MOVIES AT HOME VS THE THEATERS

So some friends asked us to go with them last Friday to see watchmen. It was opening day and it was at a large mall. We haven't really gone to the movies in a while, except for free screenings. We figured we would go since we have cut down our movie expenses and my husband really wanted to see the movie.

Tickets were $11.00 a person. So we were a group of 9 people. The theater made $99.00 just off our tickets alone. Our group was hungry, we stood in line as soon as we got there, all of us came from work. That resulted in having to spend money on movie theater food. 2 large popcorn and 1 small popcorn, a bottle of water and 2 large fountain drinks. Also two people wanted personal pizzas. Plus 2 coffees and a lot of sweets from Starbucks. All us combine spent around $200.00. Basically this trip was an expensive one, and I didn't really like the movie. So it reminded me of a thought I had once before about the cost difference between going to a movie and watching a movie at home.

Lets assume this Friday you want to have a movie night at home. A rental from (blockbuster/Hollywood video/etc) is a few bucks. You can get your movie from the redbox and pay $1.00 night. Or lets say you pay for a membership to get movies to your mailbox, basically costing you nothing extra out of pocket. Some people borrow from the library, which also is free.

We have a popcorn maker/popper. (Great thing to ask for, for Christmas) To buy one with no discounts is about $39.99. Of course most of us are discount shoppers, so we would get it for a lot less. You can get a bag of kernels from the grocery store for $0.99 Lets assume All 9 people decided to watch a movie at our place instead of the theaters (which we have done in the past). We probably only would have used half the bag of popcorn. Basically, the movie night would have cost between $1.00-$6.00 which is cheaper then the cost of one ticket.

Now lets assume everyone was hungry and decided to pitch in for the cost of a pizza. We would get the 5-5-5 Deal at domino's probably getting 4 pizza. The total cost for the whole event would be around $25.00-$30.00. It is cheaper then it cost two of us to snack(not even get real food) and watch the movie.

So, if you can wait until a movie comes out on DVD, you can cut down you entertainment cost tremendously. If you can, look for a screening where at least you can see it for free. :-D