Movie Ticket Prices Go Up During the Biggest Recession Since the Great Depression, Seriously?
by Jaden
Have you heard: the major U.S. movie-theater chains (AMC, Regal, etc) have majorly raised movie ticket prices?
9.7% of Americans are officially filing for unemployment and probably over 20% are unemployed in reality; that’s a lot of movie goers with free time on their hands who are looking for something cheap to do to lift their spirits; that’s also a lot of people who are not going to pay the new higher movie ticket prices.
When every dollar is the difference between how much an unemployed person can afford to eat versus how much he is willing to pay for some entertainment and levity in his life, a $2 to $5 jump in ticket price is too much — that in itself is a meal or two at home to most unemployed people, $15 – $19 for one movie ticket equals a loss of five meals! This is a perspective those at the top do not understand at all.
Get ready to watch a major decline in ticket sales, Hollywood. The announcement of a ticket price hike alone is enough to turn away a large percentage of customers from the theaters.
The results are already in: I have heard far more people excited to go see How to Train Your Dragon, than I did about Avatar, yet for their opening weekends Avatar took $77 million and Dragon took $43 million.
And guess what, people are going to see Dragon only once, whereas they went multiple times to see Avatar and brought new customers each time they went.
Whoever made the decision to raise prices is completely out of touch with the common American and has far too much money to understand them. They also do not seem to understand basic marketing: supply and demand, quality versus quantity, knowing your customer, and pricing.
When 12.5% of Californians are claiming unemployment, I think it is safe to assume that another 12.5% either did not qualify for unemployment or have timed out of their 6 month share of it, and are also unemployed. That being 1 out of 4 Californians without an income and probably 1 out of 5 in the United States, how on earth does this seem like a good time to raise ticket prices?
When you are down and out, sure, you can scrape together $10 bucks for a movie and stuff your pockets with some homemade cookies and tap water in a recycled bottle. But $15, $19, no can do — it’s too much.
Now let’s consider our romantic date… Our poor guy who has a crush on a girl and wants to take her to the movies. $20 is one thing — forget the pricey popcorn and candy — but two $15 tickets for $30? Not going to happen. Boy’s going to get creative and sing a song with the guitar or something instead; anyway, he can get more action at home — might as well watch a DVD.
How about our financially teetering families, two adults and three children, for something like $60 to $80 to go to the movies? Plus children screaming crying for the $5 candy they want? No way. Poor folks will stay home and watch free TV when every dollar counts and eventually just buy a 3D TV on credit or at a seriously discounted rate from some house-thief on Craigslist.
Personally, I was going to see all of the new 3D movies coming out at $11 a pop at my local theater, but at $15 to $19, I wouldn’t go to see any of them except for Clash of the Titans because I have a personal childhood connection to it, having watched it on television countless times and my brother calling me Medusa, the snake-haired woman who turns men to stone.
“It’s just not worth it,” people say about going to see movies at the new prices. From everyone I have talked to, the story is the same. People who went to see Avatar several times in the theater are being selective about which of the new 3D movies they are going to see.
The $43 million for Dragon opening weekend were probably mostly the employed people’s ticket sales; the $34 million worth of people that did not go to see Dragon are probably the 20% of unemployed people who have time on their hands to go to the movies but aren’t going to pay the new ticket prices.
$15 to $19 is too big of a gamble for a movie that may not impress or for people who have no personal connection to the story.
With a lower price, you get more people risking to go see the movie. With good word of mouth and repeat customers, you can make $20 to $40 per person.
I remember with Titanic, one of my best friends saw it 14 times in the theater and so did lots of her friends and family see it multiple times. No one is going to see a movie 14 times when the ticket price is too high, especially if they never saw it the first time. $140 for one customer because the price was right? Or zero dollars because you tried to pinch a few more bucks out of a person who decided not to see the movie, wait and buy it online used for a third of the price.
