Landmark Cinemas has unveiled a rewards program to encourage more people to head to its theatres.
In September, the Calgary-based theatre chain will launch ‘Landmark Extras,’ which will offer various perks across three different tiers.
‘Movie Fan,’ the base tier, will be a free membership that lets users collect points on each dollar spent on tickets and concession items.
The next tier, ‘Movie Insider,’ is priced at $20/year and offers one free ticket per year, as well as 50 percent more points on admission and concession purchases.
Finally, ‘Movie Club’ will cost $9.99/month and offer one free ticket each month, discounted tickets and more points and discounts at the concession.
A specific launch date for Landmark Extras, as well a breakdown of the per-tier points and discounts allotment, has not yet been confirmed.
Landmark is Canada’s second-biggest movie chain with 42 cinemas and 325 screens in Ontario, Western Canada and Yukon.
Canada’s largest movie chain, Cineplex, is also coming out with its own program, CineClub, although it works somewhat differently. As revealed over the weekend, CineClub is launching on August 11th at a cost of $9.99/month and offers one free ticket per month and discounts on tickets and concession items. Cineplex hasn’t yet revealed specifics, such as where to sign up or specific savings on tickets.
Cinema chains are facing increased pressure to get people to head out to theatres amid a year-and-a-half of consumers enjoying on-demand entertainment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several films, including Disney’s Black Widow and Jungle Cruise and Warner Bros.’ Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat, have come to streaming and theatres simultaneously, leading many to tune in at home. Meanwhile, films like A Quiet Place Part II and F9 landed on digital mere weeks after theatres.
Historically, movies have played in theatres for 90 days before arriving on digital platforms, so the past several months have marked a significant shift in the film industry. That’s looking to change going forward, with Paramount sticking to a 45-day theatrical window before bringing its movies available on streaming. Disney has confirmed it will do the same for Free Guy (releasing August 13th) and September’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Therefore, companies like Landmark and Cineplex have been looking into exclusive programs as one way to encourage more people to come to theatres instead of watching movies at home.
It remains to be seen how successful these programs will be. The real test will be this fall, which will see the release of such big movies as Marvel’s Eternals (November 5th) and its Sony co-production Spider-Man: No Way Home (December 17th); Warner Bros.’ Dune (October 22nd) and untitled fourth Matrix film (December 22nd); MGM’s No Time to Die (October 8th); Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage (September 24th) and MGM’s No Time to Die (October 8th).
There are concerns, however, that the rising cases driven by the emerging Delta variant might lead some movies to be delayed. We’ve already seen Paramount do this with Clifford the Big Red Dog, which was supposed to hit theatres on September 17th but no longer has a release date attached.
Image credit: Creative Commons — calgaryfilmphoto
Via: The Canadian Press
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