J. Eliashberg et al., Implementing and evaluating SilverScreener: A marketing management supportsystem for movie exhibitors, INTERFACES, 31(3), 2001, pp. S108-S127
Every Monday morning, Pathe Theaters in the Netherlands decides which movie
s in its cinemas to retain and which to replace. It must choose replacement
movies from those available at that time. We implemented the SilverScreene
r model, a mathematical-programming system [Swami, Eliashberg, and Weinberg
1999] to help Pathe managers make those decisions for one six-screen theat
er and tested its performance against the performance of two unaided simila
r multiscreen cinemas. Using Pathe's historical data, managerial judgment,
and theater-specific factors, we developed an attendance-forecasting system
. While a fully controlled experiment was not possible, the revenues at the
theater using the SilverScreener recommendations were higher than those at
the two comparable theaters. Managerial attitudes towards the modeling sys
tem improved after implementation of SilverScreener.