This is a Guest Post from Kevin at No Debt Plan, a blog about living debt-free. This is part of Kevin’s Dumb Money series.
I was recently thinking about my first real job — doorman at the movie theater. Ah, the days of minimum wage. I thought movies were expensive back then, but nowadays they cost a fortune. Let’s look at some numbers.
Assume a family of four (two adults, two children) goes to the movies on a Saturday night. I researched the ticket prices for a local theater with Fandango simply because I haven’t been to an actual theater in years. I can’t as easily research concessions, but let’s say they spend at least $5 per person. (I’m guessing this would still be fairly low.) Your expenses would be:
- Cost of Adult Ticket: $9.50 x 2 = $19.00
- Cost of Child Ticket: $6.50 x 2 = $13.00
- Concessions: $20
- Total: $52
That’s $52 for, at most, three hours of entertainment. Some may find that reasonable, I think it’s ridiculous, and for more reasons that just the cost. There is simply no convenience to going to the movie theater.
- You are on someone else’s time table. If you get stuck in traffic, you miss out or your plans are pushed back 2-3 hours.
- You have to go somewhere other than your house. You are spending additional money on gas and other car related expenses.
- You don’t get to set the thermostat. It can be too cold. It can be too hot. How do you prepare? Wear layers? Just to go to the movies?
- You can’t pause. Have a coughing fit? (Get up and leave — you’re ruining the expensive experience for everyone else!) Need to go the bathroom? Need to take your child to the bathroom? You may miss out on some of the best scenes.
- You can’t rewind. Really love that line or special effect? You can’t go back and see it again, at least until the DVD comes out.
- Other people can ruin the movie for you. There were countless times when I worked at the theater that we would get complaints about someone on a cell phone, or kids being loud, or any number of other things you could imagine.
Let’s contrast all of the above with renting or owning the DVD yourself. For my $52 spent at the movies, I can pay for almost four months of the Netflix two-DVDs-at-a-time plan. I could probably watch a movie every three days with that plan. But even if I only watched one every two weeks, that’s at least seven movies. (Also, with Netflix you can now get unlimited downloadable movies!)
Plus, when you’re watching a DVD, you’re at home. You can pause, rewind, or watch in your pajamas. You’re on your schedule and in your comfort zone. Want refreshments? For what you spend at the theater, you could buy enough popcorn and soda to have a group of friends over!
I’ll be the first to admit there’s nothing like watching an action thriller on the big screen. The explosions are that much bigger, and it truly is an experience. But staying at home is the more frugal of the two options and, frankly, my personal preference.
And really, can you justify spending $5 for one bag of popcorn?
J.D.’s note: I’m not as anti-theater as Kevin, but since Kris and I began using Netflix several years ago, our theater attendance has dropped sharply. The last film we saw was Juno on Christmas Day. I was shocked that my ticket cost $8.50. On a holiday! My refreshments — child’s popcorn, a pack of Red Vines, and a soda — cost over $10. Since when does it cost $20 to go see a movie? This is why we stick to the second-run movie houses — five bucks for a film and a snack.
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This article is about Choices, Frugality
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I would rather spend my $52 on some other form of entertainment. When we watch movies we either check them out from the library or borrow them from friends.
I will admit there are some movies out there that are just better on the big screen, but the older I get the less interested in movies I become.
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I haven’t been to a movie theater in years. Some theaters around here already charge more than $10 for an adult ticket. Couple that with the inevitable loud kids and cell phone users during the movie, and it’s simply not worth the money.
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“You have to go somewhere other than your house” is one of the worst reasons *not* to do something ever. In fact, that’s half the reason *to* do a lot of really fun, really life enriching things. Certainly it would have been much more convenient to stay home than for me to spend three weeks in India in January. But I didn’t go to India for the high level of convenience it offered me. Movies aren’t exactly the same thing, but the idea is the same — you don’t go to the movies for convenience, you go for entertainment. Making arguments about movies not being convenient is like making arguments about amusement parks requiring too much walking. So what — rollercoasters are still fun, even if you have to walk to them.
If you want to convince me that staying home is better than going out to the movies, do it based on the fact that staying home is more entertaining, not that it’s more convenient. Doing nothing is almost always more convenient.
