To think Vue Cinemas should have left their seats as they were and stayed at £4.99?!

[LydiaDeets]

Manchester Vue has been £4.99 for as long as I can remember.
We have an Odeon and Cineworld closer to us but they are both £10 per adult ticket.

We always make the longer journey to view as a family of 6 it's way more affordable. £30 still seems pricey for a movie but we have meerkat tickets so usually go on a Wednesday and save a further few quid.

They've now refurbished and put in reclining chairs.

Tickets are £10 now 😩 That's £60 for us to see a film!
.
I think the £4.99 tickets were their biggest draw, considering all the other cinemas were double.

In the current climate where people are struggling I think most would prefer to pay a fiver to see a film in a normal seat!

If they wanted to pay a tenner for a fancy seat they have odeon, Cineworld

AIBU to think Vue have just shot themselves in the foot by taking away the only advantage they had over competitors, being half the price.

Now they've lost our custom completely as if we are paying a tenner we may as well go to one of the others.

£10 is reasonable in my opinion. Perhaps the £4.99 seats should be for a few slots a week- Mondays are quiet at cinemas and I had a local one that did lower Monday prices.

It's sad but I agree with PP that say cinema -going is becoming unviable for both customers and cinemas themselves.

Films these days often cost squillions to make and so film companies need to make profits.
Consequently, cinemas pay squillions for the rights to show the films. They, in turn, need to pay for staff, rent /rates and upkeep.

My husband and I go midweek on concession tickets. We last saw 'The Bullet Train' ( terrific fun btw) in a cineworld Imax.
We were the only two there. That screening would have run at a substantial loss.
We never eat there but we'll buy a tea/coffee from Starbucks which has a space there. Our money would have gone to Starbucks with but a penny or two going to Cineworld.

Maybe cinemas just open in the evenings and at half terms? Maybe have more Vintage film screenings? Maybe more live theatre screenings ? ( The NT Live performances are usually heaving.)

I expect there'll be a consortium of film distributors or suchlike who can step in and take over Cineworld as it's not in their interests to lose so many opportunities to show their films.

We have a Cineworld card - £18.99 a month for unlimited films and as we have had it for over a year 25% off food and drink. Cinemas make their money off the food and drink as the bulk of the ticket money goes to the films not them.

I agree with op. Our local Vue also used to be £4.99. We had the recliners put in approx 12 months ago and the price has slowly crept up, 5.99 then 7.99. Now they are doing different priced seats for each showing ranging from 7.99-11.99.

The dc are a bit old for mini mornings so the cinema will have to go back to being a very occasional treat for us.

I went to the view a couple a weeks ago at an 11.15am showing and there was about 8 people literally. I'm surprised they lasted through covid. Even poundland do a pick and mix range does anyone even buy sweets in the cinema?

I sometimes buy sweets. Poundland/Wilko isn't open when I go to a 9pm showing.

Off the point of the thread a little but honestly, we just paid £4.99 each last week at Vue and I would have gladly paid more. The theatre was absolutely filthy and not a great experience.

YABU. They don’t want (or need) your custom.

You are coming on offer tickets on offer days and not buying food. They’re not making a single penny off you so they really don’t care whether or not you come again.

People do buy the huge mark up on sweets and that’s where they make their money. They would rather have fewer people who buy confectionary than more people who buy sweets.

The seats make them no money. They don’t have the staffing to justify selling the sweets cheaper.

They were struggling in 2020 and suspended bonus payments and froze pay for staff.

In 2021 the executives voted for a bonus scheme with a pot of £208million. Which meant the chief exec got a £65million bonus.

That's a huge factor in their current financial issues

Our Cineworld does £2.50 tickets and even then there are never more than 10 people in the room. I don't think people want to go to the cinema anymore as much as they used to.

Is it the quayside one? I actually love the seats but I do understand it’s very expensive, normally I am just taking one DC. On wowcher they do a deal where it was something like 2 tickets for £9?

For cinemas to continue they will need more sustainable prices, especially seeing as Cineworld is going down the pan. As for Vue, ours have been the £10 recliners for at least 4 years and they have been an option for much longer but very much worth it for the experience. Our Vue is big, clean and has great staff. We go on the 2 for £7 tickets with Vodafone but will buy at least a drink and popcorn to share because the cinema is a nice treat and worth a bit more.

OP if you're in/near South Manchester the Altrincham vue is still £5.99

I went to the Salford quays one recently and loved the reclining seats! Very happy to pay for those but agree that it all adds up with family

@QuebecBagnet When videos came in (1980's) people speculated that it would kill cinema, but it didn't. I dont think streaming services will kill off cinema

Fancy seats, sense of occasion gives people a superior experience to sitting on their own sofa at home. And it's cheaper than going out for dinner

I would say I go to the cinema more (although still not loads) with the fancy seats and am happy to pay a little more.

I tried to economise last month and booked normal ones. I regretted it after 20 minutes when the child behind kept kicking my seat and his dad did nothing.

Can you get Vue Pass for cheaper tickets? I have it as an add-on reward with a credit card.

We always go to Vue. And they do a family ticket for 4 which is good value.

But if they make their money from the food/sweets they haven't made money from me in years.

The prices are a joke. We take our own snacks in.

Move to Edinburgh! Vue tix still 4.99 here. And there's a lovely Everyman just opened if you ever want to go fancy and take a beer in.

Our local Vue is still £4.99 for normal seats and I think £6.99 for the VIP seats. They also do a popcorn deal where you get a tray with popcorn, some sweets, and a drink for £4.99 which is what the DC usually get.

Went to see the Elvis film last week and it was packed, not a single spare seat in the whole room.

Do you have a Reel cinema nearby? £3.50 per person is what we pay. Most expensive Iv seen on the website is £6.50.

I think our hot sunny weather has been a factor for cinemas this year. Cinema going is a wet / gloomy weather day activity with kids in my mind.
I don’t mind paying a bit more for nicer seats.

Ours is 7.99 if brought online and 8.99 is done in person. We use vue over the other because of the reclining seats

My local Vue used to be £4.99 with the fancy seats. I did always think it was massively under priced as it was such a good experience.

However, now the prices are up to £7.99 (which seems a more reasonable price given the nice seating etc) I can't afford it like I could have previously due to cost of living going up everywhere else.

Mind you, I did go to the mini morning yesterday at £2.49 a ticket. Took our own sweets and drinks in. Then went to pizza express and paid with clubcard vouchers so there are still deals if you've got little ones and they're still not yet fussed about what film they see.

AIBU to think Vue have just shot themselves in the foot by taking away the only advantage they had over competitors, being half the price.

Your lack of understanding of how business works is unreasonable, yes. Vue cinemas don’t exist to sell you cheap tickets. They are in business to make money. As other posters have noted, they aren’t making any money from you. You come in, buy the cheapest tickets, don’t buy any snacks, use the loo and leave. They have to lease, heat, light and maintain the building, pay the staff and clean up after you.

By introducing the reclining seats for a one-off cost they hope to tap into a higher future ticket revenue stream. They need to. Their staff costs will be going up, as will their energy costs. If they listened to people like you, and sold tickets at unsustainably low prices, they’d be out of business in a few months, like Cineworld.

Sure but you had to wait ages for videos to be released. Films are available for streaming much quicker now. So Maverick for example is still in the cinemas but in 2 days time I can stream it. No brainer.

Plus comparatively to living costs the cinema used to be cheaper. I’m sure prices will continue to rise as energy costs rise.