NATO, or better known as the National Association of Theater Owners, confirmed what most of us already knew. Seeing movies in theaters is getting too damn expensive. According to them, the average price of a movie ticket rose from $7.96 in 2012 to a full $8.38 this year. While this doesn’t seem like a huge leap, this is the national average (which includes places where $15 buys you a 2D screening of The Smurfs 2) and the trend should be looked at a bit further. NATO attributes the rise in ticket prices with the increase of pictures in IMAX and 3D (which is, again, something we already knew).
NATO VP, Patrick Corcoran defended the rise by likening the tickets to sportsball games as movie tickets, “still stand out as a less expensive out-of-home experience.” And that’s just a lame excuse. Sure movies are a great hobby (and a full on lifestyle for those here on Flixist), but that doesn’t mean you can increase how much we need to pay just because other forms of entertainment seem more expensive. Hell, we can’t even buy concession snacks anymore unless we want to take out a second mortgage on our home. The continuing rise leads folks like Senor Spielbergo to predict we’ll eventually pay close to $100 dollars per film as the years roll on with an increasing chance of bubble burst.
Seeing this makes me glad services like Video On Demand exist. It’s becoming a more viable option for experimental films that just won’t make the big money as folks are less inclined to pay $10 for a film that isn’t The Smurfs 2. Which is also why we get films like Smurfs 2. Increasing ticket prices means less risk taking with what you watch. Less risk taking means more Batman and less Wonder Woman.
[via Screencrush]
