Movie Tickets Climb Again

The average price of a movie ticket has reached a new high, but that doesn’t necessarily mean studios are raking in the profits.

Tickets are now $8.06 on average in the second quarter of the year, National Association of Theatre Owners spokesman Patrick Corcoran told Pollstar. That’s up from $7.97 the previous quarter and tops the previous high of $8.01, set in 2010.

The increase may coincide with lots of summer blockbusters in 3D and their premium pricing. However, none of this means movie studios are seeing an increase on the bottom line.

As noted in the New York Times, theatre chains have a higher profit margin from concessions than tickets, profits of which are shared with the studios. Theatres prefer higher attendance to higher ticket prices. Meanwhile domestic box office is down 5.55 percent to $6.42 billion from last year’s $6.8 billion, according to Hollywood.com.

Meanwhile, theatre attendance has dropped 10 percent since 1999 while overall population has increased, according to the Times.