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I spent over 4000 dollars last year on movies. You can see my totals and why at my site.
http://the-reviewer.net/2008/02/19/the-cost-of-the-reviewer-2007/
I am a movie reviewer on my own blog.
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I am not anti-theater or anything else, but the cost of going to the movies is really ridiculous. My boyfriend is a movie-buff and we tend to go to the movies once a week – which means he is spending around $84 on the movies each month. This can be more if he wants to go to the Arclight Theater down in Hollywood. The above price does not include food from the concession stand (which I don’t get, my boyfriend does – the last time I bought something from there, it was an $8 bottle of water. Never again!) This is a ridiculous price for a little entertainment. We could easily save that money up and buy a home theatre with it! But, on the same token, there are some movies neither of us want to wait to see (like Indiana Jones) or movies that you need to go to see if you want to get the experience of a big screen (like Cloverfield). So, while we have been cutting down our movie-going (we used to go two times a week!), it’s still a major expense that he and I are usually willing to pay.
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Try living in London, a cinema ticket for an adult is at least (for a normal cinema)… £7, that is about $14!
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I know exactly how you feel. I took my girlfriend out to a movie with some popcorn and it cost $19.50 total. In my opinion, it should cost about half of that.
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We still go to the movies every once in a while. As some have said, the big-screen experience can’t be matched in a home setting. However, our visits have become less frequent lately because of the costs. At the local first-run houses, the prices of the matinee tickets are now $8.50/adult. A nasty trick at the concession stand is that they don’t post prices. Everyone is used to buying a combo, with the expectation that you get a reduced price for doing so (which doesn’t make it a good deal, but that’s a different rant). At our local theater, it turns out that there is no price break for buying a combo, but since you don’t know prices until you ask or they ring you up, I doubt most people realize it. It’s disturbing to pay $11 for 2 drinks and a medium popcorn, especially when I figure I can get a case of soda and a big jar of popcorn kernels for that amount, and have cash left over!
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I love going to the movie theater, but do it very rarely now. Tickets are around 10 dollars in my area. If I go, I only go during matinee and bring my own snacks or don’t have any at all. For the price of movie theather snacks/popcorn I could have dinner somewhere before! Blockbuster online is fabulous as I don’t go to the theater as often!
For those who have the option, I recommend buying movie tickets at Costco. It’s around the matinee price and you can go anytime usually.
But I do crave the social experience every now and then and go to the theater. I once heard that the theaters don’t make money off of the movie ticket, only the concessions. I wonder if this is true? I used to buy movie theater popcorn, but it’s too expensive unless you are in a group and buying the large bucket.
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The Seattle Public Library = $0.
I can get any movie there (have yet to look one up that they didn’t have).
I reserve it online, and I get an email when it comes in.
I get about 4-5 movies a week this way, and they are all free.
And this includes new movies, not just old.
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I guess its all a matter of taste. No way would I spend $52 at a movie theatre. Last movie I saw was Talledega Nights. However I go to many a minor league baseball game – $14 a ticket and at least $15 spent on food (for 2) $4 for the parking garage. So for 2 people that’s $47. And I do this about 60 times a year. But to me it’s well worth the cost (considering I get a good 5 hours of entertainment and its ok if the people around you yell and scream). But like I said, it’s a matter of preference.
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Most of the movies that I really want to see require a 32′ screen and theatre sound. For instance, Blade Runner or The Abyss simply don’t carry the same intensity of experience without it.
And, in fact, most movies just wind up being bad television on a television screen, for me. Of course, I don’t watch many movies now adays.
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Second-run theaters are DEFINITELY the way to go. There have been times that’s I’ve taken a group of friends, paid for ALL of their tickets myself, and still paid less than one ticket at the regular theater. It’s also generally less crowded, which is a major plus!
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Check out movies from the Library – it’s free!
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I agree…though all of that being said, sometimes you go to the theater not for just the movie, but the environment. But I should stress, always bring your own snacks
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> You are on someone else’s time table
I guess this one is really a matter of taste, I can’t see it as a problem for a movie I really want to watch on the big screen. I’m planning the evening that way.
> You have to go somewhere other than your house. You are spending additional money on gas and other car related expenses.
Well that’s because you have a car and use it to go there. Use the bus and forget the additional expenses.
