apropos of nothing

Are You Ready for a $35 Movie Ticket?

Photo illustration: Getty Images


Because we sure are! Variety reports that Village Roadshow Gold Class Cinemas are preparing to launch 50 super-luxe theaters nationwide. The cinemas — opening first in suburbs of Seattle, Chicago, and Phoenix, but supposedly heading to New York soon — will sport 40 seats per auditorium, call buttons for waiters on each seat, and a $35 price tag for tickets. Hey, if that means that we won’t have to share the next Bourne movie with a half-dozen crying children — as we did the last one — we’re all for it.

You might complain that for that kind of money, you should get a concert or a play or something bigger than a movie. Observer theater critic John Heilpern would counter that you’re better off spending $45 for two hours of The Bourne Syllogism than you are spending $50 for 45 minutes of minor Caryl Churchill at the Public.

Filmgoers get a taste of the good life [Variety]

Are You Ready for a $35 Movie Ticket?