No Wonder People Are Staying At Home!

reply to post by antrapnr
It's a wonder you can even stay in business at those rates! For your sake I really hope I'm wrong, but I believe the companies you have to deal with in order to get the movies is effectively "pricing" you out of business. The higher the admission and concessions, the less amount of customers thus the price goes up even more to make up the difference. It is a vicious circle that is putting every small theater out of business while the corporate owned "mega-plexes" are the last ones standing. It's kind of what the big box stores did to the dime stores.

reply to post by littled16
Ummm....I know...right? We went to see "The Hobbit" and had to spend about $65 for three people and a popcorn. We usually go to the drive-in in season it's only $5.00 a ticket for a double feature and you can bring your own munchies/drinks. Not only that the concession sells everything from icecream to pizza.

YouSir

reply to post by littled16


The theatre can justify high admission prices by the cost of the movie studios but they cannot justify the extortionate price for drinks and snacks.

However I do have sympathy for the smaller outlets, hollywood is built on greed, not just for the theatre's but DVD/BluRay are also vastly overpriced. I have absolutely no sympathy for the film distributors when they go on about piracy. If the prices were realistic then the prices would be so low that it wasn't worth downloading illigally but the distributors prefer to profiteer instead.

reply to post by YouSir
Oh how I miss the days of drive-ins! They used to charge by the carload here, and after the double feature you could drive around to the other screen and watch another double feature. You really got your money's worth in those days. All of the ones around here closed decades ago.

reply to post by michael1983l
I have to agree with what you said about the movie distributors. My eyes have been opened to who the real "pirates" are, and I begin to sympathize with those who have previously been labeled as such!

One thing that some local people did here, that was a great Idea, and they make pretty good money on, is a drive-in.

You park on a hill and they project the movie on the other side of the valley and you tune your radio to the preselected station. It's 10 dollars a car. They're older movies, usually out of theaters, but it's a great system!

reply to post by littled16


I would like to go see one of the new 3-D movies but I don't know. I might take my kids to see one of'em(usually their mom does). If the right movie comes along, then I'll go. I remember back when I was little, it was a big thing to go to the local drive-in to watch movies. My dad attached the speakers to the window of the vehicle and we had all kinds of stuff to munch on because of the concession stands. It was a great atmosphere. I feel sorry for my kids not being able to experience that.

We only go to the movies about once a year because of the cost in relation to our budget. The latest movie we went to see was Les Miserables and we decided to go all out for this one. (I have been a huge fan since seeing it on Broadway and have been waiting years for them to come out with a proper musical version on film.)

Anyhow, there is a theater in Moore,OK called the Warren and they have a Director's Suite that only seats about 20 (no kids allowed). They also have comfy heated recliners and a button to push if you need a drink, want to order dinner, or even just a snack. They serve you right there on your own little swing out table. It's pretty swank! We only paid $22 a ticket for entry and the food prices were reasonable compared to any restaurant.

I just mention it because it looks like the gap is closing between a normal ticket price vs. a more luxury version. I can't imagine paying the $13-$20 range mentioned by other posters for a normal movie going experience, when I can get treated like a queen for 2 bucks more.

~OkieDokie

reply to post by littled16


I live in a well-known town in Tennessee and I work at a small local movie theater where, in the evening, tickets would be $9 a person for regular adults and everything you ordered would have been $10.25. Out matinee is $7.50 and every show between 4 and 5:30 is $5.50 per ticket. I don't think it's too unreasonable (not to mention at night there are senior and student discounts). The movie theater business is dying so we do the best we can to make money.

I forgot to mention we don't have 3D capabilities but no one has complained yet.

I use to be an avid movie goer til the prices got ridiculous!

I use to go to the matinee which was between 4pm-6pm and it was $3 bucks, now it's $7 bucks! A regular movie ticket here is $9 bucks. If you go to 3D I think it's about $12-13 and the D-Box experience (which is stupid) is $16 bucks.

I went to see The Hobbit with my fiancee's mom recently and I got one kids meal which had a small popcorn, drink and bag of candy. It was $6 bucks. I also got a SMALL coke and one box of chocolate covered almonds and it was $9 friggin bucks! I couldn't believe it. It was highway robbery!

