There are a couple of new reports on movie ticket prices in the trades today. Variety says the average price has “dropped” to $8.08, while TheWrap reports that prices “jumped” in the last quarter. Who is right? Technically both.
The average prices of $8.08 is down from the previous quarter, April Through June, when the average ticket price in America was a whopping $8.38, thanks in large part to the volume of 3-D and IMAX movies occupying multiplexes. The $8.08 from July to September is down from that number—but it’s still up a solid two bits from this quarter in 2013, when the average price was $7.84. TheWrap blames the jump on more adults “paying full evening prices” (rather than families, who might pay a lower children’s admission). The full-year average of 2013 was $8.13. So basically, you could have seen 33 movies last year for the price of 32 movies this year.
As a regular paying theatergoer, here is my reaction: Can I please go see movies where the average price is just $8.08? That’s definitely not New York. The cheapest theater in my neighborhood (which might also the worst theater in the country) is $12.50, or three bucks more if you want 3-D. $15 is the entry-level price for the theaters in Times Square, where a movie in one of the faux-IMAX auditoriums will set you back more than $21. If that’s what it costs to see the movies, I’m terrified to know what they charge for a box of Sno-Caps.
I recently found an old ticket stub in a drawer for the immortal classic Catwoman; that was back in 2004, and that ticket cost me $8.75. So this area was above the current average 10 years ago. Where is this magical wonderland where tickets are still just eight bucks? Can I live there? And this makes me curious: What’s the typical ticket price where you live, Dissolvers?
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