Last month Paramount Studios test drove a new special ticket package – For $50 moviegoers could see the Brad Pitt zombie epic World War Z two days before its scheduled opening date, as well as be rewarded with some extra goodies including customized 3D glasses, a limited-edition poster and a free HD download of the film when it becomes available. At the time of the announcement, I wasn’t sure if this was such a great value as the cost of a 3D ticket and getting the film on blu-ray would be close to that fifty buck price point. But it looks as if there were many people out there who thought that it was good enough to drop the money.
According to Variety –
[F]our of the five theaters featuring the $50 mega ticket for World War Z were sold out, with an average head count for each theater coming in at around 250 people per theater (the fifth theater was 80% full).
Certainly not a bad take, though Variety notes that the estimated $60,000 is just a drop in the $266 million bucket that is the film’s worldwide box office take. But it does look as if the $50 ticket package might have a viability going forward. We’ll see if Paramount or some other studio believes so and offers a similar deal sometime in the near future. But the long-term success of such a venture will probably depend on the films that it is attached to and whether there are enough moviegoers in some of the smaller markets who will be willing to shell out the higher price.
