Movie theater promos reward guests for loyalty

SCHERERVILLE, Ind. — Wanda Lindfeldt of Westville didn’t mind driving from LaPorte County to Schererville in October to attend an advance screening of Hugh Jackman’s action film, “Real Steel.”

“I won promotional tickets the theater was giving out, and so after work, I picked up my friend in Valparaiso and we were there in about an hour,” Lindfeldt said.

“It was worth the drive because the theater made it a fun event. They gave out free vouchers for popcorn and soda. And in the lobby, they even set up a display where you could wait in line to get your photo taken to make it look like you were in a scene from the movie.”

The event Lindfeldt attended last year is part of a trend embracing a business model that rewards movie theater guests for loyalty, while drawing new patrons with the promise of fresh adventures and unique events.

The promotional “Real Steel” October screening at AMC Showplace 16 in Schererville was created to celebrate the opening of a new large-screen IMAX theater space.

In April, AMC also unveiled a new Stubs Club program, which for an annual $12 fee offers AMC Theatre patrons incentives like discounts on tickets and concessions.

Using promotions to entice movie lovers to cinemas is not a new concept, despite today’s industry pressure to attract patron allegiance in the face of competition from convenient $1 Redbox kiosks and Netflix delivering movies to doorsteps and over DVD players.

The Associated Press reported domestic movie theater revenues closed out last year weak at $10.22 billion for 2011, down 3.4 percent from 2010, according to numbers reported by box-office tracker Hollywood.com.

Locally, cinemas and movie houses, both big and small, are embracing ideas from the past to bring back the movie theater as a thriving entertainment option.

And it doesn’t necessarily require a million-dollar remodel to offer an IMAX screen or 3D viewing technology.

“It’s really about using creativity to offer something that might seem different to a younger generation, even if the idea has been around for ages,” said Scott Frey, who bought the 70-year-old Art Theater in Hobart in 2007.

Every Saturday, Frey has been offering midnight screenings of the campy 1975 indie favorite, “The Rocky Horror Show,” and asking patrons to dress up as favorite characters.

Frey said a recent Saturday was particularly busy because it was the annual theme night where “Rocky Horror” patrons are invited to dress up as their favorite dead celebrities.

It’s the reason Hobart resident Alley Banks didn’t mind braving the cold and snow Saturday to dress up as Michael Jackson to attend the late-night screening.

“Doing events like this has definitely made a difference,” Frey said. “It brings people out to be part of something besides just watching a movie.”

During the advent of the era when movie houses emerged as escapist entertainment, theater owners also used a variety of ideas to lure customers.

From bringing in movie stars like Roy Rogers, Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland to greet fans, to handing out gifts like sets of dishes on special “reward nights” (with one piece handed out each week), the business of “lights, camera, audiences” has survived both world wars and the worst of economic times.

As far back as the 1930s, the luxury of “air conditioning” at movie houses such as Chicago’s Biograph Theater attracted summer crowds of moviegoers, some likely as eager to cool off as seeing the hottest film of the moment.

Craig Lozanovski, whose family in 2008 bought the Crown Theatre on the Courthouse Square in Crown Point from longtime owner Joseph Paunicka, thinks the chance to escape everyday worries offered by a big-screen feature still most attracts patrons.

“We’ve been working hard to fix up and restore the outside marquee of the theater to remind customers of the history of the property,” Lozanovski said.

The theater originally was a livery stable until the 1920s, when the building was converted into a two-screen theater known as The Palace.

Although The Palace played mostly silent movies and cartoons, the versatile space also offered live vaudeville and plays.

And with the new silent film “The Artist” just nominated this week for a best-picture Oscar, a return to the past seems to be the latest innovation boosting movie box offices near and far.