Theater Commercials Make $500Million… We pay More!
Today while reading Variety via a link at my friend Johns site I stumbled onto something that firmly kicked me in the balls and also pissed me off. Its not just me that it pissed off either since my bud John also is on a similar rant to mine about this.
I know we have alot of members who work for the big theatre chains and I hope we can all still be friends after this and dont bother leaving comments that disagree wiht my rant I will just delete em ( I jest, some early humor to lighten the mood ). Lets be up front about something first. I have no problem with theatres MAKING money but I do have a problem with hearing they are making half a billion dollars off those annoying commercials you see in theatres, and my ticket price and concession charges have not gone done.
According to Variety the 20minutes of really annoying ads for sh*t you and I dont care about before your movie have made the theatres $540million last year which is a staggering amount of money. You and I pay to see a movie and then tolerate commericals while the theatres pull in over half a billion dollars.
Obviously hearing that theatres are making a crapload of cash is a good thing and I am certainly happy to hear them doing well. However it does invite the question. Why did I just pay $5.95 for a COKE in the theatre when I saw incredible Hulk and $9.00 and change for a ticket. Its a good thing I wasnt hungry or my excursion to see a movie would have cost me my first born. All this for an 1hour and 36 minute movie and 20minutes of paid advertising.
Theatres need to make money. It is a fact and one I think we can all agree is perfectly in their right. We all work for a living ( or at least most of us do ) and know the value of a dollar. But the big quesion I ask is would you need 20minutes of annoying commercials before the film if you dropped the INSANE prices at the concessions and doubled your admissions? Or are the commercials a fact of life and a result of the fact that nobody wants to go to theatres anymore thanks to advanced home entertainment systems? Is this the reality we have to face to enjoy a theatre movie from now on?
I for one would go to more movies if it cost me $2 for a coke and I would even be willing to pay the normal ticket price as it is now. I feel completely ripped off when I pay $5.95 for a coke and another $5 for popcorn when you down right KNOW its not worth 10cents between the two items. Then being made to watch the commericals is just adding insult to injury for me.
Has anyone ever seen an explanation why it costs so much for somebody in a theatre to make popcorn vs a guy at say a carnival who would sell you the same coke and popcorn for $2? I mean there is markup but $5.95 for 2cents of popcorn? You dont see the guy at the carnival trying to sell me a ticket, coke and a popcorn then force me to watch a commercial before I get it, and we all know carnivals are not what they used to be. Perhaps they should start this ritual as well to make up for slowing ticket sales.
What do you think? Do you find those commercials before movies annoying? Would you like to see concession prices drop and if they did would you go more often? Now in fairness I must point out something. The reason theatre chains say they charge you and I $13 for a pop and a coke and make us watch 20minutes of commercials before a movie is because they dont make any money off the movies in the opening week and sometimes worse. I am not privy to the deals and how they work but in a very simple nutshell studios negotiate deals where in the opening week they get the biggest chunk of ticket revenues. Lets use the number 80%. ALthough I have no idea if its that high. So while the movie is being heavily marketed and promoted a large chunk of the ticket sales doesnt go to the theatre at all.. but to the studio.
So that is the reason we are GIVEN for the high price of coke and corn and the obnoxious commercials but as you can probably tell from this rant….. I am not buying it.
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