It now costs R1,474 for a South African family to watch an IMAX movie and buy popcorn and Coke

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bianke Neethling
  • Start date Start date
Zellephant said:
It’s not just simply “impulse control”

“Going to the cinema” is more than just watching a movie, it’s meant to be an experience. A freshly made large popcorn to share with your date, fountain soda (or a slush puppie) etc is all part of that experience. If it’s not a full blown experience, one may as well stay home, since we almost all have big TVs these days, decent sound, and access to thousands of movies on demand.

It has become insanely overpriced though, and at Ster Kinekor the popcorn isn’t even freshly made on site anymore - it’s now day old stale popcorn. The whole experience has become lousy, and it doesn’t help how bad most new movies are.

I’m so glad I discovered Roadhouse Cinema recently. The tickets are well priced, they show a lot of old movies (and new ones), the popcorn is fresh, and the coldrinks don’t require a bank loan.
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Well, it is still an experience for me without those things. I might do a Chicken Licken or similar before hand through, but less than half the time.

What will a decent REALLY big TV and proper sound system set one back there days?
 
supersunbird said:
Well, it is still an experience for me without those things. I might do a Chicken Licken or similar before hand through, but less than half the time.

What will a decent REALLY big TV and proper sound system set one back there days?
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A projector is probably a better bet than a really big TV cost wise - and depending on your room size.

But I reckon these days for around 40-60k you could have a very passable home theatre set up with a 70inch TV and good sound.
 
supersunbird said:
What will a decent REALLY big TV and proper sound system set one back there days?
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With my special hunting and Black Friday skils I got my 75" Samsung 4K Smart TV, Samsung Q800D 5.1.2 Atmos soundbar + sub and Decofurn TV unit on special for cheaper than 7 movie trips to Cine Prestige with the hungry family of 4 in the article and I'd have money left to rent all 7 movies on the Apple TV store :ROFL:
 
Foxhound5366 said:
Is nobody going to mention that kids watch for free with Discovery Vitality, and the parents get a 50% discount and additional benefits like free popcorn and even free movie tickets with some promotions (buying them with Discovery Miles)?

My family doesn't go often to the movies, but for our family of three we generally come away with well less than R500 ... which is fine. Top tip is buying chocolate outside the cinema and carrying it in, if you're a chocolate addict like me lol.
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Discovery?

/heaves
 
Defiler said:
This is the way.

If you want to be really sneaky, buy a large popcorn half an hour before the movie starts, then go buy KFC or McDonald's or other snacks, etc, pour out the popcorn, fill the popcorn box with your chosen snacks, cover your goods with the popcorn you removed, walk into the cinema with your trojan popcorn right under their noses.

Profit!
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Went to SK Prestige once with pizza & beer in a backpack. Never had issues taking my own snacks in.
 
saor said:
Went to SK Prestige once with pizza & beer in a backpack. Never had issues taking my own snacks in.
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Nooice! I had some chocolates and a redbull confiscated at Cavendish. I thought stuff you okes, never again! After the movie, I asked for it back, but apparently it had been disposed of. :rolleyes:
 
Zellephant said:
A projector is probably a better bet than a really big TV cost wise - and depending on your room size.

But I reckon these days for around 40-60k you could have a very passable home theatre set up with a 70inch TV and good sound.
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Sjoe, for 40 000 /80 I can watch like 500 movie in the cinema, and more if doing a mix of the R50 and R80 movies.

But ja, if doing it like the family in the article, it's like 26 movies and then it's a saving.
 
supersunbird said:
Sjoe, for 40 000 /80 I can watch like 500 movie in the cinema, and more if doing a mix of the R50 and R80 movies.

But ja, if doing it like the family in the article, it's like 26 movies and then it's a saving.
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No, it’s still not a saving. That’s completely the wrong way to look at this. A good home entertainment system shouldn’t replace the pleasure of the cinema, in the same way that a nice house doesn’t replace the joy you get from going on vacation.

They complement each other, and if you have a nice home entertainment set up, you would probably go to the movies less often, but it will never replace it.

Facts are facts though, the cinema experience has become absurdly expensive. As students we went to see a movie at least once a week, with dinner and drinks thrown in (normally pizza and fishbowls or buckets of beer), then popcorn and all the trimmings at the cinema etc. Now I earn good money, and can’t imagine doing that on a weekly basis
 
Zellephant said:
No, it’s still not a saving. That’s completely the wrong way to look at this. A good home entertainment system shouldn’t replace the pleasure of the cinema, in the same way that a nice house doesn’t replace the joy you get from going on vacation.

