How do concession and ticket prices factor into your decisions to go to the movies?

Question

I manage a movie theatre so I know almost everyone has something to say about how outrageous the prices are at movie theatres. I've heard it all before, so lets leave that out of this discussion.

What I'm curious to know is what effect the prices have on your decisions about when and how often you go to the movies.

Do you go less because of the prices? Do you only go if it's a movie you really want to see? Do you see movies as an escape from home and not worry about the prices? Do you intentionally go on discount days or matinées because of cheaper prices?

Also, if you have any understanding of the economics of running a movie theatre, does that influence your decisions?

I would love to hear anything you have to say about how the prices affect you movie going decisions, but I would prefer not to hear the grips about how outrageous the prices are because I hear that every day.

Lord Z: Thanks for responding. You seem to have a basic understanding of the movie theatre business, but I do need to clear up a few details.

First off, movie theatres are not doing nearly as badly as you make out. Yes, we had a horrible year in 2005, but we recovered with a decent 2006. And 2007 has been a record year so far (although total admissions are not as strong as 2004 - the record year).

Yes, the megaplexes are partly to blame for the degradation of the movie going experience, but the public needs to take a bow here. People have become so accustomed to watching movies at home where they can talk, pause, multi-task, etc, that they have forgotten what the movie theatre experience is supposed to be.

And while DVD has been a boon for home entertainment, sales are starting to flatten out there. Furthermore, you have to blame the studios for the ever shrinking theatre to DVD window and the ever increasing amount of crap product.

As far as concession prices, you have to keep two factors in mind. First of all, the concession stand is how the theatre pays the bills since the largest chunk of ticket sales go to the studios. We have to pay to keep the theatres warm or cool, we have to pay the staff, we have to pay for the projectors, and the electricity. And don't forget the insurance - which has been going up since 9/11 for any public gathering places.

The second factor is that movie theatres have to get a larger markup on their items because they do a smaller volume than a supermarket. Where a supermarket sells hundreds of thousands of items and can get a quarter each, a theatre sells thousands and must get a dollar each.

Lastly, I would argue that the technical experience of movies is better than it's ever been. Better sound systems, larger screens, more comfortable seats, etc. And with digital cinema there will be many other advances in the near future.

Answer 1

The price of movie tickets has an inverse relationship to audience attendance the same way any luxury item has an inverse relationship to price. As the price goes up the demad surely goes down.

It is one of those decreasing margional utilty relationships. The first thing a person is willing to give up as the economy gets worse is a luxury item.

Add to that the steadying costs of DVDs and the lowering cost of sound systems and you see a trend towards ignoring movie theaters altogether. It is a substitution effect as there is an easily acceptable substitute for going to a movie and that is to wait a few months and buy or rent the video so that you pay 5 to 20 dollars for everyone instead of that same price for just yourself.

Most tickets these days are purchased by people who have either a large amount of disposable income or teenagers who have access to people with a large amount of disposable income. That is why so many movies and movie releases are geared towards teens. Children's films while big business are few because it is harder to draw in a steady flow of family dollars since you buy 4 or more tickets instead of just 1 or 2. So companies produce those movies normally at holiday times when parents just want to get the children somewhere other than the house.

As for concessions stands, those prices are ridiculous but that is just the way they are. Movie theaters have only two sources of income , ticket prices and concession stand prices and it is easier to maintain ticket sales by keeping ticket prices down than by raising ticket prices and keeping concession stand prices fixed. The problem is who wants to pay $4 for a bag of popcorn, a drink, or a hot dog when you can go to the grocery store or a restaurant and pay a quarter of the price. So what you see is even fewer people wanting to go to a place that is selling over priced merchandise.

Last but not least is the rise of the megaplex and the consolidation of theaters which discourages movie going because the product is no long as palacial and the experience is no longer as special as it once was when gaylynns, cinemas, and drive in theaters offered the audience comfort and a since that this film is special for every film you attended. Say good bye to the balcony seating and the comfy chairs, the opening of the curtains and the pre show cartoons, the speakers that hung off you door and the cloth stations on route to your seat and say hello to movies on smallere screens with bigger speakers, crampt seats, and mulitple screens so that the movie only stays in a theater for a few weeks if at that and then goes to video leading you back to that thought od substitution. Megaplexes are killing movies.