> You don’t get to set the thermostat. It can be too cold. It can be too hot. How do you prepare? Wear layers? Just to go to the movies?
Never had a problem with that. What kind of theater is it if people managing it don’t care about that ?
> You can’t pause. Have a coughing fit? (Get up and leave — you’re ruining the expensive experience for everyone else!) Need to go the bathroom? Need to take your child to the bathroom? You may miss out on some of the best scenes.
Go to the bathroom just before if needed. And don’t bring children too young for that experience. If they’re not able to handle it yet, they won’t enjoy it anyway.
> You can’t rewind. Really love that line or special effect? You can’t go back and see it again, at least until the DVD comes out.
That’s art. You can’t change the bits of the experience, that’s all. Just like you can’t touch and modify what you see at the museum. You can still rewatch the whole movie. And if the whole movie is not worth a rewatch, that bit you’re interested in is probably not either.
> Other people can ruin the movie for you. There were countless times when I worked at the theater that we would get complaints about someone on a cell phone, or kids being loud, or any number of other things you could imagine.
Go were people are civilized. That is in theaters were eating food, keeping cell phones on, and entering after the beginning is just forbidden.
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[...] this fine post over at Get Rich Slowly this morning, pointing out how going to the movies is not a great financial [...]
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The only way I go to the movie theater these days: When they pay me to!
Next Thursday I’m going in as a mystery shopper, they are giving me a $25 gift card to take care of my expenses as well as $5 deposited into my PayPal account next month. I just have to make sure they are doing their job and go to a web site, filling in my information. My wife and I went out to the movies around 7 times last year from doing this.
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With dysfunctional families or teenagers/children who just won’t stay put if you try to watch something with them at home: taking them to the theatre to ensure everyone watches it — together and at the same time — seems to be the only option.
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We have a drive-in near the house. It’s $7 per adult and under 11 gets in free. And they run double features and they are first run movies. We also bring our own snacks. So $14 for two adults and a toddler and we don’t have to get a sitter. The only downside is that this is only a summer time option.
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Blockbuster Online and Netflix are both excellent services. You can potentially see 10 or movies a month for under $20. That said going to the theaters can be worthwhile as long as you go see a good or great movie. I have recently seen “There Will Be Blood” and “No Country For Old Men.” I spent $7 for each matinee ticket and I thought it was money well spent because each film was excellent. I do advocate avoiding the concession stand at all costs. It is criminal what they are charging for their food and drink.
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If you live in a college-town or a big city, do a little research and you can find movies screenings for free (not preview screenings — that’s a different subject). I’ve actually found so many in the Boston-area that I set up a public Google calendar. Right now, it’s running 25-30 movies a week (some are repeats) and they are all open to the public. Of course, we have the advantage of having Harvard, MIT, Tufts and BU among many other schools, an independent cinema with monthly Sat. morning classic films, several library systems that show movies and some cultural centers as well. Sometimes the school even feeds everyone (pizza mostly) to get attendance up.
You do end up seeing more documentaries and foreign films (though lots are mainstream movies), but you often get the director or a subject matter expert to talk about the films. I’ve seen some films before they were even released to the theater.
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I really enjoy going to the movies, however I go less and less often (only for movies I really want to see on the big screen rather than just another activity for entertainment’s sake.
I’ve learned to wait two weeks after release so I can go to a matinee for $5.
However, the price (and size) of concessions is obscene. I gave up and just started sneaking a snack in after I had the following argument with the concession clerk about their $4.75 “small” soda, which was so big it took two hands to grab the cup:
ME: Don’t you have anything smaller?
CLERK: This is the smallest size we have ma’am.
ME: But it’s huge! I’ll never finish it.
CLERK: We don’t have anything smaller.
ME: I just think you’d do better to have a smaller size option. I don’t want that big a soda. I’m going to end up throwing half of it away.
CLERK: Ma’am, we don’t want you to have to come back for a refill in the middle of the movie.
ME: I don’t want MORE soda, I want LESS soda.
CLERK: Do you want the soda or not ma’am?
*sigh*
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I would love to pay $8.50 for a movie! The nearest theaters to me are a minimum of 12. One is $14, but it doesn’t have any commercials and I think fewer trailers. If we drive a little further, we can find movies for $10 and free parking.
