Film Showtimes App

The Brief

When people live in cities they often have access to multiple cinemas. Comparing film availablity and showtimes across these venues can be frustrating and slow. My goal with this app was to create a streamlined way for users to view all available films at all possible locations wherever they are. Ideally they should be able to go from browsing films to purchasing a ticket, all without leaving the app.

I also added some quality of life features such as favourite cinemas, pinning of upcoming films and notifications for film releases, to create a more comprehension film booking experience.

User Stories

I want to browse upcoming film releases

I want to see what is currently being shown at my favourite cinema

I want to be notified when my films release

I want to book tickets for a specific venue, film and showtime

I want to see a particular film tomorrow evening

I want to compare showtimes between venues for a film

The Problem

With the current app offering, a user has to visit as many apps as there are cinemas in order to achieve the user stories above. Each has a slightly different interface to achieve the same goal of viewing and booking film showings. To compare showtimes across venues, the user has to manually remember them as they switch from app to app. Some independent cinemas do not offer an app at all, which forces the user to visit websites as well. The existing apps also do not offer additional features to keep track of future film releases the user is interested in.

Everyman

Odeon

Cineworld

Technical Scope

  • The API used to obtain showtimes is limited to data provided by the cinemas, therefore they can only be shown 7 days in advance.

  • The API can link to specific showtime booking web pages, but not make the booking outside of that. Therefore the app will need to show the ticket purchase page in an in-app browser window.

  • The API requests are based on a location, only returning the closest 25 venues. We will need to obtain a location from the user, either with GPS or manual input.

Films Tab

The films tab is the ‘home’ of the app, where users can browse films that are now showing and coming soon.

  • Films can be pinned to the top of home screen in a section called ‘Watchlist’ these are sorted by release date and pin order. A horizontal scroll view lets the user flip through their watchlist chronologically.

  • Watchlist films are not shown in Now Showing/Coming Soon as the watchlist serves as a separate bucket the user fills.

  • Users can opt-in to receiving notifications when a film in the Watchlist is released.

  • Release dates are provided for reference, in this example Mission Impossible has been out for longer than the others, so users can infer that it will perhaps have less screenings left in its release cycle.

  • Coming Soon will expand to include all films on the release calendar provided by the API. Excluding those without a release date.

  • A searchbar appears when the screen is pulled down slightly, letting the user search for any film release.

  • Tapping on any film on this screen will take you to the Film Detail View…

Even if a film is not being shown nearby, it may still appear in the list. For special screenings at certain locations.

The Now Showing and Coming Soon sections can be scrolled vertically. Showing all films currently available in the UK

Users can add/remove a film from the watchlist by long pressing on the poster. A toggle button appears.

Film Detail View

  • This view is the main view for a selected film. Showing some basic information about the film and then the showtimes available at the nearest cinemas.

  • Showtimes are chosen based on user location and date. Location is by default based on GPS location provided by the system, but the user can manually search for a location using the Location Picker.

  • Showtimes are grouped by cinema. Cinemas are ordered by proximity.

  • The user can also favourite cinemas in the Cinema Tab. This will pin those cinemas to the top of any showtime list where they appear. They are marked with a small solid heart instead of a distance, as the user is familiar with the favourited cinema.

The date picker will default to the the current day. With easily accesible left/right buttons to advance back and forth through the days. This will update the showtimes below to match the current day.

The user can tap the date button in the centre, this will bring up a more precise date picker. This date picker will be limited by the available showings of the film. Often film showings are only released a week in advance, so that is likely to occur here. Dates that are unavailable are deactivated in grey.

Tapping on a showtime will take the user straight to the booking page for that time, on the relevant cinemas booking website. There they can complete the transaction, presented in a popover web browser.

Location Picker

1

The location indicator is labelled with the current location we are using to find cinemas with relevant showtimes.

‘Nearby’ indicates this is the GPS location of the user, if they opt-in to location services. If they do not, the app will default to their last manually chosen location.

2

The user can use text to search for a city/town or postcode.

Tapping their desired location, if it is found, will set that as the search location for the showtimes.

3

The location picker label has been updated with the chosen location.

We are now showing cinemas and showtimes for the new location.

Cinemas Tab

This tab represents a different path the user can take. Instead of starting with a desired film, they already have a cinema in mind and just want to see what films are available.

  • There is a Favourites section reserved at the top for cinemas that the user has manually selected as a favourite.

  • Cinemas that are near to the current search location will be listed by distance, with their location written just under the name, to differentiate branded cinemas such as Cineworld.

  • Users can also search for a cinema by any name by entering text in the search box. If they don’t know the location of a specific cinema they can use this to find it.

  • Tapping a cinema will take you to the Cinema screen. At the top of the screen there is a website link, review score and map directions link provided.

  • In the top right is the favourite button, this can be toggled. Filled means that the cinema is selected as a favourite. This not only pins cinemas at the top of the Cinema Tab but also when within a film view, it will show favourite cinema showtimes above the rest, regardless of proximity.

  • The user can change the target date by using the same date picker as seen in the Film View.

  • Films are listed with some minor details shown and the showtimes right there to be accessed. Tapping a showtime will launch the web popover, exactly as if they had done it from the Film View.

  • Tapping a film will take you all the way through to the Film View for that film. Allowing the user to see other cinemas showing this film, or read more details about it.

  • They can also long press a film from this screen, to add it to the Watchlist, in the same way they could on the Films Tab.