Ticket sales for movies are going down and there seems to be no end in sight.

   According to various online sources, the average ticket prices increased to $8.88 for an adult and $6.89 for kids, up since last year at $7.84.  Add to that one large popcorn, one large drink, and candy, and movie goers spending an additional $17.00 – $18.50.

 Fans of film are finding it too expensive to head out for a night at the movies and would rather spend their money on other activities or going out to dinner. Senior Jacob Bellinger says, “Movies are just long and I don’t like just sitting and watching for an extended period of time. I’d rather watch something less than an hour or do something else that doesn’t limit me to a time frame.”

   Also, as technology is making an increase on the population more people are using their phones in the theater.  According to The New York Film Academy ten percent of watchers do not attend as much movies anymore is because of too many people using phones and tablets in theaters while the movies are going on which adds a destruction while watching.

   With new ways to streams movies in the past years like Netflix and digital movies delivered on demand with services such as Apple’s iTunes and Google Play are also taking away attendance from movie goers. According to USA Today with sales of these online subscription services reaching $13.6 billion made it pass tickets sales by a difference of two billion dollars.

      A lot of movie chains are getting hit with this decline of ticket sales, however, some people still go, including senior Eryk Wu, who likes the movies.  He thinks “it’s a good place to see friends and new movies can be good.” Senior James Houck agrees with Wu and adds, “A movie done well can evoke emotion more easily than other media sources, they provide points of discussion among friends, and can serve as commonalities between people who don’t know much about each other.”