Rising Price of Movie Tix

By Tommy Leung on 05/19/2008 in Marketing

I remember when movie tickets cost no more than $10 here New York. Nowadays the cost of a movie ticket is expected to be $11 or higher. The last handful of movies I saw all cost $11 or more. The recent increase of prices in food thanks to inflation is expected to skyrocket ticket prices by as much as 30%–or what is a 1 – 2 dollar increase.

The demand for the highly inefficient corn-based ethanol is of no help as well and is in fact going to be a cause of price increases. Ethanol is expected to claim as much as 40% of next year’s corn crop. The price of tickets have remained fairly low when adjusted for inflation because it has been subsidized by sales of concession. That shield is going to soon disappear.

One option for theaters is to have more advertising. It appears 63% of respondents 12 and older do not mind advertising before a movie starts. It is hard to tell what this will mean for the movie theater business. Will moviegoers stop going? Rent? or take their chances on the Internet?

By Tommy Leung