’ll make up for it in sales from the families that overindulge. Movie theaters make all of their money from the snack bar, anyway – right?

    OR

    Have theaters pay an “entry” fee into the movies and let them watch as many movies as they want. You won’t make money from the 13 year old boys that can sit through 4 movies and not spend any money, but you’ll clean-up on people willing to sit through 2 movies because they’ll inevitably get hungry and hit up the snack bar.

    Comment by Chris Brass — July 24, 2006 @ 10:34 am

84. My idea only markets one particular type of film but it benefits all films in general.

    I believe there should be seperate, smaller theatre venues that market directly to kids. Shows like Madagascar, Cars, Over the Hedge, should be taken out of that larger multiplexes and shown in these children’s only theatres.

    You could add arcades, and pizza places, or whatever you want to it, but it has to be kid friendly. At least parents will know what they are getting when they drop cash down at places like these.

    How does that benefit other theatres? Well, it takes the screaming kids out and puts them in one concentrated area where they can act like kids and not irritate older people.
    It also allows the theatre to broaden their spectrum of movies without having to waste three partially empty theatres showing Hoodwinked at 9:00pm. They can screen movies like “An Inconvienent Truth” or whatever.

    It’s definately not the norm, but I think it could work.

    dan

    Comment by dan — July 24, 2006 @ 10:37 am

85. Considering I stumbled across this posting and I don’t live anywhere near the Dallas/Mav fan area I’m only going off the top of my head hoping all them money I’m spending on this so-called education is paying off:

    * Similar to another post, forget about the movie. Just like MTV and VH1 doesn’t focus on the videos or nightclubs focus on drink specials alone (at least really successful ones). Its all about the buzz and the atmosphere created. Think of movies as a stock portfolio, you just don’t dump all your money into one stock…unless of course your rich and this is 2004 and you know there’s a Google IPO coming up.

    But your loaded so that was a moot point.

    Now I’m just typing to be typing. Damn I hate when that happens!

    But I digress. Okay…um…..

    * Target younger crowds in unique ways. Toss out some viral marketing for the movie, make a game/contest of it in collaboration with the studios. Create buzz.

    * Use alternative methods of affiliating. Utilize Facebook to target collge students (we love Facebook as much as we do MySpace).

    * At my college (Wichita State University) we have student ID’s that are stored value cards that can be used at the bookstore, vending machine, copiers and at some off campus businesses as well. Why not get in on the game. Offer a discount on tickets to students using their stored card. This might be attractive to both colleges and film studios as a way to curb illegal downloading and increase movie interest. The student gets a discount and they are more apt to be involved online which is good for you.

    Plus, the stored card is almost like a credit card so no physical money is ever seen. That works great for most businesses as the customer never connects a piece of plastic with actual money..out of sight out of mind.

    I’d go on since I could use a great paying job after I graduate next year, but I think I’m the only one actually reading this.

    Comment by Rob — July 24, 2006 @ 10:37 am

86. OK – I’m sick of IT services and outsourcing and would love to get into another business.

    On the actual movie side – invest in new, innovative ideas, not predictable “blockbuster” material. Make thoughtful movies that don’t require a huge budget. I don’t know what “Wordplay” cost to make, but it was 100X better than “Superman Returns.” Any movie that is too aggressively marketed through mainstream media raises suspicion from me, as I always know that the studio is throwing good money after bad trying to get butts in the seats of a terrible movie. Smaller well crafted pictures generate their buzz on the festival circuit and get noticed without too much money thrown behind them. The bloggers and media then catch on and pump the movie up further. I would focus on those. I don’t think the solution lies on the marketing side, I think the economics can change more readily on the production side.

    On the theater side, the experience is too generic. The popcorn and candy are the same everywhere. You could be in a theater in Detroit or Miami and they would feel exactly the same. Theaters need to raise the bar for the prices we pay. Alamo Drafthouse in Austin has it right. You can get a bottle of wine and a decent meal with a full service waitstaff. But if you don’t want to pay for all that, you can just order water and still enjoy the experience. I hate going to other theaters now because I’m used to settling in well ahead of the movie, watching the hilarious and quirky shorts they run before the show, and ordering a pinot noir and a pizza to snack on during the show. Even if there’s nothing great showing, I still like to go because it’s a true escape. Other theaters with sticky floors and the piped in popcorn stench pale in comparison. And admission to the Drafthouse is the same price as admission to Generiplex 12.

    Comment by Jon Gray — July 24, 2006 @ 10:38 am

87. The Question

    Mark Cuban: – “How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune.”

    The Answer

    The answer to this “Holy Grail” caliber question can be found by breaking down the question to it’s very basic element.

    First, I believe the question is posed incorrectly: It’s not about you “getting” people to do anything. It’s about understanding the process of why people choose / elect to see your product. So, the new question would read…”Why do people get out of the house to see my movie?”

    Possible answers:

    -Because the theatre is the only place to see the movie
    -Because there’s a ton of hype
    -Becasue my friend said it was good
    -Because it was rated well on Yahoo! movies
    -Because it was raining out and there was nothing else to do

    The end goal is to totally eliminate all of the top answers, you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.”

    What would make people finally start to say that about the theatre experience? I think that the process will take some time, but there are number things you can do to jump start the industry, here are a just a handful I think would work immediately:

    1) GPS Meets WI-FI – I am facinated with the idea of using cell GPS data to deliver internet relevent advertising. Example – I walk around or drive around all day. My phone records the GPS coordinates I follow through the day. i get home, hop on the computer..now my cell phone links to the net via wi-fi, all of the gps coordinates are comminicated toan advertising network…maybe “Ad Maverick”…ads begin to display in banners and in search results based on where I was that day…Now imagine the possibilities of incorporating movie trailers and info based on my daily activity.

    2) Integrate Ice Rocket with Your Database System – This is among the most innovative ideas I have. Imagine being able to rank pages on the net, possibly even MySpaces pages, based on the number / or quality of specific movie references. So I could go to ice rocket, select this new movie tab, type in a movie, and research it on ranked pages. The owners of the sites could get some sorta kick-back. This data could then be appended to database info you keep at theaters to specific customers.

    3) If individual customers could benefit from the success of a movie: I am a fan of promotions, I think if done right promotions are the most powerful form of advertising. Instead of spending 40mm advertising a movie, offer a $1-2 cash prize to a couple movie goers. Or a $10k prize awarded to each or your theatres.

    4) If tech savy folks could get an instant (time sensative) upload to IPOD-like devices @ the theatre only: Imagine being able to offer the new release movie for upload only @ the theatre. The movie file could be protected to prevent copying, editing, or distribution. The customer could use a theater kiosk or approach the ticket counter for the uplaod. Pricing would have to be thought about.

    4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks: The number one barrier to theater adoption is prices, Food prices, ticket prices…Encourage people to bring snacks, lower the barrier to adoption. Sure you may lose some consession sales, but you would sell more theater tickets. People already sneak food in as it is…Maybe put up microwaves and allow people to heat-up snacks for a price…

    5) Utilize Database Information to Identify Movie “Influencers” – I like the idea that someone posed on this thread, where you could keep data on customers and use it for personaliztion of services / products. I propose to take this idea 1 step further…use the data to identify “Movie Influencers” and provide the people free access to your theater. These types of people would include: Moms who take their kids to movies 2+ a month, college age kids who visit the theater 2+ a month, etc…

    These are just some initial ideas..but remember you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.” This challenge will take more than one off ideas. It’s going to take a group of creative, imaginitive folks who are driven by the challenge.

    Thanks Mark…good luck

    Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 10:39 am

88. With the sale of the ticket provide a password to access the movie online. The risk of piracy is already there so the additional risk of people giving passwords out to those who haven’t seen the movie isnt huge. If you’re trying to sell the “movie theater” experience, then this will entice to go to the theater because everyone likes the idea of getting something for free. Now this will inevitably curb dvd sales so maybe make this a limited time password (i.e. good for a month after having bought the ticket) with the option of renewal. The offset lack of cost for producing the DVD v. sustaining a website should help to make up the lost revenue from the loss of DVD sales and the selling/trading of passwords.

    Comment by Jason — July 24, 2006 @ 10:43 am

89. In order for any other type of marketing of a film, other than traditional types, to work successfully, the film has to be something compelling to a target audience.

    Case in point “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s global warming seminar committed to film. This movie had virtually no advertising budget and stars someone who’s about as exciting as a Campbell’s soup can, but has now made MANY more times the cost of filming back at the box office, which, based on the number of screens that showed it, is phenomenal.

    Mark, we’re sitting right in the middle of the answer: BLOGS.

    Before “An Inconvenient Truth” was ever shown on a screen, the liberal blogs lit up like a Christmas tree promoting this movie. Without fail, they all linked to the movie’s web site for release dates, to Fandango for ticket availability, to interviews Gore gave about the film. Here’s the kicker: it didn’t cost a dime in the production or promotions budget. The target audience took the promotion of the film and ran with it.

    Any film maker has the advantage right out of the box. He/She knows the subject of the film and the target audience before casting even starts. All you need is one, maybe two people, to identify blogs and web forums that deal either with the subject matter of the film or the target audience of the film, and start the buzz in the Houses of the Interested.

    Here’s another positive offshoot of this approach. When you talk directly to the members of the ticket-buying public about a particular movie, you could very well avoid pre-production mistakes that can kill a film before a frame is shot, like casting the wrong actor or actress for the lead role, picking the wrong director or location for shooting, and on and on.

    This is not to say that you give up control of the film to the public, but if it’s clear that the target audience hates the pre-production choices of your film, no amount of flashy film making or advertising budget is going to rescue your film at the box office from a disinterested public unless the reviews compare the film to “Gone With The Wind” or “Citizen Kane”, which isn’t likely given Hollywood’s current products.

    Comment by J. P. Spencer — July 24, 2006 @ 10:45 am

90. How about different prices for different movies? This is the only business in the world where you charge the same amount regardless of the cost of production. A $150 million movie costs as much to see as a $5 million movie. That’s why $9 million for “Clerks II” is a good take but $8 million for “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” is going to get someone fired. Quit selling BMW’s for the price of VW’s.

    Comment by Tom O'Keefe — July 24, 2006 @ 10:52 am

91. The Question

    Mark Cuban: – “How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune.”

    The Answer

    The answer to this “Holy Grail” caliber question can be found by breaking down the question to it’s very basic element.

    First, I believe the question is posed incorrectly: It’s not about you “getting” people to do anything. It’s about understanding the process of why people choose / elect to see your product. So, the new question would read…”Why do people get out of the house to see my movie?”

    Possible answers:

    -Because the theatre is the only place to see the movie
    -Because there’s a ton of hype
    -Becasue my friend said it was good
    -Because it was rated well on Yahoo! movies
    -Because it was raining out and there was nothing else to do

    The end goal is to totally eliminate all of the top answers, you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.”

    What would make people finally start to say that about the theatre experience? I think that the process will take some time, but there are number things you can do to jump start the industry, here are a just a handful I think would work immediately:

    1) GPS Meets WI-FI – I am facinated with the idea of using cell GPS data to deliver internet relevent advertising. Example – I walk around or drive around all day. My phone records the GPS coordinates I follow through the day. i get home, hop on the computer..now my cell phone links to the net via wi-fi, all of the gps coordinates are comminicated toan advertising network…maybe “Ad Maverick”…ads begin to display in banners and in search results based on where I was that day…Now imagine the possibilities of incorporating movie trailers and info based on my daily activity.

    2) Integrate Ice Rocket with Your Database System – This is among the most innovative ideas I have. Imagine being able to rank pages on the net, possibly even MySpaces pages, based on the number / or quality of specific movie references. So I could go to ice rocket, select this new movie tab, type in a movie, and research it on ranked pages. The owners of the sites could get some sorta kick-back. This data could then be appended to database info you keep at theaters to specific customers.

    3) If individual customers could benefit from the success of a movie: I am a fan of promotions, I think if done right promotions are the most powerful form of advertising. Instead of spending 40mm advertising a movie, offer a $1-2 cash prize to a couple movie goers. Or a $10k prize awarded to each or your theatres.

    4) If tech savy folks could get an instant (time sensative) upload to IPOD-like devices @ the theatre only: Imagine being able to offer the new release movie for upload only @ the theatre. The movie file could be protected to prevent copying, editing, or distribution. The customer could use a theater kiosk or approach the ticket counter for the uplaod. Pricing would have to be thought about.

    4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks: The number one barrier to theater adoption is prices, Food prices, ticket prices…Encourage people to bring snacks, lower the barrier to adoption. Sure you may lose some consession sales, but you would sell more theater tickets. People already sneak food in as it is…Maybe put up microwaves and allow people to heat-up snacks for a price…

    5) Utilize Database Information to Identify Movie “Influencers” – I like the idea that someone posed on this thread, where you could keep data on customers and use it for personaliztion of services / products. I propose to take this idea 1 step further…use the data to identify “Movie Influencers” and provide the people free access to your theater. These types of people would include: Moms who take their kids to movies 2+ a month, college age kids who visit the theater 2+ a month, etc…

    These are just some initial ideas..but remember you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.” This challenge will take more than one off ideas. It’s going to take a group of creative, imaginitive folks who are driven by the challenge.

    Thanks Mark…good luck

    Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 10:55 am

92. Bypass the theaters.

    Comment by Peter — July 24, 2006 @ 10:58 am

93. Traditional TV ads are dead. National print ads are dying rather quickly and internet adds are not that far behind. Our attention span is damn near zero. My suggestion is not rocket science: product placement.

    We still watch our favourite shows with a passion. It’s not cheap, but getting the movie written into a script would capture the audience’s attention better than any other means currently available. Good shows always lead to water cooler talk. And talk builds to hype.

    Comment by C Smirl — July 24, 2006 @ 11:06 am

94. I took my 5 year old to see Cars on the Weekend. Not the best experience.

    1. Movie was mediocre. (Make Better Movies)
    2. I’m 44. The seating is brutal. I need a recliner. Son could barely see over the seat in front. (Provide better seating)
    3. We smuggled drinks and food because the prices at the concession are ridiculous and the food is not nutiritious for kids. Not that I can’t afford them, I just refuse to get ripped off to buy garbage. (Create a value experience instead of a rip-off experience).
    4. If you think you are paying too much to market the movie,then take my approach to the concession stand. Don’t spend as much. I doubt it makes much of a difference. Word of mouth helps movies gain an audience, so if it’s good, you should do well.
    5. Make HD a satellite station like Sirius or XM does for Quality radio content.
    6. I have a Home Theatre which is great for watching Movies and the Mavs vs. Suns. Who wants to go to the movies anyhow. Beam your movies to me at home for a reasonable price. That’s the future, not the theatre.

    Comment by Dave Edgar — July 24, 2006 @ 11:10 am

95. See my response here:

    http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView?showComments=true&entry=3331192331

    Comment by James Robertson — July 24, 2006 @ 11:13 am

96. Are there any real salespeople left in America? Or do most people expect their business to advertise, take on risks, lower their prices, and get ripe customers in the door for them. For many industries (homebuilding, automotive, movies), the marketing hasn’t changed much in the last 20 years. Sure they all have websites and have tried grass roots marketing, but why not create a culture of sales and excellence in the industry. Don’t hire ticket takers in the theaters, create ticket sales agents. Depending on ability of the agent, it could be the best paying job any 20 year old could have…a commission based sales job that fosters entrepreneurial thinking and excitement. Some standard marketing will always have to take place to legitimize your product (tv ads, website, etc.), but your real volume numbers should come from your sales team. They should be the ones thinking about the target market in each area. They should be placing ads at the local restaurants (dinner and a movie crowd). At each cinema there should be a Director of Sales and Marketing (training, coaching, increasing revenue numbers.) Your sales cost will be a variable percentage of revenue, but if your movie can’t sell then your people don’t make commission. You won’t run into the high sales expenses on your lower revenue projects (Waterworld).

    If you think of all the best R.O.I. films in the past few years (Super Size Me, Napoleon Dynamite, etc.) all were grass routes, word-of-mouth type of films. Why does marketing always have to be the same exercise…maybe everyone is wrong. Give your sales people a thumb drive with a Podcast on it so that they can give it away. Instead of desserts and cocktail menus, partner with Olive Garden, TGIF, etc. to place movie cards on the tables. Have your marketing explain to people what emotions they will feel, what they will learn, why it is worth their time instead of telling them that your movie is more awesome than the next. How can your movie help the consumer escape their reality?

    Lastly, with HBO and PPV, the movie experience has to sell an experience, not just a movie. The NFL doesn’t sell out because people can see the game better, the fans love the energy. Only sign your theaters up for the best movies (don’t sell yourself short), charge premium pricing (possibly more money for center seats), and be better than everyone else. However, you must live up to the hype by providing the best projectors (HD?), the best sound, the best acoustics, and the best movies. Then make your environment different by charging your employees to sell and be attentive to every customer. There is plenty of money to be spent in entertainment (price is NOT the issue – anyone who wants cheaper tickets, you don’t want in your theater because they may pay for their ticket, but not your food). There are millions of wealthy, discerning baby-boomers coming…and they want upscale, quality items to spend their money on. Many of the products they value are due to quality, not price…Ipod, BMW, NetFlix, HDTV, etc. You have to create a culture of sales to drive that value.

    Comment by Jarod — July 24, 2006 @ 11:15 am

97. Hollywood faces 2 major challenges: 1) How movies are made and 2) How they are distributed.

    1) How movies are made:

    With regards to marketing you say, “If it’s been done before, we are doing it.” The problem with all of the marketing ideas you mention is that most of these things are done AFTER the movie is in the can. A small group puts something together and they hope like hell that it will appeal to a fair number of people so they can get their investment out of it and hopefully make a buck or two. Kind of like picking your investments by throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal stock quotes pages, eh?

    With the amazing technologies available today, why not allow people to participate in the ENTIRE movie making process? If I am made to feel like I am a part of the process, I am more likely to see the end product and will also tell more people about it. Just think about the buzz on myspace.com this could create. Initially, you can survey people online as to what movies they saw in the last several years, which ones they liked and why. Also, just as importantly, what didn’t they like. If the survey casts a wide enough net, you’ll see patterns/themes in the data that can give you some good guidelines. Then you can ask (broken out by demographic), what type of movie would they like to go see? What book have they read that they think would make a great movie? The survey serves 2 purposes: first it allows you to get inside their heads and find out what they are truly interested in and second, it achieves buy-in on the part of the participant. No production company, to my knowledge, is truly reaching out to their audiences for their opinion and guidance. Many people have stopped going to the movies because Hollywood has lost touch with many demographic segments here in the USA.

    When writing the script, it can be a completely open effort: post drafts as the storyline is developed for people to critique. If opening it up to the world is a bit too radical, then you could recruit a select number of people (a fair sized group within the targeted demographic) to participate in the review sessions, but allow everyone to see the progress. Several books have been written this way and even though all the content was posted online throughout the creative process, many of them sold very well. Robert Scoble and Seth Godin are two such authors.

    As the movie is filmed, you could post clips for viewer feedback prior to them getting to the editing room. Should this love scene be cut? Which ending would they prefer? Allow them to determine what is important and what is not. Kind of like American Idol, movie style.

    I can already hear the cries from Hollywood about losing creative control and how films will lose their artistic qualities. Maybe they are right… but I think if they had to choose between a solid hit, or an artistic bust, they’d choose the hit.

    2) How movies are distributed:

    Sadly, I’m convinced the theater will slowly go the route of the buggy whip maker. I don’t think they will completely go out of business, but their numbers will decrease dramatically over the next 10 years due to technology. Tivo, 60” HD TVs, Netflix… they are collectively chipping away box office revenue and will continue to do so at an increasing pace. And why not? Over the next few years, the number of homes that will have “personal theaters” will dramatically increase. Why pay 8 to 10 bucks a head to watch a movie that I have to drive 20 minutes to see (particularly when gas is $3/gallon)? Once there, I have to buy overpriced popcorn and soda, sit in a room with a sticky floor and listen to that annoying Roger Ebert wannabe 2 rows behind me that comments on every scene. No thanks. I’ll gladly wait 6 months and rent the DVD, sit in the comfort of my living room with my family, pop my microwave popcorn and sit in my home theater chair 10 feet from the large screen TV where I can rewind if I missed a line, pause for bio breaks or fast forward through scenes I deem inappropriate for my kids.

    As digital movie technology is widely adapted, there is no reason movies can’t be directly sent to my home. Movie theaters will have to come up with value-added features to get me to make the trek. And no, scanning me with a hand held metal detector isn’t what I have in mind…

    Comment by Mark Vay — July 24, 2006 @ 11:19 am

98. to JMedeiros, re 4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks:

    Movie theatres make almost all of their money by concession sales. The vast majority of theatres only keep 5-30% of the ticket price. So they would have to sell a phenomenal amount of tickets to make up for what they lose in popcorn sales.

    Comment by futureoffilm — July 24, 2006 @ 11:21 am

99. The problem has nothing to do with the movies or the marketing, it’s that the theater experience isn’t worth what you pay for it, and it’s not much better than what you can do at home.

    I know Cuban is working on the distribution problem already, and I think that if the studios are really subsidizing digital projection installations, that cost is well on its way to being reduced. There’s some “found” money in the long term.

    But when I show up at a theater, I want some value in the experience. Give me value. Give me real dinner food, a glass of wine or beer, fewer ads (previews are OK). That value proposition right now is that I pay my ten bucks and get to see a movie on a big screen from a scratched up print. Respect the value of my time and dollars, and I’ll spend every week.

    Theaters were on the right track a decade ago when they started building stadium seating. It improved the experience. Beyond that, the focus shifted to squeezing out every dollar from you in popcorn and soda. The truth is, I’m OK with spending more on food if it doesn’t suck. It’s why I’ll pig out at a Disney park.

    You don’t have to spend a ton on marketing the movies, you need to give us reasons to go to the theater. Create value in the experience with the food, beverage and environment. Ask customers what they want! Why is that so hard to figure out?

    One side note, it would help if Hollywood would reverse its blockbuster-only movement. Nearly every film fills some niche. I’d go see a nature doc with a couple dozen other people if that previously mentioned experience was still top notch.

    Comment by Jeff — July 24, 2006 @ 11:22 am

100. Change 2929 Entertainment and Magnolia Pictures websites into interactive, fan-inclusive sites. Release information about projects that are being considered and encourage discussions of these projects and the cast and crew that movie fans would like to see involved in the project. As progress is made, release information about it. Release early renderings of posters or other advertising materials, early film clips or even audition clips. You could consider allowing a small part be cast by a vote of the fans. Give the fans a feel of ownership and they will have a vested interest in seeing the movie when it is released.

     Comment by Steven T. Cameron — July 24, 2006 @ 11:23 am

101. as you said before getting people to go the the theatere is a chellenge itslef. once you get them there, of the money they’re paying to see the movie the studio is only getting about $4 of it. my idea is not so much a solution for marketing but rather a solutuon as to how the movie is delivered to people. with iptv we have all sorts of ways to deliver media content right to the home. so let’s say you charge anywhere from 15-20 dollars for a pay per view type viewing of a new movie release. let’s say 3-4 people watch the movie on the same TV so although that’s half of what 4 people would be paying to go see a movie in a theater it’s the same ammount of profit for the studio because they’re not paying the theater. we have the technology to deiver this content quickly and securely so that the studios don’t have to worry about pirating and such. this obviously doesn’t solve the marketing problem however, i think you would have to market much less to convince people to push a few buttons on their remote to view a new release. as apposed to convincing them to get in their car, drive to the theater, wait in line and spend $10 a pop to see a movie in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers. just a though and kind of an inderect answer to your queston but a reponse no he less.

     Comment by john smith — July 24, 2006 @ 11:24 am

102. Here’s the solution. Gas stations charge the bare minimum over the cost of gas to get people to go to their station. They make their bucks on sodas, hot dogs, beer, candy, etc. Movie theaters should cut entrance prices dramatically, cut out the excessive previews that bug the crap out of people, and jack up the price of popcorn, sodas, etc. bundled in a “value pack” to force consumers to buy more than they intended. Theaters who do these simple things will lure unknowing consumers with the cheap entrance fee and then zap them at the snack bar. Good luck and don’t hesitate to ask for more ideas. I’m a retired fire captain with a host of good ideas. Frank

     Comment by Frank Morales — July 24, 2006 @ 11:24 am

103. Mark, I have a couple of ideas:

     1.Free Promotional DVD’s at your Mavs games. Including trailers not seen on TV.
     2.Movies need a TV hook. Blair witch did that to me. One day I’m watching some documentary about Blair witch, at this point I didn’t know it was fiction, the TV show made it look like some real strange phenom, so the next day I went to the movie.
     3. Cell phone interaction, promos, special deals…etc text messaged to customers. Maybe have a voting system where people rank whether they like the movie and it text messages their friends with similar interests.

     Comment by Jason Bennett — July 24, 2006 @ 11:27 am

104. I don’t know about most movies until they’re suddenly thrown in my face weeks before arrival and at that point they usually tell me too much of the story.

     It doesn’t seem like there’s one answer to the problem. Marketing (like most things) needs to be less linear. You need to identify your audience, commit to them, figure out how to reach them, and then do it. Then start over with the next movie.

     Most movies are mass marketed and that makes little sense given that each movie should be it’s own experience, with it’s own audience. Even the movies that speak to everyone (and some art does try) does it for different reasons.

     I realize that’s not the quick fix magic answer we’re looking for but I don’t think a business (that should be) based in creativity and artistic vision should expect cookie cutter solutions.

     Comment by Nick — July 24, 2006 @ 11:30 am

105. Mark, I have a couple of ideas:

     1.Free Promotional DVD’s at your Mavs games. Including trailers not seen on TV.
     2.Movies need a TV hook. Blair witch did that to me. One day I’m watching some documentary about Blair witch, at this point I didn’t know it was fiction, the TV show made it look like some real strange phenom, so the next day I went to the movie.
     3. Cell phone interaction, promos, special deals…etc text messaged to customers. Maybe have a voting system where people rank whether they like the movie and it text messages their friends with similar interests.

     Comment by Jason Bennett — July 24, 2006 @ 11:31 am

106. The Question

     Mark Cuban: – “How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune.”

     The Answer

     The answer to this “Holy Grail” caliber question can be found by breaking down the question to it’s very basic element.

     First, I believe the question is posed incorrectly: It’s not about you “getting” people to do anything. It’s about understanding the process of why people choose / elect to see your product. So, the new question would read…”Why do people get out of the house to see my movie?”

     Possible answers:

     -Because the theatre is the only place to see the movie
     -Because there’s a ton of hype
     -Becasue my friend said it was good
     -Because it was rated well on Yahoo! movies
     -Because it was raining out and there was nothing else to do

     The end goal is to totally eliminate all of the top answers, you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.”

     What would make people finally start to say that about the theatre experience? I think that the process will take some time, but there are number things you can do to jump start the industry, here are a just a handful I think would work immediately:

     1) GPS Meets WI-FI – I am facinated with the idea of using cell GPS data to deliver internet relevent advertising. Example – I walk around or drive around all day. My phone records the GPS coordinates I follow through the day. i get home, hop on the computer..now my cell phone links to the net via wi-fi, all of the gps coordinates are comminicated toan advertising network…maybe “Ad Maverick”…ads begin to display in banners and in search results based on where I was that day…Now imagine the possibilities of incorporating movie trailers and info based on my daily activity.

     2) Integrate Ice Rocket with Your Database System – This is among the most innovative ideas I have. Imagine being able to rank pages on the net, possibly even MySpaces pages, based on the number / or quality of specific movie references. So I could go to ice rocket, select this new movie tab, type in a movie, and research it on ranked pages. The owners of the sites could get some sorta kick-back. This data could then be appended to database info you keep at theaters to specific customers.

     3) If individual customers could benefit from the success of a movie: I am a fan of promotions, I think if done right promotions are the most powerful form of advertising. Instead of spending 40mm advertising a movie, offer a $1-2 cash prize to a couple movie goers. Or a $10k prize awarded to each or your theatres.

     4) If tech savy folks could get an instant (time sensative) upload to IPOD-like devices @ the theatre only: Imagine being able to offer the new release movie for upload only @ the theatre. The movie file could be protected to prevent copying, editing, or distribution. The customer could use a theater kiosk or approach the ticket counter for the uplaod. Pricing would have to be thought about.

     4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks: The number one barrier to theater adoption is prices, Food prices, ticket prices…Encourage people to bring snacks, lower the barrier to adoption. Sure you may lose some consession sales, but you would sell more theater tickets. People already sneak food in as it is…Maybe put up microwaves and allow people to heat-up snacks for a price…

     5) Utilize Database Information to Identify Movie “Influencers” – I like the idea that someone posed on this thread, where you could keep data on customers and use it for personaliztion of services / products. I propose to take this idea 1 step further…use the data to identify “Movie Influencers” and provide the people free access to your theater. These types of people would include: Moms who take their kids to movies 2+ a month, college age kids who visit the theater 2+ a month, etc…

     These are just some initial ideas..but remember you want people to say, “I went to the movie because I needed to see the movie and it’s what I wanted to do.” This challenge will take more than one off ideas. It’s going to take a group of creative, imaginitive folks who are driven by the challenge.

     Thanks Mark…good luck

     Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 11:31 am

107. There’s obviously no easy “solution” to this, but looking at the demands of the general public these days, everything is about convenience. People multitask on their Blackberries and Qs. Kids watch movies, listen to music, and play games on their cell phones and UMPCs. Therefore, movie companies need to get off their high horses in assuming that they are so mighty and glorious that the people will come to them–they need to bring their product to the people.
     Take as a prime example the Lexus commercial in which the many waiters line up in front of the SUV, showing off their goods for the folks in the car to decide upon. This is how consumers work these days.
     While I can’t necessarily give specifics on how to capitalize on this idea (maybe hire me first and let me in on what’s in the pipeline), but I sense a revolution is imminent. I haven’t seen a new movie theatre built in years, but millions of Americans are buying TiVos and other television recorders. I believe that these are your new pipeline to Americans. Most are already connected to their cable or sattelite providers, so the issue then becomes how to use that connection to make first-run movies “InDemand” (for those of us in TimeWarner land). People will pay the same money as they would to go to a theatre (say, charge them $15 to hedge the bets that there are likely multiple people watching a TV), but you cut down on the middle-men (making you more money).
     People will still go to the theatres, the allure of the big screen will never die, but Americans will appreciate the convenience offered by being able to view movies on their own screen and on their own time. Plus, if you run ads on these InDemand stations when people haven’t yet ordered the movie, you get free advertising.
     I understand that this means a big change, restructured alliances, and a lot of unhappy movie theatres, but it’s bound to happen sooner or later, and the first people to jump on the idea will reap the most benefit.

     Comment by Ty White — July 24, 2006 @ 11:31 am

108. How about different prices for different movies? This is the only business in the world where you charge the same amount regardless of the cost of production. A $150 million movie costs as much to see as a $5 million movie. That’s why $9 million for “Clerks II” is a good take but $8 million for “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” is going to get someone fired. Quit selling BMW’s for the price of VW’s.

     Comment by Tom O'Keefe — July 24, 2006 @ 11:32 am

109. Read the I-R-O-N-Y email Mark.

     Comment by Aaron — July 24, 2006 @ 11:35 am

110. re 4) If you encouraged People to Bring Their Own snacks:

     Here’s the thing. Look at magazines and radio advertising sales, their based on listenerbase and readership.

     Yes, allowing people to bring their own snacks decreases concession sales a bit (They bring their own snacks anyhow…I’m sure everyone on this thread has), but the amount you can make on advertising, based on the additional eyes would make it worthit…but beyond that, the general idea should be how do we rethink the theatre experience…allowing people to bring food in…would make people feel more at home and it would certainly create a new “feeling” among folks when they think about theaters.

     Image is a huge part of success, I truely think people think of the movie industry in the same shade as used car salesmen. The don’t trust the high prices, rigid format, etc…we need to create a sense of trust and comfort.

     Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 11:39 am

111. In reading your blog entry, I think you are looking for 2 solutions…solutions that appeal to the two Mark Cubans. Mark Cuban the producer who wants to make money on his movies and Mark Cuban the theater owner who wants to make money at his theaters. Both solutions need to resolve the same problem, how to get butts in the seats while spending the least amount of marketing money.

     I will post a few of my ideas and if you’re interested you can email me for the rest of my ideas.

     **Stop showing the whole movie in the trailer. There’s nothing worse than watching what is supposed to be a teaser and having the sinking feeling that you’re either seeing every good action scene or every joke in a movie that’s not coming out for another few months. With every subsequent viewing of that trailer, any piece of me that might have wanted to see the movie dies until I would rather watch Gigli again than see the movie in question.

     **Use the ticket stub as marketing for local merchants. For example, bring in your ticket stub for Pirates of the Caribbean to Red Lobster and get a free appetizer.

     **Eliminate the 2 week movie restriction on passes. My husband and I are thrifty with our money. We often will go to the movies with passes that usually come with the standard restriction of not being able to see a movie unless it’s been out for at least 2 weeks. If we want to watch a new movie, we will often get a ticket for another movie and just sneak over to the movie we want to see. Dishonest? Yes. But I’m sure it happens a lot more than movie studios want to admit. They’re really just shooting themselves in the foot with these restrictions. Remove the restrictions and revenue will go up for new releases.

     **Offer an annual advanced screening membership similar to preview subscriptions offered by local theater companies. There would be a schedule of movies that members could see ahead of the release date if they purchased the membership. By seeing movies ahead of time, your word of mouth buzz increases.

     Not necessarily related to movie marketing, but as a theater owner, this might appeal to you:
     **Offer viewing rooms that would be more like home theaters. These could be rented out like skyboxes at sporting events. Offer premium food, drink and seating.

     Comment by Kim Przytulski — July 24, 2006 @ 2:27 pm

112. I don’t want to “go to the movies”. I want to WATCH a movie.

     Going to the movies means sitting in a dirty, uncomfortable seat. Drinking a $6 pepsi, eating $9 nachos. The kid behind me kicking me in the back of the head; the idiot in front of me with the cell phone that won’t stop ringing. If I have to use the restroom, I can’t pause the movie; if that $6 pepsi is empty, I miss more movie to go refill it (for another $6).

     After all that, my wife & I leave the movie, look at each other, and say “Hm”. Then talk about something else.

     I would pay twice the normal DVD price to have that new release DVD in my hand on “opening day”. Then I can sit back on my couch, pop the movie up on my big screen, drink a 49 cent pepsi, this time with some rum in it, and pause the movie if I need to.

     “Going to the movies” is dead, as dead as buying CDs in a retail store is. Overpriced concessions, rude people, and mediocre product have killed it.

     Comment by Steve Luzynski — July 24, 2006 @ 2:28 pm

113. Our site, prizebook.com is an incentivized traffic venue. We would love to partner up with you guys. We could push anywhere from 500k to 1 million ticket purchases. Is your affiliate program setup and ready to go? I’d like to discuss with this in detail with you.

     Comment by Leo — July 24, 2006 @ 2:32 pm

114. Create an interactive opportunity and tie in prizes on both the local and national level

     For instance on the national level, after watching the movie, visit the website, enter in your ticket stub number or whatever, allow them to make some comments or take a short survey, they are eligible for some cash.

     Or on a more small scale or local level, make it a point that someone in the audience can win $50 bucks in gas or live rent/mortgage free for a month. Guess the killer or a certain outcome, text the answers, those that answer correctly are eligible to win. Or have the audience answer flier questions before the start of the movie about their predictions – balloting stops once the previews start to run

     Comment by Keith — July 24, 2006 @ 2:34 pm

115. Create an interactive opportunity and tie in prizes on both the local and national level

     For instance on the national level, after watching the movie, visit the website, enter in your ticket stub number or whatever, allow them to make some comments or take a short survey, they are eligible for some cash.

     Or on a more small scale or local level, make it a point that someone in the audience can win $50 bucks in gas or live rent/mortgage free for a month. Guess the killer or a certain outcome, text the answers, those that answer correctly are eligible to win. Or have the audience answer flier questions before the start of the movie about their predictions – balloting stops once the previews start to run

     Comment by Keith — July 24, 2006 @ 2:38 pm

116. Build a chain of movie theaters that have a deal with a studio ie (Paramount, 20th Century Fox) and have these movie theaters only show movies by that studio. It will make those movies exclusive to that chain of movie theaters. Sell a season subscriber pass for the theater, like $200 for the year or $300, whatever. You can also jack up the price for a single admission ticket because it will make the public more inclined to purchase a season subscription. Most people probably will not cover the amount of movies they paid for on the subscription. This gives you a bigger profit than the current way.

     Comment by Ed — July 24, 2006 @ 2:44 pm

117. Too many of the posts say “the movies suck” and “if the movies were better people would see it”. I say thanks for that bit of wisdom to those that posted such comments. It is like saying the Production companies set out to make a bad product. That is where marketing comes in to get people to THINK they want to see the movie.

     Solution

     Market to a wider audience by:

     1. Alternate endings or scenes per scheduled times or ratings Ex. During the matinee an R Rated film may cut some scenes or language to attain a PG-13 rating. This would allow some one to take his family to see something like Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart when they may not normally have done so because of the rating/content. I think there is a large demographic that would say I’d see that but I can’t take my kids becase of the language, or sex, violence.

     To sum it up
     Market the features of the change and their benifits,as much as the movie itself. Why? because features TELL and benifits SELL

     Comment by Jon Vestal — July 24, 2006 @ 2:46 pm

118. When coming up with a genuine/successfully selling idea or product, one becomes wrapped up in the details and fails to see the big picture. In this case we’re still talking about getting people the theatres. No matter how you package the idea of going to the movies through marketing, the end result is going to the movies. If one can find a way to change the experience of going to theatres, then you might have something going. Let at a few ideas that have change the development of their origin. The ipod for example, on the surface it’s a mp3 player but has created “iculture” in recent years. People buy the damn thing to experience this culture. There are books published breaking the culture down. Another example is what I like to call power family destinations are places like the Big Event. The have bowling, pool, and arcade games, stuff you can find at your nearest mall or shopping center. Places such as Big event throw all this in a big ass building and they create this virtual “new experience of playing pool, and bowling and charge extra for the experience.” My last example relates to the simple act of going to the bar. Well most people expect to walk into a bar and throw back a few brews and walk out spending maybe $20 tops. Now you have these “power bars” as I like to call them scattered across the country. Take Ghost Bar at the W for example, you have people wanting to pay $300 to be thrown on a waiting list. You have waiting lists for waiting lists. Why? It’s the allure of the damn bar. It is a bad ass bar, but there are awesome bars in the DFW area. The end result is you’ll be going to a bar, getting drunk, maybe get lucky that night and return carrying on with your life the next day. Nothing has changed except your balance in your credit or debit account. You might run into a celebrity but chances are they won’t be at your backyard barbeque next week. You just bought into the “experience”. I guess to sum all this is up is that you have to change or create a novel allure to going to the movies where it’s no longer going to the movies. It’s all about the experience.

     Comment by Charles T — July 24, 2006 @ 2:47 pm

119. Move Business Challenge

     The Ultimate Raffle:

     The Movie producers organize a contest to raffle a purchased movie ticket; with the winner getting a speaking role in your next film. All marketing material (ads, trailer, etc) will contain this unique promotion, which will be picked up by major media outlets, kind of like the buzz that Golden Palace.com gets for overpaying for some weird item on Ebay.

     The desire for the average American to get “discovered” as witnessed by the Reality TV craze will have a positive effect on the Box Office. In my experience, I will only go to the theatre if a movie has had great reviews, and someone I trust recommends it. The quality of the trailer has little impact on me, nor does being bombarded with zillions of ads. This contest will at least portray that there is something in it for the average moviegoer.

     Why not give people extra chances to win by giving them more ballots if they have a proof of purchase from the concession stand, if they buy the DVD, or order from PPV, etc, depending on the profitability of each? As teenagers and young adults will be most likely to be lured by such a promo, this can also bring strong gains at the concession stands as these groups are well known as the popcorn audience.

     The give-away of course must be legitimate and well publicized. Again, much of the publicity will be free due to the novelty of the idea. Imagine the success of future ticket sales if the winner of the original contest gets a noticeable role with amazing visibility?

     The beauty is that there are many famous actors that have never had any formal acting training; therefore there will be no reason for the average fan to think that it can’t happen to them…in contrast with American Idol where you actually have to know how to sing to have any chance of winning.

     In my humble opinion, this idea can result in:

     Lower marking costs & Higher box office sales

     Let me know what you think,

     Dimitri

     Comment by Dimitri — July 24, 2006 @ 2:51 pm

120. Mark, how often do YOU go to the theater to see a movie?? Even if you have your own theater in your house, you should go yourself to see why the experience basically sucks. I rarely go now, regardless of the quality of the movie.

     Here are my reasons:

     1. I have to arrive early to get a good seat or to sit together with friends…no guarantees where you will sit.
     2. Too noisy. Movies are supposed to be an escape. Hard to “escape” with people talking and making noise.
     3. DVDs and Rentals.

     YET, I will show up at a crowded, packed stadium to see a football game without hesitation. I think if you want people to GO to movies, you have to make it more like a sporting event or a broadway show. Some ideas:

     1. Assigned seats. Solves so many problems and frustrations. You and your guests know where you will be sitting.

     2. Offer some sort of season packages/tickets. Movie buffs will appreciate knowing they have the same seats, plus you will get to know your neighors some (though that can be bad too). Anyone with season tickets to sports events knows this.

     3. Variable pricing. I have UT season tickets and must buy the whole season, but OU isnt the same price as North Texas (though they suck just as bad…hahahahahaha)!!

     4. Specialty nights/Theme nights/Theme theaters.

     5. Sell Booze (requires security too)

     6. Better food.

     7. Stereo Headphone Jacks (so you can drown out the talkers/cell phones and get the “escape” part back into the movie) Sell/Rent the headphones or BYO.

     8. Monitors above the concession stands. This is a bit extreme, but most stadiums have monitors to watch the games while getting snacks…so you dont miss the action. Could have them subtitled if a multiplex.

     Until the theater changes, i’ll wait for the DVD and watch in the comfort and quiet of my house where i can sit back, pop a cold one and enjoy a decent snack.

     People still love movies, they just hate theaters. Fix the theaters.

     Comment by Bill — July 24, 2006 @ 2:52 pm

121. I wish I could offer a better answer other than to say just ask Tyler Perry. Business Week just named him the most bankable actor in Hollywood. That’s right. Based on ROI, Tyler Perry returns more money on investment than Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and even more money than my main man Samuel L. Jackson, the hardest working man in Hollywood!

     http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jul2006/pi20060705_564966.htm

     How did he do it? Well, I am not personally privy to exactly how he did it but I can tell you the following: 1. He wrote, produced, financed and starred in a number of plays in play houses all across the major urban cities. 2. He filmed the plays and sold them at a premium in specialty stores and his own website until Wal-Mart was convinced to carry them, thereby going nation-wide with the videos and bringing him to the attention of a wider audience. 3. He now makes feature films at between $5 and $6 million dollars which gross $50 – $63 million at the box office. And then there are the DVD sales of those same movies. Tyler Perry has built up such a large following that he has even had a number one book his first time out and a pilot for a TV series that has the critics scratching there head. I, along with thousands of other Tyler Perry fans, receive monthly emails letting us know what his next project will be. And when it comes out, we are right there supporting him.

     So I guess the secret is to develop a likable actor, communicate with the public regularly (like you do with your Blog), and be original. I am tired of watching the copycat programs that network television throws out to us season after season after season.

     Regards,

     Rodney Brown

     Comment by Rodney Brown — July 24, 2006 @ 2:53 pm

122. Going to a movie is like flying SouthWest … long lines and lots of uncertainty about where I am going to sit, by whom, and if I will be able to sit with my whole family.

     Put in a seat reservation system and sell seat numbers over the Internet.

     Sell first and second class seats.

     Differentiate the pricing based upon seat value.

     Get folks to commit early to get the seats that they want.

     Comment by PodSlug (Erik Herz) — July 24, 2006 @ 2:56 pm

123. Heres my idea for the movie industry,

     Someone else posted an idea about getting movie points for every movie you go to you get a certain amount of points.

     well heres how you could do that, It would take you making a new network.

     You would have to market it to all the theatres, but once a good ammount of theatres caught on, then you could start giving out swipe cards that you’d swipe before you go in to the movie and it tally’s your points on your card.

     And if enough theatres did this, it could be a wordwide system, making the movies more fun and you get rewarded for the 15 dollars a person you just spent on the movie.

     you could give out shit like an arcade, toys for the kids, DVDs, tickets to movies, tickets for food,and the more points you get the better prizes you get.

     It would be like frequent flier miles, but for movies.

     This is a good idea on 3 fronts, 1 you could start making the machine to sell to all the theatres, 2 you could run the network,3 it would make going to the movies fun again, which would get increased audiences.

     If you use the Idea please dont forget me, atleast hit me with a little check for typing this up

     See ya later

     Raph..GO MAVS!

     Comment by Raph Terrigino — July 24, 2006 @ 3:09 pm

124. Idea: CONTESTS

     Align them with the theme of the movie. $1/ticket spent in the first month (initial release weekend experience isn’t for everyone) after release goes toward a tie-in. You could go with a decreasing scale, but that feels like unnecessary complexity.

     Anything philanthropic about the movie? There is your obvious benefactor. Would the benefactor muster their customer base? Probably.

     Maybe the audience member could choose their cause. Or, choose to put the $1 toward the purchase of the DVD or other movie paraphernalia.

     There are infinite ways this could play out.
     You get the idea – it was your contest that I responded to~

     Comment by Logan — July 24, 2006 @ 3:13 pm

125. making better movies won’t mean more money at the box office. better movies won’t solve your problems. for decades people went to see mediocre movies on the silver screen because it was a special outing.

     we need a change in where and how the movie is shown, not in the movie itself. not even really in how it’s marketed.

     some movies will be great, others so-so, others crap. it’s a nice ambition but nobody can turn out 100% greatness… and even 100% greatness doesn’t mean people will spend $10 for it. movies that have made the most money have certainly not been the highest quality.

     maybe ‘the devil wears prada’ is the best movie ever made. i heard great things about it. so i added it to my netflix queue. if i want to see a movie AND i know i can only properly experience it with state-of-the-art equipment, i see in the theatre. ‘devil’ is probably better than ‘superman returns’ but because of the effects in ‘superman,’ i saw it on the big screen. that happens maybe twice a year. half the time (as in the case of ‘superman’) i decide i should have waited for DVD after all.

     so my family and i inhale movies from netflix.
     to go out and spend $10, i’d better get something i can’t get at home.

     some off-the-top ideas on improving the experience:

     1. put smaller (but still up-to-date technically) movie theatres in urban areas and population centers, instead of suburban sprawl megaplexes that are a half-hour away from where actual people live! advances in the technology should make it easier to show more movies on less screens, so you don’t need the expenses of a 24-screen theatre. don’t dedicate several hundred seats to only one movie for a weekend, let alone several weeks.

     2. concessions: better food at better prices. and make a cafe with kiosks in the seating area where people can select to view behind-the-scenes featurettes or other info about the movies showing there.

     3. tying in with #2: when the studio releases a movie, also release interactive materials for use in the theatres. a simple preview of the videogame is released to the theatres along with the movie. set up a playground at the theatre and let the kids pretend they’re running around in the movie they just saw. for more thought-provoking movie like ‘the smartest guys in the room,’ provide discussion tools, a kiosk with bethany mclean’s book and articles available for reading, and so on. let people know that the theatre is a centralised location of resources related to the movie.

     4. in addition to 300-seater screens, one or two private screening rooms with a very comfy setup (couches &c.) where people who can’t (yet) afford huge HD screens can watch a movie with some friends for a nice fee. great for kids’ birthdays.

     5. drive-ins, movies shown at parks, or other novelty settings, bringing some more adventure back into into movie watching.

     6. put the movies in places where people go anyway. put the first 15 minutes on a big screen in the back corner of a starbucks, or on the screen at a sports bar, and people can buy a ticket there and then to see the rest at a nearby theatre. convert the upper floors of two-storey restaurants into little theatres after the dinner rush; when folks are feeling full and lazy they take their drinks upstairs and watch a movie; $10 is added to their dinner check and they hardly even feel it. a theatre attached to the ice-skating rink or bowling alley. &c., &c., &c.

     Comment by alanna price — July 24, 2006 @ 3:13 pm

126. Another idea…instead of asking for ideas on how to get people to go to movies, ask people to tell you why they don’t go. Use your blog or another site and offer some incentives (free movie ticket, free soda). People love to tell you what’s wrong with everything (as i’m sure you’ve noticed). Use that to identify the problems, then fix them!

     Comment by Bill — July 24, 2006 @ 3:16 pm

127. You mention you are looking at affiliate programs. The way you rattle off your online efforts, I get the impression that you think just showing up is sufficient.

     It’s not. The problem is how you are approaching things with a statement like: “If its been done before, we are doing it.”

     The affiliate marketers that make things happen are not painting by numbers, they are innovating.

     So rather that searching for a magic bullet, bring in some experienced affiliate marketers.

     Comment by Shawn Collins — July 24, 2006 @ 3:27 pm

128. Maybe you’re trying to solve a problem that doesn’t have a solution. Movies have gotten so expensive that only the well-off can afford to go.. and you’re not well-off unless you work so much that you don’t have time to go to the movies. It’s much easier to download the movie you want to watch, then to see it in a theatre, rent it, or even buy it on dvd. The problem is with distribution, not with marketing.

     Comment by AK — July 24, 2006 @ 3:29 pm

129. Hi Mark. I’m trying to be very brief. Not sure how much “comment space” you’ve allocated for this. My thoughts:

     I would first suggest that we need to think differently about what the “movie business” really is. My take:

     1. A mechanism by which people are demonstrating their interest/intent (for a fee)
     2. The thin edge of the wedge for selling other products and services (books, dvds, video games, soundtracks etc) at a much lower cost of acquisition.

     Let me give you an example. If i went to see Spiderman and enjoyed it, I’m more likely than the average Tobey to want to buy tickets to see Spiderman 2 when it comes out. Moreover, if i went to see Spidey and xmen and batman begins, i’m for sure want to going to see superman returns, especially if i’m male and under the age of 25. Today, the studios and theatre owners see a bunch of bricks, some popcorn and well worn synthetic seats. They need to see their business as one big pool of customer intent (data) waiting to be mined. Think how much more cost effectively can you acquire my interest if you target me effectively – you’ll be spending cents to get me, not dollars and you’ll also be fixing the major problem facing the circuit business – capacity (i can explain that later).

     Now, think of the additional opportunities – beyond the ticket sale – that are afforded once you have my expressed intent and behaviour. Movies are cultural table stakes – they are the thin edge of the wedge for so many other products and services (soundtracks, video games, books etc). If i saw both S1 and S2, perhaps I not only want to see S3, but i want to pre-order the video game or soundtrack. Anyway, you get my meaning.

     Build a mechanism by which theatre owners can gather intent. You’ll monetize that intent to lower the cost of acquisition for all films, drive additional revenue streams and more importantly, provide consumers with a much better experience overall. All for less than the cost to promote one Jennifer Aniston film.

     Good luck.

     jonathan

     Comment by jonathan e — July 24, 2006 @ 3:34 pm

130. Make people want to go to the movie. Have in-theater contests. For instance, if there is a contest in which there is one seat in the theater that is the “winning seat.” That person wins some kind of prize, be it money, props from the movie or whatever. Have them coast to coast and its like everybody seat in the theater is a lottery ticket. Make people want to win. Or if not with a seat, come up with some sort of “winning ticket” scheme. Something that makes people want to buy tickets and will ultimately fill up a theater.

     Comment by Dylan — July 24, 2006 @ 3:37 pm

131. the gentleman way up top of the list hit it on the nose. the system is dated and does not apply in this digital age. the filming, marketing, distribution to release dates, are all old and played out. ok mark listen closely, i’m only going to say this once.
     1. once you commit to a totally digital process from begining to end the marketing ideas will answer itself. there will be nothing you can’t do in the digital arena.

     2. you must concentrate on giving people a new experience when they go to the movies and that has to be investing in the process of building totally new digital theaters. things happen fast these days, download the movies if it does not happen in a certain amount of time maybe it might happen with the dvd, or just niche audiences. either way, sense its digital you can download a new movie in its place and keep it moving.

     3. don’t depend on blockbuster to sustain the industry. thats the OLD way of doing it and it does not apply anymore. read chris andersons book “the long tail”

     4. make good movies

     its a different world, lots of people have made lots of money on the old way of doing things. its time to let others make a little.

     peace.

     god

     Comment by god — July 24, 2006 @ 3:39 pm

132. Mark:
     I currently work for a leading online media company and my focus is on product development with a focus on social networking and user-generated content.

     Some of the lessons we have learned about user engagement online are very applicable to marketing movies. Basically, the more involved the customer feels in the process, the more willing they are to become your evangelist.

     I think tapping into bloggers in new and interesting ways will go farther than any traditional media buy (and cost less, too).

     Here are some of my ideas for doing that:
     1. Host blogger-only preview screenings in the top 10 (or more if possible) markets. Bloggers can submit a URL to their blog and the first 100 get to come to the event. Throw in a handful of free limo rides to some of the bloggers and you’ll score big points.

     2. Give away things at these preview events that people will want to blog about and take pictures and video of. This will get your movie on places like Flickr or You Tube in new ways. If users think the freebie is cool, then they’ll have a more favorable view of the movie.

     Nintendo did a great job with the press kit they gave out for the DS Lite. The package, when opened, had flashing lights and played music. I saw photos and video of that all over the web. It made me even more excited about buying the product (I actually bought 2 of them).

     3. Let some of the bloggers who attend the preview events attend the Hollywood premiere. That would get other bloggers to give shoutouts to the film and filmmakers for embracing user-generated content and would probably get some mainstream coverage, too.

     4. Give bloggers advance access to info during production. If bloggers can feel like they are on the inside, they will have a much more favorable view of the film. Let them do fan sites. Let them interview the director or actors. Hell, let a few of them visit the set.

     I have a good friend who wrote and directed his first feature last year. Because I knew the filmmaker and was getting some inside scoop, I felt really attached the project. I ended up referring dozens and dozens of my friends and co-workers to see the movie and buy the DVD. Many of them stop by periodically to ask about when they can see his next film.

     5. Allow bloggers to create alternate trailers for the film. Again, this is about getting people who are interested in the film to become passionate about it. If people feel you are listening or letting them contribute, they will be much more likely to promote the film. Post some clips on the web and let users compete to have their trailer used.

     6. Have the filmmakers blogging during and after the production. Another way for people to connect with the project.

     These are just a few of the ideas that came to me upon reading your post. I’m sure I can come up with more if you’re interested in hearing them.

     Thanks for your time.

     Comment by Shawn Morton — July 24, 2006 @ 3:40 pm

133. “Adult Swim”

     I breezed through the suggestions and I saw one that was kind of close to mine: sell booze. Not for the sake of drinking, but for the sake of keeping kids out.

     I refuse to go to movies on Fridays or Saturdays. Why? Because every snot nose brat has nothing to do but go to the movies and act obnoxious to try to impress their pimple faced friends. It makes watching a movie difficult to say the least.

     The best part of going to see a movie is making it a night. You go to the movie and get dinner/drinks after or vice versa. When do most people schedule this? Friday or Saturdays. If you want adults to show up who actually have money to spend, there needs to be “Adult Swim” shows.

     I’m pretty sure wine and beer permits are easy to get. Maybe a “wine show” would go well. Wine would limit the amount of bathroom breaks. Sell it in a designated theatres since now there are about 12 or so at a complex.

     I don’t want it to seem like I hate kids (I actually coach a high school sport), it’s just these kids are not there to watch movies. It is a social gathering because that’s all really kids can do at night. Lower the drinking age (but that’s another topic).

     So serving alcohol is a way if implementing the “Adult Swim” without saying “No Punk-ass Teenagers Allowed”.

     Love the Blog. I am a Sixers and a transplant Warriors fan, but enjoy reading your blog and hearing you in the Jungle with Rome.

     Comment by Mike — July 24, 2006 @ 3:41 pm

134. Answer: make going to the movies a social experience. Bars, restaurants, concerts, etc., have no problem bringing consumer dollars in. Why? Because the potential for interesting social interaction is far more compelling than a movie could ever be. Movie theatres discourage social interaction. You get shuffled into a big dark room and are immediately told “don’t talk!” I’d much rather wait for the film to be released on DVD, then pay $3.99, sit on my couch in my underwear and drink a $1 beer, as opposed to paying $12 for a ticket, $3 for a soda, and have to put pants on.

     Have the theatre exit into a bar (which is also open to the non movie-attending public). Lower the cost of the ticket, you’ll make up the difference in what you make off food and drink. Suddenly, everyone in the bar has something in common to talk about… the movie they just watched.

     Comment by Kevin — July 24, 2006 @ 3:49 pm

135. Unfortunately I had an idea and searched the post and saw that somebody else proposed it. So I’ll just put my vote in for that: paying a referral fee to people who can get others to go see the movie.

     Comment by Ryan — July 24, 2006 @ 3:51 pm

136. Given, as others are pointing out, that you’re making films that attract a niche audience, you need to think about The Long Tail. Of course the LT doesn’t fully apply since you have significant overhead costs and can’t offer lots of choices on any particular night, but the key part of LT theory that does apply is helping people find what they might like without spending an arm and a leg to do so.

     I see enough films in theaters, and specifically ones like yours, that people who like that kind of thing do ask me what I recommend. I bet if you could identify a few thousand such *influencers* and offered them cheap tickets and more importantly, advance screenings (since being able to talk about something before it’s been released is always cool, plus that way they can start telling people about the film before opening weekend), your word of mouth business would increase with a modest expense.

     Of course, this assumes the films are good. As others have pointed out, that is also important. You *have* to spend a fortune marketing a turkey, so don’t make any of those.

     And finally, that you make smaller niche films is a good thing. The payback on the huge blockbusters can never match the payback on a hit indie, when compared to the cost of the film. Why Disney has decided to make fewer movies rather than making less expensive movies is totally beyond me.

     Comment by Mike Weston — July 24, 2006 @ 3:52 pm

137. It’s this simple: Compete on price. Going to the movie is a hassle. Instead of spending the money on marketing, advertise that the movie is free this weekend. If it is a hit, full price can come the next week. Bigger movies, give them ten free tickets with ten purchased. Maybe the biggest movies would have a standby list. You could pay full price and sit first (Southwest style), or wait for available seats. That would encourage those who don’t care (you and me) or those who can’t stand not to see it to pay for tickets. The others would get a free movie, maybe, but it would be eyeballs in front of the screen and instead of paying the television stations to get them there, you would basically be paying them. Fills theaters. But more importantly, you get full price for movies that are already blockbusters; but a tremendous upside potential for movies that could be blockbusters if enough people saw them.

     Comment by Bowman — July 24, 2006 @ 3:53 pm

138. Movies are entertainment but it can be a big effort to get there, then sometime people can feel trapped – if the movie isn’t very good, they’ve already taken the effort to research options, you get in there and end up wasting two hours sitting in the dark eating crap food and getting sticky feet to boot. Classic approach is to build the experience around the market segments offering the greatest potential, then cater to their needs shamelessly and profitably. Make it fun.
     For example, young married couples with children – in the typical suburban profile, they don’t go out to the movie theatre much because of the hassle of arranging childcare, etc. and would prefer a more ‘interactive’ entertainment experience (e.g. dinner, drinks with friends, a party, dancing, whatever). Make the movie theatre more of a destination – next to or part of something bigger. Put a drive-in next to a childcare center and offer high quality babysitting for three hours at a time every evening so parents can drop off their children and pick them up a bit later (allowing time for a drink after the show). Both the movie theatre and childcare centers make more money. Recruit local musicians to play in the complex – the side show could be themed/branded or somehow related to one of the movies. Have local hotels and caterers do demonstrations in the parking lot or lobby. Stage a look-alike contest around leading characters. For teenagers: do anything that makes the movie theatre a fun place – arcade games, cell phone vendors and car dealers offering electronics gear, after-market parts and demostrations, test drives of hot cars, drawings/sweepstakes, possibly tied to the movie (or not) you name it.

     Comment by Tom Ferro — July 24, 2006 @ 3:56 pm

139. One new marketing solution that will work for all types of movies? ‘Not going to happen. Each movie is a different story and will need unique ways to market it in order to be successful.

     Comment by leechard — July 24, 2006 @ 3:57 pm

140. Here’s the problem with 99% of what people have posted in this thread…it’s all stuff that’s been done before. Blogging, changing prices, affiliate marketing, promos, myspace exploitation, ROI analysis models, blah, blah, blah

     Here’s a challenge to the whole group: Pose a brand new, creative, forward thinking idea. I posed one above:

     1) GPS Meets WI-FI – I am facinated with the idea of using cell phone GPS data to deliver internet/television relevent advertising. Example – I walk around or drive around all day. My phone records the GPS coordinates I follow through the day. Each business, landmark, and location is marked with a specific coordinate. i get home, hop on the computer..now my cell phone links to the net via wi-fi, all of the gps coordinates are comminicated to an advertising network…maybe “Ad Maverick”…ads begin to display in banners and in search results based on where I was that day…Now imagine the possibilities of incorporating movie trailers and info based on my daily activity. If I went by a ball field, maybe a get a personal ad referencing a new movie about sports…theres alot to be ironed out, but it could be the technology worth investing in.

     Let’s try to provide some cutting edge ideas.

     -josh

     Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 3:58 pm

141. Mark

     I don’t think any of the many ideas listed here are going to work. A few of them sound good in theory, but overall, the movie going experience is ruined by high ticket prices, expensive concessions, and annoying people. People have to step out of their comfort zone to come to a movie theatre (In terms of paying too much and dealing with people). If you want my opinion, I think the movie business is on a fast track to join the music industry. It’s only a matter of time before mainstream people start downloading movies by the dozens, legally or illegally. Take after what Apple has done and skip the theatres. Set up downloadable software like itunes to download movies, but include a simple way to burn the dvd to a disc. I could then download Mission Impossible 3 to my computer, for a small fee, and burn it with a DVD drive everyone has, but doesn’t use. It’s a cheap distribution model as well. No cases, no discs.

     Comment by Joah — July 24, 2006 @ 3:59 pm

142. About a month ago, everywhere I went, I saw an ad for “Little Man”. It was on billboards, posters, tv commercials, the radio, talk shows, on buses, and all over the internet. It seemed like I couldn’t go an afternoon without seeing this movie’s ads. Yet, I didn’t go see it. I saw Superman and Mission Impossible 3 instead. Which leads to my point, if I am not interested in that movie, I will not see it, no matter how many times it will bug me in my everyday life. Although advertising is necessary, it shouldn’t be excessive. All I need is to see a movie promotion a few times before I’m sold, so why bother spending large amounts of money on spreading the word on a movie I will see? And if I am not interested in a certain movie, I don’t need to hear about it 10 times a day to know I won’t see it.

     Also, make the whole expirience more enjoyable. Make the theater like a mall, hotel, or the AAC if you will. Very clean and nice. No funny smells, no sticky floors, and no pubes on the toilet seat. Either I am always really hot, or the person next to me is really cold. So turn up the AC and put in adjustable heated seats for all of the warm natured people. And I’m surprised the movie theaters haven’t jumped on the “diet” bandwagon with popcorn sans trans fat and $8 salads.

     And finally, use controversy to get my attention. You know what I mean Mark. Who doesn’t want to see Steven Speilberg jumping up in the audience and cussing out the Academy, or see Tom Hanks running on stage and throwing an award into the crowd in anger?

     Yours Truely <3,

     Proud Mavs Fan

     Comment by Eristeo — July 24, 2006 @ 3:59 pm

143. Forget the mainstream – forget the 16-25 demographic – concentrate on the older, numerically larger and richer segment who are disenfranchised by the current system.

     Make the theatres and staff more conducive to these people. Become their movie destination.

     Be a different cinema group.

     Comment by John Dodds — July 24, 2006 @ 4:00 pm

144. You can reduce costs and market more effectively… 2 ideas.

     1) Market your movies differently than everyone else by keeping information from the public. You build suspense by only divulging actors names, rating, title and maybe genre. This in itself will market itself and be first of its kind. No trailors or long advertisements etc.

     How about this as an alternative:
     2) Release a movie with different endings that randomly get chosen each time it is run. People seeing the movie in theatres at different times (or theatres) will have a different experience. People can debate which ending is better and won’t be sure which ending they will get when they go see it. Also some may see it twice or more to get all the endings if your movie is good enough. This again will market itself.

     I have no marketing experience so you may not want me.

     Comment by Steve Pearson — July 24, 2006 @ 4:02 pm

145. Mark,
     a lot of good ideas and comments, none of them are perfect…
     here’s my idea… Charity!!! yes, the movie business needs to create a better image, consumers are bitching about lousy entertainment value and high prices.. if the Movie theatres will give a portion of every ticket to Charity and allow consumer movie goers to choose their favorite charities from a list, they would create a ton of good will. The actual Charities can become a very strong Marketing partners and will spend $$$ to promote their charities involvement.
     The Charity partnership can be extended to merchandise etc.
     The Movie business does not really lose money on lower ticket $$$, because of the tax benefits etc etc

     just my .02 …
     best…bobby

     Comment by Bobby Orbach — July 24, 2006 @ 4:02 pm

146. I wasn’t about to read 118 comments in fear of posting a duplicate, so I appologize in advance if you’ve heard this already.

     Advanced media has enabled society to become much more interactive. You look at what television shows like Lost, 24, and The Office are doing to generate or maintain “the buzz” on the internet (the Lost interactive game, mini episodes of 24 and Office that tie together 2 season). The movie industry will soon be following suite. Remember what a phenominal job “The Blair Witch” project did of creating a buzz? They were posting missing person signs, releasing “documentries” on television about the three “missing” young filmmakers and getting their audience believing that, not only were these real people, but they were actually missing in the woods. When the audience went to see BWP they were completely horrified at the prospect of what happened to these people. Of course, the truth came out, but only after the movie had already grossed millions and had an ROI of around 5000%. My proposal is simple, yet complicated. Create an interactive buzz.

     1) For any unknown movie you need the right people involved and I’m not talking about actors. Get a respected director, cinematographors, and writers as the key players in your production.

     2) Create an initial buzz and let it snowball. Something like “Watch tonight’s episode of CSI to get your first clue for the new web game sweeping the nation and stay tuned for the movie due out next summer” or “Pick up this month’s issue of People Magazine. Solve the word jumble puzzle for your first clue”.

     3) The movie must be entertaining for all audiences, but put extra aspects of the movie that ONLY gameplayers will understand or notice. “Who murdered Mr. Smith? At the end of the movie the cops arrested Mr. Black, but anybody who read the police report and saw the crime photos on the internet knows that the red glove implicating Mr. Black belonged to Mrs. White. They got the wrong guy!”

     4) Another idea is to let the audience decide certain aspects of production before the movie is released. I remember seeing a show where the audience could vote and determine the outcome of some guys life. Although the show was produced poorly, the idea is genius. Who lives? Who dies? Does love conquer all or does the bad guy win in this one? What girl gets naked? What cars should the hero drive? It’s like a modern day choose your own adventure.

     If these solutions are approached correctly, you could make movie marketing history, while creating huge audiences for relatively cheap films. Don’t pay Tom Hanks $20MM to star in your picture. Pay $5MM to generate massive interactive buzz and let the audience come to you.

     Comment by Casey — July 24, 2006 @ 4:04 pm

147. If I understand the challenge correctly, you simply want to get more persons in theatre seats, and you want to do this without spending several times the box office revenue. Well, it seems to me that the easiest way to do this is to give away free movie tickets. Make going to the movies free. As long as you pay the theatre owners’ half of the admissions they’ll be fine with it. In fact, they’ll be thrilled because free movies will doubtlessly raise attendance and therefore concession sales. You just have to make sure that your later revenues from licensing and DVD sales, etc. will make up for the initial outlay. As an alternative, you could make admission to a movie free the first week it’s out and then hope positive word of mouth will drive the box office after that.

     Comment by Jerry Brito — July 24, 2006 @ 4:07 pm

148. Sell normal size candy bars.

     Tell Hollywood to stop politicizing movies.

     Make the previews of movies the same rating as the movie itself.

     Force Hollywood to toughen standards on movie ratings.

     Have our current day stars zeaolusly guard their privacy/reputation so that they become mythological like the stars of yester-year.

     Lower the price of food/drinks.

     As someone else said, allow people to bring food into the theatre.

     Comment by Mark Lecuona — July 24, 2006 @ 4:08 pm

149. I don’t just want a JOB. If I were to get into this deal, I would want an opportunity; an opportunity to change the way people are entertained. I would want to build a business that created long-term value to the owners, employees and customers.

     If you read the comments on this post at Mark’s blog, there are many people with a piece of the solution. However, in order to really solve Mark’s challenge, a team of people have to be willing to change the movie industry yet again.

     To solve a problem this complex you have to have perspective. When movies came out in the 20′s the novelty of “moving pictures” were so new people went to see the movie because of the new technology and then they fell in love with medium. As the technology advanced, movies became a primary entertainment vehicle for Americans during the 40′s and 50′s. I think even historians would agree that this time of the industry was the “Golden Years.”

     You see, during that time they were the only real game in town. Then came the television. As the television became more economical, the theater business started to change — it had to change. Movies became more “sophisticated.” During the 60′s and 70′s the movie theater business went from being a ma-pa business to a corporate-ran environment. As with most big businesses the theater atmosphere turned into a commodity. Since movie theaters (the vehicle) and movie studios (the fuel) are symbiotic ally connected to each other, the studios changed as well. Instead of making entertaining, quality movies they threw more and more money at “pitches” in hoping of hitting the 1% home runs. Commoditization for many businesses is great for consumers, but not for entertainment. If a company commodifies their entertainment products they eventually marginalize them. This marginalization is exacerbated if dumb ass people are put in critical decision making positions in these big corporate outfits.

     So, with the big screen multiplexes having to draw eighty percent of a movie’s revenue within the first two to four weeks of release, the “entertainment” experience becomes non existent. Forcing thousands of consumers into the big boxes with $10.00 popcorn and Cokes is well, simply put a SHITTY experience. This is why the theater has become a third and fourth entertainment option for most consumers.

     Now, there are many, many, many more factors that come to mind in forming my opinions. But I’m not that good of a writer, nor do I have the time to write them all down. Suffice it to say, that the movie business is on the down side of the utilization curve and there is plenty of room in the business for change.

     I believe vision at the top drives innovation from the bottom up. If I had a magic wand and someone actually listened to me I’d do the following:

     > Build a top notch studio. A studio that creates compelling, entertaining content. A studio of executives, managers and artisans who are paid well, treated with respect over the long haul and given the resources to do what they do best — entertain people. In a recent article George Lucas is quoted as saying “In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies, I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million.” I’d build a studio that understands economics 101, yet consistently delivers outstanding content.

     > Build a network, either owned or franchised, of top notch theaters across the United States and then around the world. Hire people that want to work in these theaters that want to ensure people are entertained comfortably and economically.

     >Start three cable channels — one for movies, one for series based drama and one for sports. Use content from your top notch studio to drive these channels.

     >Build a world class Internet distribution channel. Use the power of of distributive technologies to give people content when and where they want it.

     >Reward consumers for the ongoing patronage. Treat your customers with respect, give them greater value than what they are paying for, ask them what they want, listen to their complaints, solve their problems when they complain. Don’t treat customers like they are cattle. Treat each customer as if they are your only customer.

     Wow, this vision is huge. It would take years and years to get all this done. I’m not saying one individual or one company could do all of this. But what I am saying is that by using the best of the old ways along with the best new technologies, a new form of entertainment creation, distribution and management could emerge. Unfortunately, sometimes in life, change has to come from outside the box.

     Sometimes it is best to get someone who doesn’t know it can’t be done to get it done.

     This is a simple vertical integration model. In my version of this model, you don’t have to own everything, but when you are tasked with changing an old industry ingrained with old ideas, you better have a vision and the audacity to go it alone until it is successful.

     Mark, I could be useful somewhere in this jig saw puzzle. You find the spot, give me the resources, give me great leadership and I could do something cool.

     Comment by Herschel Horton — July 24, 2006 @ 4:13 pm

150. Try re-looking at the equations: Why does a movie cost so much? Where is the money going? If the up-front investment is going to the stars, then try using some equally-talented but relatively unknown artists. (Sure, you won’t have the recognition-value, but these days even Sandra Bullock doesn’t bring ‘em in.) If the money is going toward effects, then reign the directors in! All the special effects in the world won’t take the place of a decent script.

     Then, it’s time to look at the scripts. Look HARD. It’s hard to believe that there are so few good stories available that King Kong had to be made again. *Gag* Think, why do people go to the movies? ENTERTAINMENT. ESCAPISM.

     In summary, give them something new, keep the costs down, then the ticket prices can come down and people will want to come see your show. And you’ll make a bundle!

     Comment by Brian — July 24, 2006 @ 4:18 pm

151. I believe the points made about neighborhood and community are quite valid. That is why the movie complex has not gone the way of the doomed music coorperate machinery.

     Human beings from a socio-anthrological view point are social/tribal/band creatures. Hence the success of MY Space and Starbucks they helped to create some social connection We are living in very isolating circumstances now .In suburbia we drive into our housesWe drive not walk for groceries, and for other needs/wants.

     Perhaps turning amovie complex into a gather place casually elegant with sofas, tables, internet connections free coffee in the winter, warm and festive; free iced tea in the summer, cool and refreshing.A microneighborhood.

     Of course this isan upfront investment, really not too out of the box

     I believe interactions like this blog help artist, idea people “pull the taffy” to brainstorm like 20 writers bouncing ideas off each other to come up with an excellent TV series. People can interact in such a way that one idea, silliness/joke, angry comment to inspire people to come up with new, strange, laughable brilliant concepts

     In a nonjudemental, noncrital atmophere each person may have such fun they accidentally show who they really are along with the unique gifts each person has within them. That is when happy accidents” “lightning in a bottle” is created.

     Maverick has come to mean wild, untamed, enthusiastic originality. Which is what I think artists all kinds, creative people love/need to express.

     you go boy,
     kat9

     Comment by kat9 — July 24, 2006 @ 4:19 pm

152. How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune?

     1. Partner with the theaters. Since you have to split the revenue with the theater, share some of the advertisement cost with them. For example, you if a theater receive a certain amount of sale from a movie in the first week from their own advertisement….the theater itself would receive not only more revenue but also a bonus from you. You can also add-in a red-carpet premiere with LA style with the actors. Let the money come out your pocket.

     2. Partner with the actor’s publicist. More talk shows and events more advertisement.
     Have red-carpets pre-view and premieres in more than one city. This is a celebrity culture so feed off of it. A lot of clubs and parties advertise a celebrity is hosting the event. Maybe do more celebrity preview parties…i.e. Movie Studio Grill w/ KeKe Palmer.

     3. Seat or ticket campaign. (i.e. lottery) A certain ticket, seat, or number of person = cash or prizes…. such as free tickets, t-shirts, a dinner with the actor, etc.

     4. Blues Clues—-Find object and clues in the movie and solve a statement or what doesn’t belong.= cash and prizes. It sounds elementary but people love trivia.

     5. I have more…..

     Comment by KoCO — July 24, 2006 @ 4:23 pm

153. Hey Mark,
     why even bother to get people out of the house, shit i am not going out of the house just for a fucking movie. I have to go pick up my girlfriend, lives 10 miles = 20 minutes[on a good detroit suburban day] away from me, then drive to the movie theater, 5 miles = 10 minutes. Pay $8 with my student fucking ID, or $13 for an IMAX movie. Popcorn and Soda = min. $10, then the drive back 15 miles = 30 minutes. Do the math, i spent more time driving than watching the movie, i spent more money on gas, than the movie and popcorn. It’s not worth it.
     1.
     More and more people have big screen HD TV’s, why not have an indemand channel that streams the movie to your cable box, once. encrypt it do w/e you want with it, but i’d rather pay $20 for the movie just to be able to stay home and not fucking waste money on fucking gas.
     2.
     offer me a reason to go see your fucking movie. offfer me a buy one get one free/half off ticket, offer me a 25/50% cheaper DVD when i present my movie stub, offer me a grande starbucks chocolate chip frappuchino. Some incentive.
     3.
     Change your movie handling process, i can get the movie atleast a month before it comes out to the theatre. The less hand’s it has to touch less chance it has to leak out.

