Going to the movies....Expensive!

[Steve Mehs]

Friday night I when with some friends to see Jackass. Great movie, but holy crap, I didn't think it would cost me that much. My ticket was $7 (w/student discount), and I got a medium popcorn and a large Mountain Dew and that came to almost $10. A total cost of $17. And this theater while not a cheapie it sure as hell ain't no Imax or Regal. For us three with was almost $55 for one movie. A family of four could have easily spent $65. Holy crap! :eek2:

[jrjcd]

i'm glad i live in texas, where you can STILL go see a matinee for under $4.00....lol

[Richard King]

What happened to drive in theaters where you could drive in for $1.50 and unload 6 people from the trunk once inside? :lol:

[Jasonbp]

Movies are expensive (at times). Tickets here are pretty bad.

Kalamazoo 10 (all adult):
$5.50 before 6PM.
$7.50 after 6PM.
$10.00 all Holiday weekends.
(This isn't bad because they have free soda refills and $0.25 popcorn refills.)

UA (all adult):
$6.00 before 6PM.
$8.00 after 6PM.
$12.00 all Holiday weekends.
(Rip off all the way around. Soon they'll charge for the bathroom.)

M-89 (all adult):
$2.50 before 6PM.
$3.50 after 6PM.
$5.00 all Holiday weekends.
(All new moives. Nice place. Soda and popcorn prices aren't bad either. Monday is 'buy one get one free'.)

I am going to see "Jackass" and "8 Mile" next month.

[jrjcd]

all the drive ins closed(practically, at least)-why, i'm not sure-certainly a cultural gathering spot i would have liked to see continue-guess drive ins couldn't compete with the wonderful digital surround sound speakers in indoor theatres...

[Gemini365i]

OH PUHLEEZ!

You obviously don't live in NYC. LOL movies here cost $9.50($10.00 SOME) a ticket. and If you are early b4 5pm in some theatres, the Matinee will run u between $4.50 and $5.50.

Don't complain about prices under 7.50. Be glad you all get CHEAP rates.

Oh well, last night, I paid $4.00 to see "Changing Lanes" in my own bed :-)

I wish I had it good like other states.

JE

[jrjcd]

it's OK to actually spell words out ....lol

[Unthinkable]

AMC Cinemas near where I live (central MA) raised their matinee price to $7.00 two weeks ago. $7.00 for a medium drink and medium popcorn. $9.00 for a ticket after 5 or 6pm here.

[JBKing]

I watched Panic Room the other night. Less than $4 for the DVD rental. Popcorn, probably less than $1. Coca Cola Classic 2 liter, $0.77 at Winn Dixie last week. No lines, no one talking, at least no one that I couldn't get quiet. Oh yeah - pause anytime I want. My wife, daughter, and I - total cost - less than $6. :D

This year, I saw Spiderman at the theater-matinee, all 4 of us. Scooby Doo matinee, myself and the 2 kids. We'll see Lord of the Rings 2 when it comes out. Other than that -- it's DVD for me! :)

[Mark Lamutt]

One of the biggest reasons that I have a 51" 16x9 HDTV in my basement connected to my HTPC that gives me video resolutions almost as good as high definition, and no screaming kids and no people talking all the way through the movie!

I'm planning on seeing the next Harry Potter in the theater, and The Two Towers...but other than that, it's my my basement for me!

[DarrellP]

And Hollywood wonders why nobody is going to the theatre anymore. Last time I went it cost me $22 for the wife and I, the movie started 15 minutes late and we had to leave to pick up our daughter so we missed the ending of "Don't Look Now".

Then there was the day I tried to take my 6 yr old daughter to see "The Rookie" and it was sold out. Talk about a heartbreaker.

Don't get me started on the crappy popcorn with the fake butter, the irritating people who don't silence their mouths and cell phones, the screaming kids, the rank fart & BO smelling air, the sticky floors, out of focus image and crappy surround sound.

My wife still doesn't understand why I would rather rent/buy the DVD and watch it on my home theater that sounds better than the theater anyway.

[Rick_EE]

Originally posted by DarrellP
And Hollywood wonders why nobody is going to the theatre anymore.


Then there was the day I tried to take my 6 yr old daughter to see "The Rookie" and it was sold out. Talk about a heartbreaker. 



 

"Nobody goes there anymore, It is too crowded." - Yogi Berra

[Karl Foster]

Our favorite way to go to the movies is taking the train downtown and going to the movie and dinner in the "big city." It costs $3.00 for each train ticket (round trip), $7.25 for movie, plus popcorn, drinks, and then dinner. It makes for a fun day.

