Spielberg, Lucas Predict $150 Movie Tickets

NoOther said:
I have to guess by the responses that practically no one above who has commented yet actually read the article or watched the interview. They clearly were saying that a shift is coming where more movies and events are going to come to TV or other media. Which will leave the huge mega films for the theaters. But these films will have massive budgets and will be far fewer than what is out there now. There will be less theaters because of the transition to TV and streaming, and the new theaters will have far more options than what you see today. So likely you will have more theaters that have bigger screens, better sound, and better service overall leading to a much higher price.

What they are not saying, which seems to be the assumption above, is that hollywood is going to shell out the same pictures in the same theaters for 5-8x the cost.
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Going to the theater is a completely different experience from attending a sporting event. No matter how exclusive theaters may be, the experience doesn't justify such a huge leap in cost. If the scenario they describe were to take place, people will just stay home and watch the movies on some streaming service.

People pay good money to attend sporting event just to experience it live and the cost of tickets do depends on the kind of experience you get. A premium Formula 1 ticket is probably some of the most expensive tickets you can find, but they allow the fans to visit the pit lane, obtain autographs from the drivers (some even lucky enough to take a picture) and so it's worth it for the die hard fans.

Going to a theater, no matter how premium it is, is still basically watching the movie on a screen. Of course if you get to meet the actors there, then ok that's a whole different experience and it's worth the cost.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I doubt that will happen. You'd decrease your audience a lot more than you'd make up for it in the increased cost of the ticket.

1000 viewers at $10 a ticket - $10,000
50 viewers at $100 a ticket - $5,000

I don't know of anyone that would pay >$20 a ticket to watch a movie.

I guess these are the same people that claim when you pirate a movie there was $14,000,000 in lost revenue.... :D
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I used to hit the matinee with the wife almost every weekend when tickets were 6-7 bucks. At 12 dollars today we stopped going because the product is not worth that kind of money.
 
As more and more people build home theaters - The movie theaters will slowly die. As the movie theaters slowly die, the ONLY possibility left is for the price of tickets to go down to accomidate for the people that don't have/can't afford a home theater.

George Lucas always was a dumbass.
 
This is just the Star Trek and Tiny Toons guys trying to stay famous by saying dumb stuff now that neither of them really have a job anymore.
 
It will be more in line with sporting events
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Funny because I don't go to sporting events anymore either. At least with movies you're watching the same thing at the theater as you would be at home, but at a sporting event all you have is your terrible view from up in the seats where you probably can't even read the player's names on the jerseys, don't get the benefit of the announcers or instant-replay, and have to deal with all the retards sitting around you, probably holding up a sign in front of your face. I also don't feel like $10 is a fair price for a Budweiser.

With movies I'm already at the point where I feel I get a better experience in my own home theater. If for no other reasons than because I can pause it when I want to, drink alcohol and stuff while I watch, and I don't have to deal with random other people around me.

I could see myself paying $100-$150 if that meant me and my family got the entire theater to ourselves - aka the experience we already get in our living room.
 
$150 dollar movie ticket just might fly in Fairfax County, VA, but I think that's the only place.
 
Merc1138 said:
Plenty of other reasons to leave the house, that don't involve going to a movie theater.

The crappy seats, overpriced food and drinks, obnoxious audience(random asshats laughing, screaming, yapping on the phone, making a bunch of noise with food wrappers, screaming children), getting stuck sitting at a crappy angle because you didn't show up 90 minutes early to get to the front of the line to get a better seat, can't just pause the movie to go do something else(take a leak, answer the phone, etc.), and so many other things I just don't have to deal with sitting at home watching a movie.
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I hear this sentiment a lot whenever theres a thread about the movies.
Are cinemas in the US really that bad? Here in the UK I only go to the cinema three or four times a year, but I've never had the kind of problems with people talking & other obnoxious behavior you guys talk about. And believe me, we have plenty of ignorant assholes in this country, but people still understand the need to STFU while watching a film.
Sure, one time a mentaly ill guy couldn't help himself and had to warn Harry Potter to "Watch out" but he only did that the once

The cost is up to about £8 a ticket, but a coke + bag of revels in the wife's handbag avoids the rip off in the foyer. Not dirt cheap, but generaly less than my hourly rate.

As for the OP. It's good someone is trying to look ahead, because they can't just carry on with what they're doing now. As many have said, thats likely a death sentence for the movie theatres. They just have to find the right balance of service and cost, and thanks to capitalism, I think they probably will get it right in the end.
 