Nevertheless, that’s why we rarely go see movies anymore. I think that last movie we saw in a theater was Harry Potter last summer.
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I am fortunate to live near one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Drive-In Theaters in the U.S., and have rediscovered the pleasure of it in the past few years. $4 per adult, and a backseat full of candy from home
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I go to the movies a few times a year just as a “date night” type of thing to get out of the house. I’m lucky that I now live in a major centre where we can still go to older movie theatres that haven’t been converted to the massive 16 screen abominations where just walking through the door is an affront to the senses. In the ‘burbs where I grew up the only option now is the giant SilverCity concept with fast food outlets right inside, no character at all just a big box we’re-ripping-you-off-and-you’re-gonna-take-it atmosphere. Modern movie theatres are pretty unpleasant places really. When I do go though I try and go to a late show on a non-peak night so that the theatre is as empty as possible, if it’s a show that’s been out a few weeks sometimes we’ve been lucky enough to be the only ones in the theatre and for that I don’t mind paying the $30 or so it costs once you get some popcorn and a drink.
I’ve also discovered a theatre in a mall where there is a restaurant that does a dinner and a movie combo where you can get an entree and a movie ticket for as little as $15.99 (barring movies opening that week). The food isn’t bad and the price is pretty good considering just the dinner alone could easily sell for that.
I’m a bad example though, I don’t really watch a lot of movies at home or the theatre (I rented exactly once last year and ordered one on PPV as well), 98.8% of them (give or take
) are absolute trash. I know a girl who owns literally thousands of DVD’s (approaching 4000 last count) and I could borrow any of them for free yet never have.
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Also, you could spend all that, and the movie can suck! There’s not a lot of great stuff coming to the movie theater near me.
Cancelled NetFlix because the movies weren’t appealing to me, and too many times I’d venture to get something that looked interesting, and it was awful.
I know it sounds like I’m a fussy movie watcher, and maybe I am, but on the other hand, maybe you’ll agree that it’s hard to find a good movie.
A good book is easier to find, and if you’re not liking it, you can close it and never open it again. Also leaves more for the imagination, and talk about entertainment at your own pace. Get them at the library, cost =$0.
That said, I do like going to the movies because I do enjoy the feeling of experiencing a cultural phenomenon along with others, on the rare occasions when a movie can be said to be a cultural phenom.
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LOL–It’s great to see how many comments this article has generated! Obviously a lot of people have some strong feelings about this–
I used to love going to the movies, but anymore I hate it! The ticket prices are insane, the concession prices are insane, the volume is DEAFENING, and instead of just previews before the movie (which I love) they’re now showing commercials as well.
The idea of paying these clowns good money so they can forcefeed me 10 minutes of commercials louder than a Led Zeppelin concert irritates me to no end. I’ve only attended one movie in the past year, when I used to go at least twice a month years ago.
No thank you–DVDs at home or even On-Demand movies are the way I go now.
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I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie theater.
Oh wait, yes I can.
I spent the entire time absolutely livid because a little boy sitting nearby kept asking his mom question after question after question. “Mommy, why did he do that? How come the bullet didn’t hurt him? What’s she going to do now.” (She basically just ignored him, which didn’t help the situation any.)
Several other times, my husband actually had to ask someone to please not talk on their cellphone during the movie!
I’d happily pay those prices occasionally, *if* I could sit and enjoy the movie.
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Renting is absolutely cheaper (and theater tickets are frequently overpriced). No doubt about it. Especially if you need a babysitter… can’t believe nobody brought that up yet. That’s another $20-50 right there, not to mention an increase in logistics, unless you’re lucky enough to have family or close friends who will watch the kid(s) for free.
But do I avoid the theater? Absolutely not. I’m judicious in what I choose to watch, and generally only go to the eye/ear-candy films as some others have mentioned, but sometimes I’ll go to a comedy or drama.
Why? The audience. Yeah, sometimes you get a moron who brings a screaming baby or a cell phone, but most of the time the audience adds an energy to the film you can’t get at home. There’s nothing like seeing a film in a crowded theater and hearing the collective gasp when the ghost walks through the wall just behind our hero. Sometimes it’s a subtle energy, sometimes it’s overt, but the audience reaction can be powerful. In a comedy, for example, the audience reaction can help me find the humor in a movie I wouldn’t otherwise find funny (that happened when I saw Ace Ventura).
