Movie ticket prices: When I was your age...
Remember the good old days, when you walked barefoot uphill to school and movie tickets were cheaper?
According to The Wrap, the average cost of a ticket right now is $8.12. And while that’s (almost) nothing to a New Yorker used to shelling out between $14 and $20, the price is still pretty steep.
When I was in high school back in Hudson, Ohio — I graduated in 2002 — I remember paying around $4.25 for matinees and $6 for regular showings. I took an informal poll of EW staffers, who spilled on how much of their allowance went to seeing films when they were younger.
Darren Franich: I think it was like $6 at my local Century. Maybe $7.50 by the time I was a senior. This was in the San Franciso Bay Area.
Adam Vary: Columbus, Ohio — $5.50
Grady Smith: Richmond, Va. — $8
Chris Cosgrove : Chicago — $14
Maane Khatchatourian: Glendale, Calif. — $8 to $9
Erin Strecker: I’m from suburban Chicago. Our local theater up until 2010ish was $4.25 for a student, and $6 for an adult — always. Now it’s $8.
Lanford Beard: I’m from Birmingham, Ala. (which is the state’s biggest city, so pricey!). I feel like it was about $7.25 for a night-time performance when I was in high school (1997-2000). I think a matinee was $5.25 maybe.
Christian Blauvelt: I was in high school in St. Petersburg, Fla., between 2000 and 2004 and the average price then for a movie ticket was $7.
Missy Schwartz: I remember them being $2.50 when I was little (early-to-mid 80s). Then tickets were 5 bucks when I worked in a movie theater in high school — and it seemed expensive!
Breia Brissey: I’m from Broken Arrow, Okla. There’s a tiny, 8-screen theater there where tickets were only $4. So you could see a matinee for $2. Can you buy anything for $2 these days?
Sandra Gonzalez: I’d say somewhere between $6 and $7. And this was in South Texas in the early 2000s.
Stephan Lee: When I was in high school I didn’t really get an allowance, but whenever I needed cash my mom would give me a $100 bill. It would last me two entire months because all I spent it on were movie tickets and burritos. In Atlanta in 2004, when I was a senior in high school, $100 bought a whole lot of $6.50 tickets at the AMC Parkway Pointe and $4 burritos from Willy’s Mexicana Grill. I’d say my current life in Manhattan costs more than twice as much: $14 per movie ticket, $8 or more per burrito from Chipotle — which isn’t nearly as good as Willy’s! I wish I still had a seemingly unlimited supply of $100 bills, because I’d use a whole lot more of them.
Tanner Stransky: Seriously, I remember our movie tickets being like $4.25 in high school. Like late ’90s in Kansas City. That may have been matinee.
Mike Bruno: I remember buying bargain matinee tickets for hot summer moviegoing for $3.50.
Hillary Busis: I remember tickets being between $7 and $8 in Pittsburgh, Pa. when I was in high school.
How much do you remember paying when you were younger? How much do you pay now?
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