     I don’t know, i am not a movie guru, i am an EE. You are still the man.

     Comment by Ibro — July 24, 2006 @ 4:24 pm

154. I think one of the problems is that it takes a long time for people to get the message that a movie is good, and fewer people are willing to take a 10 dollar gamble on a film. Movies that have done well in my opinion are the ones that are lower budget and have great word of mouth marketing because people really liked the film and told others about it. So in the beginning you have to be producing a movie that people will actually care about and is a good quality film. Then you have to get the influentials in there for free, critics, bloggers and others. Get the word of mouth out and rolling. Paid or unpaid WOM through the targeted demographics that fit that movie is the way to go. Some branding has to happen too, but these days that’s not enough. You could get away with millions less of branding buys in exchange for some good WOM. Plus your mainstream media’s all fragmented anyway.

     Some random ideas too:

     1. Let people participate in the making of the movie as it is in production.(nothing crucial) Different endings, different scenes, storylines, clothing, weird stuff. Like snakes on a plane has demonstrated, even a crap movie can get attention if people get to contribute as a novelty. (this won’t work all the time or for every movie but for the teen demo its golden) Just don’t ask them to take video of stuff, adoption rate of that technology is too low yet.

     2. Contests to be in the movie. Yes were all egotistical bastards and we want to be in the movies ourselves. It brings out brand awareness for the movie 6 months or a year before its out too.

     3. Make movies about things other than making movies. The thing everyone forgets when they enter LA is that the rest of the country and R.O.W. doesn’t revolve around the TV & Movie business. Regardless of how much drama there is, quit making movies about making movies. There is no reality in that for the rest of us.

     4. Make fewer movies. Supply and Demand. There are too many movies and too many ways we can aquire them. If you added up the # of people watching movies on a weekend through the internet, on dvd, on netflix, in theaters and other means I think its actually up YOY. Its just that the movie companies don’t control all those distribution methods. (start buying these methods up) It does make it harder to choose though because there are 10 new movies out every weekend and none of them get good reviews or have anyone reccomending them that you actually know…so the barrier to entry is high in cost and the potential reward is low or negative. If there was one new one per week, people would go back and see one from last week they didn’t see last time.

     5. Make the theaters nicer too. A lot of people hate theaters. People are noisy, annoying and disruptive. Many people would rather sit in the comfort of their own home and watch in peace than go to a sticky floored theater any day. Well, if you’re over 25 you would rather watch at home or in an upscale place thats quiet.

     And about the affiliate program thing, you might want to have one payout for people that can sell tickets and a smaller payout for people who link traffic to the movie site. Generating brand buzz other than ticket sales is worth something too.

     Comment by theprotagonist — July 24, 2006 @ 4:26 pm

155. For me, it’s not the price that keeps me away and it’s not cost of the concessions either. It’s utter lack of privacy and silence that keeps me away. If I knew I could pay $10 and watch any movie I wanted in peace and quiet, I would. I haven’t been to a movie since last year when I watched and hated King Kong. I had kids coming in and out of the isle, parents chasing kids around and in some cases talking them through the movie. Why put up with this crap when I can wait for the DVD on watch in on my JVC LCOS? My suggestion would be something like the Cone of Silence from the show Get Smart. Some kind of chamber that you could climb into and surround yourself with theatre sounds only. No cell phone rings, no children crying, just the movie screen and me. I’d even been willing to shell out a few more bucks to get this type of service. I don’t need a waiter; I’m not at a restaurant. I just want a place to go where I can have a great theatre experience with fantastic, off the wall sound and digital screen only. No kids, no phones.

     Comment by Luis E. Giner — July 24, 2006 @ 4:28 pm

156. Again…all of these ideas are old and tired…

     Who can think of something new that could revolutionize the theatre industry?

     still waiting…

     -jOSH

     Comment by JMedeiros — July 24, 2006 @ 4:29 pm

157. For me, it’s not the price that keeps me away and it’s not cost of the concessions either. It’s utter lack of privacy and silence that keeps me away. If I knew I could pay $10 and watch any movie I wanted in peace and quiet, I would. I haven’t been to a movie since last year when I watched and hated King Kong. I had kids coming in and out of the isle, parents chasing kids around and in some cases talking them through the movie. Why put up with this crap when I can wait for the DVD on watch in on my JVC LCOS? My suggestion would be something like the Cone of Silence from the show Get Smart. Some kind of chamber that you could climb into and surround yourself with theatre sounds only. No cell phone rings, no children crying, just the movie screen and me. I’d even been willing to shell out a few more bucks to get this type of service. I don’t need a waiter; I’m not at a restaurant. I just want a place to go where I can have a great theatre experience with fantastic, off the wall sound and digital screen only. No kids, no phones.

     Comment by Luis E. Giner — July 24, 2006 @ 4:29 pm

158. Yearly pass to Theaters!

     Allow pass holders to go see any movie they like ONCE. The cost should based on 2.5 movies per month times 12 (12 month rolling calendar). Family pass should be further discounted .. probably have to conduct some studies to figure out optimum cost. The pass should also gives 10% off the concession stand to individuals and 15% to family pass… The first week of a major movie release can be excluded or promoted depending on the movie.

     The theaters make most of their money on food so more movies people see the better … and honestly there are no more than a dozen really good movies in a year. I would rather see a movie in the theater than get Netflix…

     This might take some time but I am sure it will catch on very fast.

     Comment by Bala G — July 24, 2006 @ 4:32 pm

159. Here is an idea for families.

     Set up a Movie Kids Club where parents can drop off their kids for a movie and a snack. The theater staff will supervise the children.

     Parents can then see a different movie or take care of other activities. Kids can then be picked up at the Movie Clubhouse after the show.

     Little Gym (called Parents Survial Night) and many hotel resorts offer this service. Heck even grocery stores and IKEA allow you to drop off your kids while you ‘shop’.

     Comment by MC Burns — July 24, 2006 @ 4:32 pm

160. The first rule in writing is make your readers (audience) care about your characters.
     When promoting a movie, rather than the same cookie cutter actor/actress interviews, why not have the character do them? Full costume and makeup, completely in character. This will give your potential movie goers a chance to get acquainted with who will be onscreen. Let the actor/actress have some free reign and allow them to show the audience more about their character. Of course, talk about the movie, leave people hanging, wanting to know more about the character and what happens to them. Make them care beforehand.

     This came off the cuff. I’m still thinking…

     ~Nikola

     Comment by Nikola Marshall — July 24, 2006 @ 4:35 pm

161. Mark,

     Would you like *every* screen to be sold out on both Friday and Saturday nights? I can show you how. It involves family fun.

     email me.

     Comment by Kelly — July 24, 2006 @ 4:43 pm

162. At the beginning and right before the credits of every movie, have a 10-second clip that advises the moviegoers to go to http://www…..com (the movies website) to sign up for some great discounts and special things. For the registration, have them list 10 people’s phone numbers that they think would like the movie. You would then use those phone numbers to make an automated phone call to the phone numbers they gave you (I think it’d be nice if it was from one of the main actors in the movie) saying “Hey, one of your friends referred us to you because they thought you would enjoy seeing this movie… etc.” Doesn’t have to be anything long, just something to get them thinking about the movie. It might be best to wait until Thursday evening to make the phone calls (since many people start to make plans for the weekend on that day).

     Sure, some people will give random/fake numbers just so they can get some sweet deals, but it’d be worth it for the few who give accurate information. Maybe there’s a way to make sure the phone numbers are authentic before allowing the movie-goer to get access to the special deals? Sending automated telephone calls is an extremely cheap service I believe (relatively, of course).

     After the person successfully completes the sign-up, you could then offer things such as a discounted rate on the movie’s DVD once it comes out as long as they order it from such and such website… (partner up with a main website such as Amazon.com).

     Relatively cheap to start and works by the “word of mouth” process, but at a much quicker rate since mass phone calls would enable the information to be sent out literally in seconds.

     (I would just make sure there’s a disclaimer on the website stating that any legal issues that may arise from the sending of the automated response phone message are not your problems, they are the movie-goers… or something to that effect.. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know how to word it!)

     Comment by Jeff — July 25, 2006 @ 8:08 am

163. Advertise in the most used venues anywhere. Gas Stations.

     Comment by Doug Ray — July 25, 2006 @ 4:27 pm

164. My view is this…What made people go to the movies back when everybody went? The fact that it was the only way to see it. I think it has to get back to basics. Stop selling movies once they end at the show. There is no incentive for people to want to pay $12 a ticket if they know it is coming out on PPV, DVD, VHS, etc; Why bother? Oh, bring back the drivein’s. My husband and I have gone to one of the last drivein’s in the country (Grandbury, Texas) for the atmosphere alone. We didn’t even care what was playing, even though they were brand new movies, it was the fun of it that made it so appealing. If the only way you can see a movie is by going to the show, everybody goes to the show. Then the movie prices go down. Remember those $2 matinees?

     Comment by Oteaka Saenz — July 26, 2006 @ 8:30 pm

165. arrange a “M&M effect” challenge 2006
     M – MySpace
     M – movies

     What can you do with social network power?
     We are creating an experiment to see how many people will show up in a movie theater by invite your friends from myspace network.

     1. need to think what can attract ppl (incentive, award….etc)
     2. need a lil. application for myspace users to track who’s the first one to creat M&M effect

     ———————————-
     I ain’t going for details cuz it’s just my one cent here ^^ & or u can hire me for more thought >o<

     Comment by Wayne Jiang — July 27, 2006 @ 10:33 pm

166. Let me preface in saying that I don’t believe there is any way to get around paying marketing costs. When one is in the business of sales, you must market and must pay money to market. No way around it, plain and simple in my opinion.

     But why do production companies have to pay for the marketing themselves? As a production company, you own a very valuable piece of property…the film itself. So sell it. Sell it like Harpo sold Oprah back in the 80′s. If you’re talking a $60 million production, then this is a big film. Capable of grossing twice that in the first 3 weeks. Let’s say your target gross is $100 million, and in order to reach that you’ve determined you need to spend $60 million in marketing. Sell it to GE, Viacom, HDNet,HBO whomever. They, in turn, receive the rights to play the movie AS SOON AS it is available on DVD. None of that waiting around for three years before seeing it on network TV.

     Financially, say they pay $15 million for those rights. They give another $15 million in advertising trade. Direct marketing costs are now cut in half to $30 million. Give them a cut of the gross movie theather profits (say 10%, for argument’s sake). They receive $10 million back if the movie makes $100 million, and more if it sells goes above that number(encouraging them to be creative with their advertising). They charge $800k per 30 second spot for a 3 hour movie on prime time during sweeps. That’s approximately $4 million per commercial break. At 10 commercial breaks for the 3 hour duration, they make $40 million (giving them $50 million total, far eclipsing their $30 million initial investment).

     You’ve spent $30 million in direct marketing costs (rather than 60), and made $90 million (minus the 10 you gave them). Rather than grossing $40 million, you’ve now grossed $60 million above your marketing costs. Further incentives can be added to the deal (royalties on DVD sales, etc.).

     One could also shorten the length of time movies are in the theaters…say to 6 weeks. Obviously, there will be a demographic who says “hey, this movie will be on prime time in 6 weeks, so why not wait until then.” There’s an economic reason why movie theaters would now start spending money to improve the atmosphere and experience. They’ll have to work harder to get people in the seats, and in turn spend some of their own money on marketing and improvements, which will in turn lighten the load on production companies.

     Obviously these numbers are literally picked randomly (although they are conservative in my opinion). What do you think?

     P.S. My twin brother works for the Mavs in corporate ad sales. I’m currently at IU in law school, pending a move to Dallas next summer.

     Comment by Casey Holsapple — July 31, 2006 @ 4:36 pm

167. This is a great question.
     One thought that comes to mind is finding a way to shift the economic risk for marketing a movie. Now the studios do it. I assume that’s because they have the greatest investment, but also because theaters were traditionally local operations. That’s no longer the case.
     So, if the theater takes on more of the revenue stream, but assumes more of the marketing cost, your cost would go down.

     On a $9 ticket, you make $4.50 and the theater gets $4.50. But you spend $12 advertising. If you offer the theater owner more in exchange for marketing, you might end up ahead. You could take as little as $1 a ticket, if the theater owner advertises the movie.

     For some types of films, it could make sense to have no mass marketing, but sell tickets for $5, with the theater taking $4 and you getting $1 with no marketing cost up front.

     The essential thought is to make the distributor more of a marketer/advocate for the movie instead of a venue.

     I know this would mean giving up some control of the movie packaging which has risks, but it may carry fewer risks.

     Failing that, buy some theaters.

     Comment by D Gersh — July 27, 2006 @ 10:59 pm

168. to D Gersh:

     Mark Cuban has bought some theatres. Perhaps you should research Landmark Theatres before you post any more ideas.

     Also, on a $9 ticket, the distributor makes from $6.30 – $8.10, leaving the theatre from $0.90 – $2.70 (that’s why the popcorn costs so much). Of course, since Mark owns both the distribution and the exhibition, he ultimately keeps all $9.

     Comment by futureoffilm — July 27, 2006 @ 11:20 pm

169. studios buy advertising late and end up paying higher fees for what’s left.

     like most other advertisers, they also purchase online ads like offline media – targeting content and environment. again, paying a premium to do so.

     I’d focus on using online marketing tactics. most important of which would be to use the networks for broad reach and high frequency, at a fraction of the cost. networks like ad.com, casale, burst, there are tons out there. more advertisers need to buy online media like this.

     Comment by rob — July 27, 2006 @ 11:29 pm

170. Sell out.
     That is the only way to meet mainstream america.

     Comment by Jordan Grimes — July 27, 2006 @ 11:40 pm

171. I like these 5-second power ads on TV. I mean quick look at movie title or sexy actress/actor and then the url to the movies
     website. Hit em hard and heavy one week prior to opening. Good clip on web site creating interest.

     Comment by terry farrell — July 27, 2006 @ 11:41 pm

172. My wife and I used to go to 4-6 movies a month. Sometimes even more. But when we had kids, that stopped. Now we see 2 movies a year and those are kids show. Now we just PPV from DirecTV. I prefer to see movies at the theater but it’s not cheap or easy to schedule a babysitter. What would get me back to the theaters would be free babysitting. I’d be willing to pay $15/ticket if someone would watch my kids for the duration of the movie. Both IKEA and Top Foods understand this notion and both have areas and staff dedicated to watching young kids while we shop. Why not do something similar at the theater?

     Comment by Brett Nordquist — July 28, 2006 @ 12:05 am

173. Hello Mr.Cuban,

     I’m not going to waste your time in explaining my idea in a bigilion paragraphs. I am 13 years old and my ideas may not be that great, but i was thinking if you could put flip books of the movie, with descriptions next to the scenes of the movie in little packets on people’s pillows in hotels next to the mint, or piece of chocolate. You could ask other advertising companies to write in the books and not have to pay a lot of the expenses. A lot of people travel and go to hotels , so they’ll probably see them. My other idea was hollagraphic coasters. While people enjoy their drinks they can also see 2 scenes from the movie and it wouldn’t be that expensive. And my last idea was to have advertising companies pay to have scenes and descriptions of the movie on postcards…people travel and send post cards to their friends, some all over the world, so the word gets out about the movie and it’s inexpensive!!! Also if you want people to watch movies, make it sound cool, but it actually has to be good. Well, they’re not that great but it’s a thought. I’m an A student and just wanted to put my creative mind to work…thanks for your time!

     Sincerely,
     Olivia Ursi, Your Daily
     Mavericks Fan

     P.S. Sorry this was so long!!

     Comment by Olivia Ursi — July 28, 2006 @ 12:14 am

174. As someone else said, because people can’t get to the movies for one reason or another, people are picky with the movies they see in the theatre. We classify movies as a “theatre movie” or a “pay per view” movie. We will pay more $ per person to see an amazing big-bang movie on the big screen and save the less visually exciting movies for $3.95 on TV.

     Comment by Meg — July 28, 2006 @ 12:23 am

175. I agree with many on the fundamental reason to go to the movies – to have a great time, day or night. We love to go to the drive in by us, or one of the theaters that serve dinner. Open “drive ins” where people can sit on the lawn – like some concert venues. Think of the target audience – with the prices of so many things going up (gas to the movie, babysitter, tickets, $4 for a 5 cent soda) think of how you can lower overall costs for the consumer AND increase the benefits for different target groups. Have a room with babysitters during the day (or night for older kids) for mom’s/dad’s groups to attend. Offer GREAT food in a dinner atmosphere during the movie. Re-do the interior of theatres to be more comfortable, more home like. If my husband and I can even get away for a movie, we want it to be a night to re-connect. We would go especially to a theatre that has double seats, without arm rests in between 2 seats. Turn “going to the movies” into an EXPERIENCE, return it to the social experience it once was. Offer theme nights tied to the subject of the movie – wine tasting with a romantic movie. Have teens bring in a toy or canned food for a reduced ticket fee or free soda. Think “out of the theatre” – go crazy with brainstorming and then peel back the ideas – what about an exercise class during a movie, or have a movie exercise room (screen with cardio or other machines). What about holding craft classes or workshops during movies (with scrapbooking so big that is something that could be done during a movie). Enabling parents (moms and DADS) to BRING younger – 2 and under – children to a movie without worrying about making too much noise would be a huge selling point for many… There are lots of ideas that could be leveraged… If I had this as my job, leveraging ideas I’ve used for corporate training classes could be integrated into the movie biz… What more fun could you have than getting people back to the movies?

     Comment by Meg — July 28, 2006 @ 12:28 am

176. Mr.Cuban,

     I just got another brilliant idea, how about if people go and see a movie at the theater, they put their name and number on the back of the reciet stub and put it in for a drawing for either a season pass or just tickets for a Mavericks game. It wouldn’t cost you a thing and people would be excited about the beginning and the end of the movie!!! I’m the same 13 year old girl who was comment #818. Just think about it, it wouldn’t cost you a thing…thank you again for your time!!!

     Comment by Olivia Ursi — July 28, 2006 @ 12:35 am

177. I adore the movies! It has been a lifelong passion that I proudly tout. I am just as likely to see a summer blockbuster as an Academy Award contender, given one thing – knowing I will walk away a little better for having seen the movie. Whether through a few laughs, a good cry or just a mind opening exposure to life so different from my own the movies are better than therapy for me. Why do I love the movies? I grew up on a steady diet of classic, well made movies and going to the theater has always been an event (somewhat like a basketball game has been for you.) Even now I feel fortunate I live in a city like Dallas where the variety and quality of what I can see on any given day is fabulous.

     I go to at least 2 movies a month and often 2-3 a week during the lead up to Oscars. I have no problem going alone if I really want to see something, and sometimes prefer to go alone knowing I have no one else’s tastes to take into account. I also have small children, scads of girlfriends and a willing husband all who join me depending on the subject matter. Out of all the movies I see, I can honestly say there are only a handful that really don’t provide me with entertainment I feel is worth the price of admission. I am a great mouthpiece for films I love and feel most discerning moviegoers will judge a movie more by someone they align themselves with than a big schmaltzy ad campaign. Trailers and teasers are great hooks. I am not a whining, uneducated consumer. I research what I want to see and attend most movies knowing full well what I am getting myself into.

     The only reason the greater populous ever see a movie in a theater is to “experience” the movie in the larger than life format that no home theater, short of a private H’wood screening room, will ever duplicate. The only theaters that guarantee this are quality, clean, state of the art facilities. People come to see a movie in the theater opening weekend so they can be the first to talk about it – bragging rites, dinner party chit chat.

     The homogenization of our celebrity culture and the dumbing down of what Hollywood thinks America needs has gotten the industry nowhere. Who would choose to go see a movie when most of the same faces are living much juicier lives beamed to us 24/7 via Entertainment Tonight, et al. What ever happened to the glamour and mystery of the Hollywood star? Please, there are definitely talented actors out there who won’t sell out to the National Enquirer the first time they come knocking. The genie is out of the bottle when it comes to overexposure! The “studio system” was a much better machine. Read your history.

     When handbags that teenagers carry cost upward of $800, no I am not kidding, money is not the reason your theaters are not full. Just like shrines to food that are created only to be passe within a year don’t make it, while restaurants serving consistently good food that pay attention to their customers survive and flourish all over this country, you must make products people want to experience – no cookie cutter, rubber stamp for screenplays. Why are 17 year old boys the benchmark?

     The entire world looks to America to lead in cinema. Lets face it , we have the talent, money and resources to own this industry in every way. Why do some of the best and brightest take scale to be in an indie with potential while they sheepishly promote their multi million dollar paycheck film? Let’s live up to the benchmark we set ourselves!

     I admit there are a plethora of genius marketing ideas gathering speed on this site and you would be wise to read them all and chew on a few (great strategy on your part, by the way!) Just like there is no one size fits all when it comes to taste in movies there is no one quick fix.

     Good luck, the movie industry needs your tenacious spirit and willingness to change if you are going to produce movie lovers for the future.
     Hopeful for Hollywood

     Comment by Wylly Goodson — July 28, 2006 @ 12:44 am

178. Mark,
     A good lesson can be learned from the most recent Will Farrell movie “Legend of Ricky Bobby”. You have to give Will Farrell alot of credit for pulling some outrageous stunts and being incredibly visible in promoting his new movie. Film stars should have more ownership in the promotion of the movie as this is free advertising that is priceless. I would definetly give the stars/co-stars more duties in that respect. In another reference to “Taladega Nights”, I love their angle in promoting the movie – it is very clever. I don’t think you can beat the traditional style of advertising upcoming movies, you can however advertise in a more clever style. It’s not about how much money you spend advertising – It’s how you advertise. Myself, I don’t like going to movies that give away too much of the storyline in the movie trailers. I would like to see better advertising in this respect…ala old style cliffhangers that make people eager to watch. If I were leading an advertising campaign, “less is more” would definitely be my style. Give people a small taste and they will come back for more.

     Another idea that I think has not been maximized is corporate sponsorships. American Airlines got some bigtime advertising in the NBA Championships. I’ve got many ideas that would use the sponsorship dollar to advertise. My ideas are far more visible than the typical logo on a McDonald’s cup.

     I think you are on to something great. I am a big movie buff and hate to see the business struggling when it comes to great art and indie flicks.

     Sincerely,
     RV

     Comment by RVillarreal — July 28, 2006 @ 2:55 am

179. SHORT ANSWER:
     User-gen DB of viewer sentiment along multiple criteria: enjoyability, humor, romance, action etc.

     LONG ANSWER:
     The problem is not that it’s too hard to make movies, nor that it’s too hard to market movies. Both are true, but they’re not the problem.

     The problem is that it’s too hard to CONSUME movies, i.e., it’s too hard to make an informed and confident choice.

     It’s a risky choice, PARTICULARLY for prospects who are more likely to see quality, thoughtful films that have neither the stars, the marketing budget nor the high-concept premise that typically satisfy mass-market due diligence.

     Why risky? It’s f’ing expensive to go to the theater, with parking, tix, food and babysitter. Moreso, you have less discretionary time to spend in a theater, so if the movie doesn’t click with you or your date, you’ve just shot your once-a-week lets-go-out schedule allowance. No wonder we easily tradeoff quality for lower risk. Better to be weakly satisfied with National Treasure than annoyed with Big Fat Greek Wedding or answering to a pissed-off spouse at Trainspotting. Those big budget stars and ad campaigns don’t increase upside reward (that it’s a good film); they reduce the downside risk that I will have wasted the night. And that’s all I need to get laid.

     This is also true for home viewing with more than one person. You WANT to be open-minded about seeing untouted gems, but when you settle down with a date/wife/guests, are you really willing to risk it? Or do you stick with the safe crap?

     So how to fix? Reduce the risk factor in selecting a movie to watch. The thumbs up/down or 1-5 stars isn’t the answer. It’s too one-dimensional, and low-advertised movies tend to be more nuanced and heterogenous. If someone says “it’s a great indie film,” it could be Greek Wedding, Clerks, Hotel Rwanda, Four Weddings, or Super Size Me. The categorization is meaningless and leads to many a pissed-off spouse.

     Critic’s reviews are useless for opposite reasons. Sure, film geeks will dig in and read hundreds of clever and insightful words. But most of us don’t give a crap about the critic’s unique insights and probing analysis. I just want to know if it’s a fit for me and my guest, not how the filmmaker’s premise aligns with your B- junior thesis. I like brevity; writers like column-inches. And sometimes I just want to see Chuck Norris kick some commie ass. I’d rather just know whether the action is strong, regardless of plot, character, etc. Can’t find that anywhere in a review without a long slog.

     Here’s what I want to know about any movie, especially indie-types:

     -Enjoyability (1-5)
     -Insight (Thoughtful & Provocative) (1-5)
     -Humor (1-5)
     -Romance (1-5)
     -Action (1-5)

     That solves the problem. Build a user sentiment database where users provide an overall 1-5 rating, along with ratings along the handful of criteria above.

     They MAY add 2-5 sentences, but no more than that. It’s all about the numbers: they’re aggregable and valid at a relatively low “n” count.

     So how to bootstrap? Go with the festivals. Offer the festivals an online engine to collect audience feedback. Private label for the festivals and build the database. Let people submit via SMS as they’re shuffling out of the theater, then return to the website the next day to see what the consensus was.

     Attendees tend to include opinion leaders, so when they head back home, they’ll be able to track their favs as talk them up as they gain distrib and an audience.

     So start with the indie/festival scene, then grow the thing to cover all films.

     Comment by Bill — July 28, 2006 @ 5:44 am

180. I am a movie fan and go to about 50 movies a year.

     My experience could be improved as follows:

     What to watch?

     Better websites with a poster picture, review, and synopsis on the same page along with movie times.

     Previews!!! I go to the theater and watch the inane ads on slides for lawyers, plastic surgeons, etc then commercials for Coke. Then I get see maybe 4 previews. I enjoy the movies, show me something. Allow more time for previews.

     Have a place in the theater to see previews of every movie currently playing on a TV or small screen. After the movie we stop in the room and see what we might want to watch next week.

     Promote returning. A discount if you come back on the next weekend or during the same week. A discount to stay and watch a second feature. Or a special double feature night or showing.

     I refuse to go to movies that are 90 minutes long for the same price (as a matter of principal) then the more standard 2 hours.

     A block of assigned seats might be good for opening weekend.

     I think quality food at a value price would enhance people to come. Maybe an Uno’s Pizza built in. Eat in the theater or comfortable spot then see the movie. It’s difficult sometimes to get in dinner then a movie.

     Concessions are such a rip off I think most people avoid them. Offer some value here and reasonable sizes. (My theater only sells quart bottles of water for instance) Sell some healthier items.

     My point is if I go to a movie, make me want to come back.

     Thanks

     John

     Comment by MovieJohn — July 28, 2006 @ 7:38 am

181. The movie going audience needs to be segmented. There should be season passes or subscriptions that are paid for up front like a ski lift pass. Anytime passes are more expensive than weekday evening passes which are more expensive that daytime passes. Make family passes available. People with passes pay less at the concession. People with passes get guaranteed seats. (It seems as if yield/seat management of multiplexes could be a lot better.) That’s all for now. I don’t need a job but there are many, many more things to do, aside from making better movies, to get people into theatres.

     Comment by Steve — July 28, 2006 @ 8:39 am

182. We produce a unique product called TeeBucks. These are compressed tee shirts which can be compressed into the shape of a popcorn box, movie reel or anything that may be related to your movie. Ours have a nifty little pocket that holds a gift card.

     Gift cards are growing in market share, but research has shown that consumers want to dress up their gift cards that they buy. This holiday season, retailers are going to battle to see who can dress up their gift cards the best, enticing consumers to purchase their gift card over a competitors.

     We print tees with your movie’s logo on them, compress it into some relevant shape and place the displays at retailers coast to coast, providing great exposure for your movie. We could place these TeeBucks with your movie poster printed on them for sale at major retailers, including Blockbuster. Consumers purchasing gift cards would purchase these unique TeeBucks because they add personality to the plain gift card for just an extra $3-$5. Retailers would be happy because they’re getting a product free of charge to sell for $3-5.

     On a random quantity of tees, let us print “Golden Ticket Winner” (I know, it’s like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket) and those people get to go to NY or wherever to see the premier.

     You get advertising at Blockbuster and other retailers and on the tees that people would wear. You also get the inherrent publicity for the search for the golden ticket.

     We are right around the corner @ 3116 Commerce. Come by for a visit sometime.

     Comment by Robbie Weinberg — July 28, 2006 @ 9:37 am

183. Mark,

     Imagine with me…

     I am an 18 year old college freshman. I am popular. I am outgoing. I am social. And I like movies.

     I want to go see the new Shaq/Penny movie this weekend (Blue Chips II). I don’t want to call up everyone and play mobile phone tag for the next 8 hours trying to coordinate this event. So, I login to my account at xxxxxxxxxx.com.

     I enter the movie, time, and location. I then invite all of my friends, either individually or by selecting a predefined group. BOOM! The invitation goes out. Through e-mail, text messages, IM, MySpace, FaceBook, everywhere!

     My friends login to their account at xxxxxxxxxx.com. They want to hook up with me and go. The system already has their payment information. And they all know about the bonus…

     For every four (or five, or N) people that come with me, the system will choose (randomly) one of us to go for free! I hope it’s me!

     Once a minimum threshold of people has indicated they want to go and/or a certain time is reached, then the tickets are purchased… with the system notifying everyone who the lucky person (or people) is that scored the free ticket(s)!

     The result…

     I show up at the theater. Seven of my friends have joined me. Amanda and Alicia are going for free… lucky chicks! They didn’t even know who Penny was! (But they had heard of Lil’ Penny, hmmm).

     I didn’t win the ticket, but I have a great time enjoying the movie with my friends. Maybe next time I join a movie group, I’ll be the one to go for free!

     Comment by Michael — July 28, 2006 @ 9:58 am

184. It’s the experience. That’s where the thinking and upfront $s need to go, not the latest 60mill per film of marketing tricks/ technology/ tactics.

     Assuming the product is good — (for crappy movies – use someone else’s idea) invest upfront to create the best experience possible for an audience that appreciates a great film and will gladly pay up to be part of an exclusive experience. Tap into why we all love to go to the movies in the first place — to be transported to a fantasy world, to experience the power of a story well told, in an enviroment that fuels that experrience (big comfy seats, great concessions (cobrand with Williams Sonoma, or Starbucks or some upstart sweet Kettle corn company — have you ever tasted that stuff? Man it’s good.), advance special seat reservations, opening night special access, perfect – not too loud sound, comfortable handicap seating, polite ushers that say thank you, that make older people feel at home and not intimidated by loud obnoxious kids, no preview sponsor ads, no 20 minutes of annoying loud, obnoxious movie previews, have special guest appearances by the director, actors, screenwriters, an intermission (where people can talk about the show and about the experience), huge screens where every seat is the best in the house, digital clarity, climate control, complimentary DVDs on the way out the door, special nights where you can bring your family and friends for a nite at the movies, digital specials beamed in via satellite during down calendar months, special outdoor shows (how cool would that be)… and on and on. Tap into the best experience, forget the fat part of the bell curve because for the KMArt crowd you have to pump in the 100mil pus and do all the things you’ve already mentioned.

     Why does the Apple store do so well? Aren’t they selling what COMPUSA is selling?

     Build out a prototype, see how it does and evaluate on dollars in per theater. per release, not total cost to develop. With the right upfront planning, you can jack all your other movie marketing 101 tactics into a tight ecosystem that is built from the ground up on maximizing the experience and creating happy, long term customers that talk about their good experience because it’s different/ better than anything else out there.

     How did Virgin Atalntic beat out British Air?

     Why did Google Search blow away the huge tech companies that had an 8 year head start on search?

     Why is a Mavericks experience different than going to any NBA game? Same game/ product/ refs/ players? If you interview you’re loyal fans on why they come to a Mavericks game, do you think the answer has anything to do with the latest MBA hitech marketing gimmick?

     But to create this experience, you neeed someone with vision that can define and tap into that collective nirvana, and can do it becuase they are passinate about the movies.

     Comment by Michael — July 28, 2006 @ 10:00 am

185. Mark,

     Imagine with me…

     I am an 18 year old college freshman. I am popular. I am outgoing. I am social. And I like movies.

     I want to go see the new Shaq/Penny movie this weekend (Blue Chips II). I don’t want to call up everyone and play mobile phone tag for the next 8 hours trying to coordinate this event. So, I login to my account at xxxxxxxxxx.com.

     I enter the movie, time, and location. I then invite all of my friends, either individually or by selecting a predefined group. BOOM! The invitation goes out. Through e-mail, text messages, IM, MySpace, FaceBook, everywhere!

     My friends login to their account at xxxxxxxxxx.com. They want to hook up with me and go. The system already has their payment information. And they all know about the bonus…

     For every four (or five, or N) people that come with me, the system will choose (randomly) one of us to go for free! I hope it’s me!

     Once a minimum threshold of people has indicated they want to go and/or a certain time is reached, then the tickets are purchased… with the system notifying everyone who the lucky person (or people) is that scored the free ticket(s)!

     The result…

     I show up at the theater. Seven of my friends have joined me. Amanda and Alicia are going for free… lucky chicks! They didn’t even know who Penny was! (But they had heard of Lil’ Penny, hmmm).

     I didn’t win the ticket, but I have a great time enjoying the movie with my friends. Maybe next time I join a movie group, I’ll be the one to go for free!

     Comment by Michael — July 28, 2006 @ 10:02 am

186. Well, putting the films in theaters NEAR WHERE I LIVE would help a lot.

     When you think “let’s do dinner and a movie” you don’t normally also think “let’s spend an hour and a half to get to someplace to see dinner and a movie.”

     When you’re spending 90 minutes to get to a theater, that’s not dinner and a movie, that’s “a night on the town,” which typically doesn’t include a movie.

     Personally, I’d do a lot better on this stuff if it was delivered to my house on DVD on a monthly basis (Film Movement) or if I had regular access to trailers and then a way to digitally purchase and receive the content (XBox Live Marketplace, for instance). I don’t have an HDTV yet, so I don’t subscribe to HD channels, so that distribution channel is closed to me.

     Comment by J.Goodwin — July 28, 2006 @ 10:08 am

187. Most movies market horribly because they are horrible.

     College kids can spread the word quickly… a few advanced screenings would be good. If you give vouchers for discounts or buy one-get one free at the screenings, the students could pass these along to other people.

     Competitions for prizes could work as well. Questions or trivia where the answers can only be found in the movie. People go to a site, register, answer the questions, and can get prizes.

     Another problem are the prices of movie tickets. Many people will only shell out that kind of money to see a movie they want to really see.

     A vehicle that travelled promoting the movie wouldn’t be a bad idea. The vehicle could stop at store fronts, with people signing autographs, etc. It could be similar to how many radio stations travel to different locations to broadcast. In fact, you could be there with a radio station, getting even more exposure.

     You could maybe make a television show (although I sorta hate reality shows) in which it’s the making of the movie. People could vote on the players (actors, writers…etc), what type of movie it could be, location(s), whether or not characters die, who gets together, breaks up… Would be a fine balance between not giving too much away but giving viewers ownership. If people voted on certain aspects of a movie, they’d surely be curious to see what the final product is like.

     Comment by Nathan — July 28, 2006 @ 10:19 am

188. Pardon me for not reading through the 874 comments, so hopefully this idea has not been mentioned.

     Youth sports organizations are currently some of the most undermarketed venues in the country (while at the same time very well attended). I would propose targeting some of the more widespread youth organizations as well as attacking it grass roots by identifying specific facilities that attract massive attendance figures and enter into exclusive marketing deals. The exclusivity will create an in your face atmosphere where each court, field, etc. will be dedicated to a particular message where fans are forced to sit for an hour and stare at only your message.

     Currently, my family runs a youth summer baskeball organization called Gym Rats Basketball based out of Ft. Wayne, IN. We have been around since 1994 and currently run 28 tournaments, 15 camps and 5 leagues on an annual basis. We draw teams from all over North America and just hosted a team from England that traveled to play in the USSSSA National tournament that we host. Our facility is 160,000 square ft. has 8 courts, a 5′ x 12′ LED sign, wireless internet access, an arcade, a wellness based fitness center, full service spa, etc. We estimate that over 400,000 visitors come through a year and we have about 7 million visitors to our website.

     I know of a number of other basketball facilities that draw ridiculous traffic, and soccer is a whole other story. If you are wondering about demographics: grandparents, parents (including hot moms), bothers, sisters, etc.

     When do I start? IU grad, JD/MBA 2006.

     Comment by J.R. Hensley — July 28, 2006 @ 10:44 am

189. The problem is a basic one: the theatre model of charging people money to enter a building and view films is obsolete. More and more people are choosing to rent or download movies, for a number of reasons, largely because it is less expensive than going to the theater and technology has made the home theatre a comparable experience (in the minds of most viewers, if not in reality). one thing marketers need to realize, when looking at the rising numbers related to digital piracy, is that piracy means people are still interested in purchasing your product; they are simply choosing not to for ancillary reasons such as cost, convenience, lack of quality, etc. Two things should be done concurrently. 1) the theatrical experience needs to be reimagined. the theatre would fare better as a more interactive environment in which moviegoers are encouraged to come early and stay late, hopefully discussing the films and doing other film-related activities, perhaps viewing trailers in booths or enjoying free coffee on the premises or meeting actors/directors/etc. 2) online and pay-per-view distribution needs to be invested in, and not merely in terms of rentals, but in terms of sales. DVD technology will soon go the way of CD technology, and marketers need to be at the forefront of this movement rather than lagging behind. also, the feature film model is dying. serious investment into short films, which can be easily downloaded, stored, and viewed on PDAs, cell phones, iPods, and other small items containing screens, is a great way to produce and market films that commonly cost less than $50,000 (i recently produced a crowd-pleasing, 7 min comedy short for $500) and potentially have remarkable returns and cheap distribution channels.

     Comment by Jonathan Ball — July 28, 2006 @ 11:06 am

190. The problem is a basic one: the theatre model of charging people money to enter a building and view films is obsolete. More and more people are choosing to rent or download movies, for a number of reasons, largely because it is less expensive than going to the theater and technology has made the home theatre a comparable experience (in the minds of most viewers, if not in reality). one thing marketers need to realize, when looking at the rising numbers related to digital piracy, is that piracy means people are still interested in purchasing your product; they are simply choosing not to for ancillary reasons such as cost, convenience, lack of quality, etc. Two things should be done concurrently. 1) the theatrical experience needs to be reimagined. the theatre would fare better as a more interactive environment in which moviegoers are encouraged to come early and stay late, hopefully discussing the films and doing other film-related activities, perhaps viewing trailers in booths or enjoying free coffee on the premises or meeting actors/directors/etc. 2) online and pay-per-view distribution needs to be invested in, and not merely in terms of rentals, but in terms of sales. DVD technology will soon go the way of CD technology, and marketers need to be at the forefront of this movement rather than lagging behind. also, the feature film model is dying. serious investment into short films, which can be easily downloaded, stored, and viewed on PDAs, cell phones, iPods, and other small items containing screens, is a great way to produce and market films that commonly cost less than $50,000 (i recently produced a crowd-pleasing, 7 min comedy short for $500) and potentially have remarkable returns and cheap distribution channels.

     Comment by Jonathan Ball — July 28, 2006 @ 11:09 am

191. Link up w/ Evite. A great place for people to plan parties and invite a group by email. Pay the organizer $x per head.

     Comment by Steven — July 28, 2006 @ 11:29 am

192. 1) Everyone loves getting gifts
     2) People generally enjoy going to the movies. It’s the prices that keep people away
     3) Mark could sell advertising to sponsor a portion of the movie – not free, but much less expensive
     4) The ads wouldn’t be shown, that would be annoying.
     5) Everyone would get to see the previews, movies, ad-free and enjoyable
     6) As the audience departs, they are each handed a wrapped gift box containing samples from a sponsor or multiple sponsors
     7) This is attractive to advertisers as they can match their market to the movie demographic
     8) Again, people like getting gifts and they like getting discounts

     Comment by Rich Marcia — July 28, 2006 @ 11:48 am

193. Easy soloution. You need to do 2 things. #1 Convert dollars spent into something less tangible to the general public so that you can spend less. And which can be reusable if not claimed. #2 Have other people do the advertising for you at less the cost you would spend. The way to do this is use AIR MILES. And most people dont know the cost but they are cheap, the actual cost is between 1-2 cents/mile. And you can take them from your other buisness which accrue miles buy using your credit cards. You can offer to give these miles away.. for example .. offer 100 miles to anyone buying a ticket and give them 100 miles per referal who they have see the movie. The customer must present his frequent flier number and referals frequent flier number at the counter. Assume that a large percentage of the customers will not remember their friends frequent flier number, but they are already at the movie counter, therefore they will purchase the movie ticket, as nothing else to do on their saturday night. These miles will not be collected and therefore not removed from your account.
     Call your program something catchy and cheesy like FLYING HIGH OFF CUBAN.
     The incentive for the movie and for friend referal, which is free advertising for you will be frequent flier miles, which if never used stay in your account. And these miles you probably already own, if you use your credit cards alot, especially starwood and american express cards which can transfer to any airlines. You Tell people you will give them a part of you… your own frequent flier miles.. and if you ever run low you can purchase them cheaply directly or buy making more purchase with your credit card

     Comment by Andy Brown — July 28, 2006 @ 11:55 am

194. Mark –

     What a great challenge. To answer your question directly – you take advantage of the buyer’s price sensitivities to maximize revenue through variable/dynamic ticket pricing based on ticket demand. By charging uniform price for all movies you create long lines for very popular movies and empty theaters for unknown movies – an imbalance of supply and demand. You need to lower prices for the unknown movies and inch up prices for the better know ones. I’ve completed this kind of demand based pricing analysis (and implementation) to grow both ticket volume and revenue for live entertainment events. If this approach can maximize revenue for classical music then it can also maximize revenue for filmed entertainment. Here is how it would work:

     Film Profile:
     - Low profile film: If you have a relatively unknown film that you feel has potential, lower prices to approx. $5 for the first weekend. Most people are willing to take a chance on a movie for $5 if it has some kind of hook. If the movie has merit then word of mouth will spread. As demand increases you can respond by increasing price as well. The problem with the movie business these days is that theater chains are charging $9 for relatively unknown films and as a result no one ever gets to see them because buyers can pay the same about for a better known film
     - High profile films: You could probably charge a little more for the higher profile films, especially for the opening weekend. The kind of person who wants to see a high profile film on the opening weekend would also be willing to pay more money to see it. Right now you are probably leaving money on the table by charging too little for the high profile films.

     Variable Pricing:
     - The starting price for each movie would be based on the early buzz. You don’t have to guess to measure this metric. Check out Hollywood stock Exchange and you can see how people are feeling about a movie and its stars. The higher the initial buzz, the higher the opening weekend ticket price.

     Dynamic Pricing:
     - If you have someone monitoring ticket sales you can change ticket prices in response to demand or in response to anticipated demand
     - Low profile films with increased word of mouth will actually have their prices increase over time
     - Higher profile films with their diminishing buzz will have prices lowered over time
     - This mechanism can help to maximize revenue as well as the increase the length of the run for the both types films

     - After setting prices each week (or day) you’ll have to tell people what you are charging for different films so they can make their decision – the web is the best way to accomplish this

     This is a problem that I know how to solve. Hope to work with you on this project soon.

     Comment by Anil Malhotra — July 28, 2006 @ 11:59 am

195. Mr. Cuban,

     I am an currently an intern at HDNet Films and a film student at Emerson College in Boston, Mass. I have for a long time now been interested in the debate as to the future of the medium in which I have decided to invest 140-150 thousand dollars worth of debt towards… I am very passionate for the medium of filmmaking, and the reason I chose to be an intern at HDNet Films is because I wanted to be a participant in that debate and that I feel the medium is about to enter a radical state of change.

     First, the concept of going to a theater to see the ‘moving picture show’ is a relic of the first days when cinema departed from vaudeville. This is not to say that I do not enjoy and cherish the experience that one can only get in a darkened theater, but I’m not sure in this new age of digital filmmaking, where anyone with a camera and a computer can for better or worse shoot, edit, and distribute their films themselves, whether movie theaters truly reflect the most appropriate form of exhibition anymore. Filmmaking has become or is becoming smaller, more personal. When I saw Bubble it was hard to miss the artistic ideas and the cinematic potential being displayed both in its form and in its content. Anyone can make a “Bubble” and anyone who wants to should. For me, that’s what the movie was about.

     Movie making is becoming more and more like what novel writing became 100-150 years ago, when the voices being heard diversified and fell more so into the hands of the populous. The literature world flourished with ideas from talented writers from every pocket of the world. For evidence of this trend in cinema, one only has to look at how well independent cinema played this year at the Oscars.

     Of course, there is a problem with this trend. When you step into a Barnes n’ Noble you’re surrounded by a million books that be may be great, may even be brilliant, but in all likelyhood could potentially be terrible. It’s overwhelming.

     And, to renforce the problem, Hollywood, the one consolidated, age old source of cinema in America, has become so top heavy and disconnected that the films they make cannot be trusted, especially at $10 dollars a head. It makes perfect sense that a family of four would hold out on the wallet breaking trip to the theater to wait until a movie comes out on DVD to see it. The risk of not being satisfied is not worth the cost.

     This trend, being instigated by financial circumstances works in the favor of independant cinema. If the main venue for film goes from being a multiplex to being a video store, or an OnDemand cable service, or even the internet, then the playing cards change. Now independance cinema can compete, and work produced outside of the detatched studio system can now take center stage.

     I don’t think it is honest to say that now, since the spark behind these trends has been lit, whether it will ever be reversed. Now that these new venues are here, they’re not going away. The culture of cinema is changing; culture in general is changing. If the companies that have been with us since the beginning want to be a player years down the road, they must either adapt or get out of the way, because other companies like what HDNet Films could potentially be (so much potential!!) will continue to grow and steal the spotlight.

     It is delusional to think that there is some solution out there that will make everyone who loves movies (and people still absolutely love movies, it is our generations text, we know it, read it, and love it better than anything) go back to making and watching movies the way they did before camcorders, before affordable editing software, before DVDs, before the internet, before BitTorrent, before YouTube, before iPods, and before laptops.

     Filmmaking as a medium is changing. If theater chains want to stay in business (which all businesses do), they must change with it. They must act as a participant in the debate, they must act as propogators of new ideas, concepts, and artist. They simply will not survive if they remain attatched to the idea that things will go back to the way they used to be.

     I love going to the theater to see movies. I will never stop going to the movies. But, it must be understood that theaters are not the only venue anymore… Lets explore what that means for moviemaking and not purely reject it!

     -Drew Mintz
     A lowly, unpaid intern at HDNet Films

     Comment by Drew Mintz — July 28, 2006 @ 12:16 pm

196. Hello Mark,

     Are there differences between the movie theater and Netflix (or TiVo)? (rhetorical question)

     Should there be differences? No. That’s where you begin. (Potentially including a subscription system).

     Another is the buzz/preview/feedback/petition system popularized recently with Snakes on a Plane. Community, communication, innovation, collaboration and input can be powerful marketing tools. This is not the same thing as social networking.

     Thanks,

     Fletch

     Comment by Fletch — July 28, 2006 @ 12:18 pm

197. Hi Mark -

     The fact is, I haven’t been to a movie in a movie theater in more than three years. I’m 34 years old, I love movies, I love HD, I’m into the SOUND and the PICTURE and the STORY.

     But I may never go to a theater again.

     I don’t like the person near me talking, I don’t like them crunching their popcorn and rattling their Twizzler bag ever five seconds, and I don’t like missing something when I run for a refill or for the bathroom.

     What would it take to get me back to the theater? It certainly isn’t about the price. Let me go to the movies for $3 and I wouldn’t go. I’ve gone to a half price theater about once in my life. It isn’t about the picture or the sound… I love real movie theather picturs and sound as they are today. I prefer it over my home, of course, despite the 62″ HDTV and surround sound I have set up. It is about the quality of the experience (see talking guy eating a barrel of popcorn referenced above) and the feeling of getting something of value for the TIME I’ve invested in getting to the theater and sitting there in the dark.

     To get me back to the theater (I’d have to think that at my early-to-mid-30s, I’m near your target market), I want you to give me a reason to get up and out. Give me a way to separate myself from my fellow patrons through some sort of barrier or something that blocks out their noise and need to comment as if they were sitting on the couch with their mother watching a soap opera. Headphones? Legalized puching and kicking? I”m not sure how you do it but it’s the #1 reason that I don’t go to the movies.

     Secondly, look at the airlines, credit cards, lunch-time punch cards.. people love to be rewarded for loyalty. Frequent flier miles.. People will travel out of their way to stay on their home airline. They’ll walk and extra three blocks to get their free Subway footlong. This idea goes directly to the feeling of value for my time spent. Give me a swipe card that’s like my frequent flier card. Give me points for every movie I attend at your theater. When I get enough points, I can redeem it for free drinks, popcorn, tickets, or if I bank more points, even better/larger prizes. Hell, it could be for movie posters, t-shirts, hats, etc… all of which cost theaters and movie companies very little but have a big return to the feeling of loyalty. Don’t give the stuff away for free -trade it for the points so they’ve EARNED it. And then everyone wins, especially with the swag. Movie companies get free promotions from people who WANT to wear the swag because they EARNED it.

     Just my two cents… My best of luck to you in your endeavours.

     Matt

     Comment by Matt — July 28, 2006 @ 12:39 pm

198. Movie Markteting: Outdated Distribution

     In this day and age, the grail that is the “movie theatre” and more specifically distribution methods are outdated.

     I dabble in music promotion and like the movie business, it is searching for ways to meet changing consumers and technology. However it is actually adapting and trying new ideas, whereas movies are using the same old method of heavy PR/advertising with a “grand movie theatre” release.

     With that being said, the marketing of movies will change only when ideas for distribution change. Imagine being able to download new releases on myspace, your i-pod and your DirectTV.

     Movie CEOS may argue that people will just invite a whole crowd of people into their home to watch a movie (the same argument music CEOs said about the idea of CD burning, MP3 exchange ect). For whatever reason, that doesn’t happen on as large of a scale as predicted.

     A new idea springing up in music is the idea of common people being able to sell music with their own on-line stores (Burn Lounge, SNOCAP). This allows any individual to sell music on their myspace, personnal website ect. while recieving a portion of the sale.

     This can work in movies and cut marketing costs dramatically, as people, while in their own self-serving interests of making a buck, are promoting the movie using various methods.

     So for example, here’s a situation:

     A new movie is being released. The distributor of that movie can allow a certain number of people to become “liscensed distributors.” There are various methods you can use to choose who should be a distributor. Perhaps they have to “bid” on an upcoming release or there can be a set price (e.g. $150 will let you sell this movie on your online store.)

     Either way there has to be a limit on liscensed distributors. Eventually, companies will spring up who start bidding to become distributors, competing against each other, while in turn, putting more $$ in the pockets of the movie people.

     Those liscensed distributors then will sell the movie at a predetermined price (say $8 per download with $1-2 going to the distributor).

     Movie companies will generate revenue through people buying distribution rights, those with distribution rights selling their movie, and of course people will still flock to theatres.

     There could be a plethora of partnerships with this idea (e.g. I-Tunes has exclusive rights to a movie). They will promote the hell out of it trying to make money as a “liscensed distributor). With the sheer # of people just going to I-Tunes, the movie will reach millions of viewers per day.

     In conclusion, if distribution changes, marketing changes. If it stays the same, it’ll stay the same. New ideas breed new ideas.

     Thanks.

     Comment by Brent — July 28, 2006 @ 1:12 pm

199. What’s one needs is this: “Mr. Movie-Fan” must spread the word to his less-frequently movie-going pals. Importantly, while these pals look to him for recommendations, that is not the basis for their relationship. In real life and on forums or blogs, one finds people who’s primary social-circle has nothing to do with movies; instead, it is children-based, Christian-based, politics-based, music/hobby based. Within each of these non-movie groups, there are some “movie-fans”, telling others about the movies they should and should not see. The same thing happens in the flesh-and-blood world, e.g. with “water cooler talk”.

     “Mr. Movie-Fan” already knows the names and gist of new releases. Buzz and good reviews at movie-related sites are the bedrock on which he builds his opinion. That addresses the question of getting Mr. Movie-Fan to see your movie. The questions are: how to entice him even more? how to get him to tell his less-frequently movie-going friends about the good ones. The steps to take are:

     1.Identify the real movie-fans; particularly, the ones who spread movie-WOM
     2. Provide incentives to these regular goers to spread WOM. Free and discounted tickets for the next movie if they post a review (even if they post a negative review), discounted tickets that they can give to their pals, the normal internet-affiliate links if they have their own blogs, and so on

     In essence, cultivate a culture of “micro movie-critics”. Of course, the above two things are easier said than done. OTOH it’s not rocket-science, but would take detailed leg-work.

     Comment by Software Nerd — July 28, 2006 @ 1:16 pm

200. Mark,

     Revamp the product being offered–to a certain extent. Let the movie audience interact with the movie and determine how their movie ends.

     Remember choose-your-own-adventure books? Why can’t movies be offered in that style? Every genre has pivotal points of the movie where the main characters make a decision: sometimes predictable while other times unexpected. My vision: Upon reaching one of those critical points in the movie, pause and let the audience select one of two (or a few choices) for what action the character should take. A short preview of each choice is showed, followed by, “What should happen next? Choose choice A or B and help decide.” Audience majority decides how the movie progresses.

     With three two-choice branching audience decisions, there are alrady eight different possible endings for the movie–also a great way to create value in repeat-viewing.

     Granted this would increase the time and costs of production, but it would provide a fresh take on a declining business.

     Matt

     Comment by Matt J — July 28, 2006 @ 1:41 pm

201. I did not read through all of the 800-odd comments (and I offer both kudos and patience), but we at Press-On Pictures are creating a small NYC-based film company. And in simplest terms, we plan on replicating, on purpose, the whole “Snakes on a (m.f.) Plane” writing-development-marketing phenomenon – for socially conscious docs, and nonfiction and original features. That is not meant to detract in any way from the abundance of superb ideas offered herein by Mr. Cuban’s readers. Cheers.

     Comment by holly hodder — July 28, 2006 @ 1:46 pm

202. Movie Marketing: Distribution (POST #850)

     What I want to make clear, that didn’t come across so well in post 850 is that the marketing costs are virtually eliminated by competeing distributors.

     For example: If you say I-Tunes, cnn.com and myspace.com are all distributors for a movie, they will be competeting against each other and marketing the movie, taking a huge portion of marketing costs away from the movie production company.

     The idea relies on capitalism, which seems to work, most of the time.

     Comment by Brent — July 28, 2006 @ 1:54 pm

203. Mark,

     If Pearl Jam was coming to Dallas for a set of concerts, but played three times a day for a month straight, and the same set list every time…..would you get excited about going?

     Change the way a movie is released to the public, create demand for tickets, and give the audience an experience that they could never receive at home or in the theater. Some more specifics include:

     1. Create a traveling ‘concert’ tour to show the movie. Build/buy the biggest digital screen in the world. Bring along a sound system that will blow people away (Sony/Samsung sponsors?). Perform limited engagements in cities (6 nights in LA, 3 nights in Dallas) to create ticket demand.
     2. Show the movie in unique spaces, from State/Palace theater venues, to outdoor ampitheaters and stadiums/arenas.
     3. Have a different product than the ‘theater’ version, show the director cut, or extended version, or alternate ending…a version that will only be shown on this tour.
     4. Make it a unique event, not just a movie:
     - On one night, have the director do a live Q&A with the audience
     - Have the actors show up for an autograph session or live Q&A
     - Chris Rock is in the movie? Have him do a live standup as an opening act
     - Pearl Jam is on the soundtrack? Have them do a an opening act.

     I think you get the idea. By presenting the movie on a technology platform (sound and sight) that is unmatched, showing a unique product, and creating a concert tour-type event, I believe you can change the way movies are released and the press and marketing will naturally follow.

     Comment by Matt Chapman — July 28, 2006 @ 1:54 pm

204. M. Night Shyamalan recently said something to the affect of “if they don’t release movies in theaters anymore, he’ll quit… and his movie will be the last shown in the theater.” Or something very close to that.

     There’s something about the theater experience that makes the movie better. Come on. What’s better? Going to see the Rolling Stones, sitting front row? OR Listening to a live Rolling Stones CD really loud at home? The answer’s obvious. It’s the same with films. It’s just better in the theater.

     So, I offer a couple of opinions on the matter. First, start releasing cutting edge material with a strong voice that breaks tradition and reinvents the medium. Release great films, and people will go to the theater. I can name about 50 movies that had a budget of under $1 million dollars, that made tons of money in the theater, and were actually really good films. A couple examples are EASY RIDER, CLERKS, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT…

     Second, STOP WORRYING SO MUCH ABOUT IT!!! Everything comes back around. People aren’t going to the theaters as much as they were ten years ago, or twenty years ago, but they will come back… hopefully. The problem is you are competing with another type of movie that doesn’t cost anything to make, is very entertaining, and leaves you with a present at the end. Yes, you guessed it. PORNOS. If these degenerates would get off their lazy, fat asses for anything except to get food or clean-up their gooey mess, then they would probably seek another type of enjoyment and pleasure… the SILVER screen (not the BLUE).

     There’s a documentary on HBO right now called BOFFO, about Hollywood blockbusters and bombs. The common denominator to all the movies they speak of is THEY DON’T KNOW ANYTHING about what will be a hit. Although there are great films that don’t have a theater audience (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, SWINGERS), most good films make their money back in the theater… and then some.

     SO

     1. Make good films.
     2. Have patience – people will come… back to the theater.
     3. Have confidence in your product.
     4. Sign smaller deals (not 8 pictures with Soderbergh – maybe three or four)
     5. Make great films.

     And thank you.

     Comment by Brian — July 28, 2006 @ 2:02 pm

205. Good stuff here. Most of it completely subjective and almost impossible to implement in a cost efeective way…but still food for thought!

     You can translate many of the techniques you use for the Mavs live game experience to your theatres. Order ahead tickets. Ability to pick seats. Order ahead food. Private boxes. This next one I can’t beleive hasn’t been done yet. Have aisle vendors BEFORE the movie for soda/candy/popcorn.

     Keep commercials before the lights dim. Trailers only after.

     I can see where your frustration comes from. You are trying to quantify a subjective experience. This is why you hit the wall. It’s impossible. That’s why all “the make better movies” line is stupid. I love Seinfeld. My mother hates it. It just so happens that I am in the majority and my mom is in the minority, nothing more. Money can be made from both Seinfeld lovers AND haters.

     No big ideas here. You just need to simplify. Identify a demographic that attends movies (or doesn’t attend movies) and exploit them. The problem is that one movie theater can’t be all things to all demographics. Movie plexes don’t work. It just dilutes to the middle which no one likes.

     Clean Theater
     Simplify concensions. What sells keep. Don’t offer more. If you have the BEST popcorn, people will come for that.
     Offer Coke AND Pepsi.
     HAVE to figure out a way to seperate Teens from Adults from Families. Each group annoys the other.
     The above will solve the talking/cell phone problems.
     Teens want to group and socialize.
     Adults want quiet to date and watch and appreciate a movie in peace.
     Familys want an affordable easy experience (with booster chairs!)

     As it stands now Teens dominate and Adults/Familys stay away. You know why. They can stay home and watch 50″ HDTV with a recliner, good popcorn and own bathroom. You cant’ fight that very well. You have to turn that to your advantage. I have a baby. My friend has 4 kids. These people will almost NEVER go to the theater. However, we want to see the movies too. Offer PPV, DVD, and ipod the same day. Trust me. it is about choice for the customer, not how you want us to experience the movie (sorry directors!)

     Last, if you can’t split out the 3 groups. Please offer head phone jacks and or wireless/bluetooth headphones so I can block out the jackasses around me!

     Thats all I got in 5 minutes. Good Luck!

     Comment by me — July 28, 2006 @ 2:04 pm

206. Maybe one way to look at it is, instead of looking to reduce the number of dollars spent per person marketing your movie, try to make those dollars go farther. Instead of having a separate marketing campaign for the DVD and the movie, just have one, and release the DVD and the movie simultaneously. I’m not really that familiar with the financials of DVD sales, but at least the theaters don’t get have the sales, as they do with theater tickets. (Perhaps resellers, such as Walmart keep some of that cash, but you can also attempt to increase direct sales by encouraging consumers to pre-order the DVDs in your trailer. Promise opening day delivery of the DVD to their home.)

     I don’t think this is a completely new idea. But I’m not sure why it hasn’t been done yet (except with that one Soderbergh movie.)

     Good luck!

     Comment by Ameer Youssef — July 28, 2006 @ 2:13 pm

207. 1) Let us use technology to our advantage! Create micro-theaters that seat anywhere from 4 to 100 people. Additionally charge for the room with custom show times and shows. Prices can vary according to supply and demand. Screens can vary from 8′ to 30′ across.

     2) In the HUGE theaters, drop prices; the first third of the tickets are $5 each and the second third are $8 each. Keep the last third for walk ins only at $9 each. Like an airplane, an empty theater is a waste of resources, so keeping them full is to your advantage.

     3) Allow for subscriptions. For $20 a month let me see as many movies as I want. For $30 a month let me in FIRST or give me a reserved section. For $40 a month let me bring a guest.

     4) Allow for batch purchases. For $25 up front let me in to any four movies, any time I want.

     5) Create a family/group discount program; for a $15 ticket let me bring 4 people in. For $25 let me bring in six people.

     Comment by Louis Wang — July 28, 2006 @ 2:25 pm

208. Most movies target a spicific audience, but spends way too much money mass marketing. Example: “The Devil Wears Prada” would have been very easily marketed at a girls night out party – “bring 5 friends and you get in free” – “Dress in Prada & buy one ticket & get one ticket free”. Market this months out on shopping bags in both high end and low end retailers. Tie in with a restaurant chain and offer 50% off meals with a ticket stubb & do table tents a month out. Offer free tickets or a premeir to the staff at the restaurant to make sure the word of mouth kicks in.

     A sports related movie should plaster posters over all the stadiums & do contest to win tickets at the games. Show trailers on the screens

     As a mother of two – I would create two versions of some movies and sell them both of DVD. There are many movies I would like my kids to see with a few changes – even PG13 can
     be pretty bad for kids – but the movie itself is good!

     As a past marketing consultant for radio – I know they will do a great job to promote movies, espically if they are given a great idea tie-in & prize to offer one of “their own clients”. A National movie is a hot ticket for local retailers with lot’s of customers.

     Movies need to be made to meet the needs of people with lot’s of expendable cash & the time to go : grandparents & aging baby boomers. 60% of all weath comes from people over the age of 60. They will go, I’ve seen it!

     Comment by Kim Stiles — July 28, 2006 @ 2:46 pm

209. here’s an off-the-wall movie theater experiment i’ve been thinking about.

     design a destination where in addition to traditional theaters with huge screens and huge audiences you also create a number of smaller, more intimate spaces that small groups of 6-20 or so could “rent” to watch a movie.

     These aren’t those tiny crappy rooms you get when you go to watch that random indie film and they shove it into the tiny room with crappy sound and video with weird seats.

     These screening rooms should be comfortable, classy and funky–tables to put your drinks and food on, couches, love seats or just something that doesn’t look like a movie theater for seating. Basically make this like a super home theater where people will feel comfortable hanging out and being social.

     Why do this when a lot more people have nice home theaters? First, the number of people with truly nice home theaters is still pretty small. Second, these are NEW movies that aren’t available yet to bring home. Forget simultaneous DVD releases, give people the convenience and enjoyment of the home theater while still getting them out to pay for the movies! Third, these micro-theaters can still have a much bigger screen (at least 2x-3x your biggest 60″ plasma or whatever), better sound, etc. than a home theater. Also, people don’t have to clean up afterwards or worry about the distractions of home. But it retains the more intimate setting of a home theater and gets rid of the annoyances of strangers, like their damn cell phones.

     People should be able to buy nice/gourmet food from a restaurant to bring into their theater room. Beer/wine (and maybe cocktails as well) should also be sold and allowed into the theater. People should also be allowed to bring their own food in. Sure theaters make tons of $ on vending but people will be happier that they have the freedom to bring food and don’t have to hide it, and a good number will choose to pay for the nice food at the place anyway, just like tons of people download songs or video through p2p but still buy CDs, iTunes songs etc. Plus you’ll be making good margins on the beer/wine, which won’t be allowed in, or requires a “corkage” like in any restaurant.

     More ideas–give users control. Rent the spaces out for ~3 hours for a 2 hour movie. let people come early to eat and hang out. let them control the lighting, climate etc. don’t show commercials. or maybe give people the choice of watching some pre-movie shorts (tv shows, previews, games, or something, which could also include commercials). But give them a remote control and let them make their own decisions–this is basically an on demand service that people can play with if they want. Don’t make the movie officially start at one time–allow people to start it when they are ready. You could even allow people to pause the movie for food and bathroom breaks. everyone will know each other, so it’s not a big deal. You could even let people bring their own DVDs or sell DVDs at the theater and just rent the space out for a slight discount.

     anyway, these are just some brief thoughts. whether it’s economically feasible or desirable, i’m not sure. The idea though is to retain the experience of going out, experiencing the film on a big (enough) screen with great sound etc., but adapting to the feeling that people want control over their experiences, they want to avoid the annoyances of other people and they are willing to pay for quality if the experience is worthwhile enough. the idea is to narrowcast and target intelligent consumers that have or aspire to a certain lifestyle.

     this may not be a solution for the industry as a whole, but it could allow theaters to capture a higher-end demographic that has started to disappear. People might pay more for a more personalized, controllable experience.

     Mark, hope you read this far. I’ve got a lot of respect for what you are doing in the media world.

     Comment by eric — July 28, 2006 @ 2:54 pm

210. Yes, make better movies. Make lots of them for cheaper. Make them about people not things. Let people who’ve experienced life–not 18-25 year olds right out of college or some beneficiary of nepotism–write them.

     AND, offer a full ticket REFUND for ANYONE who doesn’t like the product.

     Consumers are able to return almost any product they buy at other retailors, but not at movie theaters.

     If movie producers stood by their products–like Lee Iacocca once did–then, more people might be willing to go to the theater!

     Comment by Russ Barnes — July 28, 2006 @ 3:09 pm

211. The reason people are not going to movies any more is because of several things.

     1) Paying 10 dollars a person to see a movie that might suck is not worth it. Also, having to sit through 20 minutes of previews and commercials is getting a bit ridiculous. If they are advertising that much before a movie starts, then ticket prices should be reduced.

     2) Hollywood is producing stale content (we don’t need more remakes of older movies. No matter who you get to play in the new movie)

     3) Sequels of some movies are great but it seems that every movie that makes a big profit gets a sequel. Do we really need that many sequels that are bound to be plotless copies of the original.

     Instead of trying to get more people into the theaters, just get into their homes. High definition movies on demand that show the same movies that are at theaters. Or release the dvds at the same time as movie launch. You tried this with Bubble, but try it with a more mainstream movie. See how that works. I would be willing to pay to watch a new movie from the comfort of my home.

     If you can just remember these 2 points:
     1) Quality of the Content
     2) Price

     Comment by Colin C. — July 28, 2006 @ 3:14 pm

212. Do first runs for internet writers that have a popular blog/column (e.g., Bill Simmons on ESPN). Let them review your movies to their wide audience. The cost is not free as they can kill your movie with their audience when they don’t like it. On the other hand, have you seen how many people show up for a Bill Simmons chat?

     Comment by George Hykal — July 28, 2006 @ 3:21 pm

213. Movies can be a difficult “product” to market. It all depends on the movie.

     As it is, people determine very quickly if they want to spend the money to see a movie in the theaters, based on the trailer or the premise. Studios spend so much to just give a film visibility, though even they can’t keep people from waiting it out for the DVD release.

     Every studio wants films to generate as much attention as “Blair Witch Project”, “Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Passion of Christ”. But these kinds of occurrences are way too rare to count on.

     Movies like “Spiderman 3″ will be easier to market because the audience for it enjoyed the previous 2.

     2929 Entertainment doesn’t make movies like Spiderman 3, at least not yet. From a look at the website, it looks like 2929 has a lot of niche films.

     Marketing niche films have always been hard. Every indie film out there is trying to do it, and some find an audience, though most just disappear.

     One of the problems with marketing niche films, is that it may be hard for even the marketing people to be into the film enough know how to market it.

     So it’s important to have a marketing team with diverse interests, so there can be different ideas presented when it comes time to market a hard to categorize film.

     I think it also helps to have input from the filmmakers. Their unique insight of their works is always beneficial from a marketing aspect.

     There are tons of suggestions on how to entice people to get into theaters to see movies and most of them are great. But unless all of 2929 Entertainment’s films are only playing in Landmark Theaters, I think it will be hard to get all the other theaters to cooperate with these incentives.

     So in order to get 5 million people to show up consistently, 2929 Entertainment has to emerge as a brand that is known for a certain quality of film.

     This is what Pixar has done. Before Pixar, any animated film, was thought to be a Disney film, just because of the perception that only Disney made animated films. Even though Pixar got help from Disney, they proved they can create a better film than Disney, and the rest is history.

     There is a built in audience for a Pixar film. I believe even if they kept their marketing to a minimum, there would be people who go out of their way to find out when the next Pixar film will be released and let other people know.

     In the same way, 2929 Entertainment needs to become a brand that appeals to a certain audience. This audience will the fan base that will help get the word out. The more passionate the fan base, the farther the word travels I believe.

     Brand loyalty is probably the only way to get 5 million people to show up to see a film, without spending $50 million in marketing.

     Comment by Thomas Mathai — July 28, 2006 @ 3:21 pm

214. Sell liquor/beer/wine, improve the food (move to decent sandwiches, garlic fries- food found at a decent ball park), increase entertainment options (expand arcades, have a bar, maybe live music), and restrict the hours that under 18 year olds can be in the movie theater (curfew them at 10:30 p.m.), and add a smoking area. Oh and add valet parking.

     Comment by KGC — July 28, 2006 @ 3:31 pm

215. 1. I still think the marketing costs are out of control because you are blasting advertising to everyone rather than just the people who would like that film. Know your demographics better and advertise in a more targeted approach to them. Big spend branding adveritisng for a nitche movie is a complete waste of money. Its not about more marketing its about smart marketing.

     2. And unfortunatley its about time. It takes time for word of mouth to travel. In fact that time after a movie is out of theaters and not yet available on DVD is probably a crucial time, because some less connected people are just hearing about it then, and they look it up on the internet only to find that it’s gone and the dvd won’t be out for 6-12 months. So they’re immediatley lost. (at least get their email so you can ping them when it is available)Finding a way to bridge that gap and do the theater & dvd push all in one push rather than twice (once for the theaters and once for the dvd sales) would cut on marketing costs and keep the buzz going longer. Would they release dvds when movies are in theaters? Or soon after they’re out? I think some experimenting here would be interesting.

     Comment by theprotagonist — July 28, 2006 @ 3:35 pm

216. One big frustration I have with movie releases are the ads. They start way too early (months before the release date). I can see an ad once and be excited about the movie, but after a month of saturation my desire to see the movie has already waned, all before the release.

     I see a movie nearly every weekend and during the week I’m planning what movie to see that Saturday, not several weeks in the future. I need to know what’s out now, not what will be out at Thanksgiving.

     Plus, the ads often give away (or seem to give away) enough of the plot that I don’t feel like I need to see the movie. Ads should tell you the genre, cast, crew, and basic plot of the movie. I don’t want to see every funny scene in the movie in the ad. I don’t want the end given away in the ad.

     Another frustration is release window. Some movies are gone before I have a chance to see them. I’d prefer that movies stay in the theatres longer. I’ve enjoyed many movies which were well into their second or third month of release. And, I’ve missed many movies that were showing for only a few weeks. Maybe with digital distribution you can create more interesting release schedules. For example, one screen could show a rotating selection of two or three related movies.

     Finally, when I lived in Boston I went to a rivival theatre all the time (The Brattle). I think it would be interesting if normal theatres carried some revival movies. I’m probably going to go see Blade Runner when it is re-released next year. I saw all the Star Wars in the theatre for the special editions. I would love to see some of the big hits from the past on the big screen. Why not pair Superman with Superman Returns as a double feature? Or, even a recent release like Saw with the new movie Descent. Schizopolis with Bubble!

     Comment by Fletcher Sandbeck — July 28, 2006 @ 3:36 pm

217. This may seem counter-intuitive, but my answer is show fewer movies…now bear with me. With digital projectors in a huge number of theaters now and more on the way, start using them to show other things than movies.

     Show big season openers and cliffhangers for shows with huge followings like Lost and event shows like American Idle. Show the Superbowl with appropriate food and flare. Make the events that are sucking people away from the theaters the very thing that brings in more business. During the middle of the day when you have maybe a dozen people in each theater at a 14 screen multiplex, just cut down which movies are playing to the more popular ones and add things like spongbob, or even one of my personal favorites a theater set up to split the screen into a dozen views and play multiplayer Doom.

     To make theatres and thus movies more profitable, first get more people to the theater, that will get you second less stress on ever growing ticket price, which will third make people more interested in going where they go many days in the week, the good old fasioned movies.

     Comment by Mick Darling — July 28, 2006 @ 3:37 pm

218. I’ve been out of the movie going group for maybe 20 years, possibly more. Let me list the reasons I’ve not gone, and later talk about what it would take to get me back.

     I won’t say most movies are bad, just that they don’t appeal because of *excessive violence*. Hollywood is using ‘action’ (read violence) as a substitute for a real plot and good dialog.

     I suspect but cannot prove that the screen violence provides both a bad example and reduces aversion to violence in kids, though it is only one factor.

     But worse than that, it makes most of the plots seem the same. This is the most critical item on this subject. If the viewers can’t tell the plots apart, why would they come back?

     Plots apart, there are all too many movies that count on horror or fear to attract an audience. Dumb. I see enough of that in real life – I don’t consider it entertainment but torture.

     Another problem in the movies is the use of very expensive ‘name’ actors in almost every major movie, as a supposed draw. Two pproblems – it drives up costs and overexposes the actors to the point where you don’t want to see the same faces again, different role or not.

     Finally on movie problems, there are simply too many ‘me too’ movies, poor takes on what might have been a good idea, once. Boring.

     Now let’s move on to a list of theater problems:
     1. Outrageous snack prices.
     2. Excessive sound volume in the movie.
     3. Forced viewing of advertisements *after* you paid how much?!
     4. Short shows, typical 90 minutes rather than 120 or more. It’s difficult to do a good movie that short.
     5. Talking loudly and on cell phones during a movie. Not to mention stranger things happening.

     Finally, let’s talk about the few remaining positives:
     In the last two years, I have seen two films – “Serenity” and “What the Bleep.” I would have seen “An Inconvenient Truth,” but I have been researching Global Warming for 18 months and already knew how it came out. :-}

     Note that neither of these was a major film with the usual actors. They were original and surprising. I both enjoyed and learned from the movies. And I won’t be going for anything less.

     How to fix the problems?
     1. Use better source. There are many good writers out there and good books, but the producers need to take off their blinders, erase their preconceptions about what sells, and (gasp) take a little content risk.

     2. Also, don’t rewrite a successful book story unless you are a writer of comparable talent. Ultimately, it is the **story** that is important – the actors portray it and the producers focus it, but producers are not writers and should be very careful about redesigning the story line.

