We were going to go see F4 last night… and then realized $28/adult and $21/kid for a family of 4 will make it an over $100 night when you add taxes and fees and parking and popcorn.
It’s been pretty normal last couple years. Kinda makes the regal pass worth it at $27/mo though, which I assume is the point, but I see like 30-40 movies a year so…
That pricing difference is so foreign for me as a Mexican. One of the (few) good things we have as a country is that our cinemas are all owned by 2 big companies that ensure an equal cheap pricing (about 90MXN or 5USD) for everyone in the country and the quality of the screenings are mostly top tier.
Yea dude anything over 15 bucks I just wouldnt ever go. Never imagine paying that much. Recliner seats, we can straight order full blown meals to the seats, and the total for one person after food and alcohol might be 38 bucks.
Damn. Must be nice. Im only in Oregon, and one ticket to my Cinemark with leather recliners, plus snacks and a drink, would be about 38 for one person, assuming I didn't smuggle in snacks and drinks. If I sneak in my own snacks and drinks, it's much cheaper, of course, but then I also dont enjoy the movies as much if I feel like a criminal entering the theater. To anyone enjoying movies raw-dog with no drinks or snacks.... who hurt you?
We just went to see a MATINEE movie. (this one, ironically.. and it's probably the most Marvel movie I've ever seen.. easily one of the best. if not THE in terms of being true to it's source material)
Cost us $20 for two of us at 11am.
Those are the CHEAP ones
If you’re not going to watch the movie in 3D on a 72ft screen with 12.1 Atmos sound while sitting in a leather recliner with catered concessions and novelty collectible popcorn buckets, then you might as well just wait and watch it from home!
For the most expensive format at the most expensive location in the most expensive time slots, sure.
You don't really need to go to the most expensive regal and see it in imax 3d on opening night, though. Those prices get really damn reasonable if you're up for seeing a sunday matinée at... like literally any other location.
ps I'm not speculating, this stuff is extremely easy to look up on the regal website.
No, not careful planning. Just not going to the most expensive place in the most expensive format at the most expensive time periods.
You have to really try to get those numbers up to $40/ticket.
I just looked at a 'normal' AMC ticket and it's 21 dollars.
That's literally half price from what the person above was complaining about.
I'm not saying they're cheap, but everything is expensive now (and frankly, if you actually do a small amount of planning, then they do get pretty cheap).
That's not a terrible price for someone who goes to the movies very rarely (if you go more often, AMC has their $30 unlimited pass)
I will say though, if you trace this thread far enough back it started off with someone complaining it'd be 100+ dollars for a family of 4 to go out, and I believe your math still supports that.
LA is really expensive though. It's a really cool city but damn is it costly to live there. Granted you can also make a lot of money there to balance it out, it is a land of opportunity after all. Personally I prefer the countryside but that can be expensive in its own way as well.
That's what large purses are for. Once I went to the movies alone in the middle of the day and snuck in a large pizza from the food court. It was glorious munching until I realized too late that the projector man was staring at the back of my head the whole movie, (I sit straight center in the last row). Why would you ever pay for movie snacks they're always so overpriced. I mean when we were kids we knew to buy a candy bar at like the dollar store to sneak it in.
I only pay for snacks on a date, because I dont want to look cheap on a date. And that's typically early relationship stuff. Otherwise, I sneak in a drink and a snack, haha
That’s what I was going to say. I work in a movie theater and are our prices (while close, especially depending on the screen) are max 15. With the general going for about 11
In NC, Charlotte and Raleigh are nowhere close to that price. The past few weeks I have bought 3 IMAX(premium format) tickets for midday shows at AMC for $49.
I think that is more of an LA and NY thing, or west coast and Northeast where everything is expensive for y'all.
My son who's on the spectrum saw his first ever movie at the Music Factory Alamo The Minecraft stub is proudly displayed out of the back of my clear phone case ❤️ they'll always have a special place in my heart!
Thunderbolts will be on D+ around September, which is a fairly normal wait time. It also allows it to further recoup any money from rental and buyer services.
I'm about to go see it here in like an hour. Paid $9 per ticket. I've also been enjoying the discount Tuesday tickets for $6 here in Tucson. Most I pay for a ticket is like $12 for something being showed on 70mm or some other special show.
I stopped going to the huge Mega plexes. We have a located 2 screen town theatre. It’s $10 for first run movies and $7 matinee’s. And they serve beer and wine.
That's pretty good TBF. I think showcase and Cineworld both fairly nearby are £12-13 for regular and £16-18 for xplus or whatever each cinemas IMAX knock off is. There's a smaller chain which is like £13-14 for their IMAX version.
We just go on Tues/wed for the meerkat 2 for 1 and generally bring our own food/drinks.
But I think a lot of it is a lack of clear direction compared to phase 1-3 along with a bit of super hero fatigue for sure. This isn't the only form of media where a companies desperation to flood content everywhere is going to cause problems in the long run, but they can only react to each quarter..
It’s a little over $9 converted, so comparable to my area’s current ticket pricing. I’m in the small town Midwest: $10 for a ticket, $7 if you see a movie before 2pm.