With a high ticket price, lots of people will not go at all. You don’t get good word of mouth. You don’t get repeat customers. You don’t get customers falling in love with the movie in the theater and asking for the DVD for Christmas. You therefore make way less money in the end.
When products are cheap, people will buy more of it. When it is only a few dollars more and looks expensive, people will buy none of it. It’s just like why Americans have gravitated to manufacturing overseas. It’s a huge inconvenience and way more time and obstacles involved to manufacture overseas, but hey, it is a few dollars cheaper per product. Just a few dollars adds up!
Raising the ticket prices so drastically is a costly mistake. $1 or $2 max — ok, but $3, $4, $5 — forget it. It sounds like nothing to a wealthy person, just a few more dollars, but to people who have very little money, it is a lot — it is a meal. Multiply those few dollars for dates and family members and it’s a lot more money than just a meal, it’s new shoes.
The major distributors shot thousands of people in the foot — all those who work on the movies (including screenwriters) who get their percentages on the back-end, just got screwed by the greedy few at the top of the movie theater distribution chains.
As for the official 15 million unemployed Americans and all of their uncounted children, they won’t be enjoying quite as many movies this summer — they simply cannot afford it, which will be a costly disappointment to filmmakers and a sad loss to everyone.
It’s just like with the gas gouging — what did people do? They drove less! People figure out other things to do. We don’t need to drive everywhere and we certainly don’t need to see every single movie that comes out to the theaters.
Lucky for me, I just called my local theater that is independently owned, a theater that posts funny statements on its billboard like, “Impeach the Supreme Court” and stuff like that; they are keeping their prices low and offer free popcorn! I won’t mention their name because I don’t want AMC to give them the squeeze. Some good things must be protected. May they live long and prosper!
Support your local and independent businesses; they will treat you right and everyone will get what they need.
How do you feel about the movie ticket price hikes? Do a few dollars make a difference to you? Do you have the money to spare?
Comments
4 Responses to “Movie Ticket Prices Go Up During the Biggest Recession Since the Great Depression, Seriously?”
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Great blog post and nifto site, btw.
I feel sickened by the increase in movie theater ticket prices. I remember reading the story in the WSJ online and feeling disgust at the following. “Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros., expressed support. “The exhibitors are trying to push the needle on ticket prices and see where it ends up,” he said in an interview. “Sure, it’s a risky move, but so far charging a $3 or $4 premium has had no effect on consumers whatsoever, so I’m in favor of this experiment to raise prices even more. There may be additional revenue to earn here” (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703312504575142143922186532.html).”
Of course movie sales are up, people want affordable brief respite from the onslaught of serious daily global issues including the socio-economic, political, financial and other realities we are all facing. I agree with you, pushing the ticket cost is offensive and likely to reduce sales at this point.
Write on!
H. Raven Rose — Thanks for your comment and link.
I 103% agree with you about everything you said. I have a strong dread for going to the movies now and may even strive to make a matinée showing to save a few bucks, unless I feel like splurging. I don’t even want to talk about the 3D films. As of today, I’m more turned off than turned on about every other movie coming out in the next year to be utilizing that format. “Clash of the Titans” didn’t help. And the ticket price is one of those reasons (since they are a few dollars more than a regular showing). But I agree with a bunch of other critics that it was a poor choice (or even a con) to do a 3D transfer of Titans when it wasn’t filmed that way, like Avatar. But my rant is already too unfocused to continue… just know that I’m on your side and it doesn’t make much sense for ticket prices to go up rather than down. I would think charge less and you would get more business. That’s what gas stations do. But… that would set me off on another rant. (Besides, I thought theaters made most of their money on concessions? I need to find that article to verify that.)
t.sterling — Yeah, I heard Clash of Titans was not filmed in 3D and they just tried to capitalize on it, so the 3D aspect of it was lame. Clash is rated so low by reviewers, so I haven’t seen it yet and it was the only one I was planning on seeing. Thanks for you comment.