The one time I broke down and purchased treats at the theater for my kids was when they went to the movies with their small groups from church. One ticket, small soda and candy for them = $54.00! I showed them the receipt and told them to remember that moment forever, for it wasn't going to happen again! We do purchase treats at the discount theater, because a $4 movie and $2 sodas, candy or popcorn won't break the bank.
Yeah...it's crazy how much they charge for concessions. Tickets at our "cheapy" theater are $5 but concessions are still the same cost as the regular theater. Most of our theaters have a discount night during the week (usually Tues or Wed) where tickets are $5 but we can't go to the movies on a weeknight.
We love movies both at the movie house and at home in our theater room. My hubby loves to get popcorn and a coke when we go, so I can always count on that! He also likes to go to the movie house 20 minutes away that has concessions so he can have dinner and a movie. Things like individual pizzas, hamburgers, chicken tenders and fries. Our local movie house just got recliners so that was fun when we went to Hidden Figures. It felt more like what we have at home, but with the good movie house treats. I don't like paying full price for movies, so I like to go on $5 Tuesdays or do an earlier show on Saturday to get the matinee prices. I told hubby if he'd go early with me then that would leave more money for his treats and he laughed. He said that he'd get the treats anytime, but he humors me and let's me go to the discounted shows most of the time. I also end up buying the Blu-ray, DVD, digital copies of most of the popular movies and the Disney movies for our home library. Infact, I just picked up Moana today! Can't wait to see it! DD went to it with a friend so I have been waiting to see it.
We do redbox too, but lately there haven't been very many good movies. We did get XMen the Apocalypse over the weekend and it was ok. My hubby "watched it with his eyes closed" too. He always falls asleep and says he's awake, but you don't snore when you're awake... hehe! We are waiting for Beauty and the Beast too, but are going to wait until spring break to see it so we can watch it while we are in St. George. I'm also not a soda drinker and it kills me to pay so much for a bottle of water. If hubby gets popcorn, then I have to have something to wash it down. My hubby always offers me his coke, but like I said I don't like soda. I have gotten the slushies a couple of times, but then they make me cold and I need a blanket. I feel like the if you give a pig a pancake books at that point, because then you have to go to the bathroom after all that water or soda. I prefer to watch movies at home because I can snuggle up with my blanket and pause the show to take a bathroom break. I hated taking the kids to the movies when they were young because it never failed that I'd have to take each of them to the bathroom at different times during the movie. They never seemed to have to go at the same time. It didn't matter if I'd taken them all right before, one or all three would need to go again. I guess all that popcorn and soda just went right through them or they just liked the bathrooms more than the show... hehe
The last movie I saw was Finding Dory and went with my great niece, my niece, my sis-in-law, my mom-in-law, and Daniel. I really enjoy the movie experience, but I don't love other people. I've had some horrible movie experiences. One time, my sister and I were in a nearly deserted theater with 2 other older women. We were excited at first to have the theater almost to ourselves, but then these two proceeded to chit chat and ask questions and provide commentary. They were loud . . . even being about 12 rows in front of us. After shushing them several times (my sister and I both), I finally got up and told them if they wanted to talk, to take it elsewhere or I would have the manager remove them. It was SO rude. What was funny about it was that when I went to talk to them, I went in the row behind them and sat down, leaning forward and talked into their ears. I scared them to death! I think they thought I was going to hit them or something! Bwahahahaha! They left about 2 seconds after I returned to my seat. My sister died laughing. We didn't really see part of the movie for about 10 minutes because we were dying with laughter. If there is a small screaming child, they will be near me. If there is someone with a weak bladder, they'll sit in my row and need to go out 3-4 times. If there is a chatty person, they are near me. I'm like a magnet. Sooooooo, I prefer to watch at home. And since we got our new 55" 4K Roku TV in December, we have been renting and purchasing a lot of movies. We are way behind on watching things, so we are able to watch a lot that come with Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, etc. And popcorn, it's not my fave. But give me chocolate covered peanuts (double dipped please) and I'm happy.
And I really sound cranky! LOL I'm not. I'm just amazed at people and their lack of consideration for others.
My kid is one of those kids that will talk throughout a movie. I must tell him 5 million times to quiet his trap. When we went to see Finding Dori it was a special showing for children with disabilities (not as loud, dim lighting, don't discourage talking). The girl at the ticket booth was explaining to me and I was like "Actually, that's perfect. My kid doesn't shut up." LOL! I still told him to shut his trap and he would remind me that I couldn't tell him to stop talking. Aye, that kid.
