To wonder how large cinema chains get away with it?

[Orangeanddemons]

The cost. The cost is outrageous. It has just cost me £15.00 for one adult and one child. Said child wanted some popcorn. I never ever usually buy stuff as it costs so much but let her have the kids deal for £3:25. But there was a Fuit Shoot for £2:20. I shit you not. a Fruit Shoot.

We have o independent cinema near me. So I paid nigh on £20.00 for a mediocre film in a small pokey cinema. All the way through the film, I kept going on about the cost of that Fruit Shoot.

How do they get away with charging so much? How can I complain?

I really don't believe that they need to charge that amount to make a minuscule profit. Our local independent cinema charges reasonable prices all round and is doing so well they are going to expand.

I used to work in a cinema. It is because the cinema has to pay lots to show each film, and because people want a wide choice to watch. If you just showed one film and it was full every time it would make money, but because they show lots of films most of which aren't full then they end up making a loss. They have to pay the distributor for showing it no matter how many people watch it.

So they only way they make money is with the sweets/popcorn etc. Without that the cinema simply couldn't open.

I agree it is an extortionate amount and we mainly take our kids to the cheap showings but it isn't the cinema who is making the money, it is the film distributor. Believe me, the staff get paid very little! (Minimum wage for the staff on the the shop floor, when I was there 10 years or so, the managers were only 18-19k pa)

The local independent will only have a choice of 2-3 films though; it is the choice that costs money.

YANBU, it is expensive, but -
Front of house staff
Projectionist
Cleaners
Building overheads
VAT on tickets
Distributors

All have to be paid somehow. All cinemas, from big chains to little independents, make their profits on drinks and snacks. It's the distributors and the film companies who rake it in, not the cinemas - when you hear things like "And the new Bond movie took $80 million at the box office over the weekend", you know that most of that $80 million goes straight back to the film company, who will have spent $300 million making it and a good chunk of that will have been on Daniel Craig.

The cinema used to be a cheap treat though, didn't it?

It hasn't been a cheap option at any point I can remember!

Did they force you to go to the cinema or buy food there? If you think it's too much, don't go.

Personally I think £15 is pretty reasonable for a good couple of hours of entertainment.

its a cheap treat on Sat morning - £1.50 each, have just had breakfast so no snacking necessary...

£6 for a morning out for 4 at a relatively new film.

I don't think the cinema has ever been cheap in the last 20/30 years. I haven't been since I was a student - not that bothered by 'the experience' to be honest and I would probably fall asleep half the time, and I would probably be horrified by modern mobile phone users in cinemas .

But yes, the price of drinks and snacks has always been criminal - it's that captive market thing. I can think of plenty of other ways to spend the amount of money it costs.

Lol at contacting management to hear their explanation

Why does that make you 'laugh out loud' Aunty?
Can't see anything wrong with the company justifying that sort of price. It's a crazy price regardless of the fact the OP chose to buy it.
Stating the OP didn't have to go to the cinema is a bit

Sirzy - I must be a lot older than you then! Our grandma used to take us to the movies a lot, and she wasn't well off at all.

Yes I went yesterday and it was £21 for myself and two dc. I couldn't believe it. A small bottle of flavoured water was £1.85 and a bag of maltesers £3.25.

Fortunately I had been to tesco on the way and bought a bottle of water for 39p and 3 bags of sweets for £1.

Big chains are so expensive, we paid for a family ticket for 4 (only needed 3 but 4 was cheaper?!) £37! At the local independent cinema the same tickets are £18, much nicer too.

Cineworld do Movies For Juniors at only £1.50 per person. Make your own popcorn at home.

I agree, the prices are unreasonable. The cinemas are paying whatever they have to pay for the right to show the film. Regardless. So if they cut the cost of entrance, I'm certain they'd get more than double the normal amount of people going, filling up the empty seats.

I went to watch a film on 2for1 and it still cost £14.50 because it was a 3d film. Ridiculous. And that's only entrance.

I also make use of the local Asda nearby.

it's always been a pricey treat - we used to go very rarely as kids

I take my own food and drink - no problem and no massive cost

you don't have to pay their prices

Poundworld somehow makes a profit from selling their sweets. I'd be interested to see how much profit a cinema would get if they sold their products at £1 for a week. I'm imagine they'd sell much more and less people would bring their own snacks.

Actually I quite like this approach to pricing because it gives you a very clearcut choice of how much you can afford for a day out. You spend X on a ticket or you spend X+Y on a ticket and hugely marked up popcorn. If they sold snacks at (say) Greggs prices then everybody would have to pay even more for tickets.

Or you can buy annual passes and go all the time, or you can wait for 6 weeks and go to see the Easter family films for two quid a pop during May half term kids' club showings. (Cinderella v good by the way).

The cinema industry is in trouble and likely won't survive in the future since we are watching movies on higher quality tv's at home now. I hardly ever go to a cinema now, I just wait until I can rent and stream a movie. Especially since my hairdresser gave me a whole new phobia by casually mentioning that cinema seating is a way to pick up headlice! I don't even know if it's true but the thought of that along with the sound of other people crunching popcorn (I have issues I know!) is enough to keep me away. The only cinemas worth going to in my city are the high end luxury kind with reclining leather seats and cocktails and sushi/tapas style snacks.

Dh and DS have cineworld card which is brilliant value.£17 a month and the can go as many times as they want and get a discount on food. I had icecream of the week for £1.20. on orange wednesday they could take someone for free.

We either go to the cheap kids showings at less than £2 a ticket, or generally hit the independent theatre when they are showing something we want to watch, where it's £5 a ticket and they don't have a concessions stand or complain about anyone bringing in snacks.

Once in a blue moon we might pay full price for tickets at the Vue where they have a tray of popcorn, drink and an oreo pack or a twirl for about £2 or £3. No big buckets of popcorn for us.

I usually buy snacks beforehand, in fact I always do, but just this once, didn't manage too.

The cinema was pretty empty, I've rarely been to see a film where the auditorium was full. We have no independent near us. It just seems to me that cinema costs have risen way beyond the cost of living. I know everything else had, but their gap seems particularly steep.

No, I didn't buy the Fruit Shoot

So if the cinema doesn't make that much money from film showings, who does? The distributor? The production company? Certainly major releases are generally making lots of money so someone along the line is doing well.

We only go to the cinema a handful of times a year and only to see films we really want to see. The days of picking a random film at the cinema to while away a rainy afternoon are sadly long gone.

Someone has to pay for the millions people make from movies, go tweet Russell brand I'm sure he'll be happy to help

Surely cinemas will die out? Projectors are cheap and so is netflix

vote people at the top make most, film companies, big name actors, producers etc. Then there is advertising, all the staff to shoot the film, advertising, travelling costs for premiers, food on set etc. When you get near the end, there isn't much left to be made.