Are Movie Theater Tickets Worth $20 ?

Would YOU pay $20 to see Avatar, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or Alice in Wonderland in a movie theater?

A Wall Street Journal report recently described movie theater plans to increase ticket prices. The report mentioned that movie theater attendance accounted for over one billion ticket sales in 2009, a 5.5% increase since 2004 and is still growing. Since there have been claims in the last few years that movie theaters are losing money, then a growing surge in attendance should make exhibitors grateful that they are still in business. This new report does not reflect a grateful position but rather a display of greed as companies try to capitalize on the revenues that they are already generating.

Starting today for example, a 3-D Imax movie ticket at one AMC movie theater in New York will cost $19.50 rather than the usual price of $16.50. Hey, I understand at some level why companies would have the attitude of "we're making money, so let's make even more money!" but they do not seem to be considering the entertainment budgets of adult consumers ( or even putting themselves in a consumer's shoes for a minute) who is the reason they generated more revenue in the first place.

My question on this matter is, does an increase in theater revenues mean that major movie theater chains such as AMC, Regal Entertainment and Cinemark can justify adding up to $3 more to their adult ticket prices for consumers? After leaving the following comments on the article, I realized that there are a few solutions for consumers who may not agree with ticket price increases:

I agree with the author and those few studio executives who mentioned they are concerned about the price increases due to their position of being a value option for the consumer compared to more expensive forms of entertainment.

Movie theater tickets are already pricey for a regular film, forget about 3D because that's another area to tackle. If they want to raise prices, why not just negotiate a better commission in their deal with movie studios instead of making consumers foot the bill?

Another option for movie theaters would be to only increase ticket prices on premium 3D releases during the opening weekend and keep the prices for the standard versions the same as they are today. Increasing prices for all movies, no matter which format tells consumers that movie theater chains are not concerned with the recession and that they will collect as much money from consumers as they can.....so long as they are still in business of course, a status that may change when consumers stop visiting theaters as much as they do now.

One option that we have as consumers to deal with these movie theater ticket price increases is to skip the theaters altogether. If a movie ticket costs $19.50 (using that one AMC theater price as an example), that's almost $20. Movie fans can use that money to buy a DVD of the same movie by waiting a few weeks or months to watch it at their leisure instead of paying $20 to a movie theater. I don't know about the rest of you, but as a movie fan, $20 better get me a little more than a movie on one large screen, especially if I have to deal with crying babies and rude people on their cell phones to watch this movie. The actors better be in attendance for a Q&A session OR free concessions better come with my ticket OR at the very least, a CD Soundtrack or itunes download.

Some movie goers will think "what if I don't like the movie? why should I buy it on DVD" and there is a possible solution to this problem. Get three of your friends to contribute $5 each for a DVD of a movie that you all want to watch. Their money, plus your $5 will pay for a $20 DVD release and then if you don't like the movie, give it to someone who does. You can also sell it to someone who hasn't seen it for the price that you paid, which is another reason why bootlegs are not the best option.

In order to avoid these huge ticket prices, I hope that as consumers, many of us will start to support more independent movie theaters. Many independent theaters show first-run movies such as the recent "Up in the Air" with George Clooney and such.....but the catch is that some of the independent theaters start to show them a few weeks or more after they are released in the multiplex theaters. Another upside is that the independent theaters also charge a few dollars less, so an adult ticket that costs around $10.50 will cost $6 or $7 at independent movie theaters for the same movie.

If that is not a reason for consumers to spend wisely on movie theater tickets, I don't know what is.

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Blog Action Day 2009: Does Visual Effects Ruin our Environment?

Climate Change, the chosen cause for this year's Blog Action Day helped me realize how much we as human beings are using up our natural resources. Too many of us in the United States and abroad have taken natural resources for granted. Everyone is responsible for the negative effects that are taking place on our environment, including those of us in the entertainment industry. For every movie that Hollywood makes each year, there are probably thousands of independent films produced around the country that can be more energy efficient. There is one area in particular that many film producers are neglecting when taking climate change into consideration.

The sections on efficiency and unplugging electronics in 10 Solutions for Climate Change are two subjects that movie producers consider make environmentally friendly decisions during post-production. According to the 10 Solutions piece, electronic devices cost us more money when they are turned off than on because they use more energy during this downtime. Unplugging electronic items, a practice that movie producers film editors should adopt can not only save us money but energy as well. Star Trek and X-Men Origins: Wolverine are not even the tip of the iceberg when calculating the number of movies released just this year that included visual effects (or special effects). The movie 2012 even has a special video on how detailed the visual effects process was to create tidal waves for this film.