     3. Get away from using violence, especially the grossly overdone car chases, gun fights, phoney falls, building explosions *unless* they are *essential* to the story. Damn few are.

     4. More realism. Most of the actors are not representative of the public, both in race and form. They are too good looking, and though subtle, that detracts from the realism. Movies should strive to look ‘real’, even if enhanced.

     I’m not sure anyone will read this far. I could go on, but my fingers are getting tired. :-}
     However, there are more issues to explore and change for a much improved experience, and much improved attendence.

     BillN

     Comment by Bill Nicholls — July 28, 2006 @ 3:47 pm

219. Increase the time between movie release and movie going to video to one year at the least.
     By making movies that drop in theaters and Blockbusters on the same day you’ve taken the “special” out of going to the theatre. There’s nothing special anymore. Premiers are special that’s about it.
     2. Digital theater projection would be nice as well. Since my 55 inch SED (2008) Blue Ray movie will look great. A ratty 3 week old movie print isn’t going to cut it. The experience has to be better.
     Once people taste quality they start demanding it.
     But really all it takes is cutting back the release dates a year. Scarcity creates desire. Desire creates demand.
     Good luck

     Comment by MCLOKI — July 28, 2006 @ 3:50 pm

220. A couple of suggestions:

     1) Most people complain that they can buy the DVD for the cost of going to the actual theatre with their spouse — so why not provide some kind of incentive for going to the theatre that actually applies towards purchase of a DVD? For example, place serial numbers on all ticket stubs and with that, a patron who really likes a movie can get a $n credit ($5?) towards buying the DVD when it comes out?

     2) I for one hate going to a popular movie on a weekend evening only to find the only available seats are the first row or off to the side. Stadium style seating takes care of that somewhat, but there are still some rather undesirable seats not to mention it might be difficult to find a place where you can sit together with your friend(s). Like airplane tickets that are bought online, it should be the case that one can reserve seats ahead of time perhaps for a nominal fee? I for one would not mind spending a couple of extra bucks in order to make sure that my date and I get good seats! This might be difficult to enforce across an entire theatre, so maybe there are some reserved, premium sections? Kind of like the balconies at operas or business class on airplaines. First in first out (FIFO) seating is for economy style experiences like Southwest Airlines. I’m not saying do away with it entirely, but there should be room for differentiation if desired.

     Comment by Jimmy Hong — July 31, 2006 @ 6:12 pm

221. Bounce-backs are always good incentives. Maybe this could work on a national level. If someone brings in their ticket stub for said movie, they get a discount at another business. The businesses usually end up getting poeple they wouldn’t otherwise and in turn cross promote the movie. It’s an incentive the movie does’t have to take a cut for.

     Comment by Hans — July 31, 2006 @ 6:15 pm

222. What an interesting challenge. I started putting my thoughts out on paper, but it got way too long for a comment here. It’s a list of challenges as I understand them, and nine or so recommendations for overcoming them. If you find a moment, I hope you will read my blog entry called “For Mark Cuban. How to get more people to the movies.” Posted on my blog. If I understand the way this comment system works, you should be able to click my name to read the blog entry.
     Thanks!

     Comment by Mike DelGaudio — July 31, 2006 @ 6:24 pm

223. Mark,
     I’m a huge Mavs fan and live in uptown near the AAC. I have been doing business in Dallas since I graduated from Texas State in 1999. I was responsible for financing 40% of the condos at The Terrace near The W. I have decided to take an entrepreneurial risk and go to work for myself. My company, PartyHD.com, is going to promote parties, film weddings and events in HD. I have an extensive network of clients financed and friends from all over the country. I would love an opportunity to discuss your movie challenge position. Thank you for your time and attention.

     Best regards,

     Ben Neupert
     PartyHD.com
     ben@partyhd.com

     Comment by Ben Neupert — July 31, 2006 @ 6:59 pm

224. I have a job. It’s simple to get someone like myself to return who hasn’t been in a movie theater in a year. STOP SHOWING COMMERCIALS BEFORE THE PICTURE BEGINS! I wait for the DVD release because I refuse to sit and watch an ad. I paid to have a movie experience and not sit through commercials. If a theatre wants to show advertisements to me, then there should be no fee at the door.

     Comment by earwitness — July 31, 2006 @ 7:43 pm

225. Please note I am admiting up-front that I did not bother reading 99% of the comments, since by the time I got here, there was already 995 comments posted already. So, I beg your pardon if this has already been suggested.

     Blogs are so common and widely read today. How about seeking out the high traffic blog sites and negotiate advertizement? Seek out those that gets massive traffic. Majority of the bloggers do not have advertizers that I am guessing you can probably negotiate an appealing flat fee that would be a fraction of a full-on advertizement campaign. You reach high numbers of people and depending on your research on the blogs you’re negotiating with, you could be targetting your demographic by being selective with the blogs you work with. This idea works well with what you’re already doing utilizing the Internet.

     Comment by jt — July 31, 2006 @ 9:30 pm

226. Mr. Cuban,

     Utilize what you have to get results.

     1. Have a link added on to all of your existing promotional ads and sites that allows consumers to register with your site to recieve free movie trailers, free ringtones of the soundtrack and discounts directly to their cell phone or pda.

     Benefits – Consumers automatically receives updates,trailers, they will sign on for the free ringtones (you can use the publicity of ringtone to bargin with the music artist), and discount tickets.

     2. You will be able to use the list created in step one for all your future movies without any additional cost.

     3. When consumers access movie fone or any search engine the will automatically be directed to your movie site so the adding the link will be of minimal expense.

     Comment by Tina Harrison — July 31, 2006 @ 9:37 pm

227. As I am sure you already know and have been told numerous times cost is a big issue. How do you make it affordable for a family of 4 to go to the movies. My wife and I have 2 daughters and plan to have a third child. We are locky in that we have family to leave the kids with for free if we decide to go to a movie. thank God for grandparents! It would be nice not to burden them with the kids, although I am sure they do not mind, and take them with us. We do not always want to see the G rated movie and they are not old enough to watch a movie alone with us in another theater. So, I suggest free child care. Section off a small area of the theater to leave the kids, between a certain age of course. Have a security feature in place so the correct people pick up their kids after their movie. Have fun things for the kids to do such as games, cartoons, ect. Start off with one kid per adult movie ticket purchase. sure ticket prices might have to increase say 50 cents per person to cover the cost. Then once the family has the kids there I am sure they will buy food, which will also increase revenue. Bennigan’s, at least the local one, has kids eat free on Tuesdays. You get one free child’s meal with the purchase of an adults. The best thing is they block off a section of the restaurant for the kids to play in with all kinds of games, coloring, and videos. We like so much we are going to have our daughter’s birthday there. It is a good idea and they get LOTS of business on Tuesday nights.

     Comment by David P — July 31, 2006 @ 10:54 pm

228. Loyalty program.
     Sign up for an HDNet rewards card that gets swiped everytime you go to the theater for an HDNet movie. Reaching certain levels triggers discounts with partners, which could range from refreshment discounts to product discounts to VIP status at clubs.

     Comment by JJ — July 31, 2006 @ 11:28 pm

229. Mark,

     Have you considered selling a “season ticket” package to the movies? This concept could be taken directly to companies and offered through the HR department as an employee benefit, much the way some cell phone providers and banks visit the workplace. You could sell directly to the employees on their breaks or at employee meetings. Once the interest is really hyped, you might even be able to sell companies on buying the season passes for their employees as a part of their full benefits package.
     Thanks for helping make our Mavs great!
     Chad

     Comment by Chad Johnston — August 1, 2006 @ 12:22 am

230. Mark,

     Have you considered selling a “season ticket” package to the movies? This concept could be taken directly to companies and offered through the HR department as an employee benefit, much the way some cell phone providers and banks visit the workplace. You could sell directly to the employees on their breaks or at employee meetings. Once the interest is really hyped, you might even be able to sell companies on buying the season passes for their employees as a part of their full benefits package.
     Thanks for helping make our Mavs great!
     Chad

     Comment by Chad Johnston — August 1, 2006 @ 12:23 am

231. that is a new way to earn money!

     Comment by wholesale art — August 1, 2006 @ 3:28 am

232. that is a new way to earn money!

     Comment by wholesale art — August 1, 2006 @ 3:33 am

233. WE CAN FIX THE MOVIES
     Why can I spend $15-30 on meal and feel it’s a good value?
     Why can I spend $3 on a cup of coffee?
     Why do I visit my local bookstore when I can buy online for cheaper?
     Why will I spend $100/person for a day at the amusement park?

     Good Service.
     Good Products.
     Good Atmosphere.
     AND MOST IMPORTANTLY a Perception that I can’t equal these any place else.

     What’s broken about the movies is that lack of perceived value.
     $20 for a ticket, a cola, and a few handfuls of popcorn at a theater with poorly reproduced sound and picture quality. Hell, I can do better than that at home.

     SO, HOW DO WE FIX IT?
     We make it an experience you can’t get at home, one that seems such a good value that people want to do it again next week.

     First, the prerequisites.
     1. Realize that theater is a community experience, at least it should be, if we want auditoriums filled. The electricity of a packed house minutes before the trailers begin cannot be recreated at home. Neither can screams or laughter of a crowd. Embracing and respecting that community is the beginning to winning their love.

     2. Provide a better presentation than can be found at home. Big screens, bright pictures, ample surround sound, and a comfortable environment are all required. But that’s not all…

     3. We must also embrace Digital Projection and the amazing transformation it can bring to cinema. DLP is not only a way to produce superior presentations but it frees cinema from the constraints of film. Projectors can be used for live events, sports, independent features, local productions, short films, education, plays, teleconferencing, the list goes on…

     4.THE THEATER MUST BECOME PART OF THE COMMUNITY.
     Right now, most theaters provide nothing more than a first look at a film that will probably play better on my home theater 6 months from now. They need to become a place that embraces film lovers and provides them with a unique experience. Sneak previews, special one night shows, re-releases, these could all be incentives to start gaining trust and with digital projection they could all become feasable.
     New hardware and software is making it possible for almost anyone to start producing content. To help foster development for new and local artists the local theater should provide a venue to show, share and learn. Not only will it bring in business, but it will nurture our future filmmakers. It will also be a scoutting place for new talent and possible further ditribution whether it be the internet or other digital theaters. Anyone can put their film on the web. The hurdle is getting people to see it. The local theater should become a trusted place and a place to socialize and information source of future movies. (Advertisements are fine, but not when they are pushed down peolple’s throats)

     5. Find other sources of revenue instead of just tickets and concessions. Consumers are having a hard time justifying the prices. The idea is to provide a place that can be enjoyed as a night out (regardless how good the feature was). People should regret not going there on a Friday Night.

     IF I COULD BUILD MY OWN THEATER
     It starts with a state of the art multiplex, but expands to include other services that are also social gathering places. These other services include bars and restaurants that also have their own screens. These auxiliary screens will not show first run features but will instead cater to very specific niche audiences. The goal of each is provide a experience that cannot be found elsewhere. And the screens create an opportunity to experiment with new ideas, in case some parts of the plan works better than others

     FOOD
     A casual upper middle class (Cheesecake Factory like) restaurant designed to be the premiere place to dine before or after your showtime. Above the dining area would be a 360 screen showing silent clips of films that could spark movie conversations or air any special events.

     A cheaper food court like restaurant could provide an alternative for quicker meals. Still the goal is quality and profit. Both place should make money, while providing service and goods that make people feel their money is well spent.

     COFFEE and DESSERT
     A separate shop will provide coffee, pastries, and other desserts. It will have a screen and stage area and provide a venue for short films, local filmmakers, and other artists. The goal is to provide a local forum for emerging talent to show their work and the preferred format will be short, so the socializing will be encouraged.

     BAR
     One area will be devoted to movies, similar to the coffee house but a little less intellectual. I see short format comedies, possibly more R rated stuff, and audience participation encouraged.
     The other area will be a sports bar. Housing many smaller screens, but it’s primary screen will be the largest digital projection of the whatever the major sporting event of the day is.

     NIGHTCLUB
     Finally, the nightclub. Again surrounded with screens, this time providing a venue for talented DJ’s and VJ’s to remix music, movies, and other media while patrons groove on the dancefloor. This would also be an excellent venue for projected concert events. Allowing everyone to dance is a key missing ingredient from current concert films.

     One final note, I think having screens everywhere will keep the entire multiplex flexible and fresh. New content equals new reason to stop in. Ideas that don’t work can easily be changed. With the support of people like Mr. Cuban we will be able to discover a new golden age of cinema.

     Thank you this opportunity to provide input. I haven’t had a chance to read the other responses, but I’m very interested in everyone elses thoughts. Thanks for sharing. I went to print a hard copy of the comments until I saw it would be 500+ pages long. That tells me there is a passion for movies and with some ingenuity we can not only fix this business, but we can grow it into something bigger than it ever was before.

     Comment by JohnR — August 1, 2006 @ 4:47 am

234. 15 penis enlargement devices, 10 penis enlargement patches.

     Comment by sizegenetics — August 1, 2006 @ 9:46 am

235. Please note I am admiting up-front that I did not bother reading 99% of the comments, since by the time I got here, there was already over a thousand comments posted already. So, I beg your pardon if this has already been suggested.

     Blogs are so common and widely read today. How about seeking out the high traffic blog sites and negotiate advertizement? Seek out those that gets massive traffic. Majority of the bloggers do not have advertizers that I am guessing you can probably negotiate an appealing flat fee that would be a fraction of a full-on advertizement campaign. You reach high numbers of people and depending on your research on the blogs you’re negotiating with, you could be targetting your demographic by being selective with the blogs you work with. This idea works well with what you’re already doing utilizing the Internet.

     Comment by jt — August 1, 2006 @ 10:43 am

236. 8. Leverage back-catalog & re-release established movies. I’ve seen both Wizard of Oz and My Fair Lady as re-releases (along with the Star Wars trilogy re-relases). Go back through the catalog, and find films which haven’t been seen in 10-30 years but are still remembered. Great date movies, primal action flicks & SFX extravaganzas. Would you rather see Lady in the Water or Gone with the Wind?

     Comment by Eric Ball — August 1, 2006 @ 11:26 am

237. My 2 Cents:
     First, re-read Jayson Bales’ entry. Second, remember that each film has to be treated as its own business from the very beginning. If at all possible start the marketing machine before the film goes into production. How about arranging a webcam on set to feature clips from production for your fans to see then put it on youtube.com. Third, if you are producing films and then distributing them start saving money by adjusting your above-the-line budget. Get those costs DOWN. Actors are ripping us off. They are not selling tickets the way they used to. Granted you need some star power to put butts in seats BUT there is plenty of recognizable talent out there ready to be seen. Turn your head to the music industry, artists are no longer getting the deals they used to but there are plenty of artists who still want to make music and it sells.

     If you’re acquiring independent films KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE and try not to pay too much for the film. Look at Sony Pictures Classics, they are famous for not paying a lot for films AND they have a reputation for having the best deals for filmmakers. Also, take a look at how Focus distributes their films and I mean the actual distribution not the marketing. Focus has the best guy in the industry, he knows when and how to release a film. Next, watch Picturehouse, they have the best name in marketing. He is a guru! Seriously.

     Finally, don’t be afraid to take chances with a film that may be too challenging or controversial for an audience. Don’t dumb us down, we can handle it. Remember this too, you will make mistakes and you’re going to miss a money-making film or two but if you are doing this because you love film more than the money (because honestly, there is no quick buck to be made in this industry) you will hit some home runs.

     Good luck!

     Comment by D O'Malley — August 1, 2006 @ 11:33 am

238. There is no silver bullet. Period. Since the dawn of Nickelodeons distributors have been looking for the holy grail to film marketing. Unlike other industries where the products are static, the products in the film industry are dynamic and require a dynamic marketing approach. What is effective in marketing one film will not work for every film or even a slate of films. It’s short sighted to think that one great idea is going to fix the problem. You will end up spending less money on an idea that will work for a few films, but will later require more and more money until you are right back were you started.

     What you need is one great marketing team. Marketing of the film needs to start with acquisition of the project. You start by only acquiring films that are going to get people in the seats. Then you build the marketing plan around the film. Assemble pieces and parts that will get the message out to the largest number of people for the smallest amount of money. For each film, you are using different and varying strategies that are geared toward maximizing the exposure of the individual film.

     This view of marketing requires integration of the entire business model. This is about rethinking the entire matrix of theatrical film distribution. And it will require taking risks in all facets of the business. It will be a painful process for those people who believe that “this is the way we do because this is how we always did it”. This is a revolution in the process of theatrical film distribution and marketing that will not only lower the cost of marketing but help to revitalize the theatrical industry.

     Comment by Rob Hogan — August 1, 2006 @ 11:34 am

239. As I sat in the airport on my way to Las Vegas this weekend i thought about your question. Where are there a mass of people, the airports across the country. Millions of people spend hours at a time in the airport. So there is the answer to your question, electronic bill boards. Post electronic bill boards through the countries airports, malls, gorcery stores, hotels, fitness centers and public transportation stations. Anywhere there are a massive number of people. These bill boards can be program from a remote site to change the message or preview of the upcoming movie. With wireless technology this can be done. Another way to get reach millions is to have regular text or video messages sent to cell phone carriers/subscribers. I get text messages about my account etc. These are my suggestions, let’s make it happen! When do I start?

     Comment by Alondra K. Poindexter — August 1, 2006 @ 11:52 am

240. Haven’t read all the comments so if what I say has been said, then ignore.

     You were talking about having kids themed movie theaters where they could buy the movie and toys afterward, do a theater where when they pay $8 for a movie and if they like it and want to buy it then instead of buying the dvd for $20 (at bestbuy, circuit city, etc.) you give it to them for $12. Similar to being able to buy movies after you rent them from blockbuster.

     Comment by Mark D. — August 1, 2006 @ 11:53 am

241. I would give each person who buys a movie theater ticket and watches the movie the option to buy the DVD of the movie for a special price right after they watch the movie. (Maybe only during opening weekend. And maybe only a special limited edition.)

     It’s impulse shopping. I would have bought 3 to 5 copies of Akeelah and the Bee right after I saw it because I LOVED IT and I immediately thought of people who would also love to see the film, but who never go to movie theaters or who would might miss the theatrical run. Now, that the ‘impluse’ is gone, I’ll probably just buy one copy when it comes out on DVD.

     I’ve already bought 2 copies of the soundtrack, and gifted one, because I could.

     I’ve always been able to sell copies of my films to audience members right after the audience has seen the film. I also give out postcards with purchase info and a 1-800# and ask audience members to mail them to their friends. This brings in lots of sales. And the audience who loves the film makes the best sales force. But, I’m working on the festival circuit, not theatrical.

     Comment by Yvonne Welbon — August 1, 2006 @ 12:04 pm

242. Much of the popularity of reality TV, MySpace, YouTube, etc. is the potential fame that goes with being discovered. To the extent that you can capitalize on that you could bring some success back to the movie theater experience. At least for certain demographics. I think there are several ways you can do this.

     First, you could incorporate user-generated content into one of your films. The idea of “helping” to create a movie (without having to do the whole thing) will likely hold a ton of appeal to people. By allowing people to create certain “unfinished” portions of a movie you can pique interest and spark demand. Obviously, it will involve some screening and anything that wins will need to be made more professional, but the marketing end of things could be cheap. How much of an impact you let these scenes have on your movie is up to you, but I would think that these would be more or less inconsequential to the story.

     Second, you could turn it into a reality TV show. Have people work with an existing script and put their interpretation on it. Advertisers would essentially pay for the development and create buzz so when the final movie is released you already have a captive audience. You would just have to time the release and the show so it doesn’t get stale.

     Finally, you could take a page from the children’s book industry and implement some sort of “Choose Your Own Adventure” aspect for the movies. You could create two endings of the same movie and adjust ticket prices so that people get to see both movies for $10 (or so) instead of $7 for each. Production costs would certainly be higher, but marketing buzz would also be high due to the unique nature of the film. Again, targeting the right demographic would be key. Once people saw both movies they could go online to vote for the best one, etc. You could release trailers that lead up to key decision points in the movie and build buzz around what will happen.

     Perhaps the reality show mentioned above could release the final two contestants’ movies in theaters and have the winner decided by revenues over the first two weeks or so.

     Food for thought…

     Comment by Rob — August 1, 2006 @ 1:57 pm

243. The problem is not in marketing movies. I usually have no trouble finding a movie I want to see.

     The problem is making the “going out to a movie” experience equal to or better than renting the DVD and sitting in my living room experience. Not much has changed with going out to a movie (save stadium seating), but a lot has changed with the options available to us to see that movie.

     I believe people want to get out. They just want a good experience — just seeing the movie doesn’t cut it anymore.

     I live in Baltimore and am lucky to have three very nice arthouse theaters to choose from — one is especially in tune with the “experience” with food and drink steps from the theater lobby. Trailers are minimal and you can bet that adolescent hormones are kept in check. This is the kind of place that’s nice to hang out at even when you’re not seeing a movie — imagine that!

     I’ll venture to the burbs, to the chains, every so often, but every time I leave asking the same thing: why? Why did I just spend all that money for shit service, a movie that started 40 minutes later than the start time, overpriced bad food, and a group of kids being kids sitting behind me yelling back and forth to each other for the entire show. Hell yes I’d rather sit in my living room and watch that movie — MONTHS LATER. And it’ll be months before I’ll want to go back to that theater.

     I think the young adult market (under 25) is what it is — you’ll always have those numbers and they’ll typically reside in your burb chain theaters. Growth is in the cities. The 25 and up crowd dating or out with friends for an interesting evening. They want an experience, a hangout.

     One more thing:
     A pricing model I’ve never understood is that you can see this movie later FOR LESS. Doesn’t make sense to give the consumer an incentive to wait. Instead, opening weekend should be discounted — heavily — (this may be easier when digital projectors are more the norm and costs to operate the theater are lower, or at least can be spent in better areas than projection prints) — the idea is to get people talking early on — not only about the great movie they saw Friday night, but about the dinner they had before and the drinks they had after — all right there.

     These ideas are synonymous with the overall experience that will lure me from my living room and to the theater.

     Comment by Rhett — August 1, 2006 @ 3:01 pm

244. With respect to the participants that have submitted entries, I may repeat some ideas already posted since I have not reviewed their responses for fear of having my own ideas influenced. That said, here goes:

     1. The JetBlue Cross-Marketing Approach: Offer the first 30 minutes for free on a website and if they want to continue to watch, viewers must pay and can then add the movie to their collection. By doing this, you bring people to a venue, the website, that offers them other products and can collect their e-mail info for future promotions and offers.

     2. The Material: My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Napoleon Dynamite have proven that star names aren’t needed to score big profits, only good material that transcends backgrounds and captures the things that the audience can relate to. These days studios have forgotten to ask the public what it wants and force-feeds re-makes of movies that the audience might not have enjoyed the first time around. Give the people what they want. For example, Casablanca; released at a time of international relations uncertainty, the film showed the importance and the possibility of allies against tyranny, “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

     3. Freebies: Blockbusters depend on major marketing campaigns to bring in a $100 million dollar opening weekend, imagine the possibilities and buzz if the first three showings of that weekend were offered for free? The chaos alone would instigate media coverage and force free publicity.

     4. Importance Gimmick: Imagine sitting in an auditorium for a movie you paid to see and watching a preview saying, “A film so ahead of it’s time, so important to our way of life we’re offering it to you for free!” Offer a 2-for-1 special that requires an effort on the consumers part; i.e. a paid stub for two entitles the customer to a refund check for the price of one ticket. Two things will happen here, first, most people will be too lazy to complete the task and second, by collecting their information we can solicit them with discounts to upcoming movies, concession stands, DVD offers, etc. Once we establish someone as a customer, we maintain them as a lifelong client.

     5. “This Is Your Movie”: Hire established writers with the ability to produce material based on others’ suggestions. Offer moviegoers the once in a lifetime opportunity to custom make their own movie. The overhead of this campaign will be minimal as we direct people to website where they select pre-arranged options of what they want their film to include. Who wouldn’t pay to see a movie they help put together?

     6. Getting Away With Something: People love the feeling of getting more than they should for their money. To introduce a new film cross venture it with merchandising and offer free viewings of the film with the purchase of the film’s namesake T-Shirt or memorable quote, remember Napoleon Dynamite’s “Vote For Pedro” shirt?

     7. Update The Drive-In: The drive-ins of yesteryear gave people an opportunity to center their entire night around the movie. These days with so many other options, going to the movies has lost it’s glamorous allure. Every summer NYC’s Bryant Park Film Festival screens classic movies every Monday evening for free allowing people to congregate on the lawn for hours before and after the film. This forces participants to plan their entire night around the movie. Give people other venue options where regardless of the film’s quality, the doing of watching the screen becomes the event. Some examples: 50,000 basketball fans packed inside Madison Square Garden watching Hoosiers together; 60,000 college football fans watching Rudy at Giant Stadium; 70,000 boxing fans at the Philadelphia Spectrum watching the forthcoming Rocky 6; 80,000 heavy metal fans watching Spinal Tap on the sound stage with a pyrotechnics accompaniment together on Randall’s Island. The possibilities are limitless.

     I have more ideas but my allotted 3 minute lunch hour is over.

     Comment by Shevy Gutierrez — August 1, 2006 @ 3:05 pm

245. A friend of mine told me about this challenge and I remember thinking WOW the responses for this are going to be really interesting. Living in NYC and being a movie fan is not easy or cheap! I ask myself just about every weekend what exactly makes me return to the movies and plunk down another $10 for a movie that is basically a toss up? I think this is the question people should ask themselves in response to the challenge.

     Below are my ideas:

     1. Incentives- Considering that the cost of movies is not going down anytime soon we need to give people a reason to come back to the theatres. I think it’s obvious corporate sponsorship and product placement has become a huge factor in the entertainment industry.

     Hold that thought…
     Another big money maker in the US is the lottery. People spend millions of dollars in NY just to get a shot at the big jackpot.

     Now let’s think of the lottery on a smaller scale. What if we got got corporations to sponsor certain shows by offering door prizes. Obviously tech gadgets would be the biggest pull cell phones, mp3 players, PDA’s, video game systems.

     I know the idea sounds like it could potentially be costly but when you take into consideration the advertising that the product receives there is a cost share on the part of the corporation.

     This can also work on a smaller scale like with local business around the area of the movie theatre. I am thinking like restaurants or clothing stores that are willing to offer either gift certificates or discounts as part of the door prize.

     I think my idea comes from an experience I recently had a movie screening. The line was ridiculously long and it was hot but people were waiting at least an hour to see Nacho Libre. A local radio station sponsored the event and sort of amped up the crowd with little give aways and that seemed to put people in good spirits. I also noticed how many more people were buying snacks (the movie was free so I guess that makes sense.) Anyway, althought the gifts weren’t on a MP3 level they did manage to give away concert tickets.

     This brings me to my second idea:

     2. Combining different Media Markets: Music has become a major part of the movie business. There are few movies released that don’t have soundtracks. I don’t know the numbers on those sales but I think that recording companies could definitely benefit through marketing the album with purchase of tickets. Perhaps offering a discount on the album with the stub from the movie ticket. ( I don’t know if this will bring more people to the theares but figured I would throw it out there.)

     3. Targeted Audiences- This idea has already been somewhat approcahed here in NYC. There are certain theatres that have “Mommy and me showings” that allow moms/parents to bring their kids to the movies and NOT have to worry about looks of death from other moviegoers. I have seen other theatres sponsor single nights usually with a little cocktail hour before the movie. This made me think that maybe we should be trying to group levels of the movie theatre accordingly. Maybe have a level that is strictly for parents and children it could also have a small arcade. A level that shows independent films and has a small cafe. Another level for people 21 and over, maybe even consider having a teen section targeting youth 12-18. I always wondered how you could put Hostel next to a movie like Ice Age…you couldn’t be any more different!!

     I know that this sounds like a very segregated outlook but improving the overall movie experience is a large part of bringing people back to the theatre. We know we can’t control the content of movies, but we can attempt to change people’s behaviors, such as the latecomers. If we offered the door prizes 15 minutes before the movie then perhaps people would show up on time, hey maybe even come early?? Speaking of coming early this leads me to my final idea.

     4. Extending showtimes- Living in the city that never sleeps I have always wondered why movie thestres didn’t have earlier or later showings. People work on very different schedules and early evening or afternoon aren’t always the most convenient times to see a movie. I have always wondered how a 24 hour movie theatre would do in NY??

     I know alot of people will think my ideas are focused primarily on big city theatres and probably can’t be applicable to middle america. But I disagree, I believe that by taking your market into account and scaling back some of the ideas you can still be successful in drawing people back to the theatres!!

     Well that’s my take on the movie business challenge. Feel free to respond I would love fedback. Best of luck…

     Comment by Mina — August 1, 2006 @ 3:29 pm

246. A friend of mine told me about this challenge and I remember thinking WOW the responses for this are going to be really interesting. Living in NYC and being a movie fan is not easy or cheap! I ask myself just about every weekend what exactly makes me return to the movies and plunk down another $10 for a movie that is basically a toss up? I think this is the question people should ask themselves in response to the challenge.

     Below are my ideas:

     1. Incentives- Considering that the cost of movies is not going down anytime soon we need to give people a reason to come back to the theatres. I think it’s obvious corporate sponsorship and product placement has become a huge factor in the entertainment industry.

     Hold that thought…
     Another big money maker in the US is the lottery. People spend millions of dollars in NY just to get a shot at the big jackpot.

     Now let’s think of the lottery on a smaller scale. What if we got got corporations to sponsor certain shows by offering door prizes. Obviously tech gadgets would be the biggest pull cell phones, mp3 players, PDA’s, video game systems.

     I know the idea sounds like it could potentially be costly but when you take into consideration the advertising that the product receives there is a cost share on the part of the corporation.

     This can also work on a smaller scale like with local business around the area of the movie theatre. I am thinking like restaurants or clothing stores that are willing to offer either gift certificates or discounts as part of the door prize.

     I think my idea comes from an experience I recently had a movie screening. The line was ridiculously long and it was hot but people were waiting at least an hour to see Nacho Libre. A local radio station sponsored the event and sort of amped up the crowd with little give aways and that seemed to put people in good spirits. I also noticed how many more people were buying snacks (the movie was free so I guess that makes sense.) Anyway, althought the gifts weren’t on a MP3 level they did manage to give away concert tickets.

     This brings me to my second idea:

     2. Combining different Media Markets: Music has become a major part of the movie business. There are few movies released that don’t have soundtracks. I don’t know the numbers on those sales but I think that recording companies could definitely benefit through marketing the album with purchase of tickets. Perhaps offering a discount on the album with the stub from the movie ticket. ( I don’t know if this will bring more people to the theares but figured I would throw it out there.)

     3. Targeted Audiences- This idea has already been somewhat approcahed here in NYC. There are certain theatres that have “Mommy and me showings” that allow moms/parents to bring their kids to the movies and NOT have to worry about looks of death from other moviegoers. I have seen other theatres sponsor single nights usually with a little cocktail hour before the movie. This made me think that maybe we should be trying to group levels of the movie theatre accordingly. Maybe have a level that is strictly for parents and children it could also have a small arcade. A level that shows independent films and has a small cafe. Another level for people 21 and over, maybe even consider having a teen section targeting youth 12-18. I always wondered how you could put Hostel next to a movie like Ice Age…you couldn’t be any more different!!

     I know that this sounds like a very segregated outlook but improving the overall movie experience is a large part of bringing people back to the theatre. We know we can’t control the content of movies, but we can attempt to change people’s behaviors, such as the latecomers. If we offered the door prizes 15 minutes before the movie then perhaps people would show up on time, hey maybe even come early?? Speaking of coming early this leads me to my final idea.

     4. Extending showtimes- Living in the city that never sleeps I have always wondered why movie thestres didn’t have earlier or later showings. People work on very different schedules and early evening or afternoon aren’t always the most convenient times to see a movie. I have always wondered how a 24 hour movie theatre would do in NY??

     I know alot of people will think my ideas are focused primarily on big city theatres and probably can’t be applicable to middle america. But I disagree, I believe that by taking your market into account and scaling back some of the ideas you can still be successful in drawing people back to the theatres!!

     Well that’s my take on the movie business challenge. Feel free to respond I would love fedback. Best of luck…

     Comment by Mina — August 1, 2006 @ 3:44 pm

247. Develop a theater that makes you feel like you are part of the movie. Seats that rumble, air that hits you in the face when a plane goes by, rain or mist, smell, develop 3-D without the stupid glasses. More speakers and closer to the seats. Maybe individual speakers for each chair. Make it more lifelike.
     I don’t like leaving during the movie or a ballgame. Bring the vendors into the movie to sell but put them on a low seated cart so they don’t stand up and block views of everybody. Make an extra isle in the middle for easier access to people.
     Valet parking.
     Special giveaways before the movie for certain seats like $50 gift card to Chili’s, Target, Victoria’s Secret, free movies for a year, etc.
     Instead of the stupid movie trivia while we are waiting on the show to start, show old Cheers reruns or some other comedy flick that lasts 20 minutes or so with no commercials.
     Give people the option to buy the movie when they leave for $20-$30 but make them show their ticket. Anybody they show the movie to are the people that will wait for it to come out at the movie store anyway.
     Put a few lazyboy recliners in the place and sell that ticket for double the price. If it always sells out, add more lazyboys, it shouldn’t be long before you pair for the chair.
     Easy access. How about a quick pass like you can get at some of these amusement parks that you can buy ahead of time, and walk through by scanning your own ticket or card.

     Comment by Tommy Davis — August 1, 2006 @ 9:44 pm

248. Economics: Change the price of films according to supply and demand

     Why can’t movies (both theater tix and perhaps to a lesser extent DVDs) be priced like stocks, according to supply and demand? I realize I’m over-generalizing here, but essentially, people pay what they think a stock is worth, not necessarily what it’s actually worth or how good the company is. And they either buy or sell that stock accordingly, depending upon what they believe other people will pay for that stock. People only got to buy Enron for pennies once everyone believed it wasn’t worth anything. Until then, people overpaid. Plain and simple. In terms of movies, why let someone pay $9 to go see DEAD MAN’S CHEST when they’ll pay $15-20 to see it on opening weekend?

     An economist friend of mine and I had this idea for a bar, where the price for a particular drink (vodka-red bull on Friday nights, mint juleps on the Sat of the Derby) would be based on the appropriate demand for it. Simple concept; everyone wants it, you pay more. Nobody wants it, it’s a good deal for you. You’d be surprised how drunk somebody’ll get on $0.25 MGDS or the kind of buzz you get (pun intended) for a $30 mojito. Why can’t movies be priced in the same way?

     While most viewers will not pay $9 for an opening weekend, evening screening of say, WAIST DEEP, there are more movie goers and fans of gangsta films who will go see that film at half or a third of that price, esp. if their first choice for that weekend is sold out; or, as I’m suggesting, “overpriced” at 2x or 3x the normal cost.

     Now, I know you’d have to work with distributors and theaters to execute something like this. But I also know, if we could ever get to something like this, it’d be a helluva lot of fun to go see a movie, and for the same reason the stock market is so much fun for so many Wall St adreline junkies who also happen to be pretty smart. Imagine the scene out in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater, Spider Man 3, opening weekend- and there’s a guy w/ a green jacket (like those you see on the NYSE trading floor) standing out amidst the masses trying to get in. 15 min before the film is set to screen, he places a call order for 30 at $300/seat and the guy in the ticket booth yells, SOLD!! People rip up in applause and the buyers follow the guy to the ticket booth where they walk past all the other shmucks who were too cheap (or apathetic) to buy at a price that would get them in. Trying to tell me that’s not going to create demand? Plus, this would work regionally. The amount someone pays in LA or NYC would of course exceed what someone would pay in Omaha, Nebraska or Birmingham, AL.

     For non-event films, of course the spectacle would be far less, but still perhaps more profitable. Pricing a film like JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE in this manner might allow studios might earn $3/ticket at 50% capacity over the first weekend when otherwise they wouldn’t have done so much as 15% at $9/ticket. And you never know when the next Big Fat Greek Napoleon Blair Witch blows up and all of a sudden, the buzz creates a demand beyond studio/prodcos/distribs’ wildest dreams and people are overpaying like crazy just to get a part of the action. It happened in the 90s w/ tech stocks- widows buying long on dot.coms when they didn’t even know how to spell PC- and I just don’t see why people wouldn’t also overpay for movies, esp. those in high demand.

     My $0.02. Personally, I don’t buy into the whole “there’s no silver bullet”, “make better movies” generalizations that many posters have offered up. And frankly, I doubt you made it to where you are with an over-simplified, defeatest attitude like that. So thanks for posting this challenge. Go Avery, JT, Josh Howard, Dirk, and even David Hasselhoff. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK aside, I still think the Manu Flop is still one of your finest productions. Good luck finding your next new idea.

     Comment by Cyr — August 1, 2006 @ 9:48 pm

249. Economics: Change the price of films according to supply and demand

     Why can’t movies (both theater tix and perhaps to a lesser extent DVDs) be priced like stocks, according to supply and demand? I realize I’m over-generalizing here, but essentially, people pay what they think a stock is worth, not necessarily what it’s actually worth or how good the company is. And they either buy or sell that stock accordingly, depending upon what they believe other people will pay for that stock. People only got to buy Enron for pennies once everyone believed it wasn’t worth anything. Until then, people overpaid. Plain and simple. In terms of movies, why let someone pay $9 to go see DEAD MAN’S CHEST when they’ll pay $15-20 to see it on opening weekend?

     An economist friend of mine and I had this idea for a bar, where the price for a particular drink (vodka-red bull on Friday nights, mint juleps on the Sat of the Derby) would be based on the appropriate demand for it. Simple concept; everyone wants it, you pay more. Nobody wants it, it’s a good deal for you. You’d be surprised how drunk somebody’ll get on $0.25 MGDS or the kind of buzz you get (pun intended) for a $30 mojito. Why can’t movies be priced in the same way?

     While most viewers will not pay $9 for an opening weekend, evening screening of say, WAIST DEEP, there are more movie goers and fans of gangsta films who will go see that film at half or a third of that price, esp. if their first choice for that weekend is sold out; or, as I’m suggesting, “overpriced” at 2x or 3x the normal cost.

     Now, I know you’d have to work with distributors and theaters to execute something like this. But I also know, if we could ever get to something like this, it’d be a helluva lot of fun to go see a movie, and for the same reason the stock market is so much fun for so many Wall St adreline junkies who also happen to be pretty smart. Imagine the scene out in front of Mann’s Chinese Theater, Spider Man 3, opening weekend- and there’s a guy w/ a green jacket (like those you see on the NYSE trading floor) standing out amidst the masses trying to get in. 15 min before the film is set to screen, he places a call order for 30 at $300/seat and the guy in the ticket booth yells, SOLD!! People rip up in applause and the buyers follow the guy to the ticket booth where they walk past all the other shmucks who were too cheap (or apathetic) to buy at a price that would get them in. Trying to tell me that’s not going to create demand? Plus, this would work regionally. The amount someone pays in LA or NYC would of course exceed what someone would pay in Omaha, Nebraska or Birmingham, AL.

     For non-event films, of course the spectacle would be far less, but still perhaps more profitable. Pricing a film like JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE in this manner might allow studios might earn $3/ticket at 50% capacity over the first weekend when otherwise they wouldn’t have done so much as 15% at $9/ticket. And you never know when the next Big Fat Greek Napoleon Blair Witch blows up and all of a sudden, the buzz creates a demand beyond studio/prodcos/distribs’ wildest dreams and people are overpaying like crazy just to get a part of the action. It happened in the 90s w/ tech stocks- widows buying long on dot.coms when they didn’t even know how to spell PC- and I just don’t see why people wouldn’t also overpay for movies, esp. those in high demand.

     My $0.02. Personally, I don’t buy into the whole “there’s no silver bullet”, “make better movies” generalizations that many posters have offered up. And frankly, I doubt you made it to where you are with an over-simplified, defeatest attitude like that. So thanks for posting this challenge. Go Avery, JT, Josh Howard, Dirk, and even David Hasselhoff. GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK aside, I still think the Manu Flop is still one of your finest productions. Good luck finding your next new idea.

     Comment by Cyr — August 1, 2006 @ 10:25 pm

250. The HDNet MovPass Card!

     Enhances the current movie theater member-pass process and the idea of simultaneous releasings of DVD, Theater, and Net Downloads to a new Hybrid idea…

     After paying a yearly subscription to the “HDNet MovPass”, you receive the card. The idea is that after you have bought a ticket for that movie at your local participating theater with the card, you can purchase the films’ dvd (one dvd per ticket, no more until additional tickets are bought). The dvd will be released in the HDNet MovPass store the same day as the theaterical release and prior to general public sales, discounted and with exclusive production extras to HDNet. You can not purchase the exclusive HDNet MovPass dvd until you have purchased the theatrical ticket.
     The HDNet MovPass card can also carry an online subscription (extra fee if wanted) that allows the viewer to download the film to their computer for the online price the same day or whenever wanted.
     Another addition to be added to the card may be the option to obtain points per ticket stub purchased to go toward prizes such as mentioned by others on this board, tickets to MAVS games (or other teams), local concerts/events, cars, i.e. typical prizes. This would encourage the frequent viewing of movies in theater.
     Teaming up with Apple on the iPod could bring a partnership using the HDNet MovPass to expand the growth of the handheld movie players and show HDNet programming on the iPod and use the iTunes service.

     Comment by Corey Frey — August 1, 2006 @ 10:49 pm

251. EXCECUTIVE SUMMARY
     If you want people in theaters, you have to do two things:
     1) modify the theater experience to meet or beat the competition (which is “DVDs at Home”)
     2) promote the theaters themselves, not just the movies.

     A VERY short analysis:

     The first obvious need is to identify the product we are trying to sell, which is NOT “Movies.” I think we will all agree that based on DVD rental and purchase statistics, the public is paying to watch more movies than ever. (We would want to understand that growth rate in order to set realistic growth targets for in-theater viewing.)

     However, all the increased viewing is taking place at home; the advent of the DVD and high-quality home theaters has made home viewing a preferable experience. So the real product we are trying to sell is “Movies at the movie theater.” To make an analogy, folks are buying plenty of steak, but we want to get them out of the kitchen and into our restaurants.

     Right away we can see we have a disconnect between the Promotions and the Product we want to sell. When was the last time you saw movie studios promoting theaters? Five years? Ten years? Never? (What ever happened to the jingle “Lets go out to the movies…”) Today, all the promotions are for the films. They successfully convince us that we want to see the new Superman, but not that we want to see it at the theater. Even the theaters do not promote themselves… they promote the movies they are showing. That is like Burger King promoting Coca Cola instead of the local Burger King.

     So, we clearly need to develop a movie theater promotion plan. The plan has to address the obvious reasons folks like to watch movies at home, and the core competencies of movie theaters (what do theaters have that is really hard reproduce at home?)

     Not only do we need to address these relative strengths in the Promotion campaign, we need to address them in our Product. Wherever we can, we need to change the Movie Theater experience to meet the same needs that are met when watching at home. How can we provide the comfort and convenience of DVDs at home, while retaining the fun of joining others to watch a film on the big screen? (Just like the fun of going out to eat… yes, its the food, but the crowd and the atmosphere are AT least half of the attraction.)

     Comment by Scott Walker — August 2, 2006 @ 12:49 am

252. Thank you for asking the people that really matter, the audience.

     1- Look what SAG did with “Crash”– that was a great marketing strategy- do the same with the movies that matter. Movies that matter are the ones that make you cry, think, believe.

     2- Attach a great indy short to the beginning of each movie- a different one each time. One- you are giving the underdog great exposure = the people will love you for that, not to mention the underdog.

     3- When you do sell DVDS of the big budget movies, include a gift= an indy movie comes along with it- again you’re giving something that didn’t break you, but helped someone make another movie because of it. People love people that help people. Just for that you will be viewed in a different light, loyalty =rewards.

     4- Make the Movie stars own the movie till the end. Movie stars are busy people, they get paid big money– have them work a bit more for it. They need to talk to the people directly. The trailer does it, but nothing does it like a movie star from the movie itself. But not on the big TV show, or at the big gala award ceremony…. unexpectedly show up, greet, meet, talk….. ie: be real. Show the people that the movie star actually cares for them to watch their movie.

     5- Give something back to the audience.
     Make one day of the week family night out= discounted tickets.
     Make one day of the week- anyone under 9 in one family has free admission.
     Make one day of the week-Girls night out- if girlfriends show up to watch a “girlie” movie= they enter the name in a basket in the entrance of the movie to win a copy of the movie–
     None of these will break the bank.

     Give and thou shall receive. Isn’t that what “He” said?

     Be Generous and we shall be Generous with you.

     People love to hang around richer people, but quickly the jealousy kicks in and gossip arises, killing the moment, making the little person angry and removed, thus losing a customer. BUT when you hang out with a rich person you admire because of his qualities as a human being, because YOU KNOW first hand what he does for you and everyone — then it’s different, completely different, we want to love and give more to that person.

     Mark Cuban- you need to become that person that gives, then you shall receive.

     PS Today is my birthday. 8-2-65
     Send me a birthday wish– that would mean the world to me. BUT it has to be from you….at least make me think it did. That will make you special in my book. That will make me go to one of your movies because you would have personally touched me…. get it?? Give and thou shall receive.

     Kim Sky

     I made my first movie “Just another romantic wrestling comedy”
     http://www.justanotherromanticwrestlingcomedy.com

     I plan on making care packages for the troops and sending them out to them. That’s my “give”. I can’t afford much, but I’ll definitely give to those who need some comic relief in their life. Who will know I’m doing this? Them, me and God. The people that matter.

     Comment by Kim Sky — August 2, 2006 @ 6:58 am

253. If great movies are made with different actors, more opportunities for the newcomers with talent, the budgets won’t be so blown out.
     It’s the same movie stars in every movie.
     Give other actors a chance.
     Have one movie star carry the movie and the rest are great new faces.
     That’ll cut the price of the movie, give the new face a name- make the people fall in love with what the movie did for the new face.
     http://www.uczkowski.com

     it all starts in pre-production.

     Comment by Dariusz Uczkowski — August 2, 2006 @ 7:07 am

254. I am certainly no spokesperson for telling you what to do with movies as I have not gone to see one in 7 years or so but let me offer you this.

     I hate the movie theatre. Hate the lines, the food is terrible (besides the popcorn), hate having nowhere to put my food and drink once I get in so that when some 350 pound dude comes walking down my aisle, I either gotta move it or he’s gonna lose it for me. I hate going to the late showing on Friday night to have a baby bottle rool all the way down the theatre from the back and then listen to some baby cry as his daddy searches under everyones chair for the bottle. I paid how much for this???

     The only other thing I can realte going to being stuck for a few hours watching something with a crowd is a sporting event. The best sporting events I have ever been to are the ones that seemingly have endless choices of food and drink, the seats are super confmy and roomy, and I feel like I have my own space to enjoy whichever parts of the game I want to enjoy.

     I don’t know how you could do that in movie theatre but I’d start with having a bar with a bartender somewhere just outside the actual movie area and have a full menu of foods I can bring back into the theatre. Why have dinner and then go to a movie, make them both accessible at the same place. Also, maybe even creating sound proof rooms for different groups of people. You could have a quiet room, you could have a teenager room and you could have an “over 21 we came here instead of the bar to mingle” room to serve more people purpose.

     In my opinion, your argument is not about how to advertise better. Without going to a movie in years, I know that Ricky Bobby thinks he’s on fire and stabs himself with a knife becuase he thinks he’s lost feeling in his legs becuase I have seen the same commercials on this AT LEAST 500 times (and I read books FAR more then I watch television)!!! The focus needs to change as to how to make a movie theatre a better experience for all involved as the people carrying on a conversation and don’t give a damn about the people next to them trying to watch the film are the only ones who enjoy the show.

     Comment by Malcolm — August 2, 2006 @ 8:19 am

255. I think the first response is the correct one. Give Karma614 the job. You are not asking what you are really asking. It is either: 1) How do we save the movie-going experience? (You can’t.) or 2) How do we make more money on any given film? (You can.) Packing people into theatres is some kind of marketing koan you’ve constructed. What is the sound of one fan napping? I’m a little drunk. This makes more sense now than it will later. The movie-going experience has been infiltrated by people who believe they are in their living rooms anyway. Why shouldn’t I be in my living room with my big screen and surround sound too? I should. I am. You can’t save the theatre-going experience unless you are willing to police it, and no one is willing to do this. Rather you suggest we bow to this antithetical theatre experience with some kind of “rock n roll” Rocky Horror mosh cinema. This will go the way of the roller rink. The base has spoken and is speaking. We’ll watch in the comfort of our homes on our big screens and surround sounds. The theatres aren’t interested in preserving the experience. What is the experience? People going to a movie to actually WATCH THE MOVIE! Want to save this experience? RAISE ticket prices. But it won’t work. Theatre is on its way out, except for arthouses and a few select first-run multiplexes. But money can be made. This is your real question, yes? Karma614 has it right, almost. Better movies? I don’t know what that is. Make movies people want to see. They may be better, they may be worse (Snakes on a Plane anyone?) But they’ve got “something.” My advice: Take some spare change, say $10 million. Make 10 films annually for $1 million apiece, all costs inlcuded, yes, marketing included. There is a huge untapped resource of filmmaking talent out there waiting for the right entreprenurial free-thinking outsider to harness it, select it, produce it, market it. Give it to Karma614. I don’t know who that is, but they’ve got it right. I’ll be drinking, waiting for that next super low budget film to break out, and it will. Here’s a recipe for my favorite drink:

     1-1/2 ounces light rum
     1/4 ounce Maraschino liqueur
     1/2 ounce grapefruit juice
     3/4 ounce Simple Syrup
     3/4 lime juice

     shake well with ice. strain into chilled rocks glass.

     Enjoy!

     Comment by Hencher — August 2, 2006 @ 8:51 am

256. Make movies that people want to see. A majority of Americans have children and, whether they like it or not, the parents’ lives revolve around the children.

     Very successful movies in recent history were well made family friendly movies. Advertising is not the issue. Home theaters are not the issue. The issue is the values portrayed in the movie. People don’t want to be told how to think, they want to relate to the characters. The politics of the character is not what attracts people to a movie. Integrity of the character does, the inner struggle and conquering of the internal/external demon.

     Comment by Matt Sciba — August 2, 2006 @ 10:00 am

257. Dear Mark,

     Despite all the technology, the speed of the editing process and all the new ways to get films made and out there, most filmmakers working today, especially younger filmmakers, leave an important element out of filmmaking–taking time to write a solid script, and then taking more time to reflect and make changes on that script. Time is (of) the essence in the process.

     One of the main reasons people are staying away from theaters is that most films simply don’t deliver the kind of emotional payoff that viewers need to generate word of mouth. It’s word of mouth that creates excitement around a film, and gets people to see a film more than once. Get back to basics and you’ll get back some of the audience lost to reality TV and video games.
     Regards,
     Ron Merk

     Comment by Ron Merk — August 2, 2006 @ 10:03 am

258. Interesting.

     I say take your Day and Date method and push it even further: When a group of 2 person go see the film in the Theater you give them a DVD of the film.

     oh and I think more diversity in the films qould be nice too. Instead of spending 60 millions on the film and 60 millions on advertising why not use that 120 million dollars to make 10 smaller films with a 12 million budget ? If talented director are given their chances I’m sure we’d be surprised at how many sleeper hits could make it big every year.

     The thing is: People love movies.

     Comment by Martin B — August 2, 2006 @ 10:59 am

259. Mark:

     I sent a rather detailed proposal to your email. it involves several layers of media and has worked in other areas of media before for me with other well known companies.

     Please let me know how best to get it to you.

     AD

     Comment by alan donnes — August 2, 2006 @ 11:04 am

260. Team Trivia concept. After movie there will be a 10-15 minute team trivia based on the movie. Winners get a prize and go into a drawing for a larger prize/recognition.

     Many people will see the movie twice to get the answers.

     It’s hard to get much attention giving away trinkets and trash or free tickets or $1off.

     Learn from the lottery or gambling. Even though the chances to get hit by lightning are greater than winning the lottery it is very popular.

     People love the chance, however remote, for the big payoff.

     Devote most of your marketing budget to a lottery. Mail in a ticket stub to enter and they must answer a profile questionaire. You get the lottery effect and also priceless movie watching profile information for your database.

     Comment by Steven — August 2, 2006 @ 11:13 am

261. Forget malls, high schools and college campuses…

     Airports / Air Passengers are the real untapped resource for the struggling US movie industry.

     -659 million people fly in the USA every year.
     -wait times for flights are on the increase
     -millions of people just sitting around waiting for there plane
     -millions of people sitting on planes waiting to take off

     Just a thought…

     Comment by Brent P — August 2, 2006 @ 11:36 am

262. You are the ultimate 800-pound gorilla.. so think like one!!!

     First, the way to get the masses is make movies about them…you are not going to fill seats when you make movies about wheat growing in Kansas.

     But when a giant dinosaur that was tearing the crap out of NYC, you get the best of both worlds- (the NYC population love to see their town on the big screen, and the West Coast love to see NYC get blown to shit!)

     Make movies about NYC, Chicago, LA, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Denver, vacation destinations, where people live or go..

     Next gorilla move, go back in time.. think sandwich boards on the street corners, and the the Wicked Witch of the West…not only do busses and taxis have advertising, but now SUV drives are trading a month of gas for putting ads on their vehicles.. every car that’s stuck in traffic has 20-30 minutes to stare at that car…

     Wicked Witch.. in the larger cities (NYC, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta) hire blimps.. Everybody knows about the Goodyear Blimp, the FUJI blim, the Outback blimp…

     people are VISUAL…so give them the WOW factor in front of them.. there can be inflatables on top of buildings that are low cost, but very visual… people remember a 50-foot soccer ball in the center of the town during the world cup in Germany (I went to the WC in Dallas in 94, they had some at the Cotton Bowl, definitely VERY VISUAL….

     last…

     to get people in the theatres, make it date friendly.. most of the theatres have really uncomfortable seating (with that damn bar between).. there should be a standard set, how small a seat can be, how much leg room (you must know about that?)..

     Comment by ME — August 2, 2006 @ 11:38 am

263. I see your idea of the lottery system to be a decent idea but what I would do is have a scratch off game on the back of the tickets. Let the viewers scratch off the back of their tickets for little prizes like free movie tickets, popcorn, cokes, and have a few big prizes such as cash, trips, cars, or even a small part in an upcoming movie or meeting the cast of the movie they are viewing. This is a simple solution that I believe would create some immediate interest if nothing else. It may not be a long term fix but I think it would have great success in the short term. I am a 21 one year old guy and I ran the idea by some friends and most of them said they would be more likely to go to a movie if there was some kind of game to it like this. Think Mcdonalds monopoly game. Who goes to mcdonalds except when that game is being played. Studios could just use the system on movies they need a boost on. Look forward to hearing a response. GO MAVS!

     Comment by Nathaniel Bigbie — August 2, 2006 @ 11:48 am

264. Another simple idea is have the actors in the movie just say “thanks for coming, hope you enjoy the movie” right before the film starts. This would not take them any time and it would make the viewers feel welcome and appreciated.

     Comment by Nathaniel Bigbie — August 2, 2006 @ 11:54 am

265. It seems to me that the one thing that hasn’t changed in the film industry is that people outside of it (i.e. the general public) remain fascinated by the moving making process. Why not give movie goers the opportunity to get an inside glimpse of the biz via a contest? Sumbit your ticket stub and enter to win a day on the set of Magnolia’s next feature, a chance to be an extra, an opportunity to meet one of the film’s actors or …

     Seems almost too simple to work and I haven’t a clue if it has been either suggested or tried already, but it certainly wouldn’t cost very much to implement (relatively speaking, that is).

     Comment by Jennifer — August 2, 2006 @ 12:45 pm

266. Bring the main character to life. People interact with him. They get to know him. They attach and think he’s real.

     Give him a blog, myspace, freidnster, youtube, LinkedIn, a resume on monster.com, hotjobs.com and careerbuilder.com.

     Use the blog to preface the story. Build viral momemntum by having the character interact with those he meets on the social networks. No one knows that he’s not real.

     We are doing it for ‘Straight To Voicemail’ and Charlie Assaf.

     His Blog:
     http://whatwouldwilliedo.typepad.com/straight_to_voicemail/

     His Myspace:
     http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87697790&MyToken=35cbf87b-2568-4ffe-8bb5-c4bbc6276dfc

     Comment by Matt Martone — August 2, 2006 @ 1:04 pm

267. Bring the main character to life. People interact with him. They get to know him. They attach and think he’s real.

     Give him a blog, myspace, freidnster, youtube, LinkedIn, a resume on monster.com, hotjobs.com and careerbuilder.com.

     Use the blog to preface the story. Build viral momemntum by having the character interact with those he meets on the social networks. No one knows that he’s not real.

     We are doing it for ‘Straight To Voicemail’ and Charlie Assaf.

     His Blog:
     http://whatwouldwilliedo.typepad.com/straight_to_voicemail/

     His Myspace:
     http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=87697790&MyToken=35cbf87b-2568-4ffe-8bb5-c4bbc6276dfc

     Comment by Matt Martone — August 2, 2006 @ 1:07 pm

268. I just saw your interview on g4, so I looked you up on the web and came across this challenge. There are a few things about the movies that I don’t enjoy. That if were changed would make a difference. One is the price of movies that you pay then the movie it self just sucks. You feel like you have just been ripped off. I mean for my wife and I to go to a movie You spend almost twenty bucks on the ticket, money for popcorn, drinks what ever , I could have spent anywhere from 2 bucks to 4 bucks for movie rental or cable pay preview. The other things is comfort in the the theater most of the seats are to close together, and uncomfortable. People are messy and the kids that work in the theaters are just there to get a paycheck may not care enough to clean the area. You spoke about your are selling fun when you took over the basketball team. I think that in the same manner you could change the theater going experience. Create an atmosphere that is enjoyable. I have an idea that would be a evening out. To make it worth your while even if you did not like the movie.
     You could have real food, change it to less seating like a show in vegas. You serve a dinner, drinks have a menu, comfortable seating, space to have private moments with your date. Fun, enjoyable and if you left with the thought the movie wasn’t that good, but I would come back because the experiance was great. That of course is just a rough idea. Just with my thoughts. Good luck, I enjoyed your interview on the tv.

     Comment by james roberts — August 2, 2006 @ 1:49 pm

269. Simple. I work in the movie biz and must admit. Its just too dam expensive to take a family of 4 to see a film in the theater. $40 for the film, plus treats, you’re looking at $70. Are you kidding? That is a staggering number. What is happening is soon the average income family will not be able to attend a movie. It will be out of their budget range. The mass audience will soon go away and all you’ll be left with is a overpriced theme park. I have read a lot about the history of cinema. It is a shame its gotten to this point. 30 years ago, the studios were amazed that a film could make 100 million in a summer, now they are depressed if it doesnt do 100 mil in 2 days. If Bush can send $300 to each family, then the studios can send a few free tickets to the public. Makes sense. Show thta you care. And Cuban, I have been following the 2929 projects. I know you’re trying…..Just stop releasing on DVD and cable simo. Let people see it at the moviehouses. Oh and Cuban, you’re perfect for ENTOURAGE. You should give them a call.

     Comment by Mark D. — August 2, 2006 @ 2:51 pm

270. How about your the idea that you had for TV. Use live broadcast in movie theaters to make movie-going a unique event. You could move the idea of the “Movie premiere” into the digital-information age. Instead of having a movie premier be an event broadcast on TV. Have a similar event where interviews with stars and directors are broadcast at the movie theater. Or some other event related to the movie that is broadcast at the movie theaters only.

     Also, I think you’re right on the money with re-vamping the image of the movie industry. Ticket and concessions have been going up, it is now typical to sit through commercials, but the “movie theater” experience has really not improved.

     Comment by R Wang — August 2, 2006 @ 2:51 pm

271. I’ve been mulling over this for the last couple of days, and while my thoughts aren’t completly organized I’ll leave what I can.

     I’ve noticed that people will take something more seriously if they feel invested in it in some way. Meaning, if the audience members feel they have been a part of the movie making process in some way, they are FAR more likely to go see the film, and get their friends and family and co-workers and neighbors (get the point) to see it as well.

     If there could be a way to start a production company that SERIOUSLY used ideas from audience members and made them happen, without exploiting the ideas, making millions, and giving nothing back, I think there would be a positive outcome. There would have to be some kind of reimbursement be it free passes, discounted tickets to showings of the films or possibly a name in the credits, I’m not sure of that yet.

     All I know is that people who have a hand in creating something want to see it succeed and most of the time will go to great lengths to see that it happens. If they think there’s a chance they’ll see their face on the big screen, even if only for a second in a crowd shot, they will get every person they know to go see that film!

     So, basically, I guess I’m saying bring the movie making process down a notch and make it less “untouchable” and more real to the people who go and see the movies. If it’s more real to them, there’s more of a reason for them to go to the movies.

     Comment by Sarah — August 2, 2006 @ 2:58 pm

272. By the way Mark, a great idea is to have a website where you post up a story, i.e a screenplay idea or synposis, then you let the public chime in as to who they would like to see in the role. Take a story about a guy who hijacks a bus. Have a list of actors for the main character and the supporting characters. Maybe even a director. See how many people would see it if such and such were in it. And magic. You already have the audience. Say 1 million people see Tom Cruise as this character in this story. Bang. Try to get Cruise and make the movie. Promotion begins before the movie even starts. It gets people involved in the movie process. They all feel like they are part of it. People will always pay for something that makes them feel special….www.makemymovie.com…. Sounds cool right

     Mark D.
     guerrillafilm@mindspring.com

     Comment by Mark D. — August 2, 2006 @ 3:02 pm

273. Solution is simple implementation is not. Movies don’t make money till they get into the rental/Sales market. So is it feasible to produce/finance then sell direct to the consumer cutting out the studio, theater (yea I know about landmark the reality is markets are efficient and brutal), even Netflicks! Give greater “artistic control to the artists” in exchange for a real piece of the profits. The “Artist” makes a stinker the market decides what financial return they get. Take you profits from financing, direct sales, cross marketing licensing etc. Do it without using the studios for production, distribution, finance, and licensing.

     Comment by Wally Brooks — August 2, 2006 @ 3:48 pm

274. Create a series of shorter movies (maybe 60 minutes each). Make the characters and storyline extremely entertaining and universally appealing. It may be possible to take a current TV show and expand it into this concept. Shoot the movies in the new 3-D format. Do you think the producers of “South Park 3-D” or “Sopranos 3-D” would need to spend $12 per person to get people to go to the movie theater? I doubt it. Release the movies in sequence every 2-6 months to keep it current and fresh.

     Comment by Tony Martin — August 2, 2006 @ 6:56 pm

275. i wanted to tell you about four eyed monsters. i heard about it while browsing the itunes music store’s podcast directory. i watched every podcast and now i love it. but nearly a year later i still haven’t seen the movie because it has not been screened, even in my entire state. i have since gotten many of my friends around town (lexington, ky) in the podcast and we were willing to drive to either louisville, ky or cincinnatti, oh (both about an hr away) to watch this…but no screenings were there either. i think, that if you could put this movie in a theater, it would generate a lot of viewers, with very little revenue spent advertising, because the advertising is already done. all through a free podcast. these are just my thoughts, i love reading your blog…but i’ve never commented before. thanks for writing!

     Comment by r smith — July 25, 2006 @ 8:19 am

276. Make awesome movies with less computer graphics. Too many movies are too long and redundant..

     Comment by Port Orange MLS — July 25, 2006 @ 8:28 am

277. For starters it is interesting that you’ve posted this offer, and I read through most of the comments and found them to be interesting. The problem with the movie distribution industry is that at some point someone decided to make money off the concessions as well as the ticket prices. Movie budgets got bigger to absorb the cost for CGI and advanced special effects, tickets never got cheaper. The one suggestion I liked was the whole “Tivo” for movies idea, but the problem is people want to get out of their house and have the theater experience. People will go see movies that they’re interested in. Watching them at home will make you lose a lot of money. How do you stop someone from having a great home theater system and a large living room and inviting 40 people? I live in France and we have a system here, that if properly marketed would be a great benefit for you. Loewe’s already has their galazy passes, that if you buy a bunch give you a bit of a discount, but they are normally reserved for purchase by corporations. In France we have unlimited movie passes. For 18 euros, you can watch an unlimited amount of movies per month. Or you can buy a card that gives you a certain number of “places” or tickets. A 5 ticket pass is 35 euros, normally it would be about 45 euros if you went to see 5 movies. The passes expire in a month. The point is with the unlimited you sign a contract for 12 months, you pay in advance 3 times over the year, and it gets people in the theaters because who wants to waste money? This is a perfect idea for a man who owns his own chain of theaters. You would reap the benefits of 1) advanced sales, 2)concessions – people will come to the theater and because they didn’t shell out money for a ticket, psychologically they’ll think less about paying 12 bucks for a drink and some popcorn, 3)if the cards are not used, you still keep the money anyway. If you’re interested in seeing the business model and more details contact me. I will introduce you to the reasons why the French public is so dedicated to its cinema – something that does not exist in the US. In fact, statistically speaking on any free night you could ask 10 French people what they’re going to do and 8 of them would say they are going to the movies. Could you say that in the US?

     Comment by anne-marie — July 25, 2006 @ 8:36 am

278. Mr. Cuban,

     The solution for promoting / marketing movies in an efficient and productive way; is the antithesis of what many would believe. Less is more. Develop shorter trailers leaving the customer unsatisfied until they finally see the movie. This along with personal appearences (which should be covered by the actor/actresses salary) by all the top actors & actresses within the movie would create a serious buzz considering the mystery surrounding the movie. That is not to say that the plot would not be revealed; and is only to say that the best lines (especially in comedies) would be left our of the trailer and the eventual ending would not be presented either. Too much has been thrown at the consumer these days and people are more inclined to see a movie they do not know what will happen; or have not yet seen the funniest parts of the movie prior to setting foot in the theater.

     Comment by Michael Cain — July 25, 2006 @ 8:55 am

279. Last Sunday, I took my wife and baby to the movie theatre in town (8 miles away). The movie theatre in Hondo, TX only shows one movie at a time and the showtimes are always the same. The ticket price for the movie is $3 per person. The theatre only accepts cash.

     My family and I enjoy going to the movies – I think the theatre’s formula is something related to ‘Keep it simple’.

     “A countryman between two lawyers is like a fish between two cats.” – Ben Franklin

     Comment by Ben Adams — July 25, 2006 @ 8:57 am

280. Oh I’m just saying what others have said… I don’t go to movies, almost never. Theaters are dirty, noisy, I get cold or wet going out, I’m in the parking lot alone, its just a pain in the a** .

     I’d love to see more first run movies, right when they come out, but I want to see them at home, with friends, wine, my sofa. Don’t make me go to a movie theatre! Its not about money to me although it may be to some but its about comfort and I’m not sitting in a smelly theater to see a movie that I can get on pay per view in 6 months.

     Susan Kelly

     Comment by susan kelly — July 25, 2006 @ 9:07 am

281. 1) Facebook, facebook, facebook. More details to come in a non-publicized arena.
     2) Buy two comedy scripts I’ve written: movies people WILL like.

     Email me at: JasonWStein@gmail.com

     Comment by Jason Stein — July 25, 2006 @ 9:11 am

282. I think a lot of people want to see more movies than they actually do. I know that’s the case for me. I’ll see a trailer on TV and think “Hey! I want to see that!” but I never get around to it, and before I know it it’s not in the theaters any more (and then I think “Hey! I need to rent that DVD!” and I usually don’t do that either).

     The main problem is inertia. My tendency is to stay at home. It’s kind of a hassle to look what’s playing where and when, and then set up plans with my friends or significant other to go and actually see the movie. It usually requires some spur-of-the-moment planning, which is always more difficult. Either that or it’s so low-key (“Hey, we could see a movie tonight.” “Yeah, we could do that.” “Let’s look into it” and we both go back to watching TV) so we end up wasting time until it’s 9:00 and the only movies left won’t end till after midnight.

     On the other hand, if I’m planning something for next week, it’s easy to look things up and get it all set up. But if it’s 7:30 and I’m looking for a movie between now and 9:00 within 10 miles of me, I’ve got to scrounge around for the paper or navigate different websites and see what’s going on. No thanks. But planning my movie nights a week in advance is ridiculous too. Nobody does that. And therein lies the opportunity: Give people a way to do just that, and I think they will.

     My idea is simple: Sell subscriptions. Every week, the same time, the same place, there will be a movie to watch that is tailored to my preferences. I’ll buy the tickets as a package for 10 weeks in a row and say to my significant other, “Thursday night at 7:00PM is now Movie Night and we’re going for the next 10 weeks.” All in one package, X number of movies, at the same time, same location, every week or every two weeks or every month. The key is just to have a regular schedule, and give people a slight discount and convince them that the films will be something they want to see. Maybe it’s a mix of old films and new films. Maybe they all share a theme or a genre. Maybe each week there’s actually several choices (sell it as a “Marital Bliss Pack”: each week there’s a guy action movie, a goofy comedy, a girly romantic comedy, and a high-concept drama to choose from, so the guy gets his pick one week, and the woman gets her pick the next) — but all the movies start at the same time and are being shown in the same multiplex, week after week after week. Maybe even have post-film coffee and discussions so that people with the same subscriptions can get to know each other over time, so it becomes a social event as well.

     Comment by Brock — July 25, 2006 @ 9:21 am

283. Your problem is getting bigger everyday. The ubiquitous marketing for poorly done movies is really quite obnoxious and is something that drives me away from seeing a films in theaters. I wait until I get the word of mouth that the film is something I want to see. I live in Boston, so I see ads thousands of times a day and generally, not one of those ads make me want to see a movie in a theater.

     You are asking for unique ideas to get a great movie into the heads and evening plans of a lot of people AND their friends, family, coworkers, clients. To me, great movies are to be filled with unique ideas, characters, stories and an element of fantasy. These are the things that make me take time to call around to find a friend, check the schedule, and leave my house for a new experience.

     Recently, I had the experience of travelling to New York’s East Village with my roommate to see a film called Four Eyed Monsters directed by Arin Crumley and Susan Buice. It’s possible you may have heard of it. They’ve done a brilliant job getting their film into people’s heads and igniting almost a passion among their demographic (teens to early thirtysomethings, artists, other filmmakers, creative people looking for something provoking and challenging) to see this film through and get it into theaters. I didn’t just walk to the theater and buy a ticket. I went to New York City to see their film as part of a festival. It was actually incredible to travel 5 hours on a bus in sweltering humidity to show up that night in NY not quite knowing what I was really going to see, but I felt a part of something. I felt the passion and the fever as people in front of me were talking about the film, watching the podcasts on their ipods, being filmed for a future podcast, talking to the directors. Everyone was excited. I’ve never felt or seen this going to a regular movie.

     Going to the theater and buying a ticket, walking by the concessions, having my ticket ripped and the person in the vest saying ‘Enjoy the show’ like a robot to every person walking by…all of that is really mundane. The only thing that really gets an emotion out of me is the bottle of water I purchase for 4 dollars. And that emotion is not quite the same fever and passion described above…

     Like I said, I’ve rarely had an experience like this with a movie in a chain theater. Seeing screenings at festivals and seeing two night only midnight showings of whatever cult/fun movie at a non profit theater…these are the experiences that stick out. These were the times when planning to get the theater, getting a few friends together, and waiting in line were just as exciting as when I walked out.

     This is what you need to do. You need to create some excitement through some exclusivity. Don’t just shove down our throats commericals and posters and giant newspaper ads and billboards and post cards and flyers and myspace profiles and contests and AND AND! That’s buzz marketing, but it’s not GOOD buzz marketing. It works for some, but barely creates the exclusive word of mouth connection Four Eyed Monsters has.

     The way I found out about Four Eyed Monsters was through an unusual medium. One of the directors, Arin, friended me on myspace and wrote me about their film and their video podcast project. It felt earnest and seemed interesting, so I checked it out. What they’ve done is chronicled the making of their film in short episodic podcasts. You subscribe to their myspace blog- you get an update whenever they have a new video. You subscribe through iTunes- you get the video automatically downloaded when it is posted. It’s fucking brilliant. The podcasts are like short films themselves, and, when put together, make a coherent documentary on the process of creating a film and distributing it. The idea and the podcasts were so compelling, I wanted to see this film after watching the first podcast last October.

     This idea is a breakthrough in creative and artistic media as well as marketing and creating a buzz. I scanned through some of the ideas above and saw someone mentioning advance screenings. This is a good idea. I can read a review and watch a commercial, but I can’t know if I like the movie until someone I know has already seen it and I trust their opinion. So, this is how you do it. You have a great film…something unique, exciting, something people are really going to be talking about. You get the myspace account going and you offer exclusive interviews, making-ofs, short narratives about the creation process…Things that would be ‘dvd features’ and you offer them in podcasts. Then, you set up advance screenings in cities by myspace invite. And you will have full theaters and those people will tell and tell and tell. This is Arin and Susan’s homegrown marketing plan. And it has worked. And it’s still working.

     Your chain shows indie films. I have been to your Kendall Sq. theater in Cambridge even though it is more than a half hour on the train. If there’s something I want to see, I go. But I have to want to see it. If you put Four Eyed Monsters at the Kendall (and your other more indie venues), I guarantee you would have people in those seats. But you can’t just show a trailer and hang a poster and hope people show up. You have to make it an event. Launch the film at each theater with an event. Make it interactive! Have the start time a half hour early with an iPod showing the podcasts. Find a way to have a Q&A with the directors/actors even if they aren’t there. You can be so much more creative than you are right now.

     Like Arin and Susan have, you can get people involved with the movie as so much more than a viewer.

     Comment by Meghan McFarland — July 25, 2006 @ 9:28 am

284. Too many antisocial comments! People LOVE watching movies in a crowd. There is nothing more thrilling than being in a packed house where everyone is going insane for a movie, play or performance. Everyone laughs together, gasps together, is scared together. How about making some advertising that points this out? ‘It’s more fun together’ or something like that, as contrasted with whatever terrified solipsist misanthrope who is such a wuss that he doesn’t want to see a few kids, or a bit of popcorn on the floor. Remind people that it is FUN to go to the movies.

     Comment by Maria — July 25, 2006 @ 9:29 am

285. Movies have become inconvenient for the masses. Going to the movies on opening weekend is a hassle and an annoyance for most adults. I think if a new movie theatre concept were to open–one that was marketed towards adults only with a 21 year old + focus–this could be genius. For example, have a theatre (let’s use the Angelika as an example) that has a restaurant/bar attached. You can make reservations via telephone or on line and included in the restaurant/bar visit, you have 2 free movie tickets either pre or post dinner. Complement that with full bar service during the movies and it’s an adult night out without kids and teenagers and the general annoyances the keep people from seeing ‘going to the movies’ as a treat. I personally avoid the movies for that reason. In addition, if I’m going out to do something on a weekend, I don’t want to take multiple trips to dinner, the movies, and a bar. Package the whole thing together and market it as a new and unique concept (maybe live music/bands beforehand, a patio for dining and drinks) and you have a new and UNIQUE concept for adults.