And now, when it is realized that ticket sales are lousy but video sales are good, wham every thing goes straight to video. The last three American Pie Movie wham straight to video. Van Wilder 2 straight to video. Bloodrayne 2 straight to video.

As Kevin Smith said, as long as I make cheap movies ($30 million or less) and show a little profit and the video sales are good, I (he) will always be able to make movies. In otherwords, the movie makers no longer care about the box office but rather the video sales.

That is the state of movie going in the new millenium.

And oh, yes, I caught your question about me. It is actually a violation but I get a question about me every now and then so I try and answer them but I saw yours too late to do so. I do answer hundreds of people, but; there are so many questions and I am # 1 in Entertainment, Television, Movies, and in the top ten of seven or eight other categories, so; I am not as visible as the person in second in movies, whatever he calls himself now, who focuses normally on movies alone , and who is a movie critic by profession, and doesn't enjoy the full Yahoo experience as many do. I jump around. As for my Q&A's they are closed because of trolls, thumb monsters, and hackers all of which I have to deal with on a weekly basis. When you are atop th leaderboard you get reported, suspended, and so on just for the fun of it. I had to close up like Willy Wonka to stay around and even then i made the mistake of taking on a contact or two and that blew up in my face. But I answer all sorts of questions from Script advisement to soundtracks to favorite this or that and that is onli movies. I do all the television magazine and other topics. I do Polls and Surveys. I do Philosophy. Psychology. Law Relationships. You name it I answer it. I hopr this answers your question and the second guy was close to being right whoever that was.

Anyway that was my answer and thanks for the question.

Additional information:

My knowledge is far from basic.

I too have spent my time like you in the theater.

Unlike you I have seen the good old days.

I have been to prenier theaters with balconies and theatrical seating and curtains drawing, ushers in those uniforms with the hats and all. They were better. Chandeliers in the lobby. It was an experience.

I don't know who the brilliant one was that thought that bigger speakers made it a better experience, probably George Lucas since he came up with THX but it simply makes the movie louder. It does not make the experience better unless you are deaf.

And the fact is that AMC pretty much dominates the market because they purchased all the competition that could not make ends meet.

Ticket sales are up because a movie no longer spends half as long in a megaplex as it did in the past, so you have less empty screenings. It is what I call the sucking you in because it won't be there tomorrow theory of scheduling. They want you to go as soon as possible so they can take the movie off the circuit and start optioning it to Distributors and Cable companies.

You are only looking at it from the perspective of your business.

You were asking from the perspective of the ticket buyer.

I tried to give you an answer from that perspective.

The ticket buyer does not care about your electricity bill, staffing, insurance, whatever. They care about how much money they have to spend for a hotdog, pop corn and a coke.
That is simply the way it is. Twenty dollars for ticket and snacks or fifteen dollars for a video and you get to keep it.

I am talking economics.

And stop blaming the movies for the problem. Pretty Woman was a cruddy movie and made millions. Titanic lasted 22 a top the box office. What beat it? "Lost in Space", another cruddy movie. Cruddy movies are nothing new. Troma never made a good movie, but; most of their movies are cult classics. Rocky Horror fills theaters still and it is not a masterpiece. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes will still fill an audience. It is not the movie. It is the prices.

And like I said, movie makers have the good sense to send a movie direct to video when they realize that it will not draw an audience. It does draw video sales. In other words, people will pay less for that movie if given the opportunity.

This is not a gripe.

This is telling you what the moviegoer thinks.

This is what you should be asking yourself. How can I lower prices?

Senior discounts, Matinee prices, Student Discounts, and all of those programs tell a movie goer that they should be paying less. Why aren't they? Why the gimmicks when the truth is that you could lower ticket prices if you wanted to, not you the manager but, you the representative for a company that as you admitted puts the price of expenses in the concessions.

My point was that concession stand prices are inflated 300%. There is no denying that. I thinki I could sell something a bit more nourishing for 12 dollars than a hot dog, popcorn and a coke. You are not just competing with the DVD market but fast food as well. Moviegoers are choosing to eat first and watch the movie after or vice versa.

Move this question over to polls and surveys and see if people don't agree with me.

This is a survey question.

If you really want to try and make a name for yourself, be the first person to get a theater chain to merge with a fast food chain and see if sales don't climb through the roof.

Fast food sells on its own, and the chance to take your meal over to theater and eat it there will be too tempting to pass up.

