Warner Bros. is jumping on the Super Ticket bandwagon, joining Paramount by offering an expensive ticket for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The ticket is part of an offer with Regal Cinemas.
The ticket is a $20 charge on top of your regular ticket price (so if you live in New York and pay $20 to see it in IMAX, the whole package would cost $40). Regal lists the bonuses as an HD streaming copy of the movie four days before it is released, plus an SD streaming copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. In addition, you will be entered to win a trip to New Zealand to see where the films were made.
“The exhibitor has an opportunity to participate in this, the first time an exhibitor has had any chance to participate in the ancillary business,” Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, told Bloomberg.
While this sounds like a great extra revenue stream for the studios, Warner Bros. is only the second to do this. Paramount did it over the summer with World War Z, by offering 3D glasses, popcorn, an HD streaming copy and a poster for $50. The studio also announced a Super Ticket for Anchorman 2, which costs $33. The big caveat for that one is that it lets fans see the movie two days before everyone else.
The Desolation of Smaug is the second of Peter Jackson’s three movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and hits theaters on Friday.
image: Warner Bros.