Last year I read this ditty about the movie theater business:
“Movie theater owners reportedly spent over $1.5 billion remodeling and updating cinemas last year in an attempt to reel people back in. This question is for those of you who have entirely or mostly stopped going to movie theaters: what would it take for YOU to be excited to go to the cinema again on a regular basis?”
If I owned a movie theater, here’s what I’d want to do:
* Have bouncers in the theaters who ruthlessly kick out anyone who talks, or whose phones light up, or who’s being disruptive/obnoxious/loud/distracting
* Lock entrance doors (exits unlocked only in case of fire) after the trailers start
* Prioritize cleanliness – like chairs, floors, etc between showtimes
* TRIPLE movie ticket prices so only Players with Money want to go anyway, who pay for the privilege of the novelty, lower crowds, and consequences of others’ low class behaviors
* Build the theater near the high end car dealerships, where customers have long waits, so they figure, “I’ll catch a movie while waiting…”
* I doubt the lawyers would let me, but my ultimate movie theater fantasy would have anyone who talks/disrupts during a film, or who is even so much on their phone, would trigger a mechanism where the seat drops out from under them, and they plunge into a hot fire like Mustafa did in Austin Powers…
I don’t know where else I’m going with this.
But notice none of the above is about metrics or A/B split tests.
It’s about Experiences.
Something you cannot really track with a spreadsheet.
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Ben Settle
