Cinema

dead cat bounced... Barbenheimer era is over...Hollywood is dead?

POSTED BY: JAYNEZTOWN
UPDATED: Monday, July 20, 2026 15:43
VIEWED: 3062
PAGE 4 of 5

SECOND

Tuesday, April 28, 2026 7:21 PM

Are you wondering why Hollywood is not prospering? Maybe even facing death?

I think it is because ticket prices plus snacks are too high. Here is the story from the Wall Street Journal:

The $50 movie ticket has arrived

Story by Ben Fritz | April 27, 2026

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-50-movie-ticket-has-arri
ved/ar-AA21OoXp

One of the best selling points of a night out at the movies has long been how cheap it was for two hours-plus of entertainment. Not so much when it costs $50 per ticket.

That’s how much Regal Cinemas recently charged for opening night seats in the best theaters to see December’s “Dune: Part Three.”

Eye-popping prices for the most in-demand movies on the best screens are becoming increasingly common as the cinema industry copies the audience-segmentation playbooks of airlines and hotels. Theaters are getting people who love movies and have discretionary income to pay substantially more.

Some 17% of film tickets sold last year were for premium format theaters with bigger screens and better sound, compared with 13% in 2021. They cost an average of $18 nationally, according to research firm EntTelligence, and as much as $30 in big cities such as New York and Los Angeles.

Welcome to the new box office reality. Die-hards are paying top dollar while the rest of the country rarely goes to the theater and gets most of their entertainment from Netflix, YouTube and TikTok. Despite recent hits such as “Michael,” “Project Hail Mary” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” the annual number of tickets sold is down more than one-third from before the pandemic.

“The good news is we’re making more money per patron than we made prior to Covid,” said Adam Aron, chief executive of AMC Theatres. But “it’s not a good thing that patronage is down as much as it’s been.”

Regal sold its inventory of $50 “Dune” tickets projected in 70 millimeter IMAX film in a matter of minutes. Since premium auditoriums regularly sell out fastest, exhibitors are racing to build more of them. AMC, the biggest chain in the U.S., had 517 at the end of last year, 30% more than in 2021.

In addition, AMC adds a surcharge of up to $2 per ticket for popular films on their opening weekends.

Adults seeing a movie on a regular screen are paying an average of $12.75 per ticket according to EntTelligence, a figure that has long risen roughly in line with inflation. Discount screenings abound on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

But spending on popcorn, drinks and merchandise has grown 220% over the past 20 years, far above inflation, said Greg Marcus, chief executive of Midwest chain Marcus Theatres.

The average AMC customer now spends $9 on concessions per visit compared with $5 prepandemic—a figure that includes the 20% to 30% of people who buy nothing but a ticket.

Some Hollywood executives worry the growing cost of a night at the cinema and increased reliance on premium screens are turning moviegoing into a pricey special occasion rather than an inexpensive regular habit.

“Going to the movies must be more affordable again,” Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures’ motion picture group, told a crowd of exhibitors at the recent CinemaCon industry convention in Las Vegas.

Studios and theaters have long operated in an uneasy symbiosis. Both need each other to prosper and resent self-interested decisions their counterparts make that impact them. Studios have long complained that exhibitors don’t keep their multiplexes in good enough condition. Their newest complaint is rising prices along with expanding preshow advertising that, combined with as many as nine trailers, means movies frequently start close to half an hour after their official showtime.

Exhibitors at CinemaCon said the industry’s biggest problem is that studios are releasing about 25% fewer films annually than before the pandemic. Since they can’t increase the product supply on their own, theater operators said they are forced to find profits where they can.

“Give us enough films,” Marcus asserted. “If you’re no

6IXSTRINGJACK

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 1:03 AM

You can't raise the prices to $50 and have nothing but stuff that white "educated" women on Twitter claim to love but never pay to see. That's for sure.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

JAYNEZTOWN

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 2:27 PM

Masters Of The Universe Poster Spotlights The Movie's Heroes And Villains, Led By He-Man And Skeletor

https://sffgazette.com/sci_fi/movies/masters-of-the-universe-poster-sp
otlights-the-movies-heroes-and-villains-led-by-he-man-and-skeletor-a10004

SECOND

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 8:49 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You can't raise the prices to $50 and have nothing but stuff that white "educated" women on Twitter claim to love but never pay to see. That's for sure.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.

