9 February 2010

Hoyts feeling the Limelight Pinch

| deezagood
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The new Tuggeranong Limelight cinema’s pricing schedule may have have created some much needed relief for consumers. Amongst yesterday’s junk mail was a glossy card that entitles us to $9.00 movies until the end of June. Tellingly, $9.00 is what Limelight cinemas are now charging for all sessions (excluding 3D). Whilst I am delighted that this competition has resulted in more realistic movie ticket prices for Canberra, I will still be taking my business to Tuggeranong … primarily because I am very grateful for their busines model that has enabled families to see movies in the cinema again. Good on you Limelight! Wonder if Dendy will follow suite ….

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Woody Mann-Caruso10:22 pm 10 Mar 10

Saw Avatar at Limelight and was very happy. Clean, modern, great picture and sound, nice people, great prices. Suck it, Hoyts.

Bananabanana8:31 pm 10 Mar 10

At limelight the popcorn and drinks are on display with prices and labels that say small, medium and large. You would not believe how happy that makes me feel.

Who remembers the Cosmo cinemas in Woden? They used to charge $5.50 per movie, until hoyts moved in and started charging $5.50 per movie too. Funnily enough, as soon as Cosmo closed, hoyts jacked the price up over $10. Hoyts has no interest at all in reducing customer prices, their only interest in temporarily lowering them is in some vague hope to squash the competition as they can ‘bear’ the ‘loss’.

Personally, if your business model involves people paying you money to sit in a dark room and watch movies, and you cant make a profit at $5 per person, you need to look at restructuring your business model. As others have pointed out, pizza shops make a profit charging $6 for a pizza (and youre actually getting something, not just getting permission to sit in their seat while they attempt to screen the movie.

eh_steve said :

I go between Melbourne and Sydney a fair bit, and have been getting $9 glossy brochures there too, and I am doubtful the limelight shines that far!

Oh buggar Steve – you totally ruined my joy at the prospect of Limelight putting heat on the massive (evil) cinema conglomerate. Boo-to-you!

I go between Melbourne and Sydney a fair bit, and have been getting $9 glossy brochures there too, and I am doubtful the limelight shines that far!

grunge_hippy8:33 pm 10 Feb 10

p1 said :

A large pizza was around $18 twenty years ago!

Although it was also about three times the size…

and about 50 times better tasting. pizzas now are shite, bar chicken delight pizzas from isabella plains takeaway

I was impressed with Limelight too when I ventured there a few days after they opened, cheap tickets, new facilities, a separate ticket line!! for those who don’t want to wait behind the person ordering $50 worth of junk, and extra staff appeared to help check tickets for the line which was going well out the door.

Limelight has $7 vouchers for the month of Feb !

Plus full digital sound and screen, its awesome +++

Agree totally with the above posts. Incredible what motivation does. They failed to manage the Tuggeranong Cinema for years.

They have also been happily price gouging their patrons for years and finally they have had to offer a reasonable price. Too late Hoyts. Good on the people who continue to support Limelight.

Cheers

Steve

I am annoyed with Hoyts! When they closed in Tuggeranong they had the monopoly with their Woden cinemas and could have charged $9 a ticket then and made an absolute fortune.

But instead, an independant opens up in Tugerranong, providing a fantastic cinema experience for a lot less and now they want to only charge $9 a ticket. It’s closer for me to go to Woden, but i make a point of going to Tuggeranong.

I much prefer to support the independant cinema than Hoyts who are just trying to use their muscle to get rid of competition.

I just hope Limelight don’t cash in on their popularity and increase prices in 12 months time as quite a few businesses do. If they continue as they are they will continue to grow in popularity.

Well done Limelight, keep it up. 🙂

Love Limelight. Have seen Avatar 3 times in 3D at only $13.90, once I had the glasses which are only
$1. My Sydney Friends at around $27 for 3D could only dream of prices like that. Oh well, my gain
their loss. And Limelights website is clear and easy to understand, and definitely on my
bookmarks.

Trunking symbols said :

Follow suit, not follow suite (pedantic, pedantic!)

I do know this; very tired when I wrote the post. Yeesh. You guys are a tough crowd.

Is there a website for Limelight? I can’t seem to find one…
Thanks

A large pizza was around $18 twenty years ago!

Although it was also about three times the size…

ns said :

Went to Limelight on a Tuesday the other day and even after buying popcorn & drinks (something I don’t normally do) it still cost me less than $12. My companion commented that somehow when tickets are so cheap she doesn’t mind buying from the Candy Bar.

