Rising Popcorn Costs Increase Movie Ticket Prices
Are you sick of rising movie ticket prices? Do you hate getting ripped off for a bag of popcorn at the movie theater? Well, it's only going to get worse.
Due to the increasing costs of popcorn, the price of movie tickets is expected to skyrocket by as much as 30 percent this year. Why is the price of popcorn going up? Reasons include the increasing demand for ethanol, the low yields of this year's popcorn crop, the rising cost in coconut oil for popping corn, and the increasing cost of producing paper popcorn tubs. Since "roughly 25 percent of the price of admission is subsidized by popcorn, soda, and candy sales," either snacks will get more expensive or movie ticket prices will increase. How much longer will it be before tickets cost closer to $20 than $10?
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12 Comments:
Shouldn't the price of popcorn just go up, not movie tix? I mean, if no one's going to the movies because it's $15, then the chance of selling any popcorn at all decreases pretty quickly. I would think that getting people into the theater is the more important part. Then stick them $10 popcorn.
charmon at 4:24PM on 05/19/08
That's crap! This shit already is marked up at an unconscionable rate. And for crap popcorn that many places don't even pop in-house anymore. Not to mention my No. 1 movie-popcorn pet peeve: the fact that the cashiers no longer butter the damn stuff for you. (How are you supposed to get popcorn topping evenly distributed if you they don't fill halfway, apply topping, shake up a bit, then fill the rest of the way?) Yet more dunderheaded ethanol madness. I suppose I'll have to pour some gdam gasoline on my popcorn if they keep this up.
Adam Kuban at 4:24PM on 05/19/08
Oy. That is truly asinine. Maybe if soda prices rise, the ballparks should start raising admission to games. Or if the price of milk continues to go up, how 'bout the universities raising tuition?
Netflix and a big pan of on-the-stove popcorn is all I'm saying.
sarahbeam at 4:41PM on 05/19/08
and people wonder why bootleg movies are sold and bought on every street corner in NYC, next thing you know you'll have to slide into an alley on Canal Street in for some bootleg buttered movie popcorn. The prices of everything are getting RIDICULOUS. *GRRR FACE*
Southern_bella at 4:59PM on 05/19/08
Netflix all the way. At least there's decent student discounts. I remember when movies were $4....I would never spend money on overpriced 1,000 calorie popcorn tubs with artificial butter.
fritesandfries at 11:59AM on 05/20/08
What? I DON'T EAT POPCORN! WTFrak? I shouldn't have to pay for corn if I'm not eating it. Jeeeeeeeezy chreezy.
Stufsocker at 12:18PM on 05/20/08
hey stufsocker, you can gimme all your corn.
Southern_bella at 12:43PM on 05/20/08
We rarely go out to see movies anymore--maybe once or twice a year if at all. It's just so much more comfortable at home. Eat what you want, drink what you want, pause when you want. It's not vital for me to see the latest flick right away so I don't mind waiting until the DVD is released.
wookie at 12:52PM on 05/20/08
Us too wookie, I can't stand the environment at the movies anymore, people constantly talking, teenagers acting like asswipes, cellphones, crying babies/young kids, getting the back of my seat kicked, coughing fits from sickly people, fighting, plot spoling... It takes a lot to convince me to go to the theater these days.
damn that made me feel so old *pout*
Southern_bella at 1:02PM on 05/20/08
The bucket costs more than the actual popcorn does. Even if popcorn doubles it is almost negligible in the price they charge for it. If they raise ticket prices with that excuse it is a scam.
eatorama at 3:17PM on 05/20/08
Drive-in theaters disappeared with the advent of VCR's. (I loved going in my pj's with my parents and sibs and dates were great if I really liked the guy, but my parents always wanted a synopsis of the movie so I had to pay attention a little ;). I think it's only a matter of time before real theaters do the same. I don't get around too well and have an elderly friend who goes stir crazy in the house with her ill husband. I take her to restaurants and movies, since I can't walk around a store, no less a mall. Not a lot of choices - she wouldn't be content to sit in a park and watch the ducks on the water. Anyway, tickets are now $13. Their food and drink prices are over the moon. I'd rather bring in my own, or go out for dinner afterward. Unlike the "old days", most of the time, the theaters are nearly empty. I don't know how they stay open.
PerkyMac at 11:24AM on 05/21/08
We are lucky that there are still a couple of drive ins near us, but even their prices aren't cheap. They even charge a fee if you bring your own snacks and they ride around in golf carts to look for your "food permit" if they see snacks you didn't purchase from them. Still, it's a better deal than the cinema!
And c'mon! $4 for a lunch bag sized popcorn is ridiculous and soda prices are outrageous when you consider it is probably $0.15 worth of syrup in that $4 cup! But we do have to pay the latest "hot star's" $20 million dollar salary somehow, don't we?
SayWhat at 1:09AM on 06/09/08