Cineplex introduces $1.50 booking fee for online ticket purchases

This will go over well.

Charging a convenience fee for an automated service is a great idea. /s

So ... after 2 years of having to find ways to entertain ourselves at home, the biggest movie theatre company in Canada thinks it's a good idea to make it more expensive to get tickets before heading to the theatre?

Looks like I'm never going to the movies again. Fuck everything about that.

You can tell a lot about a company when they carry booking/​convenience fees

They should be charging the fee for those who need to go interact with a human to the buy their ticket. Humans cost money, automated ticket purchases are cheap in comparison.

i work for cineplex and we’ve already been struggling to sell tickets, except for a few popular movies, but even those die out very fast. this fee is going to make that even worse, plus we’re just gonna get more angry people to deal with and even if we refund them the fee itself is non refundable. this is totally a garbage idea and i wish Landmark had more theatres.

This is hilarious because I read an article maybe a year ago that talked about how movie theatres would have to lower their ticket prices if they wanted to survive in a post-pandemic climate. That article (can't remember what publication it was from) basically said that people had adapted in various ways and are now using streaming services exponentially more and that there just isn't the same appeal for the theatre-going experience. Numbers just aren't anywhere near what they were pre-pandemic.

So what did the biggest movie theatre company in the Canada decide to do with that information? Go the opposite route entirely.

I wonder if they decided that they arent selling tickets because people check online and see that good seats already taken and then just dont go. And decided to make less preorder buying in favor of people buyi g at the theater so people who check seats online see that good seats still available go to theater only to face half sold theater but since they already there they will buy it anyway.

Edit. And i bet if instead of doing the service fee they just increased ticket prices by$1.50 there be no story.

I haven't been to the movies in 3 years, this isn't getting me to rush back.

To note, it looks like Cineclub is easy to sign up for and cancel anytime if anyone wants to avoid the fees.

Fees suck but I bet Cineplex is bleeding bad.

That's Ok. Cineplex will continue to NOT get my money and I'll continue watching movies at home.

These guys can't even have a fully functional website. I went yesterday to look at movies for this Friday at my local theater and it stated to come back because they can't show whats playing. Like really? You don't know 5 days in advance?

Looking now for today and it shows me 7 different movies in various formats (VIP, IMAX, 3D, Regular, etc). Switch the date to this Friday and now only 2 movies show in Regular format.

Terrible...

If there's one near you, I'd recommend going to Imagine Cinemas instead.

They may not have IMAX screens, but they have leather, reclining seats as standard. On Tuesdays (at the one at Market Square, at least,) tickets are $8.

When Covid restrictions were in place, they charged an extra $5 per ticket, as the cinema couldn't allow people to consume food & drink in the cinema itself. However, they explained that this $5 extra charge would also get you a drink & snack that you could consume afterwards. This allowed them to keep the cinemas open, while also getting some revenue from concessions.

Like everything else (new taxes, tipping going from 15% to 18%, bank service fees), memories fade, people get used to it and just pay the new surcharge. At least that's what Cineplex is banking on.