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Movie ticket price hits all-time high
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
August 3, 2011 at 7:36 am
This might not seem like big news to many as a lot of us have been paying more than $8 on average for a long, long time, but the average ticket price has crossed that threshold. Of course, just about everything is going up in inflation these days.
Comments (8)
I remember back in 1964 when an adult movie theatre ticket was 90 cents. The following year prices went up to a dollar. This was in Los Angeles where movie tickets cost more than other parts of the country. I checked my inflation calculator and found that what had cost $1 to see a movie should cost $6.25 today.
Never forget when we went from $2.75 a seat in the middle 70’s to $3.00 a seat,you would have thought the world ENDED. I bet moviegoers today[Which happliy i am not}don’t even bat an eye.
I agree Mike in Nashville we went from $2.50 to $3.00 in the late 70,s same result.
If I remember correctly, I paid $4 for Superman and $6 for Annie both at the Chinese in Hollywood. But it’s been a long time since I bought a ticket for less than $10. Oh yes, if I could sneak out of work for a bargain mat, I could do it for somewhere between $6-$7. My grandparents once commented on paying $3.50 for “Around the World in 80 Days” back in NYC (1956). But even at $10-12 a movie ticket is cheap compared to a Broadway show. A good seat for “Mary Poppins” at the New Amsterdam is going to set you back around $200!
According to NATO, the average ticket price in 2002 was $5.80. Since 2002, the National Average Wage Index has risen from roughly $33,000 to $41,000. Both are roughly similar in percentage increases.
These are just numbers though. Millionaire CEOs don’t care about two dollar increases in ticket prices. Others whose salaries have not risen much or at all in several years may go less frequently, especially as ticket prices reach twelve or twenty dollars in some locations.
These “average” ticket prices should be split between major metro areas, and the rest of North America. Also they should include only first run houses and exclude the “bargain mats”. I mean where in NYC or L.A. can you find a 1st run movie tix for $5.80?
My mistake, $5.80 was back in 2002. But again where does one find a first run cinema in a major market charging only $8 for non bargain mat.
$13 at night for a movie at the Regal Atlas Mall theater in Queens, New York. $17 for a 3D presentation. This in a deserted mall where almost every store has closed and their anchor Borders will be gone in a month. This is a neighborhood theater, not a Manhattan one.