Cinema Getting Too Expensive?

zappomatic

A lot of employers offer discounted cinema tickets too. For example mine has tickets for all the chains except Odeon, plus independent cinema vouchers. You can get Cineworld vouchers for £6.25 and these work with Meerkat Movies and even in the West End, or a third off an Unlimited card. They even have vouchers for food and drink which give a nice saving off the usual inflated price.

Callie22

I do wonder if Cineworld is trying to push people towards their Unlimited scheme. We went to see Deadpool last week and even with a Meerkat Movies code it was £10.10 for one adult ticket. Our local Cineworld has recently been refurbished and whilst it's very nice, the ticket price has shot up from £7ish, they've stopped doing the 'bargain Tuesdays' and it's now a much more expensive experience. My guess is that they're trying to push people towards the memberships to create a situation much like gym memberships, where the profit is in the people who rarely or never go.

robin58

I used to work in cinema and I get annoyed about people always moaning about the ticket prices.

Right, for instance a £10 ticket the pricing structure is thus.

£2 goes to the government in VAT.

In the first 4 weeks of a film, 80% of the take goes to the film company.
So they get £6.40.

The cinema gets to keep the remaining 20%.
So they get £1.60.

So who is making the most money.?

The cinema gets one bite of the cherry.

The film company over the life of the film will charge you at least 7 times with or without your consent on the different platforms it will be on.

So who is screwing you the most then.?

Johnmcl7

I don't blame the cinema for the high ticket price, I've heard for a long time they make very little money off the film itself hence pushing high priced food and drink to make their money.

I'll admit I don't understand how films make their money in general as there seems to be a huge push to make the money back at the cinema and then whatever comes later is a bonus. I remember paying £20+ for dvds and hd-dvd's/blu-rays whereas now a newly released bluray just a few months after the cinema release can be had for £13 normally. If the blu-rays were more expensive and the cinema cheaper I'd likely go and see more films at the cinema but as it is it has to be a film I really want to see to bother going to the cinema now.

KxMx

Callie22 wrote: »

I do wonder if Cineworld is trying to push people towards their Unlimited scheme. We went to see Deadpool last week and even with a Meerkat Movies code it was £10.10 for one adult ticket. Our local Cineworld has recently been refurbished and whilst it's very nice, the ticket price has shot up from £7ish, they've stopped doing the 'bargain Tuesdays' and it's now a much more expensive experience. My guess is that they're trying to push people towards the memberships to create a situation much like gym memberships, where the profit is in the people who rarely or never go.

I miss the bargain Tuesdays too, but surely you paid £5.05 each for your ticket?

When I go with MM the other person and I split the total cost down the middle, I thought everyone did that.

HappyMJ

I think paying £3.85 per person with MM is a fair price. That's what my local Cineworld charges for a screening starting before 5pm on a Tuesday or Wednesday.

I do enjoy going to the cinema and am willing to pay for it...but not too much.

I probably go once per month.

Cornucopia

Does anyone know how Unlimited works, money-wise for Cineworld.

If they are still paying c. £6.40 per seat when I'm only paying them £2, that doesn't sound like a good business model - therefore I assume they have some sort of concession from the studios?

If the figures work, it certainly makes sense to cover the fixed overheads of the cinemas with a fixed-fee scheme.

KxMx

I don't know about concessions from studios, (sounds unlikely IMO) but it is guaranteed money into Cineworld's account every month, to have interest gained on/ invested etc.

zappomatic

Some years ago, if you got a ticket with your Unlimited card it actually had a price printed on it; I seem to remember in the West End this was something like £3 so I guess a percentage of that £3 will go to the distributor.

I see plenty of films with my Unlimited card but suspect Cineworld make plenty of money out of me as I usually take in a beer or glass of wine from the bar (4 glasses of wine for £7.50 after my Unlimited discount is pretty appealing!)

Deru

ringo_24601 wrote: »

We did end up still spending £3.80 on a SMALL popcorn for my popcorn obsessed son. I felt cheated buying that.

Go to Sainsbury's / Tesco and pick up a pack of Butterkist 'Cinema Style' popcorn. Tastes like the real thing! Fraction of the price.


If you can get a cheap travel insurance through Comparethemarket, you could get the 2 for 1 Meerkat movies for a year. Otherwise, if you happen to go through them for home/ car insurance. Tuesday/Wednesday BOGOF tickets.