     Comment by Aimee M. Pingenot — July 25, 2006 @ 9:39 am

286. Dear Mark,

     I created the New Orleans Filmmakers (now 100+ filmmakers) in February 2006 and we have been having successful screenings with very little or even no money. We use myspace invitations, facebook flyers (40$) at area colleges, and we also put flyers listing our screenings in area coffee shops and WTUL, the Tulane Radio station works with us by announcing our screenings on the radio stations. We also work with the local public access television stations and with Timecode NOLA, a tv show watched by New Orleanians, to market ourselves. By accessing multiple non-profit channels and spending less money by marketing online to our target audience, young people 20-30, we have averaged about 75 people per screening thus far. We have only been established since February, and the quality of some of our films is good, but not all of our films are up to par. Another way we help is that we show a series of short films by local filmmakers and we highlight one longer film as the headline film. When filmmakers have a stake in these screenings they will market the hell out of the screenings and do a lot of the marketing leg work for you. But what we’re doing basically is continuously doing a series, like New Orleans Filmmakers screening 1, 2, 3…. etc. We just change the highlighted film and we change the short films. By including short films prior to the screenings, you can really gain more of an audience. It’s almost like bands, when you have half the audience there for the opening act, the other half for the headliner. Include short films by the local filmmaking body to give them a stake in it. Bridge the gap to the local filmmaking community and let us help you get the audience there. The myspace idea you talked about seems a little too pyramid, I think it would turn people off. Reach out to the underground film community and let them help you. You’ll probably find some really talented filmmakers in the process. Set up a national filmmakers network that’s free to join and paid for by advertisers. Offer chances of funding and production money to the filmmakers as a national community. These are my suggestions.

     Good luck Mark,

     Sincerely,

     Christopher Brown
     New Orleans Filmmaker

     “there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

     “A film is never any good unless the camera is the eye of a poet.”
     -Orson Welles.

     Comment by Christopher C Brown — July 25, 2006 @ 9:41 am

287. Mr. Cuban,

     Everybody here has good ideas but what I know from experience just for about anything you want to promote is word of mouth. That is the fastest and most economical way.

     That is why network marketing works. Take for example Stream in the Dallas Market Hall. They started the company 15 months ago and use Ignite, the marketing arm of Stream, to have friends and family switch electricity. They went from number 79 retail electric provider to number 5 in about 10 months!!

     The company saves so much more money by paying independent associates that are fractions of what normal marketing costs. This means movie goers can buy movie tickets way below the 7 and 8 dollar per person (maybe even pennies), you get movie a wider exposure fast, and you, the marketer, wouold save millions in marketing cost that you would normally pay.

     Even Donald Trump has been quoted that he would be involved with network marketing if he hadn’t gone into real estate. Robert Kiyosaki,a New York Times Best Seller of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, endorses network marketing.

     I know there are many people reading this and may say this or that. I’m just providing a solution that deals with word of mouth. Best of luck finding the best solution. Have a great one!

     Comment by Cuong Le — July 25, 2006 @ 9:49 am

288. Mr. Cuban,

     Everybody here has good ideas but what I know from experience just for about anything you want to promote is word of mouth. That is the fastest and most economical way.

     That is why network marketing works. Take for example Stream in the Dallas Market Hall. They started the company 15 months ago and use Ignite, the marketing arm of Stream, to have friends and family switch electricity. They went from number 79 retail electric provider to number 5 in about 10 months!!

     The company saves so much more money by paying independent associates that are fractions of what normal marketing costs. This means movie goers can buy movie tickets way below the 7 and 8 dollar per person (maybe even pennies), you get movie a wider exposure fast, and you, the marketer, wouold save millions in marketing cost that you would normally pay.

     Even Donald Trump has been quoted that he would be involved with network marketing if he hadn’t gone into real estate. Robert Kiyosaki,a New York Times Best Seller of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, endorses network marketing.

     I know there are many people reading this and may say this or that. I’m just providing a solution that deals with word of mouth. Best of luck finding the best solution. Have a great one!

     Comment by Cuong Le — July 25, 2006 @ 9:51 am

289. Ways to motivate people to go the movie theater to see YOUR MOVIE–

     Create the
     FREE RIDE/MARK CUBAN MOVIE MARKETING PROGRAM:

     1) Make something convenient 2) give them an opportunity to save money 3) other perks

     Get people to the theaters and have a subway/metro transit company sponsor the transportation–Creating sponsorship opportunities and programs with local companies (and other) near where your movies are being shown would mean that they are picking up costs and helping you physically get people to the theaters.

     *EXAMPLE*:
     In major cities, pitch the MTA/T/SEPTA to partner with you in the following way– Provide a free subway ticket (round-trip or on the way home)to and from the movie theater (upon proof of purchase or online Fandango receipt from MARK CUBAN movie-) Movie ticket must be for the same date as free subway ride. Subway stops near movie theaters that should your movie would (only) qualify. Also, ask a local restaurant near these theaters to give a 10% discount on all post-movie goers that provide a movie ticket from YOUR FILM. (Think: Save money for families & give perks, and still make your money.) My guess is that local restaurants might be interested in this to bring in extra business to complete with well known restaurant chains.

     It’s a start as a way to get high numbers of people to the theaters.

     Include the subway logo and restaurant name on movie ticket. If the movie theater won’t do that, then subway company and restaurant can run at ad at the theater.

     Or offer the sponsors free product placements on YOUR MOVIE. Or offer to mention the name of these companies to press when your being interviewed and talking about the movie (or basketball). That amount of brand building for them would be worth a lot to them in terms of exposure.

     This would be a great way for families to save money on transportation and dinner, which is always a motivating factor and good so you get higher turnout.

     To get the word out- I need to think about this more, but maybe advertise on Fandango, or use your press office (which you already pay for, so there would be no extra cost in the PR area to spread the word) to contact the press about it to get free editorial plugs on your FREE RIDE/MARK CUBAN MOVIE MARKETING PROGRAM and to mention the sponsors involved in the PROGRAM-

     This additional brand building (from press mentions) for any sponsor would be very enticing– and is what will probably seal the deal for sponsors. You already have the name recognition (which is difficult to achieve), so there will be an extremely high press interest in what you are working on. Pitch the following press- entertainment, lifestyle, family, kids, perhaps calendar listings, advertising/pr newspapers and magazine, e-zines, online blogs, online newspapers, etc. And if the program goes well, word-of-mouth is one way (and the cheapest way) to spread the word.

     Start with the free subway ride and restaurant discount for a limited time only— to motivate people to take advantage of these savings and give them a rush to get out there. For example—Call it “SUMMER MOVIE TRAVEL DAZE WITH MARK CUBAN MOVIE” or “HOLIDAY MOVIE TRAVEL DAYS WITH MARK CUBAN MOVIE”

     Start with it marketed as a limited time only, with an internal plan to extend it if it’s a success…Test market several times after it hits to see if it’s a success…

     If you really want to seem like a good guy– donate a portion of tickets sales to a charity (10 cents or $1 per ticket sale)- Toys for Tots, Hurricane Katrina Victims, etc. Sponsors would love the positive image/branding of doing something good for their community.

     It would also be a great opportunity for you to give money to charity (and not just for getting fined!)

     FREE RIDE/MARK CUBAN MOVIE MARKETING PROGRAM was created by All-Star.

     With Respect,
     All-Star

     Comment by All-Star — July 25, 2006 @ 9:58 am

290. There’s some incorrect assumptions floating around out there.

     1. Assumption: it’s hard to get people to the theater.

     While it’s true attendance is down (and ticket prices are up), Americans still spend about 8 billion dollars a year at the box office. Some one is still going to movies.

     And It’s way easier to convince people that already
     see movies in the theater to see your movie, than it is to find new movie goers. The focus of advertising should be on convincing people to see Good Night and Good Luck instead of Syriana

     2. Assumption: Good movies market themselves.

     If that were true, Mr. and Mrs. Smith ($186 million) was more than twice as good as Brokeback Mountain ($86 million). That movie was still 3 times better than Mark’s movie- Good Night, and Good Luck ($31 million). The best movie of last year by that standard was Star Wars Episode III ($380 million).

     Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a budget almost 8 times bigger than either Brokeback or Good Night and Good Luck. And with 110 million dollars, you can buy a whole lot of really effective advertising. The question is how Good Night and Good Luck does the same thing with a 7 million dollar budget.

     This is an efficiency problem. And so far, my space hasn’t done the trick.

     What’s “the tipping point” for a movie?

     Comment by Kyle Warneck — July 25, 2006 @ 10:07 am

291. Mr. Cuban,
     You’re really talking about revolutionizing the movie business and the movie-going experience, not just new marketing tactics. You have to alter many pieces of the puzzle for it all to fit into place. This includes ticket prices, theaters, production costs and the quality of your film product. We’re talking about the big picture here, so why not go big?
     The most key marketing tool any business has is its brand, and the challenge lies in building that brand. A company with strong brand equity has loyal customers and can build a formidable customer base. Focus Features (regrettably owned by GE and NBCUniversal), has put out very quality movies in the last few years (Eternal Sunshine, Brokeback Moutain among many others) that have generated buzz and brought the Focus brand into the spotlight.

     Here’s my proposal:
     Let’s create a brand known for providing the most quality movie-going experience in the whole industry. We need to provide excellent customer service and communicate extremely well with our base. We can strike deals with exhibitors for lower prices. Use any leverage we have in the business to talk to actors, directors, producers about our vision. Get Hollywood talking about our brand and watching for its movies coming out.

     And of course we’ll need as much cross-promotion as possible. We’ll have movie clips on the jumbotron at Mav’s games. HDNet will feature “making-of” documentaries in stunning HD picture. Subscribers to HDNet will get exclusive deals on ticket prices.

     Finally the internet is absolutely crucial to the success of this brand. We need trailers on iTunes, and a way to integrate the internet with mobile phone promotion. I liked the idea of a choose-your-own-adventure game, and I believe that Disney has begun some of that with the new Pirates movie. And, as you’ve seen with this blog, people respond when you reach out and offer them something more than just free tickets or a chance to win money. Let’s keep offering people a chance to make it in Hollywood. Let’s find great directors, writers, actors, all begging for a chance to show what they’ve got. This will help build buzz on our brand as well.

     In summary, we’ll use every means possible to build a brand who’s movies are demanded for in the marketplace. We’ll communicate with the consumer in ways that the major studios don’t even want to try. We’ll cross promote through vertically integrated outlets. We’ll partner with other brands who want to be associated with our business. We’re not just talking about marketing here, we’re talking about a business model with vision and with balls.

     So, Mr. Cuban, when you’re ready to build this brand, drop me a line and we’ll get to work.

     Comment by Sam Orleans — July 25, 2006 @ 10:07 am

292. Mark, the strategy and recipe is old fashion marketing. When you begin the process of convincing an athlete to sign, don’t you have to persuade others involved; like the agent and family members? The target is not the family that spends 8,10,12 dollars per person and swipes his card for flyer miles. The target should be the employer who signs his or her paycheck. Create a Family Pass Card that swipes. You need a Salesman with a briefcase who can close like an oncoming freight train and will sell the pants off of corporate. Corporate is the key. Sell the employers and the employees will break for the movies cause its “free and loaded with incentive.”

     Mike Jones

     Comment by Mike Jones — July 25, 2006 @ 10:09 am

293. Why not embrace the underground market for pirated DVD’s to promote movies?

     Since 2929 doesn’t add copyright protection to the dvd’s it distributes I’m going to assume that piracy is not of a concern with 2929.

     Why not embrace that open culture and distribute self-made ‘pirated’ copies before openings to build a buzz. Distribute dvd’s to underground markets in the us and oversees to build fanfare and ‘street credibility’.

     The people who have access to the underground, black market for pirated dvd’s are usually the trendsetters or movie aficionados who can build word of mouth. It will also give a movie a hip street credibility to it.

     Comment by Jimmy — July 25, 2006 @ 10:12 am

294. Why do people go to concerts when they can buy a cd, or even a live album? Because of the diversity of the experience, the feeling of actually being part of the performance, and the chance of something unexpected happening. People who go to movies in the theater want to be entertained, and in a way that is different than being entertained on the couch at home. Start with the movie itself. Make something that could conceivably be different depending on when/where you watch, in response to movie viewer submissions (via blackberry directly after the film? on the web at home later?). Endings change. Plot lines change. It’s not a completely interactive movie (you can’t edit Rob Schneider completely out just because he’s annoying), but it has facets of interactivity. Or, bury in the movie “code” scenes that, when recognized, let the viewer unlock some sort of bonus on the web-additional scenes, a free pass to another movie, etc. Essentially, you’re building into the movie reasons for people to actually go see it at the theater–they’re getting something they can’t get if they wait for for the DVD or Showtime4. The sheer novelty of the approach would generate attention in the short-run. With the right kind of movie (imagine if George Lucas did it with the Star Wars franchise…), you would be able to generate much more repeat business, as well. How does Dave Matthews make $60 million a year, when he hasn’t had a song in the top 10 in five years? Diversity of experience at live shows and repeat business. A big part of the recording industry is broken, but this particular element isn’t one of them. Can you steal something from it?

     Comment by Rudy — July 25, 2006 @ 10:16 am

295. Hey Mark,

     My first idea was the “lottery” that I submitted yesterday. My second idea would be to do the exact same marketing plan (maybe ramp it up even more) excpet split the cost with a sponsor like Coca Cola. Everything else is sponsored these days (see American Airlines Center) so why not movies? For example, Akeelah and the Bee, sponsored by Coca Cola. In conjunction with Coke you can come up with a more agressive, diverse marketing plan to reach more consumers and you would be able to reduce your marketing dollars.

     Thanks,
     Craig

     Comment by Craig — July 25, 2006 @ 10:32 am

296. 2 possibilities, both with major drawbacks

     1) Do OPEN casting calls for movies, this works for reality tv, it could work for movies, stick a few parts open to the public, non Union and bring casting all over the country, do local PR and go to a lot of places that don’t get this kind of attention – people will wait in line for hours to audition and when the movie comes out they will pay to watch it if their audition experience didn’t suck too much – and also stick audition tapes online so people can watch ,download and order$$ their auditions or that of their friends, i would even take one of movie stars with you, have them shake everyones hand and take a picture, post the picture online for sales for a few bucks a copy – the casting tour will pay for itself

     B) Do non union movies – there are plenty of people out there – cheaper content – simple marketing

     C) Relevant publicity stunts – just give me a movie and I’ll give you a stunt…

     Richie

     Comment by Rich Hecker — July 25, 2006 @ 10:47 am

297. We have 4 theatres in the town I live in and most of the time we drive 45 minutes to Destin, FL to watch a movie at Rave Motion Pictures theatre. The theatres are big and the seats comfortable. There is always alot of people there. The only thing that could make it better is if they served dinner. They are opening a Rave here in Panama City Beach soon and we will be going to it regularly. Even for movies that we are not dying to see we will still go.

     Comment by Bruce Taylor — July 25, 2006 @ 10:47 am

298. The problem you need to solve for is how to preserve the advantages of choice while making the advantages of physical community outweigh the crappiness (and cost) of the typical movie-going experience. My comments do not pertain to blockbuster/teenager/mutliplex movies: the studios can keep cranking up the explosions and special effects to get asses in seats, and in any case I have no interest in peddling them.

     One obvious part of this is creating a better physical environment: a destination that’s more Angelika than multiplex. Another is to mimic the subscription model used by the “high-brow” performing arts, creating a “membership” feel and steadier cash flow.

     But to make this really work, the element of choice must cease to be a liability which tends towards Netflix couch-dom and instead become a strategic advantage. If the mechanics of choice are sufficiently compelling, you can create a new consumer experience that transcends movie-going. Here’s how:

     1) start with a membership model of some kind (details TBD)

     2) let your members choose in advance the movies that will run based on some kind of voting or collaborative system, based on word-of-mouth, film festivals, early reviews, etc.

     3) create a nationwide platform for discussion, whose ultimate goal is to harness the expertise and passions of film buffs to help guide choice [of course, with the Internet, ultimate use may trump original intent--to the good]

     4) [the critical point] when members are sufficiently involved in the process of choosing the movies to be seen, and when they are passionately involved to the point of wanting to interact with [local] fans and experts in person, then you’ve won. They will come in to see the movies and to see each other. This can be your great gift to semi-urban America, a “4th place” if you will. The Angelika and others serve coffee as an afterthought, but throughout the country, movies viewed by a highly self-selected audience, many of whom have met through an online community, creates all kinds of opportunities to capture, keep, feed, and sell to people who are craving for personal contact and who don’t drink coffee past 6PM.

     The cost of software should be minor, the capital costs of creating non-multiplexes significant. Maybe not a slam dunk, but at worst a free throw?

     Comment by John F. — July 25, 2006 @ 10:55 am

299. Mark, the answer is in what you have already done with your sports franchise from the outset, make the experience of physically going to the movies special, so enjoyable that folks make “going to the movies” part of their routine entertainment choices. Going to a Mavs game means you are goign to have a good time in the best NBA venue, everything done to please the fan and to make it a memorable experience.

     You can market the product till you puke, but unless I am going to get demonstrably more from seeing the film in the theatre (techonology, comfort, convenience, etc.), I’ll save the hassle and watch it on On Demand at my house.

     Focusing on a new way to market the movie misses the point, we are DROWNING in marketing, focus on the venue and delivery.

     I used to go to the movies just because I enjoyed that experience, I’d see whatever was out, went every week. That’s getting lost due to technology in the home.

     I’m a 38 year old atty in South Carolina, making a poopload, but I am a closet film geek. I may be taking a pay cut but give me a job and I will solve this thing for you.

     Comment by BIll Foster — July 25, 2006 @ 11:01 am

300. I’d love to see some sort of consumer oriented futures market be developed (maybe attached to a credit card or smart card) where I could pay less by committing to see a movie early on and you could factor me (and any other viewers who have made a buy) out of your forward advertising budget.

     Part of the problem is that some potential customers are really cheap to advertise to (they go to the movies a lot, have an interest in the subject matter of said film, belong to a large social network promoting said film, etc.) but other potential customers are outliers costing many times the face value of a ticket to motivate to go to the theater through traditional advertising. Having a better way of getting at the low hanging fruit early on would let you decide how much it is worth to advertise for the mass audience.

     Comment by Chris Shepley — July 25, 2006 @ 11:02 am

301. Why not try product placment? It seems to work with other thing’s, like coke on american idol.

     Comment by Cody — July 25, 2006 @ 11:06 am

302. hey, i didn’t have time to read all these comments so, i don’t know if someone already mentioned this movie-FOUR EYED MONSTERS this is a movie that has really broken the mold as far as mainstream film…

     i heard about the movie through their myspace account, and then became connected to their website, where i saw their podcasts (which are awesome) before i ever saw the film i was watching all their podcasts about the making of and anxiously waiting for the next installment. their advertising has been word of mouth/INTERNET. they are really using people and the tech. of today to open doors that have been closed to the independent filmmaker/films without distribution. They are a prime example of change in the industry.

     I saw a screening of their film in nyc and it sold out and then some. there was a line down the street at the east villiage theater. because of that screening the IFC theater picked up their movie for thursdays in Sept. If you wanted to explore the future of film making and how to beat the big guns, this film would absolutely be a number one choice. The fan base for this film is growing every day and the seats of your theater would fill up with the expanding audiences.

     http://www.foureyedmonsters.com http://www.myspace.com/foureyedmonsters

     Comment by nikole beckwith — July 25, 2006 @ 11:14 am

303. Here’s a bonus idea in the hopper.

     Fundraisers…….

     Target #1 – High School & College Marching Bands / Drum Corps

     Marching bands perform in front of hundreds and thousands of people each year. We all know that music in the schools is dying due to lack of funding. 5A & 6A marching bands usually have more than 100 people performing. Those people have at least 1 parent and several family related friends. Drum Corps International is professional marching band during the summer, but they bust their chops all year long to raise funds to drive worn down buses across the country, performing for fans everywhere.

     Take the travelling band idea and apply it to any charity you want. I use marching bands and drum corps because they are extremely hungry. They will pound the pavement and pass out the glossy postcards promoting “Bubble” or whatever new movie you have coming out. The recipient gets $2 off the ticket price. The card is redeemed so they get that discount. The marching band’s code (or any charity or fundraising group) is on that card. The card gets turned in by the theaters. You create the account at 10 cents or 25 cents a card. That charity or marching band or whatever earns money to stay afloat.

     Marching Bands take bus trips to compete in bowl parades and contests. Drum Corps do bingo year round to raise funds to eat generic cereal and lunch meat on the road. Smaller schools need musical equipment and band uniforms they haven’t worn for the last 15 years.

     This is a way that HD Net/Mark Cuban Megopoly could market & promote directly to people that vary in demographic but are your core audience. This is a way for your organization to switch the way in which you promote AND help a variety of good causes, which in theory, could give you oodles and oodles of fresh press in magazines, television, etc.

     Smalltown high school programs would give you so much free publicity it would make your head spin. And the musicians in those marching bands and drum corps would encourage themselves AND their neighbors/parents to get BACK to the movie theater and start watching shows again.

     It could be like pepsi vs. coke. Start hammering the young generation and get them back into the theaters. This could help out the industry as a whole, as well as the movie theater chains.

     I’ve got a few more ideas, but I’m going to wait and see if there’s anyone even reading what I am typing now. No point in wasting time getting carpal tunnel promoting my visions and ideas when corporate america doesn’t read them, y’know.

     We’re all busy people. I’m just interested to see who wins your challenge and what the innovative new marketing strategies will be. This blog idea is a brilliant concept.

     Comment by Joe Cinocca — July 25, 2006 @ 11:15 am

304. Mark,

     First to get people to the movies, here’s an idea illiminate DVD pirating. How can you do this? Put a file into every DVD that doesn’t allow it to be copied or corrupts the disk that it’s trying to copy to. With this done it will force people to go to the movies more often!! SHOW ME THE MONEY!

     Comment by RJ — July 25, 2006 @ 11:17 am

305. Mark,

     First to get people to the movies, here’s an idea illiminate DVD pirating. How can you do this? Put a file into every DVD that doesn’t allow it to be copied or corrupts the disk that it’s trying to copy to. With this done it will force people to go to the movies more often!! SHOW ME THE MONEY!

     Comment by RJ — July 25, 2006 @ 11:18 am

306. Have you gotten the F.E.M. bug yet? I found out about Four Eyed Monsters through their video pod-cast and they are amazing. When I say amazing I am meaning that here are two people who have broken through the bullshit by creating this buzz. They don’t just have fans they have people who, through their video pod-casts, feel as if they are part of their project. We are talk’n something of a rocky horror fan here. If they played at my local Landmark Theater in Boston their would be lines out the door for the screening. I can think of fifty people already who would go. Arin and Susan have shown us all what hurdles you have to jump within the Film industry today, and they have taken a different route. Kudos to them!!!!!!!

     Comment by nicole — July 25, 2006 @ 11:24 am

307. i think that you need to look at a specific market to identify how reach it’s consumers. i would start by looking at historical figures for similiar movies in each city to determine what kind of marketing budget is necessary. if a comparable film did not do well in the past, do you spend more money to hype up the film, or decide that you probably won’t do well in that city and give up?
     everything seems to be for sale these days, so why not take advantage of it. what better place to advertise than sports venues. you typically have a captive audience of thousands of people (except the pirates…this is my plea for those jackasses to sell you the team), who are predisposed to going out and spending money for entertainment purposes. whether it be buying space on an outfield wall or airing trailers during a timeout of a Mavs game, you’ve got people’s attention. there is a subliminal loyalty that sports fan have to their teams and the companies that do business with them. stadiums and arenas are no longer a place you go, sit down in your seat for a few hours, and then go home. these venues are like the freakin circus…take advantage of that. every place is unique…learn about that and use it.
     the other idea would be to copy what they do in LA around the country. i’m not talking about billboards…i’m talking about those huge murals on the sides of buildings. what kind of attention grabber would it be if every time you drove through the Ft. Pitt tunnel, you saw a huge mural for your next movie on the nat city building? look for these uniqie places in every major city where this kind of visual would just captivate you. the buzz that would be generated the first time one of these went up would be worth it alone.
     i truly believe that the movie industry needs to do a better job of segmenting the country. the same marketing strategy that is used in phoenix, should be very different than that in boston. different messages, different artwork, different copy. why, because the consumer is different. will this cost more than is already spent in marketing…maybe, maybe not. will it bring in more a larger audience…maybe, maybe not.
     and finally, the movie industry as a whole needs to come together and do a campaign to get people back to the movies in general. it is an experience that has lost its luster. instead of always touting your own movies and fighting to win the weekend, throw some money in a pool and do some advertising that will get people out for the movie experience. and just maybe, they’ll have a good time, and come back to see someone else’s movie. rising tides raise all ships!

     Comment by Jonathan — July 25, 2006 @ 11:27 am

308. So you seek the holy grail
     In hopes that you’ll unveil
     A way to save some money
     And also turn to honey
     An industry in need?

     I ask you to proceed:

     The answer has been stated
     It’s already been created
     On this here very blog
     We’re seeing through the fog

     That if you take the time
     And are willing to make the climb
     To stand above the rest
     And to make the very best
     And are willing to agree
     “Invest in stories” is the key,

     Then I think we’ve won the game
     For ourselves we’ll make a name
     And all the world will say
     “We finally got our way!”

     I’ve got one more thing to say
     If you hire me today
     Not only will you get
     A creative spirit yet
     But also you will find
     A screenplay I’ve refined
     As of now it’s half-way through
     And I’d love to show to you
     And together with a chance
     We’ll help with the advance
     Of movies and their stories
     And fiscal pride and glories.

     Comment by Chris Rentzel, Dallas — July 25, 2006 @ 11:28 am

309. Nothing will really change until theaters have full digital projection and supply can be adjusted to meet demand on the fly. If X movie was a big budget potential block buster that was advertised heavily but was a critical failure that no one showed up to see, there is not reason it should be playing on 3 screens throughout the day if film Y, a small art film has achieved a large word of mouth success and is getting a huge per screen gross is limited to 1 screen half of the day. Current distribution costs make it infeasible to distribute enough reels to cover multiple screens.

     Another place this has an impact is by giving theaters the ability to tweak what is being shown in real time, you could start to overbook for big releases and avoid the problem of many people being stymied when they try to see a popular movie on opening night because you could bump lesser performing movies in favor of the block buster that could accomadate twice as many viewers as originally anticipated.

     Just In Time vieweing could be a reality, but the infrastructure needs to catch up.

     Comment by Chris Shepley — July 25, 2006 @ 11:28 am

310. Short Film Contest

     A contest for local filmmakers to produce a 1 minute short film in the theme or style of the feature being shown.

     The short films are voted for online prior to the release of the movie and the 10 highest online vote getters are shown before the feature on the opening weekend. The opening weekend audience is given ballots to vote for their favorite short film.

     The winner at the local level is given some prize.. 10-pack of movie tickets and $50gift certificate for the concession stand, some award certificate and their short film is played before the feature every night while it’s in release.

     The winning films at the local level are kicked back up to the internet for further voting. The ten highest vote getters at the national level are shown before the feature on the final night of the movies run for a final round of audience voting.

     The winner at the national level gets a 1year movie pass, $1000, a trophy and the short film is included as an extra on the DVD.

     Why this is a good idea:
     YouTube. Viral video. User generated content. Supporting local arts and artists. Making opening night a community special event. Free promotion from the filmmakers trying to get people to see and vote for their short film. Possible repeat viewing for people going on the final weekend of the release. Press coverage for local filmmaker heroes who move on to the national level of the contest. After you do this with several movies there could be a special DVD compilation of the short films.

     Comment by Joe Kirschling — July 25, 2006 @ 11:32 am

311. YO MARK!! BUY THE CUBS ALREADY!! ITS A GOLDMINE OVER THERE!

     Comment by RJ — July 25, 2006 @ 11:38 am

312. I understand why movie tickets cost so much (used to manage a theatre). The problem is that the marketing for almost all movies is the same: string together a bunch of cliffhanger “best part of the movie” clips – a guy with a deep voice – and a catchy subtitle to the movie. I think a good majority of movie goers see thru this way of advertising. A few months ago I checked out this podcast I happened across on myspace.com The movie is called “four-eyed monsters” after watching one podcast I subscribed to the blog. To be honest -I’ve seen about 8 episodes in the last 6 months and only vaguely get the idea of what the movie is about. I’m engrossed in the making of the film and how hard it has been for these two people to get their movie out. And the arguments and tears and heartache that it has been for Arin and Susan (directers, writers, podcasters, actors, ect.) Honestly the movie could be awful – it doesn’t matter – no matter what I will see this movie and I am sure I will love it…simply because I have watched the struggle to get four-eyed monsters into the theatre.
     Now I feel this way about two people I had no previous investment in. Two random people who took it upon themselves to get their movie marketed. Could you imagine if we could see this on the other side of hollywood – have podcasts of Peter Jackson’s struggle to get the right emotion out of people – to stay under budget – to make the best movie he can – or Brad Pitt’s preperation to play a role ~ or anything with a societal icon. It’s like opening up a window into someone’s private/professional life. And sadly our society preys on that stuff.
     I think podcasts are a brilliant solution to the stagnant marketing of feature films.
     Now after all is said and done – could you PLEASE show FOUR – EYED MONSTERS in a landmark theatre in BOSTON (if not every one of them Check em out on myspace.com/foureyedmonsters

     Thanks -
     Kirstyn G.

     Comment by Kirstyn Giangarra — July 25, 2006 @ 11:40 am

313. I don’t want a job, just a $50K check so I can put in a good pool. I like my current job.

     Here ya go:

     1) Stop caring about the opening weekend so much. Your care about is how much you make in total over the movie’s run. Not how much you make Friday night. The only reason you want huge first weekend numbers is for the buzz it creates. Let the movie run in the theaters a little longer and don’t worry about starting with a bang… FINISH with one. When you get a hit, delay the conversion to DVD such that people will want to get to see it before it leaves the theaters.

     2) Realize what you are really selling… it has been said by others… you are selling the night out. People can stay home and watch movies through multiple channels. So instead of focusing on a specific movie, design a movie going experience and sell the night out. Much like basketball, where you are really selling an entertainment experience more than a sporting event.

     3) This means that the real opportunity is at the point of consumption… the theaters.

     Stop making the damn movies, you said yourself that the houses get half the profit. Learn how to market the night out.

     I mean, you can still make a few movies if you enjoy it, it can be profitable, especially if you stumble into a hit and can run it in your redone distribution system.

     4) So how do we construct and market the “night out” ?

     First, decide what you want this product to look like. Crappy sound and mediocre picture quality didn’t keep people from drive ins….

     You will need a team of people to research what the demographic you are looking for wants. I am mid 40s with two young kids. Set up a 12 screen theater. In that theater are 8 screens for adult flicks and four for teens. The areas are separated. Have in there a “kids club” for little ones. Charge normal movie prices. $5 to watch a kid for the evening (cheaper than a babysitte, and while watching the kids you get them acclimated to the movie experience).

     As part of the theater area, perhaps an adjoining building or even within the same one you have things like an ice cream stand, a couple restaurants.

     Now your basis for advertising and pulling in customers is based on the “experience”. You create a series of commercials, ad campaigns, whatever, leaving 5 second blanks to insert what the current movies running are.

     Again… if you want to get people OUT… you have to give them a reason. While a good movie is a reason… a better reason is an easy comfortable couple hours of hassle free entertainment.

     We could obviously continue the brain-storming, but there are countless ideas, and you really need a small group of folks locked up for a week or two to brainstorm the shift in thnking from “How do I market the movie” to “How do I market a night out that happens to include movies”?

     –Teen and adult areas reasonably separated (some crossover is ok).
     –Simple childcare that is cheaper than a babysiter (but still a revenue stream and a base for building future customers.
     –Ample opportunity for other entertainment (dinner, music, kids stuff, mini-golf…)
     –Simplified (i.e. lower cost) advertising, as your repeat customer base is not based on you being Steven Spielberg and the promise foa great movie… but is based on “we go there on Friday nights because there is always something worth seeing and the kids have fun and I don’t have to sweat the babysitter…”

     Ok… I am done.. e-mail me if you want me to set up a brainstorming session and throw a little passion into your people.

     I probably don’t want the permanent job (I alreasy like what I do)… but if you REALLY make it worth my while, you never know. Otherwise, a one time $50K will get me for two 60 hour weeks to fire your folks up and get them going in the right direction.

     Regards..
     –John

     Comment by John — July 25, 2006 @ 11:54 am

314. Mark:
     Ironically Web-based “affiliate marketing’s” original promise was what is now being called “word-of-mouth” marketing. The promise was never realized. In its place we have fraud and renegade affiliate programs foolishly operated by advertisers without regard to ROAS. In short, we have the platform for adware/spyware.

     You’re right — the future is bright for this model when applied in the social networking realm. The challenge will be in avoiding the “gaming” of the system just as major brands have been played.

     I’m not surprised to see that you understand this.

     Comment by Jeff Molander — July 25, 2006 @ 12:06 pm

315. Some people just don’t see the point in spending $20 ( for 2 ) to see a movie that they can watch in a few months on PPV for $4. Movies should be released simultaneously on PPV for the same price as a movie ticket ( $10 ) People will pay the premium to see the movie on PPV without delay, especially since it’s still effectively half price. ( 2 people or more watch for $10) Since the cable or satellite operator will be collecting more than twice their usual amount, they will be required to advertise the movies across all the channels they carry noting that the movie is opening in theaters and on PPV. On net I think the movies will see no change in gross between what they would have done – box office + PPV – compared to what they do with the simultaneous release. However, you save on your largest promotional expense, television advertising.

     Comment by Wes — July 25, 2006 @ 12:08 pm

316. 1. Why do movie ticket kiosks only have to be in front of theaters? Put them in train stations, Starbucks, restaurants, and other places where people either wait or spend leisure time. Add promotional content. Sure people can do this online. But they cannot swipe their credit cards from home (yet). Someday you may even be able to buy a ticket on an ATM.

     2. Why have I never received a coup-on for a future movie with my ticket stub when I entered a theater? I’m already a paying customer, so I’m quite likely to come back. Target it to the movie I am seeing. Give me a dollar or two off if I come back for the movie on its opening weekend. Maybe I’ll bring friends. Maybe when I’m deciding whether to see a movie I’ll factor in that I’ll get a coup-on for a future movie as well (whether I use it or not). I also go home with the name and opening date of the movie in my pocket.

     3. Learning Annex type seminars. Offer classes on how you are marketing UPCOMING films. It is a somewhat educational setting and people will actually pay money to learn about your marketing plans. You’ll create interest and awareness among core audiences. You’ll also probably get helpful feedback.

     4. If you’re not selling original crew merchandise – t-shirts, baseball caps, etc – online six months before the release date, then delay the release. Let people take an emotional stake in the movie months before it is released. Make other people ask them why the heck they’re wearing a Fast Track or Turistas cap.

     5. Contests. People are competitive. Mail in your ticket stub from opening weekend and be eligible for a drawing. Go to the movie’s web site and guess the opening box office to win a prize (get people to put an emotional stake in the film). Auction off movie props before the release (it happens now, but not nearly enough).

     6. Maximize pre-release screenings. Hand out postcards with the movie poster that say on the back “I just saw ____ at a screening and it was great”. Offer to pay the postage if people hand back that postcard with an address on it.

     7. Free wireless is growing – Panera Bread, hotels, etc – but I’ve yet to see it sponsored. Take a page out of the salon.com handbook – as people log into their browser, an advertisement. People will accept it because they are getting something for free that is not always free.

     8. You know that moment at the end of the trailer where the title and credits flash by? Give people a few extra seconds to actually read it, to find some names up there that they recognize. A bad trailer can sink a film, but we’re past the days where a great trailer can make a film. People have been burned too many times, and need to find connections to people they like and trust.

     9. Stop showing recent releases on airplanes. At some point airlines completely jumped the line in the revenue stream. If you’ve noticed, many people ignored your question and wrote about the movie-going experience. None that I noticed said give me a twelve inch screen next to a window.

     Comment by JJG — July 25, 2006 @ 12:12 pm

317. You can lower your marketing costs by using the republican method for getting people out to vote. Create a database that holds information relating to a consumers tastes and attitudes. Populate it with data that you already have and then buy some data from DVD rental and sales databases, etc. Then market to those most likely to respond. This group will be only a small fraction of the total audience for most films. You could use email, targeted ads and even ordinarily cost prohibitive methods such as direct mail since you wouldn’t need to target everyone in the world.

     Comment by Joel Files — July 25, 2006 @ 12:15 pm

318. Sell Beer at the theater for adult only showings. When going to a comedy club the early comics have a hard time getting a laugh. partially because they are newer and most importantly the audience isn’t drunk yet! The headliner always gets the laughs because they are more experienced and the audience has a good buzz going. LOL

     Pour your marketing into a ticket lottery concept. Every ticketholder is entered into a $1million dollar giveaway or whatever makes financial sense. Or better yet. A winning ticketholder gets a part in the next sequel or next movie. We all want to be famous. Make it a reality for one of us.

     The theater experience has to be better or different than my home theater experience. My home theatre is more comfortable, more convenient, looks and sounds better than movie theaters.

     Develop a high end premium theater w/ recliners, in seat speakers, vibration.

     Movies in 3D. Yeah it sounds corny but I had a wonderful experience at an IMAX theater wearing goofy 3d glasses.

     Comment by Steven — July 25, 2006 @ 12:21 pm

319. “We are looking at affiliate programs. So people with lots of myspace or other social network friends could get a buck or 2 or 3 if someone goes from their myspace page directly to fandago, moviefone, movietickets.com etc and buys a ticket to a film of ours prior to its release. Get 100 friends to buy tickets to a movie, get a 100 bucks from us.”

     Yeah, good luck with that…

     Along the same lines but simpler.

     Have movie watching idiots view a trailer online with a sliding scale of rewards depending on when or how often they watch.

     Different view times can be tied to different advertising depending on the time of day, etc…

     After subjecting themself to 2 minutes of insipid Hollywood schlock, the viewer is rewarded with $2 off movie ticket or a tasty and nutritious treat from the snack bar. The ad/ marketing potential in this space is huge because people are “willingly” participating.

     This idea could be made more complex with a membership system, loyalty rewards, etc…but it doesn’t have to be.

     The #1 complaint from movie goers is that movies are “too expensive” This idea addresses that directly.

     My #1 complaint about movie goers is that they are F*&#ing idiots.

     WYASA?

     Comment by Jim Anchower — July 25, 2006 @ 12:24 pm

320. Mark,

     Some great ideas already from the folks above. Here’s my 2 cents for how you get people to leave their homes and go to the movies every week (at least) and make more money for everyone involved (including indie film makers).

     1) Launch a monthly subscribtion fee model so people pay say $24.95 a month and they can go to as many movies as they want. (Use technology and photo IDs so people can’t pass their sub along for free). Netflix figured it out: people are incentivised to watch as many DVD’s as possible in a month or they feel like they are getting screwed. Thus they have incentive to watch more movies and explore new content…

     2) The theatres make most of their profit off of the concessions anyway so they’ll be happy to have more people in the seats.

     3) Theatres should show more movies more frequently which will create a demand for more content. Have the theatre open 24 hours a day with all types of movies running continusously. Again, the theatre can make more money if the seats are full, and there will be a demand for new types of content (i.e. The Long Tail for film…).

     4) Theatres can offer additional premium services such as preferred seating, drinks, etc. to increase profits even more.

     5) Level the playing field the way (YouTube is doing and digital cameras are doing) by making it easier for individual filmmakers to get their films into a theatre for the public to view. There are tons of ways to do this: let subscribers vote online for what movies come to the theatre and when for example. The best content wins. (Digg/Delicious model).

     6) The big studios will be incentivised to focus on developing more projects rather than big block-busters. It will simply be more profitable to spend money on content rather than marketing because having more of the better content will make them more money. If they change their model to investing less in many more projects, film makers will be forced to do more with less. The studios will be incentivised to spend that same $60 million on 60 $1 million films, becase the data (I suspect) will likely show they can be much more profitable making a rev share from subscriber fees, % of advertising rev and perhaps % of cencession and premium services fees x number of seats their set of movies fill.

     7) Finally, cut the filmmakers and actors in on the success of the film. And not just the A stars. Put the incentive back on those involved with the film so they are incentivised to do their own marketing…

     Plenty more ideas where those came from, however, instead of a job, would love your own feedback on the new health focused social networking site for consumers and medical pros I am launching: http://www.organizedwisdom.com beta launches next week…hope you stop by and help us figure out how to make a better health site for consumers…

     Comment by Unity Stoakes — July 25, 2006 @ 12:26 pm

321. Ok, let me give this a shot. From glancing over the responses, nobody really tries to articulate “what’s the problem”.
     So let me use one of those not so smart analogies. “You can have any color you like as long as it’s black” , rings a bell?

     The problem as I see it, is with the simple fact that we live in a world of individualism and personalized services. While the good old movie industry in still in the 40′s, fixed time, fixed selection, fixed price … Nothing really tailored to _me_. While _I_ can choose on the web which page I wan to see, select the color of my car, and can even select which TV channel or recorded show I want to watch. While the movie industry wants me to show up at a fixed time to see a movie with one hundred of my closed friends, were ten of them just irritate me.
     Good luck. And marketing on MySpace, that will just ,maybe, cure the symptom for 1 year. Since you haven’t done anything to fix problem.

     Come on this is nothing new, it’s a queuing problem. The computer industry which you should know, went through this. They used to stuff all these PCs in the sales queue. And along came Michael Dell and a few others and created a new queue. Called selection, or parts selection, and delivered a personalized PC to _me_. Which is not that different then to pick a PC out of a wide selection at a resale store, but feels much more tailored to _me_.

     So since you have pretty much a fixed product, at least for the foreseeable future, you have to personalize everything around it. If you have a product that doesn’t fit the times, you can market as much as you want and get nowhere. But I guess you have seen that already.

     Comment by Ronald — July 27, 2006 @ 10:12 pm

322. combine both the internet trailer and buying tkts online into one website. Have a site with all the different movies coming out like Quicktime does. But instead of viewing the preview from the movies website, have the video stream from our website. At the bottom of the screen add a link “buy tkt’s to this movie”. click on it and it will pull up a different screen with like Fandango.com has. Search by zip code and movie times. Click, buy, pick up tkt’s at the movie theater. Cusotmers will be able to view the trailer and buy from the same site. Also add a members section so cusotmers can sign up to recieve email notices about movies in their favorite types of movies such as horror or sci-fi. If you want to get really involved, add a section where the customer can also buy food from the site. The tkt machine can also out a list of the foods the customer wanted such as candy,drinks and popcorn. Cusotmer can take it to the counter and get his food quickly. The cusotmer will never have to pull out his/her wallet and the venue will be providing a faster service.

     Comment by Carlos Franco — July 25, 2006 @ 4:31 pm

323. The absolute BIGGEST problem with movie theaters today is that they’ve forgotten all about showmanship and presentation quality. Most screens at new theaters are simply too small, and on top of that they make them common-width so scope pictures are very small on them, when they’re supposed to look BIG! Theater chains don’t care at all about a quality presentation either, like perfect focus, aligning the image onscreen perfectly (no blank areas on one side of the the screen with picture spilling offscreen on the other side). (I worked for Regal for a year and left because their policies were so full of crap- email me if you want the whole story.) And where’s the SHOWMANSHIP? There should be curtains over the screen with background music chosen for the movie- not ugly advertising slides or those even worse-looking “digital preshows”, or MovieTunes CDs with the annoying announcer and same songs playing every time. And put some damn PRIDE into the presentation of the movie- again, that’s a rare thing these days even though it’s the main thing the customers are coming for. Picture and sound have to be PERFECT, and the film print has to be undamaged, put together with clear splicing tape, and if you’re sticking anything on the film to trigger the automation it should not be visible on the screen. I’ve seen the endings of lots of movies ruined by cue-tape flashing onscreen during the final fadeout, put there to bring the lights up for the end credits (personally I think the lights should stay down during the credits anyway, but again that’s another story.)
     Something just has to be done to improve presentation quality in theaters. When it’s done right, it beats anything else out there, but when it’s done wrong, even a decent home VHS setup can be better.
     Hire me to be in charge of the presentation- I’ll go into your theater, actually spend time in it watching the movies, and I’ll identify and fix and problems I find. Put me in charge of the projection booth, have me run the films as many days as possible, and also have me do as much of the film build-up as possible. I’ll work ridiculous hours if that’s what it takes.
     Later, when you’re planning new theaters, let me have some input. I’ll make sure that they’re theaters that people will want to go out to. Give the people something they can’t get at home!

     Comment by Jesse Skeen — July 25, 2006 @ 4:36 pm

324. Mr. Cuban-

     I’ve found the solution to your movie marketing woes…

     Hire struggling actors to generate buzz nationwide. For example, the West End in Dallas is public property. Have a handful of actors do a comedic routine while wearing t-shirts promoting your upcoming film. In a sense, the shows will be a live outdoor production of a pocket sandwich theatre-esq show. When the word spreads around, parents will bring their kids to be entertained. Kids are the #1 demographic that you need to be reaching as they have a huge control on the entertainment finances. Instill the same method in key demographic cities in busy areas. (Ex: Mann’s Chinese theatre in LA, Times Square in NY, etc.) Research cities where it is perfectly legal to have actors perform their talents. This translates into low overhead cost as the actors will sacrifice high pay to have the ability to get their name in the media as well as showcase their writing talents. (As well as any tips they earn) Have your production spring into people’s minds when they tell their friends about what they saw. Not only does this save you a bundle on advertising, it is completely innovative for generating your own free press and no company has ever attempted it before.

     Produce “happenings” that get people talking instead of a $4,000 ad that runs for 2 days in a paper that no one reads outside of their private time at work. Of course, there will be a need for some TV advertising to hit markets that you can’t cover, but the main objective is to blow people away with creativity.

     This is a pioneering idea that will set you apart from everyone else. Not only will you be entertaining the masses with a great movie, you are giving them a “free show” in return for their ticket sales.

     Regards,

     Scott Boswell

     Comment by Scott Boswell — July 25, 2006 @ 4:40 pm

325. I think by showing movies that address universal themes such as love, friends, family etc. and all the different emotions that go into them can make people be interested in seeing a movie artisticly making an impact. Just through myspace I came across the ‘Four Eyed Monsters’ podcast & spent the whole night watching all of them because they caught my full attention. Now that they have created their own movie, I think many people will pay just to see their work because of their ability to make connections with all types of people.

     I know that if ‘Four Eyed Monsters’ was able to play in a theatre close to where I live I would bring ten or more of my friends just to get them to see how inspiring and worthwhile this film would be to watch. Alot more money would be coming in for actual movies that have meaning while still being wholesome, real-to-life, and entertaining.

     Comment by Lynn — July 25, 2006 @ 4:41 pm

326. Mark,
     In my ten years of working for theatre companies, like AMC, Regal and a few other small chains and with all of the studios, I’ve realized that the key to true marketing comes at the grassroots level filled with media (you mentioned, internet, tv, print, etc.) to create excitement and entertainment the way it used to be. Yes, people might complain about the cost of popcorn and other concessions, types of films being created nowdays, but the bottomline is that theatres are cheapening the experience at the theatre by getting people in and out with little in between. Besides important items, such as customer service and presentation (DLP and best sound), there seems to be a common ingredient that needs to be addressed…grassroots marketing and education.
     While working at Regal in SA, TX, as the City-wide Marketing Coordinator, we were in a split film zone with AMC Huebner Oaks 24. In order to encourage people to attend our theatre, we used Monsters, Inc. as our target test film. We created a fair-like atmosphere with games, giveaways and a free small popcorn with a purchase of a Monsters, Inc. ticket. Not only did we increase our concessions per capita by almost 30 cents, we broke our attendance record for the largest weekend (at that point).
     My point is, that we created a fun and exciting atmosphere using Media to support and not as the primary tool to educate people about the film and our theatre, not the other way around.
     I’ve won over 15 national studio film awards and two ShoWest Awards in the past 10 years, so I know this works.
     And yes, I’d like to speak to you more about this concept and my own personal dream theatre chain called Atlantis.
     Thanks for your time.

     Comment by Daniel Lundquist — July 25, 2006 @ 5:18 pm

327. A few things:

     1) Better people. My area’s theaters are all smaller, locally owned theaters. Any time I go, the workers are largely oblivious and generally are on another planet. Even the owner who works at one of the theater will start talking to other people in line behind you – while he’s getting your tickets!

     2) Embrace independents. Make it easier for indie filmmakers to eliminate the middleman and distribute directly to your theaters – and widen selection of your movies. Helping to widen selection lets audiences see a variety of different things that they never would have gotten a chance at before. It helps independents get more revenue and therefore make more quality film (indie film is usually a lot better than Hollywood crud). With independent film, you also have the added bonus that after the movie (a lot of the time) you are able to sell copies of the film they just saw. Another revenue source for theater and indie filmmaker – and the consumer gets to leave with more than just a memory.

     3) Make it easier. I should be able to go online and get tickets from home, I should be able to get tickets from ticket machines at the theater – and I shouldn’t have to go through leaps to do it. Streamlining the process, making it efficient, faster, and all in all easier will help consumers get to the movie faster. One of our local chains, Marquee Cinemas, makes a person go through all sorts of leaps to get online tickets. I once spent over an hour and a half and 3 phone calls to the theater trying to get tickets – only to get there and not be able to see a thing because of where I had to sit.

     4) Cheaper. Yes, cheaper. I know that part of the problem is that revenues are down – but seriously… prices (especially snack prices) are insanely high. Every time I go to a theater I here someone complaining about the crazy prices. This one is difficult to change, but seriously…

     You could have some little fun elements in the experience too – replace a commercial or a trailer with a small short film from an independent. There are thousands upon thousands of filmmakers who would love to have one of their shorts featured leading into a feature-length film. Pixar does this already with their own stuff – but why not do this with other films?

     I don’t think there is one “catch-all” solution that will make theaters do better — rather it is a lot of little things. Long lines, bad line of sight, slow and rude service, lack of good movies – all add up to a rather bad experience. Why go through all of that when you can just sit home and not have to deal with it all? Then, you are ensured a good movie experience.

     As a filmmaker it pains me to see the slow loss of the movie theater – to me it’s a church-like experience where everything has to be done perfectly. I think that this just might be part of the natural evolution of the industry. We’ll see though….

     Comment by Chris — July 25, 2006 @ 5:21 pm

328. Yea, I’ve got some all too common sense ideas…

     1) Who the He** thought it was a good idea to show commercials in a movie theater before a movie – how dare you!!!! Charge me $10 to sit and watch your babble that I already get enough of at home? Ditch the advertising.

     2) Air freshners in movie theaters – make it happen. Having a few teenagers come in and sweep up some spilled popcorn doesn’t make the place smell prettier! Even if it’s a popcorn scented freshner, do it…I can’t tell you the number of theaters that smell like a highschool locker. This goes the same for the seats – a little preventive maintenance people!

     3) Start the fricken movie ON TIME!!! Don’t waste my time by lying to me about when I’ll be leaving the theater…not cool! Plan your previews ahead of time and start the feature based on the pre-printed times.

     4) Don’t make me take a 2nd mortgage out on my house to get a fricken candy bar. Those food prices are absolutely ridiculous and the guy who came up with those price schedules should be drawn and quartered….either lower prices or gladly allow outside food – you choose.

     5) NO BABIES in PG to R rated movies. Sorry parents! I’m a dad too, but pay a babysitter and let the poop machine kick it at home.

     Hey, believe it or not, I AM YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE! I’m early thirties and have a kid. We attend some nice, theater seating stadiums but they can’t escape the things I’ve mentioned here. My wife and I go to the movies weekly but are starting to prefer home theater. Cater to your guests a little more – you’ll notice a happier group of movie-goers.

     B Murphy

     Comment by B Murphy — July 25, 2006 @ 5:26 pm

329. A couple of ideas:

     1. Buying tickets with a premium text message. This adds convenience, cuts some of the theaters costs, and allows for automatic integration of a customer’s purchase history into a database. People can buy ahead of time (they receive a text back with a code to type into the kiosk) or they can type in their mobile number when they get there, receive a text, and enter the code. They have a cancelation PIN that is valid up to 60 minutes before show time. Lots more options with this–most are obvious and need not be listed here.

     2. Deregulate this like the airline industry. Stop selling stuff people don’t want just to compete with other theaters doing the same thing–a ticket at 10% below the typical price, a can of soda, and a small popcorn that I can buy with a text message a week before sounds good. Less overhead on the theater end results in cheaper tickets and more customers.

     3. An online network–connect friends and allow them to see who wants to see what movie. Buy tickets as a group (each can still pay individually) and get a lower price. No one gets billed unless the minimum number is hit, so if a group wants the rate, no one gets screwed because somebody didn’t buy his tickets like he said he would.

     4. Meet-up.com movie nights–same discounts as the other online network above

     5. Dinner and a movie: prix fixe menu, a movie ticket, and shuttle service to/from the restaurant for a set price (add-ons are extra). Obvious integration with national restaurant chains

     6. Club level seats

     7. Multi-rated movies. Matinee showings of new movies on the weekends that are edited for younger audiences. This idea sounds like it might be expensive, though.

     8. A private showing in a smaller theater and a pub-crawl that follows. All you need is a bus, and you are all set.

     So these may address the issue from a different angle, but it would lower costs and make all those advertising dollars more profitable, even during the opening weekend.

     MySpace helps, yes. But how long until there are 10 MySpaces all driving the profits to zero? This does not seem like a sustainable strategy, even if the overall internet organzing market is growing. I don’t think that MySpace is the savior–who wants to go to a MySpace page about a movie that doesn’t sound that interesting in the first place. Yes, it works, but I think it pretty much preaches to the choir.

     The idea of changing the movies made today into films people want to see? That is a great idea. For me to poop on. Cheers for puting it out there, but it seems more like social commentary than a lucrative idea.

     Bottom line: allow text message purchases and link to online networks. Capture email addresses and purchase history and sell the database. Make a “JetBlue” theater and people will come. Frequent movie watcher “miles” that are saved in a cellphone? Sounds alright to me.

     I don’t need a job, and I don’t think my ideas are revolutionary. By the time they could be implemented, movies will probably just be downloaded for $30 bucks and theaters will be reserved for teenagers looking to escape. But maybe this will trigger some discusion. And maybe someone already wrote these ideas in the 8 million posts above mine.

     Comment by David Bloomfield — July 25, 2006 @ 5:31 pm

330. Mark, you can’t listen to the bull shit…

     I’m 17 but I still think my opinion is appropriate…

     The chance of you finding the holy grail of movie marketing is equivalent to the chance of me getting the job, sometimes the odds are just against you.

     Fact is, if people aren’t talking about your movie, no one’s gonna go.

     - You need a good movie because movies that are bullshit will never be successful (if you stamped the movie “gigli” on everyone’s forehead no one would go)

     - You will never get a theatre to change the way they work unless you plan to release your movie in 10 years.

     - People are lazy and have no reason to go…use them as catalysts to others. Word of mouth marketing (in combination with networking) makes sense.

     The more people talking about your movie, the more will show up. Why use commercials, billboards, and all that other crap?

     PEOPLE bring in PEOPLE, how you go about telling them is up to you, but at least leave a lasting impression on them to do so. You can’t use a bullshit approach…

     - Sam

     Comment by Sam — July 25, 2006 @ 5:32 pm

331. I think people often underestimate the price point factor in discussing an issue like this. There are a TON of people in America who can’t reasonably afford a night at the movies, so they just wait to rent the DVD in 6 months for $4.00.

     What about a variable pricing model for the movie theater experience? This already exists to some extent, as the cost of a movie ticket varies by city and time of day. But what if you took that a step further and varied the cost of a ticket based on size of release (i.e. budget/commerciality of film) and time in release (the longer movie has been out, less a ticket costs). So people have options and can see a movie for $3 (just like on DVD) if they’re willing to wait a few weeks.

     To wit:
     If you want to see “Superman Returns” on opening night, you’re going to pay (let’s say) $15 instead of $9. But if you want to go see a smaller 2929 release like “Criminal” with a small budget and no major movie stars on opening night, you can see it for $4.50.

     We obviously don’t know what affect this would have in terms of theater traffic on either side of the spectrum, but much like the Day & Date concept, it would be very interesting to find out. Maybe Superman’s revenues would skyrocket because the majority of the rabid comic book fanbase willing to pay $9 will pay $15. Perhaps lowering the ticket price for indie films would get a considerably larger number of adults out of their house simply because the $8 or $9 price point is the sole determiner of their decision to go or stay home.

     I know one of the biggest issues with Day & Date is the theater owners’ reluctance to play ball. As I understand it, the theater owners make the majority of their profit off concessions – as such, they should be amenable to something like this, regardless of ticket price, as long as it theoretically equals more people through the doors, which equals more popcorn sold.

     The perfect test subject for this is a small budgeted movie like Bubble or Akeelah – since you own Landmark, you can run the test in your theaters alone and see what happens. The press picks up on the idea (just like they did with Day & Date) because it’s thinking outside the box, and you market the price point change in a tasteful manner that doesn’t diminish the quality of the film or experience. Then compare the results to what the same movie is doing in other theater chains who are charging a full retail price.

     If the test is successful, you might have your answer. If not successful, worst case it was a worthwhile gamble that didn’t cost you too much in lost revenues, as it was only tested in a few total theaters/markets.

     Apple/Itunes selling individual songs for 99 cents scared the hell out of people originally because it was so different and risky and people fear change. Nobody knew what Itunes would do to overall music sales. Would people stop buying full CD’s for $15 and just buy individual songs for 99 cents? Similar situation here – I don’t pretend to know the outcome, but I know it would be interesting to find out.

     Comment by Adam — July 25, 2006 @ 5:51 pm

332. Dear Mr. Cuban,

     I know you are seeking one idea that will get people into theaters on opening weekends.

     I have a few ideas that will help you with that but I also have several ideas for filling cinemas on slow weeknights and for adding value to people’s visits to the cinema.

     Finally I have ideas that help develop a sense of community around the Landmark brand.

     Getting People to the Cinema

     A free Landmark member’s movie club would be a good starting point to get people to go the cinema more often. You have Landmark’s Film Club but it could become so much more than what it is now:

     * Initially encourage cinema goers to join up by offering a free ticket to a movie of their choice when they sign up.
     * After that every 9th ticket purchase by that member earns them a free ticket. Then use permission marketing to exploit the information you gather each time they go to a movie. Issue them with a card and id number that they use each time they buy a ticket, whether it is online, at an automatic ticket dispenser, or in person. By using the information on what movies each person went to see, you could, over time, build up an Amazon.com style database and cross reference with other members ratings and use the database to recommend upcoming movies they would like.
     * Allow them to opt in to receive a weekly/monthly email newsletter with discounted tickets/vouchers for popcorn or soda if they go on opening weekend and bring a friend.
     * Allow them to opt in to receive emails and/or text messages letting them know of specific coming attractions that should appeal to them based on their previous preferences.
     * The emails, text messages and website would let the movie members rate the previous viewings on a simple 0-5 star scale.
     * Change the Landmark website so people can rate, review and argue in forums about the movies on show. Member’s reviews help to refine the database to their preferences. The member’s database could also be expanded to include DVDs and movies shown on TV to further refine the results more quickly than relying on what they see in theaters.
     * Encourage producers to create pod casts/web videos during production for use on Landmark website alongside the trailer to build anticipation in the audience well ahead of the release date. Much of this content is already produced for DVD extras.
     * Let anyone access the reviews and ratings like Wikipedia, but members can input more information and it is weighted more heavily than non-members submissions.
     * Members could also sign up for exclusive emails about free preview screenings in each cinema (two weeks ahead of release would give time for their word of mouth to spread, first 100 people to reply get tickets emailed to them, which they can then print out and present at the theater). If a screen has more than 100 seats the remainder of seats could be sold to non-members.
     * Over time the member’s screenings could also be used for test screenings of movies in post-production.
     * Members could pick their seats or sit in a reserved section of the best seats (membership has its benefits).
     * Offer a free cinema ticket to a member each time they bring another member into the movie club program.
     * Offer a free cinema ticket to a member on their birthday.
     * Promote the member’s movie club on the Landmark website, on free monthly calendars and magazines, on screens and in cinemas.
     * Offer “Members only” competitions with vacations to movie premieres and locations, free signed posters, DVDs, soundtracks etc. Every time you see a movie at a Landmark theater, you are entered into the competition.
     * Eventually it would enable you to know which aspects of a movie are most likely to appeal to your audience’s tastes and tailor movies to suit before they are produced.
     * Concession purchases earn points which are redeemable on concessions and tickets – like air miles.
     * The members could also buy DVDs at a discount. Offer members exclusive content sections on DVD extras.
     * The members could also get preferential rates for HDNet subscriptions.

     Another option would be to let people pay a subscription in advance (somewhere between $20-35 a month) that would allow them to see all the movies they want that month. Some people will see several movies a week but some people will hardly ever go. It could also be offered at a reduced annual rate. Either way they still pay for popcorn, soda and snacks.

     Increasing Volume

     Coordinate kids club movies with movies targeted at parents – Parents can drop the kids off at a kids movie (add some trailers and cartoons to get a similar running time) and go and see a different movie themselves, picking the kids up afterwards.

     Offer discount ticketing for parents. If an adult brings two kids to a “kids movie”, the adult pays child price. If an adult brings three or more kids to a “kid’s movie” the adult gets in for free.

     Offer group tickets to companies, teams and groups with discounts or every tenth ticket free. For schools and youth groups the accompanying adults get in free.

     For kid’s birthday parties of five or more, offer free popcorn and free tickets for accompanying adults.

     Using Concessions to Get People to the Cinema More Often

     Use popcorn as a persuader. Charge $.50 or $1 for all-you-can-eat popcorn. You’d still make a profit on it and it would increase soda sales.

     One day a week (whatever day has lowest attendance figures at each cinema location) offer free all-you-can-eat popcorn.

     At a time of increasing gas prices, offer a dollar off a movie ticket when a gas receipt is shown.

     Promotion in Cinema

     Advertise upcoming movies on popcorn containers, straws, drinks containers and on napkins.

     Advertise upcoming movies on the back of the stall door in the bathroom or on top of the urinal.

     Promotion Elsewhere

     Put ads at gas pumps.

     Advertise movies on supermarket receipts and gas receipts.

     Link movies to target audiences:
     * Advertise “chick flicks” and kids movies on pre-packed salads and on shoe boxes.
     * Advertise action or sports movies on trays of beer or on bar mats or at sports venues.

     Promotion and Added Value Before and After the Movie

     Free mobile phone content – trailers as videos, ring tones, ultra short text reviews; all linking to Moviefone for their local theater.

     Offer the same content to users for use on their myspace or other social networking sites as a promotional aid, rather than just set up myspace pages for characters.

     Offer sound track music as ring tones on screen. Before you tell people to turn off the phone on the cinema screen offer them the music from the trailers they just saw as a ring tone by texting a 5 digit number. You could also offer lines of dialogue and sound effects as cell phone content.

     Sell soundtrack albums and DVDs in the foyer, ticket office or concession stand. People are most likely to buy a soundtrack as they leave the movie: How many times have you left a theater humming the music and saying to yourself “I must get that soundtrack”? How many times do you actually buy it?

     The back of the movie ticket could have a promotional code to offer a dollar off the soundtrack, the DVD of the movie when it’s released or for a similar themed movie that’s for sale right now. It could also offer a dollar off next weekend’s screenings of any new release.

     Under Supplied Markets

     Make movies targeted at baby boomers:
     * They have an increasing amount of free time and plenty of money to spend, and they are currently very poorly served by most Hollywood studios that are constantly chasing the younger demographics.
     * These movies would be cheaper to make than special effect laden blockbusters and you wouldn’t need to pay Tom Cruise $20 million to star in it to appeal to the boomer audience.
     * They say there are no decent roles for women over 40 in Hollywood, s

     Comment by Val Farrelly — July 25, 2006 @ 5:55 pm

333. Playing Four Eyed Monsters would be a great start.

     Their Movie: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=14025601

     Comment by Tyler — July 25, 2006 @ 6:08 pm

334. My recipe:

     Set aside $5 millions from your usual advertising-marketing budget.

     Put very small ads in local papers all over the world about your new contest :
     $100 to the first 10,000 writers who send a synopsis (1/2 page).
     The script has to be sent by internet.
     The writer has to give a list of 100 people who would watch his movie.

     $3 millions left…

     Produce some marketing (TV show, podcast, etc.) around the selection of 5 writers and the making of the winning script.

     That should cost $2 millions.

     Then do the usual life cycle of the film and spend half of your normal ad-marketing budget because who already have 1 million email address to start the viral marketing thing everybody talks about…

     $1 million left.
     That my job;-)

     Comment by Luc Prévost — July 25, 2006 @ 6:14 pm

335. Mark,

     Let me ask you this, have you heard of these movies coming out?

     Beerfest
     Jackass : Number 2
     The Transformers.. Yeah I know “More than meets the eye” right?
     Running with Scissors

     Anyway, have you seen the trailers for these movies? I would think a majority of you haven’t? If you have seen them you had to go to the movies to see the preview or search it out on the internet.

     Whether your a nerd, a regular movie goer, or a movie snob there are two things that get you to the movies.

     The Buzz of a movie, and a good trailer.

     My motivation to see a movie always comes from seeing an interesting trailer , but it seems like you hardly ever see more than a handful of the same trailers.

     I know if you created a free membership program where you accrue points for going to the movies, viewing movie trailers online, and suggesting movies to other friends you could help motivate the “Moviegoer”, and collect valuable information on these “Moviegoer’s” that could help create a larger buzz down the road.

     The process of accrueing points should be as effortless as possible. You would need a car or a key tag tag that you could swipe through a machine when you go to the movies and a corresponding code that you could enter into a website to help track your points.

     The points could be redeemed for promotional movie items (which could be re-sold on ebay) , posters, discounts on movie tickets, food and drinks.

     Here is an example of how the points could work.

     Say you get 8,000 points for seeing a movie but it cost 25,000 to get a promotional item.

     You could log on to a website and view trailers, or write out a review, maybe fill out a survey, refer a friend and accrue additional points that way.

     I haven’t been to a movie in the past 6 months. I went to see Clerks II the other night, and saw previews for Beerfest which comes out in August, and Jackass : No 2 which comes out in September. Now I’m pumped about seeing both and it’s all because of the previews.

     Thanks, Brent

     Comment by millbx — July 25, 2006 @ 6:24 pm

336. I tried to explain one such concept some time ago. Rather than write a thesis in your comments, I’ll post the link. If you think it will work, run with it.

     Please return your popcorn to the full upright and locked position
     http://www.hypocritical.com/blog/2005/09/please-return-your-popcorn-to-full.asp

     Comment by Rick Turoczy — July 25, 2006 @ 6:27 pm

337. Basically, you’re looking at a total dynamic change in the movie industry. The studios indirectly built an entire industry that keeps people out of the theaters (more $$$ on dvd, less to spend in the theater).

     Basically, I think the best way to bring people to the theaters isn’t going to be viral marketing but companies/you focusing more on getting quality products into the hands of the people quicker. If it were up to me, I’d establish the market like this: A movie opens, its bare bones counterpart dvd is available *only* in the movie theater lobby (say for 2-3x the cost of a single ticket, basically slightly less than current “special edition” new releases). After a set period, 3 months, the run of the movie, whatever, the no frills dvd is pulled from the theater and the major retailers get the “special editions” (commentary, deleteds, etc).

     This idea has upsides to all involved, there’s a bigger initial surge for the studios via traditional tickets and dvd sales.

     Theaters would benefit, where, let’s take Superman for example. You get the die hard fans in the theater, you get families or people that don’t want the torments of typical “big movie” crowds buying the dvd, maybe while they’re there, they buy tickets to an older movie they initially passed on but are willing to see with less crowds. Further benefitting the theater as unless I’m mistaken, theaters get a bigger cut of the take the longer a movie remains playing.

     Basically while digital distribution will also be a major player, there’s just something about a theater that I love and would hate to see them go the way of the drive ins so by boosting traffic at them via stripped release date dvds, they can remain solvent while keeping the studios and retailers (who benefit off the special editions) happy.

     Comment by Rob — July 25, 2006 @ 6:36 pm

338. Offer “season tickets”. Cluster movies together – for example, offer tickets to all four action movies from Sony in 2007 by offering reserved seating on the first day for the hot movie (or movies). If your customer wants to be the first to see Pirates 2, they also have to buy tickets to Invincible and (something else Disney produces).

     Works for basketball, doesn’t it?

     Comment by Larry — July 25, 2006 @ 6:39 pm

339. Hi Mark,

     1. Make a blockbuster. Something that merits millions in advertising revenue and will stay at the number one spot for two to three weeks (like Pirates of the Carribean).

     2. When people buy tix for your blockbuster, offer 2$ off the price of admission for any other HD NET film to be released in the next ‘z’ weeks or months.

     3. Make captivating previews for you other HD NET films and show them during your blockbuster previews.

     4. One to three weeks after the release of your blockbuster, release the other HD Net films that were previewed in Step 3. You either always offer 2$ off any HD NET film or only reserve this offer for blockbuster type films.

     Why this works:
     It’s rare that seeing a movie is a real event that people are totally revved and excited about (e.g. Spiderman, X-Men, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Batman Begins, etc.). Although less than 10% of all films released in the year are of blockbuster proportions, my educated guess is that they account for more than 30% of movie revenues (if not more), so it’s well justified to spend three or four times as much on advertising for these films, something you would have done despite my suggestion. Now, you stretch your buck. You use the advertising dollars to not only attract large audiences, but to showcase other HD Net films to these audiences (something you obviously already do) AND offer additional incentive to go see other HD NET films. Simple and easy to implement, no?

     I hate to tell you this, but it’s extremely difficult to make a movie that sells itself. Moviemaking is more than an art…it’s magic. My point? Often, people really don’t care what they see. Usually the decision is based on genre and then available movies in that genre. So, if you can manage to have at least 1 HD NET movie playing for each major genre, if it’s all the same to the movie-goer, it’s safe to assume most would go and see the cheaper film.

     Good luck.

     P.S. It’s too bad that you’re not part of the NHL ownership yet…I’d love to see you turn the league on its ear.

     Comment by Niraj Khanna — July 25, 2006 @ 6:43 pm

340. Movies have gone downmarket dramatically over the past 20 years. Now they are dumb, dumb experiences (and I’m not talking about the movies themselves, I’m talking about the experience entering the multiplex, buying tickets, being inundated with ugly cardboard advertising, sullen grim-faced workers, and then lowest-common-denominator advertising before the movies start).

     Most movie theaters right now are taking their cues from the fast-food industry. It’s really like being in a McDonald’s. At best. They should instead look to Starbucks, say, or the Apple store. Give the appearance of culture, sophistication. They should give their customers some credit and aim above them, rather than, again, go for the lowest common denominator and alienating everyone but the teenage boys who will outgrow it soon anyway.

     Heck, why not put a Starbucks or a Peet’s inside the movie theater? If the whole experience is re-thought from the ground up as an aspirational one rather than a crass, milk-the-stupids-for-their-money one, a whole new cachet can surround the idea of going to the movies. (Use words like “Cinema” instead!)

     Of course, many Landmark theaters hit some of these points. But not in an earth-shattering way. Also, there’s no reason that these theaters need to be exclusively “art house” — the planners for the theater should pick the best Hollywood movies to bring more into the fold.

     All this needs to be tied into a new brand that can plant a stake in this new territory. I got all kinds of ideas — like an upmarket video store section (call it “Film School”) with Criterion and Magnolia DVDs as well as the great classics (discounted maybe). Some smart partnerships with Apple (downloads) and Netflix can bring people into the fold as well. There should be an easy loyalty program as well. (Think Jetblue Trueblue.)

     Hit me up, Mark!

     Comment by Lukas Hauser — July 25, 2006 @ 6:48 pm

341. Dear Mark,

     I love the dialogue you started here! It appears that we all agree that the modern movie-going experience is overpriced and it sucks. Even though that is a key part of the product that you are selling to consumers and it needs to be changed, you specifically asked how to lower marketing costs so here goes nothing:

     1) Make an investment in creating film brands and build a close relationship with the consumers of these brands. Think of it in terms of customer acquisition instead of treating each film like a one-off.

     2) Align your marketing teams around your films & brands not your product lines.

     1) CREATE FILM BRANDS
     I am not talking about making movie franchises like Spiderman or suggesting that you cast A-List actors. It sure helps open your film but it’s not going to lower your marketing costs because you still have to pay large sums of money to build awareness.

     Movie studios waste too much time and money acquiring the same customers over and over again. If you create an excellent brand and you are absolutely true to it then half the battle of opening movies is over. When purchase HBO I know that I am getting smart, high quality original programming. People are passionate about Pixar films but what does Warner Bros., Universal or 2929 Entertainment mean to them?

     If you develop a personal relationship with the consumers of your brand and establish the necessary communication channels to reach out to them then the other half of the battle is over. The incremental costs for getting their attention will lower and you can reduce your marketing budgets over time.

     2) ALIGN MARKETING AROUND YOUR BRANDS/FILMS
     Studios make a film and then they resell it to consumers over and over again. If your entertainment companies are structured like most studios, you have different marketing groups handling the same film for each window: theatrical, home video, PPV, TV, etc. They don’t even specialize in selling to a particular audience! For example, a team specialized in youth marketing is best suited to handle a teen movie campaign though the whole film’s lifecycle.

     If you think these are good ideas then I would be happy to drill down on specific tactics to support them. I’d love to hear what you think.

     Regards,

     Pete Mauro

     Comment by Pete Mauro — July 25, 2006 @ 6:48 pm

342. The Golden Reel. At the end of the movie a code is shown. Movie-watchers can enter the code on a website to win a big prize (cross promotion opportunities and interactive programs on website would be made available). Only one theater at one select time will have the winning code. Anyone who enters the code and sends in their receipt from that show will win. That could end the contest but I would also offer a “second chance opportunity” to everyone else where if they answer a question about the film they are entered into a random drawing to win the prize as well. So one select theater would have two reels, one being the Golden Reel which would be played at the determined date and time, and one for all additional times.

     Comment by Chris Tedrick — July 25, 2006 @ 6:49 pm

343. Dear Mr. Cuban,

     I first would like to start off by saying that I applaud you for this innovative way to reach people. A fellow film fanatic who saw your Movie Business Challenge and forwarded it to me directed me to your weblog. I find it refreshing in today’s corporate environment that someone like yourself can find the time to come up with such a challenge. I have visited several Landmark Theatre locations and was impressed with the cleanliness of the buildings and friendliness of the staff. I think that people are forgetting that going to the movies is an experience and not necessarily about going to see a particular film. I also have a lot of respect for Landmark Theatres in regards to the types of films that are played. I think what is referred to as “Independent Films” or “Art House Films” will soon become more of a mainstream than it already has. My answer is more broader to the question of how to get someone out of the house to watch one movie – my answer is to the question – how to get more people out of the house to see more movies in general. That has been a challenge that the movie business has had since its inception. With technology growing in leaps and bounds, trying to market a specific product to a specific person is virtually impossible. Not to mention getting people to leave their homes to actually go out and do something – period.

