In an attempt to gain ground with that ever-fickle youth market, Hoyts are including a ‘beanbag cinema’ in their new complex at Auckland’s Sylvia Park shopping centre.
Designed to seat either two adults or three children, the beanbags will be shaped to look like the cinema’s sponsor product, Cadbury Jaffas; the floor design will replicate a skateboard or snowboard halfpipe.
“The youth market is a very important audience of cinema-goers,” says Hoyts’ marketing director Elizabeth Trotman. “The HalfPipe is a unique concept offering the latest in design, décor and, ultimately, a revolutionary cinema experience.
“We’re also going to have a bit of fun with it—playing on the classic Kiwi cinema pastime of rolling Cadbury Jaffas down the aisles.”
The HalfPipe is a first for New Zealand cinemas and Hoyts says it is following the international trend for beanbags as home furnishings that has a celebrity following including stars such as Hillary Duff, Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Nikki Hilton and Minnie Driver.
The new Sylvia Park complex will also feature ten cinemas, the largest 35mm cinema screen in the world and 65 per cent more legroom than the average New Zealand cinema.