I also agree with Emily H. when she says a 13″ TV “is not the way you want to watch Spider-Man.” For that matter, a 32″ TV is not the way I want to watch Spider-Man for the first time. Totally…. Totally… different experience.
Not having to avoid the kids watching a movie that would be scary or inappropriate, or worry about the volume being too loud? Priceless (well, almost).
As for mitigating the cost of tickets… so far I’ve used gift certificates I got for my birthday and Christmas (one left! Can’t wait to see “Jumper” this weekend!!), rewards programs, and discounts through work to help me get to the must-see films. I’ve also “made” my parents drive an hour-and-a-half on multiple occasions to provide babysitting.
I used to go (pre-kids) to at least 15 movies a year – one year I went to about 10 in two weeks – but now I’m down to about 5 in a good year.
I’ve missed a few I wanted to see on-screen (e.g., Transformers, Live Free or Die Hard) and the movies suffered on DVD (Transformers especially).
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Dar wrote: I used to love going to the movies, but anymore I hate it! The ticket prices are insane, the concession prices are insane, the volume is DEAFENING, and instead of just previews before the movie (which I love) they’re now showing commercials as well.
Preach it, sister! It’s as if theater owners are doing all they can to make the theater-going experience unpleasant, and then they wonder why attendance is falling…
The noise thing is terrible. I sometimes carry earplugs with me because of this. The Lord of the Rings films were terrible for this. They hurt my ears.
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We have had too many bad experiences with rude people at the theater. The last one we went to was Sweeney Todd and the girls behind us insisted on SINGING the whole movie. My wife kindly asked them to refrain and let us watch the movie without their “additions.” Instead they sang louder and kicked the back of my wife’s seat every 30 seconds. Sadly, this type of behavior has become common and so we have completely sworn off the multiplex.
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I can’t believe I’m going to comment again.
Some people are complaining about movies that suck. It does hurt to waste money on a bad movie, but there are ways to mitigate this.
The best one I know is to find a movie critic you understand and can “parse” — where you understand what his reviews mean — and then follow the critic religiously.
For me, that critic is Roger Ebert. I don’t always agree with him, but when I read one of his reviews, I can tell if I’ll like a movie or not. Ebert is wowed by special effects. I am not. Gladiator and the LotR trilogy and the new Star Wars movies were all pretty lame, IMHO. Why? Gratuitous effects. I’ve learned to tell when the effects have influenced Ebert’s review.
Also, I happen to like films like Rushmore and Juno. Ebert likes them, too (he called juno the best film of 2007), and I can tell which of the movies he loves I will love too.
So, learn to understand how one critic works, and you can save yourself a lot of wasted money.
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I’m not a big movie buff, so I only go to see something in the theater when it’s something I really want to see (for example, if Judd Apatow was involved in the production, I’m there). Others seem to go to the movies for “something to do,” which makes it pretty expensive entertainment.
Also, you can just not eat at the theater. Or sneak in your own candy – it’s not that hard.
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The fact that the movies aren’t in my own home is a plus, not a minus! Me, I’ve got to get out of the house sometimes. I work at home, which makes this even more of a priority. In the winter I often have to choose between sitting at home and going out to a movie, dinner, or store – all of which are expensive ways to spend time.
I loved the lists of fun things you can do for free. How about a list of things you can do for free, outside of home? Hikes and picnics are obvious, but what about out-of-the-house activities for the cold dark days of winter?
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I don’t buy the “movies are just as good at home” argument. The true cinematic experience cannot be re-created at home (nor at a second run movie house). The money I pay to see movies (98% matinees BTW) is well worth it. Matinees alleviate many problems (prices, crowds, people issues).
But I am a movie guy…(see link).
My biggest complaint – the annoying Regal employees who interrupt your movie twice to walk up and down the aisles with their glowing wands.
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WRT buying movies, I can’t justify that, I have a nice catalogue of movies that I bought in high school when I thought $20 was a good price for a movie, and I hardly watch any of them. There are a few exceptions, I watch Office space, or Tommy Boy, or one of those when a certain group of friends come over to play drinking games, but this isn’t about my alcoholic habits. Netflix is the best option for me, it’s $15 a month for three at a time, if I want to watch a movie again, I can rent it again, but I watch way more than one new movie per month.
