Disney Switching to Per-Capita Cut on Movie Tickets

Walt Disney Co., on a roll at the box office, last week sent a letter to theater owners demanding contractual terms that will sharply reduce the sale of discount tickets for all future Disney films.

Beginning with “Big Business,” set for release this Friday, Disney will insist on a minimum “per-capita” payment for every moviegoer who buys a ticket to a Disney film. In recent years, such payments have been required only for anticipated blockbusters on the order of Paramount’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”

Under a per-capita system, the studio can demand a minimum payment--say, $4 or more--even if the theater owner has sold tickets for much less at a bargain matinee or under another discount scheme. Studios normally receive a set percentage of the theater’s box-office gross.

Fear Discounts Could End

Some exhibitors immediately objected to the change. “I really feel this is the next step to price fixing. They’ve gone a step too far,” said Dick Fox, a Pennsylvania theater owner and chairman of the National Assn. of Theater Owners.

Fox said he expected that his organization will investigate the legal ramifications of the move. He also said he believed that the step would force theater owners to end discounts on films from other studios.

“You can’t say it’s $4 for a Disney film and $2 for everything else,” Fox noted.

Richard Cook, president of Burbank-based Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures Distribution unit, declined to comment.

One Disney movie executive said the company had previously used minimum per-capita requirements before new managers took over the studio in 1984. The executive said Disney didn’t plan to use the minimum requirements to force general admission prices higher. But, he said, the company would key the minimums to existing ticket prices in the areas where the theaters are located.

The company’s letter said: “We have watched as bargain matinees, dollar days, promotions to boost gum sales and corn flakes, supermarket tie-ins and many other gimmicks have transferred money from the box office (where we share) to the concession counter (where we do not share).”

The letter also said Disney planned to ban any screen advertising from showings of its films unless the ads were specifically authorized by the studio. The letter noted that the company expected to receive “our fair share” of any money that theater owners receive from promotional tie-ins with supermarkets or other businesses.

One theater owner contacted Tuesday said he expected other movie companies will soon follow Disney’s strategy. Fox said he was unaware of any similar move.