Movie ticket price increases

Tickets for an IMAX 3D movie in Nashville now cost $17.50 and regular tickets are $10.50. I wonder if this will impact ticket sales? For the price of two Imax tickets, I could buy 2 Blu-rays or pay for 2-3 months of Netflix service and enjoy the movie in the comfort of my own home. Also, the screen quality in most theaters is now horrendous. It is extremely hard to find a theater that does not have a soft looking picture. Of course the public's memory is short and most will forget these changes over the course of the next few months.

 

Movie prices all over are nuts. That's what we get from the idiot studio execs for green lighting movies with budgets not in the 10s of millions, but in the 100s of million dollar range. For A Movie! Get Real! I love a movie with great effects and scope as much as anyone, but give me a movie with a good story over a "blockbuster" any day.

Erich

 

i voted against these prices and leaving home many years ago, i think i bought my first vhs player sometimes in the 1980's, have not been to any movie theater since. i'll wait for it to come out on (tape, dvd, blu-ray) . the drinks are cheaper, the food is better, and i don't miss anything when i take a trip to the restroom

 

I read this was happening, the non IMAX 3D (Disney's 3D e.g.) I believe is now $14.50. ; I guess we saw Alice in Wonderland just in time. ; We are selective in going to the movies since the prices keep rising, but there are some like the Disney movies we try to always see in the theater. ;

Disney is trying something new with Alice where they are shortening the time from the Theater release to the DVD release (in the U.S. anyway). ; We are fortunate enough to have a nice home theater with a projector for a nice movie feel, so if I can avoid going to the theater I will.

Jason: along with your pet peeve regarding poor screens, I hate when they put an ultra bright green EXIT sign right near the screen!!

 

I'm right with you guys. ; I've basically stopped seeing movies in the theaters.

I really SHOULD be in favor of it. ; It should be the best picture quality and the best sound. ; But it isn't.

Look.. I'm a sound snob. ; I don't call myself an audiophile because I'm not discriminating enough, I'm sort of educating my ears as I go here, but.. well.. ; add to that that I also may be more sensitive to high frequency sound than most (I'm in pain from what seems like overly loud audio too often, most people can NOT be that sensitive) and.. there's a lot for me to hate in movie theaters these days. ; From low quality sound systems that they crank up to the point where the high frequencies end up as a sort of screeching, piercing mess to a trend where movies are just plain being made louder and louder (similar problems exist in modern music production)...

Just about the only movies I ever see in the theaters around here I actually see in an Imax theater. ; Because they have a really good sound system in there. ; Oh yeah it costs more, but.. it's either that or I just skip it, usually.


As to the ticket prices.. I'm not terribly well informed on this, but from what I've seen I gather that the theater owners are kind of getting the squeeze here. ; With things like the aforementioned practice of movies being put out to disc release faster and faster there's less reason to see movies in theaters, theater owners are getting less and less of a slice of the pie. ; I'm critical on them for paying such poor attention to the quality of their equipment, but at the same time they're just trying to get by.

 

My wife and I love going to the movies. ; But having seen several recently in 3D - we are under impressed with 3D. ; Especially when it costs so much more. ; The price for a ticket, even in central Indiana, is getting crazy. ; But, more than ticket prices, the popcorn and soft drinks cost more than the tickets. ; I saw on Fox that to take a family of 4 to a 3D movie in NY was around $80 just for the tickets!! ; Are movies going the way of sports where they are pricing themselves so that people really can't afford to go the movies anymore? ; Is an actor, like many sports players, really worth paying 7 digit figures for their salaries?

 

This is so sad...I hardly ever go to the movies anymore, but when I do, I don't want to pay that much!

 

I don't know- I have seen maybe a dozen or so movies in the theater in the past half dozen years- and almost all of those were animated kids movies. ; To be honest I don't watch that many movies at home either. ; But something made me want to go see Avatar in IMAX 3D. ; I don't remember what it cost for tickets, drinks and snacks- more than it was for the sticky floor local theater showing where we saw Princess and the Frog- I'm sure. ; I do remember I was absolutely blown away by the entire movie experience- well worth whatever I paid for it IMHO.

 

WOW!! ; Nothing like that around here. ; Have not seen Avatar, or any other movie, on IMAX for several years. ; The closest one is 1 1/2 hr away. ; People I have talked to that have seen Avatar on the IMAX had the same reaction. ; I saw it both in 2 d and 3d. ; Loved the movie but not impressed with the 3D on a conventional screen. ;

 

I agree that prices are getting too high for what you get in return. ; At most of the theaters near me, the image quality isn't that good and the sound systems are loud and un-balanced. ;

I've found that if a movie gets me excited enough to want to go see it in the theater, I'm going to buy it on DVD anyway, so in most cases, I just wait for the DVD.

 

Agree with what you guys are saying completely. ; Being in the Midwest, we don't have those kind of prices (except when we're in Chicago or Indianapolis), but the quality still isn't that great and even at the prices we pay for tickets ($3.50-5 for a first run premier), to justify the cost to me most of the time. ; Especially with as cheap as Blu-rays are and how plentiful free Netflix/Blockbuster trials are (I've actually been paid $20 each in cashback by each of them to try the services!). ; It does sort of stink waiting for the BR releases, but oh well.

I sort of wish we would have seen Avatar in IMAX, but the cost was so high, and I think James Cameron is a schmuck. ; Then again, blockbusters generally aren't my thing.

On a somewhat related note, has anyone else been amazed at how Disney is seemingly giving away their new Blu-ray releases? ; We paid $11 (grand total) for Princess and the Frog, Toy Story, and Toy Story 2. ; It has been that way with all of their releases for the last year or so. ; They must have some sort of interest in seeing people move to BR, but I can't figure out what.

 

Well, the deal is done now, but here's an overview: ; http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?sduid=344348&t=1926790

It may sound complicated in that initial post, but it was really quite simple.

Since the first Disney Diamond Edition Release (Sleeping Beauty in Fall 2008), all new major BR releases have had similar substantial discounts in their first week (far greater than the normal release week discounts). ; I have looked for an explanation of this all over online, but haven't found one. ; Like I said, I think Disney is trying to push people to BR for some reason (I know BR is Sony's thing, but is Disney heavily invested in it, and doesn't want to see the format fail?), but I have no idea why. ; For now, I will just be satisfied getting cheap Disney BRs.

 

Tim, ; Pixelmania this year?