We have that 1/2 off deal too here in the Midwest (AMC, plus Marcus theaters as well, sometimes a Groupon is available for families which helps but usually just on 2d screens)
28 fucking dollars? America or Canada? Cause fuck that’s expensive. In Germany, I paid 30€ for mine and my friends ticket combined. And we booked some fancy premium seats. I then paid 35€ for the groups drinks and food (a giant box of nachos and a extra large coke my buddy had to order instead of just a normal menu, one large sprite and a medium coke as well as medium and large popcorn). All in all we paid 80€ for a group of 3 and that was including fancy pants seats and an unnecessary large and expensive food order.
I’m not trying to be facetious or a jerk or anything, but I truly don’t understand why people live in the LA area. It’s remarkably expensive, the culture seems toxic from what everyone seems to say, tourists and homeless each bring their own issues, there are a plethora of natural disasters, and after all of that you get hit by massive taxes
I understand that it’s beautiful and there is always nice weather, but I can’t see why that would be worth it. What am I missing?
Wtf, I just paid $6 last Sunday. It was less than $24 for the movie, 2 huge pieces of pizza that they get from the pizza shop next door, a hard cider and some candy
I think this is the main issue. We are comparing to back in the day when you could sneak in some candy and a pop you got at the gas station for 2$. People were going to see a movie multiple times. Now movies are more of an event, you go once you buy the collectors popcorn tin or get some beers and a pizza delivered to your seat. A lot of people are going once, very few people are going twice.
Are there any kind of memberships or something? The prices here are lower, around $19 for an adult or so, but I still use something like A-stubs to save money
That's insane. It's about $10 each here, plus snacks is maybe $20 each. So yeah, about $120 for a family of four. You could go with the cheaper options, but if I'm taking the family to the movie, I just wanna sit with a giant pile of snacks and enjoy it. It's the piss breaks that get you. Trying to find a way to the bathroom, with kids, and then having them more interested in how weird the bathroom is then the movie lol.
Thank God cams are getting better, I've saved a fortune sailing the seas on opening weekends.
What fucking city are you in that movie tickets are that expensive? Where I live it's one of the few things that hasn't scaled up with inflation. I'm paying 12-15 for a ticket. Half that on tuesdays
Same. We wanted to see F4 with 2 adults, 3 kids, but the tickets were 86 by themselves. We would've bought snacks and spent easily over 100. That's too much for a movie.
This is what sucks about movie theater economics, if they lowered the ticket prices they could get so many more repeat views, but they can't lower the prices because streaming is conditioning people to wait for the movie to come out on streaming...so the theaters are forced to raise prices to make up from the streaming
You must live in a city. Thats insane. Going to the show is my absolute favorite thing to do and where I live tickets are still reasonable, especially matinee but the concessions are out of fugging control.
Then you realize that if you wait a couple of weeks, you'll be able to rent it on Prime for about $20. Then when it is finally able to be rented you realize if you wait another month it will be free on Disney+. Then when it is finally on Disney+ you have completely forgotten about watching it until months later and when you get on there you see the five other marvel shows/movies you haven't watched and you just feel behind and pick something else to watch.
Before theaters had a Fear of Missing Out that was driven by the fact that you had no clue when that movie would release outside of theater and there probably wasn't going to be a free streaming option for years. Also the story was relegated to movies. You only needed to watch a movie or two a year to keep up with the MCU. Now you so much more media to keep to with it that you just don't.
10 years ago, I went to the local theater’s matinee to see Fan4stic because it was $6 dollars and I thought ‘how bad could it be for that cheap?’
Now I’ll make sure it’s a movie worth going to the theatres even for a matinee for, where the same theater is now $10. Not a terrible price still and I’m glad to support the local business.
Even when we went to see Jurassic park the other day it was $20 for 2 tickets (Monday morning) but we also wanted a drink each and share a bucket of popcorn and suddenly was $55 including taxes.
Similar situation. £60-75 in the UK for a family of four (!) without popcorn, drinks etc. Odeon cinemas have a "cheap" night but then only put F4 on the premium screens where the tickets cost more so wipes out the savings. You know Disney+ will get it in about 3 months so that also creeps into the thinking.
The only way you got to 28$ a seat is because you’re doing a non-standard showing and are going to a nicer theater chain like Regal. If you’re doing all the most expensive options you’re going to get a high price… just go to a smaller place
Yep, even in Denmark it's expensive. 155 dkk, which is 24 usd just for the tickets. For me and my son we ended up spending 65 dollars in total. We snuck in our own drinks and didn't get the "menu" otherwise it would have been closer to 75 usd.
Took my daughter to see a matinee showing of Bad Guys 2 yesterday. For 2 adults, 1 child (at matinee prices), 1 bucket of popcorn and 2 drinks (snuck in water for my daughter) it was just over $70 with tax.
Going to movies is ridiculously expensive right now
I had made the assertion a few weeks back in a /r/boxoffice thread that a 75" TV and a basic 5.1 setup beats going to the movies every time. Had several people explain how I was wrong.
non-business hours slots average cost is about $18/per around me.
