There is another secret shopper theater check program. The studio sends a secret shopper to count the number of patrons in one auditorium. If the number of patrons does not match the number of tickets that the theater reports, the studio could deny rights to show future films.storewanderer wrote: ↑August 26th, 2022, 1:13 am Galaxy has a theater check policy. Sometimes that policy is contractual from the movie studio. Some operators opt to just roll a blanket policy out for all shows.
This happens because movie studios think that theaters are scamming the studios by not paying the studio for each ticket sold.
Theaters have to make sure no people are sneaking into theaters and seeing the movie for free. An independent theater owner once almost lost his contract with a major studio because the secret shopper miscounted. The studio thought that he was letting people see the movie for free.
So many auditoriums have empty seats in order to prevent problems with the studios.