The current movie exhibition model is under incredible stress. Although increasing ticket prices have often masked steadily declining movie attendance figures, there has been precious little experimentation to fundamentally address the spiritual awakening movies issue of getting people back into the theater. As Doctor Phil would say, “how’s that current model working for ya? The time has come to experiment and tinker to see what can be done to improve the initial window of movies, the window that drives all downstream revenues that finance the business. C’mon, guys, let’s try some new things. Several recent articles have suggested ways theater operators can increase movie attendance in North america.

Putting aside this year, which has been down a disastrous 22% from last year, movie exhibitors have generally kept revenues up slightly from prior years by increasing ticket prices. But attendance, the number of tickets sold, has been declining for years. Aside from relying on Hollywood studios to make better, more broadly entertaining films, are there other techniques to lure people back to theaters more often? Economists have noted that theater chains have priced their inventory (seats in theaters) in the same simplistic way for decades. Basically there is one price for adults, children, students and seniors, and often a discount for matinee showings.

But airlines (also in the business of filling seats) and the hotel industry (filling hotel rooms) have used complex algorithms to minimize the number of empty seats or rooms and maximize revenues from paying customers. In addition, these industries have harnessed the power of the Internet to create an auction marketplace to induce customers to make a purchase. The internet also allows the creation of massive and valuable databases, which can be mined to analyze consumer behavior and fine tune optimal pricing and timing strategies. An article by Steven Zeitchik on LAtimes. com examines how variable pricing might be implemented by the movie industry. It concentrates on pricing movies differently according to performance. Poorly performing or less anticipated films could see lower admission prices to lure customers in (although a dog of a movie would probably play to an empty theater even if the ticket price were near zero). Highly anticipated or blockbuster movies might command higher prices (fans of Harry Potter or Batman or Twilight might pay more for the chance to see the movie first). Everyone likes to watch movies, but when you’re not taking care of your personal movie database, you’re probably not getting the most of your movie collection. No matter what your interest in movies might be, you need to make sure that you’re managing your personal movie database as best you can. Even though this might sound like a lot of work, it’s not.

When you begin to look at how you can wrangle your movies, you’ll notice you’re getting more out of your entertainment collection than you ever did before. You need to create a personal movie database that makes sense for your needs. Gone are the days when you could just throw your movies on the floor. Whether you choose to designate a shelf for your Dvds or you decide to devote a new hard drive to your video files, you need to find a place to put your movies, and then keep them here. No matter what you do with your movies, even if they’re just for your personal use, when you take care of them and you know where they are, you will be able to make the most out of your movie viewing time. Imagine what it would be like if you didn’t have to hunt for the movies you own.

If you have a lot of movies, you might need to call in your friends and family to help you with your movies. This task might require that you all look for your movies, whether they are, and place them in a particular order. If you have someone whose personal movie database system you admire, ask them for their help. They will be an invaluable resource and they will allow you to see a new way of getting organized. You might also want to call upon a professional organizer if you have a lot of movies to organize and not a lot of time to organize them.

Once things are in their new places in your personal movie database, it’s a good idea to take this new system seriously. You might want to invest in movie software that will keep your movie titles arranged. When you do this, you’ll be able to see what you own, where it is, and what you still need to purchase or replace. The more that you are watching the movies you own, the more you will use them and the more you will take care of them. This will allow your movies to last longer and to not get lost, as they have in the past.