It is a synergy of companies leading to a profit that will make all happy. The fast food guy is happy because you came to him to watch the movie and bought food. The movie guy is happy because there is a built in profit in fast food even if you did not come to see the movie. Merge Taco Bell/Pizza Hut with Cinemark and you have a winner. Burger King, Mac Donald, KFC, they will all see the possibilities for added sales .

But seriously, the theaters were better in the good ol' days. And, I don't really need THX to watch "The Notebook" or IMAX to watch "Toy Story". All I would have to do is sit in the middle of the theater to get better sound or the front of the theater to get that larger than life perspective.

Give it a thought.

And take that poll if you doubt me.

I am sure people will tell you they would rather go if prices were less and if concessions were better. that is just the way they are.

Oh, and you have learned another thing about the questions I answer. I check to see if the answer was received well or if the questioner has other questions. Your response sounded like you needed to clear up the griping point. This is not griping. This is telling you what I think. You not belittle it by calling it "basic." That was just wrong.

Any way, I hope this information cleared that up. If not I tried.

Answer 2

Ticket price never stops me from seeing a movie. I love going to the movies. But I know I'm kind of atypical, and not everyone sees what averages out to about a film a week like I do. (I usually see 50-60 films a year, by my last count.)

However, I don't buy concessions that much. For one, I don't need to eat that much candy or popcorn...and the beverage size has to be balanced out with sugar/caffeine consumption and bathroom breaks!

Ticket prices affect my seeing a movie I might not otherwise have seen - I'll give something a chance on a budget matinee of $5 or less. And paying less, I'll usually spring for snacks, then, too.

My favorite theatre is the Arclight in Hollywood - where tickets on the weekend are $14 and totally worth it. Bathrooms are clean, seats are comfy, sound and picture are amazing, concession are delicious, and there's a restaurant and gift shop.

My second favorite are the Ritz Theatres in Philadelphia, at least as they used to be.

Answer 3

I really only go to see movies that I can't wait for on DVD, if I want to see it, then the prices don't effect me, because I had a good time. We have several theaters around here, and the tickets for one are only 5 dollars, with free refills on everything. 2 people can get in get 2 sodas and popcorn for around 20 bucks there, which is awesome. But no ne goes because like most theaters I have been to, unless you hit a day show, or an R rated movie, you won't get to hear the movie because of the young kids talking, laughing, singing and answering their phones. We choose to go to the more expensive theater because it is the only one that actually puts a stop to disruptions during the movie. We went to see a movie once on our anniversery and it was so bad that we went and asked for our money back, along with most all the adults in the theater, and the employee told us that they couldn't do anything about the kids because there are more of them in there than adults, and they can't loose that much money. I would love it if I didn't have to drive 45 minutes to get to a theater where I can actually HEAR the movie, but until I can, I would rather drive and pay the extra money.

Answer 4

I only, and always have only, gone to movies I really, really want to see. I've been to like 5 movies this year. Cost has nothing to do with. (thats not to say I haven't seen several hundred movies on dvd and television this year, I just don't go to the theatre).
My daughter on the other hand, goes to two movies a month, which to me seems like a lot, but she likes to go so I give her the money for it. She sometimes doesn't buy candy, because she doesn't want to pay for it, but she always has a bag of popcorn and a huge cup of pop.
I hardly ever go on weekends or matinees because it is usually packed and someone always brings their baby. I like to go during the week. Very few people!
The thing I have to ask myself, is is it worth it? For the most part I say yes, movies are generally worth it if you see a good one you like and have a nice time.

Answer 5

Ticket prices don't impact me on seeing or not seeing the movie, just on whether or not I'll get popcorn and candy (I always get a drink).
I generally try to go when there is a movie out that I can't wait to see, so about every other week I try to go.
And if I can, I defiantly go as early as possible because I don't really like crowds, young children, and the matinee price is always good.

Answer 6

if there is a movie I really want to see I will go on my birthday and buy the popcorn and a soft drink.

Other times, if i really want to see the movie, I will go when the senior discount is available and do w/o anything from the concession stand

It is not only the price that keeps me from going more often. It is that most of the movies do not appeal to me.

Answer 7

Movie reels cost money to rent! and the ticket price supposed to cover it.. Consessions pay employees,taxes,cost to run theatre as operatertor mybe consession price discounts on slow days can help by inviting more customers on particual days or lower ticket prices too...
Tuesday $2 days it use be plan at local theatre heer in Phx. should be brought back!!!!