Monday, April 02, 2007

The Cost of Entertainment

I'm posting this because I have the feeling that gas prices and movie prices are much the same - they differ depending on where you live in the country. Even if they don't both are way too high. The cost of both are due to intense greed, and in some cases, extreme stupidity. So, for two adults to go to the movies in the suburbs of Philadelphia the cost is:

Two Tickets: $18.00
Shared Large Popcorn: $7.00
Shared Medium Drink: $5.00 (Water - $4.00)
Candy: $2.50 - $3.50
Total Cost: $ 33.00

This is not even factoring in the cost of going out to dinner beforehand (or gas to get to the movie theater because none are within walking distance anymore), assuming you can afford it. How are college kids affording this? Of course, their tickets are only $7.50, but I remember being completely broke through most of college. Maybe this is why the kids are drinking so much. Select beers at many places on a Friday night cost no more than $3.00. If a family of four wants to go to the movies, they have to save for a month. This is ridiculous. There is no reason why entertainment needs to be so expensive.

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8 comments:

TomCat said...

When I was a kid.....

Two tickets: $ 2.50
Shared Large Popcorn: .25
Two bottles of Coke: .20
Two Candy Bars: .20
Total cost: $ 2.95

Of course, the matinée was $1.50 less for two.

TomCat said...

OOPS!! make that $3.15.

United We Lay said...

Wow! The lowest I remember a ticket is $3.50

Anonymous said...

I think the lowest mine was was $5 unless u went to the already ran place and it was $1!!!
anyway I agree, so I do what I can and I don't go to the movies, thats how to beat this, if folks refused to pay that then they would lower the price. Same with gas/fuel if folks quit buying it they would find a way to lower it, they are all profit based and they will find a way to turn a profit.
js

United We Lay said...

I generally wait until it's out on video, but there are some movies that really need to be seen on the big screen.

daveawayfromhome said...

Much as I hate agreeing with js, he's right about not paying it. Price is market driven. Why do sports tickets, concert tickets, movie tickets, etc cost so much? Because someone is willing to pay it.
And consider this: Say one day the promoters decided to double the ticket price? If they only sold half as many tickets, they'd still come out the same (until you figure in the savings of a half-size venue). And who's to say this kind of math hasnt been applied (successfully) already? Several times?

Flimsy Sanity said...

I am patient and cheap. I just wait for it to come out on TV. The bad news is that no one wants to discuss the blockbuster that came out 5 years ago when I am ready to talk about it.

United We Lay said...

Like I said, we rarely go to the movies. We know some second run theaters that are much less expensive, and I think we're going to stick to those in the future.