For anyone in the film industry, these past couple months have been anything but boring. Movie spending is on the rise in almost all parts of the world, technology has allowed movies to be produced at better quality but with lower budgets and the recent Palm Springs, Sundance and Berlin International Film Festivals have all introduced new films that will be shown throughout the next year. But these events have also sparked a new change that movie goers may not be thrilled about – an increase in ticket prices.
The National Association of Theatre Owners announced this week, according to Deadline Hollywood, that the average price of a movie ticket in the U.S. increased three cents, from $7.93 to $7.96, a new high. While the growth is similar to past years – tickets also increased by 3 cents from 2011 to 2012 – the news source found that tickets increased especially in the fourth quarter of last year. Ticket prices increased 2.8 percent to an average of $8.05 at the end of last year, the highest quarterly jump since the fall of 2011. Deadline Hollywood noted that though one chain raised its prices, it actually had a decline in revenue due to “large screen and 3D movies.”
For theaters, this predicament may encourage some creative ideas. Theaters in Australia, we saw last month, have been using outdoor movie screens outside or even on top of their building to offer customers a new experience. With large outdoor screens, many theaters are often able to accommodate high volumes of audience members, which may allow companies to bring down prices and better compete against other theaters. Even for theaters that aren’t struggling to attract viewers, outdoor movie screens can bring a new environment and expand the possibilities of movie viewing.