May 19, 2016 4:00pm by David Farrar

Cinema competition is working

Reading Cinemas Courtenay in Wellington lowered the price of its standard tickets from $16 to $10 – indefinitely. It has taken a similar step in Auckland.

Gold Lounge tickets, which gives gave you more wriggle room in recliner seats at back of the cinema, are now $15.

Victoria University senior lecturer of film Miriam Ross said: “There have been concerns for a long time now that movie attendance is in decline – and that is definitely the case in the US, the UK and wider Europe.

“Now we are seeing that general decline in Wellington.”

Reading Cinemas Courtenay had possibly come to the realisation that they could not compete with the niche audiences that the smaller cinemas attract, Ross said.

“So if they drop the prices, they may be able to entice their own audience back . . . I think this is part of an incentive to get bums back on seats.”

Great to see the prices drop. We’re seeing competition work in two ways.

The first is between cinemas, with many people choosing smaller more cosy cinemas over the larger ones. So the larger ones need to drop prices to attract people back.

The second is between watching it at the cinema, or watching at home with a home theatre system.