So when you go to the movies, most of the money from your ticket does NOT go to the movie theater. Most of it goes to the people who produced the movie, leaving the theater with a specific cut... somewhere between 25 to 50 percent. It varies depending on the movie. So given that, movie theaters aren't really in the business of selling movies, but rather they are in the business of acquiring customers who may potentially purchase popcorn, candy, soda, etc. Then they try to charge you an arm and a leg. These places will charge you $4.50 for a soda. Their cost? Almost nothing. It's pure profit. Popcorn and candy are mostly profit too. The cost of showing movies, etc, should be offset by the minimal percentage of box office revenues, so movie theaters are making almost all of their money selling popcorn, etc.
Which begs the question... is $4.50 for a soda really the optimal price? I mean, it just seems kind of high. Surely they've done the numbers... so they must have determined that these sky high soda prices make them the most profit. I wonder if they take other factors into consideration though. Taking your spouse and two children to the movies can run you upward of $60-80 these days! Even for a matinee, you're still paying $20 just for tickets, and at least $10-15 for popcorn, etc. I guess it depends on how big a pushover you are when your kids ask for a gigantic bag of Skittles.
Regardless, how many people are just giving up and waiting to rent, where they can spend $2.50 to get a movie, and buy popcorn and soda at Safeway where they might spend $5-10 at most? Granted, people are still going to movie theaters, and movies are making more money than ever! In 2004, Shrek 2 made $441 million, making it the third highest grossing movie ever! But ticket prices are higher too. Adjusted for inflation, Shrek 2 comes in at #29. Number one is still Gone with the Wind, which made $1.3 billion domestically. Star Wars comes close with $1.1 billion.
I know it's hard to get me into a movie theater these days. We saw Superman Returns a couple weekends ago, but that's a big event movie, and I would probably have watched it consisted of Superman mowing the lawn for two and a half hours.
Furthermore, movie theaters haven't done anything to make the experience better in the last ten years. Stadium seating and digital sound were great improvements a decade ago. What's happened since then? A lot of theaters are adding digital projection for the twenty minutes of advertising that precedes the show. Strangely, very few theaters are also including digital projection of the features. So the movie chains are investing in the one area that most ticket buyers hate the most!
Seems like the movie business is putting itself OUT of business. What do you think?
Comments (5)
I agree. Saturday night Levi and I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. Tickets in Sacramento are now running at $10+. We ordered a lrg soda and it was over $4.50. Mind you, the sizes of these soda are over 44oz. Who needs to drink that much soda in a theatre? I saw kids with this size of soda and was appalled. I don't understand. Soda is cheap. It costs around 20-30$ for a coke bag of sryup. At Subway our best profit is soda. And we charge 1.82 for a 44oz. Movie theatres are making a great profit out of soda. Having large drinks only fills trash cans up and makes a mess in the auditorium. Levi hates sharing soda. I tell him I don't care because the price of soda is so expensive that they are STILL making a profit over us sharing. Besides I can't drink that much anyways. But people are dependent on soda. Going to the movies is just too expensive these days. We're limiting it to the "really" good theatre movies. It's sad...actually...
Posted by Velmaishere![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.marchdecember.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
July 11, 2006 4:12 PM
Posted on July 11, 2006 16:12
I agree. Saturday night Levi and I went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean. Tickets in Sacramento are now running at $10+. We ordered a lrg soda and it was over $4.50. Mind you, the sizes of these soda are over 44oz. Who needs to drink that much soda in a theatre? I saw kids with this size of soda and was appalled. I don't understand. Soda is cheap. It costs around 20-30$ for a coke bag of sryup. At Subway our best profit is soda. And we charge 1.82 for a 44oz. Movie theatres are making a great profit out of soda. Having large drinks only fills trash cans up and makes a mess in the auditorium. Levi hates sharing soda. I tell him I don't care because the price of soda is so expensive that they are STILL making a profit over us sharing. Besides I can't drink that much anyways. But people are dependent on soda. Going to the movies is just too expensive these days. We're limiting it to the "really" good theatre movies. It's sad...actually...
Posted by Velmaishere![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.marchdecember.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
July 11, 2006 4:12 PM
Posted on July 11, 2006 16:12
Why does Levi hate sharing soda? It's not like you guys don't kiss or anything. You probably share a lot worse things... like soap, toothpaste, the shower, your toilet, etc. Hopefully you don't share the toilet at the same time. That would be gross. I think. I actually can't quite get my mind around that one.
Posted by tuxmelvin![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.marchdecember.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
July 11, 2006 4:21 PM
Posted on July 11, 2006 16:21
You know, out east, they had this really bitchin' place called Chunky's.
Picture this:
You enter into what looks like a typical movie theater. You stand in line, you approach the counter, you buy your ticket, you enter. A counter with soda and popcorn and candy. A few video games bleeping in the background.
You walk towards your theater.
There are no stairs. There are no stadium seats. Instead, there are long vertical tables. 6 rows of 8 tables, give or take. At each table, 8 chairs - but not just any chair. Big plush leather chairs, with headrests, fully reclinable. They are, in fact, the same seats you'd find inside of a Lincoln Navigator.
It gets better.
Before the movie starts, about 15 wait-staff comes into the room. They hand you a menu giving you options between burgers, nachos, chicken wings, all kinds of tasty treats.
There's also a beer menu. Bottles or pitchers. If you got there early enough, your food comes just before the movie starts. If not, no matter - it comes and they crouch down making as little of a presence as possible.
You eat, you drink, you sit in bigtime comfortable chairs, you watch your movie.
Too good to be true? It's not.
And it gets better. You pay no more for your movie ticket than you would anywhere else. And you pay no more for your food+drink than you would at any other bar or burger joint.
Chunkys = awesome. Of all the things I miss from living in NH, I miss that the most.
Posted by atomicdog![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.marchdecember.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
July 14, 2006 1:22 AM
Posted on July 14, 2006 01:22
AD: They have a movie theater like that in Portland, OR. I think they may have some up here, I just don't know where they are. I keep saying Max and I need to open one in Covington, before then the closet movie theater was Renton or Auburn, but now there is one at the new Kent Station. Talking about the Kent station, did you know they allow you to bring in outside food? My friend Stacy called because one of her friends had told her that was true. So you can walk in with a whole meal from McDonald's and they would be fine with it.
Posted by Serena![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.marchdecember.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
July 15, 2006 6:21 PM
Posted on July 15, 2006 18:21