Are we headed for $13 movies in Clovis?
Frankly, folks, I got a little scared when I went to the Sierra Vista Cinemas 16 Web site this morning to check on this Friday's movie openings. Here's what the site lists as the ticket prices:
- General Admission - $13.00
- Student Discount - $8.50
- Children 3 – 11 & Senior 60 & better – $9.50
- Matinee daily until 6pm – $10.00
I haven't been out to the theater for a month or so, but could this be true? I can't see how it could be. Thirteen bucks is a whopping $3 more than Regal charges. (And can you believe $10 for a matinee?) On Movietickets.com, the official online site for the theater, the top ticket price for Sierra Vista is listed as $9.75, so I'm assuming the higher prices must be some kind of Web site error. But what if it's dummy type for a planned future price increase? With $4.50/gallon gas and $13 ticket prices, people are going to have take out loans if they want popcorn with their movies.
UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: Well, that got fixed fast. The Web site has been changed. Looks like the $13 rate structure is for 3-D movies. Regular top price is $9.75. Still, I felt as if I've seen the future, and it isn't pretty.
Speaking of ticket prices: We have an announcement in Friday's upcoming issue of 7 that Regal's Clovis Towne Center 8 theater will be changing over to a discount movie house. Tickets will be $3. That means first-run films won't open there anymore. It remains to be seen what this will mean long-term to the art-house films such as "The Visitor" and "Young@Heart" that have been playing there recently, but as of Friday, those titles remain. And $3 sounds a lot better than $13.
Comments:
Another reason to not go to Clovis for me. $13 is just dumb when the other local theaters are still charging less. Interesting factoid on Clovis Towne Center, though. Memories of Manchester's discount theater by Hometown come flooding back.
Posted by: brodiemash at July 16, 2008 4:53 PM
it is only a matter of time until ticket prices catch up with the rest of california. theatres do have the world's worst overhead cost.
Posted by: billy pilgrim at July 16, 2008 5:43 PM
...this is actually a really cool moviehouse, it's brand spankin' (sorta) new, ---and usually has a pretty decent crowd of theatre goers, I've caught several films there and it's always been worth it if you want to see a big screen projection of something and don't want to wait until it's on DVD...
I still prefer Edwards in Riverpark if I want that 'see it with several hundred of your closest strangers,' (Like Nacho Libre in a packed house that was half Mexican
(or)
Wall-E in a packed house --most under the age of 13
-priceless-
---and I freakin' HATE the Manchester theatre because they have the treble and mid goosed so high that it actualy hurts my ears (and from a guy who finds such things as unmuffled racecars, prop-fighters and jets FUN
that's gotta be telling ya something.
Posted by: wet towel at July 16, 2008 6:32 PM
Glad to hear about the discount movie house. I too miss the $2 theater at Manchester.
Posted by: Bryan Harley at July 17, 2008 12:31 PM
that's pretty expensive...pretty soon everybody will be going to movie6.net
Posted by: dj stylez at July 17, 2008 3:19 PM
Which is more of a shocker, that the information was incorrect from the start or that it was posted anyway.
Why not check their company website and see if that is the price? Or maybe click on the banner that is all over the Hive and check the movie prices.
Thanks for not supporting an independent movie house.
Posted by: Geanie at July 18, 2008 9:15 AM
To Geanie: I think you misunderstand the chronology of the post. The information was incorrect on the company Web site when the original post was written. (And who knows how long it had been incorrect?) If you read the post carefully, you'll see that I speculated that the pricing must be a mistake. And the headline was phrased as a question based on the information online at the time, not as a fact.
The company site wasn't changed until the discrepancy was pointed out on this blog. And, at that point, the post was updated to reflect the accurate ticket price.
If a theater posted a sign at the entrance saying that tickets are $13, don't you think that's a legitimate thing to point out? Or are we supposed to infer that if a price is unrealistic, it should simply be ignored?
Another thing: You're under a misconception if you think that the Sierra Vista Cinemas is an "independent movie house." It is owned by SR Cinemas, which is a small regional chain. Yes, it's smaller than Regal, but in no way is it an indie.
Posted by: Donald Munro at July 18, 2008 10:21 AM
If the Sierra Vista Cinemas is such an "independent" movie house, Geanie, then why has it repeatedly gone back on the promise it made on day one to always show at lease one art house or international film a week? It seems to me like the promise of summer blockbuster cash leads SR Cinemas to be exactly the same as a long line of movie chains big and small that go for the dollar in Fresno/Clovis instead of going for the art.
Bravo, Donald, for keeping an eye on those websites and pointing out the original discrepancy--and then for updating the blog post accordingly after the mistake was fixed. Boo, Sierra Vista marketers, who seem eager to jump to conclusions and point fingers in an effort to protect themselves and who don't seem to grasp the speed of the Internet.
Posted by: Jeffresno at July 18, 2008 3:45 PM
Yes, those higher prices at Clovis' Sierra Vista are for the the Dolby Digital 3-D films (the animated "Fly Me To The Moon" opens in August after "Journey to the Center of the Earth" winds down). I'm thrilled about the $3 flicks at the Clovis Towne Center. And don't forget Sierra Vista's $5 all-day prices on Tuesdays (for the somewhat older, non-"starred" attractions, like this Tuesday's "Get Smart", "Wall-E", "Kitt Kittridge", "Indiana Jones 4", and "King Fu Panda"). I've long preferred going to the Clovis Theaters simply because the crowds are NOT there!
Posted by: Monster A Go-Go at July 18, 2008 3:53 PM
And the official site for the Sierra Vista is this:
http://www.northamericancinemas.com/criterion.asp
Posted by: Monster A Go-Go at July 18, 2008 3:55 PM
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