If so, how? I was thinking it might be since my dad says how high prices have become for food, drinks, and the movie tickets, even when adjusted for the fact that the money supply is a lot more than it was when he was a teenager in the 60s.
Of course, it could be that the market is just willing to pay for it, but I was thinking there were some regulations that have made all the movie theatres I can think of the same in price and quality. If there are, then I don't know what they are so that's why I'm asking:)
How about IP laws? Seems like an obvious pick.
There is the other NATO (national association of theater owners, representing 30,000 movie screens in the 50 states, whose mission is to influence federal policy making.
In 1948, the movie studios were banned from owning theaters on antitrust grounds.
We are the soldiers for righteousnessAnd we are not sent here by the politicians you drink with - L. Dube, rip
I work at a movie theater (Regal, specifically), so I can handle this.
I was thinking it might be since my dad says how high prices have become for food, drinks, and the movie tickets, even when adjusted for the fact that the money supply is a lot more than it was when he was a teenager in the 60s.
There's reason the prices are so high. 1. Movies are rented from their respected companies for an obvious fee (I don't know exact numbers, let's say $2,000 a week or so). 2. A theater (I know how it works for ours) will only make 10% of the ticket price. For a regular priced adult ticket that is $10, we only get $1. This cut can change or vary, let's say for the first 4 or 5 weeks a movie is out it's a 10/90 cut, and after that might change to 20/80, etc. 3. Seeing that tickets are not the main source of income for a theater this means the concession stand is. This is why the prices are as high as they are ($8 for a large tub of popcorn, $6.50 for a large drink, $3.50 for candy, etc.) Not everyone who comes to the theater buys food/drinks, so we must upsell and have a high per cap. If we can average $3-4 a person that's a good per cap, what this means is that you may have 100 people come in, maybe less than half will buy from concession, so you have to sell as much as you can to even out the people who did not buy which will average out to $3-4 a person.
Is the market willing to pay for it? Yes, they are. Regulations? Not that I know of. Keep in mind how many people it takes to actually create a movie and the payroll for that, and then running the theater that the movie is played in.
Also, if a theater gets a bad rating or grade (based on secret shops that evaulate us monthly from up above) we can actually not get movies unless we perform well.
probably no more or less than any other major industry. Be sure not to turn "i don't like the general politics/ quality of Industry X" into a rationalization as to how it is so due to govt subsidy. All in all these are not important issues anyway
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
...Or just go by Burt's answer
I think working at a theater can give you a good idea of how things work. I had thought about writing a short article on the econs of a movie theater to give people an idea of how a business can operate (plus I'd hope to shut people up who complain about high prices, mind you these are the same people who continue to see movies every week).
I once heard an employee say "I think Regal should treat us better. They should pay us more." I sharply replied with, "Some people don't deserve more." I think he was a bit surprised as well as one of my managers who was standing there. Working at a movie theater can be the easiest job you can have if you are in college/high school (and during the week the slackest) and some people I work with act like they are working at McDonald's or something.
There's a few smaller theaters around here that are locally owned. They'll get movies a few weeks after they come out and will serve you real food (the theaters are set up where you sit at actual tables, etc. Waiters will come in and ask if you need anything before the movie starts, during the movie if you put your menu up they come to your table, etc.)
The Wikipedia page does add to the government interference idea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Paramount_Pictures,_Inc.#Consequences
It's also probably due to the nature of the business.
No2statism: The movie theatres don't make the movies, so they have a lot of costs which is partially due to the antitrust laws.
The movie theatres don't make the movies, so they have a lot of costs which is partially due to the antitrust laws.
Bingo. Ronald Reagan explained why this is so in his autobiography, An American Life (p. 116-118). He wrote:
Although we did have IP laws in the 60s that could be all of it. Good answer:)
Any others, anyone?
@ Bert:
I used to work in a movie theatre when I was in high school. Thanks for posting this, I concur on everything!
We were a small theatre, and only made money on the big blockbusters. Ironically, the people I worked for were paying me less than minimum wage, and I recall it never bothered me one bit...though when my friends found out they urged me to report it. Why should I bother, I told them, I got all the free movies, popcorn, and soft drinks I wanted, and had a blast! It was a fun job.
This is the experience that minimum wage supporters want to take away from kids...
All good answers: ) Anyway, Bert's answer makes a lot of sense because of all the insurance the movie makers have to have and the actors' salaries, and the movie theatres are pretty expensive to maintain (electric bills for the screens and sound systems, janitors, security, etc) and so on. The movie theatres don't make the movies, so they have a lot of costs which is partially due to the antitrust laws. The only two big theatres that are really anywhere near me are an AMC 24 and a Regal, so I had been wondering why there were so few. They're pretty good considering their operating costs.