For Profit or for What? A Comparative Case Study on Film Programming Strategies in Nonprofit and For-profit Movie Theaters Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Kuo Guo Graduate Program in Arts Policy and Administration The Ohio State University 2018 Thesis Committee: Margaret Wyszomirski, Advisor Shoshanah Goldberg-miller Copyright by Kuo Guo 2018 Abstract This case study explores the similarities and differences in film programming strategies for commercial movie theaters and nonprofit movie theaters. Movie theater attendance in the US film market has been declining since the beginning of the 21st century, and the number of movie theaters is also going down. Competition inside traditional film exhibition industry and outside from alternative streams are getting severe. The study adapted Margaret Wyszormirski’s Triple- Bottom Line for arts policy to a triple-bottom-line for film programming, pointing out the three key bottom lines of film programming as content choice, audience development, and financial management. Two movie theaters near OSU main campus area, Gateway Film Center (nonprofit) and AMC Lennox Town Center 24 (for-profit), are compared in these three aspects. This study shows and analyzes their film programming strategies, and their film programmers’ thoughts and rules in making film programming decisions. ii Acknowledgment I would like to express my great appreciation to my advisor Dr. Margaret Wyszomirski for her guidance, encouragement, and support in my research, courses and life. I would also like to thank Dr. Shoshanah Goldberg-miller for serving as my committee member and supporting me through the IRB process. I wish to extend my thanks to every professor in the Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy who has guided me and supported me through the master degree. Thanks to the very helpful staff members in the department for making my study and life so much easier. Finally, I wish to thank my parents for their endless love. iii Vita 2014……………………………………B.F.A. Film and Television Producing, Beijing Film Academy, China 2018……………………………………M.A. Arts Policy and Administration, The Ohio State University 2016 to present…………………………Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Arts Administration, Education and Policy The Ohio State Universtiy Publications Guo, K. (2014). On the Creation Strategies of Chinese Films’ Internationalization. Public Art, Issue 19 of 2014, pp 187-189. Fields of study Major field: Arts Policy and Administration Minor field: Cinema and Video Production iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................................... iii Vita ................................................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of Purpose and Research Questions ..................................................................... 5 1.3 Introduction of AMC Lennox Town Center 24 (AMC Lennox) .......................................... 6 1.4 Introduction of Gateway Film Center (GFC) ........................................................................ 7 1.5 Significance of the study ....................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 2 Literature Review ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1 Current research on film exhibition market ........................................................................ 10 2.2 Film Programming in this study ......................................................................................... 15 2.3 Content, audience, and finance ........................................................................................... 16 2.3.1 The content ................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.2 The audience ................................................................................................................ 25 2.3.3 Finance ......................................................................................................................... 30 2.4 Analytical Framework ........................................................................................................ 33 v Chapter 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 40 3.1 Qualitative Research and Comparative Case Study ............................................................ 40 3.2 Data Collection ................................................................................................................... 43 3.3 Interview process ................................................................................................................ 44 3.4 Scope and limitations .......................................................................................................... 49 Chapter 4. Film Programming in AMC Lennox Town Center 24 ................................................ 51 4.1 Wide release and limited release ......................................................................................... 52 4.2 Type of films and showtime ............................................................................................... 55 4.3 Targeting at specific audiences ........................................................................................... 61 4.4 Ticket price and Concession ............................................................................................... 65 Chapter 5. Film programming in Gateway Film Center ............................................................... 70 5.1 Program choosing in GFC .................................................................................................. 70 5.2 Audience development through partnerships ...................................................................... 77 5.3 Financial challenges and strategies ..................................................................................... 79 Chapter 6. Comparing AMC Lennox and GFC ........................................................................... 87 6.1 Duty of AMC Lennox’s manager and GFC’s programmer ................................................ 87 6.2 First Bottom Line – Content (Program) .............................................................................. 90 6.3 Second Bottom Line – Audience ........................................................................................ 97 6.4 Third Bottom Line – Finance .............................................................................................. 99 6.5 Combining the triple bottom lines into a film programming system ................................ 102 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 105 References ................................................................................................................................... 108 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Number of cinema sites in the United States from 1995 to 2017 (Statsista)……........…2 Figure 2. Annual ticket sales in the US from 1995 to 2017 (The Numbers)………..……….……3 Figure 3. The value chain for motion pictures (Eliashaberg, 2006) …………………...………..12 Figure 4. Recoupment waterfall for a $30m feature (stephenfollows.com)..................................13 Figure 5. Market share for each genre 1995-2018 (The Numbers)...............................................18 Figure 6. Top-grossing movies for each year (The Numbers).......................................................23 Figure 7. 2016 Gender share of total population, moviegoers, and tickets Sold (MPAA)............27 Figure 8. Frequent moviegoers by age (MPAA)...........................................................................27 Figure 9. Frequent moviegoers by Ethnicity..................................................................................28 Figure 10. Average cinema ticket price in North America film market (MPAA).........................30 Figure 11. A rough film programming triple-bottom-line.............................................................34 Figure 12. Botti’s key factors of artistic value (Botti, 2000).........................................................35 Figure 13. Chamberlain’s pricing management model for the performing arts (Chamberlain, 1986)..............................................................................................................................................38 Figure 14. Film