Quentin Tarantino He is one of the most influential film directors of all time, but much of his success is due to the fact that he understands the medium like few others. And it is that Before being a filmmaker, he is a cinephile, and this was demonstrated with some reflections from several years ago that continue to resonate today. For Tarantinothe movie theater is “the form of entertainment of the working class”alluding to the ever-increasing increase in ticket price. For him, this was, at the time, the biggest problem which lovers of this art face.
Quentin Tarantino against the increase in the price of movie tickets: “It is not the opera or a concert”
These days some statements by Tarantino from 2016 have come to the fore and have gone viral again on the social network His conclusion was very simple: cinema was conceived as mass entertainment, and not as an elitist one reserved only for the wealthiest pockets like opera.
His diatribe against this price increase was as follows: “I’ve been saying it since the ’80s. Before, movie ticket prices were $5 for everyone in America. Then suddenly they started to rise to $6.50, then $7, $7.25, $7.50 and so on. The key to this medium is that it is entertainment for the working man”.
“This is not the opera. It’s not a theater. It’s not a great concert. The idea is that anyone can go to the cinema and watch a movie. This It’s one of the reasons why cinema flourished during the 1930s.. And it is no longer. We have raised the price so much that it is no longer affordable”, Tarantino said. The specific excerpt from the video at the top can be seen here:
In other words: Tarantino appealed for the price of movie tickets to remain within reasonable limits so that anyone, regardless of their economic situation, could enjoy the seventh art. This is what, according to him, differentiates it from other more expensive shows like opera or concerts.
Large film productions are not sustainable and increase the price of tickets
As we mentioned above, these statements have gone viral in connection with the box office failure of two films with multimillion-dollar budgets well received by critics such as ‘Furiosa: from the Mad Max saga’ and ‘The Specialist’, both released in 2024. The first has cost 168 million dollars and has raised 117, and the second has cost between 125 and 150 million and has raised 158. Many viewers who are in favor of Tarantino’s statements They argue that these multimillion-dollar productions are not sustainable and that they directly influence the price of tickets..
The reasoning here is that These films that cost several hundred million dollars have extra costs derived mainly from hiring several high-profile stars., like Chris Hemsworth in the case of ‘Furiosa’ or Ryan Gosling in the case of ‘The Specialist’. This makes For the film to be profitable, its producers require a higher profit margin. Margin that they transfer to the projection roomswhich consequently increase the price of tickets because they also have to have benefits.
Meanwhile, others much more modest productions such as ‘Godzilla Minus One’ with a budget of just ten million of dollars have been very well received by critics and public, and many have been surprised by the quality of its special effects for which he has even won an Oscar, something that is attributed to the fact that much of its budget has gone to post-production and not for the pockets of some big star.
The other challenges facing today’s cinema
The increasing price of movie tickets is indeed a challenge which both production companies, theaters and viewers face, but is by no means the only one. In addition to the emergence of platforms streaming In everyday life, other determining factors that make people not go to the movies as much as before beyond the price of tickets are the price of popcorn and drinks related, the illegal prohibition of many rooms by preventing access with outside foodthe uncivil attitude of other spectators using cell phones in the middle of the movie or dirt or poor comfort of certain rooms.
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Considering all these factors, many potential movie viewers simply decide not to complicate things and subscribe to the current digital content platform. Although movie theaters still have the advantage that big releases like ‘Dune 2’ They keep coming to these establishments first, the waiting time since they are projected in cinemas and reach streaming or to home formats such as DVD and bluray is getting smallerwhich is why, again, many choose to simply wait one or two months instead of going to rooms.
