# What's the average ticket price for a 3D movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725 "2010-09-05T23:44:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/21 "2010-11-17T14:14:30Z")
I’m not sure the exact prices, but I do know that the theater I go to charges a $3 premium on 3D movies. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/22 "2010-11-17T15:32:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I read an article in _Entertainment Weekly_ last week that said that the majority of 3D movies haven’t sold enough tickets to earn back their production and marketing cost. If you’re charging so much for tickets that most people aren’t buying them, then you’re charging too much. Movies often don’t, they make it up with DVD, Blu Ray and release to foreign markets, TV/Cable release deals, rental agreements, etc ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/23 "2010-11-17T16:32:31Z")
We went to see a movie during the afternoon and the tickets were $11 or $13 each, forget which. I asked why and the guy said it was because the movie was 3D. Well I didn’t care about the 3D, I didn’t even know it was in 3D. But of course if I was going to see it I had to pay. All the more reason to stay home and watch Netflix, and use time outside the home for outdoor activities. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/24 "2010-11-17T19:53:49Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Movies often don’t, they make it up with DVD, Blu Ray and release to foreign markets, TV/Cable release deals, rental agreements, etc But 3D movies won’t make most of these sales. They may appear in foreign markets but they don’t get released on home video or seen on TV. You have to think of a movie like _Despicable Me_ as essentially being two different movies - _Despicable Me 2D_ and _Despicable Me 3D_. _Despicable Me 2D_ will have $10 tickets and will sell 10,000,000 tickets and will later be sold to DVD and TV. _Despicable Me 3D_ will have $15 tickets and will sell 2,000,000 tickets and won’t have any secondary releases - it’ll make or break its production costs just on how many tickets it sells. So the producers have to ask themselves if it’s worth releasing _Despicable Me 3D_. If it’s not going to sell enough tickets, they should just release _Despicable Me 2D_. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/25 "2010-11-17T19:58:34Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Fie on 3D. I hope it soon dies a nasty, expensive death. If enough producers and studios lose their shirt trying to cater to 3D for stupid movies like Phirana and Step Up, it’ll soon be relegated to the scrap heap of movie history. Again. That’s the reason I said I saw my first _new_ 3D movie. I missed the 3D wave of the fifties but I’m old enough to have caught the 3D wave of the eighties. I saw the 3D versions of _Comin’ at Ya!_ and _Spacehunter_. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725/26 "2010-11-17T20:55:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > _Despicable Me 3D_ will have $15 tickets and will sell 2,000,000 tickets and won’t have any secondary releases - it’ll make or break its production costs just on how many tickets it sells. So the producers have to ask themselves if it’s worth releasing _Despicable Me 3D_. It’s still bleeding-edge, but anything made in 3D is going to be released in 3D for the home market as well - [including _Despicable Me_](http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Despicable-Me-3D-Blu-ray/16207/). Personally, I think a good 3D presentation is worth the premium to see in the theatre and it will be a long while before 3D-at-home meets my expectations and price point. 3D looks best when it takes up your entire field of vision - I’m holding out for a 3D home theatre projector that uses passive polarized glasses which I won’t have to sell any organs to afford. That said, 3D production costs will not be wasted for the home market, especially going forward. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-ticket-price-for-a-3d-movie/552725.md?page=1)