I like going to movies. It isn't the big deal that it used to be, but don't go out and do much else for fun. I don't drink, I don't dance, and except for Halloween and New Year's Eve and the occasional thing at a con I don't go out and party. I go to a movie and maybe dinner and maybe do some shopping in between. I like going to zoos and parks and beaches, but I'm getting old and I don't like walking and being outdoors as much as I used to. I just like to hang out, and maybe go to a movie.
So we were going to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-D. It wasn't something that I was getting all excited about. It isn't Star Trek and it isn't the X-Files and it doesn't have Keanu Reeves in it. It's just the new thing that's out, so I figured that we would go and see it.
I'm lucky to live about a bit down the road from a Cinemark that charges about 3.25 for a matinee ticket for new movies, and if I miss anything there another company has a theater a bit north of us that shows second run movies for a dollar. If something isn't showing at either of those places, I really have to want to see it to drive farther than that and pay extra. And I don't go to evening shows very often either, cause it costs more and there's usually more people to deal with.
So my husband and I were going to go see Journey to the Center of the Earth, and we found out that it wasn't at our Cinemark. Okay, I'm like, I don't have to go see this if you don't want to, but my husband says let's go anyway. And after looking around a bit he finds someplace that has it, but that isn't my favorite theater cause it doesn't have stadium seating. If I'm going to pay more, and drive more, I should get more not less. So he looks around again and finds out that place doesn't have the 3-D version anyway. That was odd. I didn't know that you had a choice. So we decided to go to the AMC at a mall and go to eat at a salad place afterward and maybe then do some shopping.
I haven't been to this theater in a while, cause last time I was there the tickets were six dollars or maybe a bit more. That's like double what I pay at my usual place for a mattinee. Anyway, we get there and they tell us that the movie costs extra because it's in 3-D, so the tickets are $9.25. $9.25 for a Monday afternoon? But, we decided to pay it anyway.
Here's the price breakdown at this particular AMC theater (some theaters are probably even higher). $5.00 for shows that start before noon (though there are no shows that start before noon except for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), $.7.25 for other shows starting before 6pm, and $9.25 for shows starting after 6pm, and an additional $2.00 charge for 3-D films.
See, I didn't even know that there were 3-D films. I thought that there was just this one. Apparently I have missed a few, and there will soon be animated films in 3-D, one about a dog actor who doesn't know it's just a TV show, and one about three flies who go to the moon.
The movie was okay. It wasn't worth three times the price, but it was okay. We had fun, I'm glad I went and all that, but $9.25??? Anyway, I was going to come back to this and write about how it's a fun movie and not a serious movie, and how it's weird that a hundred years ago this was really serious stuff. But I was lazy and didn't come back and write the rest of it, and now I think I'd better just go ahead and publish the damned thing just in case this news about the movie costing a lot is still of use to anybody. I'll have to write that other stuff some other time.
6 comments:
Yeah, movies have gotten quite expensive these days. $9.25 is the norm here in Baltimore.
Around here, they are $8.50 regular and $6.75 matinee. No extra charge for the 3-D "Journey", and all the movies are from digital projectors. Do you have those around there? I've heard they are usually rare and cost a lot more.
Before I found I found the place with the $3.25 movies I mostly watched them second run. I guess if this place closes I'll either go back to that or stop watching so many movies. Paying three times that is too much to pay on a regular basis even at our current rate of over-spending. I expect that soon we'll have even less money to spend and actually start having to watch even the grocery money.
Over where I am (you know where I live) at the GIANT mall ( you know the mall), the movie theatre is six bucks for a matinee, and matinees end at 3 p.m.
Regular movies are ten bucks. No other cinemark, like, over in that area that we go to sometimes every month are ten bucks. It's ridiculous.
And you KNOW what parking is like at the GIANT mall. It's stupid. I mean, STUPID. This is why I don't go to movies anymore. Ten bucks for a freakin' movie.
I don't know why anyone would assume that I was familiar with some GIANT mall, that has an AMC theater and a big bookstore, as well as some stuff that I've never gone to like a Rainforest Cafe and a glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course.
The giant mall sounds a little familiar. A little.
Post a Comment