The cost of movie tickets is rapidly increasing
In years gone by, going to the cinema to see the latest release with friends or family was a regular past-time. But, I fear that these days are gone due to the increasing cost of movie tickets and food & drink (and the increased choice of watching movies at home). Could this spell the end of cinemas as we know them?
A family outing
The cheapest adult ticket for a normal film at the Odeon cinema is now £13.00. But, to fully understand the cost of movie tickets, let’s look at the price of a family trip to the cinema to watch an ordinary, non-3D, release. Then, we’ll make the comparison between the movie tickets and having a “film night” at home:
Now, I realize there are some differences. Yes, we may have to watch a film that is a year old to get it at that cost from a cheaper online retailer. Yes, the screen will be smaller. Yes, we lose some “cinema atmosphere”. But, is this worth £70 extra or 900% of the home equivalent. I think you would struggle to argue that it is.
One alternative is that we could take our own food & drink to the cinema. But, even when we ignore the cost of the food & drink extras, the price of the tickets alone is £54. Move it into the “royal circle” and its £68. For a 3D movie, that increases by another £6.40. And that is the family ticket “special offer”!!
Is the cinema dying?
Perhaps so. Two people fairly well educated in the film industry seem think that this is a possibility.
In June 2013, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas participated in a panel and they predicted a significant shift in the film industry. The pair predicted a paradigm shift for movies that Spielberg says will begin after several mega budget films crash and fail. In the future, Lucas predicts there will be fewer films in fewer theaters and tickets will cost $50-$150 each.
Instead, all other movies will be watched in the living room, and brand new films will be able to be streamed at more reasonable prices.
As ever here on moneystepper, we are looking at making those small changes which have a big impact over time. Say you are the family of four above which visit the cinema once every month. If we changed that to once every three months, and replaced the other two months with the home equivalent, you would save over £650 each year.
For more moving saving ideas, check out ways to save money.
For the larger steps to long-term financial freedom, my e-book is available now.
Syed says
Had this same issue a few weeks ago. Me and the wife were debating whether to see a movie this past week just to get out of the house. 2 tickets with one popcorn and drink would have came out to just under $40. (The movie we wanted to see was one of those that only had good timing for the 3D version which would push the tickets to $15 each. Yet another reason to avoid the theater) We decided to instead make dinner together at home and watch one of the many movies on our netflix list. We saved lots of money, had a much more nutritious meal and had a better time than we would in a dark theater with sticky floors.
Going to the theater may not be dead for society, but it certainly is at our house. Great post!