Software for the whole cinema week, not just the ticket sale.

Cinema management software runs the week of a cinema: planning which films play on which screens, setting showtimes and prices, selling tickets and concessions at the counter, kiosk and online, running loyalty and member offers, and reporting results. Some products cover the whole operation; others cover only the part moviegoers see. The first question to settle is which part you are buying.

Usually not. Many independent cinemas keep a proven box office system as the place where sales settle and reports come from, and put a branded website, app and checkout on top of it. The online sale is written back into the box office, so reporting stays whole. Replacing a box office that already works is the most expensive and disruptive option, so it should need a clear reason, such as reporting you cannot trust or a system the vendor no longer supports.

The box office system sells tickets and concessions, holds seat and session inventory, and reports sales. A theatre management system in exhibition language runs digital playback and screen automation in the projection room. The moviegoer-facing platform is the website, apps, checkout, loyalty and campaign tools the audience sees. Comparing products across these layers is the most common buying mistake: a good checkout is not a box office, and a good box office is not a website.

After each week, the cinema reports attendance and grosses by film and screening so the distributor can work out the film rental owed under the agreed terms. That report has to come from the same sales record as the counter, kiosk and online channels, not from three separate tallies reconciled by hand. Before you sign, ask to see a distributor report produced from a real week of mixed-channel sales, including refunds, complimentary tickets, and concession-only transactions kept separate from ticket grosses.

Model both quotes at your real online volume, then again at higher volumes, over several years. A per-ticket fee looks small at today's volume and becomes the largest line in the deal after a good year, because the vendor's revenue grows with your success. Separate the software fee from the payment processing fee, which goes to your payment provider, and ask what happens to the fee if you add screens or sell more online. A quote that blends these together is hiding one of them.

They should be able to. Showtimes, seat maps, ticket types such as adult, child, student, member and matinee, pricing rules, gift cards, and loyalty rewards change every week, so waiting on a developer for each change means the programme waits on someone else's queue. Ask for a live demonstration using your own films and screens: change a price, add a screening, and publish it to the website and app in the same session.

Yes, when it is sized to the operation. A single screen needs the same three jobs as a chain, programming, selling, and reporting, but with fewer people doing them, so the system has to be operable by the existing team, not a team you would need to hire. The right test is whether one person can run a full week, from programme to distributor report, without spreadsheets filling the gaps.

The first paid phase may cover a bounded audit, a proof of concept, a recovery plan, or a small first release. The final price depends on how many screens and sites are involved, which systems it needs to connect to, whether data needs moving over, whether apps or kiosks are involved, and the condition of existing software. The agreed phase is priced in writing before it starts.

Timing depends on scope: a bounded audit or a branded checkout on top of an existing box office is a smaller engagement, while a full replacement of box office, concessions, loyalty and reporting takes longer. The schedule is set once the first workflow and what 'done' looks like are clear, and once the box office connection has been confirmed with the vendor, not assumed.

Yes. Takeover always starts with an audit: where the code lives, how your data is organized, what is tested, which outside services it depends on, who can access what, and how updates go live. Code that is understandable and fit for the next release stays; only the parts blocking reliability get replaced. If you already paid another vendor and have nothing working, the audit tells you which story you have before you spend more.

That has to be settled before the switch, not during it. The plan should name what moves over, member records, points balances, gift card balances, and purchase history, how each record is matched to a person, what happens to records that do not match, and how the balances are checked before the old system is turned off. Run the old and new systems side by side for at least one full programme week so a mismatch shows up while the old record still exists.

For a small, well-defined task with someone technical managing it, freelancers are often cheaper. The pattern that goes wrong is a non-technical buyer coordinating several freelancers becoming the project manager, the tester, and the person who discovers the pieces don't fit. A development company earns its fee when the work needs coordination across screens, rules, data, and connections: one accountable party, one phase price, and checkpoints against the whole workflow. If your need is one screen or one fix, hire the freelancer.

You judge what you can see, not the code. Every checkpoint is working software you click through yourself, tested against the workflow agreed at the start: programme a week, sell a ticket online and at the counter, redeem a loyalty reward, and produce the distributor report. Progress is reported in plain language: what changed, what's next, and what it costs. Because you own the code, the accounts, and the operating notes throughout, nothing about the work is locked inside our heads. Our job is to make the work checkable; your job is to check it against your business.

Ask for the quote to name everyone who will use the system, including your own team. Every platform has two products: what moviegoers see, and what your people use all day: programming, price changes, refunds, managing members, and a record of who did what. When that second product is quoted as an 'admin panel' on a single line, it becomes the overrun. Our quotes treat your team's screens as their own scope, with their own users. Then the phase names the workflow, what 'done' looks like, the price, and the exclusions, all before paid work starts.

You own the code built for you and control where it lives, the cloud accounts, the data, analytics, and third-party subscriptions. Outside services and open-source pieces keep their own licence terms. The operating notes and handover material stay current so another capable team can take over.

Every launch includes post-launch warranty cover for defects in the agreed scope, release support, and small screen corrections. After that, work can continue as another fixed phase or an ongoing product engagement. The code and accounts stay under your control either way.

Loyalty should earn on tickets and concessions alike, and the balance has to be the same at the counter, the kiosk, and online, because members notice the one channel that disagrees. A focused release covers points, tiers, rewards, member cards, gift cards, and targeted messages to people who watched a film's page but have not booked yet. The cinema owns the member relationship and the member list; a marketplace that holds the customer record is a different deal and should be priced as one.

Seat maps have to be genuinely usable on a phone, not only on a desktop, since that is where most online booking happens. Accessible seats, companion seats, and wheelchair spaces need to be held and sold through the same inventory as every other seat, so they cannot be double-sold from another channel. Ask to complete a booking for an accessible seat on a phone, from film page to confirmation, before you sign.