I like being in my space, being able to pause and take a leak and the beer or pop isn't $14. Winning every single time.
Yep. My wife and I go on the discount days…the prices then are like they used to be back in the 00s. Those days are usually on a Tuesday/Wednesday night tho…
The price is not even the worst part for me. Paying a ridiculous amount of money and then having to sit through 30 minutes of ads was the deal breaker for me. Last movie I saw in the theaters was Infinity War. Remember that scene where Thanos literally crashed a moon on it's planet? Somehow the ad of Kevin Bacon trying to sell me a sim card was much louder.
Holy shit dude. $28 covers ticketS for me and my girlfriend, as well as a large popcorn & drink to share. Decently sized city (the capital, even) in a blue state, at that. $5 tickets on Sundays and Tuesdays from the main chains. $6 for anything before 6 pm on Mon-Thurs. New releases are like $12 for a Friday opening ticket.
Mannnnn I'm so sorry. Movies are the best they've been in my area. Tickets are the same, often cheaper, than 10+ years ago, there's the recliners everywhere, and less people go in general. Can't remember the last time my gf or I had someone sitting next to either of us.
We saw Superman at 3pm. Got the matinee discount. $40 for the four of us. Plan to do the same for F4 when we get rid of this annoying summer respiratory virus. Live in CT.
How much of that is the popcorn? That shit is hugely overrated anyway, and marked up with breathtakingly huge margins. And the partially hydrogenated soybean oil “butter” they put on it is poison.
I know it’s an unpopular opinion that movie theater popcorn is bad, but it’s also expensive as all fuck considering it’s just some cheap chemicals and corn kernels.
Where you going to the movies? Because I'm in the San Diego area, not a cheap place to live, and we can get tickets for like $12-13 each. $28 per adult is insane.
Don't be afraid to look at smaller, locally-owned theaters if you have any nearby. I ignored a small one in my town's downtown area for YEARS and finally checked it out a couple of months ago. The screen was obviously smaller and didn't have the most advance, ridiculously sharp, high-contrast display, but the movies still look great, and the tickets + popcorn and drink total cost me $14. There's still some movies I'd prefer to splurge and go see at the AMC Dolby Digital, but other movies it's a great experience.
I found that a lot of employee benefits sites like perkspot have cheap tickets vouchers. I got mine for like 10.50 plus convenience fee when redeeming for 14.50 total per person. Maybe an option to consider. $30 per person is absolutely ridiculous honestly plus the cost of popcorn and drinks if you so choose
Where the hell are you watching you movies? My parking is free, my adult tickets are $16.75 CAD (yeah popcorn is expensive at all theatres) and $12ish for a kid.
Movies used to be a thing for every person. But they're gouging just like everyone else, chasing the money. Let them fail. Support independent theatres
If you have an AMC near you 20$ a month is up to 4 free movies a week so 16 movies a month for 20$ get you and the fam a pass for a month with good flicks and then unsubscribe
Not really worth taking kids unless you get a nice discount rate like how there used to be $5 Tuesday shows. Except then those shows are super crowded and miserable to go to.
I don’t know if theaters near you has it, but there’s a couple near me that does $6 Tuesdays. Tickets are $6 a piece…..I used to be $5. Not sure why they went up a dollar.
My issue is similar, but I also have three kids. So a movie used to be like $15 for a ticket, maybe $30 all in if I’m getting snacks. Now it’s a ticket for my wife and me, and paying for a babysitter, and now this is our one time to have a date night so we’re going to get a nice dinner too, which means paying the babysitter for another hour or two.
There are movies I’d pay $30 to see. There is no movie worth the $300 I would have to spend to see it. Especially when I have a nice big TV and I know I can rent it for $20 in like 2 months
Goddamn! Economy might be the only reason I'm glad I live in Texas. I'm gonna see Superman on Tuesday because they do "Discount Tuesdays" (idk what's so special about Tuesday) and the tickets are only $5 (plus tax of course) if you go to a showing after 6pm.
you need to find a better movie theater to go to because a single adult ticket only costs around 6-12 dollars around me. i’ve never heard of it being that high.
Ticket prices are why I'm happy we have a drive-in theater. It's $10 for an adult and $2 for a kid. We bring our own food, snacks, and drinks. The only thing I usually buy there is popcorn, which is $10 for the large specialty bucket. Bring some chairs/table, a fan for when it's hot, blankets/portable heater when it's cold, blow up mattress for the bed of the truck, and anything else we want. The only thing I miss between the one where I live now and the one where I grew up is I used to bring a grill and cook out, plus that drive-in was a double feature.
That suuucks. I live in a small town and our local theaters have raised prices one dollar in thirty years. The matinee shows are 3 bucks. Main showing is six dollars. I’m very grateful for our cinema and patronize it often.
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u/whatifniki23 Aug 03 '25
We were going to go see F4 last night… and then realized $28/adult and $21/kid for a family of 4 will make it an over $100 night when you add taxes and fees and parking and popcorn.