posted 07-02-2004 12:01 PM                       

quote:

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Movie Ticket Prices Hit All-Time High

LONDON (Reuters) - The cost of going to the movies hit an all-time high last year as the construction boom in plush multiplex cinemas continued to push up ticket prices, according to research on Wednesday.
In its ninth annual worldwide survey on movie ticket prices, London-based media research group Screen Digest said average ticket prices rose in 40 of the 45 countries it tracks.

The global average ticket price in 2003 was $5.20, up 4.8 percent in local currency terms.

At 1,252 yen -- $10.80 in 2003 average currency terms -- Japanese ticket prices were the most dear. Rounding out the top five were Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Britain ranked tenth.

Screen Digest said a major culprit was construction of multiplexes, the state-of-the art cinema complexes that come equipped with air-conditioning, enhanced sound systems and sometimes shops and videogame arcades under a single roof.

Multiplex ticket prices tend to be higher than those charged at older, "arthouse" cinemas, the researchers note. For the past 15 years, multiplexes have been a common feature in more established cinema markets such as the U.S., UK and Germany. The construction boom has caught on over the past few years in other parts of Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in South America and Asia.

In the United States, the largest movie-going market, average ticket prices rose for a 10th straight year to $6.04, climbing 45 percent over the decade, Screen Digest said.

The economics of movie ticket prices is not easy to pinpoint. Screen Digest points out that in Germany a variety of factors from a poor economy to lackluster box office attendance forced movie ticket prices down 2.6 percent year-on-year.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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Apparently Sweden is second according to Swedish papers. Second to Japan and just ahead of Switzerland. The companies claim it´s the high quality of theatres. I wonder what that says about other countries theatres?
I couldn´t find the report on Screen Digest webpage, but I didn´t look extremly hard...

posted 07-06-2004 02:23 PM                       

quote:

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Year
Price ($US)

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2003 $6.03
2002 5.80
2001 5.65
2000 5.39
1999 5.06
1998 4.69
1997 4.59
1996 4.42
1995 4.35
1994 4.08
1993 4.14
1992 4.15
1991 4.21
1990 4.22
1989 3.99
1988 4.11
1987 3.91
1986 3.71
1985 3.55
1984 3.36
1983 3.15
1982 2.94
1981 2.78
1980 2.69
1979 2.47
1978 2.34
1977 2.23
1976 2.13
1975 2.03
1974 1.89
1971 1.65
1967 1.22
1963 .86
1958 .68
1954 .49
1948 .36

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