The Increasingly Unjustifiable Enterprise of Going To the Moo-vies

Movie prices rose this weekend, making going to the movies just embarrassing at this point. On average, to see movies in 2D in New York costs $11, in non-Imax 3D up to $18, while getting the full Imax effect can cost you close to $20 for a ticket, and therefore I am going to have to keep repeating this classic anti-movie rant because I am bound to miss a lot of cool movies.

I guess the pricing for movie theaters has always been high in New York. But in our defense, people in New York experience movies differently from the rest. We go to check out our community, it’s a time to catch up, then be silent, then discuss and invariably criticize. I remember visiting from Miami last year and going to see Valkyrie on Xmas. I remember half the theater was reading newspapers, or books, sipping on coffee before the start. It felt like a smart place to be, you know, even though it was just the movies, and I sort of knew then I had to move back home to the City.

But, if you start measuring the cost, real and opportunity, of going to the movies in New York, you’ll have to abandon once and for all the myth that movies are the easier, cheaper, more laid back alternative to a night out. First of all, the lines suck. You somehow always end up having to see something other than what you had planned. If 3-d movies  follow in the steps of the simulated overnight flight that was Avatar, you will need a snack, drink, and a massage. But if you don’t go and instead chose to satiate your curiosity by reading the reviews and going out to a bar trying to find people who will give you free drinks, you will have a massive head start over the version of yourself who decided to go to the theater.

To conclude now going to the movies is a big deal where you have to try to get as many people on board as humanely possible to make the experience as worthwhile as you can, so you can have the largest collection of comments, reviews, and critics because its not happening again for a year, and anyway they might as well jack the price up to $30 and see who are the real people interested in seeing Hot Tub Time Machine.

Me.