When the North Grand 5 theaters opened earlier this summer, theaters in Nevada and Boone were unable to get recent movies and lost business.

Charging $4.50 per ticket, the Ames theaters have traditionally run the new movies before they are available at the smaller theaters, which charge lower prices.

“Theaters have contracts with movie companies and [the movie companies] would rather get $4.50 per person than the $2 that we charge, so we can’t run any shows that are still running in Ames or haven’t been there yet,” said Russell Vannorsdel, manager of the Camelot Theater in Nevada.

Vannorsdel said this arrangement worked in the past. People from Nevada would wait until the movie came to the theater and families from Ames would come for the $2 rate or just to see the movie a second time.

But with 12 theaters, movies do not move as quickly from Ames to the discount theaters. Currently, the Camelot theater is showing Cable Guy. Last week they were not so fortunate.

“Last week we couldn’t get anything, so we brought back Planet of the Apes. It did miserably,” Vannorsdel said. He typically sells 1,000 tickets a week. Last week he sold only 300.

“If it was just the Century Theaters, the theaters on campus and the mall, we could have gotten, maybe, Mission Impossible by now. But with more theaters, they just keep circulating between the 12,” he said.

Jessi Donnell, assistant manager of the Century Theaters, agreed that with more theaters, Ames is able to run its movies longer and is also able to bring more movies to town.

“The 12 theaters allow us to show more movies instead of waiting three to four weeks until one leaves so we can show a new one,” Donnell said. “There are a lot of summer hits out right now and more theaters allow us to keep some of the movies. If it weren’t for more theaters, The Rock and Mission Impossible would probably be gone by now.”

When the North Grand 5 opened, the Boone Theater began charging $4.50 per ticket, up from the $2 it had previously charged. This allowed the theater to the run just-released movies.

Still, according to Kyle Bennett, a manager at the Boone theaters, business is down since the price increase.

“We get more people from Boone now than from, say, Ames. But when we get the big movies we still get people in from all over,” Bennett said. “Still, it’s been a lot slower. We’re not sold out all the time.”

This may be the situation for Nevada as well.

“Boone went to first run-prices. They have more of a population base, but that may be what we will have to do. If we do that we will lose our Ames clientele. Why would you drive 20 miles to see a movie when you can stay in Ames and pay the same price?” Vannorsdel said.

“Our manager is talking to the movie companies to see if we can get movies after Ames has been showing them for six to eight weeks. But other than that, there really isn’t any way of gaining,” he said.

Arthur Stein, general manager of the Central States Theater Company which owns the Ames theaters, said increasing ticket prices without increasing patronage does not secure an increased profit.

He said theaters keep 30 percent of the ticket price during opening week, with an increased profit each week thereafter. The rest of the money goes back to the movie companies.

“If it weren’t for concessions, we’d be out of business. And that’s the state of things all over the country,” Stein said.