I live in and visit areas with far far lower costs for real estate than manhattan and we don’t have dollar cinemas. The cheapest ours go anymore is $2-4, usually closer to $4. And that is for movies that are either on DVD or about to hit DVD.
Yeah, all $1 places pretty much went out with the Eighties.
My parents and I drove from Brewster to the dollar theater in Newtown, CT, practically every weekend from '80 to June of '83. Wonderful Art Deco place with a balcony.
It’s been $2 since about '86.