I was cleaning my car last weekend and found a movie ticket stub for- of all things- 'I, Robot'. The ticket price was $4.50 for the matinee showing("matinee" is any movie shown before 6:00 pm).
I went to see 'John Cater' a couple weeks ago, and paid $8.00 for a matinee showing! That's almost double the price in just eight years!
Why? Why the outrageous increase in just a few years?
I thought about the costs a local theater might incur that would justify the increase, but I failed.
They don't use gas. They don't have a high payroll expense. The cost of supplies,i.e. food for concessions, cleaning supplies, bathroom supplies, etc. aren't much more at all- if at all- from eight years ago. I know because I'm aware of their cost, being I buy them myself for my home. Plus the theaters get the bulk rate prices!
If a theater doesn't own it's own property, it will have to pay rent. But I sincerely doubt their landlords have increased rent so dramatically as to warrant the high ticket prices.
It turns out that the studios are in part to blame.
Theater's lease the films from the studios, and the studios take a large percentage of the ticket sales. The theater is left with the smaller percentage, and so has to compensate with higher ticket costs and ridiculous concession prices. As the weeks pass, the theater keeps more ticket revenue and the studio's get the lesser percentage.
Regardless, the studios are making BILLIONS and the local theater's millions and passing the costs on to US-! ,the integer in this equation which can least afford it.
Also, I rudely discovered last year that ALL the theaters changed the matinee time from all shows before 6:00 pm, to 4:00 pm! I was glad I had a theater gift card that day, otherwise I wound have turned around and left!
Moreover, if you and your family choose to see a 3-D film , you'll pay an extra $4-$6 on average. If you attend a regular showing(post matinee) , you may be spending around $100 for a family of four!
What I'm saying is I will be much more selective with my choices of films I'll see this summer.
Studio's spend far too much money making a movie and expect far too much of a percentage of the first week or so of the profits from ticket sales.
This puts the squeeze on the theater owners, who then put the squeeze on us!
If the studio's and theater's have no scruples about gouging the public by passing on the cost to us, then they can keep their movies...I'll go to the zoo!
Headlopper
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.