Movie theaters are going upmarket in an effort to bring audiences back.
Movie theaters are going upmarket in an effort to bring audiences back. (In the U.S., box office sales have been sliding in recent years, with 2012 an exception.) Posh viewing palaces offer patrons the chance to enjoy quality food and drinks from plush leather seats with footrests and sometimes pillows and blankets; some also have lounges and art galleries. Instead of catering to teens and twentysomethings, who have historically dominated ticket sales, these companies focus on affluents, with prices significantly higher than at basic theaters.
Mexican company Cinépolis, which has a presence in Latin America and India, expanded into the U.S. in 2011; it operates four U.S. theaters and has more in the works. There’s also iPic Theaters, which launched in 2006 and currently runs nine theaters, and ArcLight Cinemas, which expects revenue to hit $70 million in 2012, up from $50 million in 2009. In the U.K., Everyman Cinemas currently operates eight lux theaters across London and has a ninth in the works outside of the city. And last year leading theater company Odeon, opened a luxury cinema in London.