(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Quick question, Brits: I have a line in the new parody that says, "ENGLISH AUDIENCE: I paid seven bucks to see this?" I think you can spot the obvious problem here. What's the basic, stereotypical full price for a movie in a British theater? (Feel free to use slang if you want.)

ETA: Keep in mind that this is for a movie that came out in 1995. We can lowball the number, is all I'm saying.

Comments

[thespianpythia.livejournal.com]

Probably "I paid five quid to see this?" would be about right. Prices are a bit higher (say, six pounds) in big cities at peak times, but on average, five's a safe bet.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

When I was living in London, it was about 6-8 quid ($11 - $15 US) to see a movie in a normal thater.

Anywhere from 10-12 quid ($19 to $22 US) for the really posh cinemas in Leicester Square.

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

Six quid scans better, especially as we'd tend to say "a fiver" instead of "five quid".

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Damn.

[p-tripp.livejournal.com]

Yup. I would definitely say six to eight "quid". You can also throw a "bollocks" in for good measure. ;)

[thespianpythia.livejournal.com]

True. Also, it occurs to me that it's been a while since I was living in town, and prices have probably gone up in my absence. I've found that most people use "five quid" and "a fiver" interchangeably, though - never had any corrections on that count.

[ewacat.livejournal.com]

Normally, in central London, £5.50 is student fare, £8 is adult, kids are something like £3.50. But that's one specific cinema.

£8 is your best bet, IMO.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

Tell me about it. The first movie I went to see there was in Leicester Square, and at first I thought that they were all that expensive. And then I figured that I wouldn't be seeing many movies while I was there.

[thespianpythia.livejournal.com]

Mmmyep. Apparently only Japan's ahead of us in terms of extreme prices, at the moment.

[ewacat.livejournal.com]

I remember paying £10 to see X2 on my birthday at the Odeon Leicester Square.

My wallet was so stung I felt like smearing antihistamine cream on it. :|

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

Interesting.
It would cost five quid but one would spend a fiver on it, methinks.
Price of item vs unit of currency used to purchase item.

[baggylettuce.livejournal.com]

Seven or eight quid sounds about right. (Ranging from a tenner in London to a coupla quid on cheap night in Newcastle.)

(Incidentally I would only ever say fiver, not five quid.)

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

While we're having a discussion of British movie prices, the prices in London are higher than elsewhere: I'd probably pay about a fiver to see a movie at most, and as little as three quid depending on time or place.

Basically, pick a number between three and eight quid at random, and it won't be outrageous. :)

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

When I was in Japan 8 years ago, I saw a matinee for approx. $13.

[perardua.livejournal.com]

In 1995, I'm thinking about three or four quid unless you're in London.

[thespianpythia.livejournal.com]

*concedes*

Never really considered it that way, but yes, probably that's the standard usage.

[thespianpythia.livejournal.com]

Which is about £6-7 at current exchange rates, so I rest my case... though, it depends which city you were in at the time.

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

* - For a long time, the British rejected decimalized currency as too complicated.

[paulgregory.livejournal.com]

from http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/moneyweekly/1995prices.html

"… a cinema ticket +31%

Screen Digest, a media research consultancy, says the average cost of a UK cinema ticket was £3.43 in 1995, compared to £4.49 today. Tell that to the cinema bosses in Leicester Square."

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I was in Tokyo. I think nighttime prices were about $20 at the time, and as I said, that was 8 years ago, so I imagine they've gone up quite a bit by now.

Here in L.A. it's currently about $8.50 for matinee and $10.50 for nighttime, I think. Apparently the rest of the country is quite a bit cheaper, though.

[cmere.livejournal.com]

I'm in Minneapolis, and the most expensive theaters I go to are $6.50 for a matinee and $8.50 for a nighttime show, except students and seniors get in at night for $6.50.

...Just to share.

[perardua.livejournal.com]

Hey, look at that! I'm the queen of accurate guesswork :)

[shezan.livejournal.com]

And you're not the only one - Britain has an incredibly low movie attendance overall.

[mysteryflavor.livejournal.com]

Not even, NYC is $10.50 all the time. If there are special matinee prices, I've never seen them. You can try and find an "indie" theater which shows more mainstream movies, but it's usually only a dollar or so less.

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I had actually heard it was expensive in NY, too.