Movie Ticket Prices Hit All-Time High

[CShine]

LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of going to the movies hit an all-time high last year as the construction boom in plush multiplex cinemas continued to push up ticket prices, according to research on Wednesday. In its ninth annual worldwide survey on movie ticket prices, London-based media research group Screen Digest said average ticket prices rose in 40 of the 45 countries it tracks. The global average ticket price in 2003 was $5.20, up 4.8 percent in local currency terms.

At 1,252 yen -- $10.80 in 2003 average currency terms -- Japanese ticket prices were the most dear. Rounding out the top five were Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Britain ranked tenth.

Screen Digest said a major culprit was construction of multiplexes, the state-of-the art cinema complexes that come equipped with air-conditioning, enhanced sound systems and sometimes shops and videogame arcades under a single roof. Multiplex ticket prices tend to be higher than those charged at older, "arthouse" cinemas, the researchers note. For the past 15 years, multiplexes have been a common feature in more established cinema markets such as the U.S., UK and Germany. The construction boom has caught on over the past few years in other parts of Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in South America and Asia.

In the United States, the largest movie-going market, average ticket prices rose for a 10th straight year to $6.04, climbing 45 percent over the decade, Screen Digest said.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/040623/3/3l8nd.html

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. Carlyle is on top of it

[2Design]

2. $8 here in va beach

[bkcc]

3. Cry me a river.

It's $11.00 here in NYC. Let me tell you: there ain't much from Hollywood that's worth that.

[Q3JR4]

4. ...

Here it ranges from a dollar to $8.50 depending on where you go, how long the movie's been out, and what time of the night you go on.

[BlueEyedSon]

5. Blame Michael Moore!

Just kiddin'....
:)

[RubyDuby in GA]

7. No...you know who is to blame

It's obviously Bill Clinton's fault :)

God, I miss Bill.....

[jdsmith]

6. Where I am in flyover America: $3.00/adults, $1.50 kids in a REAL theater

Of course, that theater has been playing _Shrek 2_ for nearly a month. But it has also played _In America_, _Lost in Translation_, _Mystic River_, _The Station Agent_ of artsy stuff.

[Sandpiper]

8. $7.00 for a matinee in SoCal

n/t