I went to see "John Q" in New York back in Feburary, and it was $9.50, so I wan't complain about $7.25. To contrast that, we saw the musicals "Les Miserables" ,"Beauty & The Beast," and "Contact" while we were there and it was $75 per seat, so to me a movie is still a reasonable form of entertainment.

I buy a few PPV's each month, but still like going to see movies in the dark on a big screen with awesome surround sound.

[EricG]

Yep, I'm working on the Home Theater now. But by the time I add up all the costs, It will still cost me a few hundred bucks a movie - a bit more that the local theaters charge ! :D

Originally posted by Mark Lamutt
One of the biggest reasons that I have a 51" 16x9 HDTV in my basement connected to my HTPC that gives me video resolutions almost as good as high definition, and no screaming kids and no people talking all the way through the movie!
!

[JBKing]

EricG, just watch more movies; your cost per movie will drop with each flick! :D

[lee635]

And they blast you with paid advertising as you walk in the cinema.

Even with those prices, the movie houses are struggling. They overbuilt and over-renovated every cinema into a megaplex. And went deep into debt to do it. Now they're all paying the price.

Furthermore, the cinemas only receive a razor thin percentage on ticket sales in the first several weeks a movie is out. So if they run that new disney flick on three screens and everyone sees it in the first few weeks, the cinema ends up churning over to a new movie without having made much off the last one.

I'm sure some will tell you it's the high minimum wage laws. Let's see how many customers does it take to cover the payroll of a dozen high school students at the average megaplex?????

Last movie I went to cost a $1.59 at the dollar cinema. ;)

[dlsnyder]

We recently saw "The Santa Clause II" at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. We spent about $100 for two adults and two kids just to get in (they were VIP seats though, came with popcorn and a drink). They usually have more than just the movie though. In this case they had a holiday music oriented live stage show with Mickey & crew dancing with the El Capitan singers. The live Wurlitzer organ music before the show was pretty nice too.

As a bonus we got to watch a crew setting up for a scene in the upcoming film "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle". They were setting up for a film "premiere" scene that will appear in the film, set at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. We didn't actually get to see them film the scene but it will feature Matt LeBlanc as some kind of action film star ala Mel Gibson.

[raj2001]

This is really gonna steam you guys.... In another country that I've been to, a trip to the movies cost $10 of their currency, for TWO movies, not one. I used to think that the low cost was because the movies were released alot later than North America, but sometimes for new releases they're less than a month behind.

Oh, and by the way, $10 of their currency is $1.62 in US dollars.

I'm not kidding.

[SkiManiac]

Holy Cow!!
Raj2001 that's unbeleiveable.
Boy, just imagin in ten even five years how much it will cost to go see a movie. ;)
Dlsnyder, how was Santa Clause II?
Wow, 100$ That's a lot of money, the movie better have been good!

[Frank Z]

I took my family to see LOTR when it first came out, cost us about $70. My 7 year old daughter got sick before the show started so the wife took her home, getting a refund was not an option, there was no way i was going to leave my son alone in a packed theater. The lights dim, the show starts and we were lucky enough to be sitting next to a surround speaker with a blown driver, AUDIO HELL!! Of course all of the talking from the other patrons almost blocked out the blown speaker. Needless to say the movie was much better when we watched it in our Home Theater.

[dlsnyder]

TSCII was just OK IMHO. My wife and kids really got into it though and to be fair I got a few good laughs out of it too. Not as well written as the first one (few sequels are). If you were a big fan of the first one, or just want to see how OLD Judge Reinhold looks these days, it is certainly worth a look. To me the experience of going downtown to the El Capitan and seeing the show before the movie justified the extra expense. We are already looking forward to seeing "Treasure Planet" there next month.

[markh]

Originally posted by lee635


Last movie I went to cost a $1.59 at the dollar cinema. ;)

Now that's bad when the dollar show costs over a buck and a half:D

The last time I took my wife to a movie, it cost as much for the popcorn and soda as the tickets. But you feel almost obligated to buy the food.

[geneb11]

I'll tell ya. 2 years ago when I was layed off I built a bar and ht room in my basement. We have not been to a cinema since. I have 2 oversized lazyboy recliners and a fully stocked bar. All the popcorn I can eat and no noisy patrons.:cool:

[airpolgas]

Frank Z.. I would have stayed longer in your HT site, but the fade in/out effect pushed me out the door. Nice setup tho...

My current fave right now is Netflix.com. Last month, I got to rent about 15 movies for my $20. If you are diligent in your watching/returning, you would get to see a lot of movies. If you are not, as long as you got to rent 5 movies, you'd broken even with BlockBuster!