You may have heard of Panera Bread opening up a store in Clayton, Mo. that gave customers the freedom to pay what they want for a meal. The idea was spawned when authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Leavitt opened a bagel shop with the same business model as a study for their book, Freakonomics, and now that the book is getting the big screen treatment, the authors are keeping the same idea alive.

It was announced today that in ten cities around the country Magnolia Pictures will be screening Freakonomics for audiences who will be able to choose their own ticket prices. Seems like a losing bet, but that might not be the case. Producer Chad Troutwine has this to say about the experiment:

“The pay-what-you-want screening represents a fun and engaging way to illustrate the underlying premise of Freakonomics—the application of economics and incentives-based thinking to everyday situations to uncover surprising and sometimes controversial conclusions. It seems only fitting, then, to engage Freakonomics audiences in their own local economic experiment, offering a chance to see the film in advance of its theatrical release while simultaneously bringing the concept of incentives thinking to life.”

The screenings will take place next Wednesday the 22nd in the following cities:

New York
Los Angeles
San Francisco
Washington, DC
Chicago
Boston
Dallas
Philadelphia
Denver
Seattle

You can get tickets now at MovieTickets.com after answering this easy survey. If you’re in one of these cities make an effort to get out there and be a part of this experiment. It could be helpful in many ways, and maybe the authors can tell us exactly why it is that movie tickets cost so damn much these days. Below is the press release in its entirety.

Pay What You Want for a Sneak Preview of Freakonomics: The Movie

Screenings in ten cities offer fans an opportunity to see the upcoming film based on the internationally bestselling book for a price that they choose.

New York, NY (September 15, 2010) Magnolia Pictures and the Green Film Company announced today a unique screening program in ten cities across the country that will allow filmgoers to choose how much they want to pay for an advance look at Freakonomics: The Movie. The highly anticipated film version of the internationally bestselling book by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt hits theaters nationwide on October 1st. These pay-what-you-want screenings offer fans a chance to see the film on Wednesday, September 22nd, over a week before its official opening, at Landmark Theatres in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver and Seattle.

Tickets for the screenings are now available, and are being exclusively sold online through MovieTickets.com. Filmgoers can choose how much they wish to pay—anywhere in the range of $.01 to $100, with the completion of a short questionnaire. The survey, which after completion gives access to the ticket buying page on MovieTickets.com, is accessible here:

http://www.magpictures.com/freakonomics/freaksurvey.html

The data collected anonymously at the time of purchase will be analyzed by authors Dubner and Levitt to identify what factors and circumstances prompt movie-goers to pay more or less for their screening tickets.

In the spirit of the creative, incentives-based thinking behind Freakonomics, the pay-what-you-want screenings reference a popular experiment from the original book, in which authors Levitt and Dubner analyze how people interact with a weekly, pay-what-you-want bagel delivery service.

“The pay-what-you-want screening represents a fun and engaging way to illustrate the underlying premise of Freakonomics—the application of economics and incentives-based thinking to everyday situations to uncover surprising and sometimes controversial conclusions,” muses producer Chad Troutwine. “It seems only fitting, then, to engage Freakonomics audiences in their own local economic experiment, offering a chance to see the film in advance of its theatrical release while simultaneously bringing the concept of incentives thinking to life.”