Is it any wonder cinema is dying.

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OK, first of all to complain about what prices used to be, either in 1995 or 1975 or 1925, is just silly. When I was a kid and first started regularly going to movies in the late 1970s, most movie tickets were between three and four dollars, and $1.50 or $2 for a matinee. That has increased substantially in the decades since. In my neck of the woods, non-3D/IMAX regular tickets are around $11 or $12, and early bird matinees are $7 or $8.

As somebody mentioned above, the movie theater these days gets about half, sometimes less than half, of each ticket sold, the rest going back to the studio/distributor. Which is the main reason the prices of concession items have gotten so high. First accept that no matter where you go out to eat, be it a four star restaurant, McDonalds, or your local cinema you are always paying much more than the food and labor to prepare it costs. If you break it down, yes that may only be pennies for the popcorn kernels and pennies for the soda, even if you get the gigantic sizes, and even when you add in the salary of the people working the concession stand, it is a lot of profit per unit. But since their profit margins on the actual ticket to see the movie have been taken down to very little, the food and drink is what they make their money on and how they keep the theater open. A sold out theater where nobody buys food and drink versus a third-full theater where every person got at least one item of food (if you can broadly call soda, popcorn, nacho, and Skittles "food"), they make MUCH more money on the less populated theater where patrons are munching on junk.



Historically this goes back to 1948, a case called United States v. Paramount Pictures, an anti-trust Supreme Court Case that changed the industry. Prior to that ruling, the movie studios themselves owned most major theaters, which is why if you live in a town old enough that still may be holding on to one or two of the historic palaces, they often have basic names like The Paramount or The Warner (here in Washington D.C. the old Warner Theater still exists, under that name). When Warner Brothers owned the movie theater and was the one selling the popcorn, obviously it was all profit, which meant the margins were miniscule since they didn't have to charge themselves to rent their own movies and took 100% of every ticket sold at the box office. Therefore food and drink could be kept relatively cheap since that was just "extra" money, the bulk of their profits coming from the tickets. After the Court broke up that monopoly and barred the studios from owning the theaters, that long chain of events ultimately led to food and drinks being more expensive since that's where the individual theaters were making most of their money. Oh, it also led to the collapse of the old Studio system as it had existed for decades, but yeah, it made your soda more expensive, too.

That's the history and some of the basic economics behind "Why is it so damn expensive to go to the movies these days?"

In the broader cinema fan sense, I don't really give a ***** whether tickets are $8 or $12 or $17, or if I spend another $15 on snacks. For me as a movie lover, $30 to see a movie on a giant screen is well worth it. I go to an average of probably six to ten movies a month, and sometimes more than that. If streaming on Netflix is good enough for you, fine, and frankly I'd prefer it if you stay home and out of my way, because if you're like me how much money I lay out for the experience is way down my list of gripes compared to how fu*king rude people have gotten over the past few decades. I do not expect everybody to wear a coat and tie as if it were 1955, but the lack of common sense and courtesy is pretty outrageous, and I think it has gotten exponentially worse since the rise of DVD at the end of the '90s and now home streaming. Now people are conditioned to chatting about whatever the Hell they want while a movie is on, as if they are on their couch, and the fact that a ticket and popcorn costs so much seems to somehow justify their rudeness. 'Hey, I paid sixty-eight dollars for my lady and I to sit here crunching nachos behind you, if we want to talk during the damn movie, for that much money I'm going to talk,' as if everybody else there didn't pay just as much as you.



The solutions are pretty obvious and simple. If you think the concession prices are outrageous, don't have any damn food or drink. It's not a necessity, and most people are finished with their food within the first half hour, anyway. You've cut your cost down massively just with that step. For the ticket prices, go to matinees whenever you can, that cuts your cost in half again. And if $7.50 is just too much for you to justify going to see a movie, stay home and shut the fu*k up about it. But if you HAVE to have food and you HAVE to go at night, either budget accordingly or just stay home. If you do go, don't be an inconsiderate asshOle.

It ain't complicated.

Also, I gotta say that this thread was started by somebody lamenting how much it costs to go see 50 Shades of Gray. Dude.....why? If they let you in for fifty cents and gave you all the popcorn you could eat for free, that's still much too steep a price to pay.
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
You guys have it cheap.

Regular screening - $11.99 CDN
IMax screening - $18.50 CDN
Regular 3D - $14.50 CDN


Then there is D-Box, AVX, IMAX 3-D....argh.
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damn dude so you're spending like $3,500 a year to see movies?
10% of a teachers salary
I have never added it up, and I do go to mostly matinees, though that is more for the crowd size than the cost, and I am getting food less and less these days, and my family gives me theater gift cards for holidays and such, and I see so many movies I often earn rewards enrolled in various programs, but yeah, I spend a lot of money each month going to movies, and a lot each year, and a lot over my lifetime. Worth every penny.

