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 “Two tickets for ‘Shutter Island,’ please. That’s… how much? $19?”
I remember when tickets were $5.50. I remember when they were $6. $6.50. $7.
And last weekend, as I handed over my debit card, between winces, I forked over $9.50 for an evening of – well, to sit in a padded chair in a crowded room among fellow popcorn-poppers and candy crunchers, neck strained to see the screen past the guy in front of me.
That night, before I came to the theater, I paid less for a serving of bread and an entrée of fettuccini and shrimp pasta than I did for the movie. When did it become so expensive?
According to statistics from the Motion Picture Association of America, in 1910, the average cost of a single ticket was 0.7 cents. In 1965, tickets were $1.01. In 2000, they were $5.39. This year, $7.61 marks the all-time high, still cheaper than Regal Boone Cinema 7, Boone’s lone theater, though, not by much.
According to a recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, approximately 75 percent of Americans who go to the movies at least once per month believe movie tickets to be too expensive; 21 percent disagree and 5 percent are unsure.
Many believe the food and drink to be a bit too pricey, too.
Fifty-one percent of those polled buy their snacks at the theater, though 37 percent admitted to bringing their own.
A recent study by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the University of California found that the high cost of ticket prices is offset by the amount charged for concessions.
Because most of the profit earned from ticket sales goes not to the individual theaters, but to the producers of each movie shown, theaters, over time, have been forced to increase their admission prices to remain open with movies to show.
Profit from concessions goes to the theaters, keeping business afloat.
Essentially, the study found that regular movie-goers, who spend nearly $10 on each movie they see, would likely be willing to pay even more than that.
Because of their willingness, they are prone to dish extra cash on concessions and are more likely than the consumers who would like to save – who rarely appear at the theaters, and only to see the good movies – to do so.
If concession prices were lowered and ticket prices were raised, penny-pinchers would likely dismiss a night at the movies, and if they stopped going, theaters would experience a severe blow.
So, keeping concession prices high allows theaters to serve both regulars and those who are not so regular, and to place the margin on those willing to pay the few extra dollars for snacks.
Column: Emily Melton, Lifestyles Editor
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