Going to the Movies? Now You Can Put It on Your Card

Century City AMC multiplex-goers who are in the mood for dinner before a movie won’t have to skip dessert to skirt a sold-out show anymore. And that automated-teller-machine stop on the way may be passe too.

That’s because beginning today, selected AMC Entertainment Inc. theaters will start accepting charge cards and Cineplex Odeon will begin honoring American Express cards.

“Going to the movies is not a spontaneous experience anymore,” AMC senior vice president Frank Stryjewski said. “In my college days, I used to see two to three movies a week. But with two young children, you have to think ahead. . . .”

Although tickets at Century City’s AMC 14 are $6.50, Stryjewski said the cost of admission was not the motivating factor that prompted the nation’s third-largest theater chain to implement the plan. The idea was brought to fruition, he said, to make it more convenient for moviegoers.

“Being able to reserve tickets three days in advance takes the apprehension out of the movie experience,” he said.

Though the underlying premise may be the same with both theater chains, there are several differences:

-- Cineplex will not offer advance ticket purchases, while AMC will take phoned-in reservations of up to 72 hours in some locations.

-- Cineplex will only honor American Express cards, while AMC will accept American Express, Discovery, Visa and MasterCard.

-- Cineplex will accept American Express at all its screens in the United States and Canada, while AMC determines the credit-card system on a market-by-market basis and estimates that it will be in 20 to 30 locales by year’s end.

-- Cineplex permits credit cards for ticket purchases only, while AMC offers patrons the option of an extra $10-voucher to be used as cash at the concession counter.

The advance ticket buyer will have to pay a price for the convenience, however. AMC’s Stryjewski said there will be a 25-cent-per-ticket fee for reservations 48 hours in advance and 50 cents for those 72 hours ahead.

Stryjewski said five-week trial runs in Oak Park, Mo., and Washington were working out well and have proved even faster than cash transactions: “The salesperson just swipes the credit card through a machine and the ticket pops out. We’re not using the actual engraving system like they do in restaurants and stores, so it takes much less time.”

Computerized Automatic Ticket System machines have been used in European movie houses for more than two years, Stryjewski said, where 60% to 70% of all tickets are bought through them. That figure may not reach as high in the United States, he said, because credit cards are still not as widely used as in Europe. At the Oak Park Plaza Cinema Six, about 4% of ticket sales in the first three weeks were made by credit card, he said, and at the Courthouse Plaza in the nation’s capital, about 6%. He said he expects those figures to increase dramatically, especially in big charge-it states such as California.

Stryjewski reported a “moderate increase” in total ticket sales at the trial-run locations, but said that it is difficult to attribute the rise to the “card-swipe” system alone.

Although Cineplex will use the traditional and longer method of imprinting credit-card slips, a spokeswoman at the corporate offices in Canada said that a separate American Express line will be introduced at some box offices.

She said the company may later expand its program to include reservations and other credit cards. Cineplex is the United States’ second-largest theater chain with about 1,820 screens in 500 locations in 20 states.

Stryjewski said his company has yet to hit a snag in the system--this time around.

Five years ago, AMC gave The Agent credit-card system a trial-run in Dallas and pulled the plug on it after three months. The Agent operated something like bank automated-teller machines. Moviegoers inserted a credit card into a slot to see what movies were playing, show times and the availability of seats. Tickets were then purchased on the card.

“Credit cards weren’t as popular as they are now,” Stryjewski said, adding that computers have gained more acceptance. He also said that customers still prefer to interact with individuals--and warmth was a characteristic The Agent most definitely lacked.

The cost to install a credit-card system at the Oak Park Plaza multiplex was $46,000, Stryjewski said, adding that the amount will exceed $50,000 at the Century City AMC 14 because that theater runs eight more screens and there are more box office windows. AMC, which has about 1,700 screens in 290 locations in 28 states, estimated the average per-movie house cost to be about $35,000.

Stryjewski said credit-card systems are planned for Burbank 10 and the Marina Pacifica in Long Beach right after Century City’s AMC 14. But he said it was probable that not all of AMC’s 18 theaters in the Los Angeles area will have the system.

A spokeswoman for United Artists, the nation’s largest theater chain, said the company has not considered accepting credit cards. Pacific Theaters and Edwards Theaters Circuit Inc. have not yet buttered up to the idea either.

“We’re concerned about how to expedite the (ticket-buying) procedure,” said Milt Moritz, Pacific Theaters’ vice president of advertising. “It didn’t work when they tried it at Mann Theaters several years ago. It held up lines.”

Jim Edwards, chairman of the Edwards chain, said that if credit-card sales prove to be as rapid as cash, his company may consider installing the system. “For now,” he said, “we’ll be the bell cows and follow the leader.”