Regal Cinemas / The “Funscape” Entertainment Center

Knoxville, Tennessee

Regal Cinemas, one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic movie-theater chains in North America, is about to blaze a new trail in the theater industry. The company that pioneered the multi-screen concept, offering customers more movie choices under one roof, is now preparing to re-engineer the way customers purchase movie tickets and concession items like popcorn, candy and soft drinks.

“People come to our theaters to enjoy a movie, not to stand in line waiting for service,” says J.E. Henry, director of MIS. “Our plan is to eliminate lengthy lines and let customers purchase tickets and concessions on their own via interactive kiosks. The enabling factor in all of this is touchscreen technology.”

Regal Cinema has installed touchscreen kiosks throughout its newest theater concept: a 95,000 square-foot family entertainment center and theater complex called Funscape. Set to open during the summer of 1995 in Chesapeake, Virginia, Funscape includes 14 movie screens, a two-story miniature golf course, numerous virtual-reality games, a high-tech video arcade, a food court incorporating several fast-food restaurants, and many other attractions.

Cutting Costs, Speeding Service

Until now, Henry says, movie exhibitors have assumed they have no choice but to hire minimum-wage employees to sell tickets and take fast-food and concession orders.

“We’re changing all that,” he says. “In one stroke, our touchscreen kiosks will lower our labor costs, reduce the number of people with access to our cash tills, and speed service so the movie-going experience is more pleasurable for our customers.”

The lobby of Funscape’s 14-screen theater complex will feature express lines, where customers interact with touchscreens to purchase their tickets and concession items. The kiosks will accept cash or credit cards in exchange for concession coupons, which eliminate potential delays because all purchases are pre-paid.

“The touchscreens speed up the financial transaction, which in turn streamlines and speeds up the preparation of concession orders,” says Henry. “The end result is that customers get to their seats with their snacks and drinks much faster, with no wait and no hassles.”

As an added bonus, customers unsure of which film they want to see can simply touch a button on one of the touchscreens to call up a full-action video preview of any movie showing that night.

A Picture Paints 1,000 Words

In Henry’s view, two basic truths about human behavior make touchscreen technology an appropriate choice at Funscape and other movie theater complexes.

“The first truth,” he says, “is that touch is a primal response mechanism. Everyone understands the idea of touching the option you want. The second involves the old saying about a picture painting a thousand words. We present photographic-quality images and all you have to do is touch that image of popcorn or a soft drink to place your order. There’s no learning required.”

After evaluating various touchscreen technologies, Regal Cinemas selected touchscreens from Elo TouchSystems. “We chose Elo because we knew their screens are extremely reliable,” Henry says. “We also chose them for the people behind the product. We know we can trust Elo’s team to deliver for us on a continual and ongoing basis.”

Henry adds that his staff considered capacitive touchscreens but we’re concerned about touch points on the capacitive screen “drifting” out of place. “With Elo’s resistive screens, touch points never drift. The other problem we faced with capacitive screens was they cannot be activated by gloved hands. That’s problematic during the winter months.”

Regal Cinema developed its touchscreen kiosk system with help from SoftSense (Atlanta, GA), a leading developer of touch-activated information systems.

Touch-Activated Restaurants, Too

The touchscreen kiosks not only streamline Funscape’s movie ticketing and concession sales, they also transform the food court, which features nationally recognized brand-name pizza, taco, sandwich and dessert shops, including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and Arby’s.

“Say, for example, that a family of five visits the food court for dinner,” Henry says. “The chances are good that different members of the family will have different food preferences.”

In the past, Henry says, the family would have to split up to place their orders separately at different restaurants. At Funscape, this scenario will no longer be necessary: At the center of the food court, a bank of touchscreens will enable customers to order on their own. Each touchscreen kiosk will accept orders for each and every restaurant, enabling the family to place all of their orders at one time in one location, simply by interacting with the touchscreen. The family then pays for the entire dinner in one fell swoop by swiping a card or by entering cash into the kiosk. The kiosk’s printer responds by producing slips which the family members exchange for pre-paid meals cooked at their preferred restaurants within the food court.

Boosting Revenues

In addition to cutting labor costs and speeding service, the touchscreens may also increase sales for Regal Cinemas. Several studies conducted by theater-industry experts show that when movie-goers pay by credit card at a kiosk, they typically spend more money. “The customer is no longer constrained by how much cash they have on hand at a given moment,” says Henry. “So they purchase what they want.”

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