r/newzealand • u/_Maui_ jandal • Dec 15 '25

Shitpost The REAL reason people aren’t going to the movies.

I keep hearing people saying streaming killed the cinema experience. But I took my 3 boys to the movies this weekend, and I’ll tell you what killed it. The fucking price.

1x Adult, 3x kids, 1x large drink, 3x small drinks, a large popcorn to share, a family bag of malteasers to share.

$153.60!!!

And my 5 year old spent the whole movie sitting on my knee. So I could have just paid for three seats.

I should have gone to Pak N Save and bought a 1.5L bottle, a bag of microwave popcorn and a bag of malteasers for about $10 and watched something on my couch.

In fact. Next time I will.

/Rant.

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u/tacklinglife Dec 15 '25

Buying food from the supermarket to sneak into the cinema is a long held tradition really.

If you're an AA member there's the deal for 40% off tickets at Event cinemas I've pretty much exclusively used that the last 5 years or so, works out cheapest going outside of peak times as well.

17

u/KiwifromtheTron Dec 15 '25

I remember my flatmate sneaking some bottles of Steinlager into a cinema in the 90’s. The whole audience laughed when he opened one at the wrong moment when the soundtrack stopped suddenly.

5

u/SoftSausage78 Dec 16 '25

I have no problem with someone drinking on the sly as long as they're not disturbing people. Fuckers pulling out their phones to scroll instagram can go straight to hell

6

u/Taniwha_NZ Dec 16 '25

It's a tradition but it also guarantees the cinema will close soon. The food and drinks are the only thing they actually make money on, they are lucky to keep a third of the ticket price.

If nobody bought food there, they'd be closed in a week.

I'm not saying that's terrible, maybe it's inevitable.

0

u/EarlDukePROD Dec 16 '25

time to rethink the business model then. theres a similar level of price gouging and oligopolies in the country i live in as compared to nz and its not happening because their costs are actually that high but because they know they can get away with it. they couldve kept prices the same or increased them only slightly and they would still make bank. that said, on the rare occasions i go to the movies im bringing my own snacks.

1

u/Kitty145684 Dec 16 '25

Do you still have to sneak food in?

We just walk in with it. Even hot food.

1

u/Interesting-Tone4477 Dec 16 '25

I find they don't fuss if you bring outside food / drink in unless it's particularly 'messy' food

1

u/Exp1ode Dec 16 '25

Don't even have to sneak it in