We don't normally go to the movie theater for many of the same reasons that Cheryl mentioned- mostly inconsiderate people! Plus the cost and the hassle of having to go somewhere on a schedule and not just do things when it is convenient for us. The last two times we have gone to see a movie were last December and the December before to see The Force Awakens and Rogue One. Both times we went to the IMAX at the Space and Rocket Center that is just a few minutes from the house and is a totally different viewing experience. The crowd there tends to be more geeky/nerdy than most theaters and is fun to be around. We have a home theater complete with a projector and a big pull-down screen (which actually cost less than a lot of high-end flat screen TVs!), so we can have the theater experience without other people around. As a bonus, we can pause if we need to go to the bathroom or get a snack. We're also sure to have either a cat or dog in one/both of our laps while viewing. Oh, and I loooooooove popcorn! I have one of those Pampered Chef microwave popcorn bowls, and it is magic. LOVE that thing!
If we go to an undiscounted session at our local movie theatre then it is close to $20 per ticket and popcorn and drinks are way overpriced... we don't go often but really enjoy it when we do. last saw La La Land with a bunch of girlfriends which was fun and my daughter just asked if we could go see Hidden Figures soon so that will be good. I don't like popcorn but will consume enormous amounts of (supermarket bought) chocolate while watching a movie if I don't pay attention... We have a screen as well at home, projector was way cheaper than a big screen tv and it's great to watch sports on as well.
We go to the movies often as both DH and I loooove watching movies on the real big screen. We do add popcorn and drinks to the list - I know that's super super bad. Drinks we still do without sometimes but popcorn is a must - our experience isn't complete without it!
Aha! I finally have a neighborhood with moms like me so we can trade! Sure I end up with their 4 kids occasionally, but I find they also take my 1 and tell me not to worry about it. It's made date night cheaper! Oh the drive in! I can't wait to check out the one here once the season starts! I love the drive-in. You still have a real movie rental place?!?!? Wow. That's amazing. Seriously, I think the only ones around here rent all dirty movies. Me neither! It's out? I need to get that one! Matthew loves it. The RunPee app is the greatest thing invented for that. Seriously, it makes me happy. I have the cheaper knockoff one from Amazon, but I totally agree! It's magic. And awesome. And one of the only reasons I have a microwave. That and melting butter for popcorn.
I would love to go to the cinema more often. I really love it. But it's an 30 minute drive and that's stopping me. I'm thinking about moving to a larger city and then I could go buy a monthly pass and go more often. That would be great. But first things first.
It's just been since last summer that 6yr old can sit through an indoor movie. We love it! We go to the early bird showing ($8) at 930a or 1030a at the mall which is just 5min away. We have a routine. We stop at Walgreens for a Diet Cherry Coke, 2 bottles of chocolate milk, 1 box of Milk Duds (me), 1 box of Sour Patch Kids (Brody), 1 box of Plain M&Ms (Jamie), & 1 box of something else (for home) since the candy special is 4 for $4 & usually it's just 3 of us going. At the theater we buy a large popcorn with 1 free refill, we usually take the refill home & munch away all weekend. Our theater is all reserved seats, we like the three spots at the very top underneath the projector. It's been so awesome being able to go to the movies with the boys. Even my mom took them to see Sing (for their 2nd time) on Christmas break. If all 4 of us are going to see a movie & hubby can't make the early bird, we go to the drive in theater. It's like 30 miles away, but only $7.95 for adults & $1.25 for kids. Same candy/drink routine, but we usually pick up a $5 Little Caesar's pizza for dinner in the car. Sometimes we bring popcorn, it depends. I'm not a big redbox fan. A few times I've ended up spending more than if I'd just bought the movie. If it's something I know they'll want to watch over & over, I just pre-order the movie so it's delivered on the release date.
Movies are one of the few activities that everyone in our family of 2 parents and 2 teens (a boy and a girl) like to do, so we go fairly often. I love movie theater popcorn and definitely splurge on it although I'll smuggle in my own water bottle if I remember. We have a new dine-in theater near us that has $6 Tuesdays so I plan to go more often to that.
It's been awhile ... these days the kids prefer to go w/friends and the Hubby can take it or leave it ... he will go if I ask him, but he never suggests it. So, we tend to just watch movies at home. I have to agree, it's more comfy at home, we can pause the movie when we need to go to the potty, the snacks are cheaper and there are never any heads in the way! Now ...near my parents, they have one of those fancy theaters with the big cushy reclining seats. THAT I do like! So much room and my back doesn't hurt half way through the darn movie.
We don't see a lot of movies in the theater so we do make a whole thing of it and get popcorn and drinks for the girls and hubby. I love movie theater popcorn!!
We don't have a big screen to watch movies on. But we do have a million and one movies to watch! When our kids were younger and tv went to a lot of sitcoms that we didn't want them watching, we began buying VHS movies for them. Our library of movies quickly grew. We still have a lot of them sitting in bins right now as we have gone on to DVDs and Bluerays. We don't buy as many as we used to but we still have shelves and shelves full of them at the moment. Some we watch over and over. In fact, we kind of have our "comfort" movies. Kind of like comfort food. We need a room in our home with wall to wall floor to ceiling shelves. We have so many books - another one of our favorite things to buy - and movies that we could probably fill a couple walls or more easily with what we already have. I would truly LOVE having a library room.