     I have been promoting movie theatres for the past 17 years. When I say theatres, I am talking about the 30 plus motion picture theatres I have managed over the last 17 years. I have always taken the approach that I am marketing the actual theatre location that I am managing and not the films that we have played. While I have promoted different films over the years, my goal has always been to keep the audience coming back to see the different films that we play and not one specific film. I have followed advice from marketing firms, public relations consultants, and people who have been in the business for years. I have actually come up with my own formula that works for each location that I have managed. This formula works better for new locations, but I have found it to be successful for existing locations also. I tested this formula in markets like Las Vegas, Miami, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. It has worked each time. As a theatre manager, it was always my goal to increase revenue, per capitas, and attendance at each location. I truly believe that the basics of this formula can be used on a national level. To increase revenue and spark renewed interest in going to the movies. I think the coolest thing about my tactics – is that there is very little money being spent. I also truly care about the customers and the money they spend. Also, this business has kept me excited about what the next week will bring and I think it’s important to be truly excited about what you do for a living. I really think the Motion Picture Industry is in dire straights right now and I would love to be given the opportunity to make a difference. Movies have always been my passion since I was a child. What has always been important is the atmosphere that movie theatres have. Hollywood has always been inconsistent with films – some good some bad – what is important to me is remembering where I saw a particular film – then going back to see another film at the same place.
     Now on to why I actually wrote this e-mail. Marketing Movies in a completely different way to the general public for the purpose of getting people off their couches and into movie theatre seats at their local cinema. I am going to go at this from a very generalized standpoint. I think that Hollywood and Motion Picture Exhibitors should do a grassroots campaign themselves. I think that like the Fandango.com website project, different theatre chains should come together and have a national campaign for ‘A Night Out at the Movies’. Actually, I think every movie theatre nationwide should be a part of it – chains and independents. It is truly sad that Movie Theatres are fast becoming part of ‘Americana’ or subjects of documentaries on PBS – about how things ‘used to be’. What can’t they be that way now? What happened in America that people want to shut themselves out from the world and not go out and be a part of such a cool experience as ‘The Movies’? This is where the marketing should start at: Getting at the root cause of why the Motion Picture Business is suffering. I know that people complain about the prices, but haven’t they always? I know people’s standards have gone up as far as presentation and sound in an auditorium – but haven’t we, the theatre industry, raised our standards of showmanship (i.e. Digital sound and picture). So what gives? I think America has lost its sense of direction. So what we need to do is take this situation and make it into something viable. Have the government designate a national “night out at the movies” and if they don’t want to do it – get the National Association of Theatre Owners involved. Each individual movie theatre and Hollywood should at least attempt to take back Friday and Saturday nights as designated nights to go to the movies. Have a marketing campaign that points out all the positives of spending a night out enjoying the latest movie. Maybe even conduct a nationwide survey first – to find out what people actually think of going to the movies. Depending on those results – maybe we could shift the direction of the campaign one way or another – depending on those results.
     Do you want to know what saddened me recently? I had an elementary school come to see a movie a few weeks back. They rented out the theatre and had a private show of a film. The teacher explained to me that the children were being read a book in which the character goes out to the movies. The children in the class were confused – because not a single one had ever been to a movie theatre and understood what it meant by ‘going out’ to the movies. So the teacher got a fund together and treated these children to a movie. I was in shock at that revelation. Maybe a marketing campaign in conjunction with schools on a National, State, and local level will insure future movie-going experiences.
     I think you get the drift of my overall idea. I think the real challenge is taking all of what I have said and putting it together in one package. I truly enjoy what I do for a living. My personal goal is to own my own theatre or Drive-In someday. That way I can test my own ideas when it comes to this business that I am in. I know that someday I will be in that position – because the only difference between having a dream and obtaining that dream – is living the dream. All that it takes is facing the challenges and risks involved and knowing the difference in saying you are going to do something and actually doing it.

     Thank you for your time.

     Sincerely,

     Dennis J. Benjamin

     Comment by Dennis J. Benjamin — July 25, 2006 @ 6:50 pm

344. Go back and see how Blair Witch and the original Matrix used the net…

     Comment by Matt Cleary — July 25, 2006 @ 6:54 pm

345. Hi Mark,

     I think you should give me a job based soley on the fact that I’ve been wanting to work for you for some time now. I think you’re a genious and want to study the way you operate. No shit. On my myspace ‘Who I’d like to meet’ section, you are the first person listed.

     That aside, I’ve read some of the comments below and see a million great ideas. A lot of it is more of the same. I work in distribution doing theatrical sales and promotion, etc. My boss has had me make myspace pages, I run our street promo teams, etc., so I understand your frustration. We face it daily and we even have a very specific target market.

     I personally believe that the destination element is key. And integration. Making a theatre more than just a theatre. Making it a cutting edge forum for film and fun (pardon the cheese) is essential. Alcohol is always a good start. Food is good too. But what about bringing internet lounges into the mix, kind of like what McDonalds is looking to do. Also, in the case of Landmark, even though ‘independent film’ is your primary focus, you should not fail to focus attention on the under 18 crowd who have limited options on a Friday night, but have the expendable income to pump into AMC/Loews. Have your film buyers be sure to program some options for them as well.

     But my **brilliant** idea that I didn’t see anyone mention, that should get me the job with you, is simple. After a little theatre chain makeover, take all of the advertising that you do for each film and apply it to your theatre chain. Advertise a night out at Landmark. Not the film. People do respond to advertising. But they have too many films to choose from. They don’t have nearly as many Friday night destination choices. Make Landmark hip, not Bubble.

     K, that’s about all I have off the top of my head, but would love to brainstorm more from my new office.

     By the way, I love your film buyers, particularly Mabel, Mark, and Ruth. Keep them. They make me smile even when I’m frustrated about how to market our films.

     Thanks for being awesome!

     Comment by Megan — July 25, 2006 @ 6:57 pm

346. Mark,

     —The Current Model—

     New Release movies are shown across the country in every city, with several showings in the same city. In addition to that, people can just wait and see the movie on DVD or PPV or whatever if they just wait a few months. There is no incentive for people to get out and see the movie on a given date.

     —The Goal—

     A premium must be placed on the movie and the experience of going to the movie. For example, if I want to see a broadway show, I must go to New York City. Yes the ticket is expensive, but the experience is exciting and fun. If I want to go to DisneyWorld, I must go to Orlando and visit the Magic Kingdom.

     I would like to create a buzz about a movie and make it so that tickets are hard to find. For example, if I want to go see the Texas vs. Ohio State game in September, I better be willing to spend a lot on tickets, because tickets are limited and hard to find. Everyone has a price they are willing to pay…

     —The Plan—

     Create a “movie tour”. The first week, weekend, etc., only show the movie on a select screen or screens in one city. This accomplishes two things. It makes the ticket harder to attain and it makes it exciting and fun.

     Each week, the tour would shift to a new city. At this point, the media attention of the movie would grow as articles, buzz is being created, thus creating free advertising.

     Tickets would go on sale via the web on a select date, and limited in quantity.

     Each “movie tour” could last months, if not years if positioned properly in the market. Obviously, the movie would have to at least be worth seeing and appeal to a certain market, thus creating a buying atmosphere.

     For example, if a really great animation film came out, what parent wouldn’t want to take their kids to see the movie when it came to town? A premium is placed on getting this ticket.

     —Pricing Analysis—

     Now that a buzz has been created in the movie experience, pricing can increase with demand. Yes, thats right, you can actually raise ticket prices.

     —DVD Sales—

     Once a “movie tour” has completed, potentially several years for a great movie, only then is the DVD brought into the marketplace.

     —Conclusion—

     Create a product worth getting out and seeing. Let the media and word of mouth sell the ticket at a higher price than today. Its not the movies that people aren’t getting out to see, its the fact that the movie market is oversaturated. An “experience” is worth paying for…

     KJ

     Comment by KJ — July 25, 2006 @ 7:04 pm

347. You are probably getting a thousand ideas, but lets start with the problem. Why I don’t go to the theatre any more. It is a miserable experience standing in lines to buy tickets, buy my popcorn, and find a seat in the theatre. And even if I get their early there is always someone who arrives late and makes me stand up to pass by me. Inevitably I always miss the first few minutes of every movie. Now I know you can’t control when people arrive or even how fast the movie theatre employees work. Don’t even think about starting the movie late. I hate it when things are not on time.

     The true solution is, let me watch the first ten minutes in high definition on the net, in DVD content, via CableTV. Something. If I like the first ten minutes, then I will go see it. If I don’t then it is a problem with the movie, not the marketing.

     I can go to the bookstore and read the first few pages of a book. HELL, I can do that on Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com

     Why can’t I do it with a movie. Now if I know the first 10 minutes and I am compelled I will be itching to go see it. And if the popcorn line is long, I am not doomed to be upset because I have seen the first 10 minutes already.

     Let people put this stuff on their myspace page. I may have never heard of the movie, but I just might sit for 10 minutes if a friend reccomends it. Let them play low definition, but give me access to the HD stuff.

     Put it everywhere!!! Movie Previews SUCK. I want the movie!!!!!!!!

     This is just the beginning of the ideas. Theatres need to be fun! I used to love going to the movie theatre. In high school I even got a job at one because I loved it so much. Now I absolute dread going there because it only frustrates me. Its not about spending the money on marketing. Its about making me look forward to going their. Forget about content. The movie theatre should give me the same excitement that Disneyland does.

     If I am in a good mood, no matter how crappy the movie is, I will still probably enjoy it.

     Comment by Bryan Focht — July 25, 2006 @ 7:35 pm

348. I think you should consider the Value Per Action advertising model we are developing at Jellyfish.com as one possible solution.

     Instead of interrupting and annoying me with wasteful movie advertisments, billboards, banners, etc., why don’t the studios bring me directly into the value of their advertising by sharing back a portion of the advertising fee with me each time I book a ticket online. Get rid of the waste and inefficiency of traditional advertising and allow the studios to use their ad dollars to drive demand in a risk free, verifiable fashion.

     I would propose the following:

     1. Partner with Fandago, Moviefone, Movietickets.com and other online ticket services to leverage their ticketing infrastructure
     2. Integrate the Jellyfish VPA sharing concept within this online ticketing system and promote a new online ticket service (VPAMovieTix.com)
     3. Allow the studios to bid for sales using their advertising dollars, driving demand with pricing promotion in this new risk free channel

     For example, I want to take my kids to a movie this weekend and visit VPAMovieTix.com. I look for the latest childrens’ movies, watch trailers, read reviews, etc., and select which movie tickets to buy. When I buy, the site gets paid a commission for the sale (the per sale advertising fee paid by the studio) and shares back at least half of that commission with me to lower my effective price. In this way, I directly benefit from interacting with the movie advertising and have extra money in my pocket to buy more popcorn (how the theatres make most of their money, I believe). The studios get an efficient channel and could spend lots more to drive demand for movies that weren’t hitting their numbers, and less for blockbusters that were doing well. And again, all of this advertising would be risk free because the studio would pay only for sales and they could directly set what they want to pay per customer.

     Once this system is up and running there are a number of powerful means to drive additional demand. These include:

     -Syndication: Click on a banner and watch a movie trailer or advertisement; buy your ticket for this coming weekend and get a cash discount
     -Promote to Friends: Get your friends to book their tickets at VPAMovietix.com and earn revenue
     -Push Recommendations: VPAMovietix.com knows what movies you like and could suggest new movies that you might be interested in (with your permission and with a cash discount if you buy a ticket)

     You can view my full proposal on the Jellyfish.com blog:
     http://www.jellyfish.com/blog/2006/07/25/why-mark-cuban-needs-the-value-per-action-ad-model/

     Comment by Mark McGuire — July 25, 2006 @ 7:52 pm

349. Traditional media and IMDB tell us months, years in advance what movie is planned already.

     From that moment, let the audience grow in the movie. But more as than ‘myspace-way’.
     ‘Flickr’ us pictures from meetings, deals… podcast, vlog straight from set… as the movie is being made, sell your ‘left over’ clothes on ebay (honestly, ever thought off how big the marketing effect of the ebay auction off ‘the suit george clooney IS GOING TO wear’ in movie x could be?).
     Sell tickets on ebay to go to the actual set, make those things open to the audience and don’t let them be run by the ‘classical media/corpos’. Make us live the movie while it is being made, hype us just as much as the team behind is.
     I don’t go to myspace because it is not my ‘thing’ so I have no touch with the characters.
     I love the ‘specials’ on DVDs but I would even prefer to tell everyone ‘Hey you should have seen how they did that’ BEFORE the movie got released.

     Let us grow with the movie, and even catch something (as in items) before its final cut. I want to see the ‘kid’ I saw growing up.

     Comment by franky — July 25, 2006 @ 7:56 pm

350. My seven-point proposal is…

     1)The theater should almost be like a dance club, but without the loud music. Stay with me. Inside, there should be alcohol for those who are of age (wristbands would work) and food and soda for those who are not. This instantly makes it young and hip.

     2)Have the theater open only at night, say 7pm-3am. This cuts down on payroll and reinforces that this is a “night spot.”

     3)Limit the films to independents, thus making it unnecessary to mass-market the films. Since you don’t have to pay Bruce Willis 20 mill, you also don’t have to spend just as much to market a poster of his head. In terms of marketing these independents…

     4)Only market the films in theater. Have posters of the films along with trailers playing on in-theater wall plasmas. That’s all you need because that’s what America uses to make their decisions presently. You can walk in, view the options, and make a selection.

     5)Have only about four films screening at the theater. Mix the genres. One action film, a gross out comedy, a romance, etc. You walk in, see what you’re in the mood for, and buy your tickets.

     6)Standardize start times. 7pm, 9:30, Midnight, etc. That way, people don’t have to worry about looking up times, finding a newspaper, etc. All the films start at the same time, every day, every week. People will always know when they start and it will be easier for them to be repeat customers. If that means not booking a three-hour Hungarian epic, so be it. No film should be longer than two hours anyway.

     7)Cut deals with restaurant chains. This is where the majority of people decide on what they’re going to do the rest of the night. If I’m at Red Lobster with my date and the waiter, because of the partnership with your theater, can sell me film tickets to your theater down the street, it makes it an easy choice. Perhaps the tickets will also have a discount for buying then and there.

     In summation, people will go out to dinner, then walk over to your theater, have a drink, and choose a film.
     Forget marketing the films themselves. Market a night out. The films are almost irrelevant.
     People go to the movies as an event. On dates, with their friends, etc. It almost doesn’t matter what the specific film is.
     Make movies hip again, Mark. You can do it. I can help.

     Comment by MK — July 25, 2006 @ 7:57 pm

351. The real question is: How to make people see the movie in the theater INSTEAD of on DVD or (in the future) downloading. This is why good movies even if they have a solid target audience (Enron) might not go gangbusters in the theater.

     For people to go to out to see a movie it would have to be either:

     1. A visual experience that the DVD option would not do justice (Lord of the Rings).

     2. A film which benefits from the audience response (screams or laughs – falls inline with the ‘laughter is contageous’ concept – Napolean Dynamite.)

     3. A hot topic that they want to support – almost like a contribution or voting (Farenheight 911, Passion of Christ)

     4. Something which is unavailable on video – ever. This is the opposite of day-and-date – but what if something that was interesting and supposedly good simply was never going to be on video? Certainly the interested audience would go see it on the screen.

     5. Something for which the experience of the theater is only part of the movie experiences. A perfect example of this would be “Ashes and Snow” (http://ashesandsnow.org/)

     6. A situation where to have seen the film is to be part of a club. The book “Cult Marketing” has an excellent chapter about the idea of a core group from whom your entire company is based – and that core group is like your cult following. For the movies – David Lynch, Kevin Smith, Woody Allen – these are filmmakers who have a fanatic core following. But like Winham Hill did with music in the 1980′s – a film distirbutor could do the same – make their own brand identity and establish their own core audience.

     The more of these the single movie has – the more likely people will hit the theater for it.

     The other issue to address is habit. Humans are incredibly habitual. If they started going to the movies every Tuesday – they’d get used to it. They’d crave it. to get that started, you could offer movie club purchases – espcially for light nights (weeknights). Something where someone buys a season pass essentially to the theater. This pass could even be the cornerstone for being in “that cult” – people get very adamant that they are movie lovers – well, movie lovers have the season pass.

     And as for “trickery” – here is my most tricky idea: What if you spend nothig on marketing at all. Instead, you offer that money to people who believe they could market your movie and sell X number of tickets. It would work like this (with rough numbers).

     If movie tickets cost $10, theater gets $3 (based on 70/30 opening split) – you want $3 – someone can make $4.

     the distributor sells tickets for $6 in bulk to people who believe they can move these tickets using their online prowess or just hawking them on the street. Maybe their strategy is to use their online friends and sell them for $9 bucks. Maybe they sell them for 7 bucks on the street. Maybe it’s a company like rottentomatoes who offers their heavy participatnts 8 dollar discount tickets etc. Whatever it is, you don’t care – you just care that they’ve bought them from you and that they are now doing the work to move them. You provide all the trailers, epk’s etc. Whatever you wat. You sell in 100 ticket bulk. You could scale it even at 600 for 100 or 5000 for 1000 tickets. People can always go right to the theater and get their 10 dollar ticket – but now you have a bunch of marketing partners who have an interest in marketing your movie for you.

     Oh yeah – and other than making the trailers – you’ve spent nothing for ad buys.

     And by the way – speaking as someone who worked in the trailer making business a little bit… there are ways to cut the cost of that process by 80% if that is any consideration in this whole picture. Disorganization and people with high profile business cards not spending their own money and a few other details leads to massive money loss.

     Let me know if anything here is of interest.

     Comment by The Unknown Filmmaker — July 25, 2006 @ 7:58 pm

352. Here is an idea that is not new, just underutilized. It is also not for specific films. Hence it does not meet your criteria. However, because of Landmark, I think it is still worth mentioning.

     In the state of Hawaii you can purchase books of discount movie tickets for Consolidated Theaters from the HR office of most mid-size, large and nonprofit companies and at many school offices and bookstores. It is usually marketed by these businesses to their employees as a benefit and it is hugely popular.

     I mention this because Hawaii is the only market where I have seen this done on such a large scale. It is so popular that people who don’t work for companies that offer these ticket books often get their friends who do to buy ticket books on their behalf.

     At employee orientations and weekly meetings you will often hear somebody say, “And don’t forget, if you want to buy a book of discount movie tickets…” They are often pushed by company employees with the fervor of a United Way rally. They are also given to employees as a reward for good service or performance.

     The great thing is that there are not a lot of restrictions on these tickets either. Do you want to go see a top movie on a Friday night? No problem.

     Sure many theater chains sell ticket books at the box office. The genius of Consolidated Theaters is that they cracked the workplace and have made these books a highly prized commodity throughout an entire state.

     Comment by TomS — July 25, 2006 @ 8:29 pm

353. implement a social software platform for the actors in the movie. Think about a MyJonnyDepp place where fans can aggregate data about his movies and talk about his past and future roles.

     It becomes searchable and indexable.

     See http://filmcrowd.com/ which is still very wide, break the social network to as small as possible, down my actor and movie.

     Hans

     Comment by Hans A. Koch — July 25, 2006 @ 8:56 pm

354. Mark,

     I’ve read many of the comments posted and have to say they all sound like the bullshit taught in Marketing 101.

     If you want to sell tickets you need to do it the good old American Way…Start a telemarketing center in India and pay them a nickle for every ticket they sell.

     I’m a stockbroker and if I can sell someone 1,000 shares of OSTK over the phone. I think a $10 movie ticket would be a layup.

     Comment by Tony — July 25, 2006 @ 9:04 pm

355. Longer trailers, like book excerpts. Too long to show before movies at the theater but suited to something like Nothing but Trailers on HDNet and posting on the net. Maybe not having traditional trailers in the theater would be an added draw.

     Get people interested in the rest of the story or a particular character. This conflicts with the model of simultaneous release on DVD and HDNet but it seems like you need the idea planted that this experience can only be had in a theater for some time to come (until the paperback comes out).

     Comment by Miller Logan, M.D. — July 25, 2006 @ 9:06 pm

356. Dear Mr. Cuban:
     I believe that the movies should be geared toward the baby boomers. A typical boomer may be described as follows: a member of a large demographic group; more disposable income; more disposable time; acutely aware that movies were very important to them while growing up; a wider group of friends and acquaintences; and active involvement with their grandkids (another huge group of customers). All of the above should be factored in the suggestions below.
     The primary element would be to insure movies appeal to this market. Family movies historically make more money than other types of movies. Excessive violence, abundant expletives, bad moral values, and gratutious and excessive sexual content are not necessary to this group of movie-goers In fact, would cause them not to come to the theater and definitely not bring their friends or grandchildren.
     Marketing the movie on a small budget to this group is doable. For example, boomers generally watch the early local news daily – ads for the movie on local news channels should be less expensive than prime time. Cable news on a local level would also be worth consideration. Local social or business groups can be given discounted tickets to generate “word of mouth” excitement, using the “wide range of friends and aquaintences and grandchildren” to spread the word. Most boomers are less computer literate than the younger age groups, but many have some access to computers. Blogs would seem to be the first line in the computer marketing on a low budget, and there are blogs of any stripe in most areas. Properly placed comments in various blogs would reach an immense number of computer users. Again, the word of mouth.
     Ideas floated that include rebates for friends, etc, would not work with this group. Going to the movie has to be easy and simple, not complicated. If you can’t have inexpensive tickets and drinks and popcorn and candy, then you must have easy and comfortable and simple. You go, you pay your money, you watch the movie, you leave having been entertained. Easy and simple.
     My parents are baby boomers. They want to enjoy a movie. TV ads, billboards, personal appearances, newpaper ads, and pop-up ads do not make them want to go to a movie. Previews at the theater and what other people say determine their movie attendence. Simple. Easy.
     Edwin Link

     Comment by Edwin link — July 25, 2006 @ 9:07 pm

357. MAKE GOOD MOVIES. LET THE DIRECTOR AND THE TALENTED PEOPLE USE THEIR CREATIVITY AND TALENT, AND DON’T NICKLE AND DIME THEM TO THE POINT THAT IT’S A PIECE OF SHIT LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE.

     I know it’s not going to get me a job, but it’s a good place to start, no? Word of mouth is cheaper than anything else. If you’re got a good movie that’s above the rest of the bullshit out there, then people will tell other people, and it doesn’t cost you a dime!

     The movie business is too concerned with the opening weekend and conning people out of their money before they know what hit them (and that it was a waste of their 2 hours), that they really don’t care if something flops after 3 weeks in the theater. But if you even start small and selective and then build it up over a summer, hell, you may even get an Oscar out of it. And there’s nothing better for DVD sales than that.

     Yeah, it’s simple, but I figure the more you put into marketing a movie, the more you’re just trying to con someone out of their money before they can ask for it back.

     Comment by Dave — July 25, 2006 @ 9:17 pm

358. You have to keep it simple for people to be willing to participate.

     1. Empty seats in a theater are bad. Even a seat sold for a reduced price is better than an empty seat and someone in that seat means more concession sales.

     2. Create a site where people pick the movies they are interested in seeing. They understand that they will be contacted with special pricing for last minute discount ticket prices. (they must register a credit card with site for all special promotion ticket purchases)

     3. Schedule movies so that there is always a consistent amount of time for previews etc. Example a movie scheduled to start at 7:15 actually always begins at 7:45 (30 minutes of previews. Come up with an entertaining short or cartoons so that people don’t get bored during the time you need to market to impulse movie goers). People like previews but will still go to a move if they know they won’t miss the start. Inconsistent start times discourage people from going last minute.

     4. For a 7:15pm listed start time movie that actually starts at 7:45pm At 7:00pm a check is done to see how many seats are still available.

     5. The system does a query of people who live within ten minutes to twenty minutes of the theater. Very few people travel more than 15 minutes to their local theater

     6. A ticket price is determined based on the number of seats left available.

     7. An e mail is sent with the actual start time for the movie to registered users e mail and cell phone. This e mail or text message contains the movie name, actual movie (not preview) start time the theater and the price of the ticket. There is a limit on time to respond for the customer to get this ticket price. The system should update the ticket price every 5 minutes or so based on the number of tickets sold. If a show starts to sell out and you haven’t responded to the offer then the ticket price may go up.

     8. The customer wants to see the movie and authorizes a charge to their credit card via their computer or their cell phone. The only way to get the special price is to pay via credit card (that is on account) and to do it within the alloted time period.

     9. People who really want to see a movie will still go the first week and pay the full price. The last minute impulse movie goer is the one you want. They also may see a movie they were not sure about if they are prompted last minute and they get a good enough deal.

     10. A simple text reply of a certain word or a click of link in an e mail can let you know if someone has seen the movie already so that you don’t send them alerts they dont want.

     This will work

     Comment by Michael — July 25, 2006 @ 9:18 pm

359. Four Eyed Monsters (FEM) seems to be on track with a solution to your problem by innovating in the Social Networking domain. I have heard about them from friends and family and they are a ‘friend’ of mine on MySpace because I BELIEVE IN THEM!

     What they seem to get that other marketing “experts” lose sight of is they are ‘real’ people with a message and their video podcasts are great evidence of this. Your marketing gurus may do “Social Netowrk Marketing” to some degree, but not with style and grace that FEM has achieved.

     You ought to hire them to train your own private staff of media marketeers to demonstrate the role of Social Networking technology and practice for future campaigns, and reveal how they cracked the nut of getting people at the grass roots level motivated to spread the word; this is MUCH more effective than any other kind of advertising because it demonstrates the highest order of behavior in a potential audience goer–DIRECT ADVOCACY!

     The “us vs. them” mentality of the marketing establishment indicates to me they will never crack the nut of gaining attention of people in general and translating that attention into box office sales at a dececnt ROI. If you want to truly capture the attention of a potential movie goer, get friends and family to support it, refer it, endorse it and warrant your time and effort toward it and you will be successful; not just in filling box office, but creating a mystique around the movie going experience again without the enormous expense ad dollars for print and the like.

     Sitting in the dark with starngers is not as much fun as it used to be. Now couples or groups of socially connected people want to experience a night out as one part of a larger evening. The value of the BIG screen experience is losing out to the comfort and cost effectiveness of home theater, but this can be mediated with a strong market demand.

     Films that will tap into the big screen experience will do so ONLY if they are granted permission by an informed audience that demands the experience take place in such a context. In some ways it lets the true Market Demand takeover and eliminates some risk taking on the part of big execs who have isolated themselves from John Q Public…

     In fact, if the movie industry called a total marketing cease-fire, slowly but surely, people would find alternate means to inform themselves of various these entertainment options. The ‘must see’ movie would re-emerge as a genuine thought in the minds of the public rather than a cliche tag line. This de-tente marketing experiment (except for trailers in the theater and time listings in the local paper) would save money and would allow the efficacy of more social networking campaigns to find data to substantiate their true value. If you can’t find a way to crack this marketing nut, take a look at the mid-night marketing campaign of movies like “El Topo” “Pink Flamingos,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (to name a few)–they didn’t spend a dime on marketing outside local newspaper ads and now they are legendary. Despite mass-marketing by producers of the Rock Horror Picture Show, the audience didn’t pan out. It was only after a social event that took place outside the establishment was it able to flourish–it did so by word of mouth and advocacy by the audience! Now with Social Networking tools like what Four Eyed Monsters has done with pod casts and MySpace you could take that old recipe and add some 21st century zest to the mix! And at a very low cost, as well.

     I could easily bring 50 people to a showing of the Four Eyed Monsters film in our local theater, because my group of friends and family value how Four Eyed Monsters have established relationships with its audience.

     So, Mr. Cuban I’m afraid you had the power to go home all along: Just click your heels together three times and say “Four Eyed Monsters,” and you can find the solution your looking for!

     Comment by Don Peterson — July 25, 2006 @ 9:22 pm

360. Mark,

     This is easy, easy, easy. Make incredible movies and you won’t have to spend much for marketing. The movie should come first, the marketing second. I rarely see anyone quoted in the press describe it like that.

     Too much emphasis on marketing is a crutch for weak products IMO. Here on the west coast, the burger chain, In-n-Out always does phenomenal business. McDonalds and everyone else is in a mad scramble for traditional advertising. They constantly tinker with their advertising, their slogans, their positioning. And meanwhile In-n-out just knocks them dead by keeping it simple. Their advertising is word of mouth.

     The question isn’t how to get them into a seat at the movie theater. The question is, how can I make their friends recommend the movie to them. No one cares about traditional advertising anymore. 1 recommendation from a friend is worth more than thousands of traditional advertising spots IMO.

     No one cares about the advertising. No one is going to IM their friends and say, “wow, did you see all these ads for spiderman, their using billboards, blogs, videos, myspace ads.” It sounds great to an exec to use all these different avenues, but no one cares.

     People care about funny quotes. They want to quote with their friends. People care about how hot the girl is, (oh my god, did you see Keira Knightley). People want to be moved emotionally and taken to another place.

     The differences between a good film and a great film are very, very small. If I was the top guy of a studio, I’d be focusing 99% of my time on getting the best content possible out there. Masterpieces of content.

     Take the Star Wars franchise for example. If you took out the brilliant John Williams score, and if you changed things just slightly, the impact of the franchise wouldn’t have been nearly as good. Music, characters, and storylines get people in the theater.

     You see this on DVD’s with deleted scenes. A few extra scenes can radically alter the quality of a movie.

     I don’t think most in the movie business realize how small of a difference things can make.

     The real money in the movie business is going to be made when someone stands up and admits, most movies suck and that’s why we’re not making money with them.

     George Lucas could sell the 7th Star Wars movie on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and he’d make more money than these horrible bombs (Poseidon). Nothing will change until the content changes.

     Comment by John — July 25, 2006 @ 9:24 pm

361. A large population in our country speak Spanish and other languages. Subtitles for American movies will create more excitement and interest for American theatres and may bring in additional families. Have you checked out the latest stat on illegal immigrants living in the U.S.? We need something to do on the weekends when we’re not working.

     Yours truly,

     An Immigrant in Transition

     Comment by Claudia Jones — July 25, 2006 @ 9:33 pm

362. Make great f-in movies and people will line up to see them no matter how much you spend on ads.

     Comment by D. Yates — July 25, 2006 @ 9:57 pm

363. #1 Previews mixed in with ads 30 minutes before scheduled show time. (Lighting set to half)

     #2 Movie ticket stub becomes a punch card. First time you see the movie $12, 2nd time $9 3rd $6 etc. (Encourages repeat visits)

     #3 Buy 5 get 6th free. (Encourages people to get their friends to go)

     #4 Promo that allows people with multiple ticket stubs to the same movie the ability to purchase the DVD 2-3 weeks before the general public.

     #5 Ability to purchase CD soundtrack at concession stand before it gets released in stores.

     Comment by GMeyers — July 25, 2006 @ 9:59 pm

364. The problem with going to the Movie Theatre is the price. The problem is not the quality of the movie, or the cell phones, or the people in the theatre, the problem is the Price. $8+ for a movie is way too much to pay when a DVD is only $18 or a rental is $4.

     When my wife and I go to the movies we only go to certain ones. We keep up with all movies and the vast majority (80%) of all movies we call them “renters”. In other words, “renter” movies are movies that we will rent for $4 or buy for $18. Why would we pay $18 to see a movie when we can watch it for $4 in 2-4 months? That’s stupid.

     We go to the theatre to watch the BIG movies like spiderman, batman, the break-up, wedding crashers, king kong, etc. The movies we see in the theatre are either
     1.) Movies with big special effects and a good story (example: King Kong).
     2.) The rare movie that does not have many special effects but has a really good story and/or a must see actor (example: The Break-up because of Vince Vaughn or The Ballad of Ricky Bobby because of Will Ferrell)

     The problem is the price of movies so fix that and people will return to movies. Let me give an example. We had a sneak screening of the movie “Stay”. The movie was a total flop in the theatre. The screening though? PACKED OUT. WHY??? It was free!!!! The movie theatre still made money though…why??? EVERYONE bought food…my wife and I even bough popcorn and soda because the movie was free and we never do that because I won’t spend $18 on a movie and then $10 on food. FIX THE PRICE OF MOVIES…

     Movies should be priced based on a tier and that tier should be adjustable based upon performance. Movie prices should range from $2.50 to $9. The $2.50 movie would be a movie that is not expected to make much-say Clerks II for example. The $9 movie would be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Again why pay $18 to see Clerks in the theatre when I can rent it for $4???? But Pirates-worth $18 for sure.

     This would be a winwin for theaters and the movie makers. For theater owner: more customers = more concessions = more money. For the movie maker: If you movie is not expected to make money then the people see it at a lower price the more money you will make. Ecomomies of scale come into place here. Similiar to Wal-Mart vs. Grocery Stores. Wal-mart may offer food but I can pay more for higher quality at Kroger. I will go to Wal-Mart for my canned goods but Kroger for my meat and fruits because of the quality.

     Furthermore this tier will play into the century old rule of Supply and Demand. The demand for a certain movie will put the price on the higher end of the tier while the lack of demand for a certain movie will put it on the lower end. You don’t give the customer what they don’t want and then ask them to pay a crazy price. Give them what they want at a reasonable price. Movie Theaters must compete with all other forms of entertainment and so the price of a movie must be comparable to other similiar activities.

     Mr. Cuban, as a movie theatre owner, (which you are) this could be easily tested. Take 3 movie theatres and implement the tier. Be sure to advertize these amazing changes in the community. Do this for a year. Then take those 3 theatres and compare them to three other theatres with similiar demographics. I guarantee that the three theatres with a tier would be more profitable.

     Therein lies my job. I will implement the tier to three theatres and advertize the changes and then come to you after a year with the results. You compare them to three other theaters and if my three theatres are not significantly more profitable I am fired. However, when my program is successful then I will be in charge of converting all your theatres to the tier and in charge of advertizing the changes.

     Thank You,
     Jon Richardson

     Comment by Jon Richardson — July 25, 2006 @ 10:00 pm

365. It may have already been said (I admittedly didnt read EVERY previous post) but here is my random two cents.

     Frequent “movie miles” – a rewards program where movie goers get rewards for attending specific screaning.

     Opening night 10 pts
     Opening week 5 pts
     opening month 1 pt

     Then you can trade those points in on items. (Similar to frequent flier miles, or reward point on cigarette packs – for a non-PC comparison)

     Granted this by no means addressing the advertising or marketing aspect of your question but it is just my start.

     In some ways I believe that since movies overall are a “old” technology we may need to advertise them in an “old” way. The movie industry has changed but overall it is still a few moving pictures with a sound overlay. (not to take anything away from the talented peole that are involved with the process). Maybe new venues is not the way to spread the word. Maybe we need to step back in time and see how it used to be done. Part of that means ORIGINAL movie ideas. While many people can relate to the numerous 80′s TV shows that are being made into movies they arent original and showing something we havent seen before. It seems that a lot of the animated films are doing pretty well since
     A. they appeal to folks of all ages
     B. they are new and not trying to relive the history of some of our favorite shows.

     I have a ton of other “out-of-the-box” but yet very far fetched ideas. For example:
     Give the theatres more of a living room atmosphere. Little cubicle area where folks can take a family and be in a seclusion and feel like they are at home. Basically take them out of their home but make them feel like they are still there.

     Another stupid idea is themed night. Folks “dress-up” and get into the movie for a cheaper price. (hey i said it was dumb)

     Rambling – incoherent thoughts complete

     Comment by Dan Putt — July 25, 2006 @ 10:02 pm

366. Unless things in the movie industry have changed in the last decade (which seems like a rather rhetorical statement, but I doubt they have), the movie theatre itself actually makes nothing off the admission tickets that it sells. That money goes directly back to Hollywood. The only money we make is from sales at the concessions stands, which is why things are priced the way they are.

     Get the Hollywood big name actors doing better movies for more reasonable amounts of money and you’d likely see the price of admission drop.

     However in the end, as with any business, the quality of your product is what will keep customers coming back for more. See the various posts above regarding what most people think of the quality of the products Hollywood has been producing for the last 5 years or so.

     Comment by Boris — July 25, 2006 @ 10:12 pm

367. Mark,

     I think you are looking in the wrong direction. The problem isn’t how to market films, its that the product sucks. It isn’t worth the money to go to the theater when you can rent the thing for 2 bucks. The theater does not offer enough extra. Many people, myself included, don’t even think the product is good enough to be worth my time, and so wouldn’t even go for free.

     I mean, lets face it, every plot theme has been played out 100 times. There haven’t been new ideas in years. All the innovation has been in special effects, and I question the value of this innovation in a business sense, because it also has been such a driver of movie cost. Now, Hollywood has gotten so bad all they bother to do is crank out sequels, re-makes, or convert comics & such to screen – going with safe ideas of things people are familar with. This works to some degree, but you morgage your future.

     As I’m sure you are well aware, big profits come not from being the seveth guy to do something, but from innovation. The movie business badly needs something new in the product, and not just another gimmick that gets old in three weeks. If you want people in theaters as well, you better have a reason to be there rather than watch it at home, and I don’t think lower cost or marketing gimmicks will do it.

     And don’t get me started on TV. The problem is 10x worse.

     Start looking for the next content, not the next marketing scheme. HDnet will work for a while, until others enter the market and HD becomes standard. Then profits will plunge. Don’t worry Mark, I expect you to sell it high like you did with Yahoo

     This is a guess, and if I had real ideas I would be working them, but the next big content will probably been some sort of social thing through the net. It will arrive once the net can be piped cheaply into every-one’s living room (the PC is not where the family spends time as a group)

     Comment by ER — July 25, 2006 @ 10:19 pm

368. If you really want to improve the movie business, the way to go is to look to emerging artists and media that are fresh and happening right now. “Four Eyed Monsters”, directed by Arin Crumley and Susan Buice is such a project. I heard about the project from friends who emailed me the films’ website. I downloaded the podcasts created by Crumley and Buice and watched them all before I ever saw the film itself. The podcasts are a great way to learn about a film and build momentum for a screening. By the time I was able to see the film I was so excited to finally see it. “Four Eyed Monsters” did not let me down. I loved the film; it is so origional, honest, and real. The skills and talent of the films creators is amazing considering they did it all on their own financially and with mostly homemade sets. Young creative people is what the film industry needs to stay current and profitable. Making movies is not all about big names and big money – it’s also about the creative process and the creators themselves. “Four Eyed Monsters” by Crumley & Buice gives a refreshing eye into the process of a relationship as well as art in the making. I would love to see this film again and invite friends who are already excited about the film. I know at least 10 people who would come to a screening in my home town. Thanks for asking for input in this matter and for considering the work of young creative people. Sincerely, Rachel Icaza in Santa Rosa, CA
     http://www.foureyedmonsters.com

     Comment by Rachel Icaza — July 26, 2006 @ 8:33 pm

369. Have you ever been to the Apple Computer store on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California? If you had, you would have noticed that it is always very crowded from the moment they open until the moment they close. They sell great products and they have an interactive, cool retail experience for the customer. There is always something new to see and explore that entices customers into the store. You have to create the right environment in which to sell your specific product.

     HDNet wants to generate interest and excitement in your movies without spending the ridiculous amounts the studios spend. My marketing idea is to create a retail store experience for your movie consumer in a groovy, niche, boutique way. You already control development, production, distribution, and exhibition. This way you control all the marketing and you do it in a new way and a new model. I would also create a magazine, catalogue, and website for the store. You create a buzz and want-to-see factor well in advance of the movie’s opening by showing movie trailers in a new way as well as selling merchandise related to movies. The cost per year to maintain one cool retail space in LA and NYC would equal that of a few prime time network tv ad buys during “American Idol.” But the store has to be cool and I can tell you how to make it cool and I know how to find and hire the cool people to make the stores cool.

     You should not be marketing movies the same way the Hollywood suits have always done it. The suits are the guys who care about what model BMW they drive, where they eat lunch, and where they are seated when they eat lunch. You are not that guy, Soderbergh is not that guy, and neither am I. The suits use the National Research Group to recruit an audience and preview a film. They make the audience fill out cards and rate the movie. Based on the scores, they determine their media buy for each target audience. I believe their old school techniques are used because they don’t really understand who they are selling their product to and so they just overspend to cover their asses and make an opening weekend number in the trades so they can keep their overpaid jobs, expense accounts, and their 7 series Beemers.

     Everybody knew about Apple computers before they opened their groovy, unconventional retail stores. Revenue per square foot at Apple stores last year was $2,489, compared with $971 at Best Buy, according to Forrester Research , a market research firm.

     Comment by Maria K. — July 26, 2006 @ 8:34 pm

370. sounds like your main challenge is, “how to get people out of their homes and into the movies without spending much money on marketing”. What if the people were already at the movies and made their purchasing decision at the movies and not at home or on the way to the theater? what if you used the dollars already spent to market another movie and right their marketing coat tails to market yours. By this, I mean if they already decided to go the movies to see a movie and to spend money, then we don’t need to spend money to get them. We just need to somehow influence them at the theatre.

     Comment by mark — July 26, 2006 @ 8:35 pm

371. If you build it they will come…

     How about a movie theater people LIKE going to? With reasonable prices, themes, family night, date night, dog day afternoons, bring your own snacks, Dollar Days and Mom’s Day Out, screaming babies welcome on this day…..??

     Market the people AND the movie.

     Not to mention the fact you have the power to show any movie you want to for as long as you want to, the way people want it. Word of Mouth is a very powerful tool.

     Going to the movies is a chore these days, not a treat. Make it a real experience, not just a pretty package. People will remember that and will be faithful to that.

     – L

     Comment by Lynnette — July 26, 2006 @ 8:46 pm

372. Im a salesman.. i believe the solution is simple. upselling the tickets!! Opening weekend the hot movies are usually sold out.. But there are always movies that are not sold out on any given day at any given multiplex.. these seats can all be filled if the ticket agent upsells a second ticket of certain(not as hot) movies at half price. keep the seats at capacity.. more revenue.. I think most people would see two movies for under 20 bucks.. this will solve the problem not in price but in volume.. i really believe this would work… if the theater adds more services and food options people will spend the money and time… the solution is not to try to get more people to come.. The solution is to take care of the current customers.. Master that first! the rest will follow!

     Comment by david crawford — July 26, 2006 @ 8:54 pm

373. Im a salesman.. i believe the solution is simple. upselling the tickets!! Opening weekend the hot movies are usually sold out.. But there are always movies that are not sold out on any given day at any given multiplex.. these seats can all be filled if the ticket agent upsells a second ticket of certain(not as hot) movies at half price. keep the seats at capacity.. more revenue.. I think most people would see two movies for under 20 bucks.. this will solve the problem not in price but in volume.. i really believe this would work… if the theater adds more services and food options people will spend the money and time… the solution is not to try to get more people to come.. The solution is to take care of the current customers.. Master that first! the rest will follow!

     Comment by david crawford — July 26, 2006 @ 8:56 pm

374. Mark,

     I read the challenge on your blog with great interest.

     What you need is a network of interfaces that are where millions of consumers are everyday. These interfaces would allow the consumer to see a movie trailer, buy or rent a copy of a movie or purchase movie tickets. The interface would be easy to use and as consumers used them, the data would allow you to inform the consumer of a movie before you even launch it.

     My team and I are in the process of building such a network. This network of kiosks will be in high traffic locations and will rent and sell DVD’s. A studio such as yourself could use these kiosks to promote your movies for both in theatre and home viewing. In addition there are cross promotional opportunities with the retailers as well as opportunities to tap into our loyalty program as we build out the network.

     Our plan calls for us to have over 2000 kiosks in the next 3 years which will allow us to be in front of over 2mm people a day.

     If this sounds intriguing I am happy to send you more information.

     Comment by David B — July 26, 2006 @ 8:58 pm

375. Mark,

     I read the challenge on your blog with great interest.

     What you need is a network of interfaces that are where millions of consumers are everyday. These interfaces would allow the consumer to see a movie trailer, buy or rent a copy of a movie or purchase movie tickets. The interface would be easy to use and as consumers used them, the data would allow you to inform the consumer of a movie before you even launch it.

     My team and I are in the process of building such a network. This network of kiosks will be in high traffic locations and will rent and sell DVD’s. A studio such as yourself could use these kiosks to promote your movies for both in theatre and home viewing. In addition there are cross promotional opportunities with the retailers as well as opportunities to tap into our loyalty program as we build out the network.

     Our plan calls for us to have over 2000 kiosks in the next 3 years which will allow us to be in front of over 2mm people a day.

     If this sounds intriguing I am happy to send you more information.

     Comment by David B — July 26, 2006 @ 9:00 pm

376. Personally, I like to watch trailors. They give me a sense of wheather or not a certain movie would be somthing I would want to see. The idea is simple…. email. So many companies market themselves through mass email. You could find potential movie-goers by marketing to people who have accounts with websites like fandango, and ifilm, and then send them new movie trailors directly through email. You could pay someone 10 bucks an hour to work from home for two hours, and have the new movies marketed to literally thousands of people a day. Another idea… create a website where people can sign up to recive trailors, info about new movies, and stars. I have found that somtimes, its the cast that sells the movie. If Tom Cruise is in a movie, people will watch it, even if its bad. Through the website you could have a form where subscribers list their favorite types of movies, as well as their favorite actors/actresses. That way you could effectivly market each movie to its target audience. You could even have contests or drawings each week to give away a certain amount of free or discounted movies tickets. I dont know many people that would skip out on a good free movie!

     Comment by ray — July 26, 2006 @ 9:06 pm

377. What if you launch your movie with the gender opposite movie blockbuster that has been enormously marketed. You show it at the same times and theaters, but either geared more toward females or males. For example, if your movie is a military movie then launch it at the same time a romance blockbuster is launched and offer a “date” discount so that when people are on dates the guy can go see your movie and the girl goes and sees hers.

     Comment by mark — July 26, 2006 @ 9:07 pm

378. SIMPLE!! 2 PARTS..
     PART ONE.. UPSELL TICKETS… WHEN PEOPLE PACK THEATERS OPENING WEEKEND OFFER THEM A SECOND SHOW FOR HALF PRICE( THEY CAN ONLY CHOOSE THE OLDER MOVIES WHICH ARE USUALLY HALF EMPTY ANYWAY!)

     PART 2 ADD MORE SERVICES LIKE STARBUCKS AND BARS AND FULL FOOD MENUS TO KEEP PEOPLE IN THE THEATER FOR TWO SHOWS OR LONGER… MAYBE MERCHANDISING TOO BUT THATS NOT NEW..

     BASICALLY THE THEME IS TAKE CARE OF THE EXISTING CUSTOMERS AND MORE CUSTOMERS WILL COME.. NOW GIVE ME A JOB!)

     Comment by david crawford — July 26, 2006 @ 9:07 pm

379. Sorry if anyone has put anything like this, but I just wanted to throw something little out there but not read over 600 comments. Still wanted to help.

     You could make it an event. Make it more than seeing a movie. Make it a party with finger foods, drinks, music, and maybe even people who played a part in making the movie to hang out with everyone. This could be done before or after the movie or even in the middle to get people comparing ideas about the movie of what they think will happen. This might be hard to do everywhere the movie is shown, but could be done in major cities (i.e. Dallas).

     Also, stick to the genres. I go to an action flick to see action, not a sappy love story. People go to westerns to see six-shooters slinging around. A lot of times people will say certain action movies might be cheasy but then some want to see that. I don’t have any advice on that because different things appeal to different people. You just don’t have to appeal to all of them in the same movie. It takes a talented director to direct different genres while keeping them seperate. Something like that would probably gain more people’s intrests than making the ultimate-genre blockbuster that absolutley blows.

     Comment by Justin — July 26, 2006 @ 9:12 pm

380. Mark,

     It seems to me that you are trying to find a new way to market a movie without the extra cost of the run of the mill techniques. The best way to market any movie is word of mouth or just reaching the people. There are ways such as partnering with a food or packaging company to get your information on the labels. For example, Shrek 2 was on every bag of Lays potatoe chips from here to China. That’s great marketing without the use of the same old methods. Grocery stores, such as Walmart, have taken over……and millions of people go there daily. Maybe use a holographic movie board within Walmart, Target…etc. Also, at the check out counter, some type of movie paraphernalia could be handed out with every sale.

     Comment by Shawnee — July 26, 2006 @ 9:22 pm

381. Hi Mark,
     Here are some suggestions:

     Step 1: Make the movies shorter. Sitting through a 2 1/2 or 3 hour movie can be exhausting, especailly for a movie buff like myself. Movies that are between an hour and 90 minutes are ideal.
     Step 2: Bring HiDef movies to the BigScreen. Upgrade the theatres to get a better than home movie experience for the end user. I’d be willing to pay $1-$2 more per ticket for this.
     Step 3. Create an entire entertainment experience around the movie itself. Hire an opening live act to get the audiance involved, IE Radio City Music Hall in the 50′s.
     Step 4: Offer to sell the soundtrack outside the theatre, allowing movie-goers to pick up the CD right after being involved with the emotinal experience. This could lead to additional revenue and an extra $12 – $15 per person. If not a CD, then an MP3.
     Step 5:

     Comment by Jamie Asquith — July 26, 2006 @ 9:44 pm

382. Hi Mark,
     Here are some suggestions:

     Step 1: Make the movies shorter. Sitting through a 2 1/2 or 3 hour movie can be exhausting, especailly for a movie buff like myself. Movies that are between an hour and 90 minutes are ideal.
     Step 2: Bring HiDef movies to the BigScreen. Upgrade the theatres to get a better than home movie experience for the end user. I’d be willing to pay $1-$2 more per ticket for this.
     Step 3. Create an entire entertainment experience around the movie itself. Hire an opening live act to get the audiance involved, IE Radio City Music Hall in the 50′s.
     Step 4: Offer to sell the soundtrack outside the theatre, allowing movie-goers to pick up the CD right after being involved with the emotinal experience. This could lead to additional revenue and an extra $12 – $15 per person. If not a CD, then an MP3.
     Step 5:

     Comment by Jamie Asquith — July 26, 2006 @ 9:45 pm

383. Let moviegoers create their own double feature online in the weeks before the opening of a film. Let them nominate and vote for films of the same genre, actor or director to run w/ the new film. Display the current top five choices and let people change their choices any time. Send them email every week and the day before and the day of the movie or until they buy their special tickets online. Let them buy as many as they wish up until two hours before the show w/o a convenience fee.

     Then run the top choices either before the first showing or after the last when the theater normally wouldn’t be open anyway. The morning shows could be for G and PG rated movies. It might even be possible to show the top two or three choices using Saturday or Sunday or more if there aren’t too many movies opening that weekend. Those who didn’t sign up online should have to pay three or four bucks more if they want to attend the double feature showing.

     Comment by Al Brown — July 26, 2006 @ 10:10 pm

384. Use the Netflix approach in the theater. Charge people a fixed amount per month, so you can spend less money on marketing of the movie it self. The problem with going to the theater is that in one night you spend to much money and you feel that was to much money to see a movie. But if you spend money only for the snacks, the experience for the viewer will be much more confortble. And it dosen´t mean that you will cash in less.

     Comment by Fabio Seixas — July 26, 2006 @ 10:13 pm

385. Continuing from my earlier comment:

     Rope off a special section with the best seats for the online crowd. Open them up to everyone ten minutes before the show. Let the special seating promote the double feature. Make that section bigger than it needs to be.

     Comment by Al Brown — July 26, 2006 @ 10:18 pm

386. RELEASE HALF THE MOVIE on DVD / HD-DVD / BD for free, about 2-weeks to 1-month before the movie hits theaters. Show the WHOLE movie in the theater at regular price.

     This is completely new, does not require vast changes in economics, such as lower ticket prices, and can probably even take advanage of existing DVD distribution channels.

     This allows people to evaluate (much of) a film beforehand, and leaves them with a teaser without giving away the ending (as trailers often do).

     Because I believe a quality presentation would influence people, anything less than DVD would not be appropriate. That is why I am NOT suggesting using the Internet (though maybe bandwidth limitations aren’t an issue — bit of market research needed here).

     I also suggest better movies. This is where *I* could really use a job, since I’m an author.

     -Pie

     Comment by EatingPie — July 26, 2006 @ 10:31 pm

387. The solution is not simple and will cost a bit of money…but shit you have it mark. You want to make money you have to spend money and revolutionize the game. Dont look at whats less expensive, look at what is more cost effective.

     The biggest problem is obvious- crappy movies being put out. Promoting this crap is not only hard but ruins the credibility of the company marketing it. Solution: open your own theaters. Start small then go nationwide. You and a panel of educated credible movie critics select what movies hit your screens.
     Better movies will create a more loyal following….somewhat like oprah’s book club.

     Next issue that must be addressed is the cost of marketing. So much money is spent on trying to lure new customers….of course this has to be done. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY TRY TO KEEP THE CUSTOMERS YOU HAVE ALREADY HAD IN YOUR THEATRES!!! They have already proven to be customers, why not make them repeat customers thousands of times over?? Track them, research them, find out what they like. Challange them to get there friends involved. Better customer service to the people leaving your theatre will increase revenue. Free passes to future shows, frequent watching clubs, discounts, are all ways to market your product better.

     People are more than willing to spend money if you offer them something that shows value. Spending 10, 12, 14 dollars per person is rediculous for the outdated and mundane….but 12,14,16 dollars for something new, fresh, and revolutionary is well worth it.

     Get people involved Mark!! You rub elbows with important movie stars i am sure….get them out there to the theater! Why spend millions on commercials, ads, etc when you can pay the actors to come in to the theatre? Have a Q and A session at your theatre with the starring actors. Ask them questions about the movies they are starring in. Make your theatre not only a movie but an experience!

     All of these ideas may not be less expensive, but they will be more effective.

     All of this is big, expensive, different. But shiz…so much has been done before. Revolutionize the experience movies and they will market themselves……

     Comment by Kris Johnson — July 26, 2006 @ 10:35 pm

388. Learn from terrestrial radio. Your audience is not a bucket of dollars waiting to be dipped into. Skip trying to make the huge opening weekend – the only reason for that goal is to make back the movie’s cost before word gets around that it stinks. Make a good movie and cash in the second weekend.
     Yeah, that’s not how it works – and why it doesn’t work.

     Comment by Rick — July 26, 2006 @ 10:38 pm

389. Some various thoughts not in much of an order:

     Besides the obvious matter of making better movies you need to enhance the difference between seeing a movie in a theatre vs. waiting a few months and seeing it on DVD or worse, on bootlegged computer video or IPod etc.

     The difference should be spectacular and this has been eroding steadily. Theatres and screens have gotten smaller. Where we once had the big pictures shot in 65mm and presented in 70mm, on huge screens with gorgeous, crisply sharp pictures that’s all in the past and we’re lucky if a Scope format picture is actually shot in Scope instead of blown up from Super 35 and HD shooting takes it down yet another notch. (BTW I commend you on choosing 4K projectors for digital as I think 2K is a ridiculous waste of resources that will only have to be replaced eventually anyway but I don’t think digital projection is any sort of panacea for the business and such investment ought to be approached cautiously.)

     Digital sound in theatres is pretty much the norm but one can have as good or better in a home theatre.

     Where are the great theatres, ones that are a joy to visit on their own?

     Where is the showmanship? Look at what passes for presentation all too often nowadays. Out of focus, prints scratched or dirty. Ah, digital will fix that. Perhaps. But so would knowledgeable people running the booths. It wasn’t that many years ago that a film like “Titanic” played for a year in some theatres using the same print for the entire run and stayed clean and scratch free the entire time. When does that happen anymore?

     The fact remains that if the only thing a theatre has to offer is first run, that is, the first opportunity people have to see the picture, it’s not a viable business. Studios will take that away or shorten the window to the point where it is meaningless. We have to have something better than that.

     From an exhibition standpoint we must make sure that the theatre and the presentation are spectacular.

     Let’s see some better supervision over presentation. Amateurs do not belong in our booths. This is not a pro or anti union debate. I personally have no problem with younger people running booths…provided they are properly trained and supervised and a sense of showmanship instilled in them. I screen films for critics. Every show must be perfect if at all humanly possible and I work very hard to ensure it. But really now, it’s no less important for regular customers. They pay the bills.

     Note to the architects: No more rooms where the biggest screen that will fit is 1.85 and Scope is presented via height reducing masking. That is SO WRONG. Scope (2.39) pictures should always be the largest format for any 35mm theatre! Remember, we want to ENHANCE the difference between us and the folks with their 1.78 (16:9) sets at home.

     There should be a dialog between exhibition and distribution about the ever shortening window between theatrical and DVD windows. People have pretty much come to expect a fast DVD release. That has to stop.

     1. Better movies (duh).
     2. Best possible technical format (where appropriate)
     3. Theatres with some grandeur
     4. Top notch presentation
     5. Long window to DVD or PPV release

     Hows that?

     Steve
     Chicago

     disclaimer:
     I am a vendor to Landmark Theatres &
     Magnolia Pictures

     Comment by Steve Kraus — July 26, 2006 @ 10:47 pm

390. I had an idea for marketing movies are anything. You are correct when you say that there is alot of money that goes into marketing a film, but you ask the wrong question! You ask how can a guy with billion save on marketing, When you should be asking how can you get 1 to 5 percent of the billion dollar spent yearly on advertisement and marketing.
     I truly beleive in my idea but the only thing was the cost, but i think you may be able to handle it.
     Here we go: Picture this, You are on an evening flight and you look out the window and all you see is darkness. What if research was done to find out the course where most flights fly. If we find the right spot we are talking a million people a day fly over this course of land. Then clear the land and install a field of lights, a digital billboard on the ground, where major companies can purchase advertisement space from you. The reason this works is because, you know as well as i do that @ night on a plane, night is all you see.
     Any light out there is bond to get the attention of anyone awake. And there is NO COMPETITION.
     This is one of the idea that i have that could put 1 or 2 more million in your pocket a year, I have one other idea for you Mark Cuban, its a Special invent Competition that the world wants to see. It involves you Donald trump, Bill Gates, Robert Kiyousaki, and a few more of our countries economic leaders. The world wants to know if you are up for the challenge?

     Comment by J.Simon — July 26, 2006 @ 10:54 pm

391. Traditional movie marketing appears to use a shotgun approach (albeit a sophisticated shotgun) to drive the message through multiple channels that Movie X is coming. If they are lucky, some part of that message is received and perceived by some part of their target demographic.

     What if we used a rifle instead of a shotgun and gave the gun to the movie going consumer?

     Amazon.com is the conceptual framework. I buy items from Amazon; Amazon notes what I buy and then offers me suggestions for other similar items.

     Thus:

     1. In association with the other studios (I know, dream on), create THE website for movies. This should be the place to go for info on current and pending films. The studio’s specific micro-site for a movie would link in to this hub along with any other relevant content.

     2. Each studio tags a film with confidential meta-data regarding target demographics, themes, genre, plot points, etc. The meta-data would also include actors, directors, locations and other data that a person may use to select a movie (i.e., they only have seen movies where Jon Williams contributed to the score).

     3. The site allows users to purchase tickets (discounted perhaps) for a specific show at a specific theater. (Links to Fandango, etc.?)

     4. The site retains the movie going history, and using the meta-data begins to determine common elements to a person’s movie selection. With this information, it is able to direct their attention to other movies that satisfy the person’s preferences. As history is gained, the site can also inquire about their past movie choices (i.e., You saw Superman last weekend; did you also see Batman in the theaters (Y/N); Spiderman 2 (Y/N), etc.)

     5. The ultimate goal is that as usage of the site increases, studios can draw down their expensive, mass marketing and rely on the site to place the appropriate movie choices before the most relevant / interested customers.

     Clearly, there are many details to work out; however, the basic thrust is: let me tell you what I want (through my movie viewing history) rather than having the studio try to convince me with marketing that Movie X is the must see event of the year.

     Absent an alternative forum, traditional marketing is the only way to let people know that a movie is coming – whether they are interested in that type/style of movie or not. Create the alternate forum, make it a compelling place to visit, and then tell them about the movies that their past buying habits have indicated they will want to see.

     Finally, I did not read all of the previous replies; so if I’ve duplicated an earlier idea it was not intentional.

     Thanks for the chance to reply.

     Comment by Kai Hecker — July 26, 2006 @ 10:55 pm

392. i’d have to say much of what you could do is dependent on what audience you’re striving for. that said, here are a few ideas.

     1. rent some of those trucks with the big lcd tvs on the side and run the trailer all over town.

     2. this is already being done a little bit, but you should release the first 10 minutes or a really solid 10 minute clip to youtube, myspace, bittorrent etc. yeah, you’re on myspace, but i don’t want to be your “friend”, i want to watch some of the movie to see if it’s worth shelling out $10 for.

     3. pay a couple of fanboys under the table to spin positive and “leak” info on their blogs.

     4. have the stars show up at some of the screenings. not just the first weekend, but the first month. maybe turn it into a contest. if you’re town does X then our big hot star will come to a screening with you and your friends.

     5. this is off the top of my head in all of 10 minutes. imagine what i could do if i really put my mind to it. so my last suggestion is this; give me a job. i’ll be happy to send my resume. i’m qualified, i’m hungry, i’m educated, i’m an nba nut (off topic, but had to say it), and i’m young enough to dream and experienced enough to know it takes work to make those dreams a reality. seriously, give me 5 minutes.

     Comment by Bob — July 26, 2006 @ 11:00 pm

393. Mark,

     As an indie filmmaker/producer, I’m wrestling with this problem currently.

     There are several issues – firstly, there is a seismic shift in the business model thanks to digital distribution, piracy-leading-to-changed-consumer-expectations and net-based-community-models.

     Secondly, the media avenues that traditionally served as the go-to sources and made media buys oh-so-easy are no longer as effective, and have gotten extremely fragmented.

     The amount of work needed to create a critical mass marketing system for niche products (anything not starring Tom Cruise) out of the myriad avenues existing today, will happen, but not very quickly or easily.

     I’ve turned to MySpace now more than I’m depending on traditional TV marketing (albeit its ethnic television programming, not the mainstream which I could never affort, nor does my product deserve).

     But its a lot of work.

     If you are looking for a easy solution, or a quick fix, you might be looking for a while!

     Ciao!
     Nikhil Kamkolkar
     http://www.IndianCowboy.com

     p.s. By the way, as a family, we no longer have a cable connection, and don’t watch any TV anymore… the times they are a changin’

     Comment by Nikhil Kamkolkar — July 26, 2006 @ 11:13 pm

394. The best, least expensive way to promote movies right now is definately sites like MySpace. With millions of members that sign on daily, there’s nothing better!

     Comment by Brandy George — July 26, 2006 @ 11:31 pm

395. Mark,

     Your answer to the movie problem is marketing. You have to find the right market that appeals to what you are trying to sell. College Students these days love movies and at my college, premiers and screenings of new movies.

     If you need to find a way to market movies or get ideas for how to make a movie with out the huge spendings, go to a college campus and see what students want. SMU is a great place to find answers Mark. You can advertise new movies all around campus and many will show interest in what is posted around campus.

     College websites like Facebook has become one of the fastest growing sites this year alone, expanding to almost every college in the nation. If u can market to all of those students in the world of Facebook you can be able to make a large profit without spending much money.

     SMU Student — Russell F.

     Comment by Russell F. — July 26, 2006 @ 11:36 pm

396. Why not start a service similar to netflicks only for theaters? The customers will join the service and pay a subscription fee, say $75.00 per year. This will entitle them to 2 free movie tickets per month for a year. Over the course of the year this will be like paying for 6 movies and seeing 6 for free. I addition members will also recieve the option to purchase later show times for matinee prices. You could include movie previews via email, news, offers, newsletters, and contests. Not only would you be giving people a reason to go see the movies, but you would be generating some sort of income. Just a thought.

     Comment by sonny dack — July 26, 2006 @ 11:48 pm

397. I think that most of the media that out there will pretty much diminish in favor of pay per view downloads or streaming downloads straight to consumers computers. Most all formats, and HD can be made for easy pay downloads.

     If the hype behind the newest movies really wants to get going fast, they can sell the actual dvd, media download, or HD(HD DVD or Blu-ray if they ever catch on) format media after the movie has been shown in theaters. This way most of the movie ideas; magic is still in the minds fresh for the consumer to have the option of buying. Thanks

     Best Regards,

     v

     Comment by Vimal Jariwala — July 26, 2006 @ 11:50 pm

398. Mark,

     I was turned on to your blog by Dan Shanoff’s Daily Quickie column on ESPN.com and have read it ever since. Now, to the point. Some of the previous posts have good ideas for improving the overall moviegoing experience, but haven’t targeted the problem of revolutionizing the way movies are marketed. Forgive me if this has already been mentioned.

     Being an NBA owner, you understand that the economics of a sports franchise in the U.S. is different from that of most industries. You have been very effective in marketing not only your team, but the NBA as a whole. By hyping up the NBA Finals-using unique methods that only a few owners in professional sports would do- you’re attempting to attract a greater audience and, in turn, greater ad revenues in the future for the entire NBA. I believe that the Motion Picture industry needs to move in the same direction.

     Even if it’s not possible in the short term, the industry has to do something to solve this problem for the long term. There are many people still going to see movies at the theater. Movies such as The Pirates of the Carribbean and The Da Vinci Code can attest to that. You already have knowledge of the way the internet works and how to make money and attract people to your site. Why not use that knowledge to develop an entirely new type of website that will serve as the premier source of Motion Picture Entertainment information? When I think of the humble beginnings of ESPN and how it has morphed into an entertainment powerhouse with multiple channels covering everything from football to darts, it makes me strongly believe that there is a market for a portal specializing in movies that will attract millions of visitors (and advertisors) a night. I think this plays perfectly to the motion picture industry’s largest segment, the 18-24 year old. Also, since young people learn to live with more advanced technology at an earlier age, this can be an effective way to build relationships, something that the industry is presently lacking.

     I actually had this idea almost a year ago. I missed an episode of The Ultimate Fantasy Football Show on Fox Sports Net and went to the website to see what I missed. They had highlights from the show available for viewing. It seemed to be pretty good quality (and I’m sure that it’s going to get better in the future). Why wouldn’t you be able to create a website that has continuous programming streamed through a video player? The most important aspect of this idea is good programming with top talent. I’m sure there are many people like me who do not watch network television anymore. But I don’t live in a cave either. Americans still love reality shows, and more importantly, celebrities. Look at the simple concept of ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption- Two charismatic sportswriters bantering about various current sports topics. Simple but genius. It’s been one of my favorite shows for a long time. I’m sure that this format can be successful on the website. There could also be a takeoff on traditional review shows such a Ebert and Roper. (Maybe you could get them!) But I think it would probably serve our interests to also have a younger set of critics that will be able to relate to 18-24 year olds better. I think trivia shows would work too. And why not a gossip show? Think of how many people read The National Enquirer to find out what Nicole Kidman wore when she went to lunch the day after her wedding. Also, interview shows and behind the scenes documentaries would be a good way to get the audience excited about the movie before it’s released. These are just a few programming ideas, but you get the point.

     You touched a little bit on Myspace. Personally, I’m not that familiar with it, but I’ve heard an increasing amount of people reference it, so it must be the next big thing. Using Myspace to attract our target demographic would be ideal.

     Another good idea that I’ve already seen posted is keeping track of user’s preferences. You can use email to communicate programming, new promotions, and information that can be catered to the individual based on their interests.

     This website could also be a good stepping stone to doing simultaneous downloadable release along with theatrical releases, if that is where the industry is going.

     Even if you just wanted to implement this idea for your own production company, I think you would be achieving an economy of scale, although not as much as you would if the entire industry was involved. Drive as many people as possible to the website and use it as the primary means of advertising. You would still have to advertise via traditional means, but not in the current amounts. I’m sure you can think of a few ways to take advantage of the website to produce a revenue stream too.

     Thank you for your time and sorry this post was so long. Even if I don’t get a job offer, it was still a neat way to get me excited about something that I normally wouldn’t think about.

     Comment by John Harms — July 26, 2006 @ 11:57 pm

399. well im gonna start off by sayin im 21 yrs old and i just now finished college. durin my college days my fraternity always rapped and freestyled durin the parties and ive always noticed i could rap pretty good…ya im white lol..well since then ive been rappin on my microphone and making songs on my computer…THIS is what i think could work in promoting movies. i can make funny raps advertising them and i could even hit the streets and freestyle a small preview about the movie haha… who knows…basically its like those radio commericials you hear where people are like singing a stupid mc donalds tune…well i could actually be on the streets LIVE!!!

     Comment by Will Roher — July 26, 2006 @ 11:57 pm

400. Release the dailies to bloggers. Nothing gets buzz going like bloggers….

     Comment by Merrin Donahue — July 26, 2006 @ 11:59 pm

401. Why not start a service similar to netflicks only for theaters? The customers will join the service and pay a subscription fee, say $75.00 per year. This will entitle them to 2 free movie tickets per month for a year. Over the course of the year this will be like paying for 6 movies and seeing 6 for free. I addition members will also recieve the option to purchase later show times for matinee prices. You could include movie previews via email, news, offers, newsletters, and contests. Not only would you be giving people a reason to go see the movies, but you would be generating some sort of income. Just a thought.

     Comment by sonny dack — July 27, 2006 @ 12:01 am

402. Wrap cars with the movie art (usually whats on the posters at the theaters) and wherever people in these cars go… the movie is being promoted!

     Comment by gene snowden — July 27, 2006 @ 12:04 am

403. Ok, so I tried to read all this crap other people are saying about altering the movie or releasing the DVD at the same time…but seriously, that shit isnt marketing. Being a lowly teenager, I just so happen to work at a movie theatre (Tinseltown in Plano) and as I am ripping tickets, I actually ask myself your question all the time. I witness marketers enter the theatre to check if we set up a poster or whatnot, or if we have passed out flyers for their next “blockbuster”. However, these poor marketers dont realize that the average movie goer doesnt give a shit about these tactics. What they dont see are the flyers littered all over the theatre or their posters not even given a glance. The average movie goer dont like wasting their time by reading, trust me. What these people respond to, however, is a marketing technique which is interactive. Stick a poster in Tinseltown, no one gives a damn. Stick a poster with a hole to put your face in for a lovely picture, your movie gets great publicity. Making marketing interactive and fun causes an instant following. When Clerks II came out, there were numerous people purchasing tickets just to check if their names made the credit. (Appartenlty, Clerks II had a myspace that guarenteed the first 20,000 or so friends to be put on the credits.)

     Yea, so, I dont know if that helped much, but thats what I see that causes a good turnout at Tinseltown. All you need to do is find a way to make the marketing interactive.

     Comment by leah — July 27, 2006 @ 12:05 am

404. Here’s what I’d do…after people buy the tickets for opening weekend or whatever time period you are targeting, allow them the option at ticket purchase time (followed up next day after their ‘viewing’ to puchase the movie DVD, send to their iPOD, whatever media they like at a slight discount, with a faster receipt time than the movie would have at brick and mortar stores.

     Obviously, make it easy for the initial signup by pushing via email, text, myspace—targeting via initial registration what the consumers tastes are and then follow with an annual survey to verify changes.

     I have 10 year old triplets and we have to see their movies immediately, then buy them when they are available. Since I rarely get a night out of the house (single mom)…I’d probably spend the extra money to be able to see a movie at home sooner so I’m not so far removed from what’s ‘cool’.

     Kind regards,
     Brycie Wynne
     ps…I grew up in Danville, Illinois (close to Covington)

     Comment by Brycie Hoecker Wynne — July 27, 2006 @ 12:11 am

405. Put Movie trailers (longer those shown on TV promos) on CDs. Along with commetaries by actors/director/producer(s) about the making of the movie. Give these CDs away for free by placing them in places the target audience frequents,such as Blockbuster, Starbucks, bookstores, etc. List is endless, cost is relatively low. Include free tickets on 1% of the CDs. Redememtion code at the END of the trailer.

     Thank You for reading this.

     Jan O’Malley
     Dallas, TX

     Comment by Jan O'Malley — July 27, 2006 @ 12:13 am

406. No one seems to be answering the question of Marketing?
     Have not read all the previous posts so apologies if i have repeated.

     1. Create a large video kiosk, that continously runs the trailer(s) and all HDNET promos. Place those kiosks in areas where it hits masses of people. Malls, Airports, Athletic Arenas, Universities, etc. Even better if you dont have anything to fill the kiosks with you own the kiosks rent out time slots to other studios/networks for their films. You have now invented a new marketing avenue that you can use for yourself or sell to others. Cost upfront may be be high to put in video players all across america but once in place they play trailers/promos over and over again for years to come and hit the masses.

     Goodluck with the contest, look forward to hearing from you.

     Comment by Brian Teefey — July 27, 2006 @ 12:15 am

407. Simple and inexpensive solution your looking for? Look no further. Everyone including millionaires pump their own gas, what do you do for the three or four minutes your standing there pumping? Nothing, you are a marketers dream.

     Imagine this, on top of the pumps is a 10′” X 18″ mounted template that can be changed weekly, monthly, etc… on the template is not just an add for the movie but real story lines that can be written like a movie preview. You have a captured audience that’s looking for something to do, it’s like a newspaper on the crapper.

     several advantages include low cost of print production and the store clerks can change out the signs, you can advertise specifically to the neighborhood, for example in Plano you would advertise more family movies and in Uptown, more art house style films.

     The web links are great but it doesn’t get everyone, however, everyone get’s gas. If you could negotiate contracts with 7-11, Verio, and Racetrack you have 50% of all stations, so logistically it would be easy, especially with your name and brand behind you.

     At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of time before someone does this, why not us. As for the comments about making better movies, this is ridiculous, movies have always been hit and miss. What makes a difference is the marketing, it’s no secret why the golden arches are everywhere. So if you want to put more butts in seats, easy…just give them gas.

     Joe Acker
     Genius

     Comment by Joe Acker — July 27, 2006 @ 12:26 am

408. The future of movie making will include all five senses. It will be more like a amusement park ride. When you see the hero fall from a cliff and land on a moving car, your seat in the theatre will drop a foot or two. When the beautiful young woman slips into the icy river, cold air will blow across the theatre. You get the idea.

     Film makers will code the film to tell the theatre when and where to activate these effects.

     How do i know this will happen? Because you wont be able to have these effects in your own home. Why should anyone go to the trouble of driving to a movie house, pay for the film and then pay $25 or more for popcorn and a drink, and then hope and pray a crying baby or some punk kids dont sit next to you… when you have a great sound system and all the conveninces right at home.

     Even with all these effects, you’ll still need a great screenplay, director and actors… but once all these are in place, the movie theatres will be full once again.

     Be the first Mark, and the news media will give you all the coverage you’ll ever need.

     Good Luck,

     David Guinn

     Comment by david guinn — July 27, 2006 @ 12:32 am

409. Obvious.
     Make good movies.
     Get rid of the MBAs, lawyers, agents and especially studio execs.

     Comment by ogma — July 27, 2006 @ 12:32 am

410. To reduce the cost you have to rely on some kind of word-of-mouth marketing. I am sure many people will suggest variations on the WOM model. My original idea is the following.

     Pre-test the movie in front of 1000-2000 people around the country. Select them through random-digit dialing in targeted zip codes, don’t rely on regular test subjects. Pre-screen and post-screen the respondents to record their demographics and psychographics, and to determine how much they knew going in, and what they thought. Call them 1-7 days later and ask each person whether they engaged in a conversation about that movie on the day you called. Who started the conversation, how did it go, what did they say, what did the other people say, how many people were involved, who did they talk to (friends, family, neighbors) etc. Link post-screening buzz (positive or negative) to pre-screening knowledge and demographics.

     Once you have a good idea about who is likely to spread the gospel about your movie, buy highly targeted outdoor advertising. You can use block-level census data to find the neighborhoods most likely to contain these people. Identify those neighborhoods, then go to the local outdoor advertising companies. (Clear Channel boards might be too broadly targeted.) Target your message to the group in question.

     These ideas do not eliminate your entire marketing cost, but they could probably reduce the $60 million outlay to $5 million or so. Outdoor advertising is the cheapest around, with most CPMs in the $1-2 range.

     PS I have not read anyone else’s comments but to the best of my knowledge this is original.

     Comment by Ken Wilbur — July 27, 2006 @ 12:43 am

411. I prepared a much longer response with way more ideas, but I think it was too long to fit in reasonable comments sections. Here are a couple of the ideas, and the complete text is available on my blog http://exhibitionresearch.blogspot.com

     Even for adults, catching a movie with all your friends is still a reason to get out of the house. It’s fun to a go a movie in a group, so find a way to crank up the peer pressure. Social networks, myspace, etc.

     Get people to commit to coming to the movie the instant they’re interested and hear about it. If they see a trailer they like, offer them a 10 dollar ticket for 8 dollars if they put down 2 dollars up front. People will be much less likely to flake on the movie even if they forgot about what they liked about the trailer, because of that minimal investment. It doesn’t even have to be a sneaky thing to do. You can just tell people straight up “we really want you to see this movie, so we’re trying to get you to commit to it so you don’t forget how much you want to see it” I think people will be happy they did.

     Put together some continuity in the films you present. Going to the movies can be addictive, so tap into that. Start with an arena rocker like Inconvenient truth, and then follow up with Who killed the electric car, (hell, you might even be able to sell people on “the Day after tomorrow” after they see Gore’s movie), the book every other eco-documentary you can think of after you’ve gotten them hooked.

