Overview: Movie theater assignments can be pretty fun and somewhat time consuming. They are assignments where you go into a movie theater and evaluate the associates, concessions, pop signs, patron counts, standees, movie posters and cleanliness. In some cases, you take pictures of extreme issues, such as: overly greasy foods, damage to the following: standees, fixtures, carpeting and kiosks.
Oftentimes, you take a picture of the box office (usually weekend shows). You are checking to see if the associates at the box office offer you a rewards card, which gives members free movie tickets, popcor, or concessions for earned points. While at the box office, the client is looking to see if the theater has movie rating posters that are present and other certain types of signage, such as cell phone useage, rewards card signage, promotions, etc. They want to know if the box office associate is in proper uniform, wearing the name tag, and what method they use for your ticket.
Concessions: In most cases, you start out by ordering a small popcorn and drink, to see if they offer you an upsize, (larger size) or extras, such as candy, nachos, hotdogs, or bottled drinking water.
Observations: You must arrive early, between 30-45 minutes to count your time in the box office line, checking the restroom, getting your concessions, observing the arcade, going to your auditorium and beginning your patron count- oftentimes, up to 20 minutes after the movie starts. If you do not arrive early enough do to all these observations, your assignment will not be accepted. You should allow for heavy road traffic, long lines, heavy concession lines, lobby observations and getting inside to your appointed movie.
Requirements: In most cases, your shopping rating needs to be at least 5 to be accepted for the projects. You must be at least 18 years old, and most mystery shopping companies require you to accept Paypal as their method of payment.
Estimated Pay: The shopper pay is usually $10 and the expenses (movie tickets) are reimbursed and they usually offer you up to $20 reimbursement for the movie ticket, in case you take someone with you. You also get reimbursed for your concessions, usually about $20. You can order a small popcorn and a small drink and that will cost about $12.50 and if you are upsold to a larger drink, this usually is covered in the $20 reimbursement.
Project Variations: Movie theater assignments can be fun and rewarding to those who enjoy the latest movies. It is nice to be compensated for a movie and concessions, especially if you were going to go see that movie anyway!
Mystery Shopping Companies that offer movie theater shops: Service Check and HS Brands. Other companies that have offered movie theater projects are A-Closer Look. There may be other companies that offer movie theater assignments but I have not seen them.
Some posters have said Confero and ICCDS offer movies but thus far, I have not ever seen movie assignments being offered by these two companies but since I have seen other shoppers say they do, I have listed them in the contact information below.
What is Movie Theater Shop vs. Theater Checks? Theater Checks are where you enter a movie auditorium and count patrons and other various observations. The manager you report to, may fill out a form to show you how many tickets were sold. Some refer to it as an “open check” You count the numbers of patrons, which trailers are shown, note audience reactions, comment on service you received, what employees were doing when you observed them, note if the usher checked the auditorium and how many times, and most theater checks require you to be in the movie theater all day, to correctly perform all the checks. Some companies allow you to see a movie of your choice and some have you watch a certain movie of their choice. One of the main companies to offer movie theater checks are:
Market Force
Market Force Theater Checks: To be considered for a CFA (Certified Field Associate) you must register
https://www.certifiedfieldassociate.com/
(Market Force) Most of these assignments are conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
- Trailer Checks: Present your Letter of Authorization to theater management to watch and record all trailers on all screens shown prior to the assigned feature.
- Open Checks: Present your Letter of Authorization to theater management to count the patrons attending the showtimes of the assigned feature, and collecting box office information at the end of the day.
- Blind Checks: Covertly counting patrons attending all show times of the assigned feature on the assigned day.
- Advertisement Checks: Watch and record all advertisements shown prior to the feature.
- Sneak Checks: Present your Letter of Authorization to theatre management to watch a sneak preview of an upcoming release, collecting reactions and demographic information.
- Comprehensive Checks: Present your Letter of Authorization to theatre management to collect a variety of information on new releases: Patron counts, ticket prices, sound and visual quality, trailers shown, etc.
Mystery Shopping/On-site Evaluations: Posing as a typical customer, usually without the theater personnel’s knowledge, you would go to a theater to evaluate the movie-going experience. This includes an assessment of how you are treated as a customer, the overall appearance, housekeeping, & marketing and/or promotional material placement.
Promotional Material Installations: Involves assembling movie standees, installing one-sheets (movie posters), banners, etc.
Exit Polling/Trailer and Advertisement Recall/Market Research: Various types of movie audience data is collected at theaters on behalf of movie studios, and is used to assess public opinion of current and upcoming movie releases.
On-site Auditing: This involves such tasks as counting/confirming placement of promotional materials, counting people, and a variety of other related activities.
Below are links to the companies that offer movie theater assignments.
https://www.certifiedfieldassociate.com/ (Market Force)
What others have to say: Most of shoppers seem to love going to movies! To know you are being paid to watch your favorite movie and get some free popcorn and a drink, what could be better? I have not heard of many complaints but some shoppers do not like the movie theater check assignments because it involves the whole day and many observations. It seems the pay is good though if you plan a day spending it in the movie theater.