It’s not just fans of concerts that suffer the sadness of sold-out shows and exorbitant resale prices on Ticketmaster.
Tickets for the hottest films at the 50th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which starts Thursday and runs until Sept. 14, are going for as much as $500 for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and $300 for Lisa Rideout’s documentary Degrassi: Whatever It Takes.
Regular price was $43 for a premium screening and $29 for standard. Still high for a film, but the more-than-just-a-movie TIFF selling point is that the filmmakers and actors are usually in attendance for the premiere, participating in a Q&A afterwards, and often show up for the second screening too. But allowing them to be resold for 10 times face value, like concerts, theatre and sporting events, is what annoys fans. We’ve all been through this before. Cap it at 10 per cent or double, max, if allowing it at all, just for the “you snooze you lose” justification.
This summer, Neil Young and Oasis only allowed fans to resell their tickets at face value on Ticketmaster by implementing the fan-to-fan exchange system. Pearl Jam is also a big proponent of the restriction. So, why can’t TIFF?
Now Toronto reached out to TIFF’s press office to find out if CEO Cameron Bailey had discussed or entertained the idea of not allowing resale for their 200-plus feature films, but did not hear back by publication.
A prominent artist manager tells Now it’s “easy” to do, if they wanted. “They put them back into the system for someone else to buy,” he explains. “Basically, what you’re doing is turning on a non-transferable ticket. That’s what it’s called.”
Single ticket public on-sale was in late August, with various member and non-member days. The world premieres for most of the films quickly sold out. Some have zero tickets for sale, and others a small amount of what Ticketmaster calls “verified resale,” shown by a red dot (face value/standard is blue), the ticketing option that allows any buyer to post their ticket for an elevated price.
Frankenstein at the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre has verified tickets for $505.75, $476 and $317.73, while Degrassi’s world premiere is completely sold out (Sept. 13), but the following day orchestra seats are listed for $321.30.
Erupcja, on Sept. 4, at the TIFF Lightbox, starring singer Charli xcx, has one pair in the orchestra for $226.10. John Candy: I Like Me, which opens the festival on Thursday, has tickets in the orchestra for $345.10, dress circle for $310.59 and orchestra for $297.50. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, on Sept. 6, is $347.
Couture, with Angelina Jolie, on Monday (Sept. 8), does have one reasonable ticket-touter asking for $59.50, while the next tier in the resale department is $142.80. New Year’s Rev, the comedy Green Day is behind, also had resale tickets for as low as $77.35, $89.25 and $95.20, but…Green Day will not be there.
Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery, about the female-fronted music festival Sarah McLachlan created, also has a reasonable reseller for $59.50, and standard “festival adult ticket” for $93.
Has the world gone mad? These are just films, many of which are opening in theatres or on a streaming service shortly or will be in the near future. But, really, let’s think about the fan experience and not always about gouging. Be like Neil and the Gallagher brothers.