With all of the visual effects needed to create blockbuster hits at your local movie theater, that is a lot of computers, TV monitors, video cameras, tape decks and other electronic devices that can easily reserve our energy by simply being unplugged. If Hollywood movies are using up this much energy, how many independent films are adding to the problem of climate change? Broken, Alex Ferrari's entertaining short film was praised for it's elaborate special effects but that's just one film. There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of horror, action and Sci-Fi movies that are produced independently and come loaded with visual effects. This includes hours of work in addition to the time it takes to edit a rough cut of these movies.

The Sundance Film Festival alone claims to receive over 9,000 submissions each year. I wonder how many of those submissions have contributed to global warming by heavy use of special effects equipment. The lighting in post-production facilities may also affect climate change if standard incandescent light bulbs are being used instead of more energy efficient products such as compact fluorescent lights. Sure, the work area of special effects editors need to be illuminated for them to be able to locate the proper tools to do their job. There is still a way to reduce climate change during the movie production process by getting rid of lights that produce carbon dioxide emissions.

While unplugging special effects equipment and using energy efficient light bulbs is one way to reduce the potential for drastic changes to our earth, efficiency during production is another way to bring positive adjustments to climate change. As independent producers, we would be more efficient by shooting on location, reducing the energy use of special effects teams that we have depended on to make our movies more extravagant in post-production. This could mean the loss of many jobs in the post-production sector that specializes in effects, which is another subject in and of itself but our mere existence and survival is more important today than tomorrow. Special Effects teams could adapt their skills to be put to use on location rather than in editing rooms equipped with computers, monitors and other forms of technology that uses lots of energy on a constant basis.

While indie film producers are trying to land distribution deals and compete with major Hollywood studios, keeping the importance of climate change in mind can help to reduce major environmental disruptions in the coming years. I know some of you reading this may be thinking "Climate Change? Global Warming?...who cares?!!!" and yes, I thought the same thing too over the last two years until now. It's not as boring or insignificant as we may think because climate change affects the earth on many levels that we rely on everyday including our water supply, air supply and cooling systems.

How do you think movies are adding to Climate Change?
Leave your comments below!

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Myspace Reactions to Transformers 2

When the topic of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen comes up, Myspace users do not hold back their thoughts on any level. Jason summed Transformers 2 up nicely by describing it as a funny movie full of action from beginning to end. This movie goer rates Transformers 2 as a "fucking excellent" movie. Unfortunately, the Myspace community does not place Transformers 2 on the same pedestal.

There is an overall sense that movie fans on Myspace do not take Megan Fox seriously as an actress. Calmer On Coffee makes movie fans own up to this fact by saying others "didn't go see this movie for her grade-A acting chops". John F expressed disappointment to see that Megan Fox had a dress on underneath her clothes. Many reviews in the Myspace community were not centered around the non-acting abilities of Megan Fox and called Transformers 2 into question instead.

One viewpoint that has seemed to come up repeatedly among the Myspace community is that too many people are taking Transformers 2 too seriously than they should. The movie has some tough critics among the media and movie fans alike including Rocky Dakota who called Transformers 2 "terrible". Trying not to ruin the experience for procrastinating movie fans on Myspace, Rocky Dakota did not too much more to say but concluded that Transformers 2 was a "rushed and thrown together" movie. There is still a group of Myspace members who back up their position that Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen may not be getting a fair trial when it comes to reviews and audience reactions.

Myspace user moVin' vioLation points out that it's a waste of time to expect a deep, story driven movie with lots of drama when going to watch Transformers 2. This Myspace user suggests "u already have cate blanchett for that" and explains "there is no way ur going to make transformers into a deep, dark serious film and be successful". I agree with an aspect of this Myspace review from moVin' vioLation about Transformers and the importance of movie goers understanding what they are getting with this movie. If I go to watch an action film with Bruce Willis, I expect things to be blown up and could not care less about learning true life lessons that encourage me to engage in more humanitarian efforts. If I watch a Jim Carrey movie, I expect to laugh and look forward to paying attention when checking out biopics like The Last King of Scotland with Forest Whitaker.

If I go to check out Transformers 2, I would expect to witness fun robots and all of the related crap that goes with them. Calmer On Coffee has the same perspective when stating "its best to take it for what it is...which is a movie about giant talking alien robots" during a discussion on Transformers 2. The simplistic Jason with that "excellent" rating even had a word or two for the film critics who gave Transformers 2 a bad grade. These film critics "need to stop over analyzing things" according to John on Myspace.

John F does point out that Transformers 2 producers need to find a balance between focusing on the humans and making the movie centered around those robots. This Myspace user notes the human focus as the main reason why he hated the first Transformers movie. Unfortunately, the studio did not do any better the second time around because they tried "to do too much and ended up with a bunch of robots as background filler', says John F but he would still recommend watching Transformers 2 in a movie theater instead of waiting until it comes out on DVD.

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What changes would YOU make to Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (hypothetically)?

Leave your comments below!

Photo: Current News Stories

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