is simply because the theaters themselves make so little from the ticket
sales (even as high as they are).
Since theaters have to bid to get movies big movies cost so much that they
often make less than 5-10% on the ticket sales. Smaller movies are cheaper,
of course, but don't pack in people so money is often lost on those even
though they get a larger cut of the ticket sale. This is also why you see
time-dependent prices: they can show the movie, so they try to draw a few
people in (for matinees for example) but they don't really make any money.
Around here it's not odd to see $6 Matinees, $8 weekday shows and $10
Weekend shows.
I've often heard it said that generally the tickets pay for the house, the
concessions pay for the people. Meaning the ticket sales will cover the
movie costs and space costs but that concessions pay all the salaries.
Even after the move to digital this will do little for the prices. The
projectionists are unionized, so even if their jobs become drop dead simple
(as they will with digital) it's unlikely they'll be fired outright. In
fact at first it may be more expensive since both kinds of films will need
to be supported (especially if you ever want those movies to hit second and
third tier theaters).
In any case the industry will make the excuse that the equipment costs must
be amortized, that people need to be trained, etc. They'll also continue to
scream about the pressure from home video, increased costs of production and
loss of sales due to "rampant piracy". Ticket and concession prices will
continue to rise steadily I think.
Remember when digital music (which is much simpler) was going to cut costs
all around? How much do you pay for a CD now compared to 1985? Especially
considering that CDs have always been drastically cheaper to produce than
cassettes.
I guess all I'm saying is don't hold your breath for a cheaper movie night.
Jim Davis
_____
From: brob [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 1:53 PM
To: CF-Community
Subject: Re: Digital Film to usher in a new era for Cinema Goers.
Yeah, but will the pickles still cost $3.00 a pop, $3.25 for a large coke,
and $3.00 for a bag of twizzlers?
aiya!
:-(
----- Original Message -----
From: Angel Stewart
To: CF-Community
Sent: Friday, December 26, 2003 12:46 PM
Subject: Digital Film to usher in a new era for Cinema Goers.
The medium is loss less and costs about 20US to produce a duplicate.
THis will cut distribution costs and the time that overseas market
receive films dramatically! It makes it easier to apply special
effects,a nd subtitles can be switched in and out moments before
viewing.
The whole thing is fed off a computer 'server' (no specs given) and a
very expensive Digital Projector. This can show off over 35 trillion
color variations. Picture quality will be leaps and bouds over what we
are seeing right now from Celluloid, not to mention the sound is also
going to be much improved.
Exciting stuff! And surprisingly cinemas in Britain , China, and India
are surging ahead of the US in adopting and installing this new
technology.
Now that there is a market, cinema owners and moviegoers are hoping that
the big name hollywood studios begin rollling out blockbuster features
using the digital format. (Apparetly Finding Nemo was one of the few
blockbuster titles that was released in full digital format).
HYPERLINK
"http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=2&u=/nm/
20031224/tc_nm/column_pluggedin_dc"http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl
=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=2&u=/nm/20031224/tc_nm/column_pluggedin_dc
-Gel
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