Cinema operator Palace Amusement Company, in an effort to reverse its losses, has moved to engage a new marketing strategy which sees the entity slashing its prices by half in hopes of increasing the flow of patrons and revenues to its cinemas as business continues to be adversely affected by COVID-19.

Through these specially discounted offers which will run until the end of February, Palace is seeking to re-engage the public which it said is still fearful of the virus, hoping that more patrons will come out and enjoy the movies aired in a safe and socially distanced manner.

According to Melanie Graham, marketing manager at Palace Amusement, the aim of this initiative is not only to help with boosting the operations of the company but also to sensitise the public that the cinemas are open and ready for business, as following the closure of its Palace Multiplex cinema in Montego Bay and Palace Cineplex in Sovereign Centre, Kingston, the company’s other cinemas, including the Carib 5 theatre in Kingston and Sunshine Palace in Portmore, remain fully operational.

“The half-off offer is at all the cinemas that are open and it will run from Monday to Thursday. We understand that people are not well off financially right now as lots of people have either lost their jobs, been working from home or had their salaries cut, and we understand. But, we think that it is still important that people get out of the house and get a relief,” Graham said.

Patrons of its recently opened drive-in cinema in New Kingston are also expected to benefit from this half-off offer along with a $2000 weekend car special.

“By car, we mean a regular car and this would mean four adults or two adults and three children. This will run from Friday to Sunday,” Graham added.

Currently, general admission to the cinemas ranges somewhere between $1200-$1400 for regular adult viewing and $700-800 for children. This means that with the current half-off special, moviegoers can now watch some of their favorite movies on the big screen at a cost of $600-$700 per adult and $350-$400 per child, on condition.

With no clear sign of when the pandemic is expected to end the company said it viewed the impending vaccination programme soon to be rolled out by Government in April as critical to its recovery and was banking on it. In its last financial year Palace saw revenues climb to over a billion dollars, about 90 per cent of which since then has been eroded by the pandemic.

“As bad as the pandemic is, I don’t want shareholders to lose hope because with the vaccine I think light is at the end of the tunnel. I believe that something positive will happen as soon as patron confidence in our security returns and the markets in North America reopen,” added Board Chairman Douglas Graham in his report to shareholders during the company’s annual general meeting held on Thursday last.

“We think we have a very safe environment but people are scared, and that’s part of our struggle – to get people to overcome their fear of this internal environment,” he stated.

As a result of the loss in ticket sales, the century-old company has had to seek interim financing to cover fixed expenditures amid the fall-off in revenues at its theatres. These fall-offs the company has attributed to several factors, including its initial four-month closure since March 2020, curfew and Government-imposed restrictions to stem the virus, as well as low attendance rates from moviegoers and the lack of release of blockbuster movies by international companies which have also been hit hard by the pandemic. Just late last year Warner Brothers took the decision to stream all its movies on the same days they are to be released in theatres this year.

During its first-quarter or three-month period ended September 30, Palace secured approximately $29.5 million in revenues. The bulk of this income came from the Carib 5 and Sunshine Palace cinemas which earned $10.4 and $9.2 million, respectively. However, the company, despite slight improvement in its fourth-quarter revenues, still incurred a net loss of $94.7 million for the period.

“We are hoping that this financial year will see a turn for the better. It’s been rough but we are doing all we can to stay afloat,” stated Carol Lee, group financial controller for Palace, noting that the results of the December quarter will perhaps show a slight improvement over the previous. “It won’t be anything significantly different because the numbers are just trickling along in terms of people coming out.”