Ticket prices going up again? 3D will force them UP and than UP again. In 1950 average ticket price was about 0.50$ Corrected for inflation that's about 4.25$, 2009.
Ticket prices are over 50% higher than inflation adjusted while attendance is lower per capita.
Between costs / salaries of execs and 'talent' and greed, not to mention Popcorn which is at least 10x overpriced, these guys are shooting themselves in the foot.
I think $7 should be highest for a movie. Right now I pay about $12 to watch a movie and a good theater. The not so good theaters are priced around $10.
To me $7.50 for a standard film is high still but acceptable. Have yet to see one in 3D. Like you said with concession prices out of the stratosphere, taking a family to see a movie with treats and drinks is now comparable to an elegant meal at a fine restaurant. In my area matinée discounts are vanishing and child admission prices are the same as adult. It's just gotten out of control. Last movie I took my kids to see was Planet 51. We were 3 of maybe 7 people in the entire theater. The incredible prices are just strangling the industry.
Lucky you. I see the industry is so bad that there have been times, even on a weekend, when we walk into a complex to watch a movie and the staff actually has to track down the video booth guy to turn on the projector. MANY showing times go without a single paying patron.
Soon theaters will be like drive ins, extinct. Many many years ago the big screen was were people got the news and current events, along side the picture. Today with online access to, everything, establishments like theaters and libraries are forced to die with attrition. Malls across america are becoming obsolete due to the convenience of online shopping and even the good ole USPS is hurting because of the net. There is talk about stopping Saturday deliveries.
I must admit I haven't bought a newspaper in YEARS. Longer for going to a library. Why? Everything I want to know is a click away for free. Be it sport scores, stock market, weather, heck even if I want to know what a yak looks like in Brazil I can see one within seconds. No need for that GIGANTIC encyclopedia set anymore either. Now with Google Earth I can visit distant countries and see first hand what I otherwise just imagined. I also can't think of anyone I know under the age of 60 or over 14 who doesn't have a cell phone.
I'll miss going to the theater but love my DVD collection.
I've been in theaters with the wife and 3 or 4 strangers.
Weird feeling.
In the past, when theaters were in the 'golden age'.....say from the invention of the talkie to the end of WWII, people would go to the movies and SEE THE NEWS. Imagine, moving pictures of some major event, meeting or other happening. Could you imagine seeing the Hindenburg Disaster on 'The Big Screen' after hearing the radio or seeing the press reports? I'll be more than a few people had to be carried out.
Rocky Horror Picture Show is showing down at the La Paloma. Midnite only and bring your own rice and umbrella.
Saw where you said you havn't seen a movie in 3D yet Paul. It is a nice difference in clarity and depth to the movie. The 3D in Avatar was amazing, even more so in IMAX. I also agree tickets are a little high. I tend to skip the popcorn and drinks, and it makes it a little easier on the wallet. If however I go all out with 2 tickets, popcorn, drinks, etc its easily over 40 bucks. Years ago I used to date a girl who worked at the local Regal 16 and she would get herself and 1 other person (me) free tickets to any movie per day. Needless to say from the ages of 17 to 19 I saw all the new movies every weekend for quite some time. Now adays though, unless something I feel is good enough to go see is coming out, I skip the theater.
going to see a movie has become more of just something to do unless it's one that i really want to see. prices are absolutely outrageous now, especially with 3d. funny how they brought an old concept back from the dead for profit and its seeming to work..
if the theater doesn't have mil. discount i use the machine inside and get a senior/child ticket lol.
Isn't that the point, Eric? If I want 'something to do' for a couple hours, 15$+ for a movie and some popcorn isn't on the table.
I'll save my movie going for something I really want to see.
Went to the original IMAX theater today and saw 'HUBBLE'. Tickets were 15$ per and I don't feel in the least abused.
And as for 3D and 3D TV, ........Gobble Gobble. Take an OK story, decent performances, dress it up in some glitzy effects and there you go. Reminds me of the dawn of stereo when you could buy an album of people playing ping pong.
I remember when compact discs came out. The difference in clarity over tapes was just so astonishing. Then previous material was remastered and recorded on disc. Some of my classical collections on disc are so amazingly crisp and clear over their cassette counterparts that you hear much more than you did before, giving you a different appreciation of it. With headphones I could actually hear some of the musicians picking up their instruments and slightly shuffling in their seats throughout some tracks.
Kinda like walking in an electronic store today and watching a remastered film on a HD flat screen tv. BTW, try even finding a standard tube tv in stores anymore. HD flat and big screens have pushed tube tvs out of the "picture" faster than any innovation I've seen.
Though some prefer the original it's nice to have the ability to enhance the quality of any media giving today's viewers/listeners a taste of yesterday. Like colorization of B&W films.
I still watch The Wizard of Oz from time to time. Not because of cutting edge special effects but because I watched it religiously every year as a kid.
I agree ticket prices are a little much. I took my g/f to go see a 3D movie this past Wednesday and it was $26.50 for the two of us. Then for a medium popcorn and drink it was an additional $11.75. It sucks at the moment of forking over that amount of money, but I think its worse after you leave and you're like " Did I really just spend that much money, on that?". Yet it seems there are constantly people still going to the theater and the concessions line is never short, so, I guess we havn't reached a limit of "That's too expensive".