Posted on 05/21/2010 3:39:06 AM PDT by SkyPilot
For the first time, a major Hollywood film will hit the $20 threshold at the box office, as movie-theater owners test the public's ability to absorb ever higher ticket prices.
Several theaters will charge $20 per adult ticket to IMAX showings of the animated 3-D family film "Shrek Forever After," the fourth "Shrek" installment from DreamWorks Animation. The theaters include the AMC theater in Manhattan's Kips Bay neighborhood, AMC Loews 34, AMC Loews Lincoln Square and AMC Empire 42nd Street.
The increases weren't officially announced, but were reflected in prices posted Wednesday on movie-ticketing Web sites such as Fandango.com and tracked by BTIG LLC media analyst Richard Greenfield.
"With the state of the economy remaining questionable, we worry pricing is simply moving up too quickly," cautioned Mr. Greenfield in a research blog post, adding that he was especially concerned about how quickly children's ticket prices are increasing. "The danger is scaring consumers away from the movie theaters."
This weekend's price increase come less than eight weeks after theater operators instituted some of the steepest hikes in a decade. Those increases in late March—in some cases of as much as 26%—varied theater to theater and focused on 3-D and IMAX showings of another DreamWorks Animation title, "How to Train Your Dragon." The same AMC theater in Manhattan charged $19.50 for an IMAX showing of "Dragon."
The $20 ticket may prove to be a psychological barrier too steep for some moviegoers to overcome, but the industry appears ready to take the risk, especially in the wake of a string of 3-D blockbusters, from "Avatar" to "Alice in Wonderland." 3-D movies accounted for the vast majority of last year's 10% jump in domestic box-office sales.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Or Torrents! 8)
I’m not a big movie watcher but like Netflix and enjoy the streaming but I hear you netmilsmom. They need make all content available via streaming. We stream via our LG DVD player. My only complaint is the lack of Dolby 5.1 audio.
The first two are excellent (the second one especially), but the third one does careen into that nonsense (though it does have the best fight scene in the trilogy).
It’s a sad commentary on our times when movie making has less technical cost barriers to film production today, than ever before, yet it seems there is a dearth of mature content in any provided.
Well said. I never acted like that in a theater as a kid...I wasn’t a saint, but my parents did teach me to be considerate of others.
These ticket prices are nucking futs! Think that any more the real money is in dvd sales and not in movie tickets. They are so over priced as it is the last movie I went to had 4, that’s right, 4 people watching it.
Yep, stop on the way and pick up some candy elsewhere.
Bring in your own water bottle.
Getting in and out of the parking lot, cell phones, conversations, dangerous “people”, and now increased prices at the movie theaters—and they wonder why bittorrent is popular.
The last movie I went to was the drive in near Coldwater Michigan and that’s actually a bargain. We saw Kung Fu Panda and the most recent Indiana Jones movie for a little over $4.
The Marvel Movies know what side of the bread their butter is on though.
Iron Man was pretty conservative, THEN they saw the money Dark Knight made. Iron Man 2 is as conservative as you get.
If we want that trend to continue, we need to support conservative movies or we won’t get them at all.
Or streaming.
Wow. That is cheap. Are those national chains?
I stopped going to the video store in my town I went to for years. They began to charge $4.50 to rent a DVD, but said you could keep it for 10 days...what the hell? Big whoop. What am I going to do, watch it twice?
They were nice people, but I couldn’t see paying it. I just use Netflicks now...
We dropped cable and joined Netflix.
It bugs me that I have to get a DVD of a ten year old movie.
(Anyone still going to the movies?)
NO! way too expensive! Not much worth seeing. At most we go to one movie a year during vacation as a treat.
Since we pay plenty for cable, movies have to be on cable. Besides, if the movie is bad - it’s easier to change the channel or walk out of the room. Cable, like Showtimes “The Tudors” is much better viewing than the remakes and drivel coming out of Hollywood.
Definitely bring your own water. $4.00 for a BOTTLE OF WATER? That makes me see red. My wife is absolutely on board with bringing stuff in, but we don’t do that at our local family run theater.
the last time I went it seems advertisements are the norm and I will be damned if I will pay money to watch them.
We dropped cable and joined Netflix
tried www.hulu.com??
I wouldn’t pay $20 to see a baseball game, let alone a movie that will be selling on DVD for $9 at WalMart in 6 months.
I can recall paying $0.10 for a double feature matinee.
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