Cineplex is launching 'surprise' movie premieres, but will it help bring audiences back to theatres?

Kevin Maimann · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: November 5

Cineplex is hoping an constituent of astonishment volition get radical into seats astatine a clip erstwhile movie theatres are abbreviated connected blockbusters.

The theatre chain’s Monday Surprise Premieres, launching Nov. 10, committedness an precocious screening of an unreleased movie astatine a discounted price. The drawback is that you won’t cognize what the movie is until it starts playing. 

“No title. No trailer. No spoilers,” the advertisement reads.

Theatres person struggled to get radical successful seats since the COVID-19 pandemic and are inactive lagging acold down 2019 numbers, arsenic location streaming services person exploded successful popularity. A caller Telefilm Canada survey recovered summons depletion per capita successful 2024 was astir fractional of what it was successful 2019.

Paul Moore, a prof astatine Toronto Metropolitan University who studies the past of moviegoing, says the promotion volition apt entreaty mostly to diehards astatine a clip with less large cinematic draws than usual, owed successful portion to ongoing movie manufacture mergers.

“There conscionable aren't arsenic galore movies and aren't arsenic galore deed movies this year,” helium said. 

Paul Moore, a prof astatine Toronto Metropolitan University who studies the past of moviegoing, says the Cineplex promotion plays connected the 'blind box' trend. (Kevin van Paassen/Toronto Metropolitan University)

Moore says astonishment premieres person a agelong history, noting “Hollywood sneak previews” were communal successful Toronto and different large cities successful the 1970s and '80s. 

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) besides does thing akin with its Secret Movie Club.

Moore says it’s absorbing for the concatenation to bring the thought backmost successful 2025 and suspects it's playing connected the “blind box” inclination — oregon the thought of buying thing that’s collectible earlier knowing the nonstop point you’ll get. 

'Movie mentation of a Labubu'

“It's not conscionable for Happy Meals anymore. It's taken implicit the full civilization and moved into big culture, too. Labubus are bought successful a unsighted box, and that's the artifact of the year,” helium said. 

“I'm definite they're hoping it's a movie mentation of a Labubu.”

He says the inaugural besides continues a agelong past of weeknight discounts to get radical retired to theatres connected dilatory days.

Moore says $2 Tuesdays started successful 1982 successful concern towns similar Sudbury and Hamilton that were deed peculiarly hard by the recession and continued into the caller millennium. Cineplex inactive offers immoderate Tuesday discounts.

The institution volition rotation retired the astonishment premieres each 3 months successful 35 theatres crossed Canada to start.

Robert Cousins, elder vice president of movie with Cineplex, says the premieres could go much predominant and adhd much locations arsenic movie studios get connected board.

Cousins says audiences person an appetite for "surprise and delight," and says tickets person been selling well.

"I deliberation we're each looking astatine ways that we tin reignite guests' experiences into what we do, and excite them and marque them consciousness special," helium said.

Professor hopeful, but skeptical

Sarah Bay-Cheng, a prof successful the University of Toronto's Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, says it volition beryllium absorbing to spot whether the constituent of astonishment is capable to gully people, peculiarly successful a clip of ostentation and economical insecurity.

She says radical contiguous get their amusement from truthful galore antithetic sources, and since the pandemic person travel to expect their amusement to travel astatine "high volume" and "low cost."

"Even astatine a discounted price, you're paying fundamentally a period subscription to astir unlimited media entree to spot 1 one movie that you don't cognize what it is and you don't cognize yet if you're going to similar it oregon not," she said.

Sarah Bey-Cheng, a prof successful the University of Toronto's Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, says she worries radical are losing shared experiences successful communal spaces similar theatres. (Submitted by Sarah Bey-Cheng)

But Bay-Cheng is hopeful the inaugural volition bring immoderate radical backmost to theatres, saying that creating a "sense of occasion" oregon unrecorded acquisition is the champion happening theatres tin bash close now.

Bay-Cheng laments that determination are less and less opportunities for radical to person shared experiences successful the existent world, and mentions the Toronto Blue Jays' caller World Series tally arsenic an illustration of however almighty the feeling tin beryllium erstwhile radical crossed antithetic demographics hook into the aforesaid narrative.

"Our online niches are truthful circumstantial and truthful atomized, truthful separate, that we are truthful unaware of what different radical are looking at, experiencing, etc.," Bay-Cheng said.

"We've mislaid a batch of those kinds of communal gathering spaces. And movie theatres, performing arts, those are large spaces for that. So I would emotion for this to work, and for this to truly seizure the imagination."