     If you’re interested in the more traditional multiplex/teen demographic (some of this applies to the sophisticated art film watching adults too, though) here are a couple of other ideas. I heard somewhere that if you want to innovate, don’t ask people what they want, watch what they do. I just got back from the San Diego Comiccon (for the first time) and two things were utterly clear to me. There are two things the people can’t get enough of

     -seeing cool secret sh*t
     -seeing famous people

     I used to go to this theater in Palo Alto, because sometimes I’d see Stanford Basketball players there (lame, I know). But it’s irresistable. Get the Mavs to hang out at the theater. Even if people don’t know who Dirk Nowitzki is (god forbid) they’ll know they’re witnessing something special if they’s standing in a popcorn line behind a 7 foot german giant. You could probably even get them to work the concessions stand. I know that stuff is usually reserved for soup kitchens and charity work, but I know every time I hear kobe was at some charity event, I find myself wishing I was really poor.

     Down a totally different path, if your goal is just to spread awareness of films that you’re showing through your circuit or producing at 2929/Magnolia, I would suggest frachising out the movie theater running experience. It seems like everyone is a movie buff, and those people can make a huge difference in the distribution potential of films (ala gladwell’s tipping point). Also, lots of people have amazing home theater setups that are not getting maximal use that would make great community resources. If people had a way of securing permission to screen movies theatrically with minimal hassle (and maybe alleviate security concerns for showing movies at their houses ), I think a lot of people would be interested in running their own little movie theaters.

     Comment by Ben Trevino — July 27, 2006 @ 12:44 am

412. Make a higher price ticket that will allow the moviegoer to see whatever movie he/she wants all day. Include free food or a discount, more than just a few cents. Most likely the avg. person won’t be able to sit thru more than 2 movies. This will get people to the theatre. They feel that they get more bang for there buck.

     Comment by S. Hernandez — July 27, 2006 @ 12:49 am

413. I prepared a much longer response with way more ideas, but I think it was too long to fit in reasonable comments sections. Here are a couple of the ideas, and the complete text is available on my blog http://exhibitionresearch.blogspot.com

     Even for adults, catching a movie with all your friends is still a reason to get out of the house. It’s fun to a go a movie in a group, so find a way to crank up the peer pressure. Social networks, myspace, etc.

     Get people to commit to coming to the movie the instant they’re interested and hear about it. If they see a trailer they like, offer them a 10 dollar ticket for 8 dollars if they put down 2 dollars up front. People will be much less likely to flake on the movie even if they forgot about what they liked about the trailer, because of that minimal investment. It doesn’t even have to be a sneaky thing to do. You can just tell people straight up “we really want you to see this movie, so we’re trying to get you to commit to it so you don’t forget how much you want to see it” I think people will be happy they did.

     Put together some continuity in the films you present. Going to the movies can be addictive, so tap into that. Start with an arena rocker like Inconvenient truth, and then follow up with Who killed the electric car, (hell, you might even be able to sell people on “the Day after tomorrow” after they see Gore’s movie), the book every other eco-documentary you can think of after you’ve gotten them hooked.

     If you’re interested in the more traditional multiplex/teen demographic (some of this applies to the sophisticated art film watching adults too, though) here are a couple of other ideas. I heard somewhere that if you want to innovate, don’t ask people what they want, watch what they do. I just got back from the San Diego Comiccon (for the first time) and two things were utterly clear to me. There are two things the people can’t get enough of

     -seeing cool secret sh*t
     -seeing famous people

     I used to go to this theater in Palo Alto, because sometimes I’d see Stanford Basketball players there (lame, I know). But it’s irresistable. Get the Mavs to hang out at the theater. Even if people don’t know who Dirk Nowitzki is (god forbid) they’ll know they’re witnessing something special if they’s standing in a popcorn line behind a 7 foot german giant. You could probably even get them to work the concessions stand. I know that stuff is usually reserved for soup kitchens and charity work, but I know every time I hear kobe was at some charity event, I find myself wishing I was really poor.

     Down a totally different path, if your goal is just to spread awareness of films that you’re showing through your circuit or producing at 2929/Magnolia, I would suggest frachising out the movie theater running experience. It seems like everyone is a movie buff, and those people can make a huge difference in the distribution potential of films (ala gladwell’s tipping point). Also, lots of people have amazing home theater setups that are not getting maximal use that would make great community resources. If people had a way of securing permission to screen movies theatrically with minimal hassle (and maybe alleviate security concerns for showing movies at their houses ), I think a lot of people would be interested in running their own little movie theaters.

     Comment by Ben Trevino — July 27, 2006 @ 12:53 am

414. Mark

     You don’t need to sell the specific movie. You need to sell a reason for people to go the the theater again. The movie will sell itself. With all the ways to view a movie today, its the ticket to YOUR THEATERS that need to be sold.

     It comes down simple but powerful promotions at your theaters. People don’t go to the theater anymore because “its too expensive.” But its a proven fact that when people think they’re getting a deal, they spend more money! Give them their deal. Here’s two simple promos that will get the job done:

     FREE POPCORN! The old bar trick. Salt makes you thirsty. Give away the popcorn, make a killing on beverage sales. Also, people go up to get the popcorn, they decide they want snowcaps and gummi bears (especially if they are with kids), and they justify the purchase of more candy and a taller beverage because they are already saving money.

     MOVIES ALL DAY! In your multiplex theaters, let the customers pay for one ticket and see all the movies they want as long as they don’t leave the building. Perhaps charge 20% more for the multi-movie ticket. Either way, the more movies they see, the more money they spend on food and beverages. If they have an hour before the next movie they want to see, but they can’t leave the building, you better believe they are going to buy food. Works even better if you have a restaurant in the building.

     Again, what will make you money is getting asses in the seats, your seats and not your competitors.

     Comment by Brian Curtis — July 27, 2006 @ 1:21 am

415. A “Home and Theater Lottery”.

     Every ticket sold for a particular movie is also a lottery ticket, the winnings of which are a new home with built-in home theater. The date the lottery winnings are dispersed could be the same week it is released to DVD to help remind people they missed the lottery (boneheads)!

     People aren’t going to movies as much because they are broke. If you give them the hope of what they really need in life and tie it to a movie viewing, they’ll go to the worst movies you can make. Note: You can’t buy a ticket without entering the lottery so if someone doesn’t like the ‘gambling’ aspect, they are free to designate their winnings to charity (or a family member who will take them in when they get old).

     Also since News 8 aired your challege (great free marketing by the way), I did a little research and found out that two very large segments of people who buy lottery tickets are Dreamers and Optimists that are considered 69% of the core group of players (see http://www.westgroupresearch.com/publish/lottery.html). My guess is these people are the same ones who like going to the theater most.

     Comment by Kirk Tucker — July 27, 2006 @ 1:37 am

416. I love movies. I’m a filmmaker. I work in the film industry. However, I rarely see movies and never at full price. High ticket cost is the only reason I don’t see a movie every single weekend. I simply can’t afford it and only occasionally feel like the movie I saw was worth it anyways.

     My solution is dramatically lower ticket prices combined with a same day DVD release that is sold only in theaters. Charge $25 to see a movie AND own give a copy of it to take home. OR, you can buy a ticket without the DVD for $5. A few months later. after the theatrical run, the DVD goes to Best Buy.

     Family of Four:
     1 DVD Ticket at $25 dollars
     3 admission only tickets at $5
     =$40

     4 Tickets at $10
     =$40

     The consumer feels like they’re getting more value since they’re taking the movie home and you preserve the theatrical window by making the DVD only available in theaters.

     I do not believe the answer is in marketing. If anything marketing is the only reason movies continue to make any money at all. Bad movies and high ticket prices are the reason movies don’t make money.

     In a side note, I just graduated college and am underemployed. I would love to work for you.

     Comment by Andres Martinez — July 27, 2006 @ 1:44 am

417. Mr. Cuban,
     Hopefully you actually read this, and the value of MobileCast resonates with your brilliant innovative mind (I’ll kiss as? a little). The solution is simple. The comments posted relating to the general public’s disgust with the quality of movies released in the recent past are arguably valid. Add to that, many people now are so tech savvy that they use many of the devices (TiVo, satellite radio, etc) which allow them to avoid advertisement therefore rendering traditional advertising mediums virtually ineffective. Well, MobileCast solves that problem by stopping people dead in their tracks with engaging content that can’t be avoided. As the only provider capable of displaying mobile ads in high definition, we connect with nearly 500,000 people per week in the Dallas area and drive not only the revenues of our clients but their profits as well (MobileCast is the best value in all of purchased media). You won’t find another medium that can impact the promotion of a movie better than MobileCast. The millions of colors eminating from our HD monitors grab you and invoke raw emotion which leads to higher recall, purchase, and ultimately loyalty! Don’t just take my word, visit the MobileCast site (www.MobileCastAds.com) and read the industry quotes which prove that this medium is highly effective.
     I’m not looking for a job but I could sure use some business (can’t you tell from the commercial I just gave you). I’ve reached out to both Matt F. and Paul M. on your Mavericks staff and have yet to move the ball forward (I haven’t even been able to get through the door). I am in discussions with some production studios (I will not name them here but if we get the opportunity to discuss this further you will be privvy to all of that information) to provide advertisement for upcoming films. So stay on the lookout for the most captivating thing on the streets of Dallas—the MVPU!

     This is important: it is 12:30 in the morning on Thursday and I just got in from putting together a deal to provide promotions for the businesses of a local entrepreneur. My wife heard about this offer/challenge on the news and immediately logged-on to see if MobileCast could help. I have the best business partner in the world but more importantly the best wife in the world (although I may have a problem because I think she is sleeping with her boss). I love you Korrey! God Bless all of you who read this and your families too!

     Comment by Travis Robinson — July 27, 2006 @ 1:46 am

418. Taking into consideration Mark’s estimated ratio for ad. dollars to movie-goer dollars, I have an idea
     1. Mini-cd’s and/or San Disk SD or mini-sd type flash cards. (like used in pocket pc’s etc..)
     I would make a conservative assumption that between 5 and 10 Meg would be a good starting point for media storage,featuring the movie trailer,with room to spare for additional content,ie: contests,songs,games,studio promos,discounts etc..
     ***Mehtods of Distribution***
     Depending on cup or product size,the mini-cd could be affixed to the bottom of the cup/product.(I’m picturing a large big gulp type cup) With both the mini-cd or SanDisk SD type memory card, they can both be put in bags at participating stores. The SanDisk card would be placed in any newspaper or magazine without adding bulk, increased delivery rates, or fragility. I believe this is a good “PUSH” method of advertising. The gimmic of the new methods would drive people to pick up the mini-cd and SD Disk.

     I believe these could serve as an effective,power-suppliment to TV/theater trailers

     Comment by mike simeone — July 27, 2006 @ 1:55 am

419. I had a simple idea yesterday. As I thought about the idea it began to transform to something different so bear with me as I try to explain. Perhaps we can solve each others’ problems.
     First some background:
     I am a 36 year old chiropractor here in Dallas. Growing up, my father owned an early local cable television station in Santa Fe NM. The station eventually went under but he was able to turn the cable advertising portion of the business into a profitable venture and eventually sold it to the local cable company at the time in Santa Fe for a profit.
     Anyway, yesterday, Monday was a fairly busy day in my office. I had 10 people or so waiting in the waiting room. I stepped out of my office between patients and on the television I have it my waiting room I see, to my disgust, an ad for what I view as competition to my practice. So I started thinking………
     My father’s local advertising business in Santa Fe made money because on cable channels like CNN, ESPN, Mtv, etc… would broadcast a signal at certain times during the “Local Commercial break” for his equipment to begin interrupting the national feed to play his Santa Fe NM local TV commercials. I believe it is still done similarly today.
     Well, what if I had a Tivo-like device in my office that would catch that signal, block the local ad time, and play my own individual commercial or health information during commercial breaks, thus eliminating seeing my competitor’s ads in my own office. Think about places you have a captive audience. Waiting rooms of all sorts of companies, doctors/dentists offices, fitness studios etc. Wouldn’t it be cool, if you were a Ford dealer, to play CNN, ESPN, whatever, in your waiting room area(s) and not have to worry about another Ford dealership or even a Chrysler ad playing in your own business at the same time re-enforcing your own in house marketing? I mean, I’m sure the manager at 24hour fitness doesn’t want Bally’s ads playing while his customers are doing the elliptical machines. You get the point.
     Now obviously there has to be some legal feet that might be stepped on. I would assume it mean owning the rights of local advertising on these networks in major cities, but the national network would still get to play their national ads. Of course the maker of this device could reserve a block of time for its own ad of any sort, including….. movies.
     That, essentially, was my original idea…………………
     But then I thought, what if I went to say, CNN, and payed them a fee to allow me to block ALL or most commercials and allow me to put my own ad info/health information etc during the breaks (I know what your thinking, there is no way the network would undermine a multimillion dollar national Ad contract to let a puny Dr. block advertising to any potential customers, right?)
     Here is the bigger idea….
     Well, what if there was a Maverick Network that would allow it. What if, say HDNET, would be tuned in to in every doctor, dentist, hospital, gym, you name it, under the auspices that part of the commercial time they allowed would devoted to that individuals business or whatever. The other portion of commercial breaks could be devoted to HDNET’s national ads, ads for movies, programming etc. You would build a grass roots captive audience for your network in every waiting room in America, and allow the average business man be an ad exec too.
     In this age of MP3’s, advanced individuality and the progress of personal digital production into every home, why not let the small/medium/large businessman be their own ad exec too. It would create new forms of businesses. It would open a market for digital production for these personal “adlets.”
     It would also create another revenue source for the individual businessman. A certain business could locally advertise what he/she wanted to, for instance, 24 hour fitness could sell ad time in their gym to the chiropractor or GNC store next door.
     It would mean blowing the lid off the way traditional television advertising has been done. Obviously, like I said, I’m sure both of these ideas have some legal issues and other issues to work out. And, there would need to be some R&D on the device or mechanism to interrupt the digital feed. Numbers of course, would have to be crunched to make sure it would profitable for all. Disclosure of ratings for the network would have to have subscribers to this new service figured in for national advertising. But the end result would be that everyone would be watching your network and your advertising and my little target audience would also be watching my info (and not my competition’s) in the hopes of creating word of mouth and in house marketing for us both. Good idea?

     Comment by John Botefuhr — July 27, 2006 @ 1:58 am

420. You have to make your movie a “thing”. It has to be a new trend. I am a film student, so obviously I am giving you my suggestion assuming it is a GOOD film we are talking about, not just any crap (crap wouldn’t catch on as a good trend).
     People have to know about your movie ahead of time, if people are waiting on it to come out and have good expectations, they willmake plans early enough to actually go see the movie right when it comes out.
     You should arrange for a global release date, first of all. With internet and all that there isn’t a single person who doesn’t keep up with premiere dates or hears about them. It makes spectators feel special if they are part of the buzz. Non-english speaking countries have to wait weeks or even months to watch a movie after it is released in the States.
     The advantage is that some people wait to see how big a box-office hit the movie was in its premiere weekend to know wehther or not watch it when it comes out here in Brazil , for example.
     But if you make it a “thing” like that horror film (released on 6/6/6 this year) spectators around the globe will want to participate.
     There will still be the doubt on whether it is a good movie and worth watching… So what can you do about that?
     You get people the public trusts to give their opinion.
     My idea is; way ahead of time you set up a website that sells promotional tshirts or bumper stickers, thigns like that, advertising the movie and its release date. The price you pay for the t-shirt will be the price u would pay for the movie ticket. the tshirt itself would be your movie ticket, and it gets altered somehow when attending the movie session (to make sure the tshirt isnt used twice as a “free-pass”).
     If you make it a hot shirt people will want to wear it. For girls, make it a hot top, something appealing and flattering. a tank top for all that matters, or any other accessory like that that would serve as a medium for the ad.
     As for givign the public a trustworthy opinion that the movie is good and worth watching you should get a couple of well-liked celebrities to wear the shirt. Get Tarantino! im not sure how well-liked he is but a movie that he recommends would certainly be worth watchign to most people.
     I can elaborate… And believe me, although I am quite young (21), I have always been well-liked and a trendsetter in all 3 continents I have lived.
     O yes, I graduate as a film major in July 2007 and speak 4 languages fluently…I thought I should volunteer that information in case you were looking for a young film maker.
     -Thanks
     Simone M

     Comment by Simone R.R. Makhamra — July 24, 2006 @ 7:15 pm

421. Start using the theater to enhance other entertainment mediums, rather than the other way around.

     For instance next season on 24, offer one hour worth of the programming in theaters broken up in two 30 minute segments or four 15 minute parts, and air them before movies that may not warrant millions in advertising.

     Comment by Joseph Couture — July 28, 2006 @ 4:01 pm

422. I love how all the posters can give you their answer from the comfort of their desk right off the top of their heads. It’s impossible to give you a good answer to this without getting a good understanding of the movie-going customer today. Your challenge reminds me of the milk shake case study that Clayton Christensen writes about. By conducting an market study by going to gemba and understanding “what job a milkshake was performing” only then could you develop an effective strategy for increasing milk shake sales or movie ticket sales.

     The question is…why do today’s customers go to the movies? in Christensen’s parlance “what job is ‘going to the movie’ doing?” The answer to this question has no doubt evolved over the past decades The pace of the role that movie theatres play in our lives is changing more quickly and it’s difficult for the studios to stay on top of evolving customers attitudes.

     Mark, if you are serious about understanding how to develop a marketing strategy to get more people in your theatre seats – there are no shortcuts. Do a thorough market study. Talk to your customers. Observe them at your theatres. Roll up your sleeves and do some good anthropological study of your customers.

     I am available to lead this effort for you. Please email me to follow-up. Go here to read more about Clayton Christensen milkshake case study: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5170.html

     Comment by Mike V — July 28, 2006 @ 4:21 pm

423. ok…here’s what you do.

     First, get someone that is very rich and semi-famous that also writes a popular blog. Then have that semi-famous person ask his readers for ideas to market his products. Maybe bribe them with a possible job offer for said rich fellow.

     Then pilfer through 400 responses by mostly college students that secretly sneak into theatres anyway….and at the end of the day, the answer is the same.

     1) Just let the theatres die a painful death.
     2) In the meantime, work on new distribution methods to get your product directly to the consumer without paying 10 layers of fat middlemen
     3) New businesses will crop up to take advantage of this new distribution medium

     I think you should hire yourself Mr. Cuban….and give yourself a raise while you are at it.

     Comment by Patrick — July 28, 2006 @ 4:29 pm

424. Variety.

     There are TONS of movies being made, why do the 3 theaters in my area all show basically the same ones? Because they’re all concerned with making a killing off the next possible blockbuster.

     Lots of movies being made wouldn’t be considered A grade theater quality, so they never make it to theaters. Does that mean people don’t want to see them. Probably some yes, but not all. So that leaves a few issues:

     1. Will people pay $12 to see a lower grade move?
     2. Will a theater be able to fill an enormous theater that shows such a movive?

     Both of these can be answered with 2 simple changes.

     First of all, instead of creating a movie theater with 15 massive screens, create a movie theater with 10 huge screens, 5 medium sized ones and 5 small ones. The overall size of the entire theater building should be about the same. Then, charge differently for each one.

     Charge full price to see the A grade movie in the stadium theater. Knock off a few dollars to see the lesser known movies in the medium theater and then make the smallest theater prices close to nothing. You’ll probabaly make up much of the difference in concession purchases anyway. People will be accustomed to spending $20-30 for a couple to see a movie. So if the tickets only cost them a few dollars to sit in the smaller theaters, they’ll probably buy more popcorn and snacks. The smaller theaters could even rotate movies so they should different movies on different nights.

     One thing to ensure is that a smaller theater doesn’t equal a crappy theater. You should still have a quality picture and sound system, just on a lower scale.

     I think this would capture more people that fall into either of these categories:

     Avid movie goer: Sees almost every movie out there. More movies = more trips to the theater.

     Special Interest movie goer: May not be into the big hollywood show. Likes independant films. Now they can go see them at the theater.

     Educational movie goer: With the additional screens giving more variety of movies, maybe play something where people will actually learn something (biography, wildlife show, whatever). You might get groups of people (clubs, schools, etc…) coming together to watch a movie. Maybe offer a deal to such organizations so they can rent out the entire (small/medium) theater.

     Now this may leave you say, but we could never afford to market X more movies if we are only getting Y back. Well then don’t. Sure, blockbusters may draw more people if the movie is crammed down their throats every day, but this won’t work for all movies. I’ve been without TV for 3 years and don’t listen to the radio much. So I don’t see ads on TV nor hear them often on the radio (advertising movies on the radio is also a big waste in my opinion). Instead, just create some nice trailers. That’s how I pick my movies. Jump to the theater web site, see what’s playing and watch the trailers.

     With this solution, I think more movies would be seen, and it would make beter use of theater real estate. And who knows, maybe you’d be surprised a few times a year picking up diamond in the rough that turns out to be a gold mine.

     Mark

     Comment by Mark Sohm — July 28, 2006 @ 4:34 pm

425. In it’s simplest form the solution to the problem is bringing the entertainment value back into the theatre.

     That is exactly what’s missing from the theatre experience is the fun. Nowadays we are paying more for a ticket and snacks yet are not getting anything more for our dollar except more advertising, not just viewed, bombarded, with advertsiing and trailers totalling up to 20-30 minutes prior to the film. This turns people away.

     What I propose is going back to the roots of cinema. A perfect example would be Warner’s DVD release of The Public Enemy wherein there is a feature called “Warner’s night at the movies.” This is a collection of shorts that were a staple of early cinema. Some were advertising, and for this to make sense in todays market most of it would have to be anyway, but mostly they were appetizers. Those special little nuggets that brought the whole experience together. It gives the entire experience a beginning, middle and end. Shorts-trailers-film. An arcing experience the viewer goes through themselves.

     This proposal is quite broad because I am basically suggesting changing the pre-film format alltogether. We could have cartoons and little documentary shorts and anything you could dream up. For that matter it could also be tailored specifically to the film about to be viewed which is an even more exciting prospect. Advertisers could either sponsor them or create their own content. Sponsorhip though would be the better option as to not immediately alert the audience that it is a glorified ad. It also would improve the quality of the content, if the content is sponsored it doens’t have to revolve completely around the product. A great example are those heinous Coca-Cola ads showing “What teens really do!”

     I love to go to the movies, but I have grown distasteful of the experience. Also I can wait just 3 months for the DVD and not feel to bad about it. What you have to give the audience is something they are only going to get in the theatre, like a band who covers tracks only in their live set or songs that they only perform live. You won’t get it on their album but it gives you something extra, a reason to go out and see for yourself.

     The buzzword these days is 3-d, you hear it from James Cameron and George Lucas as being the single thing that will save the movie house. I sort of feel that to be true but mostly it’s a gimick and unless the content of the film specifically lends itself to being 3-d I feel the idea is going to sour with the public pretty quickly. I mean, “There’s something about Mary in 3-D?” That’s not very exciting at all.

     So there you have it. What you have proposed is a great idea Mr. Cuban, something needs to be done and to have someone so passionate about media spear-heading it is the only way it can be done to succeed.

     Comment by Brandon Bennett — July 28, 2006 @ 4:48 pm

426. Mark – Sorry for the length of this but a 2 liner does not address the issue or provide an adequate solution.

     I have read some, not all, of the 800+ responses. Hopefully, these are not repeats, but before I share my ideas with you, I want to pose 2 questions.

     - Is the overall interest in getting people to the theater?
     OR
     - Is the interest to have more profitable movies (i.e. lower marketing cost, and yet high viewing) and satisfied customers (i.e. feel they are getting what they pay for)?

     I am guessing the later and will focus on that in my recommended solution, then offer one option on the first as well.

     Summary:
     1)Understand viewer’s interest
     2)Personalize marketing to viewer’s interest
     3)Offer sneak previews in return for feedback, leverage feedback for more viewers
     4)Make it easy to access the movies anytime, anywhere (convenience and comfort)

     Details:
     1)Understand viewer interest – Consider there are different demographics and different interest in seeing a movie. Audience (Young kids, pre-teen/teen, dating teens/Pre marriage adults, new parents, empty nesters, etc.)

     Also, everyone has different interest in movies (family, action, drama, chic-flick, etc.) for different members of the family. There are many ways to view demographics and interest for direct appeal.

     2)Personalize Marketing to customer interest – Create and market a single website that would allow people to create an interest profile, based on life stage and areas of interest (family, action, drama, etc.) favorite actors, and other criteria, then there is a basis for understanding what people like. This is already being done; think in terms of Match.com, e-Harmony, Amazon, etc. They look at what you want or in Amazon’s case, what you bought and make recommendations.

     When a new movie is about to be released, the person would be proactively notified (via e-mail, text message, and/or over phones with video) that they may enjoy this movie based on their interest and a couple of trailers are made available for them to view. If there is an interest, they can then save this to their favorites under different categories (family, action, drama, etc.) for later reference. It is not mass mailing, it is personalized and everyone likes personal service.

     3)Offer sneak previews in return for feedback – For those who are interested in the movie, they can request a reservation to attend a free sneak preview in their city (or at home – see #4) in return for completing an online feedback response. The result is you have people (assume a few thousand across the US) with certain interest in their profile, seeing a movie that fits their interest and providing feedback to people who have that similar interest. (A community of viewers). This feedback can then be proactively sent back to people who received the original trailer to increase interest based on the feedback. They then forward that to their friends and the word of mouth increases with content (trailer and reviews) supporting it.

     4)Make it easy to access the movies anytime, anywhere (convenience and comfort) – There are a few changing trends:
     - Media rooms at home increasing significantly
     - Larger and crisper in-home TVs with surround sound
     - TiVo / DVR = ineffective commercials
     - Avoiding hassles of megaplexes (lines, crowds, parking, etc.)
     - Having personalized services, what we want, when we want it.

     The result of these trends fit well to offering new releases via (cable, satellite, etc.) in a PPV mode at the SAME TIME as they are released in theaters. Consider starting the New Release Movie Channel. Yes, it cuts out the theaters, but it cost too much to get folks to a theater as is and the cost / inconvenience of going to a theater is the challenge. If you could get new releases in the comfort of your home whenever you want (after kids go to bed, or while friends come over, etc.) you gain more interest and word of mouth promotion begins sooner.

     Use of the web and proactive personalized marketing service is what I see everyday as a manager in the technology industry here in Dallas. Our customers and their customers (the public) demand it to stay profitable and attract business.

     In terms of the first question I posed, if you are trying to get people into the theater one idea to make the theater experience more exciting would be to have a dedicated screening room available one to two weeks after the new release. The room would have live video cams to one or more of the stars. People could submit questions to the stars and get their reaction in real time. It becomes more personable for the audience to communicate directly with the movie star. The timing would allow a first rush of folks for the new release, advertise in the theater to the captive audience that on x date, the star will be available by video conference to talk directly to them. Those people may return and bring friends who have not seen the movie. It creates a buzz.

     I hope this is of interest. You have a lot of ideas coming through. Always willing to discuss further.

     Ben

     Comment by Ben Guthrie — July 28, 2006 @ 4:51 pm

427. Ugh, this is so simple I’m embarrassed to be the one to say it. Two words – toilet paper. Hand out free toilet paper with colorful movie advertising printed on each square.

     Comment by SteveP — July 28, 2006 @ 4:57 pm

428. With respect, I believe you’re fighting a lost cause. There is no solution at this point.

     Assume there is a quantifiable demand for movie consumption. That demand has to be filled. The problem isn’t quality of movies or quality of theaters, its that the demand is now getting met from sources other than theaters. Home theater equipment is now of very high quality and reasonable cost; couple that with services such as netflix and on demand and the home is a viable and cheaper alternative to the theater.

     The only way to shift demand back to the theaters is to roll back the clock and make the home option unviable. You could halt the adoption of on-demand and increase the delay of DVD releases. But this will merely shift demand and revenues–the revival of the theaters will come at the price of netflix, comcast, and hardware manufacterers. This is not a “good fight” as many will consider it a desperate attempt to stem the march of progress.

     Consider a crude example: before the age of VHS, there were dedicated smut theaters. When smut was made widely available on videotape, the smut theater business all but collapsed. You have a similar situation now with movies.

     If I were advising the theater chains, I’d tell them to diversify their business models. Instead of being “Lowes Theaters” for example, they’d have to be “Lowes Movie Services,” in which the theater was just one revenue stream. Other streams could include on-demand services, DVD rentals, etc.

     Comment by George — July 28, 2006 @ 4:59 pm

429. Kind of interesting the number of people who have replied without realizing that you were asking about how to market your product. I would consider the number of replies that deal with the economics of your product rather telling…

     At any rate, I’ll tell you this: I am your target. I have no idea what demographics you are shooting at, but I am a mid-30s individual with a family who loves going to the movies. But I don’t go that often. Oh, I used to go often when I was single and it was easier. Now I have a bit less time, and a family to support. Still like to go, though, and I can find a movie I’m interested in at least once a month.

     So, why aren’t I there more often? Simple economics – mostly. It’s too expensive. Almost 10 dollar tickets? Charging me $3.25 (or more) for candy that I can get for $1.25 anywhere else? That goes for the popcorn and drinks, as well. A night out at the theatre and a babysitter can run me $50 pretty easily, possibly more. Compare that to the expense of playing games at home, watching movies at home, etc., and you have a tough sell. And I’m not talking about a high end setup that everyone on the net seems to have at home, either; I’m talking about a typical DVD player and TV set like your average American home.

     So, your product is expensive and I have attractive options, but I still want to go; why aren’t I there?

     It’s the experience, plain and simple. Every time I go and it’s very expensive, one demerit. Every time I go and the place isn’t clean (sticky floors, dirty restrooms, etc.), one demerit. Every time I go and there is an employee who is just going through the motions (I’m not asking Disneyland happy, here, just a decent hello, thank you, etc.), one demerit. Every time I go and the lines are too long (10 minutes in a line may be too long, 15 definitely is), one demerit. Every time I go and see 20 minutes of commercials (before the 20 minutes of commercials and previews), 2 demerits. Noisy patrons in the movie (or people opening their bright cell phones), 2 demerits.

     Each of these things weighs in as to how long I will be away from your experience. The next time I think about going to the theatre each one of those negative things that happened last time crops up and, when weighed against the cost, makes the amount of time I stay away longer.

     Wanna market to me? (I assume you do since I want to be there) Here’s how you do it: stop marketing to me and give me a great product. I don’t care about what whiz-bang gimmick you can give me. Can you give me a good experience at a decent price? Can you not beat me about the head and shoulders with marketing the entire time I’m there? Can you keep the place clean, the systems in good repair and remove disturbances from my experience? If you can, I’ll be back sooner rather than later.

     So few realize the great experience that a movie can be, whether it be a comedy, special effects blockbuster or drama. One of the best experiences I had recently was in Star Wars Episode One; a clean theatre, no commercials, only one preview, a good crowd that oohed an ahhed in all the right places – magic.

     Wanna market to me? Show me you can provide a good environment for a great movie-going experience. Put a simple commercial in front of me that shows a patron walking in to a clean environment, happy employees, and short lines. Then, while that patron is watching the movie have a jackass open a cellphone and start yapping on it, proceeded by an employee grabbing him by the ear and dragging him out with the tagline “Yes, we really do it” – I’ll give you a shot. And if you really do have a clean environment with a minimum of distractions at a decent price when I get there, I’ll come back.

     Leave the marketing at home and provide a great experience. It’s all I’m hoping for when I go to see Clerks II this weekend.

     And ignore the yahoos who complain about the quality of the movies – that’s not what you asked and it’s the studios’ job, anyway.

     Comment by Clint Klevesahl — July 28, 2006 @ 5:00 pm

430. To add to previous comments about Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse: It’s not merely that you can order good food and eat on the counter in front of your seat, or even that they do fun live events. More than that the whole experience is fun, quirky, creative, unique.

     People deliberately arrive 30 mins early because instead of the usual commodity theater ads-and-trivia crap, Alamo will run a series of old, quirky, campy, or just strange TV or movie clips (always somehow related to the film). Then their don’t-talk-during-the-movie PSA is always hilarious in itself, often customized with some Hollywood personality.

     Among the preshow festivities are ads or announcements inviting you to Alamo’s upcoming local events (again, these ads are always locally made and funny). And usually the trailers will include some 30 yr old classic. The preshow spectacle is often better than the movie.

     The experience is very pleasant and entertaining in many ways that all revolve around doing something cool, different, and creative to please customers — which of course makes the theater utterly unique (sadly).

     Comment by Kevin — July 28, 2006 @ 5:38 pm

431. I’ve often thought that theatres need to become more like places that people want to hang out at. I go once every few months, and there is little incentive to go to one movie theatre over another. This is as opposed to restaurants that I visit on a weekly basis. I form a bond with the waiters and service, the menu, etc.

     So whats wrong with movie theatres? You go, you see the movie, and then you want to rush out as fast as possible. So how can you slow people down, even get people to come back on a regular basis regardless of whether they want to see a movie or not? Create a more social atmosphere that invites strangers who like the subject material to talk to each other and form a common bond. Maybe setup forums for each movie theatre so there is a central place people could talk and plan things before and after the movie. I could imagine “movie groups” forming with a little push from the movie theatres and the right structure. Maybe some prime seats in the movie theatre could be marked off as designated only for Movie Buddy seats, a program kind of like carpooling where you sign up, show up half an hour early for the movie, talk about the movie, the stars, the mythos, etc then are escorted into the movie theatre by the designated employee (who is basically a customer relations manager) to their prime seats. And it doesn’t just have to be the straight movies. How about after you’ve seen a movie, everyone is invited back a week later for a special “director’s commentator” at a budget price, making of, etc. DVDs have a bunch of advantages, bring some of those advantages to the theatres. It seems many movie theatres are relatively unused after the opening weekends, and theatres try to push forward the idea of special screenings for businesses and such, but what about television show finales, making ofs, etc. These are all products that are shown for free (ie advertiser sponsored) or added as bonuses on DVDs, why not charge budget movie theatre rates for the purpose of getting people used to hanging out at the theatre?
     Finally, what about showing telvision shows, particularly sci-fi and such shows in the theatre? Imagine a season pass for 12 dollars for Lost. The show is shown multiple times per week, has no commercials, your season pass lets you watch every single episode, and after the season finale you could have marathons of 6 episodes each for the remaining month. Different theatres throughout a city could have different series, with the hope of consolodating people who like similar things in the same theatre. This was just sort of a stream of consciousness, hopefully some interesting ideas can be parsed out of it.

     Comment by Richard M Mathis — July 28, 2006 @ 5:52 pm

432. MOVIE TICKET STUB LOTTERY

     Currently, movie goers are issued a ticket for the movie they will see. Currently, one part of the ticket stays with the movie goer as proof that the movie goer has paid the price of admission; the other part of the ticket is taken by a movie house employee just before seating movie goers. There are numbers on these tickets, no? There is proof that it is an actual ticket sold at the box office (with movie title, date, movie time specified, etc.), not just a ticket copy somebody made somewhere (no matter how good the artist). If there were steps the movie goer could take to use that movie stub to enter a LOTTERY, he/she might go to the movies more often just to get more ticket stubs to enter for the lottery drawing.

     The movie industry could use the current two-part ticket system (if the same identifying information or numbers are on each part) or a three-part ticket system, one for the theater to keep for whatever purpose they currently collect them, one for the movie goer to keep — and produce if LOTTERY winner — and one part to enter into an unmovable, locked box in the theater lobby as the movie goer exits the theater (winning LOTTERY ticket to be randomly picked from this box, preferably in a public ceremony). Or the third part could be a little form to be filled out with special information from the ticket stub (lottery winner still being required to present proof of purchase — box office receipt, preferably showing the ticket stub number — and actual movie ticket stub. Or an Internet site could be established where a movie goer could enter the ticket stub number (eliminating the necessity of a locked box in the lobby) along with how to contact him/her if picked as a winner.

     A system could be set up whereby actual purchase is definitely required (different states/different counties may have varying laws—if the word “lottery” is a problem, call it/define it as something else that would pass statutes and laws), that particular movie house could offer two free tickets (or whatever the movie house deems most appropriate for their clientele, free one-time large popcorn, free one-time super-sizing, one-time 50% off concession purchases, etc.) for that day’s or that week’s lottery drawing, and those winners — OR all non-winners from the locked box — would be entered into the grand drawing (coming out of the movie industry’s pocket, not the particular theater owner’s pocket) which would definitely make it worth the movie goers’ time and effort to enter. Perhaps the movie house where the lottery winner entered the winning grand prize ticket could also get some special perk that would make it worth their while to participate in the program. The grand prize drawing (one per state? one per region?) could occur once every 2, 3 or 6 months (not some far off 12 months later) with more “instant gratification” for the movie goer in mind. Such a program would generate free publicity (stories about local winners)…especially at first since it would be something new. Grand drawing prizes would need to be something anyone would want but that wouldn’t make the movie industry’s bean counters any more gray than they already are (more return than investment). Maybe a choice of something like an iPod-type gadget or paying up to a certain limit for someone’s electric or grocery bill; for the non-materialistic, a specified donation in their name for their favorite 501(C)(3) charity, school, alma mater. Maybe periodic special larger ticket prize drawings might be needed (i.e., lunch with a celebrity, small part on a commercial, etc.).

     I’m currently unemployed. I’d LOVE a job offer!

     Comment by Debbie Rogers — July 28, 2006 @ 6:21 pm

433. Sell the people less and the advertisers more. That doesn’t mean more ads, but better use of the ad time you have.

     There’s been a paradigm shift. People go looking for content now. They surf the web, they watch tv, they read all kinds of stuff about the movies long before the movie surfaces. They make more informed decisions than they did when friday nights were “go to the movies” night. The studio will sell the movie, you need to position yourself as the best location to consume. The real focus of your dollars should be on making your location the best location to screen a movie. I don’t think you have to go crazy on ammenities, but making the movies something to experience is important. Here are a few ideas:

     1. Start sizing screens. Put the blockbusters on larger-than-life screens. Put some films you wouldn’t otherwise show in a smaller space with a smaller screen. Make the movies look better than hdtv. This is expensive and won’t happen overnight, but consider it. I occasionally drive 3 hours to go see movies at an antique movie house that has one enormous viewing area with a balcony, and the screen there is gigantic. I also drive about an hour to see art-house films in a tiny theatre, because its the only way I’ll see them on any sort of big screen at all.

     2. Pay the employees a little more, or hire an extra person or two, whatever it takes to keep the theatre clean and the interactions polite. This is such an obvious problem that has gone on for so long that it is particularly offensive and nearly everyone I ask tells me this is why they don’t go to the movies.

     The ad revenue is a large part of the big picture now, or so it seems. Use the time before the film more wisely. Don’t advertise your theatre chain or tell people they need a beverage. That ship has sailed and you’re wasting everyone’s time. Don’t run slide-show ads before the show, or at least make them look like they are from this century. The slide shows for local businesses are just pathetic. If you need the ad revenue that badly, try talking to the studios. Most people (and most studios) would rather see an additional trailer than the slide show. If the studio isn’t paying well for trailers, drop them altogether (or threaten to) and consider 5 minutes of nothing but ads, but choose them wisely. BMW has commissioned some short films advertising their products; why is everyone showing 30-second coke and playstation ads? Reinvent the short as an ad, and get some people together to build some.

     We had a new theatre open recently that had a large, pleasant crew and didn’t show ads before the films, and I’ve told everyone I know over the last month or so that its safe to go back to the movies. It makes a big difference. I often feel like the people running the majority of theatres must really hate the movies.

     Comment by rob — July 28, 2006 @ 6:23 pm

434. Why do you want more people to go to the movies???
     When you answer that one, then it is easy to know how

     Comment by Jessica — July 28, 2006 @ 6:36 pm

435. The main answer I think revolves around the concepts of hospitality and service. One of the main reasons people have for going out is to be “served” and experience “hospitality”. The feeling that other people are taking an interest in you. Its the human condition, the need to experience warmth from others.

     The cinema experience has been getting increasingly cold and empty from this perspective. You make contact with theatre staff at the payment kiosk for a few seconds while they take your money, and then for a minute at the food kiosk when you buy your popcorn, but from then on you are on your own.

     The cinemas themslves are quite small, and often during weekdays there is only a handful of people in the audience. So you feel little different than if you were watching the movie in your own lounge room at home. You dont feel so much a part of something bigger. True the screen is bigger, but thats all.

     When I went to the cinema as a child, their was only one screen, and the place was enormous. Typically there were hundreds of people at a minimum in the audience. Second you had at least two or more staff members (usually yound ladies) patrolling up and down during the movie selling ice creams and confectionery. There would always be an intermission during which people could queue up at the front or back and obtain more food and drink from these people.

     There was also the addition of a short film before the main feature – this also gave the impression that you were getting “something extra”.

     You always had the feeling you were part of something, and were being “looked after”. This is almost completely missing from the current cinema experience. Why not just get a home theatre setup and stay at home?

     Something needs to be done to humanize the movie goind experience, and to provide some desparately needed feeling that the customers are being looked after in some way. Ill leave that up to others to work out how to do that. I do think it needs doing.

     Other obvious negatives are:

     1. the extortinate and blatant rip-offs with the food and drink.
     2. the movies themselves are mindless drivel badly in need of decent scripts. Not everyone has attention deficit disorder.
     3. movies don’t hang around for long enough. Blink and you miss them. Usually by the time that I have heard about a movie, its already long gone.

     Comment by barny rabbit — July 28, 2006 @ 6:40 pm

436. “So many channels and nothing’s on TV”. Sound familiar? With all the available channels why not have a movie trailer channel. A channel strictly concerning the movies with the same trailers you see in the theater but take it to the next level. Have interviews with the actors concerning the movie. Have facts about how the movie was made, production etc. Who are the people and brains behind the movie. Basically, all you ever wanted to know about the show and then some, but doing it in such a way that you still have to see the movie. You’re not giving the movie away.
     This so called “Movie Channel” could cover a lot of ground in what makes up the movie, the stars, actors, extras, location, behind the scenes etc. You say there’s not enough new material out there to fill the space of a continuous channel for this purpose? I think not, Take your favorite show that spans an hour of “air-time” and remove the commercials. You’ll find the show time shrinks drastically. It would be a format that anyone could tune into anytime and preview the upcoming movies to find what interests them, other family members, or friends. It would be of a continuous loop type format like CNN uses and some of the other news networks, except it’s all about the movies. Think about it, when you want the latest weather at any given time, The Weather Channel. The news whenever CNN. There are already many specific format channels in existance, it’s not a new idea, just a different twist on an existing theme.

     When you decide to hire me I have a career and will require a contract and sufficient notice to my employer. The details of my signing bonus and a 5 year initial contract can be discussed during the interview.

     Comment by Roland Moorhead — July 28, 2006 @ 6:44 pm

437. 878 people posted before me, it’s likely no one will see this…

     Now I know that this would never work because most people are asses and too many people would take advantage, but I would like to pay for a movie AFTER I have seen it and only if it was a good movie. How much incentive would this be for movie-makers and studios to make quality movies?

     “Yeah but know one would pay!”

     That may be true but what if I was given the option of not paying if I was not satisfied but before leaving the theater I had to provide personal information and non anonymous feedback as to what I didn’t like about the movie, I might think twice about opting out. You could make it painfully long and tedious to complete to encourage people who didn’t HATE the movie to pay and those who were dissatisfied would have a medium to express their dissatisfaction. I would have gladly spent 20 minutes to fill out a questionnaire about how crappy Terminator 3 was so that I didn’t have to pay $9 for that steaming load…

     This would require significant investment, monitoring blah blah blah..Yes but so does a massive marketing campaign.

     Imagine this: Coming to theaters this Thursday XYZ Staring ABC and EFG. synopsis, conflict, teaser. Amazing HD picture and 7.1 sound in stadium seating with a cup holder, and if you don’t like the movie..It’s Free…

     Now I have a 65″ HDTV and a quality DVD player and I watch maybe 3-4 movies a week. I love movies I enjoy the theater experience, but the last movie I actually saw at the theater was Star Wars Episode 3.

     I have no problem paying $9 for a GOOD movie but I have paid to see too many crappy movies. I am tired of wasting my money. So I choose to watch movies at home. If its crappy I only spend a few bucks for the whole family to see it. I didn’t have to find parking or stand in one of the 2 open lines on an 8 station box office. Make it easy and make it fun and pete sake, make better movies.

     Most importantly absorb the risk of a crap movie by providing a money back guarantee…

     Comment by Maurice Troute — July 28, 2006 @ 6:57 pm

438. This is a shot in the dark. Don’t market your movies. If you have big enough names starring and directing, the buzz will be created when they make the inevitable talk show rounds. Critics will, of course, contribute as well. The studio can then pass these savings on to the consumer by making it known that this is their philosophy, and all their movies are going to be discounted. This should keep viewers on their toes and alert to what might be comming out, which will create active participation on the part of consumers in researching your movies.

     Comment by Parrish Theodore — July 28, 2006 @ 7:04 pm

439. simple:

     stop making bad movies. stop paying these actors an exorborant amount of money. go back to the way old hollywood made movies – movies that were actually good (stop with the fucking studio execs who want to be directors or producers, stop with the fucking producers who want to be directors, AND LET THE FUCKING DIRECTOR DIRECT HIS MOVIE!!!). TOO MANY HANDS IN THE POT!!!!!

     i work at a studio and i’m just sick and tired of movies – i haven’t enjoyed a movie in years (hell, i don’t even go anymore – how about that for marketing!!!).

     fuck movies, fuck TV, fuck entertainment all together – everyone is just so full of themselves it’s stupid. americans should get off their fat asses and do something besides watching tv and movies. go workout, read a book, do something besides wasting your money on crap entertainment – maybe then hollywood will get it’s act together, but don’t count on it!!!!

     hollywood doesn’t care about the public – so why should the public spend their hard earned money on shit????

     Comment by balla — July 28, 2006 @ 7:10 pm

440. So you want to know how to make more of us go to the Cinema? Look back to the golden age of film, when Hollywood wasn’t run by marketers and moneymen, when directors and writers with an artistic vision were allowed to speak freely. They captured our hearts and imaginations.

     Basically stop making dross, repetitive, hackeneyed unoriginal films, be prepared to take a risk. No mroe sequels, franchises etc etc please. This is why I’ve stopped going to the cinema.

     Please stop making trailers that last for 2 mins showing ALL the good bits of the film meaning we feel cheated and ripped off because the rest of the movie sucked ass.

     Make it cheaper. I’m paying roughly £20 to see a movie just by myself, £40 if I take my gf and pay for her, and then throw in the concession stand… also I’m slightly above average height, I’m not having a Good Experience (TM) if my knees are smacking the back of the chair infront of me. I doubt the guy infront of me is either. Why would I want to go through that when I can kick back at home, stretch out on my sofa and enjoy the movie?

     Comment by Tim L — July 28, 2006 @ 7:26 pm

441. So you want to know how to make more of us go to the Cinema? Look back to the golden age of film, when Hollywood wasn’t run by marketers and moneymen, when directors and writers with an artistic vision were allowed to speak freely. They captured our hearts and imaginations.

     Basically stop making dross, repetitive, hackeneyed unoriginal films, be prepared to take a risk. No mroe sequels, franchises etc etc please. This is why I’ve stopped going to the cinema.

     Please stop making trailers that last for 2 mins showing ALL the good bits of the film meaning we feel cheated and ripped off because the rest of the movie sucked ass.

     Make it cheaper. I’m paying roughly £20 to see a movie just by myself, £40 if I take my gf and pay for her, and then throw in the concession stand… also I’m slightly above average height, I’m not having a Good Experience (TM) if my knees are smacking the back of the chair infront of me. I doubt the guy infront of me is either. Why would I want to go through that when I can kick back at home, stretch out on my sofa and enjoy the movie?

     Comment by Tim L — July 28, 2006 @ 7:43 pm

442. Here’s a thought:

     Reveal less. Too many movies these days are given away by over-exposing previews. Entice me; don’t try to badger or impress me into seeing the film. Remember that a lot of minds are made up when seeing the preview.

     And apply this minimalism everywhere. Enough with the thousand-and-one billboard ads, peanut gallery cardboard cut-outs, etc. The movie theaters themselves should take this to heart and give the places character — not make them halls of advertising.

     Comment by DaveY — July 28, 2006 @ 7:50 pm

443. The answer is airplanes!

     Ok, bear with me. If you are trying to generate buzz, etc. You need a captive audience. With the exception of prisons (whose demographics are probably a poor choice). Nowhere, do you have a better place to get enough eyeballs to make a buzz difference to movie goers. Think about the possibilities.

     1. Take over those horrible kiosks in airports and stock them with zero-day release movies. (probably the least interesting idea)
     2. Partner with an airline. Get them to give you passenger demographics and pass out your movie to your target audience on the flight.
     3. Have roaming vendors hang out at gates and pass out dvd’s/players in one airport. Collect them at the connecting airport.
     4. Replace the inflight movie with yours and offer free headphones to passengers.

     The possibilites are endless. And the recipients will thank you for giving them something to do. I really don’t understand why nobody is doing this in an era of airline perks disappearing. A lot of people have commented on the conditions in movie theaters. In most cases they are horrible. (I do like Alamo Drafthouses and Landmarks in Austin) However, people still come to see movies.

     Comment by Skyler Thomas — July 28, 2006 @ 8:16 pm

444. Okay, if I had a theater and wanted to get people to come to my theater instead of the guy down the street, I’d just make popcorn and a small soda on the house. The stuff costs next to nothing. Maybe charge a little more per person. Movie nights used to be fun because it was a cheap and easy date. Now it’s $40 for 2. I realize it’s giving away some high margin product, but I’m looking for market share. Make it week nights only to start, just make it consistent so movie go-ers get the word.

     Second thought – serve some decent food so people can do dinner and a movie at once, and don’t charge exorbitant prices for it either. Put little flip up trays on the seats and a bag for the trash when you’re done. You want to change the economics of the movie business, you have to change the experience.

     Comment by Lifesrichpageant — July 28, 2006 @ 8:26 pm

445. Set up a referral program (pyramid scheme) like Xango…

     Problem solved.
     You’re welcome.

     Comment by Scott — July 28, 2006 @ 8:30 pm

446. Theatres need to give us something we cannot see at home. The pervasiveness of digital media gives us instant access to tons of new content. Why not capitalize on the availability of this content? Theatres can foster a sense of community and generate increased traffic by embracing the local film communities. One of the more enjoyable ads that invade my theatre-going experience are the coca-cola shorts. Why not obtain various shorts from local filmmakers and run them in place of commercials for this season’s ABC Family flop? Good and exclusive content before the movie will bring people out. Remember “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and the Pixar shorts? Have 10-15 minutes of fresh, local and exclusive content before the movies and you will bring people out.

     Comment by Chris Mammarelli — July 28, 2006 @ 8:30 pm

447. Mark –
     All you need to do is get back on the news/ national television and tell the world that you are going to randomly hire one person who attends your movie. 18+ older is the only requirement. Drawing will be completely random.

     That is what you did in order to get all this buzz going. And look at Donald Trump with the Apprentice. The entire success of the show is based upon working for Mr Trump. Any sane person in America wants to work for you – and therefore they’d attend your movie for a chance at winning their dream job. No restrictions on how many times you can attend the movie to improve your chances. Which of course, only helps your revenue.

     And the best part, it costs you nothing!

     Comment by Melissa J — July 28, 2006 @ 8:47 pm

448. I haven’t read many of the entries, but I believe what must be sold is the “experience”. The movie will be loved, hated, recommended or panned. But if the “experience” is high quality, the movie will become secondary. In an attempt to market to the married with children, never get out crowd, why not have turn-key packages available. Have sub contracted, and obviously screened, babysitters ready to solve that problem. Add on transportation, VIP seating, food, concessions, etc. People are very used to that sort of add-on mindset, (think travel), and they can control the expense. I think that market has the discretionary income to pay for more the just “seeing a movie” as they can do that from home. But to get out, be treated wonderfully, without the children, in an adult environment, I think would work.

     Comment by Joe Pasko — July 28, 2006 @ 8:58 pm

449. People who seek an attorney, typically trust them. Somehow get Magnolia Pictures aligned with an affinity group, such as the American Bar Associations. Send out through email or dvd 5 minute samples from the movie. Hopefully, this trusted affinity group will go tell their clients, who then tell, their friends, etc etc…

     Comment by Jason Raznick — July 28, 2006 @ 9:07 pm

450. Simple. Make going to the movies “magical” again. There was a time when seeing a movie on the big screen was an event, and now at 30, it didn’t seem that long ago. Now? Seeing a movie on the big screen seems only like a small step up from seeing it on my television via DVD. Sometimes it’s a step down, when you consider rude patrons, 20 minute commercials, and sometimes less that spectacular theaters.

     How do you make it magical again? I think you need to make the experience vastly superior to the one experienced at home without getting too gimicky. Some of this is starting to manifest itself already with movies on IMAX and 3D, but maybe we need to think even bigger. The theater experience has to be unique and wonderful enough that I simply can’t “just wait til the DVD comes out.”

     Push more films onto special screens (IMAX, bigger screen, wider screens, concaved screens, etc). Improve the sound quality so that it’s unmatched at home — not louder, but more realistic. Use some of the improved 3D technology for special screenings. Have special events (like El Capitan) where there is something else besides just the movie drawing people in.

     I didn’t stop going to the theater cause movies sucked. I stopped going because of DVDs and price. Spending $20 (for me and my wife) to see a movie at the theater doesn’t seem economical when I can rent it in 4 months for $4 (or less with Netflix) or even buy it for $15. The experience presented at the theater is generally nicer than my home theater because of the bigger screen and better sound — but it’s not enough to make me part with $20 instead of $4.

     Comment by Kenneth Johnson — July 28, 2006 @ 9:20 pm

451. Fools!

     It can’t be done!!!

     Comment by Mike — July 28, 2006 @ 10:27 pm

452. Fools!

     It can’t be done!!!

     Comment by Mike — July 28, 2006 @ 10:28 pm

453. Seperate movie theaters by age group.

     As an adult, one of the main reasons I don;t go to the movies is because I know I’ll have to deal with the antics, food throwing, cell phones, talking, and otherwise outlandish and disruptive behavior by the pre-teens and teenagers there.

     If there was a 21 and older theatre, I’d go there exclusively.

     Comment by Joshua Bengal — July 28, 2006 @ 10:53 pm

454. Hello Cuban, when my business partner and I read of your marketing dilemma an awesome idea immediately came to mind. The idea was a perfect fit with a multi million dollar idea my partner and I have had for some time now.

     This idea is a way to market movies in a completely different way and it works for any and all kinds of movies. The idea will definitely change the dynamics and the economics of how films will be promoted. The great part about this marking idea is that the scheme will generate money itself as well as excitement for all up coming films.

     I know, enough with the self promotion, here’s the pitch.

     Produce a reality show that showcases the making of the film that we are trying to promote. This marketing approach is a great idea for the following reasons:

     1) This will be an original program for HDNet.
     2) The program itself will bring in revenue
     3) This will be an exciting way to promote every type of film.

     The great thing about this idea is that it has been tried, tested, and met with immense success in the music industry and we think it will be the perfect promotional idea for motion pictures as well.

     You may remember the reality show “Making of the Band” as showcased on MTV. This show is one of the most popular shows on MTV. During the first season the show took a bunch of unknown rappers and promoted an album by showing the band member as they worked behind the scenes to produce their up and coming CD.

     I think that you will find what happened after the conclusion of the show very intriguing. With the conclusion of the season the much anticipated album quickly went gold. The show is such an overwhelming success that it is now in its third season.

     Luck would have it that my business partner is a very talented script writer and I am his manager. We are both displaced Katrina victims and he has written a potential blockbuster film and series that takes place in post Katrina New Orleans. I think that this film would be an excellent movie to try this marketing approach on.

     Please contact for movie/series synopsis and the multi-million dollar idea I mentioned earlier. I will not post it here for obvious reasons, but this idea will rival HDNet.

     Comment by Joel Drummer — July 28, 2006 @ 11:41 pm

455. First of all, the problem is not about the prices being too high. During the late 50′s and early 60′s, an adult ticket to the movies ranged between 50 cents and three dollars. Take 40 years worth of inflation into account, and the $3 price is not that much different from today’s prices.

     So what’s the big difference between then and now? Choices. There used to be a three-tiered system for distributing movies, which meant the public had three different ways of buying:

     Tier 1) For three bucks, you could take your best girl downtown and see a first-run movie in a big opulant movie palace. More importantly, the experience was very much a ‘night on the town’ with immaculately clean theaters, uniformed ushers, (or better yet, userhettes), and no waiting in line (especially not outside). Customers were treated like customers, and they acted like customers. There was no problem with people talking during the movie because the customers wouldn’t put up with it. It was a relatively expensive evening out (for the time), but most people seemed to feel that they got what they paid for.

     Tier 2) Or, for a buck or less, you could go to the neighborhood Bijou. The audience there was younger & rowdier. The movies were either 2nd run features or B-pictures that the studios had decided wouldn’t survive in a tier 1 venue (the 1950s equivalent of going “straight to video”). Tier 2 theaters provided a place to go for a budget date; there was a lot more making out in the back row. On weekends, Tier 2 theaters even provided babysitting services of a sort. (They called them ‘kiddy matinees’ and tickets were only a quarter. My folks used to send me to the movies every Saturday; in retrospect I suppose it provided them with some peace and quiet on Saturday afternoons).

     Tier 3 – You could wait until the movie showed up on television. It was a lot less fun than going to the movies, and you had to wait a year or more after it played at the tier 2 theaters, but it was the cheapest alternative.

     Today – this business model has been replaced.

     Tier 1) The multiplexes are trying to occupy the top tier that used to be occupied by the downtown movie palaces. Taking inflation into account, multiplex prices are roughly equivalent to the old downtown prices.

     Tier 2) There aren’t two tiers of the “going out to the movies experience” any more; there’s just one – the multiplex, which is priced like the old downtown theaters, but which provides an experience that has a lot more in common with the old neighborhood Bijou. It is as if McDonalds cut out the low-price hamburger, and jacked up the price of the Big Mac to seven dollars and fifty cents.

     Tier 3) Today’s third tier movie experience is provided by home theater and the DVD. And just as was the case in my youth, this third tier provides a vastly inferior experience to either tier one or tier two – but that’s another post…

     So — how to get people back into the theaters? Let’s own up to the fact that the neighborhood multiplex is a poor substitute for the Tier One movie experience of the past. With its chatty customers, ringing cel phones, sticky floors, crappy food and second rate movies, it’s tier two at best.

     What’s needed is a replacement for the old ‘night-on-the-town’ downtown theater model — theaters that people will go to when they want to splurge.

     The answer isn’t making the multiplex cheaper, or making it a little bit better (or cleaner, or better lit or whatever).

     The answer is providing a venue that’s a WHOLE LOT BETTER than the multiplex with a HIGHER ticket price – a price occupying a niche below the price of going to a concert (which at todays prices is over $100 a ticket) but above the price of going to the multiplex (for $10 – $12).

     Of course, if you want an audience to pay MORE than $10-$12 for a movie – you’re going to have to provide much more than just a movie, and you must provide much MUCH more than the multiplex provides. You’re going to have to provide a truly memorable “out-on-the-town” experience. How?

     For example, what if a big romance like “Titanic” had opened – not at the local multiplex – but at a big dinner-theater in downtown San Francisco, (or NYC or LA or Chicago) at $50 a ticket (including dinner)? What if the *only* way to see Titanic for the first six months after its release had been to see it at this venue? How much could you have charged (especially if it invariably sold out every show)? What if there were parties with dancing after each screening of the film? What if there were buses to take the audience to a cruise ship parked in SF Bay, where they could sail up and down the coast until midnight? How much could you have charged?

     Of course, not every film can succeed at such astronomica prices. People love to complain about the quality of movies today. I agree that the quality of much of what’s at the multiplex is awful. But that’s because Hollywood’s business model is based on the old 2nd-tier theater experience.

     When I was a kid, I used to love going to those second tier theaters to see double (or even triple) features of monster movies, 2nd run adventure films and other B-movies. That demanded a constant stream of movies. That’s how Roger Corman got started. He recognized that what was filling the seats at the 2nd tier theaters (which is where he made his money) was not quality films. The audience at those theaters wasn’t all that concerned with the quality of the films. (Many of them were more interested in making out in the back row).

     Today, what Hollywood is providing is mostly big-budget versions of the same monster movies, adventure films and B-movies that filled the 2nd tier neighborhood Bijou theaters back in the day. So it should be no surprise that the multiplexes have become little more than higher priced versions of those 2nd tier neighborhood bijous – the perfect venue for all this crap.

     The absence of a 1st tier theater creates a huge barrier for character-and-plot-driven films (such as Good Night and Good Luck for example). The great character-and-plot driven movies of the 50s and 60s made much of their money in the big downtown theaters, where they could play exclusively for months at a time at premium prices. Afterwards, they could go to the neighborhood Bijou to earn a little extra money at fifty cents a ticket, in much the same way movies now go to DVD.

     The problem is that a “classy” film like GN&GL really wants a “classy” venue that provides a whole night-on-the-town experience for a more affluent audience. The *real* audience for films like GN&GL won’t go to the multiplex to see it, because it’s such an ordeal. (In my own case, I waited for the DVD, even though I badly wanted to see the film when it had its theatrical run.)

     If you want to draw the audience that used to go to the movies downtown (and there’s a lot of money in those 30-40-50 year old wallets), you’ve got to provide the “night-on-the-town” experience that the big downtown theaters used to provide.

     Comment by George — July 29, 2006 @ 1:08 am

456. Forgive the elitist in me, but the problem is that you’re not asking the right people. The 899 people who have responded to this blog are not your average movie-goers. The 899 people here are educated readers who will go to see movies provided they meet a few criteria: lower prices, better and smarter content, and improved venues. The crowd that reads your blog are interested in new and exciting films…we don’t really need to be marketed to…we’ll seek out thought-provoking films on our own.

     Now, if you want to move beyond this small, niche market, then you’ll have to start thinking the way the rest of the population thinks (or doesn’t think). Movies for most people are mindless, passive entertainment–that is all. To the majority, movies are not art, they are not “experiences,” they are not made by auteurs.

     It’s time to break with the past. The theatre model is dying because its time has come…it’s as simple as that. Since home entertainment can offer a similar to better experience than the movie theaters can, then, why, why, WHY try to fight it?

     To put people back in the theaters, to reclaim the “novelty” of times past, a new novelty must be introduced. The theaters HAVE to offer a different experience. Food, better movies, special screenings–these things barely change the entertainment experience–they are not new, they are not grand.

     To move beyond small, art house screenings, (which can be lucrative, but only on a small scale) then technology must be embraced…frankly the only savior I see is a fundamental shift in the entertainment experience itself. For now, that answer is the new 3D technology coupled with digital projection. All other efforts are like trying to stop a runaway 500 pound gorilla by throwing a banana peel…and hoping he slips.

     Comment by russ — July 29, 2006 @ 1:19 am

457. Mark-
     How about a dedicated channel on TV for movie previews. This will show people what new movies are coming out there and what the movie will be about. Maybe even offer on the channel a talk type show with a host/hostess and a character or even director who will be in the movie. With the amount of TV people watch these days I think a channel that is dedicated to movie previews and insite would be watched, because it would give us the opportunity to watch the channel at our convenience and see what movies are coming up and what they might be about.

     Comment by Bill — July 29, 2006 @ 1:55 am

458. 1. Most of the time when my friends and I watch movies it’s to make fun of them for being so bad. So why not do that at the theatres like a sort of “Mystery Science Theatre 3000″ night (or in short MST3K) with the people who frequent that theatre voting on the worst movie they’ve seen that they think deserves to be mocked then bringing in local comics to rip into it. This could very well bring some of the cost of the experience down if people vote for older films as opposed to newer ones.

     2. A change in concession stands. Instead of having the usual popcorn, drinks, snacks, etc.
     Reduce that standard area by half and rent out the unused section (with a few changes for easy
     set up) to local eating establishments so the customer would have a wider range of choices and
     some of the restaurants would have a way of attracting more customers without having to resort to lots of newspaper adds (just a small reduction in price for food), just a rental fee for the day/night. Then start rotating this free space and allow the customers to vote on that as well so they get what they want.

     3. Change the music. Admittedly the music isn’t that bad but I like a bit of variety. Create a voting system for people to use, they can compile a list of the sort of music they like (classical, techno, rock, etc) and the largest totals will be used to make a diverse mix of music to listen to before the movie starts. However they can only vote once at the theatre before seeing the movie.

     4. Updated arcade machines. While waiting in the lobby isn’t that bad (as long as I bring a
     book) it would be slightly more entertaining with some different arcade machines. Not that I’m talking about getting the theatres a bunch of arcade machines but instead go with something like the old Neo-Geo machines which had a selection of four games to choose from. Or to go a step further get a arcade machine with the insides of a standard computer but loaded with emulation software so it can run dozens if not hundreds of older games (shooters, RPG’s, puzzle, strategy) along with any new games developers in the local area would like to try out, though it might be nice to adjust the coin to credit ratio.

     Comment by James Barnhill — July 29, 2006 @ 1:58 am

459. Don’t market the movies — market the studio!

     You’re already diluting your own products with so many different production brands — Magnolia Pictures, 2929 Entertainment, HDNet Films … you’re competing against yourself, for God’s sake!

     One brand — all great films! Make me want to see every movie you make, before you even make them!

     Then, sell movie tickets the way touring Broadway shows sell tickets — advance subscriptions for a schedule of plays/musicals well in adavnce of their showing. Sell reserved seats.

     Here’s how they sell Broadway shows in Orlando, for instance: click here.

     If I want good seats for “The Lion King,” I have to buy tickets for the shows … if I want good seats for the Mavs vs. the Spurs, I better buy some kind of season ticket.

     Or, sell tickets the way Elton John does — one city at a time! Roll out the movies on different days in different markets, then spend your marketing dollars locally instead of nationally! Have 10-20 opening weekends instead of 1!! Then word will spread like it did for “Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

     Other random ideas for Landmark Theaters:

     * Charge MORE for the tickets! Eliminate the riff-raff … but give me a reserved seat with Bose headphones so I can’t hear the loudmouths. I’ll go $12 per ducat …

     * Make everything at the concession stands the same price, say, $4 or $5 — the kids who work there, and the customers, are too dumb to handle multiple transactions!! 3 Cokes and 2 popcorns = $20 … 2 Goobers, 2 Cokes, 2 popcorns = $24 … etc.

     * Vending machines!! Lots of them!! A few right in the hallways going into each screen! (They shut off automatically when the movie starts.) … $5 bills only, 2 Cokes for $5!!

     Comment by Ken Carpenter — July 29, 2006 @ 2:30 am

460. Ooops, here’s the URL for “Broadway Across America” in Orlando:

     http://www.broadwayacrossamerica.com/baa.flash.web/start.html

     Comment by Ken Carpenter — July 29, 2006 @ 2:35 am

461. #1 Something in which every person in the U.S. will know where to go if they want to know about movies. A tv channel thats sole function is too have a listing of trailers for every current movie in theatre and every upcoming movie. Have a toolbar of type of movies..comedy etc. and let the people compare previews, and find what they want. I won’t have to search all day for individual website’s to find a trailer. Key is cost….this channel would be nonstop but would have a crapload of sponsors. price can be split by movie companies and theatres……they all benefit from it. I dunno, somehow do a local access channel for each city that is cheap as hell….does the same as above and lists movie times

     #2 DON’T ADVERTISE. Personally, I learn information on if I want to go to a movie or not from media reviews. IMO 1% of the population has seen your current advertising, less have been affected.

     HAS ANYONE SERIOUSLY SEEN CUBAN’S ADVERTISING WITHOUT GOING OUT OF THERE WAY TO DO SO.

     Comment by bucknut5 — July 29, 2006 @ 3:00 am

462. Why do people still go to baseball games, basketball games, hockey games, etc? Is it because of the game? Partly, but mainly it’s the act of getting out of the house and actually DOING something. It’s also about sharing an experience with your family and friends and creating memories that last lifetimes. And it’s about people-watching and looking good in public… sporting events are largely social events with the game just being one part of the equation.

     But unfortunately, the act of going to the movie theaters simply involves going into a dark room, sitting in a chair and starring at a large screen, while interacting very little with your fellow movie-goers.

     So, what needs to be done is to make the movie-going experience more of a social event… make it something people will want to do even if they don’t expect the movie to be that great.

     Now how can you make going to the movies more of a social event? Here are some ideas:

     1. Instead of playing those annoying audio PSAs and commercials before the movie starts, try playing some medium-volume music that appeals to the demographic of the movie. This way, while waiting for the lights to dim and the movie to begin, people will be more likely to talk casually with their friends, and not worry about being over heard by strangers.

     2. Give away free stuff to the first people showing up for a certain movie on opening day. This could be movie-related merchandise, free movie tickets, free DVDs, free movie-soundtracks, free rentals at netflix, gift certificates to best buy, whatever, anything that doesn’t suck.

     3. Install some photo-booths in the theater lobby or outside the viewing rooms. These should not stand out but should be tucked in somewhere where passers-by happen upon them. This will help people create memories out of the movie experience.

     4. Tie-in movie tickets with meals at more local eateries, not just the fast food chains. People are sick of fast food… I havent eaten that crap in over 6 years.

     5. Have local bands play at the theaters before showings.

     6. Have LAN parties before movies relating to video/computer games. Give away prizes to winners.

     7. Basically, people need more incentives to go to the movies, other than just to see a movie. The social aspect is the real key. I could think of more ideas to give ya but it’s late and I’m tired. If you want more, just give me a job

     -john

     Comment by JB — July 29, 2006 @ 5:24 am

463. The biggest reason I have not gone to the movies in the last 3 years has been the arrival of a child. Getting a babysitter to see a movie is usually difficult. And, if we get a babysitter, we usually find something better to do – like go to dinner or out for a drink. When we get a moment to ourselves, going to the movies is not what we are looking to do despite the fact that we lament missing all of the new releases. Instead, we wait for it to come to DVD and watch it at our leisure on our home theatre system.

     One thought I have had for an improved movie experience is smaller, more intimate viewing facilities. I am thinking the facilities would support small parties and feature high quality home theater type components rather than a large theatre with large components. These smaller venues could be BYOB or offer alcholic beverages and have GOOD food. Basically, I see this as a way for a group of people who already know each other to get together, dine, socialize AND see a movie.

     Viewing times could be by appointment, or as parties arrive. The cost model could be based on the size/capacity of the room and/or the number of people in the party. Perhaps there could be ad-hoc rooms with small parties pulled together as per the Benihana (Japanese steak house) table approach.

     If a venue like this existed, then the next time I get a babysitter I could see my wife and I choosing to go out for dinner, movie + drink all at one stop w/some friends if we wish instead of deciding to skip the movie in lieu of a better dining/social experience. Remember the movies offer absolutely nothing with regard to a dining/social experience which is exactly what many of us with less time for recreation are looking for when we get a chance to escape from the daily grind.

     One more thing, the overtness and abundance of commercials, advertisements and branding that goes on at the theatres is absolutely disgusting… It’s pretty tacky, too. Perhaps, an environment where the desire to make money off of me was a little more subtle would be more palatable to the consumer.

     Comment by Romano — July 29, 2006 @ 7:56 am

464. You’re trying to convince people to keep doing something they don’t want to do.

     The solution: forget the theater. Stop spending millions of dollars to make film prints. Just make DVD’s and offer your stuff on TV and the web. Problem solved.

     Comment by Matthew Marshall — July 29, 2006 @ 10:09 am

465. The most successful movie theater in Austin is the Alamo Draft House. Maybe they’re in Dallas. They pack people in because they provide food. They have a counter running the length of every aisle and you can order pizza, salad, beer, etc.

     Take that counter and make it into a lcd touch screen and let people use it to surf the net, order food, interact with each other about the movie, send email, etc.

     I know a buy who has a movie theater in Austin, it’s the old Aquarius out in Montopolis. I could approach him about doing a prototype there.

     I think we could build this and prove it out.

     Austin would be ready for this since they’ve already had the Alamo experience. You could modularize seating area by having moveable partitions so that parties would be possible.

     We may have a place to test this and a population in Austin all ready for the next generation of what the Alamo is already doing.

     Comment by Paul Terry Walhus — July 29, 2006 @ 10:34 am

466. In part response to Eric’s comments, http://bside.com has already created the ultimate fan goers movie site. These guys were a huge hit at http://sxsw.com

     Another idea is to have a year round film festival with different themes, documentary, sci fi, etc. bundle this idea in to my comment above about creating a prototype in Austin at the old Aquarius with the film festival concept.

     Comment by Paul Terry Walhus — July 29, 2006 @ 10:38 am

467. To totally oversimply my idea, it’s a movie theater “mashup”

     The mashup takes the best of the film festival like SXSW, the best of the Alamo food concept, and the wifi cyber cafe and rolls them in to one theater experience where you can enjoy a movie, stay connected and have great food.

     It all exists here in Austin in bits and pieces, you just have to roll it all up in to one concept.

     Comment by Paul Terry Walhus — July 29, 2006 @ 10:43 am

468. Mark,

     I would say that the biggest problem with movie advertising is that many of these movies are completely indistinguishable from one another. They have become intensely derivative. As a marketer, then, you have to be able to show why your movie is better/more interesting than the rest, and this cannot be done with a simple trailer or movie poster. A good way to do this would be to mass mail DVDs with promotional material on upcoming movies (DVD players are in some 80m households). This promotional material should include:
     + information on the movie’s backstory
     + short actor, director, writer interviews
     + short “making of…” piece
     + interactive material for when the DVD is placed in a computer DVD drive such as a link to the website.

     This, obviously, should be less information than would go in the final retail DVD, but enough to peak the audience’s interest.

     Additionally, you could do some cross promotion with other media. You could link to bands that have put music on the soundtrack (either link to the band, or to iTunes, or Amazon); to, say, a related History channel documentary or books on the subject; etc. All of this cross promotion gets people more excited about the actual movie.

     You wouldn’t even have to send out one DVD per movie; you could put one 3 month’s worth of upcoming movies on each DVD. This would allow smaller independent movies to free ride on the advertising budget of larger movies.

     I would guess that the per DVD cost including shipping would be about $0.60, lower if there is cross promotion, and the total cost could be spread over multiple films (however many you release in a three month window).

     Go Hoosiers.
     Drew.

     Comment by Drew — July 29, 2006 @ 11:17 am

469. Viral marketing, and dominating the youth market are the two steps everyone seems to be passing up, and I believe when combining them the movie climate will change. Of course, the movies have to be worth seeing too.

     Viral marketing, not in the uber-geek internet only form, but in broad scale tie-ins. Go to your product sponsors to create ‘clues’ and ‘peices’ that will be involved in an international game. The game/puzzle would be sourced off the internet, but only in the most basic of forums. Offer people multiple public forums (ex: an adult forum, a teen forum, and a youth forum–different people talk in different ways). From these forms people will be trained less to work things out themselves, but will be required to start talking about the movie. And once people start talking online it’s only a short period before it begins off.

     That’s when you begin phase two. Release enigmatic viral commercials on national television. Have faith in your new found free-public relation friends. As questions are asked they will jump in and inform everyone about the movie for you. You’re more or less creating the first season of loss in commercials.

     Third phase: The ‘Snakes on a Plane’ Clause. Allow everyone to advertise and create for you. Let fan made trailers roam the internet (they’re probably better than the free ones). Offer digital press kits to the public, and increase the feeling of creation. People want to say ‘I did that,’ even if it’s a five second bar of music orchestrated in GarageBand, and tacked onto the credits at the end.

     But to begin all this you must first win the kids, they are your biggest and most unwavering ally in the fight for the traditional cinema. They love simple spectacle the way we want everyone to.

