Why Does it Cost so Much to Go to the Theater?

The price to see a movie in theater has increased and less people going to the theater.

Ticket Cost

The ticket price to see a movie at a theater has increased steadily over the years leading to less ticket price sales. The total box office has stayed relatively the same with these changes.

The first thing that comes to mind when talking about the cost for going to the theater is the price to buy a ticket to see the movie. The price to go to the theater has increased steadily over the last 25 years.

According to The Numbers the average ticket price in 1999 was $5.08 and adjusted for inflation it would cost about $9.66 today. This is close to what the average price is now which is $10.78 per ticket.

The ticket price isn’t the only problem though, it is the concession cost. AMC, a large movie theater company, charges at minimum $9.49 for a bag of popcorn. The cost for a drink is between $5.49 for a can and for a fountain drink it costs $6.99 for a regular and $7.49 for a large.

To put this into context at Target it would cost about $7 or $8 to buy a 12 pack of 12oz sodas. It would also cost $4.69 to get 6 bags of popcorn.

For an average family of four it would cost about $78 before tax to go see one movie at an AMC theater. This is assuming everyone got a regular fountain drink, two adult tickets, two child tickets and they only get one small bag of popcorn. This price could continue to go up if other snacks or more popcorn is purchased.

Cost to Make Movies

A big reason as to why movie theaters have to charge so much for tickets and concessions is because movies are costing more money to make. Of the 30 most expensive movies adjusted for inflation only two of them have come before 2000.

Another thing that makes the cost increase is that theaters are charged more by distribution and production companies to show movies. This is heavily influenced by the fact that theses companies need to cover their costs.

These cost gets passed on to the people who want to go see these movies in theaters by prices for tickets and concessions to increase so theaters can support themselves.

What Does it Mean

Ticket prices and concession prices will continue to increase so less people will start going to movies in theaters and turning to other ways to watch movies. Things will most likely not change because the box office numbers will stay the same.