I hope Canberrans make a real effort to support Limelight so that it LASTS! Hoyts have probably lowered their prices to under-cut Limelight (by $0.90) and are gambling on the fact that if they ride it out and manage to keep customers away from Tuggers that Limelight may eventually have to fold. I have no idea whether $9.90 is sustainable in the long term – it’s probably dependent on a certain number of customers. It’s hence crucial that we support new businesses and give them a chance to establish themselves (in the hopes that in the long-term competition should give us consumers a better deal).

I think it will last and why shouldn’t it given so many regional independent cinemas charge similar prices (granted they don’t have the same competition as they are usualyl the only cinema in town) but it just goes to show that a seat price of under $10 is still making money. Take a look at the post last year when Limelight first opened and some background surrounding who owns the cinemas.

http://the-riotact.com/?p=16949 (post #3)

Me thinks that there is a lot of cred behind the venture.

But don’t just think price when comparing, think value for money, convenience, and service you receive. I am more than happy to pay $20 for good service, convenience, quality cinema experience, but moreso if that $20 was halved. And it sounds like Limelight is the answer!

PS Haven’t been myself so might have to give it a go.

benoncehobbled1:45 pm 10 Feb 10

Went to Limelight for the first time the other week with the Missus and was suitably impressed with the setup – comfortable seats, fresh carpet and a clean look. The movie was pretty good too – Invictus (pity about the blooper scene with the Hyundai Getz in it – I never pick up that kind of thing!). At that price, I have also made a point to go back and support this new business venture, which is finally providing a cheap entertainment option in Canberra.
On a side note, can anybody tell me why the shops in the foodcourt right in front of the cinema aren’t open beyond 6pm when Kmart is now open til 9?

Gungahlin Al1:28 pm 10 Feb 10

Echo the sentiment Deezagood. Going to the movies at full Hoyts price tickets with the whole family is an unaffordable joke. And the food/drink prices are the cream on top of the joke.

It certainly is enough to tempt someone into venturing south for the first time in a while.

And I intend touching base with the owners about their interest in coming to Gungahlin…

I live on the Northside but am happy to drive to Tuggers to support Limelight. Worth the drive and 90cents more to help them survive long term. I wonder if a permanent price change for all movies is in the wind? Reminds of pizza prices (Dominos & Pizza Hut) way back in 1991/92. A large pizza was around $18 twenty years ago! When the “recession we had to have” hit, and people had no money, pizza prices plummeted to around $6 and have not moved much ever since. Imagine the % mark up on pizzas 20 years ago! So hopefully, we may see a full time reduction in movie prices with the advent of places like Limelight and Dendy. (and maybe movie companies will stop paying millionaire socialist actors $15million per movie!)

Went to Limelight on a Tuesday the other day and even after buying popcorn & drinks (something I don’t normally do) it still cost me less than $12. My companion commented that somehow when tickets are so cheap she doesn’t mind buying from the Candy Bar.

I hope Canberrans make a real effort to support Limelight so that it LASTS! Hoyts have probably lowered their prices to under-cut Limelight (by $0.90) and are gambling on the fact that if they ride it out and manage to keep customers away from Tuggers that Limelight may eventually have to fold. I have no idea whether $9.90 is sustainable in the long term – it’s probably dependent on a certain number of customers. It’s hence crucial that we support new businesses and give them a chance to establish themselves (in the hopes that in the long-term competition should give us consumers a better deal).

Couldn’t agree more Deez. Hopefully the opening of Limelight will breathe some new life into the Hyperdump.

Trunking symbols9:42 am 10 Feb 10

Follow suit, not follow suite (pedantic, pedantic!)

sexynotsmart11:07 pm 09 Feb 10

Limelight is AWESOMENESS!

Went with Lovebumps and her sprogs last Saturday for a must-miss children’s title. The seats were comfy, floor was clean, price was right. And the kids were to blame for the choice of movie.

It’s not only the ticket prices. The staff at Limelight seem to be a cut above the bored teenagers at Hoyts.

I’m glad Hoyts is noticing the pressure, they’ve treated their customers as mugs for years. More power to Limelight.

I will too! I think the tickets are actually $9.90 for the non 3D sessions. Anyhoo, they provide a quality product and I want to support my local shopping centre.

We have some sort of membership card to dendy which gets us $10 movies. So getting close.

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