Hear me out.. but let’s please bring back physical tickets. Imagine actually being able to collect movie tickets again – but with alternate artwork and limited editions for opening night, 70mm, IMAX, etc. You get a cool ticket by asking for it when you check into AMC or wherever with the exact date/showtime, and can collect a binder full of your movie-going history instead of a closet full of plastic popcorn buckets.
– Alternate artwork per movie, with special variants for opening night, 70mm, marathons, fan events, etc.
– Priced like a simple add-on (even just +$1), which would totally sway “on the fence” trips to “eh, I’ll see it in theaters.”
– Easy to store in binders or sleeves, so years later you can flip through and see what you watched and when.
– Feels like a community thing: people posting their tickets, trading variants, framing old tickets which bring back memories like they do for Super Bowl or concert stubs.
– Theaters could tease the ticket designs on social a couple weeks before release to build hype and FOMO.
– Process wouldn’t change. You pick your seats online as normal, redeem your ticket when you check in and they limit the tickets to one per person to solve the resell issue.
– Unlike a $35 popcorn bucket, it’s cheap, doesn’t take up space, and isn’t just more plastic you have to find room for.
I’ve never bought a $35 bucket and never will, but I’d absolutely pay a buck more for a great-looking ticket I can actually keep. I’d even be fine keeping the bucket as an option as well if we got custom tickets.
And the idea is not really about making money on the physical tickets. It’s about getting more people to the theaters and to show up on opening nights for those who want to collect. Even if it got 20% of people to go in person rather than wait because they get a ticket is a win. It’s the same reason super bowls still do it. It’s not about making the money, it’s just a cool community experience that elevates the hobby.
I feel like this is a no-brainer for theaters and even AMC vs Regal could have different designs. Would something like this be interesting to you to collect over buckets or even push you to go to a theater when you’re on the fence?
by DarkModeBrew
14 Comments
Resellers would quickly ruin this like they do with everything else
The profit on a popcorn bucket is far higher with less hassle.
I think it’s a good idea. I would buy this item!
I’ve seen places that do give out special tickets or merch for specific screenings, usually opening weekends of an anime movie or something in Asia. Sometimes they’ll have leftover and just give it out for free. I remember there were Zootopia 2 Lorcana cards for just whoever wanted some at one theater I went to. My pile of movie merch is steadily growing from this so I would not be opposed to more.
I’d like this over a normal tickets, I just don’t think it’d be worth the effort for theaters.
This reminds me of how as sports leagues have moved on to more and more electronic ticketing they sometimes will sell or give away commemorative tickets.
i think korea still has these
In Cinesa we have these “fancards” with movie posters, and before that we had “fake tickets” for iSense (a kind of PLF). They were popular among residents, but no one I think would have paid anything for them.
https://preview.redd.it/xzjdmkfw79rg1.jpeg?width=715&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d805f16c1e58b98e806c46aea5a4514e0cdeafa
They do this already. It’s nice enough.
I would buy these so much more than $40 popcorn buckets I have no room for
The BFI IMAX in London do something like this. Obviously not personalised but I collect every time I’ve been there. Got about 150 of them and they look so nice stacked on my desk
I like the idea of it, but its so niche and the scalpers will instantly ruin it for everyone. Just don’t see it being viable for anyone unfortunately
That’s a pretty cool idea, I would buy them.