$15 Movie Pass? Unlikely, Say Merged Chains

The merger of Sony Corp.’s and Cineplex Odeon’s theater chains, announced Tuesday, has caused renewed grumbling about movie ticket prices; they’ve risen to $8 at many Los Angeles theaters within the last year. Sony’s flagship Lincoln Square location in Manhattan led the way earlier this year to the $9 adult ticket price. Can the $15 ticket be far behind?

Yes, said Sony/Loews Theaters spokesman Marc Pascucci.

“By the time prices rise to $15, you and I will qualify for the senior discount of $10,” said the 38-year-old Pascucci, responding to a comment by New York City public advocate Mark Green.

Green opposes the merger, saying the merged company would account for 51% of all movie admissions in New York City and nearly 70% in Manhattan. He predicted ticket prices would jump to $15 as a result.

Nationally, the average movie ticket price in 1996 was $4.42, according to the National Assn. of Theater Owners. That takes into account lower prices for children and seniors, for matinees and for theaters in areas with lower real estate prices and living costs.

Association President Bill Kartozian pointed out that a theater having a monopoly does not translate into high prices.

“There’s a lot of towns where there’s only one theater, and I don’t think they charge higher prices,” Kartozian said. He also said movies were “a hell of a bargain” given the fact that average ticket prices over the last six years have risen only 20 cents, far less than the cost of living index.

The average ticket price between 1954 and 1958 rose 19 cents, according to the Motion Picture Assn. This was at a time when the purchasing power of the dollar was more than five times greater than it is today.

There remains a lingering perception that ticket prices have skyrocketed in recent years. One likely cause has been the rise of home video, which overtook in-theater movies as the most popular form of entertainment several years ago. The average cost of renting a video nationally was only $2.75 last year and is not much higher than that even in major cities like Los Angeles.

Tom Adams, president of Carmel Valley-based Adams Media Research, said ticket prices have lagged inflation partly because studios recognize there is a point at which people will choose not to go to theaters. Already, the number of video rentals per year in the U.S. is nearly three times the number of theater admissions.

Adams added, though, that the overall cost of moviegoing has gone up--especially for baby boomers who now have children.

“What has gone up well ahead of inflation over the last 30 years is the cost of popcorn and Coke,” Adams said. “Plus we’re grown-ups now, and we have to pay for a baby sitter and parking.”

Pascucci said that as far as “out of home” entertainment goes, movies remain by far the best deal. Stadium-seating theaters with digital sound cost much more to build, he said, and those costs have not been proportionately passed along to consumers during the building boom of the last couple of years. Neither has the skyrocketing cost of the average studio picture--now around $40 million--been passed on at the box office by studios, he said.

Theater owners seem resigned to the fact that they’ll keep feeling the heat.

“When we raised the price [at Lincoln Square] to $9, it was in every paper in the country,” Pascucci said. “It’s a sexy topic.”

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Movie Tickets by the Numbers

Movies remain the favorite form of entertainment in the U.S., although Americans watch them more frequently now on the small screen. Some statistics:

* Number of theater admissions, 1996: 1.3 billion

* Number of video rentals, 1996: 3.7 billion

* Average U.S. theater ticket price, 1996: $4.42

* Average U.S. ticket price, 1976: $2.13

* Average U.S. ticket price, 1948: 36 cents

Source: Motion Picture Assn. of America

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* Average video rental price, 1996: $2.75

* Highest movie ticket price in U.S. (Sony’s Lincoln Square Theatres, New York): $9

* Highest price in Los Angeles (many theaters, including the Cineplex Odeon, Laemmle, Pacific chains): $8

* Typical cost of adult ticket in Los Angles: $7.50

* Typical cost of child/senior ticket in Los Angeles: $4.50

Sources: National Assn. of Theatre Owners (theater admissions and U.S. ticket prices); Adams Media Research (video rentals); Video Software Dealers Assn. (video rental cost); theaters (individual theater prices)