12 Comments

I wish movies would be priced at what they cost to make. A Toyota is cheaper than a Lexus. Why should a movie like Lady Bird cost the same as Top Gun: Maverick?

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I found this note on the Angel Studios website, which provides some clarity around your pay it forward question:

"Total tickets are an estimate based on current box office sales. Pay it Forward is only included in the total when a free ticket is redeemed to watch in theaters"

source: "info" pop up box on https://www.angel.com/pay-it-forward/sound-of-freedom

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Interesting, though it still doesn’t address the percentage of the tickets that are “paid forward.”

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Agreed. Don’t think I have seen that breakdown anywhere.

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I’m surprised the seating thing has caused such a kerfuffle. We’ve had premium seating in U.K. cinemas for years. You can still get a good view without it, they just usually pick a middle block and have more comfortable chairs. But it doesn’t mean anyone not in it has to be at the front etc

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Jul 22, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

Thank you for your shout-out to Dunkirk. That was a great year for movies and I can’t begrudge The Shape of Water for winning best picture; it’s a fine movie of great imagination anchored by Sally Hawkins making the absolute most out of a lead role. But Dunkirk is the rarest of things: a beautiful movie of war (or survival, as Nolan notes). Nolan’s formal mastery enables and exploits many outstanding performances, including Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh doing what they do best as well as they ever have, and Tom Hardy somehow bringing me to tears with a near silent performance wearing goggles and a helmet. Yes, a great year for movies but Dunkirk will be the one people are still talking about in 30 years.

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We've got our IMAX-tickets for "Oppenheimer" this coming weekend; can't wait. A new Christopher Nolan film on the big screen is always something worth celebrating.

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How do you feel about reserved seating; assuming you can buy your tickets online? Some of the fancier theatres in my metro were starting that feature, pre-Covid.

This might be apples/oranges, but it's very common for Ticketmonster to charge more for aisle seats at concerts ("aisle" of course means the six or eight seats on opposite sides of a row).

>>there’s a reason matiness cost less than nighttime showings

>>and why seniors and children are charged less than adults and

>>why IMAX and Dolby and 3D screenings cost more.

What -I- have never understood is why theatres don't do some kind of genre pricing. A movie where characters mainly walk around talking to each other shouldn't cost the same to see as some special effects blockbuster where stuff gets Blowns Up Real Good.

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I hate reserved seating. It is a very big reason I had virtually stopped going to the movies pre-Covid. I do not want to have to plan my seating arrangement in a movie theater. 1. I get there early enough I can get a good seat without reserving, even for popular movies. 2. I do not want to walk in and discover that the seat I chose is sitting next to the obnoxious person texting on their phone the whole time. In the old days,I would just pick a different seat in a different row. Now, I am stuck with it. /end rant.

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See, I like not having to get to the theater 30 minutes early, but I agree that the possibility of sitting next to a loud person is vaguely nightmarish. This is why I try to go to the emptiest screenings possible.

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I think Blockbuster Spectacle vs. Awards Season pricing is a thing that might happen in the next few years here, at least on a trial basis, and outside of LA/NYC etc. (No need to discount ASTEROID CITY in New York; maybe a need to in, like, Tallahassee.)

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Sightline pricing is a horrible idea. First come, first served, like it's always been.

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