From March 18 your movie experience will change utterly. Ster-Kinekor has announced that 80% of its movie houses will be turned into ”discount venues”, where seats will be unallocated and cost R14 each.
In a move to revitalise cinema-going, hit by home entertainment and pricey tickets, the 30 ”Junction” movie houses will be largely located in malls used by black people.
At the same time, the remaining 20% of Ster cinemas, in upmarket areas, will be turned into ”Classic” venues, where ticket prices will not fall, but where foyers will be improved with couches and plasma screens and fancy food will be available.
Tickets currently cost R34, and Ster-Kinekor market research revealed that 42% of customers found movie-going too expensive. Custom has fallen by 5% in the past six months.
The company has piloted discounts in several areas. Initiatives like the discount movie club indicate that people who see films three to four times a year may do so nine times annually if tickets are cheaper.
Ster-Kinekor is to market its Junctions as ”vibey places to meet,” said Ster-Kinekor CEO Ferdi Gazendam. Budget viewing will happen in malls, like the Carlton Centre and Arcadia Sterland, where there is a large black patronage.
Key black film producer Anant Singh was unavailable for comment. However, DV8 producer Jeremy Nathan, whose feature Max and Mona is currently on circuit, dismissed suggestions that the move amounted to informal apartheid.
”They are trying to find a mechanism to allow more cinema-going to occur across the country,” Nathan said.
He noted that attendance figures for Max and Mona have risen sharply on the back of Ster-Kinekor’s R10 pilot discount. ”In white areas the film is not really working. So there’s a dilemma — how do you get the masses of people into cinemas when cinemas don’t exist in townships?”
Attempts to bring township audiences to see films at local churches and community centres had failed because people wanted ”event entertainment”.
In another bid to reach cinema audiences, Spier is to premiere its Golden Bear award-winner U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in Khayelitsha, Alexandra and KwaMashu.