And I don't want to brag, but even if it was $3,500 per year, that is less than 10% of my annual salary. And I went to that many movies when I made a third of what I make now. It's always about budgeting for what you want to do. If it's a question of spending money on a restaurant or clothes I don't need or a concert or any number of things versus going to a couple movies, I much more often than not choose movies. If that means less of other things, so be it. I don't choose going to the movies over paying rent or insurance, but over other extras, yeah.



your movie theatre needs to sell you a season pass like a theme park
I go the theatre maybe twice a year but I know I'm in the small minority when it comes to a community like mofo

hey i love movies too, I prefer to watch at home, but it's worth the cost if you love the movie theatre that much.



Anyone complaining about the cost of watching films on the big screen (as they are intended) should visit London. A total and complete nightmare if you don't have a high-flying job in the City.



I was running into the issue of spending too much on movies too. Then I found Moviepass and it saved my life lol. Unlimited movies at pretty much any theatre for 30 bucks a month. I've been pretty happy with it thus far. I also make sure to eat before I go and wham, problem solved



It's £3 to go to the cinema for me in Cardiff, not bad
Jesus, Daniel. If I only had to pay £3 even I'd go to the cinema more often. I didn't pay as little as that in the 90's when I went every week.
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Here in Monterrey you can buy discounted cinema tickets for Cinemex (admittedly, the worse of the 2 main cinema chains) for $28 pesos when you fill up your car at an Oxxo Gas station. That's apparently £1.12 according to google converter.

Then on wednesday, it's buy 1 get 1 free for tickets & they let you use the discounted gas tickets as payment for the 1. So 2 people can go to cinemex in Monterrey for $28 pesos - or £1.12. The cost of living here is way cheaper, even when you factor in that we get paid less as well. It's unbelievable how often we can go to the cinema & not feel the effect on our pockets.

We went to see The Revenant in Imax at Cinepolis (the better of the 2 cine chains) and it still cost us only $77 pesos total for both. Google converter shows that as £3.07.
Once you get over the spanish subtitles on everything, it's fine...and even better when the leave in the original english subs & move the spanish to the top. I mean we saw Sicario & my basic spanish would not be good enough - but they just left the original english in for any Spanish language scenes. Excellent
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Please hold your applause till after the me.
At my local theater, it's $7.50 for a matinee showing, $10.00 for an evening showing, 3D and IMAX add $3.50 to any ticket, and concessions can range from $3.50 to $20.00.



I am the Watcher in the Night
There are some cheaper cinemas, one in Romford costs about a fiver for a movie but it's a long way to travel. Now, having said that, in general, tickets and the food/drink is far too expensive and I only feel worse for families. It's far better to stream these days and save the cinema days for the odd flick here and there.
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I used to visit the cinema almost 2-3 times a month, and some months even more. I love the cinema experience, seeing your favourite films on the big screen is excellent. But lately I just havnt been able to afford to visit as much as I would like to. I went last night and 2 tickets to see fifty shades of grey was £22. 2 drinks, 2 bags of sweets and a large popcorn was £28. That's £50 on a night at the cinema and that's for a movie without 3D or IMAX. Is it any wonder people stay in and download movies now.
More importantly though, why on Earth would you go see Fifty Shades of Grey?



I rent more than I go to the theaters because there are more old movies I want to see. But when I go to the theater it's anywhere from $4.20 (on Tuesdays at cheaper theaters) to $12 at the more expensive theaters, but there it's easy to hop and watch two or three movies. I make $17 an hour, so it's less than an hour's wage to see three movies in theater. I always bring my own food and beer into the theater too (in my backpack). I never buy the insanely overpriced food at the theater.



I'm glad I'm a student. A ticket for me costs £5 at both the indie/art-house cinema and the Odeon in Sheffield. Not that I go to the Odeon regularly (or the cinema regularly in general atm to be honest).



I saw a movie this morning for $7.95 and brought a stick of gum and a few Jolly Ranchers in my pocket (a 10 cent value maybe). It doesn't really cost that much, you just have to take active steps to lower the price yourself.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I saw a movie this morning for $7.95 and brought a stick of gum and a few Jolly Ranchers in my pocket (a 10 cent value maybe). It doesn't really cost that much, you just have to take active steps to lower the price yourself.
A stick of gum and a few Jolly Ranchers should last until the trailers end, but what did you eat during the movie?



Master of My Domain
A stick of gum and a few Jolly Ranchers should last until the trailers end, but what did you eat during the movie?
Personally I hate eating during a movie. I want maximum concentration when watching a film for the first time. But maybe it doesn't make a difference, because usually the people next to me are eating and making loud noises.
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When I went to Star Wars VII, a guy behind me kicked my seat three times before the movie started. I ignored it the first two times, but the third time I turned around and asked him to stop kicking my seat. I guess he missed the "don't be a Sally seat kicker" video that has played before every movie for the last five years or so. At least he stopped after that and didn't do it again.