Because of the record low movie attendance in recent months, few people will realize that their concessions were raised in price just over a week ago in time for the new Star Wars release. This weekend, as millions of drones visit the multiplexes to see George Lucas' dud of a grand finale just to be a part of the machine, they may complain about popcorn prices. I have no evidence of how many theatre chains went on the rise with their menus, but based on my prediction (see bad news from 4/15) and the proof seen at National Amusement cinemas, I will make the assumption that this company was not alone.
It should be no secret to moviegoers that theatres depend on the concession stand revenue to stay in business. People just don't really care to know such truths because they would rather see adjustments or handouts than honest explanations. The whole truth is that prices of goods can usually be blamed on the consumer. To go into all the reasons of supply and demand, of those who take advantage, of piracy and other factors, I could probably fill a book. That book wouldn't sell very well, unfortunately. When I told Gwyneth Paltrow that the expense of her ticket purchase was to pay high salaries of movie stars, she seemed offended. People don't want to know that they are the cause of their own miseries.
George Lucas can account for a lot of the blame this season, though. Surprisingly few people care about him being the scapegoat. The excuse shuts them up, though, because as long as they aren't at fault, they could care less about the full story.
Edward Jay Epstein is one of my heroes lately. He has been analyzing and exposing the Hollywood economics on Slate.com, NPR, his own website and in the brain-tingling book The Big Picture. I wish that Epstein could get his hands on percentage deals that studios and theatres have on their box office ticket sales. He typically generalizes, as most reports on the subject do, that they make out 50-50 by the end of a film's run. Lucas has been rumored to get a better deal for opening weekend with little balancing done in the theatre's favor. While a movie like Sahara might have a 80-20 deal for the first week, and after awhile if it has legs the way Sahara did, that could be reciprocal. Star Wars supposedly does closer to 90-10 and probably won't last long enough for any fair interchanging of numbers.
As little matter as the box office figures are in the news (read Epstein's latest column on Slate from Monday), I am curious to see how Star Wars measures up compared to the last two prequels (Attack of the Clones had a significant drop from The Phantom Menace). I would rather see the actual attendance numbers, though, and would even more curiously like to see concession figures compared, because as a movie theater employee and champion of projected entertainment versus home viewing, I am concerned with theatres' ability to keep in business with changes that favor a person's decision to stay home. Concession prices, along with pre-show ads and poor auditorium manners, continue to affect the minds of moviegoers. I anticipate much criticism in the next couple days.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
nice job from the seats FC, thanks!
2 - Cerulean
I think I understand your points. I'm one of those who is feeling led to stay home, and I'm a movie fan. I think your writing could be clearer.
3 - Nancy
I have stopped going to movies totally in the past few years, for precisely those reasons: I'm fed up with relentless and ubiquitous advertising, outrageously inflated prices for cheap junk food that isn't good for me anyway, and I resent contributing to the obscene levels of income raked in by so-called entertainers, their various hangers-on, and the industries that surround them, none of it justifiable. Fortunately for these parties, I and those like me are few and far between, so they're in no danger of going broke, except from their own excesses. I can only hope that I am the tip of an emerging iceburg which will eventually return both marketing levels and prices back to more reasonable limits.
4 - Eric Berlin
What else did Paltrow have to say?
5 - Cerulean
That's a good question Eric.
Actually, Nancy, the attendance at theaters in the past year has been bad. I think they've reached a turning point. They had a lot of bad movies this year and they finally turned off a critical mass of potential customers. It's a shame. Movies were such a joy when I was growing up. I never thought they might not exist as such one day. This would be a purely man made situation.
6 - Eric Berlin
I'm full of good questions.