Yesterday my Dad took me to the movie Julie & Julia. I seriously can't even remember the last movie for "grown ups" I went to at the movie theater. The last kid movie I saw at the actual movie theater was "Cars". It's just so crazy expensive. We don't even do the Netflix or Redbox thing. We just borrow movies from the library for free. Yeah, we're like 3 years behind on current movies, but neither I nor DH are losing any sleep over it.
Anyway, we went to a matinee, so it was "only" $6.50 each. The movie was GREAT, so I don't feel so bad about the admission price (which my Dad paid anyway, THANKS DAD!) but the concessions. OMG. Ok, I totally know that's "how they make their money", but I kinda just stood there stunned, looking at the prices. I think I blacked out for a bit, but I can remember that a large popcorn was EIGHT DOLLARS. A liter size bottle of water was FOUR FIFTY. Luckily, my Dad has a "card" for the movie theater, so he actually got a free small popcorn, which he could "upgrade" to a medium for $1.00, so we shared a medium popcorn and a liter of water for a total of $5.50, which turned out to be not SO bad. So, the total for the two of us, with the cheaper matinee prices, plus a free sm. popcorn upgraded to a med. for a $1.00 and a liter of water was $18.50. Which I guess in the scheme of life isn't TOO bad, but HOW ON EARTH COULD A FAMILY OF FOUR GO IN THE EVENING TO SEE A MOVIE AND HAVE SNACKS AND DRINKS WITHOUT TAKING OUT A SECOND MORTGAGE? In this economy how are people affording to go to the movies? I can't believe I have not heard of any movie theaters going out of business!
I am more thankful than ever to be able to borrow movies for free from the library and eat our own 50 cent industrial products sized bag of microwave popcorn at home!!!
Anyway, it WAS a GREAT movie. If you don't know the plot, it's about a young writer who starts a blog and decides to cook her way through Julia Child's 700+ page cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". It was particularly interesting as a blogger myself. Meryl Streep plays Julia Child and she is perfect. As if I wasn't already feeling inspired to cook lately, now I REALLY am in the mood.
Do you guys go to the movies? Do you have any tricks to save money? Are you as aghast at the prices as me, or am I totally out of touch with reality?
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I don't know how they stay in business charging those prices. Like you, I haven't been to see a movie in a theater for years. I keep being told how great that Julie & Julia is, but I'll still wait until it's out for rental. I prefer watching movies at home anyway. We have a very large HD TV and a separate audio system that rivals the theaters, so yeah. Why should I go to the theater again?
ReplyDeleteWe don't go to the movies very often, but when we do, we usually go to a matinee. There are a couple of theaters in town here that only charge a flat price of $3 for their movies. The movies they show might be just a tad behind, but you can't beat that price.
ReplyDeleteWe also eat at home before we go to a movie, and then just get a drink at the theater.
I'm also a library movie watcher. I request them on line and sometimes wait for months, but that's ok. I also like being home and not going thru the hassle of driving, parking, and wanting to get snacks that I can't afford. When I used to take my son to the movies, we'd stop at CVS and buy bottled drinks and candy, which I would stuff in my very large purse.
ReplyDeleteNope...haven't been to a movie or rented one in years. Don't have a TV, either. I lucked out when a nice woman gave me this laptop! :-) With $761/month to live on for rent, utilities, car stuff, etc, there pretty much is no money left for frills. The good news is that I am processing stuff from my garden and it smells WONDERFUL! That's my kind of entertainment :-)
ReplyDeleteNo, we don't do movies often. It has to be really special (Transformers!) and theater worthy (Transformers!). Or a special occasion, like when I chaperoned my daughter and 15 of her friends (including the boyfriend) and saw UP!. I took my son along as well, so by the time I paid for myself, son, daughter and bought snacks, it was a $50 night. I have decided that from now on, on the rare occasion we do go to the theater, we will eat before we go and no snacks will be purchased.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to the movies since...since...since...oh, I dunno. We do treat ourselves to HBO, so we don't have to wait three years for movies to come out. We used to do the one dollar rentals from the supermarket and get videos from the library, but every time we did, they didn't work. Either they skipped scenes, we couldn't hear, we couldn't see, they froze, or whatever. We decided it was worth the few dollars a month to get HBO as it's our only form of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see Julie and Julia, and am just finishing Julia Child's book "My Life in France", which is the story of how her cookbook came to be. I love it. I have also watched all the Julia Child marathons and the Jacques and Julia cooking shows on the public broadcasting station. I love Jacques too. A good way to save money...find a nice girlfriend with a nice husband, leave the husband and kids at home, and go out to the movies with your girlfriend to the chick flick so you only have to pay for one person. Stash a pack of Twizzlers in your purse, and off you go!
We hardly go to the movies either. We took my sons to see the movie "9" last weekend and the last movie we saw in the theaters before that was Wall-E!
ReplyDeleteMy kids don't mind though, I do the same thing too, get movies from the library, I do get movies for $1.00 at Red-box, but I don't even do Block buster anymore!
It's TOO expensive!
It was $45.00 for 4 of us to go to the movies and the movie didn't even last 2 hours!
We hardly ever go to the movies, either. Since we've been in the Seattle area, there are a couple of movies that we've seen on the big screen like Harry Potter in IMAX(with the first 20 minutes in 3D) and Transformers. DH and I went without the kids, though. DH's mom had some coupons from her Entertainment Book that she buys every year, so we got in for a reasonable price. We don't usually buy stuff from the concession stand.
ReplyDeleteI took the kids to see Up at the 3 dollar theater(it wasn't in 3D, though). We got popcorn to split, and I forgot how much one small thing of popcorn costs. I could buy a whole meal at a restaurant for that!
It's so expensive to go to the movies! We usually wait for them to come to the Red Box for $1 or get them from the library. And watching them in the comfort of your own home is usually more enjoyable, too. You can pop your own popcorn, sprawl out and get comfortable, and if you have to go to the bathroom, you can pause it so you don't miss anything!
I agree with you. I seldom go to the theater for financial reasons.... My reason is for $14.95 I can watch at least 12 movies a month if I stay on schedule. Even if I only watch six a month I'm still way ahead.... the secret? Netflix! Oh, and those snacks that are so over-priced? Most of that junk food is not healthy,.. huge boxes of candy,... ugh. Besides,... my recliner in my livingroom tips back! hee hee.....
ReplyDeleteI love going to the movies. But it is getting way to expensive to go. I will admit to smuggling in cheap snacks from the drug store. I take my "movie" bag. Haven't been caught yet.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I feel there are less and less movies coming out that are worth the money. So we don't go as often.