Earlier this month, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were interviewed on the future of movies, showing a multi-tiered pricing structure for your regulars vs your blockbuster hits. That would mean, for instance that your ‘White Chicks’ would be priced at a lower rate compared to say, ‘Superman.’ In fact, more affordable rates for movies succeeds the growing number of streaming movie rentals online which goes to show that the future is indeed a same day release on the web versus a 30 to 60 day window into the Blu-ray or iTunes / Netflix equivalent.
Here in the Philippines, pricing schemes for movie releases are pegged based on where you’re watching and not whether you grab a matinee or evening show. That would mean that the iMAX theaters (such as the one in SM Aura and SM Mall of Asia). Watching movies (vs your marathons at home) therefore turns into an even more social event, where people are probably (I have no empirical data) watching more movies at home and saving the group dates with friends for movie blockbuster time. So the theater does matter. iMAX does matter.
Last month, SMART Communications unveiled their special iMAX Privilege Card to their Infinity Subscribers. My IMAX Cardholders are in for the following treats from SMART Infinity:
- A special lane for iMAX ticket lines; shorter queues to no queues at all!
- Free popcorn and drinks when you load up the card at iMAX enabled SM Cinemas
- Earn points to redeem offers at any SM Cinema. Bigger points can be redeemed from IMAX Theater and Director’s club cinemas.
For more details about the perks and privileges of the new SMART Infinity packages, check them out here.
* SMART Communications has been a constant supporter of this blog since 2011.