They complement each other, and if you have a nice home entertainment set up, you would probably go to the movies less often, but it will never replace it.

Facts are facts though, the cinema experience has become absurdly expensive. As students we went to see a movie at least once a week, with dinner and drinks thrown in (normally pizza and fishbowls or buckets of beer), then popcorn and all the trimmings at the cinema etc. Now I earn good money, and can’t imagine doing that on a weekly basis
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Hell, as a student I would sometimes watch 3 to 4 movies on the Tuesdays (no classes that day, double win). I even got a personalized SK club card (name on it, not just the number) after watching over 50 movies in one year.
 
man - WTF its just getting ridiculous when i was growing up we had around 6 or 7 cinemas a walking distance away from my home - they were all owned by Indian people and hence every movie session you attended was a double show ie two current movies - so you had to plan to be in the Cinema for inbetween 3 to 4 hours depending on the length of the movies ..... the tickets had a standardised price of R5 back then and i used to buy a popcorn and coke at the halfway point ie when the first movie finished and there was a 15 minute intermission before the second one began - the popcorn cost R2 per packet and the glass bottle of coke was around 80 cents or thereabouts - no transport charges because all these cinemas were either in my street or one block away - only one was around 4 to 5 blocks away and i only went to that one when they had either the Bruce Lee specials or the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer specials (so possibly maybe around 4 or 5 times a year)

and when i was a kid i used to only buy the small chocolates that were all around 50 cents at a time and maybe a pack fruit drops which cost 5 cents - no big large slabs that lasted the length of the movie ..... so i was still mostly in at under 10 bucks per "double show" including the popcorn, coke, chocolates and sweets

and another thing to remember about these Indian owned Cinemas is that they were not small - the smallest one was like a 300 seater and the biggest was an 800 seater (i only got used to smaller cinemas when i got my Ster Kinekor card and started going to the cinemas in the shopping malls where they had smaller 80 and 100 seater auditoriums but possibly 15 or 16 of those on the one floor each one showing a different movie ...... which was a fairly upmarket concept for me at the time so i did not raise my eyes at having to pay R20 for the "single show" ticket then)

EDIT : these things were so cheap i could watch many movies more than once ..... my record was watching "Beat Street" 18 times and "Breaking" 16 times [to learn the Turbo broom sequence dance] in the cinema while i was learning to breakdance in the 80s
 
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Zellephant said:
No, it’s still not a saving. That’s completely the wrong way to look at this. A good home entertainment system shouldn’t replace the pleasure of the cinema, in the same way that a nice house doesn’t replace the joy you get from going on vacation.

They complement each other, and if you have a nice home entertainment set up, you would probably go to the movies less often, but it will never replace it.

Facts are facts though, the cinema experience has become absurdly expensive. As students we went to see a movie at least once a week, with dinner and drinks thrown in (normally pizza and fishbowls or buckets of beer), then popcorn and all the trimmings at the cinema etc. Now I earn good money, and can’t imagine doing that on a weekly basis
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It does. Can't beat the comfort of your own bed. Nevermind going on vacation has been soured by selfie culture hogging popular destinations and sheepish tour groups where the tour guide is mic'ed up and everyone just listens with headphones walking in a line.
 
Defiler said:
This is the way.

If you want to be really sneaky, buy a large popcorn half an hour before the movie starts, then go buy KFC or McDonald's or other snacks, etc, pour out the popcorn, fill the popcorn box with your chosen snacks, cover your goods with the popcorn you removed, walk into the cinema with your trojan popcorn right under their noses.

Profit!
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Did you mean to type stupid instead because that plan strikes me as being particularly idiotic.
 
Defiler said:
I have principles and refuse to be price gouged lol. Works like a charm.
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You’re getting gouged buying the large popcorn… and then doubling down, literally, by throwing half away. If you really need to eat a cheeseburger during the movie, which is pretty inconsiderate to begin with, why not slip it in your handbag?
 
Suddenly that 77-inch OLED doesn’t look so crazy expensive after all.

But I do wonder if they just got rid of this stupid rule of forcing you to buy their snacks if they wouldn’t do better.

Most people would still buy their stuff out of convenience but I reckon you’ll have a much better time filling the seats.

And yes I know most of us just sneak stuff in, but that really shouldn’t be necessary.
 
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