     To do this release the viral ad marketing first on them. Tie-in with candy bars, and other items that are at a two-foot tall child’s eye-level in the grocery store. They dig the internet, and they get the intricacies of these things instantly. Plus, they’ll tell their parents. Plus, their parents will buy them more of the merchandise to cotinue the game to ensure the kids continue having something to talk about. Then the parents will be excited for the members, talk to friends, join the campaign (with their children, likely), and so on. And while you’re at it donate. DONATE, DONATE, DONATE. War of the Worlds did a great job of this by donating a baseball field they built for filming to that community. Do this everywhere. Build cheap, cost effective thanks and donate them. They’re tax write-offs, their news worthy, and–best of all–they help people.

     If a movie is made for kids–it has to be good, or at least something new–it is bound for multiple viewings. Families want to see movies, and single twenty-somethings and older want to be nostalgic or retro.

     Once you’ve proved to people that your company is dedicated to good cinema (and good deeds) through these kids movies you have a great chance at expanding. Not only because people will be more likely to recognize your name and the writer and directors affiliated with it, but from the lessons you’ve learned on these previous films.

     I’d love for you to hire me, but, truthfuly, the best play you can make, Mark, is to hire everyone else in the world. They’re wanting to work for you, and the cost is simple: a little bit of credit, and the feeling they conrtibuted. That what they’re paying $8-$15 bucks to see each weekend is as much theirs as it is yours.

     Comment by Christopher Plante — July 29, 2006 @ 11:34 am

470. Movie Discussion Groups

     Taking a page from the success of book discussion groups, provide movie-goers with the online infrastructure to self-form and manage groups of like-minded individuals. Through an ongoing online discussion/voting process, the clubs would regularly meet-up at the theater, watch a film together, and then discuss afterwards in a social setting, i.e. coffee house, restaurant, bar, etc. In exchange for purchasing blocks of movie passes, the clubs would receive perks like discounted pricing, reserved block seating, and discounted beverage/food deals with nearby partner establishments (this is where the discussion can continue after the film).

     More than anything else, people want to have quality _in-person_ interactions with others. Unfortunately the current movie-going experience is still a very solitary one. The only people you really connect with are those, if any, in your immediate party. Pretty much everyone else, you’re in competition with–for seats, silence, etc. Sure you’re literally “getting out of the house,” but so what… at movie theaters today, you’re rarely, if ever, make quality connections with others. If you’re just going to interact with your closest friends and family, than doesn’t it make sense to stay home, rent a film, and save a bunch of time and money?
     Invert this situation with movie discussion clubs that make theater-going the much richer, valuable social experience that it should be. Clubs can be public or private (invitation only) and themed in dozens of ways–e.g. genre, age group, relationship status, etc.

     In a country where books like “Bowling Alone” have recently hit a major chord, the populace is hungry for new social structures like this.

     Comment by Jack Templin — July 29, 2006 @ 1:05 pm

471. it’s not the large screen or louder sound that drags me in the theatre; it’s the idea. it’s the script. it’s something that interests me and makes me too impatient to wait for the dvd. the movie should interest me. and my type. now there’s a little bit for everyone in a movie. disney princesses have breasts so adults will look too. romance scene in an action movie, so ladies would come too. clichees on top of other clichees. no more strong personality, because everyone must be happy when the light go on. unfortunately this recipe just dillutes the content; one flavor is stronger than a mix of ten. many won’t like it. but those who do will come see the premiere. they won’t wait for the dvd or the torrent.
     i don’t write this for a job; i live in europe, the office would be too far from home. but if i contribute to a movie with personality, then i’ll go watch it for sure.

     Comment by halap — July 29, 2006 @ 1:24 pm

472. I’m disabled and it’s a real pain to get out, not to mention finding someone to go with and all that. How about a “party bus” concept where people can meet up for a night out? I’d be willing to pay $50+ dollars for a great night out!

     Comment by Patrick G — July 29, 2006 @ 1:36 pm

473. Mark love your site and here is my crazy idea for the movie challenge: bring back the drive in…ever notice the neighborhood paties where they put movies on outside…jam packed..although niche idea could get you 10-12 jam packed showings extra a year!

     Comment by craig Gordon — July 29, 2006 @ 1:59 pm

474. Mr. Cuban,

     What questions do consumers consider to determine if they want to spend their money on something? I have a list and will follow with a brief summary of each. Here are what consumers consider:

     1)Can I afford it?

     The obvious answer to this is yes. Even if tickets were $20 a person, the movie industry would still be a dominant source of entertainment. Whatever product or service you are putting out to the market has to have it’s value out-weigh the price. It’s like a teeter-totter. If value is greater than price, people are going to go. If price is greater than value, people aren’t going to go. It’s that simple.

     2)Do I want it?

     Movies create an opportunity to get out, escape the daily trials and tribulations of life, and relax. From some of the previous submitted responses, I see that not many responses include the problem of, “I just don’t like movies.” Movies let your imagination go wild, they tell you a story, and create, (if good), emotional attachments to the characters.

     3)Is it unique?

     The next best thing. Just as good as the last one. These statements create a connection to things already produced. People want something new, something different, something that they can feel has been created just for them. An example of this is the annual, “first great film of the year” that is the main pitch of every movie’s preview. A question to all, “How many times have you been disappointed after seeing a movie that have had amazing previews?” I know that I’m getting a little bit off track, but a big problem with previews is that they show all the good parts of the movie. You walk in and they you walk out with the same feeling. How about some mystery and guessing? How about a preview show a part, just a part of a dramatic part of a movie, followed by a fade to black, the title of the movie appears, and for good measure, a critical line from the movie whispered in the black. It doesn’t matter what it is, it’s different, it’s unique? KEEP THEM GUESSING AND WANTING MORE!

     4)Does the company, brand name, etc. come with a respectable and honorable reputation?

     Word of mouth is the most effective and productive form of marketing. If a customer comes away with a feeling of, “Wow, they actually took time to listen to me”, rather than, “They took my money, now they’re happy”, you are ahead of the rest. It’s safe to say that everyone has recommended something to a friend or family member, from restaurants to beauty salons to babysitters. Your consumers need to walk away with a feeling of a new-found loyalty, a good feeling inside without remorse for their purchase. Like Mavericks season-ticket holders, you’re hoping for them to re-new and come back. All you should strive for is that someone will come by once, give your product or service a try, the rest is up to you. And if you’re doing right, that customer will come back time and time again, with a bigger crowd everytime.

     * Of course there are other questions that people consider before they spend their money, and different products and services derive different questions. The one’s I mentioned are questions that I believe are more commonly pondered no matter the purchase.

     **Mark, I appreciate and respect you taking the time to chat with your fans. I’m looking forward to the next basketball related question you pose! Best of luck and hope to meet to you soon.

     Comment by Michael Wolf — July 29, 2006 @ 2:52 pm

475. Sorry if this was mentioned before, I didn’t really have time to read through the huge list of responses. I think the problem lies with the theatres themselves. You want to change the entire movie business… why not start there? It’s tough for people to justify going to a movie for $12 a pop. Why not make the entire experience worth the money? My idea:

     Change the movie experience. Add HD Movies, surround sound, comfortable seating (I’m talking nice comfy couches/love seats/recliners), service (waiters/waitresses). Make it more of an experience to go to the movies, not just a monotonous “you know the drill” event/date.

     You want to pull more people in with different marketing schemes… I say cut out the middle man and start a small upscale theatre chain. Plant these chains in some test markets and check it out. If people are willing to pay $12 a pop for a movie, why not $15 AND you cut out the middle man.

     Mr. Cuban, I hope this finds you and finds you well. It might not be what you are looking for, but you truely are the MAN.

     Thanks for the time.

     Comment by Ben Johnson — July 29, 2006 @ 2:58 pm

476. pick a large retailer in every mall( blockbuster comes to mind) and see if a deal can be set up where your movies previews are shown on all their screens for a cheaper rate then putting them all on TV exclusively. Or maybe spend your advertising dollars on demographic specific channels. Advertise sports movies on ESPN and comedies on Comedy Central etc.
     Im sure you have access to demographics by channel and im sure you can figure out who your movies will be targeting as well.
     Also with the growth of XM(which I have) and Sirius radios you may do well to focus on thier more popular staions as well.(Opie and Anthony, Ron and Fez, Oprah, Howard Stern, Ellen Degeneres)

     Comment by dean adams — July 29, 2006 @ 2:59 pm

477. also paying people to walk around with video billboards in larger cities could very well help

     Comment by dean adams — July 29, 2006 @ 3:03 pm

478. 1. Make fewer bad movies. Or at least make fewer big budget obviously bad movies and then spend an equal amount on pre-release marketting trying to trick enough people to come to the theater to get a non-negative ROI that first weekend.

     2. Push that DVD/PPV/rental/syndication schedule out; way out. Right now it’s far too easy for someone to pass on seeing a movie in the theater since they know it will be at Walmart (often for less than the cost of seeing it in the theater) in less than three months. Maybe if people knew the DVD wouldn’t show up for a year or more then they might be tempted to see it in the theaters.

     3. Figure out a reasonable pricing formula and structure which lets both the theater and studio make money at a lower cost to the consumer. Shift the risk & reward back to the studios (see #1) while letting the theaters recover costs and make profits when they pull in more patrons. (I know theater owners make their money from concessions, so complaining about those prices is futile.)

     4. Continue marketting beyond the opening weekend. Since the studios get the highest percentage during the opening week almost all advertising (beyond the newspaper listings) is prior to the film opening. (And much of it is often deceptive or misleading, especially for probable-bombs.) Remind folks what they’re missing, maybe even remind them why they might want to see it a second time.

     5. Emphasize the benefit of movie theater over home theater. Big Screen, Big Sound, and make sure both are THX quality. (But, for gods sakes, don’t make it so loud I need earplugs.)

     6. Cross-marketting to reduce consumer costs. Several people have mentioned DVD discounts for seeing it in the theater. How about movie ticket discounts with the Happy Meal and toy tie-ins?

     7. Encourage word-of-mouth : your friend gets a $1 off their ticket with your used ticket.

     Comment by Eric Ball — July 31, 2006 @ 3:31 pm

479. I have read most of these comments and feel the answer to your question has yet to be answered.

     E-mail me with an invitation to lunch and a movie at the theater then we will discuss, and I will help you solve, your little problem. I live not too far from you in Dallas so hope to hear from you soon.

     Sincerely,
     Jewel Rose

     Comment by Jewel Rose — August 2, 2006 @ 7:18 pm

480. I’ve been thinking a little bit about your movie challenge and I wanted to provide a couple of solutions.

     1. Instead of patrons buying one ticket to see one movie, sell a ticket to “the movies”. If you stagger the start times of films, it will give patrons the chance to leave a movie if they discover that they just spent $8 to waste two hours of their day to sit through a flick that isn’t living up to their hope. It doesn’t take long for a movie-goer to realize that they’re not taking that leap of faith required to truly enjoy a film, so allow them the opportunity to go to the next screen over to check out that little independent gem that they just couldn’t pull the trigger to try. This “day ticket” will also allow them to take in two, three, or four movies that day. You may lose some ticket revenue, but you will increase concession revenue and start to develop people who truly are fans of “going to” the movies. So the ticket revenue that you “lost”, you will make up by having patrons attend the movies more frequently. If you can get kids- have a minimum age limit- into this habit, they will continue to be movie fans for life. How many filmmakers talk about their childhood memories being consumed by going to the movies? Not watching movies on TV, but going to see the flickering lights on the giant silver screen. By creating a new generation of film fans, you will be cultivating a new generation of filmmakers. This can lead to a film festival where the “regulars” of each cineplex can compete in a short film festival every six months or year against the filmmakers of the other cineplexes. The films can be screened on one screen of the cineplex with a “premiere” night and then the winners can move on to regional and national competition. This will help your production company with early recognition of talented filmmakers with new, unique voices and build relationships with the next generation’s Spielberg, Soderbergh, Tarantino, Jonze, Rodriguez, or PT Anderson.

     2. Have the ticket price be tied to the budget of the movie. For example, low-budget films(budget between $1 and $10,000,000) cost $4 per ticket; medium-budget films(budget between $10,000,000 and $50,000,000) cost $6 per ticket; big-budget films(over $50,000,000) cost $8 per ticket. Obviously, this will cut into everyone’s profit, but if it gets more people to get out of their house and go to the movies, then that will increase overall box-office revenue. It may also help to lower the costs on productions when the talent on the production receive a cut of the profit. Maybe this will encourage productions to be more efficient in their films and help lower the actor’s salaries. Does anyone honestly think that George Clooney’s performance in “Good Night, and Good Luck” could have been any better had he been paid $20,000,000? He kicked ass because he is a professional, not because of the money he was being paid. As long as actors get paid exorbitant sums for doing one of the best jobs in the world, budgets will continue to be high. And those high budgets will be passed on down the line until they finally hit John & Jane Q. Public who want to take their two kids out to a movie on a Friday night and end up spending $35 on tickets, $20 on concessions, $30 for dinner at Pizza Hut, and $10 in gas for the SUV. Compare the choices: $95 for dinner and a movie out; or $4 for a DVD rental, $20 for a couple of pizzas to go, $10 worth of snacks at the grocery store, $10 worth of gas, for a grand total of $44. For a working family, $50 a week is $200 per month, and $2,500 per year. It’s a pretty easy choice.

     Hope these solutions help. I also have some good angles that you can work with the ladies but I bet that flashing your W-2 works pretty well for you. Let me know the next time that you are in the ‘Burgh, my girlfriend and I will drag you out to some bars you’ve never been to.

     Here we go, Stillers, Here we go!!!!

     Comment by Deven Dittrich — August 2, 2006 @ 7:28 pm

481. I’ve been thinking a little bit about your movie challenge and I wanted to provide a couple of solutions.

     1. Instead of patrons buying one ticket to see one movie, sell a ticket to “the movies”. If you stagger the start times of films, it will give patrons the chance to leave a movie if they discover that they just spent $8 to waste two hours of their day to sit through a flick that isn’t living up to their hope. It doesn’t take long for a movie-goer to realize that they’re not taking that leap of faith required to truly enjoy a film, so allow them the opportunity to go to the next screen over to check out that little independent gem that they just couldn’t pull the trigger to try. This “day ticket” will also allow them to take in two, three, or four movies that day. You may lose some ticket revenue, but you will increase concession revenue and start to develop people who truly are fans of “going to” the movies. So the ticket revenue that you “lost”, you will make up by having patrons attend the movies more frequently. If you can get kids- have a minimum age limit- into this habit, they will continue to be movie fans for life. How many filmmakers talk about their childhood memories being consumed by going to the movies? Not watching movies on TV, but going to see the flickering lights on the giant silver screen. By creating a new generation of film fans, you will be cultivating a new generation of filmmakers. This can lead to a film festival where the “regulars” of each cineplex can compete in a short film festival every six months or year against the filmmakers of the other cineplexes. The films can be screened on one screen of the cineplex with a “premiere” night and then the winners can move on to regional and national competition. This will help your production company with early recognition of talented filmmakers with new, unique voices and build relationships with the next generation’s Spielberg, Soderbergh, Tarantino, Jonze, Rodriguez, or PT Anderson.

     2. Have the ticket price be tied to the budget of the movie. For example, low-budget films(budget between $1 and $10,000,000) cost $4 per ticket; medium-budget films(budget between $10,000,000 and $50,000,000) cost $6 per ticket; big-budget films(over $50,000,000) cost $8 per ticket. Obviously, this will cut into everyone’s profit, but if it gets more people to get out of their house and go to the movies, then that will increase overall box-office revenue. It may also help to lower the costs on productions when the talent on the production receive a cut of the profit. Maybe this will encourage productions to be more efficient in their films and help lower the actor’s salaries. Does anyone honestly think that George Clooney’s performance in “Good Night, and Good Luck” could have been any better had he been paid $20,000,000? He kicked ass because he is a professional, not because of the money he was being paid. As long as actors get paid exorbitant sums for doing one of the best jobs in the world, budgets will continue to be high. And those high budgets will be passed on down the line until they finally hit John & Jane Q. Public who want to take their two kids out to a movie on a Friday night and end up spending $35 on tickets, $20 on concessions, $30 for dinner at Pizza Hut, and $10 in gas for the SUV. Compare the choices: $95 for dinner and a movie out; or $4 for a DVD rental, $20 for a couple of pizzas to go, $10 worth of snacks at the grocery store, $10 worth of gas, for a grand total of $44. For a working family, $50 a week is $200 per month, and $2,500 per year. It’s a pretty easy choice.

     Hope these solutions help. I also have some good angles that you can work with the ladies but I bet that flashing your W-2 works pretty well for you. Let me know the next time that you are in the ‘Burgh, my girlfriend and I will drag you out to some bars you’ve never been to.

     Here we go, Stillers, Here we go!!!!

     Comment by Deven Dittrich — August 2, 2006 @ 7:40 pm

482. You’re used to thinking big so here it is. The last few years the Baby Boomers have been on my mind mainly because I am one. Also, I’m trying to capitalize on this huge aging army. So the idea of an old time movie theatre comes to mind. This would be very grand and upscale, however, but still have the look and feel of the grand old theatres from years ago. What if you had a complex (think Universal Studios) that replayed movies that were released and/or popular decades ago (What was winning the Oscars 50 years ago?) that would bring Baby Boomers to the big screen again? Tie in your movie/production/tv interests for ancillary services. For example, reproduce the newspaper from the time of the movie but with new ads relative to your goals of this project. Allow the employees to dress the role or time of the genre of the film. Sale DVDs, CDs, T-Shirts, etc. that are intertwined with the overall theme. How many different suppliers/vendors would want to be part of this? The sky is the limit. Bring in some of the old time actors for replays of their films. Hold discussions with the audience prior to special screenings. Contract one of the big time movie critics for a movie goers calendar. Old time auto shows from the period/decade of the movies. Much, much more is possible for this theme that might evolve into a small Six Flags concept. Think about this theme throughout the major market areas of the US as an anchor to larger real estate developments. Could entail one time fee or annual pass (keep em coming back). The main idea is make the movie cheap but provide entertainment plus services that people would truly want and pay a fair price for both young and old. I could keep going but I need to sign checks. See you at the movies!

     Comment by Merle Cassity — August 2, 2006 @ 11:14 pm

483. the first thing that comes to mind when i hear about attempting to draw more people to a theatre is childcare. parents will be much more willing to attend a movie in the theatre if the hassle of arranging and paying for childcare is already taken care of for them. one solution to this would be to set up a system that allows parents to buy tickets for a movie they want to see and place their kids in FREE childcare set up in the same building as the theatre itself. this “daycare”, if you will, could be anything from craft time to watching movies appropriate for kids. obviously this would require a cutoff age as you don’t want parents dropping off their teenage children in your daycare, but with a little effort and some good planning, movie theatres could truly make date nights hassle free for parents of young children.

     Comment by alan — August 3, 2006 @ 12:13 am

484. The problem could be solved by moving the film from the theaters, to places where the target demographic already go socially. I.e. if it is a sports movie, set up screenings at sports bars. If it is a love story, move it to the beach or some other romantic locale. This solves a number of the problems and addresses your beliefs in the marketing. The movie becomes marketed to a specific group of people. The audience will want to go out and be seen seeing the movie, attacking the vanity in human nature. Since this has not been done before, new deals could be struck between the studio and the venue more favorable than the current cut between studio and movie theater.

     Movie goers could also be given reference numbers on their ticket stubs and get rewarded for getting their friends to go see it. The original viewer would spread the word, their friends would then go to fandago, or a like site, and use that reference number to purchase tickets. Once the owner of the reference number gets the required number of friends to purchase ticket, they get rewarded with something very closely tied to the movie. Maybe they are rewarded with a free download of the movie, or the chance to have a one time screening, or even an advanced screening of a future film produced by your studio.

     Comment by Phil — August 3, 2006 @ 12:38 am

485. Sequoiadendron Giganteum.

     Going through your search process here, think about why and how Giant Sequoias became the largest living things on Earth that humans can see. I recently spent an entire research day in the presence of General Sherman, the biggest of the big trees that John Muir found long ago, with a lower branch that is larger than any U.S. tree east of the Mississippi; and when you do that, all you do is think big.

     One thing you will discover right away is that Giant Sequoias require FIRE to grow for 3,000 or more years. Fire burns away the Ashes and Firs that try to compete for sunlight, so it’s like spacing on a basketball court. Giant Sequoias have tannin in their bark, which is inflammable, leaving only purplish burn marks that heal over centuries. Fire can only snake up the side of their column-ridged bole (trunk), where it can burn away the head of the tree way above, and that grows back. Fire causes heat that makes the tree’s cones dry up and release seeds, which then are fertilized by the moist fire ashbed on the forest floor. Fire is a good thing for Giant Sequoias.

     Giant Sequoias are essentially immortal. They cannot die of ill health. What eventually causes a Big Tree to perish? Collapsing under their own weight, from the weight of snow on the head. And even then, nature has somehow found a way to make the head arrow-shaped, so that snow trickles through the pine needles. It has everything figured out. There’s a fair possibility that many of them will outlast Man.

     Giant Sequoias grow only in one place on Earth because they have the perfect location. It is roughly 5,000 to 7,500 feet above sea level up in a narrow marsh of the Sierras, where the air currents from the Pacific drift toward them. Any lower and they would not have enough moisture; any higher and it would be too cold. They mastered location.

     Lessons:

     Embrace and thrive with what everyone in the world believes to be the enemy to your existence, in their case fire. Find your own tannin and columnar ridges. Create an arrowhead to keep from collapsing under your own weight of success. Find the perfect location and then dominate through spacing. Be closer to the light than anyone, network with giants and live large. Use the “Secrets of the Sequoias” to solve this challenge, for it is the best formula for success in life on Earth, and I know we can apply it here.

     (I think it also gets you over the hump in the NBA Finals if you tell Avery.)

     Comment by Mark — August 3, 2006 @ 12:55 am

486. It has been my experience that “People love FREE”. Throw in FREE popcorn(for the 1st however many the marketing budget can withstand) for the cost of a ticket to your movie and watch the flood happen.

     Comment by PH — August 3, 2006 @ 1:07 am

487. Adding this to post of two comments ago, relevant to this discussion:

     Explosive early-stage growth. The largest Giant Sequoia owes its unrivaled mass volume to its rapid growth in the years B.C. They practically explode up out of the ground, like opening the season on a 20-game winning streak. Do that and unrivaled lasting power and stature is assured.

     Comment by Mark — August 3, 2006 @ 1:44 am

488. How do you get people out of the house to see your movie without spending a fortune. How can you convince 5 million people to give up their weekend and go to a theater to see a specific movie without spending 60mm dollars.

     I only read the first 90 posts, so I hope I’m not being redundant. The answer to that question is to take product placement into a new realm. This summer Diet Pepsi offered free movie tickets for every ten two liter caps of specially marked bottles. This promotion ran for about 2 months and I know we drank 80 2 liters to get our 8 free tickets. And of course these were tickets good for any theater. Last fall, Albertson’s ran a promotion that if you purchased $25 of certain products, you got a free ticket from Fandango online.

     Both of these promotions harken back to the days when I was a kid when you could turn in 10 coke bottlecaps for a free movie ticket for a Saturday matinee. As I got a bit older it was 10 coke cans for the free Saturday matinee. Most of the people that attended these screenings did so every week. You set up a routine with people to go to the theater every week.
     So getting back to product placement – Talledega Nights is a wonderful example. It’s filled to the brim with product placement. Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut are interactive product placements in the scene — so instead of traditional product placement deal –perhaps it can be restructured so your $20 in receipts from Taco Bell, KFC, and/or Pizza Hut gets you a free ticket — the studio/movie would get some upfront cash and any advertising agreements BUT there would also be a ticket promo clause agreeing to reimburse participating theaters the ticket price. You may want to offer the free ticket option only on weekdays were the theater might agree to a reduced reimbursement charge for the ticket.

     With companies desperate to come up with new marketing schemes for their products, there is an opportunity to go beyond typical product placement. Obviously the execs doing product placement for the film (and oddly more and more now, the studios are seeing the product placement dollars not the producers of the films — which in many cases takes out the value that product placement had in the past with producers) need to meet with exhibitors someplace like Sho-West to discuss what types of discounts they’re willing to offer sponsor companies for product reimbursement tickets.

     Speaking of exhibitors, many have their own advertising and product deals with companies like Coke (all those Coke student film/commercials). Perhaps the exhibitors need to take the lead and be the ones to structure the deals with branded products for free movie tickets — and in return, the theaters offer free pre-show advertising as well as noting in their print ads “that admission is free with 10 two liters caps from Coke”. In the long run exhibitors will make more money, I believe, because if people aren’t paying for tickets, they’re willing to spend $$$ on concessions (instead of smuggling them in).

     You should contact Diet Pepsi as well as Albertson’s (or the brands that they were promoting — although I think Fandango was also picking up part of the reimbursement tab for those tickets) and see what kind of increase they experienced on the sales of those products. That should be some good numbers to start working with.

     The main goal though is to get people into the routine of seeing movies. With a single ticket price in Los Angeles almost being equivalent to the price of buying the film on DVD, it’s no wonder people wait. I think you’re right in that the key to getting more people out to the movies is to make it more affordable.

     I could continue on with this rant and go into more specifics about niche marketing, indie films, etc., but I’m sure folks reading this blog are already bored. If you’d like to discuss it further, please e-mail me.

     Comment by W. H. Bourne — August 3, 2006 @ 5:24 am

489. Hi Mark Cuban,

     I did a quick search word search in your movie biz challenge and I was looking for just one word, everyone else seems to miss one key point.

     The word I have in mind will definitely get 5 million people in the US every weekend to watch a movie. You will still spend something on advertising but nothing close to 60 million.

     The anticipated problem with my idea is that you will have to change a few fundamentals within the movie business and get stakeholders i.e. advertisers to try something new.

     The movie theater is one big TV at the end of the day so why don’t you just treat it like one and reverse the concept by bringing the “Home TV Experience” into the “Movie Theater”.

     Basically, HBO brought the Movie Theater Experience in the home and monetized its income along the lines of the Movie Theaters so I propose you bring the Home TV experience into the Movie Theater and adapt your income streams the same way TV does.

     In a nutshell,the word is “FREE”- make it free to watch a movie in the theater and sell advertising in each segment at a higher cost to advertisers; a price that allows for a total re-coup of cost of provisioning the movie.

     Mr. Cuban, Google et al. changed the advertising business for online advertising it’s now someone else’s turn to change the business of advertising in movie theaters.

     Comment by Rasheed Shobande Jr — August 3, 2006 @ 9:51 am

490. This is too easy: Free popcorn for the first 5 million customers.

     The movie, whatever it is, will go down in history as the “free popcorn movie.” Ticket sales will be tracked across the country. The 5 millionth viewer will also receive a free drink and tickets and airfare and lodging to a Mavs game of their choice.

     Comment by R. K. Mortenson — August 3, 2006 @ 9:54 am

491. Industry executives in the early 20th century grasped at similar tactics in order to save venue-based live entertainment (i.e., vaudeville) as the public turned to new media like radio. One of the key dates in the “death of vaudeville” is said to be the day in 1932 that the Palace Theater in NYC dropped live entertainment in favor of (gasp!) movies.

     Despite the demise of one particular format, live venue entertainment did not die, it just changed. I understand that a show called the “Dallas Mavericks” has been running for years.

     The long-term challenge is not how to prop up a legacy entertainment format, but how to anticipate/create is successors.

     Equipping the Landmark screens to display digital material will bust open the traditional exhibitor content limitations. This will do much more to revitalize the theater business than all the gimmicks designed to squeeze a little more juice out of the old model.

     Comment by Matt Peterson — August 3, 2006 @ 11:25 am

492. Make the theater itself a better experience.

     1. Singles Night – where young professionals can come and meet new people. There could be a mingle time before the movie. Use B2B marketing to offer discounts to local bars/clubs that they can go out to after the movie.

     2. Senior Citizens shows – It could be during the day – since they may not like to stay up late or navigate the evening/weekend crowds.

     * Develop movies that target older audiences. In the coming years, 70 million Americans will be retired/senior citizens. That is NOT an audience Hollywood wants to ignore.

     3. Market to companies who want to have a family night out for their employees.

     *You could do this with faith-based groups as well (churches, synagogues, mosques). Of course, then the movies would need to be decent. But do you know how much, for example, Christians dish out for Christian music, Christian novels, Christian t-shirts, etc? You keep putting sex, foul language, and gratuitous violence in movies – then you’re missing out on some big bucks! You may not like that fact. (or maybe you do, I don’t know). But it’s true.

     4. Have a section of nice leather chairs with plenty of leg room and charge a few extra dollars for premium seating. Maybe have special speakers in the seats. Seat warmers (for those of us who get cold at the movies!) or similar perks that make the theater fun and comfortable. Or maybe chic and stylish?

     5. Have smaller rooms for a private viewing experience. Rooms that can be rented. They could even be rented for non-movie events (corporate events, parties, receptions, etc.) – which could provide the theater with an additional form of revenue.

     6. Valet Parking

     7. Remove the front section of seats where you’re too close to the screen.

     There’s a ton of ways to improve the movie-going experience. Someone just needs to take the initiative and do it.

     Comment by Nathania — August 3, 2006 @ 11:37 am

493. This is a 2 fold answer. People dont want to leave their hosue because of the aggravation factor. For 1. lower the cost of drinks, candy, popcorn. It doesnt matter if movies are shit or great or crap or whatever. There’s nothing to do and people want to go see a movie its the cost of everything. leave the ticket prices the same, lower the price of the food and drinks.

     The MPAA needs to realize this: people are not going to stop piracy, the more they fight the more its going to make people want to dowload or pirate movies. Can you see people in china stop the bootlegging? lol yeah thats not going to happen. put the lawsuit money into something simple. GET MORE PEOPLE INTO THE THEATER.

     LOWER PRICES OF FOOD AND DRINKS, REALIZE THEY ARENT GOING TO STOP PIRACY, RUN SPECIALS BUYA TICKET GET YOUR FOOD FOR FREE. This isnt a difficult situation.

     Comment by Greg Turpin — August 3, 2006 @ 11:42 am

494. I think its time to go retro. Bring back the double feature. Two movies for the price of one. It seems now a days that there is so much crap cinema. Hollywood advertises the hell out of crap to turn a quick buck. Attach the crap together or to an important movie that is getting no exposure. How many times within the last 7 years have you plopped down your $5 inflated to $8-$10 to see a movie that had a good trailer but that was all it had. Ease the disappointment by showing me another film. Back in the day hollywood would have a B picture attached to an A. You could evaluate based on cost of promotion and budget. Even charge a little extra. Not too much. You would definitely make more money on the back end (DVD, etc.) It would also be fun. Which is the most important part. I love going to the movies and I would definitely go more with the extra incentive.

     Comment by Erik Swanson — August 3, 2006 @ 11:45 am

495. 1. Don’t forget that people over 18 see movies too, and we have a lot more money in our pockets in general. We’re much more discerning. We buy a lot of live theatre tickets and they’re a lot more expensive. Create a movie experience for us with more service and less noise, and we’ll pay double. I know that’s been touched upon already, but it needs to be said over and over.

     2. Here’s an idea – get the DVD ready for release when the film is released and sell the DVD as a combo with a pair of movie tickets. Give the theatres exclusivity on selling the DVD until the run is over. That way the theatre owners can get a share of the DVD profits as well.

     3. Not revolutionary, but worth mentioning: Make the first showing on Saturday or Sunday mornings an adults-only showing. I’ve avoided quite a few films because they were targeted at kids; I thought I’d like them too but didn’t want to be in the theatre with the kids.

     Comment by Stuart Sweet — August 3, 2006 @ 12:09 pm

496. This Double Feature idea really got me thinking. You could even show older films with new ones that were inspired by. Think about all the times that people have said that “Should of seen it on the big screen” How cool would that be? Fans of the older films would come see the new one and the old one. Think of itunes, with the music that you like there are recommendations for music with similar tastes. I think the biggest thing is you need to make going to the movies an event again. Value for the money.

     Comment by Erik Swanson — August 3, 2006 @ 1:19 pm

497. It may be a crazy idea, it may not. I have absolutely no idea how much profit studios make from movies in the theater and movies they sell on DVD. I do know this, however. I love to own DVD’s but they are damn expensive and I am only going to buy a DVD if I really liked a movie and want to watch it time after time. I also don’t mind paying $9 to go see a movie because it is still cheaper than going to the bar or club. Here’s my pitch.

     Instead of having a movie come to theaters and then 3 months after its in theaters release a DVD…do them at the same time. Offer the DVD when people go to see the movie at the theater. Maybe charge like $20 for the DVD/theater combo. This will do two things. It will attract more people to movies because they think they’re getting a great deal of a $16 DVD and an $8 movie ticket.

     Maybe it will make less people go to the theater because they will just borrow the DVD from their friend. However, they could just wait the 3 months and pay $3 to rent the movie. So…why do people go to the theater? Answer – to see the movie on the big screen, to go on a date where lighting is dim/you get to hold hand, and because its traditional. People can already see movies at the theater from the comfort of their own home for free by downloading them…so why not try to make a little more in the process?

     Comment by Jason Lurie — August 3, 2006 @ 4:25 pm

498. Didn’t read all the comments, but I did have one thought…

     Why not offer multiple viewings on a single ticket sale? Perhaps the customer would be less inclined to pirate their own copy if they had the opportunity to see the movie in the theatre more than once.

     Perhaps the second viewing is only good for matinees, or another time the theatre isn’t going to be full. That way, you still get them at the popcorn stand. I’m not sure how to ensure that the tickets couldn’t be shared, but I’m sure there’s a way to work this out.

     See, I’ve had more than one movie ruined by a bad crowd. This would give you the option of going back another time to give the movie another chance. Or to see a flick that you love over again without draining the wallet.

     Just a thought…

     Comment by B.R. — August 3, 2006 @ 5:46 pm

499. My idea is a simple one. Let’s say you plan to release five movies this coming year to the box office, and you want to draw as much attendance to these five. At the first movie, offer with the purchase of a ticket some sort of log or some kind of passport for your movies leaving four spots since you plan to release four new movies. Now during the release of your next movie offer with every ticket a stamp or sticker that is unique to the movie and that sticker can go into their log. The object would be to entice people to complete their log, which would require them to attend every movie to get every sticker and by doing so they qualify for some sort of prize. This prize could be whatever you want,possibly a box at a mavericks game, play-off tickets, movie passes, pre-release screenings, that part is up to you.

     Hope this helps

     Comment by Philip Maio — August 3, 2006 @ 6:33 pm

500. The problem is there are more options for entertainment. You can do what you want to try and get people to the movies, but it’s inconvenient and not worth it to most. Why go when you can sit at home in something comfortable and watch your 42″ (or larger) HDTV for “free” (sure you paid for it, but to use it now, it is basically free).

     Oh, you’re hungry in the middle of your entertainment? No problem, just pause the TV and come back when you’re full.

     Going to the movies requires people to enjoy the entertainment in a way convenient for the masses. In a time when Americans must have instant gratification, you will have a hard time convincing us to go out of our way for entertainment.

     Before you say sporting events are the same way, they aren’t. You aren’t just paying for the entertainment which you can get on TV; you’re there for the atmosphere. Cheering on your team is human (tribal) nature and everyone loves friendly competition. As a bonus there is always the look on the opposing fan’s faces when Dirk hits the go ahead shot at the buzzer.

     Movies can be made better; more people may come see them, but eventually they will demand more. Tickets can be made cheaper, you’ll sell more tickets, but it isn’t enough to make a large difference in profits. You can make the theater more comfortable or luxurious, but in the end it doesn’t matter; movie theaters just don’t cater to the need for instant gratification of the American lifestyle.

     Good luck with this venture, but I don’t see a way to get significantly more people to the theater. As home theaters become even more common, the majority of movie goers will be highschoolers and others who are mainly interested in getting out of the house.

     Comment by John — August 3, 2006 @ 6:43 pm

501. Three ways:

     1. Develop movies of par excellence quality: Revise [upward] the consumer expectations. Offer variety. Mind the language. Be consistent.
     2. Anticipate and Manage Customer Expectations: The “movie experience” begins way in advance before the highlights and infomercials precede the actual show and the same does not end immediately as the lights flicker on. Manage the expectations –end-to-end. Show that you (sincerely) care for the patronage. Go with the needs of the day and not the classical packages.
     3. Provide a realistic Opportunity Cost: Great fun for the kids. Great sports for the pets etc. Have a draw of say $25,000 (should pay for itself). With such-like offers, I will discount the cost of gas and other inconveniences at the movies. Make it more than a 2 hour event. Offer other fun options so that the movie shows are the “climax” of the day’s features.

     Other Valued Consideration: Give me the job and I will change not only the prevailing attitudes toward the industry but also the inherent inefficiencies within the industry itself!

     Comment by Elvis G — August 3, 2006 @ 6:52 pm

502. Develop a communication strategy with your audience utilizing targeted streaming video and viral marketing to “push’ your message directly to individual consumers versus the current industry broad “pull” strategy.

     Streaming video technology applications are currently available and are capable of being “pushed” to the individual consumer and “referred to a friend”. Personalized communication, story lines, advertising and other features of either the film or the local theatre offering can be combined and delivered today to multiple platforms including computers, PDA’s and cell phones via a single link. While the video is capable of being downloaded from the link, the technology application actually streams the video to the device without impacting the storage capacity of the device itself. There are other elements beneficial to the originator of the messaging.

     By touching individual consumers directly, one gains the benefit of personal referral/recommendations among friends/relatives/centers of influence more quickly. Marketing research indicates as one receives direct, personalized recommendations from multiple sources, the conversion to actual attendance at an event becomes very high. An affinity program for the theatre chain or individual theatre location can further leverage this opportunity; marketing alliances, reward systems, crossover marketing etc. can all be incorporated into the messaging.

     As you have referenced, marketing dollars for P&A being spent in the industry are enormous…..and with limited effectiveness in influencing consumers to attend the local theatre. The industry “pull” strategy presently serves largely to generate awareness of the film and attempts to build hype, thus the focus of the Hollywood studios on the “star”/“celebrity” and/or filmmaker and the subsequent promotion of these personalities in marketing the film. The current promotional delivery via mass audience outlets, film review shows and news bites has no direct measurable correlation to the volume of ticket sales at a specific theatre location.

     The platform is available; personalized streaming video messaging to your audience(s) can begin almost immediately if you are so inclined.

     Comment by Larry S. — August 3, 2006 @ 7:56 pm

503. Mark,

     Make movies free and have a two minute advertising intermission at each screening.

     Free tickets would be distributed online,and availability advertised through both niche sites and mainstream sites depending on the film. Theater goers would register and provide their demographic and psychographic info to download free tickets. Then advertisers could bid for the right to advertise to these different demographic groups.

     Comment by Anne Kadet — August 4, 2006 @ 8:02 am

504. I’m no expert, but I am a major movie dork. I get very excited about the big blockbusters just as much as the next guy who grew up on comics and Benny Hill, but what really pumps me up for a movie and gets my butt to the theater, is the hype. Not the comercial sense of hype, but the underground kind.

     I read many web sites and Blogs on the Internet every day. I spend special attention to the movie related ones (I even use to write for one). These sites have a major following, and the editors pay much attention to projects in their production stages prior to release. Some of these posts even begin almost a year before release to theaters.

     These editors search the web for new news on films and casting rumors, directors, writers etc. Then as if it where instict, they post it on their web site along with the link to the original article and usually a link to the film web site. Once published, the millions of readers begin to conduct their own web research on the film by following the link trail. If the news if exciting, this begins the ongowing “grapevine” Internet hype balloon. Take the upcoming Transformers film. I have been reading about this film for months, and the Internet buzz is so large, ComicCon is paying special attention to this project both in SD and Chicago.

     This is the type of stuff which gets the younger demographics excited about new and up coming films.

     My advice would be to launch a major Internet marketing campaign, but not in the traditional sense. Find the sites which are of high reader count and toss them info on a regular basis to be published. Send them pictures from the set, casting news, production clips and any other project tid bits which can be shared to the public. Since these sites are normally run by people not looking to make a million dollars on it, they will be more than happy to publish this information just for the bragging rights.

     Use the popular “Web 2.0″ tools. Create a MySpace page and post to it offten in order to stay close to your fans. Flixster, Facebook, and creating a production Blog (which is actually updated) will allow you to get more intimate with your dempgraphic.

     Paper is dead, digital is in. The younger generation would rather watch it on YouTube, read it on Coming Soon (dot) Net, and chat about it on MySpace, then go to the store and read it in a magazine and watch a commercial on TV.

     Well at least that is what I would do.

     Comment by Brad Shipston — August 4, 2006 @ 9:07 am

505. A couple ideas:

     1) Promotions where you can purchase the movie you are viewing at a discounted price when the DVD is released.

     2) When I was travelling in Scotland the theaters were very laid back. They allowed alcohol and other drinks to be brought into the facility and consumed while viewing the movie. It is not profitable to have consumers bring their own items, but the idea was nice. The seating was done on a computerized system with ticket numbers and people who seated you. This allowed for possible patrons to know if there was room to sit with their friends before purchasing the tickets.

     3) Lounge/Club type movie viewing.

     4) Create a program similar to airline frequent flyer miles.

     Comment by Scott Brown — August 4, 2006 @ 10:46 am

506. For the solution to the movie marketing problem the choice is simple

     make going to the movies the thing to do, in the thirties and fourties all people did was go to the movies, it was culture it was entertainment

     the movies are not fun anymore

     i suggest revamping the entire movie going experience

     starting with the movies and ending with the theaters

     i know personally if there were a few drive in theaters around here or something that feels like an experience not just going to some stinky theater, stepping in gum, sitting in popcorn and watching a bad movie…

     lets make it an experience again, something people look forward to cause its an event, not just a movie…

     ps. im a young go getter from pittsburgh living in dallas… lets revolutionize the movie experience just like you revolutionized the NBA experience

     last years playoffs were fun to watch because of your additions to the NBA

     and i know you know that

     Regards,

     Justin Gallik

     Comment by Justin Gallik — August 4, 2006 @ 12:44 pm

507. Cinematic amazements, “talkies”, eye candy, changing the film world…building the better mousetrap.

     As you are aware, the theater idea is a broken wheel, bouncing around and hoping that no one will take it to the shop because it will cost money. And with cinemas, it will cost a lot to revamp even to just being able to show HD. The sales are down for people getting out to the theaters and even with the heat wave they are not going.

     So, how do we put butts in the seats for the most affordable amount of money without putting 20% of our movie budget (or more) out there? And the seats could be at home or in a theater but why…would they want to watch your film.

     Of course, start with a good script, that’s a given.

     I believe you had a good idea with releasing your film in three different venues on the same day and also wondered how that turned out.

     Some movies play well to the cinematic experience – large visuals like LOR or even King Kong. Others are better for discussion or watching at home or with a group of friends.

     Monthly subscriptions for movies at the theater so they pay a set price for a month and they can see as much as they want for the month.

     Gathering places that are not as large as theaters but where people can stay and enjoy watching films and discuss them afterwards…could be a bar atmosphere or a movie group for “sci-fi” or “crime drama” fans.

     On Demand so you can watch at home or DVD release on the same day so you can…watch at home.

     But then again, I’m only an independent producer who is working with a group on getting 34 films made in the Texas area for two film funds…can we get the money to make the films…well, yes. But once they are made…then where do they go to be seen? What venue will be the best for the most people to see the work done.

     Mark, what you are asking goes to everyone in the film world…I believe we will need to try out different ideas or “test groups” in order to see what works out well. However, in the film world…one film may do great in theaters but lousy on DVD sales. But we still gotta try…there has to be a better mousetrap.

     Comment by Libby Mitchell — August 4, 2006 @ 12:51 pm

508. Mr. Cuban, how about a mobile advertising service to promote movies. By using a truck or van with screens on each side you can advertise the movies. You can even take that a step further and put screens up to show the movie preview.

     Comment by Tim Jennings — August 4, 2006 @ 12:53 pm

509. A great marketing tool are video share sites such as break.com, collegehumor.com, youtube(fastest growing),muchosucko.com,and many many more

     where millions of people are able to upload and watch others videos for free

     this is a great outlet for previews of movies, many people will have access to these clips for free. In many ways this can substitute for the very costly television advertising.

     this is a simple idea that with more fine tuning could lead to a real viable marketing tool. I already know that some webcam girls and such sites are using these video share sites to show teasers and trailers and they are recieving a huge amount of hits as a result

     just an idea

     id love to be able to get a shot at this, i think we can make the difference with this one.

     Comment by Justin Gallik — August 4, 2006 @ 4:11 pm

510. Here’s a revolutionary concept. Don’t spend so much on marketing. Do enough to let people know it’s there, and then let the movie sink or swim based on how good it is.

     Maybe that approach leaves a little more to luck, but my point is that marketing rarely makes or breaks a movie or any product for that matter. I know this goes against accepted wisdom but here are a few examples. Iron Giant and Zero Effect, two great movies that flopped. Iron Giant had a big marketing campaign and Zero Effect had… about Zero. Two comedies that did really well last summer, Wedding Crashers and 40 year old Virgin, Wedding Crashers had a big marketing budget and Virgin a small one. Crappy movies also seem to bomb or do well irrespective of marketing. Jurassic Park 3, Matrix 3… they’re going to do great whether they spend 1 million or 50 million on marketing. You could say the same for the Incredible Hulk, huge marketing blitz, huge flop.

     I’m not saying don’t do anything, but be smart and frugal about it. I know the poster for 40 year old Virgin had a lot to do with it’s success, but every movie get’s a poster, and a good poster is a lot cheaper than thousands of TV ads.

     Comment by John — August 4, 2006 @ 4:32 pm

511. “Set up a Rewards Program”
     Mark,
     My solution is to set up a “rewards” program. Similar to the rewards set up by credit cards. The more movies you go and see the more rewards you get. Have a card just like a movie rental card, which everyone most likely has, and every time they go to a movie theater they scan their card to confirm they attended a movie. It has no cost to the customer, just the rewards, such as discounts at retail stores, vouchers for vacations and such.
     To fix this problem, you don’t want to approach the theaters and say, change this, make this better, or add this. Most movie theaters are hurting just like the movie companies, and maybe have no means to make changes. Some theaters might change, but honestly, most will not.
     Another advantage of this “reward” program is it would force the movie companies to stay competitive, (either a different database for each company, or different rewards for different companies). Have only one card to make it easier on them, but the “rewards” database stores what movies you went to, when you went to them and what companies made them. Make the rewards viewable online so people can see how many “points” they have.
     With a “rewards” program, there could also be a referral program, set up online, where people can email their friends and recommend a movie. Then if that person goes to the movie, and uses their “reward” card, the database will see that you recommended them to that movies, and both parties will receive a reward.
     You could also offer more “points” if you go to an opening weekend screening. This will boost weekend sales, and make these opening weekends more popular.
     Rewards are very enjoyable, and very popular, as long as they are good rewards and easily redeemable. They already appeal to adults, and could also appeal to other ages; young adults could receive designer clothing discounts, kids could receive discounts on toys, and so on.
     My idea is a big idea and would take a lot of work, but with the right direction, it could easily bring movies back to popularity. This will work, make movies in theaters popular again, and increase revenue for both theaters and production companies. Rewards are flexible and enjoyable, and can be the change that increases movie theater attendance.

     Thanks,
     Ben Johnsen

     Comment by Ben Johnsen — August 4, 2006 @ 6:17 pm

512. My idea is a type of expansion and union of different themes and ideas. The project could be called something like “Cinemania” or “Silver Screen” or “Movie Moolah”. It combines the “old school” idea of serial shorts shown before a movie with the new ideas of reality TV/the TV show LOST/cross-marketing, etc.

     The basic ideas is to have wonderful prizes like a trip around the world, a speaking part in the director’s next movie, one million dollars, etc. linked to the use of your “Cinemania” card and your ability to solve the clues in an ongoing serial “movie short” shown after the movie. (It could be before the movie, but I think that may be too distracting with people discussing the sepisode as the movie begins). The movie short would be a ten minute episode which is part of an ongoing mystery movie filled with hidden clues, drama and excitement.

     You would later log onto the Cinemania web site with your Cinemania card id to answer questions about the episode. Some questions would pertain to the current episode, while others would be long range forecasts for upcoming episodes. Points would be accumulated for correct answers, visits to the movie theatre, concession purchases, etc. The Cinemania web site would also have clues to the ongoing mystery. Police reports, character diaries, video clips and other such evidence would be provided. There could also be commercial tie-ins with souvenir giveaways with product purchases similar to what is done now, except the difference would be that the souvenirs also have clues on them linked to the mystery.

     As far as the episodes go, maybe a new one would be shown every other week for the first few weeks of a movies release. Then, the later episodes would be shown with the release of your production company’s next movie. The Cinemania web site would have the episode dates laid out in advance so you could plan to see the episodes accordingly.

     Once the last episode is shown, a couple weeks after that the top Cinemania card qualifiers would be selected and then star in a special two hour mystery game show with the winner taking home five million dollars (or whatever the appropriate amount would be since I don’t know the actual budget numbers for movie promotions)and getting a speaking part in a movie (albeit a small one, i.e. ‘Would you like fries with that?)

     The top Cinemania card qualifiers wouldn’t be the only ones to qualify for the show. There could be other wild card contestants selected in other ways as well. One or two for sure should be randomly selected from a movie’s opening weekend. This would help boost the numbers for the opening weekend and create even more buzz. There could also be small weekly prizes as well.

     On the marketing end, all of the word of mouth and “buzz marketing” ideas, etc. would of course promote the contestant and not just the movie. Movie theatre employees could wear buttons that say “Ask me how you could win $5 million!!” Cinemania signage would of course be in the lobby of the theatre and all of the other traditional promotional outlets would be used as well.

     The director for your mystery movie could be a young, talented up-and-comer looking to make a name for himself or herself. Different story arcs could be filmed if there is any doubt in keeping the mystery’s conclusion a secret.

     This is just a brief outline and there are lots of other ideas and details that can be brainstormed and worked on, but I believe the basic premise is a strong one and can tap into many of today’s popular trends.

     Comment by Craig — August 4, 2006 @ 6:37 pm

513. - Problem #1 “The Experience”
     Movies are supposed to be “entertaining” and depending on the genre, they can also be considered “art”. Add a little showmanship to the “experience”, and you’ll turn a potentially boring movie watching event into a news worthy and buzz generating (and yes “cheap”) experience. You don’t need to compete with TV, DVDs, and the internet if you can deliver experiences.

     - Improvement #1 (just one idea, others will cost ya)
     Do you think people watching the Ballad of Ricky Bobbie in a remote movie theater in Amarillo Texas would notice that the movie was a dud if Will Ferrel was selling popcorn inside while wearing his racing outfit? Nope. Think the “story” would make headlines all over the south (and rest of country) once he did that? It sure would, and the theater owner would sell a hell of a lot of popcorn that night. I’m willing to bet your money that a few well chosen appearances at other movies a week before Ricky Bobbie opened would build more buzz than than their costly radio/tv promotions.

     - Problem #2 Empty Seats and “Perceived Value”
     Movie theaters face many of the same issues that airlines do. In the end, the plane is going to take off and every empty seat is a lost dollar. The same can be said of movie theaters. Now that airlines started charging for everything under sun…they are actually better off giving away an empty seat and attempting to charge for lunch and baggage.

     –Improvement #2 (just one idea, others will cost ya)
     As much as I hate to use the airline industry as an example (of what to do), why not offer “frequent flick minutes”? Like frequent flyer miles, I would accumulate frequent flick minutes by watching movies, buying food while at movies, and buying products/services from partnering businesses. You can’t cash in and see the free 162 minute movie with your miles until you’ve “earned” the time. Not only would I be more likely to watch a movie and bring a friend if one of us did it for “free”, but I’d also be more likely to to buy a drink while there with the idea that I didn’t pay to get in.

     In reality, you paid a hundred times to get the frequent flick minutes…and you filled an empty seat that led to a $6 coke purchase. Lets not forget that coke is carbonated water, sugar, and ice in a waxed paper cup.

     As much as I’d love to work for you Mark, I have investors to look out for. You might have to buy my software co’s before I could help out with the marketing gig.

     Go Mavs!
     JB

     Comment by Mark's Marketing Guy — August 4, 2006 @ 7:15 pm

514. Movie Credit thats the idea that everytime you see a movie you build up credit on a card . Plus everytime you see a movie you get 10 credits that add up to 100-150 credits in which you can see another movie for 75 credits or you can purchase a dvd from the movie credits own website using movie credit!!!!

     Get it

     Comment by Yuken Koskey — August 5, 2006 @ 9:22 pm

515. Great movies are the key for the success….. however, marketing is necessary!!!

     Comment by LinkGratis — August 6, 2006 @ 1:30 am

516. Simple. Do movies in 2′s. The old double feature concept is gone. Why? People want to make a night out of things. Perhaps there’s a movie with a big draw, why not show a lesser known or indie movie first as the warmup. Do an intermission. People like *events*, people pay for *events*, and when you go to 2 movies for the price of one or close to it, one may rock one may suck. Person doesn’t go away unhappy. Double your fun, make a night at the movies an event again and not a robbery.

     Comment by Drew Olanoff — August 6, 2006 @ 1:38 pm

517. Make it dollar friendly for a family or group of friends to attend your films. GROUP DISCOUNT. 6 people going to a Saturday night movie will cost around 70 bucks. What if any group of 6 only cost 50 bucks or maybe a little less? Create a sliding scale, the more friends you bring, the cheaper the tickets. You’d have people draggig friends to movies just for the discount and who knows, maybe those reluctant people actually enjoy the film and drag their other friends back to see it again. The same with families. The idea encourages exactly what you want as a film maker, the GROUP EXPERIENCE. It’s a simple idea, but the best ones usually are. BTW, I can start my new job any time you’re ready. GO CLIPPERS!

     Comment by Tommy Thompson — August 6, 2006 @ 2:21 pm

518. OK Mark, from the responses you have given in you Blog about the Movie Challenge, I take it you have not found the wow factor or have said, “Eureka I’ve got it!!!” Also, I believe you are heading the right direction by starting a theater geared towards children. I believe this could be the beginning stages in revolutionizing to movie industry. I encourage you to please read the books from Jim Collins, Good to Great and Built to Last. If anything it will reaffirm the things you are currently doing and at best it could help you understand what it will take to sustain greatness in the movie industry.

     Haven’t we all said at one time or another, “If there was only one more of me with the same core values and discipline, I can get it done.” The answer is, there will never be someone exactly like you, but there are people who share your vision with conviction and have the same core values and discipline as you do.

     I do not claim I know anything about the Movie industry but I do have a small business. It is not easy to run but I do try to hire individuals with the same core values and discipline as I have. My vision is to befriend and educate my customers to gain their trust, respect and loyalty so we can have a long lasting relationship. Yes, I said relationship, which I believe is the answer to all your questions. Not realizing the answer can be so simple, it can easily be overlooked. This long lasting relationship has been in the making since I started my business 8 years ago and today I can see my investment of befriending and educating my customers pay off.

     Therefore, there really isn’t a magic pill or a “why the heck didn’t I think of that” or “Hell Yes, that’s the answer” and think it will change the economics of your chain of movie theaters or the movie industry.

     WHAT DOES ALL THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE MOVIE CHALLENGE?
     Success takes years in the making, building relationships where your customers learn to trust, respect and believe in what you are doing. To sustain success it is important to develop a relationship with everyone and keep true to your core values. Also, to give your chain of Movie Theaters a great start and an opportunity to change the economics of the Movie theater industry I encourage you to read the books. What I believe you will find after reading these books is clarity of thought and how simple the answer can be. I truly believe with the right people in place helping with the thought process a solution can be reached which could be revolutionary.

     FOR EXAMPLE:
     If you strongly believe as I do that creating and maintaining a relationship with your customer base is the key to attain and sustain greatness, some of the things I would do to create loyalty from your customers in addition to the current matinee prices is to develop the relationship by doing the following:

     FAMILY SEASON PASS

     Create a family season pass for X amount of dollars and make it where it is acceptable anywhere in the world there is a chain Movie Theater, just like Six Flags.
     a. To make the season pass affordable the customer would have to have the option to buy the ¼ season, ½ season, or the full season pass, just like the Mavericks season passes.
     b. In the full season pass package include free entry to autograph sessions from the actors in your movie, which would encourage the other pass holders to upgrade.
     c. Also, as a reward for holding a full season pass include 1 free B-day party gathering where the pass holder can invite X amount of people and where one of your movie rooms could be reserve to throw a birthday bash, food not included of course and have the option to watch a movie during the B-day party. If the full season pass holder would like to throw another B-day bash party he could do so at a discounted price. Again this will encourage the other season pass holders to upgrade.
     d. There could be an infinite number of things that could be added to a full season pass holder to encourage a customer to upgrade and to encourage annual renewal of the full season pass.
     e. The Movie Theater would have to be of a significant size to attract and maintain the masses of people.

     Just imagine the domino affect this could create if my children start having so much fun at your new full season pass children theater. I know when my children grow up and have their own children they are going to want the same thing for their children and so on for generations to come.

     I do have some more ideas and would like very much to share them with you if we can only meet to discuss them further.

     Sincerely, JR

     Comment by JR — August 6, 2006 @ 2:41 pm

519. I’m a screenwriter and am grateful for your postings on getting asses into seats in theatres. For anyone who says that only better movies will do that, I disagree.

     What’s needed are more gimmicks. I’m serious, I love the old drive in movies from AIP. Corman and William Castle knew that there had to be more than just the film on the screen.

     Make it more interactive. Add an element of theatre. Take the horror genre: A personal warning from the usher before a horror film, dyed red ‘bloodcorn’ barf bags, a nurse on duty… put some of the fun back in to movies. Take advantage of local actors or anyone wanting to add a personal, quirky touch to thier dull, corporate theater environment. Look how Rob Zombie’s films and music are promoted… movies have not had that kind of fun promotion since the early seventies. And I don’t remember the last time a poster caught my eye. Is there some rule that a title has to have fewer words and a poster less art? Leave the symbolism for the paperback covers…

     Make it about the EXPERIENCE. DVD buyers look for special features. They don’t want just the movie, they want the DVD experience.

     Make GOING to a movie as much fun as WATCHING a movie.

     Jeff

     Comment by Jeff O'Brien — August 6, 2006 @ 3:43 pm

520. Tips for Marketing Your Films:

     - Start marketing the film while you’re making it. Begin a website and blog for the film. Allow the actors, director, writers, and producers post thoughts on the film DURING production. Post pictures, funny outtakes, bits of a scene, behind the scene discussions (arguments are even better) that show the movie being made.

     - Make the production INTERACTIVE on the blogs and/or website. Have a contest that allows the site visitors to pick the poster for the film from three different choices. Tell the film site visitors that you need help choosing between two separate takes of a particular scene – which one is better?! you ask, and they’ll be more involved in the film.

     - Allow the visitors to edit their version of your film trailer. Go to this site – http://www.whensheshot.com/ – and see how it lets visitors edit their own version of the TV commercial for Old Spice (the one with the hot girl dancing.) Give them sections of the film and let them edit their own version of a trailer – the winner will be shown before the screening of each film (people will show up to see if they won.)

     - Give the audience two funny sequences or funny lines of dialogue that were filmed. Two different versions of the same scene. Let them choose which is best – tell them their vote will count and they’ll see which one made it into the final film version.

     - Give them the DVD extras on the site/blog before the movie comes out. Let them listen to and download songs from the soundtrack on the website. Let them watch a featurette on the film. Let them see a behind the scenes look at how the film sequences are being made.

     - Let the most popular actor post a daily diary on the blog to talk about how they prepared for the day, how difficult the shooting day was, how he or she got hurt doing a particularly dangerous stunt, that sort of thing. Make it funny, make it controversial, make it important for people to have to come back and check every day.

     - When making the trailer for the film, don’t give away the entire movie. Don’t show them everything. Be as cryptic as possible. Give them brief glimpses that intrigue the hell of them and make them come begging for more. Give them a trailer with scenes that aren’t even in the movie. Give them clues, a taste, a morsel to chew on and talk about with their friends.

     - If the film is anything close to be suspenseful, thriller-ish, or political, create websites and TV commercials for the fictional entities or bad guys from the film. It’s very similar to what LOST does for the TV show. Most people were very intrigued when there were commercials for the Hanso Corporation DURING commercial breaks for the show LOST. Create commercials and websites for the bad guy/bad corporation in your film. Imagine the commercials that would have had everyone passing them along to friends on their mobile phones for the oil company in SYRIANA, Connex-Killen?

     - Get original songs from artists for the feature film. Make the film soundtrack songs only available for download on the film’s site. Make it easy for visitors to be able to forward links to the site for friends.

     - Get the screenwriters of the film to create blogs for the characters of your films, before the film is released, that will act as a diaries. Include photos of the actors from the film but make it seem like these characters are real. Imagine a blog, from the lead character in Spielberg’s MUNICH, writing about what it’s like to have to kill another human being for the very first time. The screenwriters could have the character comment on the aftermath of the ’72 Olympics and even internal feelings that can never be expressed on-screen. We never know what a character is “thinking” in a film the way we can when we read a book.

     - The writers of the film could even create a “prequel” for the film you’re making. For example, in the film ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, we hear during the film that Snake Plissken and Harold “Brain” Helman had a past. A bank robbery that went bad. And something happened to a character named Fresno Bob because of what “Brain” did. Wouldn’t it make your upcoming film more interesting if you knew what happened to these characters beforehand? Maybe.

     Anyway, it’s about getting people involved in the film beyond just advertising to them. Don’t talk to them, talk with them. If they become a part of your film, they’ll go see it.

     Comment by Tim Clark — August 6, 2006 @ 6:32 pm

521. ****
     ****
     ****
     ****
     Pardon my asteriks, just wanted to get noticed..

     My idea to get people out to the movies doesn’t actually involve movies, but the things that prevent us from getting out to them!

     My daughter in 20 months old, and the amount of difficulty involved in finding someone to watch her at the spur of the moment when we find we actually have time to go out is near impossible. It’s just far easier to download a movie that we want to see.

     But would we rather go to the movies? Absolutely.

     So how do we solve this? Complimentary on site daycare. A movie theater might have to employ two or three more people at most (ECE trained, of course) – but the amount of money they would bring in would more than offset it. I think it would be staggering how often people would come to the movies if they were able to leave their kids in daycare for the two hours needed. Plus, it would give parents peace of mind knowing that there little one is only two minutes away if anything should go wrong.

     I’m not a genius like Mark, I just know what keeps me from getting to the movies every week. If we can solve that, I’d be happy.
     ****
     ****
     ****
     ****

     Comment by Jim Squires — August 7, 2006 @ 7:14 am

522. Mark:
     The suggestions I see as I scan the “ideas” on your site, are related to the “movie goer” and not to Show BUSINESS. The business end must be addressed.
     The Texas legislature is the starting place. Texas must offer tax incentives as do other locations (ie: Canada, Louisiana, New Mexico).
     A heavy lobbying move must be made to show our legislators the benefits of a solid film industry in our state. Per Bob Hudgins, our film commissioner, Todd Sims of the Dallas Producers Association, has already met with a few state representatives and senators about potential incentives to bring literally hundreds of millions of dollars in film budgets to our state. He also says that, per Hollywood sources, if we can even come close to incentives offered by other states, major projects will come here because of the core of experienced crews, actors and multiple location possibilies. As an example, the TV series “Prison Break” is shooting it’s second season in Texas due to the availability of the reasons cited above.
     I would welcome a chance to delve into this these possibilities on a face-to-face basis.
     Sincerely,
     Juli Erickson
     469-583-1167

     Comment by Juli Erickson — August 7, 2006 @ 11:50 am

523. I like Tim Clark’s suggestions above and not just b/c I know him. His ideas make sense, esp. if you’re making independent movies.

     The only thing I’d add to this long list of ideas is:

     Hire someone other than self-absorbed twenty and thirty-somethings to come up with marketing campaigns. Hire someone who has teenagers. Hell, if it’s a movie geared towards teens, hire a teenager to sit in on the campaign meetings. Hire someone with some balance and perspective and yes, life experience to head up a marketing team. In short, hire someone who lives in the real world to try to reach people in the real world.

     I know that’s actually more difficult than it seems b/c creative people (and yes, I consider marketing people creative) are not often living in the real world. They might be tethered to the ground but that doesn’t make them grounded.

     Good luck with this.

     Susan

     Comment by Susan — August 7, 2006 @ 12:11 pm

524. The Movie Business Challenge

     A few ideas…

     1 – Gas stations….setup screen so that customer can watch trailers while pumping gas!!

     2 – Install video at restaurant tables allowing customer to select and view movie trailers with local theatre venues and times. Kids go out to eat and often times decide on the fly to go see a movie.

     3 – Install mall ATM (automated trailer movie machine) where customer can view movie trailers, theatre venues and movie times on the fly. How many times are groups and families out shopping and decide…hey, let’s go to the movie. Many times, it’s not the local mall theatre that is showing the movie.

     4 – Dedicated radio station for movie trailers only.

     5 – Advertise on grocery bags.

     6 – Advertise on ATM receipts

     7 – Make theatre’s more of a social gathering spot. Modernize theatres to include an after-the-show or before-the-show hangout. Theatre entry includes the movie and entry to restaurants, Starbucks, piano bar.

     8 – Theatres partner with day care centers and places like ASI to offer one price ticket that includes both daycare during a movie, movie admission, and possible snacks.

     Comment by D. Summers — August 7, 2006 @ 12:45 pm

525. The Movie Business cannot be a cookie cutter one size fits all. It has to server several functions in order to generate significant Gross Profit increases while providing a memorable/pleasurable movie experience for different demographics.

     Scenario A:

     30′s Couple A, goes to the Movie Theater with their 4 year old Son. They get into a 6:30-7:00 start time to see You, Me and Dupree (Great Date Movie), while dropping their son off at a showing of Nanny McPhee set at the same time.

     Let’s talk about their experience now…..

     The Mom and Dad walk into a quiet, romantic Date Movie and enjoy and hour an 45 minutes of hand holding on a chair built to hold more than 5 foot 5, 140 pound girl or even possible a double chair, so they could lean on each other and make the experience a little more like being at home. They walk out of the theater probably having bought the admission, a drink (or two if not shared) and some sort of a snack. The wrist band number could be flashed on the side of the screen in case their child needed attention, it would avoid an embarassing page with your name to deal with your hellion.

     The Son gets a small popcorn before the movie starts and a drink (non-caffeinated preferrably as a parent of a 4 year old). The movie ends slightly before the parents are out, so there is some face painting available as a time burner until the parents come out. There could even be a hidden playground to let the kids burn off some energy after the movie.

     The wrist bands are matched up to the band on child as security and the parents pick up their child and are on their way.

     Let’s talk dollars and sense…..

     $25 package inlcudes the tickets and kids drink/popcorn. The parents spent another $10 at the concession stand for a total of $35.

     You can tack on another $5 for each kid after the first, the more brought in, the more money generated.

     This is a very resonable “Date Night” out for under $40, which most couples would agree is a cheap date and may consider doing several times a month.

     This is just one idea….

     Comment by Buddy — August 7, 2006 @ 2:22 pm

526. Needs to be a bigger and better experience. I can watch a movie at home on my plasma with digital sound, popcorn, drinks, etc. Going to a movie to battle hundreds of talking people with cell phones going off isn’t really worth the $8 ticket price.

     Make it a universal experience. A total entertainment complex. Improve the food and not just better popcorn but sandwiches, mexican, asian fare. Heck instead of twenty four megaplexes close down a couple of the screens and add family themed restaurants, day care facilities, sports bar, night club. Make it a one stop place where you can have dinner, see a movie, and afterwards dance the night away.
     With the price of gas folks don’t want to drive all over anyway.

     Comment by Wes — August 7, 2006 @ 3:30 pm

527. Having the pleasure to meet with your great people at HDNet and Magnolia, I think a possible solution lies in the way smaller independent films are marketed- i.e. localizing the experience.

     My feature film (Among Brothers) had much success on the festival circuit, playing 15 int’l festivals over the past year to nearly full theaters. The hook? For us, it was advertising that we will actually be in attendance at the screening. Working closely with the local film associations, theaters and clubs of people that consider film-watching a hobby or a past-time.

     Targeting these people, through their groups, and allowing the film to breath in the market place, plus having the filmmakers or actors there to attend the screenings, is niche marketing at its finest. Most of 2929 filmgoers are engaged in the filmmaking process and want to ask questions to the people that were involved with the film. I feel that a large portion of the reason that people are disengaged with theatrical films is that they don’t have the ability to interact with the “players” like they can at a concert or live sporting event- by seeing them in person and maybe getting a picture or an autograph.

     Touring stage productions have been doing this for hundreds of years. Having the actors, or director, or producers actually present the day, night or weekend that the film plays in that select city can be a huge differentiator when someone is deciding what to do on a Friday night- even more so when deciding what film to view- targeting that niche of film-viewers worked for us (and other directors like David Gordon Green, Todd Solondz, Greg Pak, etc.), and can work for the type of content that 2929 puts out. Most of these people (directors, producers, actors) have a piece of the back-end pay anyway, so they are already incented to help promote the film financially. By putting in 2 to 3 weeks of their time “touring,” they could see huge returns on the backside. Good luck, hope to hear from you.

     Comment by John Schwert — August 7, 2006 @ 4:35 pm

528. Hi Mark,

     Not sure if this is over or not, but I am adding a comment here anyways.

     A week or so back, I had originally left an idea involving making the movie theatre experience more enticing. However, now I have come across a new idea: fantasy movie league.

     I don’t have specific numbers, but my guess is that since sites like yahoo, espn, cbs have offered fantasy sports leagues, the interest in various sports have gone up. Fantasy leagues have various benefits:
     1) It increases awareness for new events since active members of fantasy leagues are always checking relevant news to gain an edge. Pertaining to the movie world, a new movie coming out would be similar to a new batch of rookies for a specific fantasy league. This helps generate buzz for the movie.
     2) It allows the actual entities that these fantasy leagues represent to gauge market demand / interest. In the movie world, this means that if lots of users buy a certain movie in their fantasy league, that means that they believe the movie will fare well. These numbers are important to the marketers as well as to the movie producers in figuring out the formula for the next blockbuster
     3) It encourages the members of the fantasy leagues to participate / actively watch the events that the fantasy leagues represent. In fantasy sports leagues, you are more likely to pay attention to the players that are on your team. In a fantasy movie league, you would be more likely to pay attention to a movie that you picked.
     4) Fantasy sports are targeted towards the young, money-spending audience (male, age 15-35). Fantasy movie leagues can not only target this audience, but also other untapped markets as well (work-at-home moms, teenage girls, etc).

     The idea is to create a fantasy movie structure that involves multiple users in the same league. At the beginning of the season you start with a base amount of funds to bid on movies. The higher the demand for the movie, the more expensive. At the end of each week, you receive returns on your investment based on how well the movie fared in the box office. This can be expanded to being able to bid on movies several weeks away from release or being able to trade your movie picks for your opponents’ movie picks, etc. The ultimate goal is to generate an incredible amount of buzz while collecting useful marketing data in the process.

     To generate initial interest in the fantasy movie leagues, you could give out cash prizes / movie vouchers for those who finish 1st in their league or 1st in total points, etc.

     Thanks,
     Ran

     Comment by Ran Ding — August 7, 2006 @ 5:19 pm

529. Thanks for the opportunity to offer my two cents on how to improve Landmark Theaters. I hope that these suggestions are worth at least that.

     I have THREE suggestions for boosting the number of butts in chairs (BICs) at Landmark.

     1. INCREASE THEATER UTILIZATION

     There are several ways to leverage your existing 4k digital cinema projectors to boost BICs. These include:

     * FOR FANS – Do sports broadcasts of important games during off-peak hours. Foreign specialty sports have high potential. For example, a theater in San Jose, CA, used to broadcast cricket matches from midnight to 8:00 am.

     * FOR ADULTS – Broadcast music concerts. Show megachurch broadcasts on Sunday mornings.

     * FOR KIDS – Saturday morning birthday parties with old, catalogue films. Offer babysitting one night per week.

     * FOR SINGLES – Mid-week singles nights, with old catalogue films. Chatting encouraged.

     * WHY WILL IT WORK? Limited additional cost. Not event-driven, so marketing costs are spread over a longer time-frame. Attract new or lapsed moviegoers. Potential to share marketing costs with partners (i.e. eHarmony).

     2. EXPAND OVERSEAS

     * Open a handful of theaters in Mumbai, India.

     * WHY WILL IT WORK? Bollywood studios (in Mumbai) have much larger slates than studios in the US. Each movie is less of an event so marketing costs can be spread more evenly across the year. In India, setup costs are large, but ongoing expenses are tiny.

     3. USE DATABASE MARKETING

     * Buy user data from eBay or Amazon

     * Hire a statistician or, even easier, hire a database marketing firm.

     * Send targeted mailings (i.e. junkmail) to targeted homes near your theaters. Include a profitable level of incentives with each mailing.

     * WHY WILL IT WORK? It works every day in nearly every home in the US. It is TESTABLE!!!! You get a quantifiable level of certainty that you are reaching the right audience.

     I believe in what you are doing at 2929. I think that the day-and-date strategy is right on. Good luck with the next industry-shaking breakthrough.

     Comment by James G. — August 7, 2006 @ 11:39 pm

530. 3D
     smell-o-vision
     sense-around

     something I don’t have better at home.

     Comment by sew — August 8, 2006 @ 1:14 am

531. You probably know this stuff already but today’s LA Times has an interesting survey of kids’ behaviour in and reaction towards cinema. It confirms your views on interaction and simultaneously repels me lol.

     http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-pollmovies8aug08,1,7452019,full.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews

     Comment by John Dodds — August 8, 2006 @ 4:22 am

532. I don’t think that the solution is one answer, but rather a different methodology analysis on movie marketing that can be accomplished with a two step process of 1) more focused marketing which allows 2) more innovative marketing. Right now marketing dollars are used to caste a huge net which mildly enticed all segments of a population. Instead, you should lock in one segment and use the hype built by them to entice other segments. For example, if marketing for a specific film was targeted towards young males, you could show a half hour prologue or epilogue segment on Spike TV to give that demographic a vested interest in seeing what the hell happened before, or leading up to the story they just saw. This marketing could almost pay for itself with commercial time during the segment, and the up-front cost could be mitigated by offering Spike a small portion of later profits instead of cash. This “enticement” would not work with the existing “broad net” paradigm. You could not afford to purchase a primetime segment on NBC, and even if you did, it would not be focused enough to garner more than the mild interest you are already gathering. So in this example, focused marketing enabled more innovative marketing. Like I said before, there is no easy answer, just a radical change in methodology that may be long overdue.

     (FYI, I also know how to reduce the costs of middle men in getting spec. scripts from writer to producer. Call me up if you’re serious, I have a finance and a law degree which doesn’t mean much other than I don’t sit on my ass all day.)

     Comment by Arfeo — August 8, 2006 @ 12:20 pm

533. I think a huge reason why I skip out on movies in the theater is the experience. Imaging going to the theater and having to settle for a movie you didn’t really go to see, being to cold, or having to endure a crying baby. Why anyone takes a 4 year old to see hell boy is beyond me…

     With the sophisticated home entertainment systems available now, movie theaters need to rework their feel as well the technology. A big stuffy auditorium with a giant white screen with the occassional rip or black streak feels a lot like a high school. No wonder we don’t go out in droves.

     Smaller more comfortable rooms that allow the theaters to adjust to changing demand or customer needs would help the theaters as well as movie goers alike. Imagine that your local theater has 50 rooms each of which can hold about 10 people. Each is hooked up to a digital movie projector or device that can tell each room which movie to show. So if 20 rooms are showing Lord of the Rings, they can still all start at the same time and additional rooms could be added to adjust to unexpected demand or lack thereof. Not enough to fill 15 theaters? Convert those extra rooms to another movie for the night, or perhaps there is demand for 30 rooms convert more rooms and don’t lose customers or force them to get tickets to something else which may or may not pan out. We’ve all seen some other movie because of a lack of seats and gone home disappointed!

