After years supporting somewhat unsuccessful on-campus movie screenings, the Student Association has switched to offering movie ticket vouchers.
Every Monday at 10 a.m., a long line forms in in front of the Sub-Board I (SBI) ticket office that almost stretches to the other side of the floor. SA’s new ticket program started early this month and replaced the film series that showed movies in Student Union Theater.
SA plans to give away 2,500 free AMC movie ticket vouchers to UB undergraduate students this fall semester. Only 200 movie ticket vouchers are available on a weekly basis. After three weeks within the promotion, a total of 600 movie ticket vouchers have been redeemed. Students are only able to receive four vouchers for the entire semester. The popularity of the new program has resulted in average hour-long wait.
The cost of the AMC movie ticket vouchers is higher compared to the previous program. SA treasurer Sade Cadle said the previous film series, which included staffing and movies, cost SA $38,918.99. The AMC movie ticket programs costs $40,040.
Around the end of last semester, the SA entertainment department and previous SA executive board wanted to come up with a better option to provide movies to students after low attendance at the old film series. SA President James Ingram said they decided the AMC movie ticket vouchers would provide a better film experience.
Ingram said the vouchers were a “plausible idea” because the UB Parking and Transportation department started having buses running to nearby AMC plaza. He said this allows the program to lessen transportation issues for students without cars, who will not feel they had “a service taken away from them” through the switch.
Cadle said switching to the AMC movie ticket vouchers has made students happier and it also clears SU Theater for other clubs to use.
While some students have not had a chance to get an AMC movie ticket voucher, Kushan Abeyawardhane, a senior mechanical engineering major, managed to get the vouchers twice.
He said his secret to successfully claiming the vouchers is to head straight for the SBI ticket office before 10 a.m. after class every Monday.
Abeyawardhane said, however, there should be more staff handing out the tickets to make the collection process faster. He waited almost an hour to receive a movie ticket voucher the first time. He’s started studying during the wait to help pass the time and be productive.
After getting his voucher, he said the line looked like it would still take more than an hour to finish hand out the rest of the tickets.
Ingram acknowledged the wait time and said he hopes to improve that part of the program. He said the queue made him happy to see many students interested in the program, but he said he is also trying to brainstorm ways to make the ticket collection process run more efficiently.
“The Sub-Board I ticket office is the best way that we come up with currently to give out the tickets because Sub-Board I has a whole system that can keep track of how many students are getting tickets and how many tickets students have picked up,” Ingram said.
At the end of the semester, Ingram plans to sit down with Lorenzo Guzman, SBI Ticket Office general services manager, to see if there is a way they can make the ticketing distribution more efficient.
Harbind Brar, a senior psychology major, said he waited in line for 40 minutes to get his ticket. He had his friends accompany him while he waited in line.
“I left from home to campus early in the day and I waited patiently in line for a ticket before the ticket office opened up,” Brar said. “Sometimes, I asked a friend to hold a spot in line for me.”
Brar hasn’t had the chance to put his AMC movie ticket voucher to use because he plans on either using it when a “big movie comes out in the theaters” or during the winter break. He was quick to say how nice it was to be able “to grab one of the tickets.”
“It felt like a reward from working hard each week in school and extracurricular,” Brar said.
Despite the promotion being new, Ingram said the weekly giveaway is a success. He hopes to eventually have a possible group deal with AMC to purchase more tickets if it stays popular with the students.
Ingram said the AMC movie ticket vouchers program will continue next semester.
email: news@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