I also get a little sick when people add the concessions into the equation, because I never have any desire to buy food at the movies. I wouldn’t spend $3.00 on a box of candy no matter where I was. Take that out of the equation, and you might actually find that two tickets to a matinée showing of a movie you really will enjoy isn’t that bad a price to experience it on the big screen. For a special treat, me and my S.O. go into the city (Denver) and watch it on the digital theater on the 16th street mall. You get to walk around down town, see the street performers, go to our favorite spaghetti restaurant, and even stop for some drinks afterwards (not for the matinée, we aren’t alcoholics…) That’s certainly more expensive, but you’ve turned a lazy activity (watching TV at home) into an active one (a full fledged date).
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I wonder if there will be any movies to see if everyone stops going to the movie theatre…
Not that I’m not part of the problem –we rent, but not from netflix. It’s a great idea BUT I don’t want to add any monthly fees that I don’t have to. Instead, I keep my money circulating locally, by renting from a local (not blockbuster, a private) service that has reasonable fees, especially for movies that aren’t “new releases.”
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I am a manager of one of the theaters here in North Carolina and I am kinda shocked by the “anti-theater” comments. Not because the prices are ridiculous (I agree, they are) but because you shouldn’t be anti-theater, and instead anti-movie companies. When movies are released in theaters usually the first two weeks the theaters see absolutely NO MONEY. Somewhere between 95%-100% of all movie ticket prices go straight to whoever made the movie. That’s how they afford Brad Pitt, Will Smith, etc. And even after two weeks (which is when most of the movie will do its business) theaters usually see no more than 60%-75% per ticket.
And since we must support a staff of 40-70 people, heat and a/c the huge buildings, etc. we must make money somewhere and that is where the concession stand comes in at. I agree 4 bucks is a lot for a small Coke, but its same price at basketball games, wrestling events, etc.
So for people who like the theater and by pass it for DVD, you are ensuring movie companies that you are going to give them your money no matter what and the trend continues.
Before working at a theater, I too, frequented second run theaters like mad, but now looking back on it, it really would have been worth the extra 4 bucks to not sit in dirty theaters that had essentially no ushers and dirty looking concession stands. But hey, I’d probably still go if I didn’t get in for free now.
And just a final comment, my theater adult nightly price is $9.25. For North Carolina that is high, but for the mass influx of people from New York and California is really low. So for every person that complains, we have one person that is thrilled that they are paying $12-14 per ticket.
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I agree that going to the movies isn’t necessarily a good financial decision, but I continue to go because you can’t truly replicate the theater experience outside of a movie theater. Some movies are more than worthy of a theater experience (There Will Be Blood, for instance).
The concession stand is what really kills your wallet. It’s a totally unnecessary expense, not to mention the food is generally terrible for your health. I haven’t spent money at concession in years because I eat before or after the movie. You don’t need snacks to enjoy the movie. But if you can’t live without it, sneak in a granola bar or two.
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I don’t do netflix or blockbuster. I will watch a movie 2-3x a year and that’s it. I’ll rent movies from Library if necessary. But otherwise I usually want to see it on the big screen. I never buy concessions. I have a box of candy maybe in my purse.
Also if I spend $20 for DH and I 3x year = that’s less than 3 months of netflix. And I see the same movies from the library.
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I’ve found that there’s almost nothing so important that we can’t wait until it comes out on DVD to rent/borrow it. That said, we’ve been to see two movies in the past year, the Simpsons Movie in the summer and Enchanted/I Am Legend (we actually split up for that) in the fall. We didn’t buy concessions either time so it was less than $20 for each. And both were experiences with friends…so it wasn’t that bad for a date night. Not something we’d make a habit of, though.
As you say, too many things can go wrong/be annoying.
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@BrandonM:
Ahh…but you see, some of us would never GO to baseball/wrestling/someothersport event. WAY too expensive for something we wouldn’t enjoy. Let alone buy a rip-off big gulp there.
All I have to say is at $3-5/ticket I used to go to a lot of movies I didn’t necessarily feel driven to see since it was “cheap”. Now that a ticket is generally $7.50+ for a matinee and $9.50+ for prime time, I really REALLY have to want to see it in the theater.
