If It Was Cheaper Would You Go To More Movies?

[Larry Foster]

Our local muti-plex has $5 matinee days and discounts for all of us senile citizens of $6 any time.

We also have a drive-in with 3 screens and a car load night.
I think it's $18 and senile citizen discounts

I did go to see Wonder Woman in a theater

[Jim Koepke]

The last move I went to see was only because the power was out. After most of the day had passed I drove to where the line was down. They were starting to set up so I asked one of the crew if there was an estimate as to how long before things would be up and running. He said a few hours. I decided to go into town and watch a movie. The only one that appealed to me was "Going in Style" with Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.

When I was young, I didn't go to movies much because most movies would be on TV in a year or less. I could save money by waiting. When I lived on my own I didn't have a TV until one came with my wife. She couldn't live without a TV, or so it seems.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Money isn't keeping me from going to the movies. They aren't all that expensive. You can always smuggle in your own snacks by the way or go two hours without food! What keeps me from going to the movies is available time.

[Jacob Mac]

It isn't a price issue for me, it is that 80% of the time I get stuck by people who talk and are disruptive the entire time. Really kills the experience for me

[Ralph Okonieski]

It has been maybe 10 years since my wife and I have been to the movies. We have no intention of going anytime soon. Ticket prices are not the only negative. As others have mentioned, the volume is so loud that it is painful on the ears.

Lower ticket prices would not be an incentive to us. We watch netflix and amazon video at our leisure.

[Jim Becker]

Something that's going to add some "spice" to this already difficult situation for theaters is the ideal like Disney is entertaining around offering content to subscribers at or shortly after release via streaming. If that kind of arrangement catches on, theaters will be further strained financially. The parallel difficulty for consumers, however, is that more and more content providers are now looking at offering their own subscriptions like CBS has done and Disney is considering. So "cord cutters", who have broken away from traditional TV solutions for OTA and streaming may once again be faced with escalating costs to obtain the content they want because there will be no one service to get it from. That's already in full swing as many folks have had to maintain Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other subscriptions just to get the breadth of content they want. CBS added to the fray in that some new content is only available on their "all access" subscription, such as the new Star Trek series.

To the original question, lower theater prices "might" encourage me to visit more than the about once a year I do now, but not significantly since I'm perfectly happy to wait until something is released for streaming to the comfort of my own home for $15-20 for the whole family to watch. I doubt ticket prices will ever drop that far and the food at home is already paid for.

[Bruce Wrenn]

When I was a kid, primary reason to go to movies in summer time is they were AIR CONDITIONED, along with Sears, Montgomery Wards etc. None of us had AC at home, and public schools sure didn't!

[lowell holmes]

Only a block buster like a Johnny Depp movie.

[Harry Hagan]

Since I don’t contribute to the income of movies made by knuckleheads*—the list of movies I’m allowed to see these days keeps dwindling.


*knucklehead
noun ⎢ knuck·le·head ⎢ \ˈnə-kəl-ˌhed\
: overpaid actor/director/producer that doesn’t have enough sense to keep their offensive political/social opinions to themselves

[Dennis McDonaugh]

We go all the time, senior tickets are $5 each so it's not expensive. Snacks cost double the cost of getting in though.

[Brian Elfert]

I haven't seen a movie in over a decade, but I drove by a movie theater the other day and they had a sign that tickets are $5 matinee and $7 other times. It is a fairly new multiplex that I think shows new releases.

I recall thinking as I drove by that the prices seemed reasonable.

[Bill McNiel]

For years I refused to go to movie theaters unless the film had truly remarkable special effects (Avatar). ATT now has a 2 for 1 deal on Tuesdays that combined with senior/matinee discounts costs us between $6 & $7 total for both of us. We don't buy snacks or drinks, they are insanely priced. We have seen 6-8 films in the last year and only once was there anyone else in the theater. Seats are really comfortable and I can stealth vape.

[Steven Kliebert]

I will check your blog later.
Thank you for sharing.

[Roger Feeley]

In northern Virginia, we have an Alamo Drafthouse. I love that place! They happily eject teeters and talkers. You can get table service during the movie that is not obtrusive at all. No ads pre show. Instead they run these trippy old film clips that are a hoot. Who wouldn't want to see a clip of Kung foo Wizard of Oz?

a theatre closer to us has $7 tickets for seniors on thursdays when no one goes anyway.

There is article in today's KC Star about this MoviePass program. AMC (the large theater chain) saying its not sustainable and customers are likely to get burned when MoviePass fails. The theaters get paid full price by MoviePass, so if you are paying $9.95 a month, and you see more than one movie in a month, MoviePass will be losing money.

We like going to see first run movies in a real theater, but agree that rude and disruptive audiences, high concession prices and lack of good films keeps us from going more frequently. I am tired of comic book superhero movies, fast cars and special effects movies, and sequels to sequels. The good stuff is all on cable TV.

[Mike Cutler]

No, people seem to have lost social grace and etiquette these days. The times we have gone have been to the IMAX.
It's been a few years since I was in a movie theater. It's just not worth it for me.