Megaplex expects more ticket sales during the holidays

 By Devin Brown

Utah’s Megaplex Theatres expects to sell more movie tickets this holiday season than last year. There are two movies behind this prediction: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 1” and “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.”

In this image released by Lions Gate, shows the movie poster for
"The Hunger Games; Mockingjay-Part 1." (Lions Gate)

Managers at Megaplex said they expect high attendance because The Hobbit and The Hunger Games are the final part of their franchises – The Hunger Games is part one of two. The company’s promotion, $5 Tuesdays, is also expected to help.

Due to a slow summer movie season, 2014’s movie ticket sales are behind 2013. According to Boxofficemojo.com, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is currently the largest grossing movie of the year earning $330 million In 2013 the largest grossing movie was “The Hunger Game: Catching Fire” earning $424 million.

Adam Tillman, the digital projection manager for Megaplex Theatres, said July was the slowest in the company’s history. He said people have been waiting to go to the movies this year. New blockbuster hits, according to Tillman, will make them go to the theaters.

In this image released by Warner Brothers, it shows the movie poster
for "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies." (Warner Brothers)

Tillman said the company’s Valley Fair theaters, which have nine screens, are expecting more than 95,000 people for November.

Aaron Thompson, the event sales manager for Valley Fair, said he has already seen an increased number of theater reservations for this month. Thompson said he’s had more this month than November 2013. 

Tillman said in August Megaplex added $5 Tuesdays for all of its theaters in Utah and Nevada. He said Megaplex received a lot of good feedback from its customers. He believes the company will have good sale numbers for December because of the discounts and movie releases.

Thompson said he thinks The Hunger Games and The Hobbit will help with sales for next year. These movies, according to Thompson, will be a “starting point” to a good movie year.

Valley Fair is already receiving reservations for the new Star Wars movie, “Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens,” scheduled for release in December 2015.

Megaplex’s managers said they are ready for the increased number of people.

Lions Gate Entertainment, the movie studio that produced The Hunger Games, reported last weekend the movie earned $123 million. According to Lions Gate’s website, The Hunger Games franchise has earned $1.5 billion worldwide.

The Hobbit will be released on Dec.17. Warner Brothers Pictures, the movie studio that produced The Hobbit, said the franchise has earned more than $1 billion worldwide. Boxofficemojo.com said it expects the new movie to earn $235 million.