Theaters Go Upscale to Woo Baby Boomers

“I’d like one low-fat popcorn, two frozen yogurts and an iced cappuccino, please.”

No, this isn’t an order at one of those upscale gourmet food stores.

But if current trends in the motion picture business continue, it could be a typical 1990s snack offering at the local movie house.

Sound good? Then how about La-Z-Boy-like “rocker” seats, no-wait concession stands, bone-crunching sound systems and the predicted demise of sardine-can-size theaters.

These are just some of the so-called innovations being offered by exhibitors this week at the 1989 National Assn. of Theatre Owners/ShoWest Convention and Trade Fair here. And they are all aimed at helping the film industry lure an aging and more discerning U.S. population into theater seats and away from their easy chairs, easy-reach refrigerators and easy channel-changing televisions.

“We can’t keep pretending that the teen-agers are going to fuel the film industry anymore,” said Curt Mildner, director of marketing for Hussey Seating, which supplies movie houses. “We’ve got to go after the adults who won’t go to a theater unless it offers something more than they can get at home.”

Just a decade ago the bulk of the moviegoing audience fell into the 14-24 age range. And the kids didn’t seem to mind the sticky floors, saturated-fat junk food and bad projection that drove older audiences away in droves.

Now, however, as demographic patterns in the country change and the postwar Baby Boom generation matures into its middle years, the number of teens and young adults going to the movies is shrinking. And to replace them, theater owners are having to go after the over-40 adults who are more sophisticated, more affluent and, as a result, a lot more demanding overall.

Also complicating the picture for cinema operators, besides the current headaches caused by cable and VCRs, is the coming development of high-definition television, which promises to make watching movies at home even more appealing.

So how to compete?

By giving consumers a “total moviegoing experience”--from the box office, through the concession stand, in the show and even as they leave--that will become an emotional experience so unique it couldn’t possibly be duplicated in their living rooms, according to Bruce Taffet, a senior vice president at United Artists cinemas.

While few of the proposed changes at cinemas sound all that new, when applied to the movie-house business they start to seem downright “radical,” in the words of Peter Caparis, director of theater and prestige accounts for the Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta.

“They’re extremely nontraditional for a theater environment. Because the theater industry is a very, very cautious, slow-moving industry,” he said.

But with big national chains continuing to buy out small mom-and-pop movie houses, according to William Katozian, the president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners, the larger organizations are “more willing to experiment and move in new directions than the family-run independents.”

Enter iced cappuccino.

Actually, the 60-calorie-per-6-ounce cold coffee beverage is still being tested by General Foods. But already it’s being marketed as “the grown-up soft drink,” according to senior product manager Bob Anstine, whose current plans are to make it available in theaters in late spring.

“We think it would appeal to a little bit older and more sophisticated group that wouldn’t necessarily like to have a carbonated soft drink when they go out to the movies,” Anstine said.

For those who do want a soft drink, Coca-Cola is marketing its new “self-serve concession stand” for soda, popcorn, hot dogs and nachos. The contraption is basically an expanded version of convenience store snack bars. Already two theaters--Metropolitan’s in Palm Desert and UA’s in Atlanta--are testing it.

Coca-Cola claims that theaters can sell more products to customers because the self-serve stands virtually eliminate those long popcorn-and-soda lines. And since cinemas make about 80% of their profits on concession items, “we’re looking for any way that we can serve more people in a shorter period of time,” explained UA’s Taffet, whose company’s construction plans call for the self-service stands in new theaters.

Theater owners, who for so long embraced junk food, are now hopping on the health bandwagon with relish and mustard. After all, with older Americans watching their cholesterol, saturated fat, salt and calorie intake more closely now than ever before, heapings mounds of cheesy nachos are off limits.

So, stuffed in between the candy and hot dog display here are designer water and fancy frozen yogurts.

Even that old movie house staple, popcorn, is being touted as “no cholesterol” and “low-fat.”

Lou Ana Foods of Opelousas, La., is offering a “new” popping recipe with lower-saturated-fat vegetable oil as an alternative to coconut oil. And, claims vice president for sales Jim Boswell, it won’t gum up the popping kettle or lose its movie house flavor.

And more theaters are following AMC Theaters’ lead in keeping that popcorn or Evian from spilling with cup holders attached to seat arms. Not only is it convenient, but it keeps the theaters cleaner--something that older moviegoers demand.

“Customers can sit down and enjoy the movie without having a drink on their laps or on the floor,” explained Cine Coasters owner Richard Katz. “It’s just giving another little bit back to the customer in terms of comfort.”

In fact, theaters have never put a higher priority on customer comfort than now. Until this year only one manufacturer, Irwin in Grand Rapids, Mich., was producing the hot new rocker seat for cinemas.

At the current ShoWest, however, three manufacturers have several models on display. And theater owners seemed to love it, judging by the way they were gleefully bouncing back and forth on them like kids on a carrousel horse.

“We’ve had a real great response. Because everyone can always remember the theater they’ve been in that had a rocker,” said Huffey Seating’s Curt Mildner. “And theater owners recognize the fact that people remember rockers.”

And with the same technology as a La-Z-Boy easy chair, the rocker seat can make the customer feel at home. “When you put rockers into a theater,” noted small theater chain owner Nick Malone, “the people notice the difference.”

Next to comfort, theater owners are looking to give their customers a better moviegoing experience by upgrading the projection and sound quality.

The theater owners predict that mini-theaters are going out and old-style movie palaces are coming back.

“Going to one of those little box theaters all hunched up in a shopping mall doesn’t constitute the grand experience that older people remember and still like,” said Jerome Gordon, regional executive director of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners for Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The shift would also mean bigger screens, wider aisles, more leg room and, most importantly, better sound, on which theater owners are spending more money than on any other feature, according to the theater owners.

“What has happened since talking movies started is almost nothing audio-wise,” said Robin Sibucao, eastern regional manager for the Bose Corp.

“It’s almost the same sound that you have when you listen to your grandmother’s 78 records. It’s that poor. And yet because of Walkmans and $3,000 home stereo systems people have gotten much hipper about audio.”

Some cinemas have installed Lucasfilm’s expensive THX System. But now many manufacturers are providing a high-end four-track optical stereo system that can be tailored to the size of each auditorium.

Complexes in larger markets will be equipped with at least one 70-millimeter six-track magnetic sound system designed to provide “the ultimate motion picture viewing experience.”

Most of these industry innovations will be seen in new theaters now under construction. For those already built, owners are debating how much to retrofit.

Malone, for one, says he is committed to upgrading his theaters in the areas of food, seats, sound and projection quality for customers.

“But in the end,” he said, “they want to see a good movie, too.”