Cineplex Booking Fees

[bhlombardy]

Cineplex announced today that they are going to start charging an extra $1.50 service fee for online and app based ticket purchases.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/cineplex-fee-1.6496117

Every action this company takes makes me less and less incentivized to go to the cinema.

We just spent 2+ years in an environment where going to the movies wasn't really the best idea. Even though some precautions and safeguards were in place, it just didnt seem to seem like a place a lot of people felt comfortable going. The pandemic changed a LOT of people's habits in that regard. I used to go 2 or 3 times a month pre-Covid... I've been to Cineplex 2-3 times total since Covid, and those only in the past 6+ months)

And those I befriend and have talked to have the same attitude. We just havent had the desire to go out to the movies anymore. And now, even LESS of a reason to.

I'm not sure if Cineplex has thought this through, but I have to believe that any attempt to dissuade people from buying tickets right now would be counter-intuitive at the best of times, let alone when business is just trying to bounce back.

Besides ANY of that... it's 2022. Online sales should be ENCOURAGED, not discouraged.

I just don't get it.


ADDDED: The story suggests that US theater ticket sales mostly have a fee attached as well. This isn't actually true. I attend movies everytime I travel to the US. AMC does charge a service fee, but other theatres like Showcase Cinemas, as well as other online ticketing agents like Atom (the app I use) does NOT... and it matters not if you're going to AMC, Showcase, or other brand cinema. So services fees are NOT necessarily the norm in the US either. -- I was in the US a month ago and did not pay a service fee on my ticket purchase online.

.

[walkonby]

oh brother! thanks for the heads up @bhlombardy Like you and many others we stayed away from the Cinepolex from the end of 2019 intil maybe 3/4 the way through 2021.
I forget when Cineplex started up the social distancing between seats and checking your PVR code for vaccination, but THAT was when the 3 of us ventured back out to see a movie on the big screen again. We loved the distance in the auditorium! No one was permitted to purchase a seat directly in front of our seats, or directly behind and not on either sides either.

We always purchased our tickets online and selected our seats at that time, printed off the tickets and on 3 occasions had the theater almost to ourselves! Mind you we always went to the movies on a Monday shows starting at 3:30 - 4:30 so we would miss any crowds.
( Anyone coming later after their work day )
Another perk was getting in for free using up our Scene points that had sat unused for nearly 2 years.

THIS new service fee annoys me, but we will simply buy our tickets at the theatre going forward.

[HermanH]

Every action this company takes makes me less and less incentivized to go to the cinema.

Amazing how some businesses seem to go out of their way to give customers additional reasons not to give them their patronage.

[Buddyboy546]

It's a wonder such businesses make it in the real world, charging customers an additional fee for trying to given them your business. Essentially the customer is giving the cinema a heads up that they will be attending, helping the cinema be ready, as opposed to just showing up unannounced.

[Ciel21]

The Scene program has merged with Scotia Rewards into the new SCENE+ program. If you have a Scotiabank account that collected points for you, the accounts that qualify for points under the new program have changed.
Guess Cineplex has had some numbers indicating that providing the program and the digital app costs more than budgeted. I don't know how concert ticket vendors know how much of a convenience charge to add to tickets for ice shows, concerts and the like but the days of lining up outside a venue for physical tickets are almost over (thanks, Internet) unless there's a chance for same day unsold tickets at the venue just before showtime.

I paid cash on my March movie theatre visit and I don't like the having to choose seating bit on the screen as the levels/landings are not marked on the screen. I guessed wrong on my seat row by about 4-5 rows-would have liked the first little alcove up the stairs but oh well.
Think it's too late to see the Downton Abbey 2 movie (one contest already has a dvd to give away) but I'd like to see the new Elvis movie on the big screen to get the full Baz Luhrmann saturated colour experience. With some popcorn because last time, I had a beverage.

