£40 for a ticket to the pictures in London's Odeon!

[Conchis]

Cinema tickets in the West End have been historically expensive. Of course, you are not 'just' paying for your admission, you are also paying for the location - though why this should be a big deal, I've no idea, as one darkened cinema is like any other when you come down to it. You might just as well be watching the film in the west end of Middlesbrough.

I once paid over the odds for a soft drink on the Champs Elysees, but I realised I was 'paying for the view'.

And isn't it a bit pointless attending the cinema anyway, these days? People talk about the 'romance' of the darkened room and the 'communality' of watching a film in company with other strangers, but what if said strangers are eating pungent food, vomiting into their beakers of coke, attempting noisy sexual intercourse with each other, or just generally being obnoxious?

DVDs now come out very quickly after film premieres and you can watch them in an environment which YOU can control. And it's only a fiver to buy them or little more to watch them as part of a Netflix (or whatever package) - and you can pause them and hold off watching them as much as you like. A pox on whatever the 'auteur' wanted - as John Culshaw (Decca, not the impressionist) might have said 'You've bought the performance - you can do what you like with it!'

[richardfinegold]

Cinema tickets in the West End have been historically expensive. Of course, you are not 'just' paying for your admission, you are also paying for the location - though why this should be a big deal, I've no idea, as one darkened cinema is like any other when you come down to it. You might just as well be watching the film in the west end of Middlesbrough.

I once paid over the odds for a soft drink on the Champs Elysees, but I realised I was 'paying for the view'.

And isn't it a bit pointless attending the cinema anyway, these days? People talk about the 'romance' of the darkened room and the 'communality' of watching a film in company with other strangers, but what if said strangers are eating pungent food, vomiting into their beakers of coke, attempting noisy sexual intercourse with each other, or just generally being obnoxious?

DVDs now come out very quickly after film premieres and you can watch them in an environment which YOU can control. And it's only a fiver to buy them or little more to watch them as part of a Netflix (or whatever package) - and you can pause them and hold off watching them as much as you like. A pox on whatever the 'auteur' wanted - as John Culshaw (Decca, not the impressionist) might have said 'You've bought the performance - you can do what you like with it!'

Cinemas here are also trying to offer some sort of luxury experience and charge correspondingly high prices to justify it. I’m with Conchis in that my wife and I would much rather throw a movie in the Blu Ray, or stream it, with the ability to pause at will and read subtitles. My Surround System May not have 4000 speakers or whatever, but 5.1 with the subwoofer rattling the rivets in the house seems to provide enough realism

[MrGongGong]

London .... "innit"

Plenty of other places to go and see a movie other than in London

[Anastasius]

London .... "innit"

Plenty of other places to go and see a movie other than in London

Yebbut...it costs £60 to get there

[MrGongGong]

Yebbut...it costs £60 to get there

Guess what, not for most people in the UK

[Anastasius]

Guess what, not for most people in the UK

You haven't seen our local fleapit. You'd pay £100 simply NOT to go there