If I go to a movie by myself, which is rare anymore with the cost, I always bring my big purse with a flat bottom and hit the drive thru or Dollar Store and get my goodies. I can get an entire meal and box of candy for what they charge for a friggin pop corn. I don't know how they can get away with such inflated prices, it's like price gouging!

I can only imagine taking your family to the movies and how much it costs. When my fiancee was home we saw "Finding Nemo" in 3D and got some snacks and it was $60 bucks for the two of us with ticket cost and concession stand prices. We got a popcorn, two drinks and a box of candy! That is it!

I love my Netflix and the Redbox. I hit up the Redbox when I go to the grocery store. I can wait to see a movie unless it's something I have to see in theaters and lately there hasn't been anything worth seeing in theaters so I'll save my money. I'd rather buy groceries!

reply to post by Carreau


Thanks, I didn't know that about movie theater operations.

reply to post by mblahnikluver
I'm with you mblah. I'd much rather spend the money on groceries. I don't do Redbox but I do Netflix. I have the streaming plus 2 DVDs at a time plan. I refuse to pay the extra couple of bucks for Blu-ray discs (I'm pretty cheap). This trip to the movies was a big splurge. It will be a really long time before I do it again- if ever!

I don't go to movies, because I just don't have the patience to sit through 2+ hours of a movie I might not like. I have Netflix at home and start watching many movies only to turn them off after 10-15 minutes. A lot of the "blockbuster" movies aren't really that good. The latest Avengers movie comes to mind first. Nowhere near as good as some of the individual heroes movies. I would be pissed to have spent $15 dollars to have seen it in the movie theater, only to be disappointed. I also like sitting in my den watching my 55" TV where I can pause the movie anytime I like. I can take bathroom breaks, get another drink, watch something else, etc.

Oh it's not as good as it used to be, but I can still get deals. I just go to the matinee with my husband and he gets a military discount so we normally get to watch a movie for about 11 dollars for the two of us. We never watch the 3d shows because neither one of us can see the effects anyway. As for snacks, get a big purse....it's not right but it's what i do.

My wife and I usually go to a twilight show when the tickets are about 8 dollars a piece and we sneak in our own munchies. We'll get a free small cup from the concession stand and put ice in it to drink the bottled water my wife has in her purse. Thats how we beat the price gouging.

Originally posted by littled16
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

I'm with you mblah. I'd much rather spend the money on groceries. I don't do Redbox but I do Netflix. I have the streaming plus 2 DVDs at a time plan. I refuse to pay the extra couple of bucks for Blu-ray discs (I'm pretty cheap). This trip to the movies was a big splurge. It will be a really long time before I do it again- if ever!

I had the 2 DVDs out at a time but I realized they sat on the table for a week before I watched them. lol I winded up canceling the DVD portion but kept my streaming. I stream Netflix on my Wii so I can watch it on my tv. I love it!! I have been watching all kinds of shows I never saw before. Lately I've been watching "Kyle XY" from ABC Family. It's a cute show but it's no longer on tv.

Redbox hasn't had anything decent lately that sparks my interest but it's still cheaper than a movie theater! I also use Amazon Instant Video but I can only watch it on my laptop which isn't bad. I catch up on various shows I like by purchasing them for a couple bucks and then I own the episode.

I won't be going to the movies for a while either esp with a baby on the way lol. I can think of better things to spend that money on!

reply to post by littled16


It’s a struggle to say the least . Someone had posted that we should drop the ticket price to increase show goers . They can’t seem to get their head wrapped around the idea that the movie companies then don’t give you the premium movies . So you gain nothing. . That being said yes they are pushing the small theatres out of business . I’m just holding on until I can come up with a viable plan to change over to another business or sell this building.

The less people go to the theater, the more it has to cost to keep the place open. Eventually they will not be able to keep the doors open. It's just the evolution of the technology. I agree, it cost's WAAAY too much for popcorn soda, etc... Wht ever happened to making money by volume sales? Lower the prices, fill the seats, and make your profits? Greed kills.

Lol idk where you live, but be happy about it. In New Jersey, an adult ticket is $11.50 each!

reply to post by mblahnikluver
Just for future reference (I know it will be a while before the baby comes and then gets big enough for TV) Netflix has multiple episodes of just about any little kid show you can think of on it's streaming service. You will find this to your advantage in the future methinks!