[walkonby]

The Scene program has merged with Scotia Rewards into the new SCENE+ program. If you have a Scotiabank account that collected points for you, the accounts that qualify for points under the new program have changed.
Guess Cineplex has had some numbers indicating that providing the program and the digital app costs more than budgeted. I don't know how concert ticket vendors know how much of a convenience charge to add to tickets for ice shows, concerts and the like but the days of lining up outside a venue for physical tickets are almost over (thanks, Internet) unless there's a chance for same day unsold tickets at the venue just before showtime.

I paid cash on my March movie theatre visit and I don't like the having to choose seating bit on the screen as the levels/landings are not marked on the screen. I guessed wrong on my seat row by about 4-5 rows-would have liked the first little alcove up the stairs but oh well.
Think it's too late to see the Downton Abbey 2 movie (one contest already has a dvd to give away) but I'd like to see the new Elvis movie on the big screen to get the full Baz Luhrmann saturated colour experience. With some popcorn because last time, I had a beverage.

@Ciel21 DH and I are livid!
We went on Saturday to see Elvis. We checked online first to find out the showtimes were at the theatre we wanted.
Both he and I double checked that we were on the correct page of the theatre location, then we both confirmed that the 3:30 time slot worked for us.
No longer interested in buying the tickets online and printing them ( since this new service charge was announced ) , so we just drove over in time for that 3:30 show.
We arrived at 3:35 ( never bothers us to miss the first 10 minutes of trailers ) but when we asked for 2 tickets the gal at the counter says " oh did you mean for the 3:10 show? " No, I said we wanted the 3:30 show. She tells us there is no time slot at 3:30, but there are later shows.
WTF?
The later ones were not an option for us ( other things going on then ) but as soon as we returned home we checked the website and " surprise!" The time now posted read 3:10. We looked at each other knowingly.
You know if 1 person misreads something it can be accepted that THEY f-cked up, but 2 people looking at the same page....nuh uh!
We know what we read.

Oh and about choosing the seats when you buy the tickets at the theatre, the last movie we went to was the new Jurassic World one and we we chose the 2 seats that are dead centre and about 4 or 5 rows up. However, just like you, when we got into the theatre these 2 seats were way down the row, on the far right facing the screen.
Nope!
We just turned into rebels and took possession of 2 centre seats hoping no one would come in after us. Thank goodness they didn't.
That was weird, we never had this issue when we chose our seats online, the format/seating plan was 100% accurate.

Cineplex is going to lose us as customers. I may be more inclined to just wait a little while for each new blockbuster flick to become available to rent for 48 hours. The cost atm to see a movie at home on the day it's released is too high for us @$24.99. It drops to $19.99 after a few weeks, then eventually falls into the dumpster rental of $6.99, which is OUR speed! ha ha
We'll just have to rethink all of our options now.

[Ciel21]

Thanks for the seat booking updates, @walkonby ! I will either ask my friend to book my tickets and pay her or just do the walk-up and buy with a concession item routine. Basically, I need to know the weather forecast to plan my movie outing--best check for Tuesdays. Might need to see if the Westdale has any new anime or international film that I must see *nicer venue but they had a weird concession payment setup during the clamp-down on eating/drinking in the theatre *(had to pay in advance of movie then collect the order AFTER the movie).

I am still curious about what happened to the 16 or so ticket kiosks that once populated SilverCity Ancaster some years ago. Are they collecting dust in a warehouse or redistributed to larger newer theatres? I feel for the cinema staff-they are so few and if they ever had to evacuate the whole complex, there better be a public address system!

[dyalect]

bye bye blockbusters and movie sales. people will just stay home and watch for "free"

[Ciel21]

Paramount+ Canada is streaming Top Gun: Maverick now. Is Elvis streaming on Amazon Prime Video or other channel?

[bhlombardy]

Paramount+ Canada is streaming Top Gun: Maverick now. Is Elvis streaming on Amazon Prime Video or other channel?

Elvis is included with a Crave subscription here in Canada.

(Elvis is a Warner Bros title, and as such would be on HBO+ in the US -- which typically means it's on Crave/HBO On-demand here in Canada.)


You can, however, pay for a digital rental (as low as $7) on Amazon Prime Video and on Google Play. -- but it's not included for free on those services.

You can also BUY a digital copy on either of those services for a current sale price of $10