I’ll get right on it.

[...] simply not go. Over at the Get Rich Slowly blog, Kevin at No Debt Plan recently had a post “Dumb Money: The Movie Theater,” assailing the movie theater experience as largely a waste of money (as opposed to seeing [...]

We held hands and talked for the 30 minute drive up, cuddled (a bit!) in the theater (not many people there, that’s the advantage of art-house films), and were enthralled by the superb animation, which would not have been done justice on my tiny set at home.

Cost: $20 plus gas (we don’t get snacks), and sure, it wouldn’t do to go every week, but I considered it 100% worthwhile. I forgot how a great movie seen on the big screen with a friend can’t exactly be duplicated at home without buying equipment that would cost way more than $20.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“(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.

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.

As you say, too many things can go wrong/be annoying.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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?

Also, you can just not eat at the theater. Or sneak in your own candy – it’s not that hard.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.