Dealflicks aims to put movie fans in cheaper seats

Dealflicks co-founders Kevin Hong, left, and Sean Wycliffe are inside a converted minivan the company uses to travel around the country and meet with theater owners. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) By Richard Verrier Business and Hollywood Inc. Editor Follow May 6, 2014 5 AM PT Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X LinkedIn Threads Reddit WhatsApp Copy Link URL Copied! Print On a quiet residential street in Mid-Wilshire, Kevin Hong and his sales team huddled around a parked Toyota Sienna emblazoned with a magnet sticker reading “Dealflicks Coupon Code: Man Van.” They were loading the converted minivan with suitcases, sleeping bags, brochures and yellow “Dealflicks” T-shirts in preparation for a six-week road trip to visit movie theaters in Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and Boston. The sales team members planned to take turns sleeping and driving as they stopped by theaters to personally market their service. After four road trips and logging more than 40,000 miles to dozens of cities, Hong and his team have helped transform Dealflicks Inc. from a fledgling Los Angeles start-up into a fast-growing discount ticketing service for theaters across the country. Advertisement “The idea is to increase as much face time as possible,” said Hong, co-founder of Dealflicks. “We’ll be hitting as many theaters as we can.” Billed as a Priceline or Hotwire for movie tickets, Dealflicks partners with theaters to offer discounts of as much as 60% on movie tickets and concessions during periods when theaters are mostly vacant. That’s an appealing pitch after average movie ticket prices reached record levels in 2013 and theaters are experimenting with new ways to bring in customers to the multiplex. Last year, theaters in the U.S. and Canada drew 1.34 billion patrons, down from 1.5 billion nearly a decade ago, according to a recent report by the Motion Picture Assn. of America. Advertisement Just like hotels, theaters struggle with high rates of vacancy during off-peak times, a problem Dealflicks sees as an opportunity. “Right now, 88% of movie theaters are empty,” said Sean Wycliffe, chief executive of Dealflicks. “We’ll say, ‘Give us some of your excess inventory … and we’ll do all the marketing for you.’” Dealflicks lets theater owners select which movies they wish to discount, at what price and when. Unlike Priceline, there is no negotiation involved. Cu