After a recent rise in ticket prices, a 3-D IMAX movie now costs as much as $19.50 a pop. Add in a snack at the concessions stand (you can’t bring your own, thanks to recent theater crackdowns on BYO enthusiasts), and, before you even factor in dinner, the standard date at the movies easily tops $50. That’s 50 times more than a readily accessible $1-per-day DVD rental.
Why such a disparity? A movie’s a movie, no? Well, actually, no. Consumers today have nearly unlimited entertainment at their fingertips via smartphones, DVRs, laptops, on-demand services, and so on. Content is remarkably easy and cheap to come by. Therefore, people won’t pay for content, or at least they won’t pay much. Apparently people will, however, pay for an “experience,” and an impressive 3-D IMAX showing of “Avatar” or “Alice in Wonderland” qualifies.
Movie theaters are now testing just how much consumers are willing to pay for such experiences with ticket-price hikes across the country, as the WSJ reports:
The increases, in one case as much as 26%, vary from theater to theater, but many cinemas are raising prices most—or even solely—for 3-D showings, which accounted for the vast majority of last year’s 10% jump in domestic box-office sales. 3-D movies accounted for 11% of domestic ticket sales in 2009, up from just 2% in 2008.
At an AMC theater in Danvers, Mass., a Boston suburb, 3-D ticket prices are jumping more than 20% to $17.50 from $14.50, while the adult admission price for a conventional film will remain at $10.50. At one Seattle multiplex, adult admission is rising to $11 from $10 for a conventional film, to $15 from $13.50 for a regular 3-D showing and to $17 from $15 for Imax 3-D.
A 3-D Imax movie at New York City’s AMC Loews Kips Bay will cost $19.50, up from $16.50.
Here are current movie prices in select cities:
The AMC Loews Kips Bay in New York City simply has an “Add $7” policy for a 3-D IMAX film, which is $1 more than the cost of a non-IMAX 3-D film. Interestingly, the theater also lists its regular adult price as “$12.50 – After 4:00 pm.” Below that, it posts a matinee price. Guess how much? “$12.50 – Before 3:55 pm.” What a deal!
Price hikes happen all the time, of course, especially at the movies. A decade ago, the average ticket, factoring in movie-goers of all ages, was under $5.50. Now, it’s well over $7. What’s particularly interesting about the recent price hikes isn’t that they have risen quicker than usual, or that they have risen during a period when consumers are trying to spend less—both of which are true—but that they have risen during a time when there’s been a sharp deflation in the price of similar kinds of entertainment. Namely, renting movies via Netflix, Blockbuster, or $1-per-day kiosk operator Redbox.
As the cost disparity between a night at the movies and a night in your house watching a movie grows, consumers have to ask themselves just how much they prefer the theater’s big screen to their own living room’s big screen, and how much they prefer movie theater popcorn to the kind they heat up in the microwave. Is the theater experience really 50 times better?
Related:
Netflix vs. Redbox vs. Blockbuster: What’s the Best Movie Rental Deal?
What We’re Buying More of During the Recession: Silly Movies