     With smaller private rooms, families with kids or without can enjoy a cozy private experience without the frustration of worrying about a crying baby. The theater could designate a few rooms as kid friendly. This would allow mothers to enjoy the movie without having 20 eyes starring her down. This would allow more conscious mothers to attend movies who otherwise stay home for fear of disturbing everyone. These smaller rooms would also allow for each room to have separate temperatures. Often the big theater atmosphere has a concrete floor and blasts cold air to keep the large group comfortable, only you’re watching a movie that’s a bit older and there are only 8 other people in the theater… How nice would it be to step into the room with your friends and to be able to adjust the temperature to your comfort level?

     Comment by Jeff Travis — August 8, 2006 @ 2:02 pm

534. Forgive me for this if this has already been mentioned, but I haven’t read every comment before mine. Somewhere around comment #200, all the words started blurring together, so I’ll spare my eyesight and just say my piece.

     I don’t go to the theater often, but I could be described as a movie dork. Maybe it’s the sticky floors, the annoying little kids, or the $8 Cokes, but the general theater experience sucks. An interesting side note about my trips to the theater in the past 5 years in Dallas is that over half of the movies I’ve gone to see have been at the Inwood Theater. Now, I’m not the arthouse movie type of guy, however, I do love the Midnight Movie on Friday and Saturday nights. I’d seen all these movies before, multiple times. I owned most of them on DVD. Yet I still went and coughed up $10 to see it on the big screen. And I wasn’t the only one, every movie I went to was a packed house. Granted, it was two shows on a Friday and Saturday night and that’s hardly enough to justify an entire theater’s existance.

     So, what I propose is, instead of having a Cineplex 32 and running people through it like cattle, grazing on whatever crap Hollywood is currently churning out, and screwing them at the concession stand, why not have a theater for people who just like movies? It’d be like a film festival that never ends. Quentin Tarantino had plans not that long ago to buy a theater and restore it to a grindhouse theater like he used to go to when he was a kid, showing chop-sockey kung fu, spaghetti westerns, and blaxploitation movies. I haven’t heard anything else about it, and he may have scrapped it because he was busy or it wouldn’t make money, but if I lived in L.A. I would live in that theater. The idea could be taken even further: go beyond just a showing of a movie and turn it into a show in and of itself. Bring in the director, or one of the actors for a Q&A before the movie. Sure, you’re not going to get Stephen Spielberg and Tom Cruise, but this isn’t the place where you show their movies. This is the kind of theater where people throw hot dogs during the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and even during some other movies where you had never thought to throw hot dogs before. A Mavericks game isn’t just a bunch of guys playing basketball, it’s got cheerleaders, and Chinese acrobats, and a guy jumping off a trampoline to slam dunk the basketball, and a guy with an air cannon shooting t-shirts into the crowd. I don’t see why a theater should be any different.

     Comment by Paco — August 8, 2006 @ 2:02 pm

535. You stated that you follow all the “regular” channels of advertising for your films, so all these ideas of advertising on ATM’s, Coffee cups, etc is pointless and a waste of money. People who want to see a movie know what is playing.

     So…what has driven me (as well as a large portion of the public) away from the theatre?

     1. Ads before the movie even starts. I see commercials at home I didn’t pay $12 to see commercials for 10 mins before the movie starts.

     2. The cost of snacks/drinks. Outrageous! I know theatres make their money here but the prices are so inflated it is ridiculous and this ticks people off.

     3. Parking. Usually you have to pay for this and it is just an added expense to your night out.

     Aside from the quality of the movie I feel that these 3 simple things would help get people to your theatres.

     1. No commercials before a movie. Previews are fine people like those, but no commercials. Bring in a stand up comedian (or other entertainer) to entertain people before the movie. Ad a human element that will keep peoples interest, otherwise we just feel like cattle being bombarded by ads.

     2. Lower the price of snacks/drinks a little. You don’t have to match 7/11 pricing but you could definitely bring it down a notch. This will please people and also deter them from sneaking in their snacks, because we won’t feel like we are getting ripped off.

     3. If people want to drive then they are gonna pay for parking, so why not encourage people who don’t have a car? Discounts if you can show your bus/train ticket that got you to the theatre.

     I’m gonna come up with some more, will be in touch.

     Comment by Keith — August 8, 2006 @ 3:52 pm

536. 1. as the first person said, don’t make crap. no one wants to see crap. a low budget great movie is has greater word of mouth than a horrible big budget film. look at Saw vs say The Island.

     2. niche marketing. one thing there aren’t enough of is “independent movie theatres.” these are usually foreign/low budget films. in my city we have 3. but on the outskirts there are none. so people must travel up to an hour or more to see an independent movie. why are there none there? when i go to one of these places, they are usually packed. so why don’t independent theatres get more love?

     3. conccession prices. theatres get their money from concessions, so this is explains why it’s a ripoff. if you’re gonna rip off people, make it looks less obvious or like you’re trying to help them. say it costs the company $1 for a medium drink, but you want to make a $2 profit, and $1 for a large popcorn but want to make a $3 profit on that. Charge the drinks and $4 and the popcorn at $6 but offer them as a combo for $10. you’re making the profit you want and if some idiot wants to buy any of them seperate you make even more. the customer will think you’re trying to reward them for buying more and will most likely do so. you can make all sorts of comboes, a family combo, a date combo, a single combo, etc.

     4. in theatres, tighten crowd control and train ushers properly. people don’t want to go to a noisy, dirty theatre. if you have regulars, maybe give them some kind of device where they can call a manager/usher if there is a problem in the theatre, i.e. loud customers, screen/sound problems. now, you can’t give these to everybody since alot of people might abuse them. one way to monitor this is if you give them out, make them show 2 credit cards or something like that, if they can’t they don’t get one. this takes out all minors and people with bad credit which, let’s face it, are usually the ones acting like idiots in theatres anyways.

     5. offer ticket discounts. student, child and senior citizen are obvious. but why not add group discounts? couple discounts? family discounts? again, follow the same procedures as #3.

     if people leave THINKING you tried to help them and they ggot some type of discount, they felt appreciated and had a pleasant experience, chances are they’ll be back.

     Comment by Jose Castaneda — August 8, 2006 @ 6:37 pm

537. i forgot to mention

     6. make a 18+ or better 21+ theatre. adults only. no punk kids or crying babies.

     7. on the flip side, add more cry baby matinees for responsible moms who want to see movies but can’t because of children in regular theatres or maybe at a small 6 screen theatre that caters towards babies and children that shows new kids movies.

     Comment by Jose Castaneda — August 8, 2006 @ 6:54 pm

538. Maybe it’s not the concept of the movie that needs changing, but rather some more clever ways to tell a story that involve new technology?

     I didn’t read all 1111 previous previous comments, but I did spot a few that hint at what I think needs to happen. The key element is that the movie theater must have is something the viewer can’t get at home besides the opportunity to satisfy the need for instant gratification that the marketing may have instilled in them.

     3D is a cool idea, but the technology still sucks…I get a headache from watching it (with or without the 3D glasses!)

     Full sensual immersion may offer a suite of opportunities, such as incorporating smell, touch/motion, and maybe even taste?

     How about a 360 degree view (impacts set design, I know, but so what) so that you can look to your left, right, and behind you to see more angles, see what the actors (supposedly) see, etc.

     How about creating a virtual set where the movie-goers suit up and can actually move around inside the set, walking around the inside of the auditorium, interacting with other movie-goers…sort of a custom built Second Life with an array of computer systems doing real-time graphics processing and feedback, built around a theme of couse, with virtual actors/characters that the movie-goers can interact with.

     Of course, the directors would have to figure out how to leverage these new viewing opportunities into better ways to tell the story or convey the experience that they want, but it opens whole new avenues of ways to tell stories, and at the same time provides an “you can only do it in the theater” for a time until replicating the technology in the home is feasible.

     I think you are right about theaters needing to reinvent themselves, and said as much in my own blog post http://blogs.globalcrossing.com/nabshow-2006-review earlier this year. If they don’t, their revenues will continue to erode until they can’t raise the price of popcorn and soda any more to compensate, and they will become extinct.

     Comment by David Siegel — August 8, 2006 @ 7:49 pm

539. The idea of rewarding those who direct traffic through their MySpace accounts is a good start. However, you should combine this approach with one of the great money making engines of today — the lottery. Not a lottery for cash, though, just the possibility that by directing friends to movies you will win a one-year (or perhaps even 5-year) pass to see movies for free. Depending on the scale you could even throw in a lifetime movie pass once in a while. So long as each click through is another automatic entry there should be some traction.

     Comment by Francis — July 25, 2006 @ 10:37 pm

540. Trailers. If a movie trailer interests me, I go see it. Tried and true for a hundred years.

     So I build a webpage for my downloadable and streaming trailers and market it to rival IMDB.com for viewership. (Unless, of course, you wanted to just buy IMDB.com) You know yourself that more people use the web to get their information about anything these days than any other source.

     Market the website; as you said, you already know how. By promoting the website, you are constantly promoting all your movies, not just spending money on each individually. A couple of additional possibilities you haven’t mentioned, though.
     1. Video games advertising.
     2. Sports equipment, basketballs, volleyballs, etc. DONATED to schools, churches, local children’s charities or leagues with the site’s dotcom on them. Advertising at relatively little cost AND helping in the community.

     Finally, as has already been said, nothing will help unless the product is worth it. So keep backing movies both high and low budget that are QUALITY FILMS. You know as well as anyone how important a good reputation can be.

     Thanks for the opportunity to share my ideas. My best wishes for continued good fortune for you and your family.

     Comment by Larry — July 27, 2006 @ 2:08 am

541. Mark,

     I think star-power is too often used in a sanitized fashion, where the public really isn’t given an opportunity to interact with the actor/director and get a deeper understanding of their craft. Shows like “The View”, “Ellen”, for example, tend to scratch the surface during their interviews and do a poor job of marketing the movies and the stars. The general public no longer feels that they can relate to the stars of today and would relish an opportunity to get to know them. Sending bankable stars on a movie tour dedicated to the general public will humanize them by allowing their fans (both diehard and marginal) to interact with them on a more casual basis.
     I liken this to when a renowned author goes out on a book tour and interacts with the general public by signing books, reading passages, discussing current events etc. For example, a local movie theatre in a major city could hold “Clooney” night during a major release of one of his new films. A typical night would look like this: he could introduce the film, talk about his experiences making it, perhaps even narrate certain portions of the movie (you could have a special “narrative” release for these types of an event), and finally at the end have a 20-30 minute q & a period.
     This doesn’t necessarily need to be limited to new releases: imagine Oliver Stone introducing Platoon at the local theatre, talking about why he made the film, his experience making it, relating this film to current events, etc…
     It is important to remember that these movie nights would be dedicated and marketed to the general public, with the media as a secondary target.
     I truly believe that bringing the stars to the public and creating an environment of interaction and education, will sell some tickets- try it out.

     Amr

     Comment by Amr Abou-Guendia — July 25, 2006 @ 10:45 pm

542. Dear Mark,

     I am thrilled that you are posting this challenge. I am just about to launch a site that will do exactly what you are looking to do, very simply. It uses the power of the internet and the power of the word of mouth.

     Although I have an immense respect for you, I am not very much looking for a job but more for a partnership (and it does not have to be financial, but it can be). And as much as I can respect your word, you will forgive me if I do not mention the name of our website in this public forum.

     I hope I have piqued your curiosity enough to have either you or your representative contact me. If my e-mail address does not show in this comment, please write a post that you want to contact Sophie and I will be there.

     Thank you again for your inquiry and have a wonderful time with your family,

     Sophie

     Comment by Sophie Mihalko — July 25, 2006 @ 10:47 pm

543. The biggest problem is too much money(distribution,production, etc.) chasing too few movie goers.

     #1) target a diff demographic(multiple demos). target ppl who want to spend $4-6/movie($2-$3/hr). Get the damn price of watching a movie down. See below.

     #2) continue to focus on specific genre’s/sub-genre’s that appeal to above demo (indie movies, etc.)

     #3) break larger theatre rooms into multiple smaller theatre rooms to offset the lower demand/movie while maintaining same Sales/Ft.

     #4) define WHY ppl want to watch movies in public vs. home, go back to #1 and repeat cycle.

     Comment by Ace5264 — July 25, 2006 @ 11:00 pm

544. my post on the subject…

     http://heehawmarketing.typepad.com/hee_haw_marketing/2006/07/cuban_gets_heeh.html

     Comment by Paul McEnany — July 25, 2006 @ 11:04 pm

545. We go to the movies for a million reasons, many mentioned in this blog so far but the common denominator I believe is the social, collective experience of going to a theatre. Its not really the money, or even the relative value compared to other options out there (concerts, lectures, sports etc.), because whether the demographic is adolescent or baby boomer, seeing the movie at the theatre puts us in a current social flow, for whatever that means to each of us.
     Sooo.. enhance the theatre experience, brand the chain, make the experience as hip as possible and imagine the great movie as a value add rather than the leading edge. Make Landmark the Hard Rock of the movie business only market plan to multiple demographics simultaneously. Give people the option of garlic or basil butter on the popcorn or sell a premium reclining seat. People buy tickets to the better music festivals and subscription series arts events long before the talent is identified because of either a great past experience or because there is an urgency in the sell that caters to a select few and who doesnt want to be in that group?
     Im about to launch a revolutionary media company that will take this premise to its max.. would love to discuss with you in further detail…

     Comment by Michael — July 25, 2006 @ 11:06 pm

546. Selling a movie today is tough. There is a lot of competition, for my time, my money, and my attention.

     Right now the actors are marketed and sometimes directors. Use the rest of your crew to market your film, and reach out to a wider demographic.

     Have the writer go on smaller TV shows to promote the film. Have the special effects person talk about special effects on the Space channel. Have the fashion designer talk about the fashion of the film on Fashion Television. Have the stunt person talk about stunts on the Action channel. Have womem crew members go on the Diva channel. If there is a sports element, get the crew onto ESPN to talk about the film. Market them on TV and in magazines.

     There are so many TV channels out there, start using them and have your crew members, reach a wider audience through these niche markets.

     We are human. We don’t react to adds, we react to people. I’m more likely to see a movie if I saw someone attached to the film, cast or crew member, who said something that interested or resonated with me.

     We are socially programmed. Adds are not so effective, because we’ve learned to tune them out.

     Find a way to connect to us on a human and social level. We want to support people we like, so give us people to like, and we’ll go out and watch the movie. And, I don’t just mean movie stars. I mean the below the line talent. Film is a collaborative effort, it takes more than a movie star to make a film.

     The star system works because we are attracted to the people they appear to be in public. We want to see the projects they are involved in. And this includes directors and producers. I’m not going to see Miami Vice because of the actors, but because of Michael Mann. Expand the star system to include the crew members, the below the line talent. Give us more people to connect to and root for.

     I’m not fond of pop-up adds. They are a wee bit annoying. I don’t think they are an effective marketing tool. In the end, the reason I’ve gone to a movie is, word of mouth, an intriguing trailer (and for Pete’s sake stop giving me the best moments of the film in the trailer. Once that happens I see no reason to see the film). No pop-up add has ever motivated me to attend a movie.

     Stop paying actors those absurdly high salaries. Get back into the business of movies, and keep the marketing department out of the filmmaking process. Only let the marketing team get involved after the film is finished. Why? Lots of films get ruined by the marketing team, trying to make the film appeal to a target demographic, and they ruin the story in the process.

     The audience is smart. They’ve been burned in the past with marketing hype. They know to wait for word of mouth nowadays. Release good stories and people will go to the movie theatre.

     Throw out coverage, and ask a very simple question of your readers. Would you pay $10 to see this movie in the theatre? If the answer is yes, move the script up the food chain. If the answer is no, toss the script out. That’s all you really need to know. The rest doesn’t really matter.

     Employ readers that match the target demographic. Readers tend to be young, in their twenties, and they choose films people in their twenties want to watch.

     And do me a favor, try not to ruin the movie that intersted the reader in the first place, by watering it down with a thousand rewrites by a bunch of different writers. Refer to the saying, to many cooks in the kitchen.

     Who’s releasing films that attract the thirty something, forty something, and older generation. Start early, baby boomers have a disposable income and enjoy movies. Start making films that appeal to them and are targeted to the baby boomer generation.

     Make more films, for less money. Instead of making one 50 million dollar film, make 10 films for 5 million dollars. Why? Because now you’ve got 10 chances to make back your money and not one.

     And accept that the way people watch movies is changing. I can get a great theatre experience in the comfort and privacy of my home for a couple thousand dollars today. That person who mentioned selling the DVD for $40 on the day of release, or a week or two later, has a point.

     Use your marketing dollars more effectively, and get your film out there. A lot of people wait for the DVD, simply because they don’t like theatres. And by the time the DVD is released they’ve forgotten about your marketing campaign. People who are going to see your film in the theatre are going to go. They want the big screen experience. But their are a bunch of people you are not going to get into the theatre no matter how much money you spend on marketing.

     Okay, I think I’m done. Thanks for reading.

     Comment by Dare — July 25, 2006 @ 11:13 pm

547. You are thinking about the movie business from only one perspective (ie we need greater attendance so we can make a respectable profit). The equation is more complicated than that. How about we need to cut costs in the movie business inorder to make a decent profit?
     Hollywood pays too much for its stars. HBO seems to have had some luck finding talent and not paying a premium. There must be other actors out there.
     Make better movies. Most of what is produced for general consumption is aimed at high school and college aged folks. There are many more people out there than that; probably with more money. You are too focussed on one segment of the population.
     Stop listening to hollywood people. Your list of advertisement venues is laughable.
     The movie business as we know it is dying. Get comfortable with that reality, you need to give the people something they can’t get at home.
     Stop thinking about movies and start thinking in terms of the movie complex & the big screen format. Think about what Survivor or that talent contest on Fox (I don’t watch much TV) did to network shows. Lower costs/larger audience/totally new idea. Maybe play something else on that big screen? I know up in New England people would definitely pay $15 for the opportunity to watch the Red Sox live with a 100 or so other fans in HD.
     Put attractions at the movies. Don’t just have a movie about Nemo, have Nemo there for all of the kids to get pics and autographs.
     I would guess that on average there is a 20% chance that if I go to the movies I will be annoyed by some idiot who has a different interpretation about what paying for a ticket entitles him to than I do. Get rid of that 20%. I pay gladly pay a $100 for a fun night out with my girl friend, the movie business could have that if they eliminated this issue. I go into a nice restaurant and I know they are going to manage things well enough to meet my expectations for the evening. Do you think the movie business thinks in those terms?
     That is enough for now, I have a good job; interesting question though. I would be glad to talk further.
     T

     Comment by Tim o'Connor — July 25, 2006 @ 11:29 pm

548. Why not offer a highly encrypted (for piracy’s sake) stream of the film, or portion of it for a limited time/audience on the net. Possibly a one-time only window only open for the duration of the film. A pre-survey would allow you to screen your demographics and also technological aspects so the film is seen in its most ideal setting for the web. It would be relatively cheap. You could also expand your pre-screening internationally to gauge how the film will play overseas. Too many preview screenings are done in large urban areas. Although there is a large sample size, the screenings are isolated to that particular coast (most notably LA). Other preview screenings are only reaching the more snobbish audience (film festivals and critics). It could even be offered in a contest format, or a preview screening where customers have to submit credit card info (allowing you to monitor potential piracy). I’m not a whiz technologically, but it seems that the internet would allow you to police this in some ways.

     Comment by Chad Fraise — July 25, 2006 @ 11:37 pm

549. Netflix meets Going to the Movies

     A) Offer a subscription based service that allows a certain number of movie visits for a set monthly fee:

     1 movie per month $6.50/month instead of $7.50 (at the movie theatre)
     2 movies per month $13/month instead of $15
     3 movies per month $19/month instead of $22.50
     4 movies per month $ 25/month instead of $30
     …

     This makes movies cheaper (which they should be) and completely shifts the movie visitor’s mentality: Instead of thinking, we’ll have to go and spend so much money they will think, we already spend the money so we better go see something. This will lead to better attendance and as a result improved word of mouth marketing and probably an increase in concession sales. The solution is also movie independent and will have a positive effect on the non-high-profile movies as visitors will go see movies that they didn’t hear much about or are only mildly interested in just to make sure they use their subscription to the full extent.

     B) Also offer 25-50% off concession purchases to customers and offer some kickbacks to the theaters for the discounts. This is a constant cause of irritation for visitors and would really ease up some minds …

     C) Also offer a “speed pass” type of system where movie visitors, who are subscribers, can bypass long lines by swiping their card at a terminal or by some other similarly fast method …

     D) Provide a central website where users can manage their subscription, make reservations to movies they want to see, rate movies and get recommendations by the automated systems and from their friends, read both professional and amateur reviews, watch trailers, obtain information about movies/actors … Something like Apple trailers meets IMBD meets Netflix meets Mark Cuban meets Myspace meets Yourspace meets Everybodies space.

     Hollaback,
     TK

     Comment by Tayfun K. — July 25, 2006 @ 11:44 pm

550. How about giving away free gifts? TV’s (plasmas), PC’s, playstation,furniture, a car…etc? Not to everyone but just do a random drawing for those who come to see the movie. When someone wins something they always tell their friends how they got it and people will go see movies more often to see the movie and hoping they have a chance to win that prize.

     Comment by Rod — July 26, 2006 @ 12:00 am

551. The biggest issue I have is the actual theaters. Here in Brooklyn we only have a handfull to choose from. Every time you go there’s cell phones going off, people talking etc. People rather wait for the DVD to come out and watch it at home. For $10 a ticket it isn’t worth the annoyance of others. You could probably get people to a theater more if you sold the DVD of the movie the same week it comes out. Then if you buy the DVD you get a half price ticket to another movie.

     Comment by Keith — July 26, 2006 @ 12:06 am

552. as the saying goes, you need to spend money to make money. As a former movie goer and intended target for your billion dollar question the answer is that theatres are working with a system that worked well for years but they failed to adapt with the technology trend of HD for starters. Why would I pay to go see a movie that looks like crap on the big screen cause the projectors in a majority of the theatres are sub par compaired to the experiance on any HD tv set
     you can buy today. Invest for the future and you will be rewarded I feel if you still want to make money on a bigger scale you have to spend on just as big of scale and turn the theatre experiance into some thing more similair to the comfort of a home theatre experiance.

     2nd, If you ask anyone their # one reason for hating the theatre experiance. 9 out of 10 will always say “annoying people”. Eliminate the annoyance. Alternate viewing schedules based on age groups. Let the high school kids watch the movies together while the regular adults can watch the movie in peace

     and Finally economics, with the rasing cost of actor salaries, Studio budgets and marketing campaigns it all hits the consumer. Shit 5 bucks for a freaking pop corn for gawd sakes!! 5 Bucks for a Coke need a say more!!

     I’ll stay home with my rented movie, and my microwave pop corn and can of coke and actually enjoy the movie.

     If you want to get people back in the movie theatre its going to take alternative thinking and its not going to be a multi million dollar marketing campaign. It comes back to dollars and cents. Make the experiance easier on the consumer, more enjoyable and more impressive and you got yourself a winner!!

     Maybe the idea of going to a theatre is something that is in the past. what studios need to accept is that people are done with that. It was good while it lasted but its 2006 people are selfish and want their own experiance. I think we are at a tech gap in what people want and what the studios will allow. In demand opening night Hd movies at home which wil eventually be a common thing are still just a dream. Millions of people are downloading illegal movies via the internet with crappy compression and are perfectly happy because its “on demand” to them.
     So the answer is not always as easy as getting people in the theatre because in my opinion the theatre experiance has been done and it is now time for something new. Its up to the studio’s to recognize it and make it happen or they can sit back and watch the world move on. The record industry understood the want for digital downloads and made that happen.

     Comment by sheldon — July 26, 2006 @ 12:21 am

553. There are way too many previous comments above for me to see if someone else got this exact same idea — but I would expand on the whole “28 days later” approach where they had the first X minutes online for you to watch. You still have to get someone to go to a site and watch it — instead, go the AOL approach and mail the first X minutes of the movie [up to some sort of cliffhanger] on dvd directly into people’s mailboxes at home.

     Comment by Terri W. — July 26, 2006 @ 12:43 am

554. Over here in Australia due to the ever increasing cos of petrol, large retailers are offering deals in which ‘spend $20 or more and receive a 4 cents per litre off your next fuel purchase at participating fuel stations’. Why not partner up with a chain of cinemas, a chain of grocery stores and our production house.

     I would bet my years income that if you had a deal along these lines ‘Spend $30 at and receive $5 off your next movie purchase.’
     No doubt you will get more and more people through the doors at the cinemas. These people will now be more likely to spend money at the cinema on lollies and all that kinda stuff.

     Comment by Jonathon Bates — July 26, 2006 @ 12:45 am

555. 1. Variable prices for showings like red-eye flights that get filled by cheapskates and insomniacs. Variate the price until it’s filled, yes that means $4.00 11pm Wednesday night showings

     2. Buy Ticket online with those variable prices. You are in a showing that you waited in line for because you saw the expensive commercial, and your buddy shows up, skips the line and paid less than you for the SAME SEAT. You will shop Fandango and buy variable priced tickets.

     Why would seat 3 at an afternoon show cost the same as the last seat? You can’t run variable pricing at the theater door, but the web makes it easy. Talk about your cheap dates.

     How do they know they want to see it in the first place? You still have to spend the money, but now you have butts in the chair and the venue is selling popcorn, or coffee or whatever to a full(er) house.

     -blue

     Comment by blue herring — July 26, 2006 @ 12:54 am

556. Most comments are traditional marketing based schlepping traditional movies.

     If you are hellbent on physical theaters then you need to look at leveraging your real estate. The majority of the day your theater is empty. Theater time is perishable. Like a restaurant that is only open 5-10pm. You have to jam alot of revenue in a short period of time. Focus on the free/found money renting out your theaters the rest of the day for business meetings. Have good projectors and video conferencing capabilities. Record the audio/video and powerpoints to a DVD and sell the DVD to the participants to take with them. This is especially for industry conferences where tons of info is disseminated and attendee burns out after 1/2 hour absorbing it. They can buy the DVD for later reference. Also, you are dealing w/ OPM. corporate money. Charging $25 for each DVD is worth it, not to mention the theatre rental fee. You can make alot of money catering food/drink as well. A corporate attendee will pay $4 for a starbucks, $15 for a drink, good sandwich, etc…

     Specific marketing for specific dayparts. Mothers day out during the day for a movie maybe lunch, manicure, babysitting. Gotta keep it fairly simple to execute. Can’t be in too many businesses at once.

     Why not open up kiosks or service opportunities to local vendors? Let them try concepts in your theater and pay you rent. Don’t think anyone in an ivory tower is going to come up w/ the grail. Open source.

     Why just show movies? Most of hollyweird is crap.

     Thousands of people pay 20-50 bucks for PPV sporting events. WWF, UFC, WBF, NASCAR Sunday Afternoons. Why not an NFL Sunday? Nobody has seen sports on a huge screen. Many would love a huge screen w/ killer sound for these events for the price of a theater ticket. 8 bucks is alot cheaper than 20-50 bucks. I doubt most people who buy PPV have more than a couple people over to split the cost anyway.

     Live simulcast concerts. Many concerts are on weeknights. What a great way to fill up the week and crank up a killer surround sound theater w/ HD screen. Big bands like U2 only play the largest of venues….the sound sucks. I’d rather watch U2 in HD w/ killer sound engineered for a theater. Plus popular bands obviously miss thousands of cities on their tours that could be plugged in a Live Simulcast. Hardcore fans will also want to see every single concert if they could afford to travel. (Deadheads, Phish). Certain bands could fill a theater up for every concert of their tour as they have different song lists and covers each nite. Tie in band Merch in the lobby and sell the live DVD as they go out the door. (moving records/immediatek tie in)

     Upgrade the food. Theater food is crap. Charge me a dollar extra and give me real butter dammit!!! How about real gourmet coffee and high end desserts? Movies are supposed to be a treat out of everyday life. Not an overpriced coke and snicker bar. Get some chefs in there doing appetizers/desserts/wine bar.

     A theatre has to be much better atmosphere or significantly different than my home theater. A VIP section w/ recliners and advanced seating.

     Comment by Steven — July 26, 2006 @ 1:11 am

557. Just make a sequel to Snakes On A Plane and all will be well with the world.

     Comment by Skeptic — July 26, 2006 @ 1:18 am

558. Some thoughts on this topic posted at http://www.ghazizadeh.org/shayan/2006/07/the-problem-marketing-only-post-production/.

     Comment by Shayan — July 26, 2006 @ 1:47 am

559. I have a simple and feasable idea for cutting down on advertising costs and getting more people to see movies that does not involve any scam sounding methods.

     The idea is to make deals with different colleges around the country and get these colleges to put on a limited amount of free showings (maybe only one or two) of the movie before it comes out.

     Colleges will love the idea. They are always trying to sponsor and promote cultural and fun activities, especially ones that do not involve drinking. Plus every college already has an auditorium or theatre that is already set up for this.

     Once these college students see the movie, word will spread, not only around campuses, but all over the country.

     Comment by Jeffrey Olson — July 26, 2006 @ 1:47 am

560. I think you should play Four Eyed Monsters in your theater chain. I know so much money is made by only playing the blockbuster flicks, but I don’t think you would be harmed in the least if you started showing some love to the independant scene too. Independant films are much better in my opinion because they are incredibly low budget and are, by this, forced to be either really good, or really bad. I’ve been watching Four Eyed Monsters’ video podcast for nearly a year. I’m so excited about the release of the movie. I do not know if you even have theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area, but if you do, I would most certainly ensure to do my part to bring people to the screening. I mean, i’m down for these guys…they are an incredible source of real entertainment for me. I want to see them succeed. I want you to help them. Please?

     Comment by Aharon Morris — July 26, 2006 @ 2:16 am

561. EARNED ADVERTISING.

     Two options. 1) Pay exorbitant sums to have the same stale shit shilled and go head to head with the thousands of ads A DAY the average person is subjected to. 2) Prey on existing interest.

     It’s telling you to go from A to B by going from A to B, so I’d better clarify.

     There are three established ways of guarantying turnout. 1) Names. 2) Franchise. (People go to McDonalds for the same cheeseburger, the same experiance, every time. People also go to James Bonds for a consistent experiance.) 3) Attention, buzz. Of the three, buzz has the most room for innovation.

     Mel Gibson’s P.O.T.C. was one of the most profitable films ever because he exploited an existing audience: Christian America. Rather than worry about making his film a “great film,” he made a film that sold itself by being interesting to its potential audience.

     Goebbels, in his Propoganda Principles, said some useful things. Among them:

     “c. [The Propogandist] must oversee other agencies’ activities which have propaganda consequences

     “3. The propaganda consequences of an action must be considered in planning that action.

     “4. Propaganda must affect the enemy’s policy and action.”

     Viewing movies in a strictly commercial sense, MOVIES ARE PROPOGANDA. They exist to be 1) Sold. (#4) and 2) Elicit the desired emotive responses; thereby making them a better product, and thus, sell better. (also #4)

     !!!!! To get people up, off their asses and to the theatre so they can spend $15 a person–you don’t necessarily need to make “great movies” (thought 2929′s got that covered) or “own the theatres/change the theatrical experiance” (Landmark)–you need to make Great Films that come with an audience sizable enough to help provoke the blockbuster effect, a positive-feedback loop.

     To combat piracy, DVD’s, budget theatres and the rest–many movies, especially those garnering lots of media attention and/or relevant to recent events–could have a sense of immediacy. A social aspect whereby one is ill-informed and apathetic to have not seen it.

     Some examples:

     Rumsfeld, the C.I.A. and every idealogue and pundit has been moaning and bitching for ages over the loss of the “War of Ideas.” That there is a blank check to half of every American tax dollar in the form of D.O.D. contracts and “philanthropic” funding from God knows where.

     Syriana (public policy message movie) meets Passion Of The Christ and is shockingly intense, overtly political, funded through a far-removed subsidiary.

     Veterans movie showing the inhumanity of war, etc etc, mandatory doping (Benzedrine, etc), acceptable loss calculation, Gulf War Syndrome and all the rest.

     PRODUCTION.

     The problem then, is to merge the commercial and artistic elements to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

     My mother has worked for unions most of my childhood and adolescence to date; and my step-father has only ever had union, startup, and temporary jobs (I repeat myself). Having the experiance I have, having seen the things I’ve seen, my first labor-related word of advice is to BUST THE SHIT OUT OF THE UNIONS. While the notion of collective bargaining is certainly noble, every union I’ve ever seen has been offensive to my Objectivist’s morality. For whatever reason, I doubt Hollywood or Toronto does much to tame the beast.

     Sencondly, POOR PEOPLE ARE AGAINST TAXING THE RICH. The creatives preffer the one-off system, and not because it favors them. Poor people, your artiste, harbor the fantasy (deeply held conviction?) that they too will one day be rich. They won’t sign a five film contract for $1m a picture because they beleive, deep down, they’ll be making $20m a picture by the fourth. FORCE IT DOWN THEIR THROATS.

     !!!!! Tame the market. Impose the order. Create a (creative, flavorful) consistency in quality. Create a wardrobing FACTORY, music FACTORY, digital editing FACTORY. Not a team, a commitee (distinction without difference), but a Machine. The Machine has got to bring the creative efforts of your creative geniuses toward a single, unified aim without stifling it or forcing conflict between them.

     Just take a look at how the creative class organizes itself when it decides for itself. thousandmonkeys.com – google.com – Ideo. Give them a respectable, middle-class six-figure salary, a hip locale, perks, freedom, and each other and they’re sure to make music.

     There. You’ve just killed the movie-making middle’s ambition AND maintained quality.

     My father sent me the link this afternoon and told me to consider a “summer job.” If any of this is of any use to you I’d be happy to write more.

     I’m 15, a homeschooled sophmore fluent in Mandarin, and living in Madison, Wisconsin.

     Comment by William Patrick Hill-Dixon — July 26, 2006 @ 2:18 am

562. Mark,

     You need to make going to the theater a new experience. People are bored with the conventional movie experience. I mean with HDTV sets and home theater sound people can recreate a high quality theater at home.

     What you need are “ride movies” like they have in Las Vegas. The seats have hydraulic lifts and tilts timed with the action of the movie to make you feel as though you are flying through the movie and it really works.

     I think they also use 3D glasses of some kind. The feeling is much more immersive than just watching a static screen.

     I think this technology could be incorporated into normal movies, well at least action movies. This will make the movie more of an experience rather than just watching a big TV.

     You could market the theater as an immersive experience you can’t get at home. Then people will have a legimate reason to go to the theater again. Of course good movies will help too.

     Comment by Alan Hopkins — July 26, 2006 @ 2:18 am

563. EARNED ADVERTISING.

     Two options. 1) Pay exorbitant sums to have the same stale shit shilled and go head to head with the thousands of ads A DAY the average person is subjected to. 2) Prey on existing interest.

     It’s telling you to go from A to B by going from A to B, so I’d better clarify.

     There are three established ways of guarantying turnout. 1) Names. 2) Franchise. (People go to McDonalds for the same cheeseburger, the same experiance, every time. People also go to James Bonds for a consistent experiance.) 3) Attention, buzz. Of the three, buzz has the most room for innovation.

     Mel Gibson’s P.O.T.C. was one of the most profitable films ever because he exploited an existing audience: Christian America. Rather than worry about making his film a “great film,” he made a film that sold itself by being interesting to its potential audience.

     Goebbels, in his Propoganda Principles, said some useful things. Among them:

     “c. [The Propogandist] must oversee other agencies’ activities which have propaganda consequences

     “3. The propaganda consequences of an action must be considered in planning that action.

     “4. Propaganda must affect the enemy’s policy and action.”

     Viewing movies in a strictly commercial sense, MOVIES ARE PROPOGANDA. They exist to be 1) Sold. (#4) and 2) Elicit the desired emotive responses; thereby making them a better product, and thus, sell better. (also #4)

     !!!!! To get people up, off their asses and to the theatre so they can spend $15 a person–you don’t necessarily need to make “great movies” (thought 2929′s got that covered) or “own the theatres/change the theatrical experiance” (Landmark)–you need to make Great Films that come with an audience sizable enough to help provoke the blockbuster effect, a positive-feedback loop.

     To combat piracy, DVD’s, budget theatres and the rest–many movies, especially those garnering lots of media attention and/or relevant to recent events–could have a sense of immediacy. A social aspect whereby one is ill-informed and apathetic to have not seen it.

     Some examples:

     Rumsfeld, the C.I.A. and every idealogue and pundit has been moaning and bitching for ages over the loss of the “War of Ideas.” That there is a blank check to half of every American tax dollar in the form of D.O.D. contracts and “philanthropic” funding from God knows where.

     Syriana (public policy message movie) meets Passion Of The Christ and is shockingly intense, overtly political, funded through a far-removed subsidiary.

     Veterans movie showing the inhumanity of war, etc etc, mandatory doping (Benzedrine, etc), acceptable loss calculation, Gulf War Syndrome and all the rest.

     PRODUCTION.

     The problem then, is to merge the commercial and artistic elements to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

     My mother has worked for unions most of my childhood and adolescence to date; and my step-father has only ever had union, startup, and temporary jobs (I repeat myself). Having the experiance I have, having seen the things I’ve seen, my first labor-related word of advice is to BUST THE SHIT OUT OF THE UNIONS. While the notion of collective bargaining is certainly noble, every union I’ve ever seen has been offensive to my Objectivist’s morality. For whatever reason, I doubt Hollywood or Toronto does much to tame the beast.

     Sencondly, POOR PEOPLE ARE AGAINST TAXING THE RICH. The creatives preffer the one-off system, and not because it favors them. Poor people, your artiste, harbor the fantasy (deeply held conviction?) that they too will one day be rich. They won’t sign a five film contract for $1m a picture because they beleive, deep down, they’ll be making $20m a picture by the fourth. FORCE IT DOWN THEIR THROATS.

     !!!!! Tame the market. Impose the order. Create a (creative, flavorful) consistency in quality. Create a wardrobing FACTORY, music FACTORY, digital editing FACTORY. Not a team, a commitee (distinction without difference), but a Machine. The Machine has got to bring the creative efforts of your creative geniuses toward a single, unified aim without stifling it or forcing conflict between them.

     Just take a look at how the creative class organizes itself when it decides for itself. thousandmonkeys.com – google.com – Ideo. Give them a respectable, middle-class six-figure salary, a hip locale, perks, freedom, and each other and they’re sure to make music.

     There. You’ve just killed the movie-making middle’s ambition AND maintained quality.

     My father sent me the link this afternoon and told me to consider a “summer job.” If any of this is of any use to you I’d be happy to write more.

     I’m 15, a homeschooled sophmore fluent in Mandarin, and living in Madison, Wisconsin.

     Comment by William Patrick Hill-Dixon — July 26, 2006 @ 2:29 am

564. I want to see movies that have soul. I want to see a movie that does not have a happy ending or an astronomical budget. I want to see something real. Something made by an artist, not a business man.

     Comment by Thomas Wurst — July 26, 2006 @ 2:33 am

565. Sorry-the multiple postings were an accident.

     Comment by William Patrick Hill-Dixon — July 26, 2006 @ 3:10 am

566. Unfortunately Mark, it appears most contributors here have completely misunderstood your challenge. You’re looking for a better marketing model, while most solutions here have addressed the theatre experience, something you have little to no control over.

     I’m e-mailing the solution to you in the next few minutes.

     Best,
     George

     Comment by George Agora — July 26, 2006 @ 3:25 am

567. Unfortunately Mark, it appears most contributors here have completely misunderstood your challenge. You’re looking for a better marketing model, while most solutions here have addressed the theatre experience, something you have little to no control over.

     I’m e-mailing the solution to you in the next few minutes.

     Best,
     George

     Comment by George Agora — July 26, 2006 @ 3:26 am

568. Gift cards. Positive cash flow of days, weeks, months! Stats show 10% of the things aren’t even redeemed! Do the math. Pay a commission on gift card sales to theater employees or affiliate marketers. It’s a good generic gift for us lazy people who won’t take the time to buy a specific gift.

     Gift card kiosks in the lobby, right outside the theater doors, in local businesses. Gift card kiosk at Hallmark/CVS/where ever greeting cards are sold. Make their stop at the card store one stop shopping.

     Gift cards would be excellent for the fundraising industry. Think of how many cards the little rugrats could sell knocking on doors. It’s a universal gift for everyone. Better than buying $1.00 giftwrap for $18 bucks.

     Don’t hire me. Pay me a small commission on each card sold

     Comment by Steven — July 26, 2006 @ 3:32 am

569. It’s been a few hours and I’ve more and better ideas.

     Dad once said that a product needs one, and only one thing — Advantage. Your films don’t exist in a vacuum. You’re not competing with Shakespeare. You’re selling something BETTER or something DIFFERENT than what the other guy’s selling.

     Sorry to tell you your business, but it’s going somewhere. I promise.

     The above assumes the viewer in question is looking to spend his Big Date, his Friday night, the sweat off his very brow on a movie to begin with. Laptops, home theatres, and recreating the movie-date aside, it’s a safe assumption.

     Now, most of your responses so far, including a large portion of my earlier post, suggest you improve the movies and/or the theatre or offer marginal savings on something someone doesn’t need and won’t be bothered to get off his ass for in the first place. These suggestions would be what you termed “incremental,” mostly useless, and entirely unoriginal.

     While removing the ads, most of the trailers, and euthanizing teens would all be fine and dandy — what’s needed is to make the movie MORE THAN A MOVIE. Something TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

     (It’s not needed so much as it will make whoever realizes it a lot of money)

     We know where we are, now know where we’re going, and can finally choose our route.

     Offend and affirm? (Passion of The Christ, Da Vinci Code, Syriana, anything by M. Moore)
     Sure. But it’s still JUST A MOVIE.

     Innovative, thought provoking plot, ideas and message? (Run, Lola, Run; Matrix [?]; A Scanner Darkly)
     Sure. Whilst a very good movie, it’s still JUST A MOVIE.

     Moving seats and 3D glasses? (museum IMAX, 3-8 crowd)
     And put every seat in every theatre on pistons and half the lawyers in America on retainer?

     !!!!! What I propose, among other things, is to look to Fascism, “stars,” cults and movies with a so-called “cult” following.

     Triumph of The Will, “Bradjelina,” Aum Shinrikyo, Rocky Horror Picture Show.

     Say, a series of 1h-ish productions following a narrative and released at an interval of 3 a year. Big Brother meets Brad Pitt. Total ideology. Voids filled.

     Give the people that need it a world were they make the rules, where their life is their own — a la Star Wars.

     Seeing what sticks and happy to (try and) be of service.

     Comment by William Patrick Hill-Dixon — July 26, 2006 @ 5:30 am

570. Mark,there are so many posts,it hard to open this page and seems should be display in more pages.

     Comment by green tea fan — July 26, 2006 @ 8:28 am

571. Find a charity that will work with you. Offer them a payscale percentage of the profits and let them advertise the movie for you.

     Good luck!

     Comment by Shann — July 26, 2006 @ 9:08 am

572. Most of us don’t have a problem paying $12 bucks to see a movie. Especially with the lack of overall entertainment today coupled with the high cost of sporting events etc.

     The real problem is the inconvenience / annoyance factor with seeing a movie today. Theatres could go along way by simply doing a few creative things to get us back to the theatre.

     1. Designate a few theatres as adult only. And by adult I mean over the age of 25. If you have been to a movie recently this is self explanatory.
     2. Sell movie subscription passes. I don’t want to have to wait in line! You can pay either a monthly or yearly subscription at varying levels / price points.
     3. Sell beer / wine and food. Waiters and waitresses would be nice too.
     4. Free valet parking.

     These are just a few inexpensive things that could be done to improve the movie going ‘experience’ again.

     Comment by Thomas — July 26, 2006 @ 9:08 am

573. Look at other media. Look what Oprah’s book club has done for sales of book’s she endorses. How about partnering with Oprah to form a movie club, or find another trusted celebrity to host similar show. You slip them exclusive clips in advance of release to tempt viewers. You have Oprah (or Oprah substitute) assign that movie as her choice for the month. On a follow-up show, say one week after opening, the movie is thoroughly dissected and discussed on her show by a panel of lucky viewers chosen either a) by lottery, or b) based on insight’s they submitted on a web submission form. It makes the people feel involved, they have a chance to appear on TV. She has a huge amount of sway, as evidencd by her book club. I think a similar idea could work incredibly for movies.

     Comment by Scott — July 26, 2006 @ 9:10 am

574. I think that if you were to add some different types of movies you showed at your theaters once a week or once a month and maybe made a theme out of it you could really attract a good crowd of people. I recently saw Four Eyed Monsters and was really impressed with the style of this film. It is nice to wak into a theater and see something fresh. All movie houses should keep one screen reserved for something thats not crap!!!!

     Comment by Dana Schulman — July 26, 2006 @ 9:36 am

575. Hi Mark,

     Here is my families problem with going to see a movie. It kinda sums up the inherent difficulties. We have three young children, ages 5.5, 4, and 2.5, so to go to a movie requires a lot of additional things.

     For example, my wife and I went to see Pirates of the Carribbean on the opening weekend. It’s not really a movie for our kids, so we needed a sitter ($10/hour). And since we were already going out, we went out for dinner as well ($50 for a nice dinner for 2). Then we got the movie tickets ($20), and 2 cokes and a popcorn ($15). In the 5 hours we were out, we spent $135 to go see that movie. That’s a lot more than just the price of the tickets, and we only have memories of it – nothing physical is taken away.

     Another movie as an example – We took the kids to see Cars as a family. This one was a bit less expensive, as we went to kid-friendly McDonalds for lunch ($25), then went to see the matinee ($40). We had cokes, popcorn and a bag of skittles ($18). So for this one, we spent $83 for the movie, and the kids at least got a ‘Cars’ toy from their happy meals.

     Two movies seen, $218 spent. For a typical family, that about blows an entire months entertainment expense. The solution to the marketing needs of movie and theatres is in finding a way to reduce the total cost of the experience for a family. Can a theatre provide day care? It might not be as crazy as it sounds. Putting together a promotional package with a local restaurant for “dinner and a movie” with a discount to buy both as a package would also help. Heck, for the type of movies my family saw, why couldn’t tickets be sold at a discount at McDonalds as part of a meal purchase? Combining the two and offering a discount as part of the package would definitely help drive up sales for both the restaurant and the theatre.

     The second way is to provide something of value that the customer comes away with when they leave the movie. Maybe that’s a movie poster, a lithograph, a figurine, a toy, but it needs to be something that they can’t buy elsewhere that they may find to be of value. If McDonalds can give my kids a toy as part of their $3 happy meal, then this should be do-able for a movie release with limited economic impact to the movie.

     I liked your prior idea about giving movie-goers a copy of the DVD with their theatre experience. To me, that seems like a great idea – not only do you get to see the movie in the theatre, but you get to keep the movie and re-watch it at your leisure. For that type of package, most theatre goers would likely be willing to pay more than the usual price.

     In either case, the promotion of the movie needs to describe these items as being part of the movie experience. If people don’t know about the tie-ins and the available deals, they won’t go for it. So the advertising of the movies need to change – slightly less detail on the contents of the film, and more info about the tie-in offers. The cost would be defrayed by the partners as it offers them advertising as well.

     It’s about offering value to the consumer. When I can buy a new release DVD in 5 months for $15, it takes a lot to convince me to spend between $85 and $135 to go see the same movie in the theatre.

     Comment by Jeff Milton — July 26, 2006 @ 9:49 am

576. Write me and I’ll give you my number and we can chat.

     DW

     Comment by Dubya — July 26, 2006 @ 9:53 am

577. Mark-
     You have all the answers you need above – but the simple fact is- going to the movies will not survive- not with gas over $3 a gallon, not with high ticket prices compared to renting, not with VOD delivery, not with kids screaming in the theater and not with $6 popcorn. The question is how to market movies- which is the same problem as how to market TV shows in a VOD universe.
     If you are serious about hiring someone to solve the problem- read our topic “thoughts on TV” http://www.thenextwave.biz/tnw/?cat=3.
     There is a market to sell movies- the way they are sold today is not the way they will be sold in the future, but- they will also be made differently- by more people. The real revenue stream will be through a site like iTunes, or an Amazon.com type delivery tool- and to the content producer- no one else.
     You can hire The Next Wave to solve your strategic thinking problems- and give you the answers you seek-
     For $1000 we’ll take the 568 answers above and give you something worthwhile-
     and btw – consider switching blog platforms to WordPress- or test your site with Firefox on a mac- it’s a little hinky.

     Comment by David Esrati — July 26, 2006 @ 9:53 am

578. Your comments: Blah, blah, blah… Let’s try some proven and innovative ideas:
     - Make movies in 3-D
     - Make movies electronically interactive in the movie theater (similar to how “Choose Your Own Adventure” books work); majority rules with the audience
     - Have a portion of each ticket go to a particular charity
     - How about some sort of ticket “pyramid scheme” offer (You get 4 people to go on another night, you get a refund of your ticket…)
     - Make theaters with live “feedback simulators” similar to movie “rides” at theme parks
     - Have direct educational tie-ins so classes from schools can attend; if schools / classes deem it appropriate to see, THEY will do a lot of advertising for you

     Comment by Ryan — July 26, 2006 @ 10:02 am

579. I haven’t been to the theater in over a year. A new baby, high gas prices and bad movies are all a factor. I love movies too, I studied film and used to write reviews. My view on movies is the sames as season tickets for the Suns. We bought a plasma because that investment is the same price as season tickets. We can watch a beautiful picture but we don’t have to leave our house. We love Netflix and the DVR. Many families are using these technologies and spending their family recreation time on low cost, high reward activities. I think the solution is what Soderbergh (fav director) is doing. Simultaneous release. Release quality films this way. Most families I know, especially poorer ones- own at least one bootleg. To a large portion of the population, it’s not worth it to see expensive movies. Sex, libraries and parks are free.

     Comment by Jearold Hersey — July 26, 2006 @ 10:05 am

580. I think a good idea would be to create your own chain of movie theaters. Cut out the middle man. Make it a fun place to go. Going to the movies used to be an experience… It’s lost it’s pizazz. Going to the new hottest movie is an inconvenience now. Create a theater that caters to all types of groups. Parents: create a daycare center for kids. You pay some local person 10 dollars an hour to babysit. You get parents into the movies and they will gladly pay the 10-12 dollars per ticket if they can go and see a movie with out having to pay some kid down the street 40 bucks for the night. Set up a “Fun center” for the daycare and kids will love for their parents to go to the movies because it means fun time for them too. Charge the parents 5 dollars per kid. Make money not only on the movie but the daycare as well. It means no movie with some “kid” crying his head off(which is a big reason why i hear people complain about going to the movies). Allow parents to have a date night meaning: Dinner and a movie all in the same place, and i’m not talking cheesy concession stand food. I’m talking pick one room in the theater and switch the movies once evey two weeks. In this room you can have every other row taken out with a table in between rows. Make it classy. Romantic. A place where new couples can talk and old couples can dine. Waiter etc… Allow parents to drop their kids off at the “complementary” Sitter if they are going to see this “date night” movie. Charge them the 10-12 a ticket. Plus they can buy and order a nice meal with their movie. Make it an experience for people. It’s like medieval times… The show really isn’t that good but people keep going back, because of the ambiance. They can get a show, food, and something for their kids. Teens: put in an arcade, and have a teen night. No alchol on the premises those nights (make it something parents will feel safe just dropping off their kids for a 5 or 6 hours.) You charge 25-30 bucks and on those promotional nights, The kids get to pick the movie they want to see and play unlimited video games. Higher spending clients: Have a section in the middle ropped off 20 dollars a ticket and you get a guaranteed seat in the middle of this movie. Don’t have to worry about the wait or crowd, come as you please; that seat is yours. Call it the BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE… Average Joe: drop the ticket price 6-8 bucks. You make up the revenue in all of the other areas. Food sales, parents paying for convenience, daycare, gift cards. This world is made up of working class people and when we work we have enough stress. So something enjoyable (like going to the movies) shouldn’t be a stressful chore. Gift cards sales for this place would be crazy. Parents buying for kids. Mothers day, and fathers day presents. Do college nights once a month. You get the student discount and no one under 18 is allowed in the theater that night. They will play video games too and eat and drink and then watch a movie. If one thing is true everyone is a kid inside and you can appeal to that by allowing young adults to have some fun and be “kids” again. The approach to this should be creating an experience. Just like a Mavs game. People love to go to mavs game because of the experience, yes they are there to see a game (people are at the theater to see a movie) but they come back again and again for the experience. Senior Citizens: I find alot of sr. citizens avoid the movies all together because of the crowd etc… Have a Sr. Citizens night. No one under 60 gets into the theater. Make it an easy experience for them to enjoy. PT Barnum said, “there’s a customer born every minute.” That doesn’t mean forget about everyone else. I come from a very entrepreneurial family, so i understand hard work and i understand value and most people in this world are the same. They work hard and they make money to provide a better life for themselves and their families. So all i’m saying is give them a little more bang for their buck. Even if they walk out and say, “that movie sucked!!!” They will still think, “but that place was fun.”

     Comment by Matt Jones — July 26, 2006 @ 10:10 am

581. Mark!!!! Ok hi.

     your log is amazing. thanks for being to open and honest.

     Please check out http://www.foureyedmonsters.com

     Arin and Susan have created something unseen by the industry, and I think we all can learn something from what they have done. They currently have tens of thousands of zip codes gathers from all over the US and International from people who want to see the film.

     I think it’s this kind of grass roots activities that will actually get people out to see the movies.

     I met them at Sundance 2004. They have a great film that is worth seeing and promoting.

     Check out what they have going on their site and on their myspace. http://www.myspace.com/foureyedmonsters.com

     Comment by Mike Hedge — July 26, 2006 @ 10:15 am

582. The problem is not figuring out how to get people out of the house to see a film. In today’s feed-them-1400-calorie-burgers-until-they-die-of-heart-attacks lifestyle, we should be encouraging people to leave the house to exercise, not to sit on their asses for another two hours. Americans already do enough sitting on their asses in front of display devices.

     The problem is the ACCESS to the film. Why should we expect – or encourage – people to physically leave the house to see a film? Just so a local theatre can make money on stale popcorn? The last thing a film lover wants to see is a long-awaited film amidst yacking kids chomping on licorice and kicking the seat. Enough of the “movie-theatre” already; we’re beyond that.

     Why are Chautauquas extinct? Why is Vaudeville extinct? Why are radio dramas extinct? Why are drive-in theatres extinct? Why are CDs extinct? Why are drive-in restaurants extinct? Why are movie theatres going to be extinct? Because something better came along.

     Again, the problem is not getting people to leave the house. The problem is the distribution method of the film. With cellphone ring tones pulling in billions, with little or no effort, there is no reason why films can’t do the same. All we have to do is provide the ACCESS. Why can’t I download a film to my iTunes library? Why can’t I download a film to my cellphone? Why can’t I buy a film on an SD card? Yeah, yeah, yeah, the resolution issue… With compression and storage advancements, that argument goes away.

     Technology changes the way we consume communication and media. Technology affords us better options. Don’t fret that people won’t leave the house, embrace it. This is an opportunity create your own “movie theatre,” only portable.

     Look at what http://www.live.com, iTunes, and cell phones are doing. THAT is ACCESS. THAT is DISTRIBUTION.

     Comment by jleethompson — July 26, 2006 @ 10:18 am

583. I agree with Kurt Mackey and Matthew Dinan. My wife and I don’t attend movies anymore–we’ve seen one movie at a theatre in the last year and a half; why bother when we’ve got Netflix and TiVo? But if we had something like a McMenamin’s, we might be more likely to go out with friends and make an evening event of it, with food and drink. But note that McMenamin’s goes further than just a theater that serves food and drink, it creates a larger venue to hang out in before and after a movie, with multiple bars, restaurants, live music venues, and even hotel rooms.

     Comment by Jim Lippard — July 26, 2006 @ 10:21 am

584. Three suggestions for promoting new movies to bolster sales of tickets:

     1. Advertise on bodies. This would be most effective on bodies that frequent the beaches. Use neon paints for daytime advertising and glow-in-the-dark paints for ads after dark.

     2. Project the name of the movie along with a short trailer over water. Have the name of the movie rise up out of the water, followed by the trailer. Not only will you increase interest in the film, you will likely convert a few religious fanatics to following your flick instead of the God of their choice.

     3. Project the name/trailer into the nighttime sky from the top of the tallest buildings in major cities.

     Comment by Mary Ann Phillips — July 26, 2006 @ 10:27 am

585. Three suggestions for promoting new movies to bolster sales of tickets:

     1. Advertise on bodies. This would be most effective on bodies that frequent the beaches. Use neon paints for daytime advertising and glow-in-the-dark paints for ads after dark.

     2. Project the name of the movie along with a short trailer over water. Have the name of the movie rise up out of the water, followed by the trailer. Not only will you increase interest in the film, you will likely convert a few religious fanatics to following your flick instead of the God of their choice.

     3. Project the name/trailer into the nighttime sky from the top of the tallest buildings in major cities.

     Comment by Mary Ann Phillips — July 26, 2006 @ 10:29 am

586. This idea is THE ONE:
     People love seeing outtakes and behind the scenes footage of movies once they are released… how about a reality TV show that either is a “contest” or documentary about the entire production of a movie from top to bottom? You could have the TV audience vote on decisions, casting, story, etc. The best part is, you build an audience during the TV season, OTHER advertisers pay you to advertise on your show (during commercials) while you are inherently advertising your movie, and then you release the movie after the final episode while interest is peaked. This show could involve celebrities or “Joe Schmoe’s” to be in the movie. In the end you should MAKE MONEY on your advertising for the movie while driving more people into the theater. For added fun, you could add a big TWIST in the movie that nobody saw coming, just like you probably would want to do in the TV show. This idea is GOLD!

     Comment by Ryan — July 26, 2006 @ 10:29 am

587. Its a 3 step rehab program for making & marketing a GOOD movie:

     1. Before the movie comes out:
     Get people involved early on – let us look under the hood w/blogs, webcams – real conversations with the people making the film. Its not a national secret, its a movie!

     2. During the movie:
     Real-time reviews (people don’t really turn off their phones, just the ringer)
     Ringtone quotes – hear a good line? Download it via wifi right after the movie for FREE.

     3. After the movie:
     Share your review & ringtones w/others. If they go see it based on your review you get a reward/discount. Throw a podcast on the ‘review board’ for friends to hear, share your experience.

     FINAL ANSWER
     Get viewers involved early, make it more interactive and let us share that experience.

     Comment by Miles Sims — July 26, 2006 @ 10:34 am

588. I would like to see Four Eyed Monsters in your theaters!

     Comment by Kieran Thompson — July 26, 2006 @ 10:34 am

589. Instead of boring old trailers and making of, how about putting the first 10 minutes of your movie on the official website? Nothing says “I’m confident about my movie” like showing part of it for free. Or even better, a little 15 minute prequel film that gets you into the world of the film.

     What about short films and cartoons? Back in the Golden Age, it was typical to go to the theater, see a short, a cartoon, and an episode of a serial before your flick. I know that could affect start times of the movie, but sometimes when I go to a Pixar flick, I enjoy the short more than the movie.

     What about rereleases? Especially if the sequel is out. When my fiancee and I went to see Pirates, at least 15 people had a PSP or portable DVD player with the first pirates. So why not do a double-feature bill? The previous movie and the sequel for $15 a ticket. Plus, you’ve got people in the theater for a longer time to spend money on concessions.

     My girlfriend and I often skip concessions, because we go to dinner first. But movie taverns are becoming much more popular. The Studio Movie Grill in Plano’s a great example of this concept done right, as is the movie tavern in Bedford. The theater definitely recoups their money on concessions, so why not negotiate a better rate for the studio at these locations?

     Comment by TJ — July 26, 2006 @ 10:53 am

590. Maybe I have been thinking about this too much:

     The theater business is centered around the release of the film. Change that.

     The big event should happen, and the theater is a great place to be for it to happen.

     This is where the work comes in:
     Finding the event that applys to the groups that would come. Have you ever tried to go bowling? You can’t just show up, because it is league night and you can’t just mess that up.

     Why should a couple go on a specific night? That is the real question that should be addressed.

     Going with the bowling analogy (I am not a bowler) but you have a league, you go weekly, the best part is you go with a group. You know them, they know you it is a fun evening. When someone can’t make it, you have to find a replacement.

     When they show up, they are part of a club, and get the alley with like-minded people. The annoying kids get a back alley, and the ‘rookies’ either get 2nd class citizenship, or go have to come back when it is thier time.

     How do I get something worthwhile on my schedule? If I get tickets to a basketball game, I will show up. If I was able to go any night I wanted, I wouldn’t go because my dialy life takes up too much time to do anything not scheduled.

     Now how do you create that event type atmosphere? This is where you have the ability to hit the different niche markets. Each market is marketed differently, and will attract different crowds. Different crowds have different needs (You know all that, and have the marking ability to hit those niches once you define your markets)

     But the key is being different things at different times. Those scheduled events allow that, not movie releases.

     Mike

     Comment by Mike — July 26, 2006 @ 10:55 am

591. M,

     I think the big way to do this would be involve the education system.

     1) Make the movies an educational experience. Provide study guides for the teachers along with promo material. Give them enough passes so the kids in the class could see the movies for free and then do a report or discussion or something on them. You could also include promo material. Of course this would not work for all movies.

     2) Give passes to schools to give to kids that deserve a reward for something.

     3) Do school foundraisers the kids sell the tickets the school gets a kickback. I mean how many people wouldnt’t buy a ticket to help the education system in this country.

     Higher Education

     1) Same as above

     2) Get street teams of students to promote the movies give them kickbacks for tickets they sell.

     I think overall the fundraising thing and making movies more of an eductional experience are the biggest things. Also, the general population would get more repect for the movie industry was really helping the education system.

     Other ideas, do advance sales of the DVD at the theatres with a big savings. So if people liked the movie they can buy it right after they see it.

     Really market to women do more promos with Dept. stores and other places women shop.

     Comment by Eric — July 26, 2006 @ 11:05 am

592. I stopped reading after post 100 or so, so I might be stating the obvious.

     I have a very nice home theater system. Just to name some items, Stewart 92″ 130 Studiotech screen, Lexicon MC8, Dwin TV3, and 7.1 surround via L7 with an SVS CS ultra subwoofer. This experience is 100x better than in most of the theaters I go to. Film is an antiquated medium for distribution. How many times do you go see a movie and you notice scratches or the audio drops out. Digital is the way to go. Digital is coming very close to even the best analog mediums. Now with HD in the home there is even less reason to go out.

     Update your distribution to reduce costs: Go all digital, make a private intranet amoung your theaters to distribute the film. Upfront costs will be high, but like many business, write it off and it’ll pay off in a few years. This will enable you to show movies over and over again without any degredation in quality, increasing the experience, and reduce the TCO to you.

     Bring that same distribution into the homes. Now that you have the infrastructure set up, I’d gladly put one of your boxes into my home to watch either a new movie or something recent on demand and either pay a subscription or per-movie basis for HD quality. This won’t be an everybody has it thing now but with more HD sets and HDCP compatible displays, copy protection shouldn’t be an issue.

     You can’t deny the popularity of Netflix. People want to watch movies in their homes and alot of people spend alot of money buying home theaters.

     I know this has been done before…but have a reservation system for first run movies. I’d love to pre-order good seats for a certain time if it were available. Offer them at a discount and run this reservation system for the first two weeks or so until the crowd dies down. Then you can sell the demographics and recommend or spam out other offers of like genre’s.

     If you’re first to market with this in home distribution network, i’m sure many people will jump on it if it were reasonably priced.

     I can even run this project for you. This combines my two passions, real time computer systems and home theaters/movies. Then you can extend this to music or whatever electronic delivery medium there is.

     Comment by Sonny B. — July 26, 2006 @ 11:07 am

593. In addition to Suggestion #480-

     I had a street team years ago with the music promotions. One thing that I learned is that people LOVE street teams of low to non paid workers (college or high schoolers) who were enthusiastic about the music they promoted. This caught on quickly.

     What about having more sophistocated, but just as eagerly enthusiastic short film productions 3-5 minutes before a film in say a 16 theatre arena. This would make 16 different independent film production companies promote their films to friends, family and strangers over the course of 2 weeks to get them to go see the films at the theatres. People naturally will pay the price of the regular ticket, the independent film production for the short will receive viewers and it will boost their credentials to have screened at the multiplex for two weeks with five thousand viewers or more. The theatres get a huge influx of viewers that may have not come out to enjoy the theatre experience otherwise.

     This is a way to re-introduce the mulitplex and theatrical experience to those that are afraid to come out of the house. They’re among friends, family and community. What could be better?

     I think that they should, also, have t-shirts, hats and posters that patrons could buy only at the theatres to help promote these films. Work the theatres like they do concerts and have a stand just inside the gate where they tear your ticket in half. If people love the film, they will purchase t-shirts, hats, ink pens, cups & keychains promoting that film as momentos.

     Another idea is to have certain types of films have aromatherapy set ups to involve the crowd. Such as lavender for love scenes or pine for horror films in the country. This is similar to the show before the show during the Rocky Horror cult classics.

     Ultimately, yeah, I know it’s all about the QUALITY OF THE FILM, word of mouth and a great time.

     Comment by Ros Mickens — July 26, 2006 @ 11:10 am

594. in new orleans (way pre-katrina) we used to have a movie theater called ‘movie pitchers’ the theater was a quasi indy movie house that had small screens small theaters but great big experience (they got killed by their landlord who sold the land underthem for a parking lot for a grocery store) the theaters all had tables and couches inaddition to regular seats… plus a full service bar that you could order pitchers of beer at for delivery to you at your seat during the show! they played a mix of new stuff and werids stuff… the owner once told me he wanted to play movies he wanted to see so he could enjoy the show (the place was almost setup like going out with you friends and seeing a good show at their place…

     i figure the movie industry needs to create more niche markets like this (kind of a coffeeshop theater)… have more small theaters with a good expereince to go with your show… plus more adult-only theaters (the bar kept the annoyance of teens talking during the movie to a minimum cause parents don’t often bring their kids to a bar (even here)… plus the place had none movie entertainment as well (a local improv group preformed in one theater every week)

     Comment by Mike Schleifstein — July 26, 2006 @ 11:24 am

595. How about a preview free movie that starts on time. I hate going to movies because of sitting those 20 minutes of previews, and if you get there later to skip the previews you get a crappy seat. Id go if you could get rid of the previews…

     Comment by Tommy O — July 26, 2006 @ 11:25 am

596. Going to the movies can be so annoying. You have people yelling, fighting, talking on their cell phones, throwing food, etc. If movie showings which limited age groups were setup, people might go to the movies more. One theater might be 25 and older while another might be a 17 to 24. This could vary for different movie ratings and could change after the first week to allow all ages. This would get older people who actually want to watch the movie to go see it its first week out. Most “kids” who go see movies just want an excuse to go somewhere to party. I don’t blame them because that’s about the only thing you can do and not get in trouble these days.

     Comment by Mike — July 26, 2006 @ 11:25 am

597. Idea: Follow the minority community example: Develop a loyal following of consumers and your advertising costs diminish while increasing revenue. Examples: Spike Lee, John Singleton, Tyler Perry

     Reason: No matter what these directors, actors, producers do the majority of their loyal following will go to the theatre to see the movies. ROI is maximized because word of mouth and their core followers are so strong. Movies may not go over the 100 million mark but you will get greater ROI.

     Example: According to July 5, 2006…. Business week article by Ronald Grover (talking about Tyler Perry)
     “…Perry has a 120% ROI, meaning that for every dollar Lionsgate Entertainment paid in marketing and production costs for his two films, Perry returned $2.20, or a $1.20 benefit to his backers. Not bad for a guy who only recently got his first break after writing plays and touring the country with a show aimed at African Americans….”

     Drawback: Overseas will be a market that will be difficult to conquer. Inital focus on U.S. then overseas. Another quote from the article.
     “…PERRY’S PAYOFF. Perry’s two films, aimed largely at the U.S. African American audience, didn’t play that well overseas. In the U.S., however, they were gold—with Diary of a Mad Black Woman grossing $50.4 million in the U.S. on a $5.5 million budget, and Madea’s Family Reunion grossing $63.2 million after costing $6 million to produce…”

     Thought: His recent success depended solely on the fact that he spent the time to develop his audience and knew what product he wanted to produce. You build you core following and the ROI will come!! (kinda reminds me of church!)

     Final thought: I saw both Tyler Perry films, my family saw both films and they even had the bootleg copy before it came to dvd only to buy it when it was released on dvd. I didn’t see, “Good night, and Good Luck” heard the reviews but didn’t go see. Why is that?

     Comment by Spence — July 26, 2006 @ 11:29 am

598. There’s one sure fire way to get folks to the movies. Something that “waiting for the DVD” can’t necessarily give you. Promotional giveaways. Well defined items that are given out after the credits have rolled, one per movie goer, in exchange for your ticket stub, would create a much closer bond to the film and get people to the theaters.

     Often I walk out of a film that I didn’t like looking down at my hand holding a ticket stub feeling robbed. If that ticket stub could be replaced with an item featured in the movie, maybe I wouldn’t feel like I was robbed. I’d have something in exchange for my $9.50. Perhaps the “golden key” that the bad guys were chasing after in the film. Perhaps for “The DaVinci code” it would be a model of that cylinder puzzle that held one of the secrets. Perhaps if the movie was “Matrix Revolutions” and the theater was handing out one of five collectible figures or one of three collectible books that features artwork from the movie, even if I hated Revolutions, I might go again to get the collectible item. Also, even if the film sucked, it seems like more of a fair exchange. I hated the movie, but I have something to show for it.

     NOTE: The logistics of how this is done is very important. The items have to be such that people can’t request what they want. They get a white box with one of three items inside. (Follow me through this for a minute.)

     Considering all of the ideas that I’ve read above involving remodelling of movie theaters, this is an idea that will cost less money, but it will be money well spent. Also, the key is that the item needs to be an official movie related item and the item has to be of a high quality. The cost of the item could be subsidized by Pepsi or Coke. Instead of just paying to have Superman drink a coke in the movie, subsidize the cost of the giveaway.

     Long-term, I see movies deliberately planting items in the script as part of the plot. “In the next Indiana Jones movie, let’s have Indy search for a secret artifact and then give away the model as part of the promotion — IN THEATERS ONLY. This is a sure fire way that you’ll get something that bit torrent or peer-to-peer services can’t give you. People love tchotchkes. They go to trade shows and sit through presentations they don’t even like just to get the cool umbrella.

     More about this idea can be found on my blog at
     http://devron.wordpress.com/2006/07/26/mission-getting-people-back-to-the-theaters/

     Comment by Devron — July 26, 2006 @ 11:39 am

599. The best way to go about this is through the use of viral videos.

     I know that this was briefly touched upon already, but by creating an internet trend you can generate as much free advertising as you want. There are specific websites and groups of people throughout the blogging industry that can make or break anything if they feel like it.

     Now I’m not suggesting to buy them out, although it is definately a possibility, one could definately go to all the most famous bloggers and places where viral videos usually start and give them each 50,000 dollars to say they found this video and that its amazing (you would save millions in advertising even with the 50k per site bribe).

     The vira video needs to be something that perhaps spoofs the actual content of the movie. The absolute perfect example of this is Snakes on a Plane. That movie has geenrated so much buzz that they had to scale back tremendously their actual advertising campaign because they didn’t want to oversaturate the market. Another example, albeit nonmovie is Carlton Draught beer, which had to do the same thing after they released a video mocking themselves as their commercial online, and then sent the link to many different blogging sites.

     Basically in today’s technological age, internet memes spread infinitely faster then word of mouth or televesion advertising does, and its practically free.

     Thanks for the job in advance

     Comment by Scott — July 26, 2006 @ 11:46 am

600. most people usually read or watch critics before
     they watch a movie.many a time i wonder if the critic watches the same movies that we do.the success of movies lies in the very people that watch them.why not let them watch the movie and then critic it.at least they won’t be paid for a living for their opinion.the Wine industry has discovered this secret.

     Comment by chris m — July 26, 2006 @ 12:27 pm

601. One problem with going to the theater these days is the quality of the presentation.. At home my theater is so good that I only see the problems at the movie theater… poor focus, bad sounding speakers without good base response… If you can promise theaters that actually check these each time a movie is played, it would help. Maybe use DLP projection with better/easier focusing.. etc.

     The other issue is the jerks that go to the movies these days.. talking loud, cell phones etc. Promote theater companies that actually boot these asses outa there and it may help..

     Seems the real problem is that I can avoid all that crap with a great home theater.. They need to upgrade the quality and environment to get me into the theater with anything less that a huge blockbuster like Star Wars and such..

     If this does not happen, theaters will go to the wayside.. it is the same price to own the dvd that take two to the movies with food. With HD DVD out now, that will seal the deal even more, it just looks too good at home..

     Hope these comments were useful..

     Comment by David — July 26, 2006 @ 12:33 pm

602. Look I don’t want a job, I’m obviously to young to get one. And my ideas are not mind blowingly amazing I’m sure. But from my experience as a movie goer I thought I had a right to say em, and maybe just maybe…some one will listen. You wanna make more money?

     1. Charge less at the box office. And I know I’m not the only one to say this but….I felt it was worth repeating. Because of the simple fact that it is true. I used to go see alot more movies when they were cheaper….but now it costs like 15 bucks a pop just to see a movie with an ending so predictable I could have waited till it came out on DVD and got it off Netflix.

     Just look at Walmart, the monster store that is causing pretty much all Mom and Pop stores to close down….why you ask? Because they charge less(much less…and they’re making billions off of it). People will buy more if you charge less…therefore in the end you make more. No theater should only be half full at any point during the release of the film in question.

     Some films are so good I want to see them more then once in the theater. But I can’t because I don’t have the money. The world is not full of rich people….the majority is poor. Therefore majority rules. And poor people(such as myself) will do anything to escape their existence…if only for an hour or two. The film industry has been making money off of this fact for years. But now, with prices so high at the theaters, we’re not able to afford going at all. It’s outrageous.

     2. Invest more in making movies worth seeing. The American public is not stupid, we’re tired of of predictable endings, blood and gore so insanely disgusting we feel like vomiting in our chairs, and actors saying the same lines in the same movies over and over again. Have some imagination people! You don’t need to spend insane amounts of money to amuse us okay? Just write a script worth reading. Hire actors who don’t just play themselves over and over again in every movie….it may have worked for them in the past, but that time has ended. We need new blood. People who can convince you they aren’t just Tom Cruise in another action movie…playing Tom Cruise. Who are so good at what they do, they take you to another world that is not your own. Help you escape. Which is the key word here. Escape. That is all we want.

     3. We don’t need 500 cars blowing up every two seconds, we don’t need directors on a mission making movies with an agenda*coughs*Brokeback Mountain*coughs*(which did horrible at the box office I might add), we don’t need the F word thrown in our faces every other line, we don’t need sex so graphic it earned itself an R rating. And don’t call me a prude here ok? The numbers speak for themselves. I’m just asking you to stop using old tactics and try out new ones for a while….see what happens. Sex doesn’t always sell….or maybe the public is just tired of it now. Maybe we actually want some entertainment, some depth to our movies. Not just some plot that’s been so overused that it’s got holes in it the size of the Grand Canyon.

     4. Heck take a look at Pirates Of The Caribbean…it’s the highest grossing film right now. Why? Because….well you can take the whole dang family….and when you take the whole family…You buy MORE tickets. It’s also VERY good(I saw it). You know people were sitting on the stairs to the side of the seats it was so crowded? People actually paid your unbelievably high prices…even going as far as sitting on the stairway….just to see this movie! And this wasn’t even opening night! It was three days la