Example of high prices paid for tickets and snacks for the movie Hoppers, which is less "woke" than a Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck cartoon:

Based on reports from early 2026, the cost of going to see Hoppers can be high due to premium snack combos and high-cost theater experiences. Below are examples of high prices paid for tickets and concessions:

High-Cost Examples (2026)

• $90+ Family Outing: A viral story shared in March 2026 detailed a trip to see a new movie where tickets, popcorn, and drinks for a family of four surpassed $90.

• $47+ “Hoppers" Combo: Regal Cinemas offered a specific Hoppers snack pack featuring a collectible popcorn bucket, drink, and topper that, when combined with tickets, reached approximately $47.86.

• Individual Snack Inflation: A single large popcorn can cost around $14 and a "Small Pepsi" up to $8.99, leading to complaints that snack runs often cost as much as the movie tickets themselves.

• High-End "Hoppers" Popcorn Tin: A 130oz metal tin filled with popcorn for Hoppers was offered for $12.

• Premium Formats: Tickets in 2026 for premium formats like IMAX or Dolby can exceed $25 per ticket in some locations.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

You can also download Hoppers [2026] for free, avoiding a drive to the theater:
https://uindex.org/search.php?search=Hoppers+2026&c=1&sort=upl
oaded&order=DESC

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, April 30, 2026 2:17 AM

JAYNEZTOWN

Sunday, May 3, 2026 12:10 AM

Warner Bros.'s Lee Cronin's The Mummy grossed an estimated $600K on Friday (from 2,083 locations).

https://bsky.app/profile/boxofficereport.bsky.social/post/3mkuwy2t46c2
6

SECOND

Monday, May 18, 2026 6:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You can't raise the prices to $50 and have nothing but stuff that white "educated" women on Twitter claim to love but never pay to see. That's for sure.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Evil. Be a dick.

Also, the $50 movie will be $0 on TV in 30 days.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

SECOND

Monday, May 18, 2026 6:53 PM

Why Star Wars went so wrong

May 18, 2026

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260515-why-star-wars-went-so-wro
ng

The Mandalorian & Grogu is released this week and is set for the lowest opening weekend of any Star Wars film ever. With the TV shows also struggling, here's why interest is waning.

It's been seven years since the Star Wars franchise visited a galaxy far, far away on the big screen. In December 2019, The Rise of Skywalker, the third and final film in the franchise's sequel trilogy, was released, earning $1.077bn (£806m) worldwide. It pulled in only around half what the first film in the trilogy, 2015's The Force Awakens had made. This disappointing amount reflected the increasingly poor audience and critical response to the three films. A year earlier, in 2018, the standalone film Solo: A Star Wars Story had also bombed hard, earning just $393m (£294m) globally.

Since then, the film series has been on a lengthy hiatus, while Lucasfilm, bought by Disney for $4.05bn (£3.03bn) in 2012, has been busy expanding the Star Wars universe on TV with a whole host of live-action shows, starting with hit The Mandalorian. However, interest in these has declined as they have proliferated: the most recent new series, 2025's Skeleton Crew, recorded the lowest opening ratings for a Star Wars show yet, while 2024's The Acolyte was cancelled after one season.

A new Star Wars cinematic era is beginning with this week's The Mandalorian & Grogu, the 10th film in the franchise and a spin-off from its small-screen counterpart.

Prerelease tracking suggests it will score just $80 million domestically during its opening weekend – the lowest opening for a Star Wars film ever. So what exactly has gone wrong with the Star Wars universe?

"It's a continuation of a story rather than a standalone movie," Harrison tells the BBC, "if you're not familiar with the TV shows, you've got such low investment in going to see it."

[See it for free on TV 30 days after it opens in theaters near you. If you don't like it, change channels. That is free, too.]

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

JAYNEZTOWN

Thursday, June 11, 2026 8:24 PM

wow can you imagine making this prediction in 2020
?

He-Man beats Star Wars but its only Fourth Place, behind ScaryMovie and the indie movies #Obsession and #Backrooms

Amazon MGM Studios' Masters of the Universe grossed $3.16M on Tuesday (from 3,677 locations). Total domestic gross stands at $34.70M.
https://x.com/BORReport/status/2064794789141459082#m

Domestic (58.1%)
$34,699,997
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl973309441/
International (41.9%)
$25,000,000

BACKROOMS
https://forums.boxofficetheory.com/topic/34773-backrooms-776m-overseas
-2127m-worldwide/
77.6M overseas | 212.7M worldwide

JAYNEZTOWN

Friday, June 19, 2026 5:36 PM

The Mandalorian and Grogu grossed $681K on Wednesday (from 2,680 locations). Total domestic gross stands at $167.33M

https://x.com/BORReport/status/2067716600762138880#m