Here is another article about the same thing, but with less BS twist to generate page clicks:

http://www.today.com/entertainment/...dgets-make-film-industry-implosion-6C10321443

"There's eventually going to be an implosion -- or a big meltdown," said Steven Spielberg, who sat down with George Lucas at the USC School of Cinematic Arts on Wednesday. "There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

Big budget films like last year's "John Carter" or this week's "Man of Steel" have bumped budgets into the hundreds of millions, and Spielberg suggested that once more than a handful of them flop at the box office, the industry will be forever altered.
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So they are talking about this in a VERY negative context, whereas the original article linked in this thread almost makes it sound like it was their idea and they were supportive of it...
 
GotNoRice said:
Here is another article about the same thing, but with less BS twist to generate page clicks:

http://www.today.com/entertainment/...dgets-make-film-industry-implosion-6C10321443

So they are talking about this in a VERY negative context, whereas the original article linked in this thread almost makes it sound like it was their idea and they were supportive of it...
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In that case - make better movies. If movies are a flop and they spent millions of dollars on it - they fail. It's not the theater that sucks - it's the damn movie. Of course, they'll claim piracy on that, too.....

A shitty movie in a nice theater is still a shitty movie. If I won't pay $12 to see it, I sure as shit won't pay $150 to see it. Keep the budget the same (or lower), but make a better movie. :/
 
Only way I can see them pulling that off.. well remote chance: laser projection sources.

Gamut on my laser show projectors make high end IPS and most projectors look like a tn panel. Laser projector are super pricey still. Cheapest implementation is probably the necsel rgb slabs.. Some consumer stuff has 445nm nichia sources and uses phosphor wheel to make green + a red LED. But they don't compare to pure laser projectors at all.

True laser projector colour will have you bustin' a nut.
 
GotNoRice said:
Here is another article about the same thing, but with less BS twist to generate page clicks:

http://www.today.com/entertainment/...dgets-make-film-industry-implosion-6C10321443



So they are talking about this in a VERY negative context, whereas the original article linked in this thread almost makes it sound like it was their idea and they were supportive of it...
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Maybe they can avoid that by stop spending so much money on expensive actors. I feel that the movie industry today put too much emphasis on "who's in the movie" rather than the actual story and how they are presented.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I doubt that will happen. You'd decrease your audience a lot more than you'd make up for it in the increased cost of the ticket.

1000 viewers at $10 a ticket - $10,000
50 viewers at $100 a ticket - $5,000

That was/is Sam Walton's business model, though do not ask Spielberg or Lucas to realize that, there too greedy.
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People have already been shifting away from theaters, so people continuing to do so wouldn't really surprise me. With large HDTVs being so cheap now, the home experience is more appealing in a lot of ways. Watching at home is less time consuming, more comfortable, and much cheaper. You also don't have to sit through 10-15mins of advertising. The only significant technical advantage theaters have over most home setups is the sound (only because so many people use built-in TV speakers).

There are certain movies that are nice to see as a "communal" experience, but even that can have its downsides (people talking on phone, crinkling candy wrappers, etc)
 
I have a hard time spending $12 now... let alone $50. And I cant think of any movie i have ever watch that would be justified a $50 bill.
 
ADRENALIN_2099 said:
I guess I'm never going to see a movie in theaters ever again. I like my home Theater set up anyways:)
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I go and see about 1 movie in the theaters every 1-2 years lol. I have a projector with a nice home theater which does the trick. I hate waiting in line, paying out the ass for food/drink and all the commercials before the movie starts.
 
I can see this happening: Turning it into an event like a Broadway play or a Vegas show. I'm not invested one way or the other but I can see maybe a handful of "event centers" in big cities standing after the dust clears. I envision a format where actors or directors travel around the circuit and take Q&A and sign autographs for people after or some form of added value benefit.

If they really want to cut down on the cost, maybe they should reduce their marketing budgets. Everyone who is going to see the "new" superman, batman, startrek etc already knows about it before the first trailer ever hits.
 
fdiaz78 said:
I used to hit the matinee with the wife almost every weekend when tickets were 6-7 bucks. At 12 dollars today we stopped going because the product is not worth that kind of money.
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Sucks to be you. $7 is what I pay for a matinee. Parents are in another state and prices are roughly the same.
 
Raxiel said:
I hear this sentiment a lot whenever theres a thread about the movies.
Are cinemas in the US really that bad? Here in the UK I only go to the cinema three or four times a year, but I've never had the kind of problems with people talking & other obnoxious behavior you guys talk about. And believe me, we have plenty of ignorant assholes in this country, but people still understand the need to STFU while watching a film.
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If I take in a matinee (and given that it's cheaper, why wouldn't I) and it's not a movie with a huge built in audience (see the first Star wars prequel), I don't have to show up that early. Most of the time, I can go on a Sunday, show up after the Previews start and get the seat I most desire (dead center a few rows up). Most audiences are good, but if it's a movie geared towards kids, they're going to ask questions and if I'm visiting my parents, there's often problems with senior citizens talking a lot.

I do occasionally see someone texting, but I haven't noticed it lately.
 
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