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I realize that movie theaters must make a profit in order to stay in business, but with ticket prices rising rapidly, about $10 per person now, and a coke and popcorn costing about $8, where it would cost about $3 or $4 anywhere else, some people would rather wait a few months until it comes to dvd and let the whole family watch it for a rental fee of $3.
At what point do movie theaters price themselves out of business?
The movie theater is really a dinosaur with the advent of all the DVD/Blu Ray players & cable on demand, and netflix so they will always have to charge more for everything to even open the doors.
That said, we stopped going to movie theaters long ago to conserve our money for retirement. God bless Netfilx!!
Theatres have been pricing themselves out of business for years. Look at the abandoned downtown theatres, the mall theatres that are closed or turned into other stores, and the general reduction in listings in the newspapers, and it is obvious. Real estate costs have been a killer. You can't justify a high priced barn on prime land unless you can make every square foot work all the time. Stores have business from 9 AM to 9 PM or more everyday. A theatre sits empty most of the week, and generally speaking is only busy Friday evening, Saturday, and part of Sunday.
Unless something drastic happens, I expect the trends to continue and half of the existing locations in the U.S. to be out of business within fifteen years. There may always be a few around, but there have been drastic changes over the years that have made movie theatres less viable. They do serve to prime the DVD market, so the distribution companies still want them around, but even the distributors are staffing offices on a minimal basis.
The state of live theatre is just as bad, if not worse. The economics keep failing.
Sometimes yes. If I think of it and have the time to buy in advance. Oftentimes a friend and I are rushing to get in line after work though, so we just buy from the theater.
I did encounter someone on my last trip to the movies, who had a different way of saving money. When I ordered my small soda and popcorn he lectured me about what a money waster that was and how I should buy the jumbo combo because it is a better deal (especially with free refills). Um, yeah, I don't buy the jumbo packs because I don't need to drink two liters of soda in one hour, nor eat a grocery bag sized popcorn! It's not a meal. I'm just looking for a little snack while I watch the movie.
I have to agree with you... and there is no way anyone can argue $5 is a bargain for 1 jumbo soda... I can buy 5 - 2 liters for that...
If i do the jumbos it because we are movie hoping... oooopps did i admit to that? I give the theate their extra money via the food , not the $15.50 movie ticket ( for 2 discounted) norma $19 for 2 .... ouch I hate to say it but I really do remember when it was a quarter to go see movies all day.
nothing like seeing those horrible series at the beginning that had the worse plots and FX
I've got a real frugal idea here. I don't go to movie theaters. Haven't been in years.
Much more economical to either rent a DVD or wait for it to come On Demand on cable which sometimes has no additional charge, or a very minimal charge.
This way, sneaking food into a movie theater is moot.
I went to the movies on Sunday and I looked at the prices...$7 for a medium popcorn....$7 for nachos when the Target nearby has the same nachos combo for $2.50 which includes a drink.
I find the prices just utterly ridiculous and I see why people bring their own stuff in.
We rarely go to the movie theater any longer, mostly because of the uncivilized people who don't seem to realize that we didn't buy a ticket to hear them talk (or loudly rustle their food wrappings), but when we do, we don't plan to eat there (except at the nearby theater that has a restaurant inside, where you can get quite a nice grilled salmon or ribeye before or after the movie, or the theater in Austin where the dinner is part of the experience and you can be served while you watch the movie). We will, however, likely want to drink something in the two hours we're there, and for that, we purchase from the concession stand. It's part of the experience, and, after all, as said above, it's a business that's trying to survive and however much the tickets are, the profit margin is slim.
That being said, we do, when we go, generally go to the Sunday matinee because there are precious few people there who think we paid to hear them talk, and we can actually see and hear the movie itself, go figure.
We all know how expensive the candy and sodas are at the movie theater theater these days.
When I was a little kid, me, my brother and dad would all fill our pockets full of candy and sodas before we went into the movie theater to watch the matinee. I still occasionally practice this today. I went to go see a movie recently and the girl I went with snuck in a small bag of chopped up fruit and snickers for me and a bag of popcorn in her purse for herself as well. We did this despite the signs posted not allowing this.
Do you sneak in your own candy/food? either because you don't agree with paying exorbitant prices or maybe just because the theater doesn't sell anything you like.
I think its crazy that movie theaters charge an arm and a leg for food and drink. Yes I know that theaters make most of their profit on food and drink.
The real question is why do you have to eat every time you go to the movies? And once at the movies it's always junk that people anyway.
I find it odd that people can't go a few hours eating. Why not eat a healthy meal before going instead of all that junk food?
Having been to a friends house w/all the bells/whistles bluray all that stuff, there still is no comparison..going out to the moviews is a wonderful experience...We goto the movies as sort of a "date night" to splurge once in a while.
However when the DW takes the kids, she takes the microwave popcorn w/her for the kids + some bottled water to the dollar movie theatre...(I think the local one is showing cloudy w/a chance of meatballs right now)
You CAN have fun and do it on the cheap if you just know the tricks!
We all know how expensive the candy and sodas are at the movie theater theater these days.
When I was a little kid, me, my brother and dad would all fill our pockets full of candy and sodas before we went into the movie theater to watch the matinee. I still occasionally practice this today. I went to go see a movie recently and the girl I went with snuck in a small bag of chopped up fruit and snickers for me and a bag of popcorn in her purse for herself as well. We did this despite the signs posted not allowing this.
Do you sneak in your own candy/food? either because you don't agree with paying exorbitant prices or maybe just because the theater doesn't sell anything you like.
I think its crazy that movie theaters charge an arm and a leg for food and drink. Yes I know that theaters make most of their profit on food and drink.
On those rare, rare, rare occasions when we have gone to them movie theater in the past, we usually do it after dinner. I am so stuffed at that point, the last thing I want to do is drink or eat anything.
Yes. I believe AMC theaters allow outside food, at least some that I visited did.
I'm generally discreet about it (quiet, non-oderous foods) to be courteous to other movie-goers, and I won't carry outside food in if it's explicitly prohibited (sign at the ticket counter, etc).
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