I took the boy to see Toy Story 3 at the weekend. We went to a 11am showing in Garston (Watford). The cinema was pretty much empty, there were about 20 people in there all told. A stark contrast to the kids club showing of Astroboy we went to a few weeks earlier that was rammed to capacity. Mind you, it cost us £3.70 to see Astroboy, and it cost us about £16 to see Toy Story 3. That’s right, a 3 year old had to buy a ticket for almost £7 to see a film at 11am. Bonkers. My ticket was a shade under £9 itself. Lord knows what it would have cost us if we’d gone to a 3D showing, the member of staff who robbed me sold me the tickets cheerfully explained there was a huge premium on those.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to the cinema regularly due to children and other stuff but most of the opinions I held 3 years ago still seem to hold true now. What’s the point of showing a film to 11 people when you could show it to a packed house if you charged less? Since when did a regular popcorn cost nearly six quid? It should be an either/or, a premium on the tickets or a premium on the snacks, both is greedy.
I’ve always thought blurays were expensive but in light of this, I’m beginning to reconsider. Having said that, I’m now fully behind Disney who won their game of brinkmanship with a particular cinema chain who initially refused to show Alice in Wonderland because the studio wanted a 12 week to DVD/bluray timeframe. Personally, I think they should dual release them if the cinemas aren’t going to change their pricing structure.