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I pretty much agree with everything said in the post. However, an error was made here:
“(Also, with Netflix you can now get unlimited downloadable movies!)”
The “watch instantly” feature provides unlimited streaming movies for netflix subscribers. In no way can these movies be downloaded as files and played elsewhere. Not a huge error, but a misleading one.
I only go to see movies when I’ve read reviews first and know that I will most likely enjoy it. Going to the movies shouldn’t be thought of as a form of entertainment unless one is pretty sure they’re going to enjoy the movie.
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Whoa. This really got my hackles up. Though, I love to see movies in theaters, and I don’t own a tv and/or dvd player (I can watch them on my laptop, but that defeats the experience of most movies). I understand it can be expensive to go as a family — but why not go to matinees? Why buy snacks at the theater?? Why not just budget for movie nights? It’s ridiculous to criticize the cost of movie theaters if it’s not something important to someone (yes, I believe there is a difference between liking movies, and liking to watch movies in movie theaters).
Aside from my reactions, yes, I know movies are more expensive than they used to be. Though, I once worked in a movie theater and I noticed that ticket prices were slightly more than the minimum wage. In my state, the minimum wage is something like $8/hr, and evening movie tickets are around $10. So, it seems on par with when ticket prices were $4 and I was making $3.25. It just makes me think of my parents when people say “Oh! I remember when X cost y!” True, and they made less money, and nearly everything was cheaper then, too. Prices don’t freeze and it generally irritates me when people wish they would.
Finally, can you even imagine the difference paying $11.25 (which I did and it was worth every penny) to see the latest Harry Potter movie in 3D at the IMAX theater in comparison to watching it on even a 50″ tv screen? There is no comparison, and I don’t know if the 3D effects will even be available on the dvd.
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NO NO NO NO NO !
Finally after two years a friend fixed my dvd player and I did watch two films recently on it but is it comparable to sitting in a proper cinema concentrating on a film HELL NO – I’d always choose to see a film in a cinema over dvd every time.
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Ticket prices are just astounding – in parts of Toronto they can go as high as $15. And the last time I only spent $5 at the concession stand was probably in the 90′s. That $52 he quotes is barely enough to cover my wife and I. Now imagine a dinner and a movie and you’ll contemplate refinancing your mortgage.
I used to go to movies all the time, now its only for the big special effects movies. Indiana Jones will probably be the next one I see.
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@Shana:
Re “Prices don’t freeze and it generally irritates me when people wish they would.”
Well — sure the price of everything is going up. That’s not necessarily the point.
The point is the value of a thing needs to be in equilibrium with its price. So, it’s not necessary for us to just accept price increases for their own sake. If prices raise, it’s to be expected that people will demand more value.
Just like with TV, in the movie theatre it can be extremely tough to find a movie worth watching. When they were $3-5 dollars, that didn’t bother me as much (and I was making MUCH less in those days). Now, when the ticket price is bumping $10 (and greater), well — sorry but I have to be a lot more impressed with the offerings than I used to be to justify going to that expense.
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Wow, looks like movie theaters are a touch subject here!
So, I waited to do this comment before i find out how much i pay to see a movie. My kids are still too young to sit through a full movie during a late showing. If they go see a movie it will be during the summer when they have the free ones for kids.
As for the misses and myself, for a Friday or Saturday night showing (note: no student discounts are offered on these nights) $10 per ticket… TEN DOLLARS!!! So before we walk up to the concession stand we are already TWENTY bones in the hole. Gotta get some popcorn, two sodas (i like the diet she likes the regular), nachos or candy? You get the idea. Just tack on another $20 for food and your in the ballpark of $40 for 2, yes TWO people to see a movie.
I remember back in the day (about 4 years ago) i used to get in for $5.25 with my student discount. Ah, those were the days.
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Good article… BUT…
There are a million things that we can all cut back on (or we know are treats) if we are saving money. Going to the cinema, Friday drinks after work, going out to a nice restaurant with a loved one once or twice a month.. we don’t need to do any of these. If we choose to, it’s exactly that – a choice. We could all save alot more money by not going out at all, not eating nice food, renting horrible apartments, not drinking… well, you get my point!
That being said, it was a good article. Keep up the good work!
Mart
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