Katz on $15 movies

It’s no secret that I personally hate 3D movies in their current form. I believe they’re dimmer, blurrier and more intrusive (due to the glasses) than a regular movie, and the added benefit of “depth” isn’t worth all that PLUS the extra ticket price.

But it appears that most of the general moviegoing public disagrees with me, which is why 3D movies are apt to make tons more money than their 2D counterparts. No one has humped this trend’s leg harder than Dreamworks, and their CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg had this to say about exploiting embracing the 3D-loving public:

“The consumer has shown now time and time again not just a willingness but an aggressive ambition to trade up for a premium experience. There’s been zero price resistance, in the worst economy in our lifetime. And as the economy changes and improves, that’s only going to continue to grow….The research we’ve done everywhere in the world said the consumer said they got a valuable experience at a $5 premium. And nobody has done a $5 premium.”

Translation: 3D movie should cost $15, or if you live in New York or another expensive market, $17.50. That’s almost TWENTY DOLLARS for ONE movie ticket. I’m not still trying to fight against the onslaught of 3D movies that are inevitably going to make up most of the market soon, but if 3D becomes the norm, are ticket prices going to permanently go up this much across the board? Because if there’s anything we need during this time of economic crisis, it’s a 50% price hike on something that lets us forget about the rest of the world for a few hours.